What About Now

Chapter 20 - Dinner Party

Thomas' P.O.V.
"Dyl, you ready?" I called through the bathroom door. There was a lot of shuffling going on inside, and I could not work out for the life of me, what it was. There was a sudden crash, and I jumped back in shock. I could hear Dylan groan from inside.

"Dyl, are you alright?"

"Yeah," I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard him, "I was trying to put my sock on and I lost my balance."

"Right, okay then," I sighed, "Are you ready to leave?"

"Well clearly not, seeing as I've only got one sock on, and no shirt yet!" Dylan laughed. Bloody hell, this guy took longer to get ready than Bella.

"Okay, well Bella is on her way over now, so I'm gonna head up to Taylor's place now to see if she needs any help."

"You do that," Dylan grunted, and I could tell he was hopping around again in an effort to put on his sock. Wow. Chuckling, I grabbed my keys from the table and headed out the door. It didn't take me twenty seconds to reach Taylor's floor, seeing as it was directly above mine, and within half a minute I had knocked on her door.

I could hear footsteps approaching, and I stepped back a little as the door opened. I had expected Taylor to be there with Ben's arm around her waist, but instead it was just Taylor. She wore a pair of navy jeans, a black blazer and a vest top that said "Never Grow Up" on it. I couldn't help but laugh when I saw it.

"Disney again?" She grinned at me as I walked past her.

"You were expecting something else?" She laughed, giving me a quick hug, "Have a good journey?"

"No, it was terrible! I got stuck in traffic, was almost frozen, and was confronted by a guy who could not get his socks on!" I cried. Taylor looked at me with her eyebrows furrowed and a smirk upon her face. Clearly she didn't believe me.

"You know; I would have believed that story if you hadn't made up the bit about the guy without socks!" She laughed as I followed her to the kitchen.

"Funnily enough that's the only truth in it!" From the look she gave me, I chuckled and explained to her what had happened with Dylan. She sniggered and sat next to me at the table.

"Is Ben not here yet?" I asked, looking round and expecting him to jump out at me or something. I hadn't met the guy before, and I was pretty sure that he would know who I was. Taylor was bound to have told him about me. I just prayed that he wouldn't skin me alive.

"No not yet, although he should be here any minute," She sighed, looking to the door, "When are Bella and Dylan coming up?"

"Soon, I imagine," I smiled, shifting slightly in my seat. Taylor looked over at me and smiled softly.

"Hey, thanks for coming up here, Sangster," She grinned, placing her hand on top of mine, "I know you might think this awkward with meeting Ben and all, but it really means a lot to me that you're here."

"Anything for you, love!" I replied, squeezing her hand. Just then, there was a low knock at the door. A large grin spread across Taylor's face and she leapt off her chair. Breathing in deeply, I watched as she opened to the door and wrapped her arms around the guy stood in front of her. Please tell me she told him that there were going to be others joining them for dinner tonight? My question was quickly answered though, when Taylor brought Ben up the hallway and into the living room.

"Ben, this is Thomas," Taylor smiled at me, "Thomas, this is Ben."

"Hey, nice to meet you!" I greeted him, shaking his hand, "Congratulations on the engagement!"

"Thanks, man! So you're the Thomas, right?" Ben shook my hand with a strong grip.

"Yeah, I guess I am 'the' Thomas!" I laughed a little, glancing at Taylor. She smiled and gave me that look, that reassured me that her fiancé was not about to kill me. There was a look in his eyes, and although he had smiled, his eyes still remained focused on me, as if eyeing me up to be grilled.

"Now Ben, be nice! We have two other guests coming up any time soon, and I don't want you scaring them off!" Taylor laughed, lightly hitting Ben's arm.

"I was being nice!" Ben grinned, wrapping his arm around Taylor's shoulders, "So what's for dinner?" Taylor's eyes suddenly widened and she ducked under Ben's arm.

"Fudge!" She gasped, and rushed over to the hob where something was steaming. Ben chuckled, and turned his attention back to me.

"So, Taylor tells me that you two have become friends again?" He said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, when she moved back here and we met again, we thought it would be best, and less awkward if we were friends." I smiled at Ben. He looked back at me with a long hard stare, before his mouth formed a small smile. Although he wasn't much taller than me, he was still quite intimidating, and I wished to the moon and back that Dylan and Bella would hurry up. As if they had heard my prayers, just as Ben was about to say something to me, there was a knock at the door.

"I'll get it!" I said hurriedly, rushing to the door and opening it.

Two hours later...

"You should have seen it!" Ben howled with laughter, as he leant back in his chair, "After she'd boasted about how much she loved her new bed socks, and about how much I was wrong in saying they were silly, she goes and slips down the entire staircase! It was hilarious!" We all burst into a fit of laughter as Taylor's face went red.

"Well how was I supposed to know!" She giggled; her hand covering her face, "It's not like I did it on purpose!"

"Oh god, I would have paid to have seen that!" Dylan smirked, piling yet even more food into his mouth.

"Do you ever stop eating?" I said chuckling, "It's like you're trying to fill a bottom-less pit!" Dylan looked thoughtful for a moment, before looking up at me from his plate and shrugging. We all laughed again as he sucked at the long piece of spaghetti that hung from his mouth. Just before he managed to get the entire thing into his mouth, the end of the spaghetti flicked and hit Dylan square in the face, covering him in tomato sauce.

"Dylan!" Both Bella and Taylor cried, as Ben and I clutched our stomachs from laughing so much. Dylan's face was screwed up tight, and he slowly opened one of his eyes.

"Oops!"