In Your Wildest Dreams

"You're kidding me, right?" I asked incredulously. My mouth must've been hanging open so wide I could catch flies in it.

"For the third time, Babe, I am not kidding." Taylor repeated slowly into the phone, with a sigh.

"That's just so.. weird." I laughed. "Of course, you know my answer is absolutely not."

"Oh, come on!" He sounded frustrated. "You mean to tell me that I've been buttering you up for the last fifteen minutes and you still say no?"

"Yup."

"God, Mags you are so infuriating." He sighed loudly, his breathe making the phone crackle with static.

"It's all part of my charm." I grinned, loving that saying of mine.

"Uh-huh. At least one of us thinks so." I could just picture him rolling his in in frustration.

"Well, that one of us is still saying 'no way, Mister.' "

"Why?" He asked, heaving another loud sigh. If I knew my Taylor, it was probably so I'd hear it and feel sorry for him.

Not a chance, sweetheart.

"Because I can," I teased. "And I did."

"It's for a good cause, you know." He spoke with an air of arrogance, as if implying an 'as a matter of fact,' thing.

"Well, I'm committing a good cause by not saying ok to the whole mess." Stubborn to the core, I crossed my fingers that he wouldn't turn the irresistible charm of his on me. As rough on the edges as I am, he knew me too well: I'd cave in to whatever he asked in record time.

"And that would be... ?" His voice lingered on the question.

"I'm not stupid."

"Maggie!" He cried out in more frustration than earlier. After another loud sigh, this one probably to calm himself down, for his voice was much lower, even teetering on the seductive side when he continued:

"But you love me."

"Oh, don't even go there." I said firmly.

Don't you start with the sweet talk, my mind silently begged.

"Please, Babe?" He asked softly.

".. Mmm.. No." It took a lot more effort to get it out that time, but at least I held my ground.

Don't cave in Maggie. It's only Taylor, not like you have to do anything for him, I reminded myself.

"It's just for the church.. and we really need your help. Please, we're all counting on you. Besides, I really want you to be there."

This isn't fair, I'm not heartless, I thought, still trying not to give into his cuteness.

"Taylor.." I started, feeling my guard completely dissolve.

"Maggie.." Although his voice whispered into the phone, it sent tiny shivers through me at its sound.

Not fair, not fair, not fair..

"I love you-"

"Ok already!" I grumbled, now feeling frustrated myself. "Just let me get my clothes changed first. It'll have to be something I can burn at the end of this afternoon. Meet you in about twenty minutes?"

"Thanks Babe."

"You don't have a clue how much you owe me for this one." I warned him.

"Love you too. 'Bye."

"Love ya more, obviously. Later." As I hung up the phone, I groaned with what I'd gotten myself into.

"Hey Maggie," Taylor greeted me with a quick kiss on the cheek after I'd stepped out of my car.

"Is it ok if I park here?" I pointed to the parking spot I'd created on the lawn in front of his church. Sadly enough, Louise had almost moved on to a greater life in that big parking lot in the sky. She'd died on me too many times over last summer that the 'heap of metal with a gerbil running around a wheel for its engine,' as Taylor so affectionately referred to it, that I had to go out and buy a new car.

Although my new, sleek Civic ran beautifully, it didn't have the loveable charm of my beat-up Louise. Funny how one gets attached to an inanimate object. I hadn't the heart to name my new car anything other than 'the Civic' either. But life must go on. However, for today's event, Louise had chugged her way over to the church with me, faithful as ever. Poor girl might be trashed by the time we got back to my house, unfortunately.

"Yeah, that's fine. Everyone's already here, so come on." With that, he grabbed my hand excitedly and tugged me behind him into the church, a white building with an extremely high ceiling. My spirits perked up at the picnic table outside the front door where two women were setting oodles of food. Not having eaten before now, I slowed my walk and glanced over the rows of homemade cookies, brownies, and potato salad.

Hmm..

"Oh no you don't." Taylor tugged harder on my hand, a knowing grin on his face. I smiled innocently in return.

"What?"

"We'll eat later.. that way at least other people here can grab something before you eat it all."

"Hey, I'm a growing girl." I pouted as he led me through the door.

"At your rate of consumption, I'm surprised you aren't growing out. Now come on, I see the rest of our team over there." He pointed to the end of a long hallway, where a familiar collection of people were casually standing around.

"Hey everyone." I gave a small awkward smile to the group we approached: his parents, Isaac, Sarah, Zac, and another boy I vaguely recognized as Craig, Zac's best friend.

"You got roped into this too?" I stared at my best friend with wide eyes. Although I was genuinely surprised to see her here too, I was delighted that she'd be joining in the torturous afternoon activity with me. What a greeting a few days after they'd returned from their honeymoon.

Her of all people, with her prim and proper behavior, seems like the last person I'd see here. Which is why I nearly fell over backward at her next words:

"Yeah!" She replied excitedly. "I immediately agreed to play when Ike mentioned it to me in Florida. I think it's a great idea, not to mention tons of fun."

"Tons of fun?" I echoed her words blankly, giving her a look that she ought to be committed. "Are you serious? You do know what we're doing today, right?"

"Of course." She gave me a strange look of her own, scrunching up her eyebrows and squinting her blue eyes. After a shrug, she casually threw an arm around her new husband's waist. I still have a hard time calling him that.

It's just weird that my best friend's married the same age as me.. let alone her second marriage. Almost second marriage, that is.

"Hey Maggie," Zac called out to me.

"Hey yourself." I returned his smile as Taylor and I walked over to where he was standing.

"I can't believe Taylor got you to come today." He laughed.

"That makes two of us," I shot a dirty look this time at my soon-to-be sorry boyfriend. He smiled and rubbed my shoulder reassuringly.

"If I remember correctly Zac," he turned to his brother, widening his smile into a grin. "It didn't take much convincing to get her to play paintball that one time."

"No it didn't.. All it takes is a little bit of Hanson charm." Zac turned his glance in my direction, sending me a wink.

"It takes more than that," I replied indignantly, feeling my cheeks grow warmer.

"If you say so, Mags. Hey, speaking of paintball, when are you going to play with us again?" Zac asked, folding his arms across his chest.

"Hmm.. Let's see." I glanced at my watch, pretending to consider the option. "A little half past.. never."

"Oh, I see how it works," he spoke in mock sadness. "You'll roll around in the mud for my brother, but you won't crawl around in the dirt for me?"

"I am not here to roll around in the mud. I'm here to play volleyball, unfortunately." I corrected him.

"Hey," Taylor spoke up. "That reminds me: let's go outside and see the courts."

"Can we not and said we did?" I asked him.

"Not a chance, Babe." We walked through the doors at the end of the hallway to get outside, where we were nearly blinded by the bright sunlight. Raising my hand to my forehead, I suddenly wished I'd brought my sunglasses, not to mention suntan lotion.

Perfect day for a farmer's tan, I thought with a smile, looking down at my old T-shirt and tattered jeans shorts. Although I'd be the last girl here to win any beauty contests on appearance, I'd also be the last one to regret getting their clothes dirty, for mine had practically no value right from the start.

As we walked around to the back of the church, I heard a mixture of sounds: mainly the murmur of casual conversations and childish laughs and squeals of delight. There was also this alarmingly loud sound of gushing water. As we turned the corner, my mouth dropped at the sight before us.

"Wow," Taylor mumbled, in as much awe as me. "I heard this is big, but I didn't know there'd be that much mud."

A semi-truck carrying three gigantic plastic containers of water was parked near two volleyball courts. At least, the nets set up in the middle of the area made them appear to be the volleyball courts. But the thick, black-brown clay that covered the entire area turned into lighter in color and to mud with the addition of all the water. It wasn't the three inches of muck I'd expected either.

"Shit.." I whispered. My attention was snapped to a girl I didn't recognize as she screamed loudly. I watched, horrified as a boy ran up to her, grabbed her over his shoulder, and ran out to the mudpits. Despite her legs kicking wildly, he threw her down on her backside in the mud, covering nearly her entire body with a dark, goopy mess. My heart went out to the girl as she let out a wail of unhappiness, lifting her arms out of the mud and watching it slide off her. My eyes widened even more as she stood up and I discovered it came up to nearly her kneecap.

That is a hell of a lot of mud.

"You.. don't expect me.. to-" I asked Taylor, stopping in mid-sentence and pointed out to the courts. With the gleam in his eye and nod of his head, my stomach sank.