Hey guys! Hopefully you see this scene moments after my last two uploads. I'm going for the triple! Wish me luck!
This scene might be a little shorter, because I have another song from the YOUTUBE playlist (the song isn't on Spotify) queued up and I don't want it to be so close to the last chapter.
These last few chapters will be the only ones with back to back songs. I'm pretty sure. I feel odd doing back to back. These songs are just important for what's coming. With each scene, I get closer to the JUICY PART. Ew- why did I type that in all caps I'm so sorry uiewkowq;l
ANYWAY, fasten your seatbelts. We're going for a ride.
"So, I decided to go with your bridge photos on the home page." Taylor explained, pointing to the top center of Chad and Shaylah's wedding website. "I thought they were the most intimate shots. Very lovely. The bridal party and groomsmen have their own tabs for any information or dates that they need and there's also a direct link to The Viridian's website so guests can pick their rooms for the hotel block. The contact info is set to my work number, as I believe that the bride is never to be disturbed." Shaylah nodded at that one. "And there we have it. Your wedding site." Taylor said with an accomplished smile. "What do you think?"
"Taylor, it's wonderful." Shaylah said softly, her eyes filled with admiration for the project. "The pictures look great, and you've done your best, once again. I couldn't feel more relieved."
"It's my job, I'm always happy to make you two feel at ease." Taylor smiled.
"Thank you, Taylor." Chad smiled. "So is it officially online now?"
Taylor hummed, "Not quite yet. I wanted to ask if there were any other details that you wanted to add to the page. A different picture, a change of template...anything, really."
The couple looked at each other curiously.
"I think we're good!" Chad replied.
"So do I." Shaylah smiled at him, placing her head on his shoulder and a hand on his arm. "Taylor, you've made my day. This means so much to me- to us- that this process is going so smoothly. With our busy schedules, I was so afraid that this would be difficult for the two of us to get done. I can't thank you enough."
"That's what I'm here for." Taylor sang cheerfully. "I'm happy too. With everything going so smoothly, we've left a wide gap for possible changes in the future. It's wonderful."
"It's the perfect safe zone!" Shaylah commented, motioning her hand toward Taylor.
"Exactly!" Taylor laughed. "Well, if there's nothing to perfect on the page, then we should be good to go-" She stopped speaking, realizing that something had thrown her off. It was when Shaylah motioned to her with her left hand. It wasn't the hand itself that had been the cause, but Shaylah's ring.
It was a pretty thing, a 0.5 carat princess-cut diamond ring with a vine-like design encasing it. The gem wasn't too big, nor was it too small. It was right in the middle. Simple, but eye-catching at the same time. However, something darker on the back of the small looping 'vines' caught her attention.
"Shaylah, your engagement ring." Taylor began after a moment. She motioned to it in various ways but mainly with a slightly hesitant pointer finger. "I-I never noticed it before."
"Oh, this?" Shaylah asked, looking at it herself. "I've worn it before, but I actually had a scare when it slipped down the drain last week." She laughed. "Luckily, a plumber was able to fish it out."
"Thank God for that." Taylor laughed in response. "Sorry, I have to ask. "When you flipped your hand over, I think I saw something on the back of your ring. Is it engraved by any chance?"
"Oh, yes!" Shaylah said excitedly. "Would you like to see what it says?"
"May I?" Taylor asked.
"Of course!" Shaylah smiled, slipping it off of her finger. "I get that a lot, honestly." She confessed, placing the ring into Taylor's open palm. Taylor observed the message on the back of the band.
'When I least expected it, I found you.'
Taylor swallowed as a flurry of emotions began to course through her. However, she kept things professional, as usual. When she looked back up at the two before her, she noticed that Chad suddenly seemed very uncomfortable. He was trying to hide it, but wasn't doing the best job.
"That's beautiful, Shay." Taylor gushed, handing the ring back to her.
"Right?" Shaylah sighed, looking at the engraving herself. Nothing but love shone through her blue eyes. "Just perfect…"
While she looked, Taylor observed Chad again. He was trying pretty hard not to look at her. Hm.
"Can you believe he insisted on getting me a better ring?" Shaylah laughed suddenly.
"I can't." Taylor chuckled. After a moment, she spoke again, "You know...we put a brief paragraph on the homepage about the true passion and love that the two of you share for each other. But I was wondering...would you like for me to put your love story on there instead? I feel like we could spice this up a little more. You know? Hm... what would you say defines your love story?" Taylor asked, sliding her laptop back over to her side of the desk.
"Oh, that feels like a lifetime ago." Shaylah waved her hand gently. "I would say that...perseverance defines it. I'm not sure I'd want that to be on the homepage, though. It took a moment for us to get here." She smiled weakly at Chad. Chad just kissed her forehead quietly.
"I can absolutely understand that." Taylor said with a nod, and a smile of feigned adoration when Chad kissed his fiancee's forehead. "What about your engagement? Anything you'd want included about that?"
Now, Shaylah seemed to melt at the thought. "Oh, our engagement...it was the most romantic thing ever."
"I wouldn't say ever…" Chad rubbed the back of his neck. "I think I've done other things."
Shaylah giggled at that. "Of course you have, baby. But that really stood out for me." Her smile fell a bit. "You see, Chad and I didn't exactly have the best start. He actually…wasn't emotionally available, if you will, for quite some time. It took years for me to get him to let me into his life completely. The day that he proposed, he took me to this bridge in the center of Westview Park. It's not too far from here, actually. He took me by my hands and said:"
[Flashback, 6 years ago]
"Do you remember this place?" Chad asked Taylor.
"What, the bridge?" Taylor turned around to look at him with a lighthearted smirk. "Of course I do. It's our spot."
"Yes, it is." Chad smirked back, wrapping her into his arms and kissing her forehead. "And why is it our spot?"
Taylor tilted her head slightly as she thought, "Well, this is the spot where we decided to be allies instead of enemies."
"And after that?" He asked.
She smiled up at him fondly. "It's the spot where you told me that you loved me after prom."
Chad nodded. "Mhm." He hummed softly. "And I still do. With all of my heart, Tay. I mean that." She hugged him closer to her, quietly. "Me too."
"Tay…" Chad whispered, pulling away slightly to look at her again. "I know that we've had our ups and downs lately, and I'm so sorry for that."
Taylor tensed slightly and she softly shook her head. "Baby, we don't need to talk about that. It's okay."
"Listen to me, please." Chad stopped her gently. "There's a reason why I brought us here." She nodded. He continued speaking, "My relationship with you was...so unexpected." He chuckled softly. "But it has been one of the best parts of my life. I love you very much. And it means so much to me that you're still here after all this time. I brought us to this place, the place of our two most important milestones, because I want us to reach another one." Chad pulled away from her and got down on one knee.
Her eyes widened. "Chad?"
He pulled a velvety black case out of his pocket. "Taylor, when I least expected it, I found you. And I've been foolish enough to almost lose you too. You are the greatest gift that I've ever received, and I thank God for you." She smiled brightly with tears in her eyes, clearly overwhelmed with emotion. "I want you in my life, for the rest of my life. Taylor Nicole McKessie, will you marry me?"
She didn't speak for a moment. She couldn't. Taylor just nodded. When she had the strength to use her voice again, she whispered excitedly:
"Yes!"
Chad grinned and slipped the ring onto her finger before pulling her to him once again. Taylor looked over her engagement ring, seeing a small engraving on it's back. She read it over curiously.
"'When I least expected it, I found you.'" She repeated, her eyes welling up with tears. "Chad, it's beautiful! I love you so much."
"I love you too." Chad replied, pressing a soft kiss to her lips. "I can't wait to share forever with you…"
[End flashback]
"It was the same bridge that we were on when he'd told me that he wasn't ready for an official relationship a few years before." Shaylah smiled to herself emotionally. "He eventually caved a year later, and we started dating. I'd waited so long for him to be ready for such a big commitment. And when he finally was ready, there it was." Chad rubbed his thumb over her palm soothingly as she continued. "I'd waited, and hoped, and he came through! He got down on one knee on that same bridge, and asked me. And when I saw the engraving on the back of the ring...I knew that that was it for me."
"Because when he least expected to be ready, he found you." Taylor said in what came across as admirational awe. However, Chad knew that she was in nothing of the sort. Shaylah did not know this, though. She just smiled and nodded, a tear falling down her cheek.
"I love him. I really do." Shaylah said, squeezing his hand lightly.
"I love you too." Chad replied.
An alarm went off on Taylor's phone, and she released a breath that she had been holding for a little too long. "Well! I believe that concludes our time for today. I'll see if I can incorporate your engagement into the cover story and have your website loaded up by tomorrow morning." Taylor grinned. "I'll see you next week."
"Sounds great." Shaylah smiled back. Her phone went off as well.
"Ooh, I see that you're punctual as well." Taylor joked.
"Indeed I am. I have to go see my parents for a meeting tonight." Shaylah explained, giving Chad a quick kiss. "I'll see you later, honey." She said to him.
"Let me walk you to your car, at least." Chad smirked.
"Well, hurry up then." Shaylah smirked back. He stood from his seat and prepared to follow her. "Bye, Taylor. Thanks again!" Shaylah called from the hall with a wave.
"No problem! Thank you for sharing your story." She replied cheerfully. Her voice did change to a colder tone when she followed that sentence with:
"It was beautiful."
Chad turned from his place in the doorway and met eyes with Taylor briefly. She looked away and quickly grabbed her notes and laptop, putting them away in her bag. Her office phone beeped, signaling a message from Gabi that she was all too happy to answer.
"Hey, Gabriella, what's up?" She asked.
"Can we borrow you in the common room right quick?" Gabriella asked. "We just got the new printer installed and I want to share the pin with you."
"Sure, I'll be right there." Taylor replied before hanging up. When she looked back up again, Chad was gone. She took a breath, grabbed her purse, and made her way to the common room.
-CR-
"Hey, you." Gabriella smiled at Taylor when she entered the break room.
"Hey." Taylor said with a quick smile. "You said you wanted to tell me the printer pin?"
"Mhm!" Gabriella hummed, pressing a few buttons on the new device. "Okay, so when you guys want to print something from here, you'll need to authenticate with the pin 4326." She punctuated the pin numbers with satisfying beeps from the buttons before her. Once she entered the digits, the printer hummed to life.
"Got it. Thanks." Taylor nodded.
"Of course! Now, you won't have to come all the way down here to punch it in when you print from your office. Once you enter it from your computer, it should remember you. Oka-" When Gabriella turned around, her face fell. Taylor looked devastated. "Honey? What's wrong? You look crushed. Did something happen?"
Taylor fought to get the words out, her eyes blurring up, and throat feeling tighter by the second. "He…" She waved her hand in a small circle, as she waited for her throat to loosen up. "He used my engagement speech on her!"
Peyton's eyes widened and he began to choke on his sandwich. Amelia quickly ran over and tried to help him by patting his back. She succeeded. When Peyton did recover however, his head snapped up to look at Taylor.
"He did what?!" He exclaimed.
Taylor couldn't even repeat it. It was like something shattered. The tears began to slip out and her lower lip started to tremble.
Gabriella quickly walked over. "Oh honey…" she whispered, hugging her.
"It didn't sound like he used the exact speech, but it was basically the same! He even used my ring!" Taylor whimpered.
Zeke couldn't even speak. Chad would never do something like that. Sure he could be a real jerk sometimes, but to disrespect someone he cared- or used to care- about so much? Especially when she hadn't done anything to him? It didn't seem real. But looking at Taylor- strong, kickbutt, independant Taylor….made it clear that it had to be. But he knew Chad. Why would he do that? How could he? Why, he even dared to wonder-
"Did he even love her at all.?" Peyton completed Zeke's interrupted thought with a low but not quiet voice. He wasn't quite stating it, but also not quite asking it.
Gabriella looked at him. "Peyton what are you talking about- of course he loved her! He just…" She paused quickly, shamefully remembering that Taylor was still beside her.
"No, no, no. Go on, say it." Taylor said, somehow forbidding the tears from continuing to fall and replacing them with her cold face.
"Tay, no-" Zeke started.
"Why not Zeke? We're all thinking it!" Taylor said, turning her face to her friend. "He doesn't care anymore. He never did! He's getting married. He couldn't give a shit." Taylor laughed bitterly. "And somehow, in this Godforsaken timeline, I ended up as the planner. It's just show business now. So let's face it guys!" Taylor looked around the room. "Let's just look reality in the face. Because it's as clear as day to me. I was just..." She grew silent.
"Taylor, honey…" Gabriella shook her head. "I'm sure this is a misunderstanding somehow. I mean, it has to be-"
"How, Gabi? How?" Peyton interrupted. She didn't answer.
"I'm just gonna head home." Taylor muttered. "Have a good day, guys." She then left the break room, the door firmly shutting behind her.
When she entered the parking lot, Taylor dug through her purse for her keys. She swiped away at her wet cheeks, feeling her skin becoming raw. When she found them, Taylor looked up again to unlock her car and was surprised to see Chad's car right next to it. She was even more surprised to see Chad himself leaning on the back of the trunk on his phone. He looked up when he heard the car unlock and quickly looked over at her, releasing a shaky breath.
"Taylor..."
Oooooh he in troubleeeee. Lol, I hope you guys enjoyed that! Twas a bit difficult on the flashback part for a moment, but I'm happy with how it turned out!
