TEENAGE WASTEDLAND

TEENAGE WASTELAND Part 4

"Stef, why is your engagement ring on the sink?" Taylor asked coming out of the bathroom, Gaga gasped as Taylor handed her the diamond "oh shit, really? I forgot to put it on again, it keeps slipping off my finger, didn't want to lose it thank you" and put it over her wedding ring again, Taylor shook his head and sat down "remind me to get it resized back in New York" she said as she kept staring at the bling on her finger and smiled "mhmm.." he grunted in response "-every time people ask me 'so how did he ask you to marry him?' I have to answer that it was in bed and depending on the person... I don't tell them the whole story" she smiled poking his ribs with her elbow, Taylor just nodded as he went through that same album again, after discovering the now infamous wall at his father's place they took all the articles and such from the wall and put it in a map so it was easier to go through, when Taylor had asked other people about this wall they shrugged, nobody knew about it, after confronting his mother she just answered "honey, I think it was his way dealing with it after you stopped having contact with him" and since ages Taylor actually had an emotion as he thought about his dad that wasn't negative, now he was just... confused. Gaga sat closer to him and leaned her head against his shoulder as he flipped through the pages "look how young we look there, what year was it?" as she tapped on a faded yellow page in the album, Taylor squinted "28th of April 2013" he said as the article showed a date on top of it "really?" she asked, Taylor just nodded and flipped the page again "I just don't understand, Stef" he whispered, Gaga sighed as she hated seeing him this depressed and freed her arm as she went with her fingers through his dark grey hair on the back of his head like she always did to comfort him, he leaned his head against hers in response "you sure you wanna go home honey? You can stay here, I can take care of the kids and-" Taylor shook his head "no" he interrupted her "we went through that whole house, it was only junk except for this" and lifted the album for a second "-there's no reason to stay in Pennsylvania... besides I promised the kids and especially Mason to go see the Phillies, need to move on with my life" Gaga sighed "yeah but honey, there's a difference between 'moving on' and forcing yourself to forget about it..." Taylor stood up "honey, I know you mean well but you have NO idea how it is..." he said frustrated, Gaga wanted to say something back but she knew he was right and shut her mouth, they looked at each other for a few seconds before Sarah shouted from downstairs "MOM CAN WE GO NOW?" Taylor turned around and picked up the suitcase "well let's go" he said dryly "Taylor..." Gaga said "yeah, I know, we'll talk about it later" and walked out, Gaga took a deep breath and looked at herself in the mirror, straightening out her hair and putting on some lipstick which always helped her feel more courage's before strutting downstairs facing the whole family.

The cheering filled the area as Taylor, Gaga and the kids went to search for their seats, the stadium was huge and it was filled with all sorts of people. Ava was a little intimidated by everything and held her mother's hand tightly while Mason and Joey were in awe of it all, Sofia and Sarah didn't really care for the game but they just accepted it and prayed for it to end soon so they could go home. They all sat down on the plastic chairs that were just regular seats because she didn't want the VIP arrangement "you can't really enjoy it to the max if you're not between the people!" Gaga said, Taylor was with her on that as he had gone to get some drinks. Gaga held her hand above her head as the sun was shining in her eyes "pretty good view don't you think?" she asked Sofia who was typing on her cellphone "Sof, try to atleast enjoy it" Sofia looked up "ok, I'll try" as the 17-year old crossed her long legs leaning back and started staring at the field, but after a few minutes she already lost her concentration and put on her sunglasses. Taylor came back with some soda's and hotdogs as Joey and Mason grabbed it without even looking up from the field "you missed the most perfect pitch" Joey said before taking a bite, Mason nodded in agreement. Taylor laughed and threw a Phillies shirt at him "here I got you this" Joey grabbed it and smiled "awesome" and took off his black tank top and changed it for the jersey. Taylor sat down between Gaga and his youngest daughter handing them the food too. Ava sat there with a frustrated expression on her little face "I don't understand the game" she said, Taylor pulled the girl on his lap "look-" as he started to explain some rules to her, Ava started smiling "I get it now, but where are the girl players?" Gaga laughed "honey, there are none" Ava frowned "well that's just stupid" and got off her father's lap, Sofia grinned and lowered her head to her little sister "I'm with you on that", Gaga and Taylor just shook their head as Gaga put her hand on his leg "you enjoying it?" she asked, Taylor nodded as he looked attentively at the field "you look kinda sexy in that shirt" she whispered, Taylor cocked his head "really?" Gaga nodded and bit her lip. Taylor found his old shirt hidden in boxes at his mother's place and even though it was a little tight it still looked good so he decided to wear it. The game was over before they knew it and even though they lost big time it wasn't really bad, at least they had fun. Sarah sighed in relief "finally, it was hell" she said grumpy, Gaga stared at her daughter with a disapproving expression on her face "I just meant the heat..." Taylor smiled "nice safe" as they left the stadium towards the airport where their plane was waiting for them to bring them home to New York.

After they had arrived back at home everything went 'normal' as usual, Taylor had started working more hours even though he had promised to be with his family, but Gaga just let it go for now because she knew that he was just dealing with the loss of his father. "Can you pick up Mason and Ava from my parents?" Gaga asked Taylor through the phone, she heard a sigh on the other end "why can't you do it" he answered, Gaga felt anger boil up inside but kept her cool "please Tay, I am in the middle of recording" Taylor sighed "fine, ok, I am almost done with this scene anyway.." Gaga smiled "thanks honey oh and can you pick up my ring? They called this morning saying they were done resizing it" "yeah, yeah sure, I gotta go see you tonight" "bye-" but he had already hung up, she stared at her phone and frowned "great" and got into the studio again.

An hour later Taylor knocked on the familiar door of his parents-in-law "hey Taylor" Cynthia said as she opened the door, Taylor quickly kissed her on the cheek and got inside "so how are you? Still busy with work?" Cynthia asked, Taylor nodded "yeah, Stef asked me to pick up the twins, where are they?" Cynthia rolled her eyes "oh their grandpa is convincing them that the Yankee's are better than the Phillies" Taylor laughed and followed Cynthia in the kitchen where he saw Joe talking to his kids, Taylor stuck his head between the two children as they hadn't heard the doorbell and were surprised to see their dad "daddy!" they yelled in unison "kisses please" as he tapped with his fingers on his cheeks, Taylor stood up straight again "Mason why are you teasing your grandpa? You like the Yankee's better, you said it to me this morning!" Joe's facial expression changed "really?" he asked, Mason smiled and nodded "you're just so funny when you get all worked up!" as the twins started laughing "well great, don't tease me with something as important as baseball!" Taylor shook his head "come on kids, we need to hurry before the jeweler is closed" the twins ran away to get their bags "you're going to the jeweler?" Cynthia asked "yeah, just to pick something up, nothing special" "oh, ok" she answered him "thanks for keeping an eye on them" the two grandparents smiled "sure, it was fun" Cynthia answered "yeah fun" Joe grunted as Taylor left with his young children.

"Everything is so shiny!" Ava said as she was enchanted with all the sparkling diamonds that were displayed in the counter "can I help you?" a man asked "yeah my wife's engagement ring had to be resized, the name is Kinney" the man behind the counter nodded "right" and disappeared through some curtains "are you gonna ask mom to marry you again?" Mason asked confused, Taylor laughed "no, no just giving it back to her" Mason frowned "that's not very special" Ava nodded in agreement "you have to ask her again" "again?" Taylor repeated as the jeweler came back with a little black box "here you go" Taylor opened it and stared at the little sparkler, all the memories came back to him how he nervously asked Joe for her hand and how he gave him the ring, the night when he proposed, and how on that same night they ended in the hospital... Ava pulled on his shirt "let's go!" Taylor nodded "thank you very much" he said to the jeweler and put the ring in his pocket "you guys are geniuses" he said to his children as they got in the car "let's pick up some flowers..."

Taylor went through a list in his head "all the children are somewhere else... check" he said out loud while lighting some candles "dinner check, candles check, music..." as he walked to the stereo and pressing play and a smooth jazz tune came out of the speakers "check". He heard the key going into the lock and quickly checked his pocket "ring, check". Gaga stepped in loudly as she was talking to her phone "no, I told you many times I don't want-" but she shut her mouth as she noticed the place was dark and music was playing "I'll call you back" she said and threw her phone away "Taylor?" she shouted and walked into the living room, Taylor just stood there, he was so nervous he didn't even know why, it was not like she was going to say no "hey honey" he just said "what is all this? Where are the kids?" Taylor smiled "don't worry they're all taken care off" Gaga was just flabbergasted as Taylor slowly walked up to her "hey" he said and kissed her "I-I-I don't know what to say" Taylor smiled "just go sit down" as he pointed at the table he had set up, Gaga bit her lip "I've already eaten..." she said awkwardly "oh" Taylor answered "that's fine, let's just dance" as he pulled her closer and started to slowly move to the music, Gaga laughed "why are you so romantic?" Taylor smiled "our children told me too" he partially lied; Gaga raised her eyebrow "really?" Taylor shook his head "no, I just-" as he stopped dancing "what are you doing?" as Taylor got on one knee, suddenly it hit her how she had asked him to pick up the ring today and she started smiling "really?" Taylor just had a big grin on his face and got the little box out of his pocket and opened it in front of her "I never really properly asked you to marry me so..." and held it in front of her "will you marry me... again?"