Kaylor: The Timeline

Chapter 14.1

August 3, 2014

"She...she got you all of that?" Cara asks, sounding cautiously surprised as Jourdan remains stunned.

Jourdan and Cara had called Karlie to wish her a happy birthday at the perfect moment, as she was sitting outside on her porch, appreciating the upstate New York late afternoon summer breeze while Taylor napped inside. Birds were chirping and the sun was shining brightly, the blue skies scattered with the perfect amount of clear white clouds. Her backyard's perimeter is lined with tall oak and maple trees. The dense green leaves provide more privacy than a fence ever could, and Karlie has always particularly enjoyed them, especially when coming to visit from the busy New York City. The muffled sounds of her family inside her house remind her to keep her reply to her best friends quiet, since the majority of her family members didn't know the true relationship she had with Taylor.

"Yeah," Karlie replies, with a smile on her face. After Jourdan had explained in great detail the different crafts her son had made for her own birthday, and what her family and friends got her, Jourdan had ventured to ask what Karlie got for her birthday. When explaining everything from being locked out of her Rhode Island home right to the journals and CDs Taylor had given her, Karlie did her best not to sound as excited as she still felt about it all. Being able to tell her friends about the gifts was almost as rewarding as actually receiving them, because she was sure that this could be a 'step one' of sorts in her friends realizing just how perfect Taylor was for her. They didn't need to worry about Karlie or the somewhat unconventional and foreign relationship she has, not when Taylor cares for her like she does.

"Wow," Jourdan finally says, somewhat quietly.

Karlie smiles even bigger, shielding her eyes as she looks further up into the bright sky. "I told you she's...great," Karlie dares to say, matching Jourdan's volume.

"That's a whole lot of romance on only one day," Cara says.

Karlie laughs softly, "Yeah, I guess it is." There's something she's left out. New York University, and of course the invitation to move in. She hasn't told her family yet, but she can predict their reactions. It already gives her a headache.

"That's really thoughtful," Jourdan adds. She's not squealing in delight, as she may had if Josh had done all of this a year ago, but she sounds pleasantly surprised. Karlie will take it. Baby steps.

"And also..." Karlie begins. She hesitates, knowing she will surely be met with skepticism, but this is her life now. She's going to be living somewhere new and her friends should be some of the first to know, regardless of their reactions. "And also, she gave me an envelope from New York University. She looked into their programs for me, and she thinks that I could potentially...work something out. And actually go to college. But—"

Cara is quick to exclaim, "ARE YOU SER—"

"AND ALSO!" Karlie yells over her while smiling at the sound of Cara's uninhibited excitement, "And also, I...on the envelope was, well, she had it mailed to her apartment and used that address, but it was addressed to me."

The three way phone line suffers from a pregnant pause.

Jourdan breaks the silence, beginning to hesitantly ask, "So are you saying...that you're...that you're—"

"We're moving in together," Karlie replies flatly.

Another significant pause that Karlie is having trouble interpreting.

"That's fast," Cara says simply, neutrally.

"You're right. It is fast," Karlie admits. "But we've been through a lot together and it feels right. And it's happening." She might as well add 'case closed' at the end, but there is no need to because of the authoritative tone of voice she used. "She's good for me...you know that she's good for me."