“I got you, I got you on my mind
and it’s time to make you see what I want
so I’ll just make this a little more obvious
cuz I get what I want, and I want you to get with me!
Don’t think you know,
how far I’m gonna do
You can’t stop this, feeling!
You can’t run away, baby I’m what’s on your mind
you can’t stop this, feeling!
There’s no escape,
no sleep tonight,
you won’t get, no sleep tonight,” Taylor sang cheerfully, dancing around her apartment.
“Someone’s cheerful,” commented Marty, who was stood in the doorway watching her.
“That’s because it’s a beautiful day.”
“Nothing to do with the barbeque?”
Pizza had led to a long night in Mac’s office with everyone chatting about their plans for the weekend - minus Danny and Lindsay, who were still enjoying their bugs a couple of hours later. Sheldon declared that the weather for the weekend had given a mini heat wave, temperatures in the mid 90s. After a few minutes, everyone had agreed to a barbeque on Coney Island Beach.
“Well, that might play a part. I’ve not been to the beach since I visited home a few years ago,” she continued to dance around her bedroom, making Marty laugh.
“Come on, you. We should get going,” he told her.
Taylor grabbed a large bag she had filled with things she’d need – sun cream, towels, CDs, etc, and followed Marty to the basement where the building’s parking lot was located. “You’re having the roof down, Marty!” Taylor laughed, pressing a few buttons.
Marty swiped her hand away. “That’s the fog lights, Tay. Stop pressing buttons.” He hit one and the roof began to lower.
“Why? Is this really a car like James Bond has? You know, I press a button and the nest thing I know, we’re flying?” Taylor asked, her eyes wide and playful.
Marty laughed, “I don’t think any of 007’s cars could fly.”
Taylor stuck her tongue out at him before sticking her arms up to where roof should have been. “One of them could go underwater. I’m sure that one could fly to, and if not, I bet one soon will do!”
Marty shot a sideways glance at her. “How much sugar have you had today?”
Taylor just laughed at him and lay back enjoying the sun. She sat up suddenly and began to fiddle with the radio.
“Taylor! I have already told you not to play with buttons,” he reprimanded, switching the radio, which was blasting out Natasha Beddingfield’s Unwritten to Tupac’s Old School.
“Marty,” pouted Taylor. “It’s sunny. We need something cheerful.”
Marty rolled his eyes and reluctantly complied with Taylor’s request. Twenty minutes later, after being teased by Taylor, he was singing along to the cheesy songs with her, as they pulled into a parking space. He stopped the second he noticed Danny had spotted him and was laughing.
“Your singing is Bananas,” Danny laughed as he walked over, commenting on the song.
Marty turned off the ignition and got out, “You try being in a car with Taylor. You need to sing to drown her out.”
“Hey, doofus! The roof is down. I can hear what you’re saying,” Taylor cried.
“Doofus?” Marty snorted. “What are we? Five?”
Taylor grinned and grabbed her bag, following Danny to the beach where the barbeque was already being set up by Mac and Stella, who were arguing over how much charcoal was needed. Stella was wearing a red and white checked bikini top and a pair of denim shorts, Mac in shorts, sandals and a pale blue polo shirt, and despite the bickering, were smiling at each other.
It was a shame Stella was with Frankie – those two seemed to be the perfect balance to each other, Taylor thought. Taylor waved at them and headed over to Lindsay, who was already laying in the sun, wearing a dark green halter neck bikini.
Lindsay propped herself up on her elbows as Taylor dropped her bag next to her and pulled out her towel. “What took you so long?”
Taylor pulled off her camisole and slipped her short denim shorts off, revealing a brand spanking new, white halter neck bikini – she’d had to buy a new one after losing so much weight in the past few months. “My fault. I got distracted dancing around my bedroom.”
Lindsay laughed, “This sun is beautiful.”
“I agree,” muttered Taylor, as she lay back and began soaking in the sun like she was a deprived flower.
An hour later and music was blasting out of stereo. Flack and Danny had finished setting up a volleyball net, and were hitting a ball back and forth with Marty and Sheldon. Even Lindsay and Stella had joined in, leaving Taylor sunbathing and Mac in charge of the cooking – he’d practically ushered Stella away from the grill.
“You should suggest this more often.”
“It wasn’t my suggestion, Maddy,” Taylor told her friend who had appeared on Lindsay’s vacated towel, thankful that their chat was not going to be heard over the music.
“Well, whoever’s it was deserves a medal – Sheldon has a really nice body.” Taylor turned her head and raised an eyebrow at her dead friend, before glancing over at the boys. Like the others, Sheldon was wearing a pair of board shorts. “Mmmmm, I want to touch, but I’m scared of getting burnt he’s so hot.”
“Now why don’t I think you’re referring to his body temperature,” Taylor muttered dryly.
“Come on, Drew,” said Danny, running over. “Stop being boring and join in.”
Taylor glanced at Maddy. “I can’t play.”
“Whaddya mean, you can’t play?” Danny asked her in disbelief.
“I have the worst hand-eye coordination in the world,” Taylor shrugged. “Seriously, I suck at games like this.”
“Do it,” said Maddy.
“Huh?” Taylor asked her.
“What?” asked Danny, slightly confused.
“I’ll help,” Maddy told her, her eyes twinkling mischievously. “In fact, have it girls versus boys.”
“Alright,” said Taylor slowly, before returning her attention fully to Danny. “Only if it’s girls versus boys.”
“I thought you said you couldn’t play, and besides, there’s one more male on that court.”
“Yeah, I pity your chances,” she told him, getting to her feet.
“Yay, Danny! You got her to play,” smiled Stella as the two wandered over.
“Yeah, only Drew here seems to think that it should be a battle of the sexes,” Danny snorted.
“We can take them,” Taylor told Stella and Lindsay.
“I don’t know,” muttered Lindsay.
“Scared of losing, Montana?”
“It’s Lindsay, Messer. And no, I’m scared of damaging your pride too much,” she retorted
“Oh, are they fighting words, Linds?” Sheldon mocked.
The three women looked at each other, nodded and tied their hair back. “Bring it,” called Taylor.
Twenty minutes in, and they were seven points down. Lindsay wasn’t bad, and Stella was surprisingly good, making up for Taylor’s lack of skill, but the other team was one man up.
“I thought you were going to help us, Taylor muttered to Maddy, who was laughing at her as she pulled herself to her feet after diving (and missing) the ball she was trying to prevent from hitting the sand.
“I am, I am,” said Maddy, “I just wanted to see you try.”
Danny caught the ball and took it to serve. The boys had soon learnt that Taylor was the weak spot on the team and within minutes, Marty was slamming it over the net in her direction.
As she said, Taylor’s hand-eye coordination was lacking and as she clasped her hands together to smack it back over, her fingers just scraped it. Instead of it sailing to the ground, Maddy grabbed it, threw it over the net as she ducked under it and jumped to catch it before Flack could hitting it back, instead slamming it to the sand in front of him to make it looked like he had missed it.
“Nice one, Taylor!” Stella shouted at her
“What happened there, Flack?” Hawkes complained.
“I dunno,” he said shaking his head, “I just missed it.”
Another twenty minutes later and the girls had shot ahead by twenty three points in a row, as Taylor’s ‘game’ improved remarkably. Maddy was enjoying herself in helping Taylor score, trip up the other team so they missed the shots from Stella and Lindsay, and even blocking a few shots. By the end of the game, Taylor could hardly stand from laughing so much and they had won 38-12.
Lindsay dashed over to the stereo, found a track she was looking for and Eye of the Tiger came blasting out. Taylor looked at Stella and the two of them started dancing around as Lindsay came to join them.
It wasn’t until near the end of the song that they noticed the losing team staring at them. One by one, the three women stopped dancing. “What?” Taylor asked suspiciously.
“How did you manage to get so good so fast?” Danny asked her.
Taylor shrugged, “Natural talent.”
“You sucked earlier,” said Marty, suspiciously. “It’s almost like you had some help.”
Flack turned to him, “Help from whom?” he scoffed. “This girl played us – little volleyball shark.” He glanced at Danny who nodded.
“Hang on, I don’t like that look,” said Taylor as Marty started to approach her. She started to back up, but Marty broke into a jog.
“Marty!” she squealed. “What are you doing?” She dashed off to escape him. “Leave me alone!” she called over her shoulder. Big mistake. She turned back in time to see Flack slap-bang in front of her, and he grabbed her, sweeping her off her feet. “Flack! What are you doing?”
“Cooling you off,” he told her, clutching her tightly as she started wriggling.
“Cooling me off? I’m cool… why are you heading towards the sea?” She tried to jump out of his arms, but Flack shifted her and threw her over his shoulder. “Flack! That’s the Atlantic, Flack.” He ignored her and carried on walking towards the surf. “Flack!” Taylor looked up at the others who were laughing at her, “Help me!”
“You’re on your own, Drew!” Danny shouted back.
“FLACK! PUT ME DOWN!” Taylor screamed as he stepped into the water.
“Alright,” he told her.
“That’s not what I mea-” she was cut off by the icy cold water as Flack threw her into it. She came up coughing and spluttering – her once straight hair now curly and in her face, and got to her feet. “You are going to pay for that,” she told him.
Flack stopped laughing long enough to see Taylor flying towards him as she tackled him to into the water. Taylor was laughing at him as he came up for air. He looked at her, and dunked her. Underwater, Taylor pulled his feet from underneath him, and as he fell, she got to her feet, trying to escape. As she got out of the water, Danny went running past, with a screaming Lindsay in his arms, followed closely by Stella who was being carried by Marty.
Both of them resurfaced, only to look at each other, and tackle each other’s “attacker”. Sheldon approached them to watch them, laughing. Taylor bit back a smile as she noticed Maddy approaching. “You might want to watch yourself, Sheldon,” she tried to warn him, but it was too late – Maddy had pushed him in. He came up spluttering and shot a dark look at Taylor.
Taylor held her hands up, “It wasn’t me,” she tried to explain, but she was laughing so hard that it just made her look guilty.
“You might want to take your own advice,” Hawkes advised her.
Taylor turned around in time to see Flack grab her and throw her in the water again. She glared at him as she resurfaced, and joined in the water fight with the others.
and it’s time to make you see what I want
so I’ll just make this a little more obvious
cuz I get what I want, and I want you to get with me!
Don’t think you know,
how far I’m gonna do
You can’t stop this, feeling!
You can’t run away, baby I’m what’s on your mind
you can’t stop this, feeling!
There’s no escape,
no sleep tonight,
you won’t get, no sleep tonight,” Taylor sang cheerfully, dancing around her apartment.
“Someone’s cheerful,” commented Marty, who was stood in the doorway watching her.
“That’s because it’s a beautiful day.”
“Nothing to do with the barbeque?”
Pizza had led to a long night in Mac’s office with everyone chatting about their plans for the weekend - minus Danny and Lindsay, who were still enjoying their bugs a couple of hours later. Sheldon declared that the weather for the weekend had given a mini heat wave, temperatures in the mid 90s. After a few minutes, everyone had agreed to a barbeque on Coney Island Beach.
“Well, that might play a part. I’ve not been to the beach since I visited home a few years ago,” she continued to dance around her bedroom, making Marty laugh.
“Come on, you. We should get going,” he told her.
Taylor grabbed a large bag she had filled with things she’d need – sun cream, towels, CDs, etc, and followed Marty to the basement where the building’s parking lot was located. “You’re having the roof down, Marty!” Taylor laughed, pressing a few buttons.
Marty swiped her hand away. “That’s the fog lights, Tay. Stop pressing buttons.” He hit one and the roof began to lower.
“Why? Is this really a car like James Bond has? You know, I press a button and the nest thing I know, we’re flying?” Taylor asked, her eyes wide and playful.
Marty laughed, “I don’t think any of 007’s cars could fly.”
Taylor stuck her tongue out at him before sticking her arms up to where roof should have been. “One of them could go underwater. I’m sure that one could fly to, and if not, I bet one soon will do!”
Marty shot a sideways glance at her. “How much sugar have you had today?”
Taylor just laughed at him and lay back enjoying the sun. She sat up suddenly and began to fiddle with the radio.
“Taylor! I have already told you not to play with buttons,” he reprimanded, switching the radio, which was blasting out Natasha Beddingfield’s Unwritten to Tupac’s Old School.
“Marty,” pouted Taylor. “It’s sunny. We need something cheerful.”
Marty rolled his eyes and reluctantly complied with Taylor’s request. Twenty minutes later, after being teased by Taylor, he was singing along to the cheesy songs with her, as they pulled into a parking space. He stopped the second he noticed Danny had spotted him and was laughing.
“Your singing is Bananas,” Danny laughed as he walked over, commenting on the song.
Marty turned off the ignition and got out, “You try being in a car with Taylor. You need to sing to drown her out.”
“Hey, doofus! The roof is down. I can hear what you’re saying,” Taylor cried.
“Doofus?” Marty snorted. “What are we? Five?”
Taylor grinned and grabbed her bag, following Danny to the beach where the barbeque was already being set up by Mac and Stella, who were arguing over how much charcoal was needed. Stella was wearing a red and white checked bikini top and a pair of denim shorts, Mac in shorts, sandals and a pale blue polo shirt, and despite the bickering, were smiling at each other.
It was a shame Stella was with Frankie – those two seemed to be the perfect balance to each other, Taylor thought. Taylor waved at them and headed over to Lindsay, who was already laying in the sun, wearing a dark green halter neck bikini.
Lindsay propped herself up on her elbows as Taylor dropped her bag next to her and pulled out her towel. “What took you so long?”
Taylor pulled off her camisole and slipped her short denim shorts off, revealing a brand spanking new, white halter neck bikini – she’d had to buy a new one after losing so much weight in the past few months. “My fault. I got distracted dancing around my bedroom.”
Lindsay laughed, “This sun is beautiful.”
“I agree,” muttered Taylor, as she lay back and began soaking in the sun like she was a deprived flower.
An hour later and music was blasting out of stereo. Flack and Danny had finished setting up a volleyball net, and were hitting a ball back and forth with Marty and Sheldon. Even Lindsay and Stella had joined in, leaving Taylor sunbathing and Mac in charge of the cooking – he’d practically ushered Stella away from the grill.
“You should suggest this more often.”
“It wasn’t my suggestion, Maddy,” Taylor told her friend who had appeared on Lindsay’s vacated towel, thankful that their chat was not going to be heard over the music.
“Well, whoever’s it was deserves a medal – Sheldon has a really nice body.” Taylor turned her head and raised an eyebrow at her dead friend, before glancing over at the boys. Like the others, Sheldon was wearing a pair of board shorts. “Mmmmm, I want to touch, but I’m scared of getting burnt he’s so hot.”
“Now why don’t I think you’re referring to his body temperature,” Taylor muttered dryly.
“Come on, Drew,” said Danny, running over. “Stop being boring and join in.”
Taylor glanced at Maddy. “I can’t play.”
“Whaddya mean, you can’t play?” Danny asked her in disbelief.
“I have the worst hand-eye coordination in the world,” Taylor shrugged. “Seriously, I suck at games like this.”
“Do it,” said Maddy.
“Huh?” Taylor asked her.
“What?” asked Danny, slightly confused.
“I’ll help,” Maddy told her, her eyes twinkling mischievously. “In fact, have it girls versus boys.”
“Alright,” said Taylor slowly, before returning her attention fully to Danny. “Only if it’s girls versus boys.”
“I thought you said you couldn’t play, and besides, there’s one more male on that court.”
“Yeah, I pity your chances,” she told him, getting to her feet.
“Yay, Danny! You got her to play,” smiled Stella as the two wandered over.
“Yeah, only Drew here seems to think that it should be a battle of the sexes,” Danny snorted.
“We can take them,” Taylor told Stella and Lindsay.
“I don’t know,” muttered Lindsay.
“Scared of losing, Montana?”
“It’s Lindsay, Messer. And no, I’m scared of damaging your pride too much,” she retorted
“Oh, are they fighting words, Linds?” Sheldon mocked.
The three women looked at each other, nodded and tied their hair back. “Bring it,” called Taylor.
Twenty minutes in, and they were seven points down. Lindsay wasn’t bad, and Stella was surprisingly good, making up for Taylor’s lack of skill, but the other team was one man up.
“I thought you were going to help us, Taylor muttered to Maddy, who was laughing at her as she pulled herself to her feet after diving (and missing) the ball she was trying to prevent from hitting the sand.
“I am, I am,” said Maddy, “I just wanted to see you try.”
Danny caught the ball and took it to serve. The boys had soon learnt that Taylor was the weak spot on the team and within minutes, Marty was slamming it over the net in her direction.
As she said, Taylor’s hand-eye coordination was lacking and as she clasped her hands together to smack it back over, her fingers just scraped it. Instead of it sailing to the ground, Maddy grabbed it, threw it over the net as she ducked under it and jumped to catch it before Flack could hitting it back, instead slamming it to the sand in front of him to make it looked like he had missed it.
“Nice one, Taylor!” Stella shouted at her
“What happened there, Flack?” Hawkes complained.
“I dunno,” he said shaking his head, “I just missed it.”
Another twenty minutes later and the girls had shot ahead by twenty three points in a row, as Taylor’s ‘game’ improved remarkably. Maddy was enjoying herself in helping Taylor score, trip up the other team so they missed the shots from Stella and Lindsay, and even blocking a few shots. By the end of the game, Taylor could hardly stand from laughing so much and they had won 38-12.
Lindsay dashed over to the stereo, found a track she was looking for and Eye of the Tiger came blasting out. Taylor looked at Stella and the two of them started dancing around as Lindsay came to join them.
It wasn’t until near the end of the song that they noticed the losing team staring at them. One by one, the three women stopped dancing. “What?” Taylor asked suspiciously.
“How did you manage to get so good so fast?” Danny asked her.
Taylor shrugged, “Natural talent.”
“You sucked earlier,” said Marty, suspiciously. “It’s almost like you had some help.”
Flack turned to him, “Help from whom?” he scoffed. “This girl played us – little volleyball shark.” He glanced at Danny who nodded.
“Hang on, I don’t like that look,” said Taylor as Marty started to approach her. She started to back up, but Marty broke into a jog.
“Marty!” she squealed. “What are you doing?” She dashed off to escape him. “Leave me alone!” she called over her shoulder. Big mistake. She turned back in time to see Flack slap-bang in front of her, and he grabbed her, sweeping her off her feet. “Flack! What are you doing?”
“Cooling you off,” he told her, clutching her tightly as she started wriggling.
“Cooling me off? I’m cool… why are you heading towards the sea?” She tried to jump out of his arms, but Flack shifted her and threw her over his shoulder. “Flack! That’s the Atlantic, Flack.” He ignored her and carried on walking towards the surf. “Flack!” Taylor looked up at the others who were laughing at her, “Help me!”
“You’re on your own, Drew!” Danny shouted back.
“FLACK! PUT ME DOWN!” Taylor screamed as he stepped into the water.
“Alright,” he told her.
“That’s not what I mea-” she was cut off by the icy cold water as Flack threw her into it. She came up coughing and spluttering – her once straight hair now curly and in her face, and got to her feet. “You are going to pay for that,” she told him.
Flack stopped laughing long enough to see Taylor flying towards him as she tackled him to into the water. Taylor was laughing at him as he came up for air. He looked at her, and dunked her. Underwater, Taylor pulled his feet from underneath him, and as he fell, she got to her feet, trying to escape. As she got out of the water, Danny went running past, with a screaming Lindsay in his arms, followed closely by Stella who was being carried by Marty.
Both of them resurfaced, only to look at each other, and tackle each other’s “attacker”. Sheldon approached them to watch them, laughing. Taylor bit back a smile as she noticed Maddy approaching. “You might want to watch yourself, Sheldon,” she tried to warn him, but it was too late – Maddy had pushed him in. He came up spluttering and shot a dark look at Taylor.
Taylor held her hands up, “It wasn’t me,” she tried to explain, but she was laughing so hard that it just made her look guilty.
“You might want to take your own advice,” Hawkes advised her.
Taylor turned around in time to see Flack grab her and throw her in the water again. She glared at him as she resurfaced, and joined in the water fight with the others.
Originally posted: 12/06/2006