In Between

There was a moment, alone, staring out the living room window of his house as he waited for her that Travis felt a need to pinch himself. So much had happened in the past year and yet the scene felt awfully reminiscient of the same night one year ago.

He'd been in his old house then. Completely unaware of how drastically his life was about to change. He could've never guessed it because, well, shit like that didn't happen in real life. He'd gone on the podcast with his brother and told the world he was butt hurt he hadn't been able to give his celebrity crush a bracelet and that act had set into motion a chain of events that had led to that night. The very first one.

To watching quite possibly the woman of his dreams be driven away after hands down the best first date of his life.

Taylor was...well, for lack of a better word amazing. He'd known she would be. Even from the moment her name had appeared in his dm's he'd sensed this would be special. Well, after he'd double checked about one hundred times to make sure it was really from her account. They'd messaged back and forth before finally agreeing to FaceTime and never in his life had he felt so immediately comfortable with someone. Like they just understood him without explanation. If there had been any concerns over that same comfort transferring to real life, their date had dashed them.

She'd breezed into his home and it didn't feel forced or awkward. It felt like she was meant to be there. They'd sat across from one another at his kitchen island eating the Thai take out he'd ordered for them and chatting like they'd known each other their whole lives. The evening had progressed naturally, a few glasses of wine between them helping to ward off any jitters until they were sat on the couch, her back pressed against the side and her feet laid across his lap as she recounted tales of her childhood and growing up in Pennsylvania and the sacrifices her family had made to allow her to chase a dream. It had occured to him how similar their lives really were, even if they seemed so opposite on the outside, at their core they were the same.

He'd never met someone with a family dynamic so similar to his. Where the parents had fallen out of love but remained steadfast in their commitments to their children.  It was just another way they seemed destined. The more they talked, the less he looked at her as 'Taylor Swift' and the more he began to see her as just Taylor.

That continued after that first date of course. As he recovered from his pre-season injury he invited her into his world. He showed her the beauty of Kansas City. That even someone with her level of fame could find a sense of normalcy there. He showed her his favorite local spots and everytime she marveled after at how they'd gone unbothered. She fell in love with the city and nearly in tears confided in him how long she had yearned for the opportunity to just be normal if only for a night. And he'd given it to her.

The next time she had come for a visit he'd been due for a rehab session and he'd invited her along. She'd worried she would be a distraction and only agreed to go if he swore she wouldn't be and if he allowed her to bring something for his teammates. He had never expected her to show up with tupperwares full of homemade poptarts but he promised her there was no quicker way to a football players heart than through his stomach. His teammates reactions had been exactly what he expected. There was no doubt a bit of shock but it quickly wore off, in large part due to Taylor's natural ability to just make people feel comfortable, like you were old friends.

She'd come to that first game, made it offical in front of the whole world and from then on, it had been them against the word.

*

The sound of an approaching car brings him out of him thoughts. With shaking hands he reached into his pocket, fingers tracing over the velvet exterior of the ring box that is daring to burn a hole in his pocket.