Alcohol, Taylor Hanson and a Stripper
It didn’t take much convincing to talk everyone into throwing a party at our apartment. It wasn’t the best party location in the world, but the invitation list was pretty short—just the usual Wednesday night crew and Taylor. I made it clear to him that Neil wasn’t invited, and he surprised me by agreeing to that without even so much as a snarky comment. Maybe Taylor was finally starting to notice that his roommate was gross. Maybe Taylor was growing up.
No, that was too much to hope for.
Whatever the reason for his behavior was, it all seemed to be working in my favor for once. That was probably a sign that shit was just getting ready to blow up in my face, but for the moment, I decided to enjoy it and not think about all the things that could soon go wrong. With that thought in mind, I set about cleaning up the apartment and getting it ready for a party. The counter tops were covered with a variety of liquor bottles, all supplied by Taylor, while the man himself was on a run to the corner store for ice, mixers and plastic cups. Molly was taking a shower, Peyton was finishing up a paper at the library but promised to join us later, and with nothing else to do now that the place was clean enough, I plopped down on the couch.
I hadn’t sat there for long when a loud thump on the door made me jump. Since it was unlocked, the culprit shoved it open and walked on into the apartment. I soon saw that there were actually three culprits—Taylor and Elijah lugging armfuls of plastic bags, and Zac loaded down with pizza boxes. What was a party without alcohol and pizza, after all?
“The party has arrived,” Taylor announced, depositing his bags on the counter.
“And we all know a party can’t start until Taylor Hanson’s there, right?”
Taylor just gave me a smirk and a wink in response to that. Somehow, it didn’t make me feel as dirty as it used to.
As I watched him and his brother finish setting up for the party, I couldn’t help thinking about the beginning of the semester. We had celebrated moving in with pizza, too, but it seemed like ages ago. So much had changed since then, and yet so much seemed to have stayed the same. My relationships with Zac and Taylor had changed so many times over the last few months, but the one constant fact was that they both meant so much to me. Maybe more than they realized… but then again, maybe not. Maybe they both, finally, understood exactly where they belonged in my life.
“Rum and Coke, right, Georgie?” Zac asked, his voice jarring me out of my thoughts.
I blinked at him while I repeated what he had said in my mind until it made sense. Of course he knew my favorite drink. Finally, I gave him a smile and said, “Yes, please. And one of those muffins from the coffee shop, if you’re playing waiter. I put the bag in the microwave.”
A few moments later, Zac joined me on the couch—two cups in one hand and a gigantic chocolate muffin on a paper plate in the other. “You looked like you were deep in thought there for a second.”
“I was,” I replied. “Just thinking about everything, you know? Who knew one semester—not even a full semester yet—could change things so much? But at the same time… it all kinda feels right.”
“Knowing you slept with my brother doesn’t exactly feel right,” Zac pointed out. “But I get what you’re saying. Whatever it took to get us here, we’re together. Finally. The rest of it is just details. Memories. Some I’d like to forget, but memories nonetheless.”
I hadn’t noticed the shower stopping, but the bathroom doorknob gave a loud creak when Molly opened it. “Hey, Georgie, do you think I could borrow that Star Wars shirt you got at Goodwill last—”
She stopped in the middle of her sentence, her whole body freezing as she stood in front of us in nothing but a towel. A very, very short towel. To absolutely no one’s surprise, Taylor gave a long, low whistle.
“Well, hello, there,” he said. “Now it’s really a party. Alcohol, Taylor Hanson, and a stripper. What more do you need?”
“A barf bag,” I interjected. “Honestly, do you flirt with everything female? And do you have to be so creepy about it?”
“I don’t, but it’s so much more fun that way,” he replied, flopping down on the couch next to me, sufficiently sandwiching me between him and his brother. I didn’t think that was a coincidence. “And not all women. Just my dear little brother’s friends.”
“Yeah, thanks for that,” Zac mumbled.
“I think I need another shower to wash off the feeling of Taylor hitting on me!” Molly called out as she scurried away to her bedroom.
Only seconds after she disappeared, the apartment door opened and Peyton rushed in. She made a beeline for the beers Taylor had so thoughtfully stashed in a bowl full of ice and asked, “Sorry it took me so long to get over here. What did I miss?”
“Just Taylor undressing Molly with his eyes,” I remarked.
“So, the usual,” Peyton replied, taking a seat in the floor next to the chair Elijah had sprawled across.
“Basically,” I replied. “And for once I wasn’t the target of his sleaziness. It’s a refreshing change, really.”
“Hey, I respect my brother’s relationships,” Taylor said. “I’ll hit on his friends, sure. But there are some lines I won’t cross, believe it or not.”
“I’m going to go with not.”
“Well, if anyone would know, it would be you, Georgie Girl.” As if there was any doubt what he meant by that, Taylor cleared it up with an exaggerated eyebrow wiggle.
“Okay, I have to ask,” Elijah said. “Is this weird to anyone else? Like, this whole thing? Zac and Georgina, and Taylor and Georgina? Why are we not talking about how weird this is?”
“Because talking about it causes some of us to have emotionally scarring mental images of Taylor naked?” Peyton suggested.
“Because it is weird and awkward,” I admitted, then took a big sip of my drink. I needed to not be sober for this conversation, I decided. “It wasn’t my finest moment—no offense, Taylor. I hated everyone joking about how I was still a virgin, so I chose a really stupid solution to that problem that only created more problems. I don’t think this semester has been any of our finest moments, really. But the worst of it is over. Maybe getting used to me and Zac being a couple is weird, too, but it’s a good weird.”
“But you… but she…” Elijah turned to Zac. “She slept with your brother.”
“Yeah, she did,” Zac agreed. “And it made me really, really jealous. I don’t want to say I’m glad it happened, but if something hadn’t happened to make me realize how much I needed to stop being stubborn and admit my feelings for her… well, I don’t know where we would all be now.”
Elijah just shook his head. “All I know is that I’m glad I’m an only child.”
We all laughed at that, and were still laughing when Molly finally walked into the room. She wasn’t wearing my new shirt, but she was still sporting bright red cheeks. With her pale coloring, it really stood out, and it only made me laugh harder. I knew I shouldn’t have laughed at her pain, but after everything I had been through that semester, it was nice to see someone else being the embarrassment and the brunt of everyone’s jokes for once.
Still, Molly had had a rough day, and she deserved better than that. I gave up my spot on the couch to her and offered to get her a drink while she settled in.
“Thanks,” she said to me, then turned to the rest of the group. “So what did I miss while I was trying to scrub Taylor’s eyes off my body?”
“Oh, come on,” Taylor said. “Don’t fight it, babe. I don’t think I can take being rejected by Georgie and you all in one semester.”
“Well, we wouldn’t want to hurt your fragile male ego, would you?” Molly replied.
“Can someone put on a movie to distract from all this talk about how much I’ve suffered at the hands of the women of this college?” Taylor whined, but he was clearly joking. His ego wasn’t fragile at all, from what I could tell. It was fucking Teflon.
“As long as we’re not talking about my pathetic love life, I’m happy,” Molly remarked.
“So, movie time?” Taylor said, giving Molly a little look that I thought seemed almost like sympathy.
Elijah took it upon himself to do as Taylor had asked, making snide little comments about our movie collection before finally settling on Serenity. We had all watched it so many times that we practically all the dialogue memorized, but that didn’t matter. A good movie, a little alcohol and time with my best friends (and my boyfriend)… what more could a girl ask for?
At some point, probably not long after we decided to make a drinking game out of the movie’s use of the word “shiny,” I fell asleep. Or passed out. I came back to reality at the sound of the movie’s menu replaying over and over again, and slowly realized there was no one else in the living room but Elijah, who also seemed to be passed out in his chair. I was still in the floor, in front of where Zac had sat on the couch, but someone had put a pillow behind my head and a blanket from the back of the couch around me.
“Drunken Beauty awakens.”
I looked around for a moment before locating Taylor (the source of the words) in the kitchen, filling a trash bag with what was left of our party. Pulling myself from the floor, I asked, “Did everyone else turn into pumpkins or something? Wait, that’s the wrong fairy tale.”
“Peyton’s in the shower, Molly went to bed, Elijah—as you can see—may be dead, and your lover boy is probably naked in your bed by now.”
“How thoughtful of him to get started without me,” I remarked. I picked up a few stray plastic cups and carried them to the kitchen. “Was Molly okay? I hope we took her mind off all the shit with Parker.”
“She seemed to be in a better mood,” Taylor replied, thoughtfully. “Then again, rum will do that to a person. She’ll bounce back, though. She’s just too much of a sweetheart for her own good; she lets people in easily and lets stuff get to her. Which isn’t that bad of a quality in a person, I suppose.”
“It isn’t a bad quality until you let the wrong person in,” I added. “But we can’t all be heartless bastards. Which brings me to my next question… we’re okay, aren’t we? I know you’ll put on a good face and act like this isn’t weird, but do you really mean it?”
“I do,” Taylor replied, giving me the most genuine smile I’d ever seen him give anyone. “I love you, Georgie Girl. Not like Zac does, but in a way that means I just want to see you happy. And I did my best to contribute to your happiness when I could. Now it’s my dear little brother’s turn. So you probably shouldn’t leave him waiting. He snores when he drinks, by the way.”
“You both snore like freight trains.” I rolled my eyes, but smiled. Deciding to take his advice, I tossed the plastic cups in the trash bag and said, “Goodnight, Taylor.”
“Goodnight, Georgie Girl,” he replied. As I walked away, he added, “And you know you love us anyway!”
And god help me, I did. In very, very different ways, I did love them both. I often couldn’t stand Taylor at all, but he was part of my strange little found family, and it wouldn’t be the same without each and every family member.