Cliffs Edge [Kaylor]

twenty-one

I Won't Give Up - Jason Mraz

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Karlie decides to stay in St. Louis until her plans for school are cemented. It's weird being under her parents' roof again, and her days don't consist of anything major. She helps her mother run errands, plays with Joe, cleans up around the house, and waits anxiously for a word back from the universities she applied to. Despite the restlessness she feels at times, Karlie genuinely enjoys being around her family again. She and her father talk about potential majors, and he approves of her desire to declare for Computer Science. Her sisters, especially the twins, are always dragging her out to do something with them, trying to make up for lost time.

It's a stifling day in mid-August, and Karlie is laying out by the small in-ground pool in her family's backyard. Her bikini is sticking to her like a second skin thanks to the dip she took earlier, and her sunglasses are perched on the bridge of her nose, guarding her eyes from the merciless rays beating down on her. Her newly dyed hair is pulled up into a messy bun on the top of her head, and Kimby is lying down beside her. Joe is lying on her stomach, fast asleep, and Karlie feels at peace. There is not an ounce of worry in her body, and she doesn't remember the last time she could just lay down without a care in the world.

"Time to flip," Kimby says as the timer on her phone goes off. Karlie watches as her sister proceeds to roll over on her stomach to make sure her back gets as much exposure to the sun as her front. Karlie carefully lifts Joe off of her and sits him down on the corner of her towel so she can roll over too. He wakes up, of course, but when he sees that she is still there he just dozes off again.

After flipping over, Karlie undoes the string on the back of her bikini to prevent a tan line, and then she rests her chin on her folded hands.

"So Kariann and I found pictures of you and Taylor Swift in your room yesterday." Kimby says offhandedly, sounding completely unfazed.

"What were you two doing in my room?!" Karlie lifts her head, her voice rising as panic grips her.

"Mom wanted to do laundry, and you had gone out for your run so we went to get your hamper for her."

"That doesn't explain how you found those pictures." Karlie made sure to keep anything that involved Taylor tucked away in her drawers. She still didn't want people knowing about her relationship with the blonde, for obvious reasons. She didn't want to make Taylor's life any harder than she already had.

"I was being nosy, duh." Kimby shrugs. "But don't deflect, the point is that you've totally been hooking up with Taylor Swift."

"We have not been hooking up," Karlie shakes her head, disliking the impersonal label.

What she and Taylor had was more than that. Taylor was more than just a warm body to press up against, and their relationship was about more than just sex. It was everything that Karlie thought she could never have, and now she may never get it back.

"We were together. She's the one I was telling you about." Karlie admits softly, lowering her head again. 

Talking and thinking about Taylor is so bittersweet nowadays. Now that she's in a better state of mind, Karlie can look back and clearly see all of the blunders she made throughout their short-lived relationship. It's disheartening, because Karlie really thought she had been doing well back then, but she had just been coasting through. She had been using Taylor as a crutch, and all it did was hurt them both in the end. She's yet to call the singer since her return from rehab, but they have texted a few times. Karlie keeps the pacing of their conversations casual and friendly, because she knows that rebuilding their relationship is going to take time and patience. She hurt Taylor, and now it's time for her to prove that she's bettered herself.