HAVING 13 - Johnny Kavanagh

54. Taylor's back

MISSY
August 25th 2005

Tate was at the door.

I was reading in my room with Shannon, when Dellie called me down and told me I had a visitor.

I was confused at first, but nonetheless, I went downstairs. I was more than surprised to find Taylor Reilly standing there.

My best friend, or better said, ex-best friend.

She sat on Brady's side in the courtroom. I wouldn't forget that.

Yet, when she asked to hang out and talk about everything, I agreed.

If I looked back at certain moments in my life, she was the only person I could depend on, and those times, she was an amazing friend.

So, we drove around in her car.

"My boyfriend is teaching me how to drive," I mentioned after enough awkward silence. "I'm excited."

"I bet you are. You always said you'd drive us to Sligo whenever you got your license. We'd get ice cream on the beach even if it rained," She reminisced.

I smiled. "Yeah, because Fenna Elliott bragged about doing that with her Da."

She laughed. "Oh my god, yeah, and we never invited her to a party again."

It felt like we were back to normal for just a second.

"I'm sorry if it seemed like I supported him in court, Melissa."

"It did look like that," I confirmed. I wasn't smiling anymore.

"Remember what I told you when you were in the hospital?" She asked, voice shaky.

"No," I admitted. "I can't remember shite from that day."

"Well," Tate took a deep breath. "I tried to kill someone, and he knows."

I frowned. "You? Taylor Grace Reilly, tried to kill someone?"

She sniffled. "It's not funny. I was... I was in a bad way. I have a borderline personality disorder."

"I know that," I told her.

She raised her eyebrows, looking away from the road for a second. "How?"

"Brady told me," I sighed.

"Well—" She hesitated. "I was manic, and high, and I had sex with this lad."

I swallowed, worried about where this was going.

"He tried to take a picture with an instant camera. You know, the Polaroid ones," She sobbed, tears now streaming down her face. "And I got so angry. I punched him, and he fell back with his head against the headboard."

"And he was bleeding?" I asked.

"Yeah, I ran to Taggart and asked him to help me," Taylor explained. She was hysterical by now. "He's been using it against me ever since."

"Calm down, Tate, and pull over," I instructed her.

She shook her head. "I'm grand."

"You're going to get us killed," I said, because she wasn't paying attention to the road and going an insane speed.

"I didn't kill him!" She misunderstood me.

"No, that's not what I said—"

"I didn't!" She cried. "He's alive."

"I know, I'm not saying you did," I raised my voice, panicking now. "Just fucking slow down!" I screamed.

She screamed at the top of her lungs, trying to stun me or shut me up or something.