Shirtsleeves

Chapt. 1

Taylor fumbles with the apartment key as the night fades into early morning. She knows if she doesn't hurry then Karlie will be up soon and she's screwed.

"Come the fuck on." Taylor huffs as she jiggles the keys a bit too hard into the lock.

She struggles for a moment before the door pulls open. Except Taylor didn't open it, Karlie did. Fuck.

"Hey Kar." Taylor says with a smile as she tries to avoid any questions.

"Uh, where were you?"

Great, she knows. Play it cool. "What do you mean? I couldn't sleep and so I came out here but my key-"

Karlie rolls her eyes and turns away. "You're wearing the same clothes from last night." She states dryly as she keeps walking away from her girlfriend.
Taylor stands weirdly in the doorway as she watches Karlie walk into the kitchen of their too small studio apartment and begin brewing coffee.

The slightly older girl slumps her way inside. Hoping Karlie doesn't actually know and maybe she can do damage control. Taylor tries to hug Karlie from behind which the girl lets happen but doesn't respond.

Taylor sits at the island counter and watches her girlfriend stand wearily. She looks so different. And indeed she did. As Taylor watched her girlfriend she began to notice every imperfection. Karlie's overly toned body, her messy behavior as she moves about their small kitchen, her messy hair which is beginning to show her brunette roots, the bags under her eyes and smile lines on her face.

Everything she had never really noticed or gave attention to was now seemingly shining through on Karlie. The thoughts made Taylor cringe, she just couldn't help it. Seven years is a long time and neither of them ever knew where it was going. Shouldn't they be married? Or even in a house? Karlie refused to even get a bigger place. They have the funds, Taylor's law firm was going strong and so is Karlie's bar. Why are they at a stand still?

Suddenly all of these questions she posed to herself began pissing her off. Why wasn't this feeling right anymore? Why did the only girl she's ever known now feel foreign to her?

Yet she knew exactly why.

"So where were you really at Taylor?" Karlie asks sounding exhausted as she slides Taylor her cup of coffee and leans on the counter. She's studying Taylor but both of them knew she didn't want the answer.

"N-nowhere Karlie. I already said I couldn't sleep and-"

"And right you seemingly went outside and sat on our small ass porch all night." Karlie said now obviously annoyed as she pushed away from the counter.

This pissed Taylor off. Yeah okay she's lying but what the fuck was Karlie implying? Taylor wasn't standing down, she was going to find out.

"Excuse me? What are you trying to say Karlie?!" Taylor said angrily.

"You know what I'm saying Taylor." Karlie sighed deeply.

But she didn't know. She thought she did because she in fact knew what she was doing. But did Karlie know? Has she really been that sloppy that Karlie found out? There was no way, so Taylor decides to play dumb.

"Actually I fucking don't Karlie."

Taylor watches as Karlie studies her over. She sips her coffee and Taylor can tell she's exhausted. After a few minutes she shakes her head and begins walking towards the bathroom. She lays a small touch to Taylor's shoulder, which she didn't mean to but she shrugs away from. Causing Karlie to let out a dry laugh.

"You should get a mirror." Karlie states before continuing her way to the bathroom. Taylor stands in shock. As soon as Karlie closes the bathroom door Taylor rushes to the full mirror in their bedroom, that's when she instantly feels guilt.