| Taylor pulled into the parking lot just in time to see Calley's slim figure tearing across it, making a beeline for the cab. "Shit!" he exclaimed and slammed the car into park, without bothering to find a space. He jumped from the vehicle, leaving the car running and the door wide open. "Calley WAIT!!" he yelled, running after her. She froze in her tracks without turning around and just stood, looking at her feet. "Oh god not now..." she whispered to herself and squeezed her eyes shut, hoping it was her imagination making her hear his voice. "Calley? Calley look at me.." she felt a large familiar hand on her shoulder and she turned keeping her eyes closed. "What Taylor? Why are you here?" she asked softly, glad he'd found her, but not wanting to deal with THIS aspect of her situation now. "Well, why are YOU here?" he asked, nodding toward the hotel. She sighed heavily. "Because I was drunk, and because I was mad and I couldn't think and this place just popped into my head. You certainly didn't expect me to go HOME after all that, did you?" she told him, removing herself from his grasp. She could NOT let him break her resolve, for any of this. "Hell...it's not even MY home.." she muttered. "Nothing...not a damn thing." She felt tears welling up and quickly wiped her eyes. "I need to go, Tay. I have to get the little bit of stuff that IS mine and GO, all right? BEFORE Adam comes in. I don't wanna see him.." she choked and turned away, and started to move toward the cab. "I'll take you...we need to talk." Taylor stated matter-of-factly. Calley closed her eyes and sucked in her breath. "NO. I don't want you to be any part of this Tay. I'm not leaving because of YOU. I'd leave anyway." she said. "Fine." Taylor answered, stunned. "We still need to talk.." he said. "I'm not ready for that, Tay. I just wanna get my stuff, what little of it there is that's mine, and get OUT. PLEASE? Don't make this harder for me.." she said, her voice lowering in anguish. "Get in the fucking car, Calley.." he said and tossed a twenty dollar bill to the cab driver as he grabbed her by the arm, propelling her quickly before she could do more than protest loudly and in futility. "Dammit Tay. This isn't about YOU now..okay? Jesus.." she said as he set her in the seat and shut the door. "Okay. Fine." he said angrily and got in on his side, slamming the door. he reached for his pack of cigarettes and lit one immediately. He stuck it in his mouth, rolled the window down slightly, and took a long drag. He blew it out the window and looked at Calley. "Nice habit you picked up on the road.." she said sarcastically. "Whatever. If this doesn't have anything to do with me, WHY did you come to the show? Why did you make sure to get yourself backstage to see me?" he said and put the car in reverse. Calley groaned and ran her hand through her hair. "I dunno. I wanted to see you.." she sighed. "It's not like I've forgotten everything. What do you want me to say? Do you wanna hear me say 'you were RIGHT'? That I should have left when you asked me to? OKAY YOU WERE RIGHT...are you happy now?" she folded her arms across her chest and stared out the window as he drove. "Why the hell are you biting MY head off Calley? I didn't almost beat the hell out of you in a public place. You KNOW I'd never touch you like that, no matter how mad you make me. I," he pointed at his chest and then took another drag off his cigarette, "came to see if you were all right. If you needed my help. I do still care about you, Calley. But how can I keep going on, when you are MARRIED to someone else? I can't live like that..." he said and took another huge drag. |
| Calley sighed heavily again and laid her head against the window, watching the scenery whiz by, but without really seeing it. "I know, Taylor. I understand that. Okay? But THIS...has NOTHING to do with that now.." she closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. "What then? How long has he been pushing you around like that? He's lucky Zac was thinking straight. I'd have just pounded the living shit out of him." Taylor told her, taking another drag off his smoke. "That was the first time.." she said softly. "But it's not gonna happen again. He didn't care what was bothering me, just that I was EMBARASSING him.." she wiped her eyes, and continued to stare out the window. "What did you say that pissed him off in the first place?" Taylor asked, curious. "That I wanted to go to work, instead of wasting my college education just to make HIM look good." she told him. "He doesn't need me.." she whispered, "and neither do you." she wiped her eyes again and pressed her forehead against the glass. Taylor took another long drag off his cigarette, realized it was about gone and pitched it out the window. He ran his hand through his hair and looked over at Calley. Her small, sad form slumped against the window and she looked over at him. She shifted, so that if she were any farther away from him, she'd be outside the car. He reached over and cupped the back of her head and stroked her hair. He heard her suck in her breath as she squeezed her eyes closed tight. "You WILL be all right.." he said and they drove the rest of the way in slience. |