Taylor and Ash
Taylor rang Ashley sometime that afternoon.
"Hello?" Ashley yawned.
"Hey Ashley," Taylor grinned.
"Who's that?"
"It's Taylor..." Taylor sounded confused.
"Taylor?"
"Yeah."
"Taylor Hanson?"
"How many Taylors do you know exactly?"
"But... well, I was told you were dead."
"Um, not the way I see it. I got back on... well, three weeks ago. On the Wednesday."
"And you never told me? Where were you?"
"Where were you?"
"Busy man. Where were you?"
"I was abducted by aliens," Taylor chuckled.
"Figuratively or literally?"
"Literally. You know how Ave and I got abducted? They kept me and let some other guy invade my life and pretend to be me."
"Yeah, I heard about Christian. He's a dead man, Tay, dead."
"Yeah well... I dunno, I haven't seen him since."
"I'll kill him for you."
"No you won't Ash. Cos I won't let you."
"Why not?"
"As far as I've heard he's serving his punishment. Anyway... what's this I hear about me being a groomsman?"
Silence.
"Ash?"
"Yeah?"
"What?"
Ashley hesitated, trying to think of what to tell him.
"I kinda, I mean... I was told you were dead Tay. I asked Jarrod if he..."
"Ah, I thought so."
"Don't get me wrong, it's just..."
"Ash, you don't have to explain yourself to me, ok? I missed out on alot, I'm still catching up as it is. Nothing was anyone's fault as far as I'm concerned. Christian fooled everyone."
Ashley hesitated again.
"Taylor?"
"Yeah?"
"Would you still want to be a groomsman? If there was an opening?"
Taylor shrugged to himself.
"Sure. But what about Jarrod?"
"I'm thinking... I'm thinking about having extra members in the bridal party... in a sense."
"Oh," Taylor nodded thoughtfully.
Silence.
"You there Ash?"
"Would you ask Mouse?"
Taylor hesitated.
"Mouse?"
"Yeah. I mean if I'm going to have an extra groomsman Mindy needs an extra bridesmaid you know... and she was thinking about asking her in the first place until Donna stuck her nose in..."
"Ash?"
"Yeah?"
"Shut up. I'll ask her."
"You would?"
"I just said I would. I'd better go anyway... might give her a ring now."
"Ok man. It was great to hear from you. You know, finding out you're actually alive."
Taylor laughed.
"Sure man, I'll get back to you."
"Thanks Tay."
"You're welcome."
Taylor hung up with a smile on his face. He hesitated for a moment, smiling at Flavian playing with Mya, then dialed Mouse's number.
He got the answering machine.
Cursing to himself, he decided to leave a message.
"Hey Mouse, it's Tay... could you give me a ring back when you can? It's about Ash's wedding. Thanks."
He hung up and sighed. If Mouse agreed to be a bridesmaid, the wedding might not turn out to be the complete bore Taylor thought it would. He chuckled to himself, put the phone down, and made his way over to the content little fuzzle family.