Kaylor: The Timeline

Chapter 28

Karlie runs a hand through her messy hair as she strains her ears to listen for Austin and Taylor's voices. She can't hear much but muffled sounds, the apartment too big to really hear much of anything from the second floor. She's embarrassed to find herself craving to hear her friend's— No, girlfriend's. Karlie interrupts her own thoughts. Wow. Taylor is her girlfriend. After everything, they are dating. Karlie smiles as she sits alone in the bedroom, the realization of their new relationship being powerful enough to put Karlie's large signature smile on her face despite being completely isolated in the room. She is going to have to get used to thinking of Taylor as her girlfriend now. She's sure it won't be too hard.

Something that was going to be quite a bit harder was getting used to not calling Josh her boyfriend. After over a year of doing just that, she finds herself to be struck with a panicked sensation of fear at the realization that Josh is nothing to her now. She couldn't call him a friend, maybe not even an acquaintance because of how poorly she had broken up with him. At least Taylor has always been something to her. Josh was simply gone. She technically had no reason to ever have anything to do with him again, and all of it seems so sudden. It didn't feel fair to her that someone who was important to her was gone just like that.

She knows that there are so many other things from today that she could lie in Taylor's bed thinking about, but she's ashamed when she can't get Josh out of her mind. She furiously wipes at her eyes when she feels the dangerous familiarity of her eyes numbly burning, an early warning sign of tears developing. Not now. Karlie internalizes a groan. How would Taylor feel if she comes back up here after everything they've shared today, to find Karlie emotional about Josh?

The model deeply inhales and exhales, willing a sense of calm to enter her body with each breath she takes. But her mind won't stop racing, her thoughts can't be silenced. I wonder how he's doing now. I wonder if work was hard for him after lunch. I hope he's okay, please let him be okay. Does he hate me? Has he told his family and friends? Do they hate me? Is he ever going to want to talk to me again? Will I ever see him again? How am I going to tell my family and friends? Why couldn't I have remembered everything I planned to say to him? That was the worst breakup imaginable. He should hate me. He has every right to hate me. If I feel this bad about it, how much worse does he feel?

Karlie roughly rubs at her eyes once more when the bedroom door opens and Taylor walks in, focusing on balancing a plate of food in each hand, with Meredith trailing behind her.

"Oh my god, it is so cute, Karlie! But so sad! Olivia is meowing at the bottom of the stairs because she can't climb them yet and she tried following me and I need to run and rescue her," Taylor says in a rushed run on sentence as quick as she can, handing both plates of food to Karlie before literally running back out of her bedroom.

Karlie laughs watching her leave, finding her new girlfriend to be endlessly adorable and amusing. Without even realizing what she was doing, Taylor had once again proved to Karlie that she has made the right decision, as the model listens to the older girl's footsteps all the way down the staircase and smells the food Taylor has cooked for her taking over the bedroom.

When Taylor returns she has two glasses of milk in her hands, with one of her arm's squeezing Olivia against her. "I hope she lives through this," Taylor mutters, walking carefully into the room so as to balance both glasses and the kitten at the same time.

"I would have helped you if you told me!" Karlie says, but smiling as she watches Taylor's focus.

"I didn't want you to move," Taylor replies, slowly walking towards her nightstand to set the glasses down.

"You just didn't want me to get dressed," Karlie smirks, watching to see Taylor's reaction. The singer acts as though she hasn't heard her, when she places the kitten beside Karlie. "So young, but living such a life of luxury," Karlie comments, as Olivia paws at the fluffy comforter she has been set down upon. "And look at Meredith at the foot of the bed, not even enjoying it," Karlie adds, looking at the sleeping cat.