-CHAPTER 10-

I was glad I drug out my black dress. This joint was so posh, I expected Queen Lizzie to come bursting in at any time.

Taylor and I were ushered to a table for 2.

I sat down and eyed the crystal glasses warily. I always had the knack of tipping them over or something.

He cleared his throat. "I like your hair."

I just glanced down at the wavy strand of hair falling down my shoulder. "Mmm."

He glanced around. "Well, we've got heaps of attention."

I just shrugged and played with my hands in my lap.

He coughed slightly and I raised my head. "It's good to see you again, Kristen."

I nodded. "Same, Taylor. Same."

A waiter set a basket of large breadsticks in front of me. I grinned.

He smiled. "I remember."

"Yeah. CRUNCH!" I laughed.

He took a sip of water and chuckled. "Well, you sure did create a stir that night. With the bread, your songs and Christina Ricci."

I nodded and looked around.

"So" he folded his arms on the table "How are you? Really?"

I kept my eyes from his. "Good."

I could see him shake his head. "I don't think so." He reached over and grasped my arm, pulling me across the table. It the dim light, my makeup hid the bruises slightly, but Taylor knew what he was looking for.

He shook his head slowly.

I cleared my throat.

"What happened to you, Kris?" he asked, letting my arm go.

I nervously pulled away and dropped my hand back into my lap. "Nothing."

"Don't give me that."

I glanced away. "It was an accident."

He took a sip of water and sighed. "That's the kind of excuse I'd expect a woman being beaten by her lover to tell me."

I couldn't help it. I bit my lip to keep it from quivering. I didn't look at him.

He dropped his glass loudly and stared at me. "That's it, isn't it?"

I brushed a strand of hair away and watched a couple a few tables over.

He didn't move. "So, who did this? Your boyfriend?"

I nodded slowly, moving my vision to the thick curtains hanging around the retaurant. "Ex."

He nodded and breathed out. "Glad you got rid of him."

"He was a dickhead. He used me." I sighed miserably and focused my eyes on the hot breadsticks.

He just nodded again. "Don't you ever let anyone hurt you, Kris."

I frowned slightly, glancing up at him. "I won't."

He looked at me earnestly. What? Did he not believe me?

"I won't." I declared, louder.

He nodded and pulled a bit of flakey bread off of a stick. "I believe you."

I moved my hand over to grab a piece of bread but I tipped over the glass. "Damnit." It clattered loudly, but at least it was empty.

He grinned at my clumsiness.

"So" I began, setting the glass back upright "I've been invited to your wedding."

He froze.

"Miss Taylor said I 'simply must come'."

He grew red and it was his turn to look away.

I bit my thumbnail. "When were you going to tell me, Taylor Hanson?"

He coughed slightly, the red travelling to his ears. "I was..."

"Right."

"I was, but I-"

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, Taylor, that's fine. I wish you all the best in the future." I said and tried to cross my legs under the table. I ended up bumping my knee loudly on the table and kicking Tay in the shins. "Sorry."

He winced. "That's okay." He heaved a great sigh. "We are getting married."

"I kind of figured that." I grabbed another piece of of bread and munched on it. "There's no need to be embarrassed of ashamed that you're getting married." I said.

He made an agreeable noise.

"Yup." I held out my crystal glass for the waiter and he filled it up. "How long you've known each other?" I took it from the waiter before he could jack me up with too much. He just nodded his head curtly and walked away.

Taylor coughed once again and took a sip of water. "About 2 years."

I nodded. "Ah, I see. I thought you would have married a girl you've known a long time. One of them back woods hillbilly Tulsa townies." I joked.

He laughed. "Nope. She's Californian." he said, shifting uneasily.

Why did he say that as if he were disappointed? "Okay." I nodded. "Where you going to live?"

He chuckled lowly. "We're still discussing that. I want to live in Tulsa, but she wants to stay in LA."

I blinked. Typical.

He paused. "Uh..." he looked at me and made wiping motions across his dress shirt.

I glanced down and saw a large flake of bread oozing its way down my front and into my dress. I colored and grabbed it before it landed into my bra. "Oops. I should just swear bread off forever."

I glanced up and laughed, but stopped at the odd expression on his face. "What?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Nothing."

I sat back as the waiter finally came back to take our order.

"Um. Chicken..." I grabbed the menu hastily and chose the first meal I could find. It looked like a heap of italian. Ah, no wonder why. This was an italian restaurant. "I want that." I said and leaned over to point it to the waiter. "And a ceaser salad. With Ranch dressing."

He nodded and scribed the order down. "Drinks?"

I bit my lip. "I'll just stay with the water."

He raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

Taylor ordered something totally indistinguishable from pig latin.

I folded my arms on the table and smiled. "Ah, well. So what's happened in the past 10 years?"

He raised his head and looked right through me. "Not much." he smiled sadly.

I breathed in deeply. Let's go for the gold. "Um. Taylor? When we broke up, I-"

He looked at me sharply. "You broke up with me."

I sat quietly. Fair enough. It just wouldn't have worked. I said as much.

He raked his hand through his short hair. "How do you know that? Things could be alot different today."

I shook my head.

"We had something good. At least I thought so. We were friends. That's the basis of a good relationship."

I grew quite aware of the quiet around us. "Taylor, be quiet." I hissed.

He looked around and sighed. "I'm not here to fight. You have no idea how hurt I was when you didn't want to keep with me."

I flared. "I was hurt as well, you know. I was 15 for God's sake, Taylor. I had never done anything like that before."

"So you dropped me like a hot potato?"

I snorted. "No. I just stopped something that was good but that wouldn't have lasted."

He looked down and pulled his fingers through his hair again. "It's done." He sighed. "I loved you, Kristen. I would have done anything you wanted me to. You know that."

I suddenly hurt. My arm got a jabbing sensation. "I know that. But it was a love a boy has for his puppy." I rubbed my arm trying to will away the hurt. God help me when I got arthritis.

He looked up. "At least you kept contact after a while... but then you even stopped that."

I sat back and kept rubbing my arm. "I'm sorry, I was just so busy." The pain slowly ceased and I opened the menu open again. I nearly fainted when I saw the price of the chicken thingie I had ordered. "Fuck!" I said loudly.

Everything around us stopped.

Taylor just turned red.

A large plate of steamy chicken was set before me. "Take it back! Take it back!" I screeched.

The waiter just smiled and set the plate and my salad down.

I leaned over and hissed at Taylor. "You let me order a $34 plate of nothing?" I motioned to the lovely display of chicken which amounted to about a cup of food.

He nodded and moved back to have a plate of steaming noodles and meat set in front of him.

I drooled. "That looks good."

He grinned. "Want to try?"

I shook my head. "Nah, that's okay."

He just shrugged and shoveled his food into his face. Man, he could put food away faster than you say 'pig'.