Chapter 23:
Taylor stood in front of the mirror and fiddled anxiously with the collar of his light blue polo. He could think of about a hundred things he'd rather do that night than go out with Mason and Alexa, but he'd stupidly agreed to go to the party and it was too late to back out now. He supposed he could always feign a sudden illness, but frankly, he was tired of hiding from the things he knew he had to face eventually.
But how was he going to deal with this? Alexa had already chosen Mason over him - that much was clear. And judging from the distant way she'd been acting lately, he was beginning to think that she didn't want anything to do with him anymore.
He always saw Alexa as being so much stronger than he was - someone who dealt with problems maturely and rationally instead of running away. But maybe he didn't know her nearly as well as he thought; maybe the chemistry he felt and let himself believe in had never existed at all. The thought made a mixture of sadness and anger sweep across his heart, chilling him like a cold and bitter wind.
"Tay, you almost ready?" Mason's voice called across the doorway.
Although she couldn't see him, he shook his head, mumbling a quiet "no" before opening the bedroom door, his eyes widening at the sight that greeted him.
"Where exactly is this party - the Ritz Carlton?"
She laughed, tucking a strand of long hair behind her ear. "No, it's just at our friend Katie's house. You've met her before...she's the fireball who gave you a run for your money at karaoke night a few weeks back."
"Well, you clean up nice."
"Thanks. I feel like I've been practically living in my work uniform lately, so I thought I'd go all out tonight," she said.
And she certainly had done exactly that. Mason looked truly stunning in a tight burgundy-and-white striped dress with a plunging neckline. The diamond studs in her ears caught the light and made her eyes sparkle, too. Taylor glanced down at his simple outfit of jeans and a t-shirt and frowned, suddenly feeling very underdressed.
"Maybe I should change..." he mumbled.
"You look fine. More than fine, really," she insisted.
He attempted a smile but knew that it was half-hearted at best.
"Hey, you okay?" Mason's eyes narrowed as she brushed a wayward lock of hair from his forehead.
"I'm fine."
She let out a small sigh, the gesture making Taylor feel guilty for putting a damper on her good mood. "Have you forgotten how long we've known each other? I can tell when something's bothering you."
"It's nothing - you really don't need to worry about me," he said, his words causing the creases of concern on Mason's face to fade, although she didn't look entirely convinced. "Zac and I were just talking about some things earlier that really got me thinking, and you know how dangerous that can be..."
"I always knew that younger brother of yours was a bad influence!" she joked. "Seriously, though, if you ever need to get anything off your chest..."
"I know. Thanks, Mas," he said, his smile genuine this time.
"Now that that's settled...shall we go?" she asked, looping her arm through his.
"I suppose we shall," he replied, swallowing down his negative thoughts as he followed her out of the room.
* * * * * * * * *
The party started out like any other. Crowds of people flooded every spare inch of Katie's apartment as they eagerly consumed more alcohol than should ever be allowed in a single space. Taylor wasn't exactly in the mood to socialize, but he somehow found himself in a rather heated debate about indie music with one of Mason's college friends. Normally, he didn't carry his soapbox around, realizing that he felt a lot more passionately about certain subjects than the average person, but that night he didn't care how loud or opinionated he was. The two gin and tonics he'd thrown back after walking through the door had left their mark on him already, loosening his tongue and relaxing his mind to the point where he was actually starting to feel good again.
So he'd messed things up with Alexa. Was that really the end of the world? He'd dealt with far worse and was still alive to tell the tale. There was a time when he thought that his divorce would completely break him, but it hadn't - he hadn't let it. He knew that he could get through this rough patch, too, even if it seemed impossible to come to terms with at the moment. After all, he'd only known Alexa for a very short amount of time compared to his long, complicated history with Melanie.
But his sense of peace was fleeting, dissolving as soon as he heard Mason's voice rise above the general commotion of the party.
"Attention, everyone! Would you all kindly start making your way to the back porch?"
Taylor made a tight fist around his half-empty beer bottle and followed the trickle of party guests outside. Strings of lights hung in lavish loops around the porch railings, and Mason stood in the center, her cheeks glowing as she locked eyes with Alexa. Alexa leaned against the decorated railing as she sipped from her generous glass of wine, wearing an adorable yet slightly wary expression. It seemed that she was just as oblivious to Mason's intentions as everyone else was.
Despite the voice in his head warning him not to, he couldn't stop himself from looking at Alexa. He got such a secret thrill out of admiring her subtle curves and the way her eyes crinkled when she smiled. Her gaze met his for only an instant and he saw a surprising glimmer of hope in their depths, like maybe she hadn't given up on him after all. But then it vanished, replaced by Mason's reflection as she pulled Alexa close and whispered something in her ear that Taylor couldn't hear.
As soon as everyone (or at least, those who were sober enough to follow any sort of instructions) had gathered on the porch, Mason wrapped her arm around Alexa's waist and gave it a tight squeeze. Alexa laughed nervously and Taylor could have sworn he saw the wine goblet tremble in her hand. Slowly, the chatter around them faded into silence, and every head was turned toward the two blondes who had become, quite literally, the center of attention.
"Sorry for interrupting this fabulous little gathering, but there's something I want...no, there's something I need to say."
Taylor sucked in a sharp breath. Mason hardly ever made speeches, so the fact that she felt the need to deliver one in the middle of a party struck an anxious chord inside of him. Nonetheless, he quieted the warning bells in his mind and focused his wandering attention on his ex-girlfriend, who looked both serious and thoughtful as she rubbed her hand along Alexa's forearm.
"I think most of you know how miserable I was last year. After getting sucked into one horrible dead-end relationship after the next, I was in a very dark, depressing hole that I couldn't climb out of. I started losing faith not only in the entire male population, but in myself..."
With that comment, Mason lifted her head and gave Taylor a little wink, a small gesture to let him know he wasn't included in the cluster of doomed relationships she'd just described.
"...But then, this beautiful woman walked into my life and made me realize that I'd just been looking in the all the wrong places."
A chorus of awws burst forth from the crowd, but Taylor's voice was not among them. Instead, he remained silent and kept his eyes trained on Alexa, trying to ignore the fact that his heart was beating ten times faster than its usual rate, threatening to jump right out of his chest.
Mason took hold of Alexa's hand and reached her free arm out to Katie, who pressed something into her open palm. Taylor noticed that Alexa's grip on her wine glass loosened and she very nearly dropped it, managing to catch it just seconds before it fell. Her entire body was trembling as she set her drink on the ledge beside her and turned back toward her Mason, who still hadn't let go of her hand.
When Mason slowly dropped to her knees on the wooden floor and opened her mouth to speak, Taylor began to shake, too. He suddenly knew exactly what was coming, and he could do nothing but stare straight ahead as the scene before him unfolded as if in slow-motion.
"I love you more than anything. You're the light in my world, and you make me happier than I ever thought I could be." Mason's voice was soft, and the smile on her face was hopeful as she lifted her shining eyes to meet her girlfriend's.
"Alexa Morris, will you marry me?"