Buck somehow finds his way to his friends’ house, and of course they waste no time butting into his life, not that he asked them too.
“By the way, I bumped into one of Taylor’s friends.” Corey says, as she cuts up a cucumber. “We were just talking about how horrible it was that you two didn’t make it.”
Buck just focuses on arranging flowers in a vase, but says nothing.
“She still cares about you, you know.” She pushes, which is enough to get Buck to quip back,
“Too bad her friend doesn’t, huh?”
“Buck, it’s still not too late to rethink this whole thing.” She follows up with, and Buck’s not having it.
“Corey, come on! The papers are signed and everything!”
“You could be having second thoughts, couldn’t you?” She says hopefully, as she walks towards the sink. “Marriage isn’t just some party that never ends. It takes time and effort to keep the machine up and running.”
Here, she turns to her wife, “Isn’t that right, babe?”, and Patty just looks at her and says, “Yep, that’s right.”, then turns back to the stove.
Buck looks at this whole exchange oddly, but doesn't comment, as Corey comes back towards him.
“I just don’t get what happened. You two looked so perfect together.”
Buck looks down at the flowers, shrugging, “We just...weren’t good together.”
“So you get marriage counseling, not a divorce. It’s marriage. You can’t just look at it and say, ‘You know what? I changed my mind. This isn’t working for me anymore.’” Corey reminds her, as she goes back to the sink again, continuing her little lecture.
The real question here you’re probably asking yourselves here is, “Why exactly is Buck’s friend Corey so adamant on him getting back with a woman so full of herself?”
Well, that answer is pretty simple: she doesn’t know. Buck was too embarrassed to tell her what happened, after subjecting her to all his past relationships where he'd spend at the minimum a month lamenting over what went wrong..
Just look at Corey for Christ sake: she’s the perfect wife. Can you imagine disappointing someone like that? Buck sure as hell can’t, and he doesn’t plan to.
“Look, Buck, I just want you to be happy.” Corey says at the end, so Buck says quickly,
“I know you do, Core, but I don’t need someone in my life to be happy.”
“Just think about giving Taylor another chance, okay?” Corey says, right as there’s a knock on the door.
“Hello? Someone here?” comes a voice Buck’s all too familiar with, and Buck’s immediately on defense.
“Tell me you didn’t.”
“You’re gonna thank me for this one day.” Corey says firmly, then turns around to the redhead. “Hey, Taylor!”, then hugs her.
Buck doesn’t make one move towards them as they all greet each other, until Corey points out, “Oh Buck, look! She brought cake pops!”
Taylor smiles as she walks over to him, “Your favorite, right?”
Buck scoffs, “Don’t be ridiculous.”
Taylor pushes, “No, I’m pretty sure they are.”
Buck digs his heels in, “You’re wrong. Completely.”
Taylor won’t let it go, “No one shoves those things in their mouth faster than you.”, then turns to Corey, “Am I right?”, as they both laugh.
Fine. That’s how it’s gonna be? Buck’s gonna keep it in reality.
“Do you also have the divorce papers? You were supposed to sign those a few weeks ago.”
There’s a twinge of satisfaction as he watches the smile fall off of Taylor’s face, before he says,
“Look, can we just talk outside? Please?”
Taylor nods. “Yeah! Course.”, then gestures for him to lead the way.
The second they’re outside and the door is closed so she can’t hear them, Buck crosses his arms, demanding,
“What the hell are you doing here?”
Taylor acts nonchalant, “Corey invited me.”, but when she sees he’s not buying it, she drops the act.
“Fine. You want the truth?”
Buck can’t resist joking, “Like that’s not what I’ve wanted the whole time?”, snickering.
Taylor tells him honestly, “Look, those divorce papers really freaked me out. It just hit me that signing them would make this thing...permanent.”
Buck’s not buying that either, “I don’t think you can really unring that bell after you said you loved your career more than you did me.”
Taylor waves a hand to shush him, “Would you keep it down? Corey is literally right there.”
Buck shakes his head, but obliges, then asks again, “Taylor, what the hell do you want?”
Taylor begs, “Just give me some more time!”
“Why?” Buck’s not being a dick here, he really wants to know. “Why should I give the woman that broke my heart another chance? My mind is already made up, and I don’t want to change it.”
Taylor growls, “I know, I know. I just need...time. To get used to it. You feel me? We were so good together, Buck.”
Buck snorts, “Yeah, back when I was Buck 1.0, along with young and stupid.”
Taylor tries to tease, “Hey, come on, we both know that’s not true.”
Buck’s in no mood to play this game, “Yes it was.”
“Not possible, Buck. No one knows you like I do.”
And of course that’s right when Corey comes outside, holding a bottle, and asking,
“Hey, Taylor, care to help me open this bottle of wine?”
Taylor jumps on it, “Yeah, sure!”, and as she walks past Buck, whispers,
“Thanks so much for understanding.”
Buck, for his part, just watches her go, shaking his head in disbelief.
YOU ARE READING
I Do, But Do I?
RomanceBuck can't believe it when he falls head over heels in love with the guy of his dreams, the only problem is, he's employed him to arrange his marriage to another woman.
