Note: Kinda fluffy, but I dig it. I love Taylor, and I love Trey and so clearly, this had to happen! R&R!
"You're here for the obligatory meeting with the groom-to-be's brother, right?" Taylor greeted him with a coy little smile and a wink, and Trey actually smiled. She sounded happier than Ryan's usual taste, but Trey supposed the looked the part. She looked sleek, sophisticated; her hair was curled and spilled down shoulders artfully onto a designer outfit that didn't really scream 'Newpsie' but definitely let him know that this lady demanded respect. She seemed smart, definitely gorgeous (but not in a way that invoked inappropriate feelings -- he was so over lusting over Ryan's girls) and seemed relatively baggage-free and normal.
Ryan had warned Trey a day beforehand, ushering him over to the side and saying, "Look, Trey, Taylor's... different from most girls."
To which Trey had naively answered, "Different how?"
Ryan had looked somewhat uncomfortable at that point but shrugged and quirked his eyebrow slightly. "More eccentric. She's just... got a lot of energy, and it's difficult to keep up with sometimes. But she's great. And I love her a lot, so bear with us, alright?"
After which Trey had rolled his eyes and patted his brother on the shoulder and said, "Think I'll be fine, dude. But thanks for the tip."
And Ryan had muttered something incomprehensible under his breath.
"Well, meeting with the groom-to-be's brother for me. Groom-to-be's fiancee for you! But I think you got it. Ryan's running late," Taylor announced as soon as she let Trey into her and Ryan's house in Berkley. It was a decent size, enough room to be comfortable (and a little room to spare) but not so much that they could fit an Albanian family of four alongside with them. It was perfect for them. The first thing Trey noticed when he came in through the door was that everything was ... impeccable. Ryan could design and structure a house out to a tee, he knew this, but he knew that Ryan couldn't actually interior design to save a life, which left Taylor. And just by looking over her, the conversative, yet subtly sexy (but not too sexy) outfit she was donning, and her general pedigree, knew instictively all of this was her work.
So he nodded. "Yeah, I got it. No worries. Place looks good."
"You think?" She grinned and it basically stretched ear to ear. "Well, me too! I'm pretty fabulous at picking out furniture and designing stuff and everything, and so when Ryan proposed and we decided to move in together, I seized the opportunity as a little experiment! I didn't know if the creamy blue would look good with beigey-peach, and the navy, but I had to try, right? I mean, beige beige is just so boring! It's so ... Veronica Townsend."
How did she manage to talk to much? He blinked, feeling tired all of a sudden. "Your mom," he guessed, although it was more like a statement.
"Right," she confirmed. "She was all about the beiges, just plain beige. And it was so boring! Do you know how much of a travesty it is to barely see any bright colors? A huge one!" she answered her own question in a sing-songy voice, glancing back at him and tossing back her waves of hair.
"Well, jail isn't very bright. Except for the orange jumpsuits," he cracked, but his voice lacked the appropriate amount of humor and his joke fell flat.
But Taylor was too polite to not laugh, he realized, because she burst into hysterical laughter. "You Atwood's are hilarious! Oh, you! I see where Ryan gets his sense of humor from!"
"You know I really was in jail, right?" Surely, Ryan had told her that much.
"Oh, yes," Taylor bubbled, and then her face fell, suddenly, overcome with a sense of panic. "I wasn't insulting you, by the way, I swear. I find jail ... admirable! Besides, all you did was steal a car and do drugs and drag Ryan into it and -- god, I need to stop talking."
Trey felt dizzy, and silently agreed with her. "Admirable," he repeated, dubiously. "Never heard that one before."
"I'm unique," she told him with a grin, finally taking him to what he presumed to be the living room. There was a large, widescreen plasma television centered in the midst of plush, expensive looking furniture. A picture of them and their family and friends from what looked to be Seth and Summer's wedding was blown up, matted and framed, hung proudly in the center of one peachy-beige wall, trimmed with creamy blue. Small framed pictures of them, family and friends occupied coffee tables and there was a big shag rug in front of the loveseat. It was so ... perfect. But then, what had he expected?
None of this, actually. He hadn't expected Marissa to die. Hadn't expected Ryan to move on with an exhuberant chick named Taylor, hadn't expected them to get engaged, hadn't expected Ryan to hunt down Trey's number for the first time in years and cordially invite him to the engagement party. He hadn't expected to agree, hadn't expected to push harder to meet up with Ryan and become brothers again, if not friends. He hadn't expected Ryan to go along with the plan, though he now thought that maybe Taylor had something to do with this. He hadn't expected his dad to have knocked up Julie Cooper, hadn't expected to have an adorable little half brother.
None of this had been expected, and yet it was all unfolding.
Marissa had died six years ago. She had been the salt of the earth for a long while. Newport, at least. Even he had been fatally infatuated with her, something that set off a long chain of events, including but not limited to her death. It was amazing and cruel, how life worked that way. So much had changed. His father was back, with child, in love, not drinking, not looking to bash his fist into Trey's face until he saw nothing but black (If Trey blinks fast enough, he can remember and sees a fist coming toward him, but after he slows the beating of his heart and glances around, he realizes his paranoia and shakes his head).
"You guys seem like you're happy here," Trey said after a long silence, catching a glimpse of himself in a hall mirror. He would have to shave before the wedding. He looked pretty trashy next to the impeccably put together Taylor Townsend. Soon to be Taylor Atwood. Wow. She would be his ... sister in law. He was going to have to start drinking more coffee, or something.
"Oh, we are," Taylor affirmed, leading him toward the kitchen, which was, of course, state of the art. He looked at the fridge and saw a goofy looking picture of Ryan cooking something, wearing a silly chef's hat and grinning ear to ear. Trey thought of the days where him and Ryan would cook for their mom, pooling their limited cooking knowledge together and trying to come up with something edible. As they got older, they grew better and now the two of them were pretty decent cooks. Memories like that made him ache, just a little bit, but not in a bad way.
Taylor came up beside him, grinning at the picture. "Isn't that adorable?! Ryan is quite the cook, I must say. For which I say thank Goodness! I'm not a very good cook, although I can rock some desserts. You know, tortes and stuff. Specifically peach torte, which actually plays a very important part in the history of me and Ryan. I mean, I was married to this French guy right after senior year because, well, I used to be sort of desperate and clingy and would fall in love with anyone who was even slightly nice to me. But I didn't love him, you know?" She paused for a second, not even enough time for Trey to chime in, and then continued. "So I filed for divorce, but Henri Michel was being sort of a le douche and claimed we could work it out. And I knew if I went back, I'd just ... stay there. Because he's persuasive, but it wouldn't be right. So as a way to immediately qualify us to divorce, I tried to manipulate Ryan to sign these papers that would say we did it like bunnies. You know, that I was cheating., But he said no, and it was hopeless, but then at the last second he pulls through, lays one on my lips and ... saves me!"
Though a little overwhelmed from all the talking, Trey was actually not surprised in the least. Ryan had saved almost every girl he had ever met. It was what he did. Ryan was the very definition of 'hero'. Ryan had saved his mom, Theresa, Marissa, saved him. Ryan had saved everybody, although nobody had really ever saved him.
He took another look at the picture of Ryan looking really, truly, genuinely happy and then his gaze shifted to Ryan's fiancee. And it hit him -- maybe Taylor had been the one to save Ryan.
He cleared his throat. "If I, uh, got my chronology right -- this happened the year after --" God, could he seriously not say it yet? It had been six fucking years. "The year after Marissa died."
Taylor nodded. "Correct."
Trey went around the kitchen island which had some twirling bar seats with backs and hopped up on one. "He must have been fucked up."
This prompted Taylor to look sort of thoughtful. She came around to the island as well, though she didn't take a seat but leaned against it. "Yeah, I guess so. But ... I don't know, it could have been worse."
"But it wasn't worse, and that was because of you. Right?"
Taylor looked a little caught off guard, but not in a bad way. In fact, she smiled a bit. "I think I actually contributed for a bit there. Pretended to be his sleep therapist, stalked him, etcetera." At his bewildered look, she waved it off as if to say, 'Old news'. "But yeah. I like to think I helped. I couldn't possibly be blase enough to take all the credit!"
"Of course not," he agreed, and he smiled a bit too. "I'm glad you guys are getting married."
This made her positively light up. Apparently the approval of her ex-con future brother in law meant a lot. "You are? Me too. And you'll be a groomsman, and I have some hot single bridesmaid friends so hey, maybe we can start up what can be the new epic Taylor and Ryan romance. Except it'll be Trey and Undetermined and possibly a lot less messy."
Hot bridesmaid friend, huh? That could work for him. He grinned. "Now I'm really glad you guys are getting married."
She laughed. "God, I'm glad this went so well! I have to say, I was very scared. I mean, you're kind of scary - no offense - and I tend to talk too much which I am fully aware can be offputting but this was just--"
"Taylor? Is Trey here?" Ryan's voice traveled from the foyer to the kitchen, and they both went to the hall to greet him.
"Hey, honey," Taylor greeted, leaning in for a brief kiss which Ryan gave, along with a small squeeze of her hand.
Ryan grinned a bit at his brother."Hey, you made it. How's it going?"
"Of course I made it. We were talking last night, remember?" Trey rolled his eyes, but it was purely playful. "It's good. Taylor's been briefing you on our history."
"Our history, huh? I take it you hit up all the keypoints?" Ryan smirked and Trey noted again how lively and happy and ... free Ryan looked. His life was completely together. Fiancee, house, intern job at architect office. It inspired Trey, who had relocated from Vegas to LA and worked as a bartender there, to maybe do something else with his life. And although Trey was clean and steady, he kind of wanted to be more. Weird how shit could hit you like that in the smallest of moments.
"Uh huh!" Taylor confirmed. "The torte, you saving me from Henri's lawyer, um, brief mentions of the sleep therapist and stalking business."
"...Yeah." He grimaced a bit. "Good times. You'll undoubtedly find out more as the weeks go on. Seth likes to talk a lot and he has a lot of dirt on us."
"But Summer promised to interject when he gets too blabber-happy," Taylor put in.
"Oh, does that go for you too?"
"Ryan Atwood!"
"Taylor Almost-Atwood..."
Trey had to laugh. Ahh, they were so sickening in the sweetest way possible. As they play-fought some more, he rubbed behind his ear. "Guess I should go, though. Thanks for inviting me over, Ryan. Taylor, it was ... really great getting to know you. Can't wait til the wedding."
Taylor elbowed Ryan. "Wait, do you want to stay a bit?" Ryan asked quickly. "I mean, I just got home."
"And dinner is like, in an hour. Ryan's making pasta."
"Fettucini," Ryan clarified.
Trey didn't really want to leave anyway so he nodded. "All right. But only because I haven't had a good fettucinni in a while."
"No worries, man. Mine is legendary."
And as they all talked (well, mostly Taylor, with the occasional Ryan and Trey) Trey noted again how strange life was. But as cruel as it was, it was also kinda awesome. Two people who would never even talk under ordinary circumstances would end up blissful and engaged. A man who had every reason in the world to hate his brother would welcome him back with open arms. A guy who had spent time in jail and been hooked on coke would end up sitting among his brother and sister-in-law to be, musing about life. Weird as hell, but yeah. Awesome.
When Ryan went to go check on the fettucine some time later, Trey tagged along although he didn't say anything until Ryan spoke up first.
"So? What do you think? About Taylor, I mean?" The words were almost slightly defensive . Like, 'I don't really care if you hate her, because I'll love her regardless but I'm asking anyway.'
"Honestly, little brother?" He looked Ryan straight in the eye. "I think she's great. Kind of, uh, different like you said. Makes my head spin a bit. But she's great."
Ryan had to smile. "Think so?"
"Yeah, man. Plus she promised to hook me up with her hot bridesmaid friend, so..." He shrugged his shoulders, grinning wolfishly.
Ryan laughed. "Oh, man, behave yourself!"
Trey went on,"I know I haven't always been around and shit, but ... I'm glad I'm here now. So thanks."
Ryan nodded. "It was Taylor's idea," he admitted, confirming Trey's thought from earlier. "But I'm glad I did it. I had missed this. Hadn't realized it really til now, but I had."
"I did too." They pulled into an impromptu hug, and when they parted Trey chuckled. "Damn, we're getting sappy."
"Yeahh, I think we're allowed one free pass. But that's it."
"Just one," Trey agreed with a chuckle.
"But let's get back in there. If we take too long, she'll probably rearrange the whole set up."
Trey was about to ask, 'Really?' and then realized who he was talking about. And although he had only know Taylor for a grand total of an hour, he felt like he had known her for years. And he realized that was not a bad thing at all. This was the girl who had saved Ryan, after all. Considering he was someone who had fucked over Ryan so many times in his life, he was glad that someone existed to cancel him out. So he nodded.
"Yeah. Lets go. I think I just heard the coffee table moving."