Kaylor: The Timeline

Chapter 15

April 15, 2014

Taylor wakes up and is surprised for a moment to find her and Karlie asleep on the couch, that is until memories of last night come racing back to her. Taylor wished more than anything she could rewind the entire night if it meant avoiding what it had turned into.

At least she still had Karlie wrapped in her arms.

Taylor glances at the clock hanging on the wall and sees that it is 7:38 in the morning. She knows Karlie meets with her personal trainer at 8:30 each morning at the gym, but she is dreading having to wake Karlie up. The model must have forgotten to set an alarm due to the way they had gone to sleep.

Taylor grits her teeth and does what she has to do, rubbing Karlie’s back and saying, “Karlie, it is past 7:30.”

The younger girl minutely moves against Taylor, but then lays still in her arms. Taylor knows she is awake now, and waits for the girl to get up as she had each morning.

After a few more minutes of Karlie showing no signs of moving, Taylor begins again, “Karlie—“

“I’m not going today,” Karlie cuts her off, Taylor wincing at the hardness of the model’s tone.

“You have to go, you can’t just skip—“

“Yes I can. I have never skipped anything before, aren’t I allowed to have a personal day?” Karlie interrupts Taylor again, sitting up now. The model pulls her dress down, fixing what had been done last night before falling asleep, her cheeks turning a fine shade of pink. The taller girl then gets up from the couch, not as gently as Taylor was used to, and walks out of the room.

Taylor groans against the couch cushion, cursing herself for even thinking that everything could have gone back to normal after last night. Taylor had never seen Karlie mad before, up until now she hadn’t event thought it was a sight possible to see, but the model was definitely mad this morning. Even last night, although her words were angry she had mostly been overcome with hurt. Taylor reminds herself that the younger girl is probably still more hurt than angry, but this morning she seems to be much more able to hide that.

Taylor hasn’t heard echoes of Karlie’s footsteps for the past few minutes, and she is unsure where the taller girl has gone. The singer knows she can’t avoid it much longer, as she gets up from the couch to find her friend, feeling anxious. She pads down the hallway softly, heading in the direction of her own bedroom, hoping to find Karlie there. She is dismayed to find the room to be empty once she softly pushes the door in.

Taylor walks further down the hallway and finds Karlie in a guest bedroom, lying on her side facing away from the door. Taylor pauses in the doorway, feeling guilty as she sees Karlie lying on an unmade mattress on the floor with no pillows or blankets, surrounded by both unpacked and empty boxes and the last of the mess from moving. Karlie has to be aware that Taylor is standing in the doorway, but doesn’t make any recognition of Taylor’s presence.

“Karlie, come into my room. Don’t sleep here,” Taylor says softly, thinking of how sad of a sight it is to see Karlie in this room.

“No,” Karlie replies neutrally, no sounds of her earlier anger.

Taylor sighs and leans her head against the door frame, waiting a few seconds hoping Karlie will not choose this as a time to be stubborn. The singer realizes that that wasn’t going to bet the case, and so turns around and walks back down the hallway to get Karlie some blankets and pillows.

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“I even brought you a cat,” Taylor says, plopping Meredith down besides Karlie on the mattress before placing blankets over the model and handing her a pillow.