A/N: Hey guys, seeing as I'm off on Monday I've been writing like a beast trying to give you all something to remember me by & thanks for the well wishes about my travels.
Fun facts: The benefit in writing in real-ish time is that I can answer your questions live and write them in so this chapter was sparked by Diaz Dakota (who needs an account like yesterday so we can chit chat) and Newton's Law: "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."
Taylor and Bella are the only "normal" couple in the fic; it's been that way since Chapter 1. I always write them in opposition to Careese in every chapter both couples feature in (don't ask why, it makes me laugh).
I deliberately wrote Paul as an "Disneyland Dad" before I knew the term because I thought it'd be a challenge to humanise it. That's why Taylor and Monique were so close in the earlier chapters. Thanks to Jessicapearsonapologist and Refried refried beans...
Felice's kids are named after characters from House Party (1990), Sherane and Sydney are the epic female dancers in the battle and Bilal was played by a relatively-unknown Martin Lawrence.
I'm thinking of writing a list of the current characters 'cause there are so many I had to draw a mind map :) Let me know if it's needed and I'll post it in my profile.
For now, let's find out how everyone reacts to the proposal... As always, enjoy x
Sunday 13th September, 2.00pm, Evelyn's Condo, Williamsburg
Evelyn watered her potted plants in the living room while Gregory had Joss playing scales on the keyboard on the balcony; she was terrible. They didn't know what key she was playing in. "I blame myself. One of Joe's experiments gone wrong." Evelyn told John, who had snuck in 10 pixie sticks to celebrate, she didn't want to eat them, she used them as a fruity drink sweetener. "She's gonna give you trouble 'til Kingdom come. And don't think I haven't noticed that bandage she's hiding under that cardigan. Trying to distract me with the Old House colours." She shook her head and stroked her plants.
"Why do you blame yourself?" He asked, emptying the sherbet into her berry smoothie.
"'Cause I let Joe raise her as the son he never had. Don't you go repeating this-" He gave her the enhanced drink that was finally sweet enough for her taste. She took a long sip that reminded him of how Joss took a drag, he made a mental note to take her to the woods again. "Joe always wanted a boy and when she was born he was disappointed."
John knew this wasn't the story she told Joss.
"After years of trying, we knew it wasn't gonna happen for us so he focused his attentions on making her just like him. A leader, a lone ranger." John smiled. "Which wasn't difficult. She's so hard headed." She said with complete lack of ownership.
"Cat Stevens." He said.
"Greg says he's Muslim now. Yusuf Islam. Anyway," She sipped. "He pushed her. And then he left. And came back to push her some more. Like a racehorse. Poor thing just wanted to be free." He thought of the mustang they sent back to Montana. "Until she started to push back. You ever seen two bulls lock horns?" He thought of himself and Mars; broken fingers vs. broken jaw. He nodded. "They stayed like that for years."
"What made it stop?" John asked as she sat beside him.
"Taylor. They finally wanted the same thing, even agreed on the name." She smiled. "And it seemed like all those years just melted away, 'cause he didn't have much time left. What I'm saying is Jocelyn's not a "need you" kinda woman, it doesn't mean she doesn't, she's just not wired to say it. I'm giving you a heads up, John."
"A heads up?"
"I don't wanna be sitting here 10 years later, mad every time I see your face 'cause you didn't take care of my daughter. 'Cause you're out with Taylor having all your Disneyland-Uncle Dad fun while Joss plays bad cop and cleans up all the mess. 'Cause you let her get on without you, very well. Catch my drift?"
He realised she was talking about Paul and using Nina Simone to do it, she had style. "I heard you."
"And John?" She adjusted her ocean blue scarf. "The rubies were a nice touch, 'more precious than rubies', How did you know?"
John didn't have an answer. The ring was all Finch's idea as he decided John couldn't be trusted with the responsibility. So he lied. "I'll never tell..."He poured more sherbet into her smoothie just a moment before Joss and Gregory joined them. She had proven to him how she failed grade 1 Piano twice and he promised not to bring it up again.
"Lunch?" Joss asked, rolling up her sleeves with a satisfied grin on her face.
"I knew it." Evelyn stared down at her bandage and shook her head at John. "You're off to a bad start already."
2.15pm, Johns Hopkins University
It took the best part of a hour for Malik's mom to leave; in that time she had scolded him in three languages, asked Taylor no less than 20 variations of the same question and swore she would kill her son before he killed her from embarrassment. Taylor thought if this is how she responded to the fight, Malik better find himself a roomy closet with a mini fridge, sleeping bag and a heater.
"What happened last year?" Taylor asked, after they watched her drive off through the window. Malik shot him one of those glances that said it was off-limits. "Fine. Who are you avoiding now?"
Malik thought for a moment. "Uhh...mmm...you still got that ball?"
Taylor threw him the stress ball. "You know I could find out on Twitter." Malik hit the ceiling with the ball over and over. "Malik!"
He snapped out of the loop and sat on the desk Taylor refused to work at or touch. "My sister's getting married on October 17th."
"Good for her. Is that how it started?"
Taylor flicked through Joss' selfies of her and her ring, the most he'd seen of John in 30 photos was his elbow. He hadn't graded it yet. She'd called him when he was about to leave Isabella's and refused to tell him about how John proposed. She was beaming and told him to be happy for her. He thought the ring was a good choice but decided to reserve judgement on the proposal. He predicted there would be trouble ahead; trouble, guns and bullets.
"No." Malik grabbed the phone off him; in addition to being incurably nosy, Malik didn't handle being ignored well. He flicked through and nodded in approval, not at the ring but Joss' well fitted sorority tank. "Is he white?"
Taylor sighed, not interested in an excerpt from his father's online speeches. "No, he's in between tans. And stop checking out my mom, I told you it's weird." He grabbed the phone back.
"Sorry." Malik looked from side to side and tried to get the sounds of Stacy's mom out of his head. "I asked Jada to come to the wedding with me." Malik told him.
Taylor was confused. "I thought I saw her with a guy with a mohawk."
"That's why she told me no. Which is weird 'cause usually...anyway some guy from Montfort Hall told her to stay away from me 'cause of what happened last year."
"Who is he?" Malik shot him another glance. "You know for someone who likes taking all these dramatic pauses in their stories, you don't say much. So I'm out." Taylor grabbed his tablet and headphones for effect, hoping to speed up the story.
"Wait." Malik sat on the desk again. "You know how you've only been with one girl?"
Taylor thought he was done teasing him about it. "Say something smart, I'm waiting."
Malik kissed his teeth. "I'm done with that. I'm...kinda the same. But not with girls."
Taylor tried to keep a poker face. "Okay?"
"So, when he found out about the wedding he kinda lost it."
"What did you do?" Taylor asked, noticed Malik often removed himself from stories where he was the protagonist.
"I kinda...told him I'd tell them about him."
Taylor's eyes grew. "On what planet?"
"I know. It was just one those times when you say anything. You know."
Taylor empathised; he'd listened to John Baez, gone to the Botanical Gardens and watched Just another Girl on the I.R.T. for Isabella 'cause love makes you say you'll do anything.
"He was gonna come to the team."
"He was gonna Michael Sam for you?" Taylor was impressed.
"Yeah, that made it worse. I told him he couldn't come to the wedding and then," He pointed to his right cheek that was swollen but not bruised. "He called me a punk for bitching out. Said I left him hanging."
"So that's what the fight was about?" Malik nodded emphatically, his eyes were darting again. "Look Malik, this is hurting you and everyone around you."
Malik nodded. "I know. There's this guy online who said I can fix it."
Taylor dared to ask. "Fix what?"
"The thing." Malik didn't address his sexuality by name, whereas Andres identified as SGL, adding to Taylor's list of letters. "I can get rid of it. You know, be normal."
"You are normal." Taylor stated, but didn't push it. He knew enough from living with Joss that people have tells when their lying. "It's in the eyes..."
3.00pm, Finch's Penthouse, Tribeca
Shaw responded to the news by dragging a large aquarium tank for Doughboy and flashing her Revolver when Finch reminded her of his "no reptiles in the house" rule. When she was done, she put on her sorority t-shirt and some old jeans and insisted he share her lunch of 60% proof vodka and gummy bears. She sat with her feet propped up on the adjoining desk. Finch had finally removed her code and could find her on CCTV footage again. "Ms Shaw, I've been wondering." She cracked her nose and threw a gummy bear in the air and caught it with her mouth. "Why did you name the code "Dirty Dancing"?"
She swigged from the bottle. "'Cause you tried to put me in a corner."
"Your arm was broken."
"So sexist." She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, any more bitchy exes in Curly Fries' past? I need to let off some steam."
"No!" He replied, as Suzanne was still on crutches. Even Bear was avoiding her. "It was inevitable Ms. Shaw." Finch asked, cleaning his glasses.
She caught three more gummy bears with her mouth. "I always thought he'd die first." She pulled out a burner phone and waiting for her call to be picked up.
"Who are you calling?"
"Millie. That story about how she found the body always makes me feel better." She shuffled off in her punctured pink Timberlands.
3.40pm, Evelyn's Condo, Williamsburg
Fusco was at an arcade with Lee rounding off their post-breakup weekend. Lee was ecstatic because Suzanne had limped to the Principal's office and insisted he create an eighth grade girls' hockey team just so they avoided him. Stevie had recruited more than enough members through coercion in the Girls' bathroom.
"You got a licence for that?" He asked Joss on their video call, taking a break from their violent game of air hockey. She giggled and flashed her ring. "Tell Levi's I'll put him in a headlock if he messes up."
"Thanks Lionel."
5.50pm, Felice's House, Elmont, Queens
Raina had moved in the last of her things and was watching Yo Gabba Gabba with Sherane, Sydney and Bilal. Monique held Amy on her lap defensively, while she tried to eat her beaded necklace. Paul was safely out of dodge at the Sports Bar with his friends; he knew better than to get in between a mother and a daughter.
"I think it's good Joss is getting married." Monique said, sipping wine in the kitchen. "They have a spark."
Felice stared at her like she was from another planet. "I ain't buying it." She ate a coconut chocolate from the tray. Ivan had given her a box on their first date.
"What?"
"This Will and Jada-one big happy family crap."
"It is possible to get on." Monique reasoned, although she was sitting in another room in the house with door closed to avoid her mother.
Felice snickered. "Let me guess, Paul called John and they're at the sports bar right now celebrating."
Monique rolled her eyes. "Fine. They still don't talk. Besides that one-word thing they do. But who cares? She's not out to get me, Leese."
Felice nodded along, condescendingly. "Mmm, yeah. Just wait 'til Taylor chooses Paul over her and you'll see the claws come out. All I'm saying is; watch your back."
Monique knew her personal tone led to another conversation entirely so she changes subjects. "Anyway, how was your date?"
"It was so good, he can dance."
Monique didn't probe. "I tried calling you on Friday but you weren't here."
Felice grinned. "Yeah, that's 'cause he bought us tickets to the Observatory so I took the kids straight after school. They loved it, 'Lal wants to be an astronaut it's so cute."
Monique's face cracked. "You guys went out with your kids?"
"Fix your face. I'm not stupid." She replied, revealing another bone of contention in their relationship. "I told him I have kids 'cause that's what Steve Harvey said, and he bought us tickets."
Monique couldn't hide the concern on her face. "What? He's being nice. Weren't you the one who said I needed to date a nice guy?"
Monique felt a knot form in the pit of her stomach. "Yeah I was." Felice got her phone out and flicked though pictures of their outing, showing her. "Look at Sherane, and she was all nervous about going to the World Trade Center, now she wants supplies for the Science Fair already..."
Thursday 17th September, 5.15pm, Johns Hopkins University
Taylor wasn't joking when he said his job in the library granted him access to hot chicks. He didn't realise he was at close range to the first one he saw naked at college; Jada. She was in the same despondent mood she was in when she stopped by the room and Malik refused to see her. He stopped by her desk and pretended to collect books from her.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
She nodded, then shook her head. He sat down facing her. "What's up?"
She ignored his question. "How's Malik?"
"Quiet. If you can believe that." He cracked a joke to cheer her up.
She forced a smile. "Can you tell him to call me?" She looked over his shoulder and saw a short girl waiting for him. She looked in her direction. "You should help her out." She stared at him. "You're a really nice guy Taylor." He had heard that before. "Just tell him to call me."
Taylor couldn't shake her strange energy, it surprised him more than her piercing.
