Kaylor: Perfect Storms

Chapter 14- Life Makes Love Look Hard

A few days had passed since Karlie had made the spur of the moment decision to fly to London, and Taylor was doing her best to keep busy. She'd spent most of the week in the studio, writing and recording more songs for the album. She had decided which song to release as her first single, which meant that she was getting nearer to finishing the album process, which was a little light of excitement amongst all the sadness and longing she felt for her favourite model. Her brother Austin was coming over for dinner later, which was also a welcome distraction for her. She hadn't seen him in so long.

She was sat at a desk in the studio, scribbling furiously. She was editing a song she had originally penned about Dianna, but now she was finding it hard to write in the mind-set of a few months ago, when she had practically been infatuated with her. The issue now was that the only person she was thinking about was Karlie. Exhaling loudly, Taylor dropped the pen down on the desk, and put her hands over her eyes, sick of seeing the same lyrics staring at her in the face, lyrics that she knew weren't nearly good enough to be song material, never mind album material. Just then there was a knock on the door.
"Hello?" She called, removing her palms from her face. This was weird; she hadn't been expecting any visitors.
The door was slowly opened, and her brother's grinning face peered round at her.
"Hey, sis."
"Austin!" Taylor jumped up and ran over to him, pulling him into a tight hug.
"Someone's happy to see me," he laughed.
"What are you doing here? I wasn't expecting you until later, and at my place not here!" she questioned, releasing him to look him in the eye
"Well, I finished work early, so I thought I'd surprise you, and for some reason I knew you'd be here."
"Lucky guess."
"Not really, I'm well aware it's album season for you," he winked. Taylor shook her head, smiling. Sometimes Austin was too smart for his own good.
"Do you wanna see what I've been working on?" She asked, gesturing to her work space behind them, covered in sheets of paper and technical equipment.
"Sure, that's if you can trust me not to leak anything," he said, clearly joking, but he still earned himself a slap on the wrist from his sister.
"Don't you dare," she waggled a finger at him in fake sternness.
"Okay, I promise! Show me what masterpieces the incredible, award winning Taylor Swift has created this time!" He continued with his jesting.
"You are so annoying."
"I'm your brother, it's my job," he shrugged.
Taylor led him over to the mixing desk, and handed him a pair of headphones. "So, this is what I'm working on at the moment," she explained, turning to the computer and finding the track she wanted, and pressing play.
"What's this called?" he asked, putting the headphones on over his ears, as the music started to play.
"Shake it Off," she replied proudly.
Austin began swaying his head from side to side as the beat kicked in. "This is some catchy shit," he noted.
"Thanks, bro," Taylor laughed, watching in amusement as he became lost in the song, moving his arms up and down as he made up his own little dance routine.
When the song finished he began clapping and whooping. "Brilliant! I loved it!" he cried.
"You really did?" Taylor asked.
"Of course! It's genius!"
"Well thanks!" Austin was the sort of person who would be brutally honest about anything, so if he really hadn't liked the song, he would have said so. Taylor appreciated this quality in him in moments like this.
"Right, I think I've done all I can for today, do you want to head to my place now?" She asked her brother, placing the headphones back neatly on the desk.
"Sure."
"Great, let's go."
The two of them headed out of the building and straight into a waiting car. They were taken through the streets of the town, the crowds of people simply blurred figures as they whizzed by, all the way to Taylor's house.

"Would you like a coffee, or something else to drink?" Taylor asked, automatically switching on her host mode, as the two of them walked into the kitchen.
"Sure, a coffee would be good." Austin took a seat on a stool at one of the counters.
Taylor turned on the kettle, opened an overhead cupboard, and reached for a couple of mugs. She placed them on the side, and stood waiting for the water to boil.
"Have you redecorated in here or something?" Austin asked, moving his head round, looking at all the corners of the room.
"Nope, it's always looked like this. You're so unobservant." Taylor shook her head at him, smiling.
"No, no, I don't think it's that." Austin frowned, placing his hand on his chin as to look deeply in thought. "I think it's hard to remember what everything looks like here as you basically never invite me round."
"That's so not true!" she exclaimed, as the kettle clicked, signalling that the water was ready.
"It is! I never see you, and being a world famous singer isn't a good enough excuse!" He shook his finger at her, smirking.
"You know it's a good enough excuse."
Taylor added coffee granules and poured water into the mugs. No matter how old the two of them got, they would still bicker and tease each other like they did as children.
"I suppose I should cut you a bit of slack." Taylor set down two steaming mugs, and took a seat beside her brother at the counter.
"Yeah, you should. So, anyway, how are you?"
"I'm good," he nodded, wrapping his hands around his mug to warm them up. "Not really much to report. Just been doing the photography as usual. Did a gig for a friend's wedding last week." He paused for a moment, and then added: "I went round to Mom's the other day; she said you were doing pretty well."
"Oh yeah, I went over to see her not long ago." Taylor wondered what exactly her mother had told him about her.
"She mentioned something about you going through a few changes."
Changes? What did she mean by that?
"She said you were meeting new people."
Oh, so this was her subtle way of hinting about Karlie, Taylor figured.
"I suppose that's a way of putting it."
"Who are you seeing then?" he asked, taking a sip of coffee, his eyes not averting from her.
"How do you know that I am?" Taylor gave a burst of surprised laughter.
"Come on, don't take me for an idiot." Austin put the mug back down on the table. "I know full well what Mom was hinting at."
"Ok, fine, you got me," Taylor held her hands up in defence, as if she'd been accused of some heinous crime. She knew her brother was smart, but she hadn't really expected him to read that closely between the lines of her mother's words.
"Knew it." he smiled smugly.
"Okay, don't freak out or anything." Taylor wasn't particularly worried about her brother's reaction to her and Karlie, he was an open minded person. What she did worry about was not his judgment on her gender, but Karlie's general personality. He had been highly critical of people Taylor had dated in the past. She'd invited him to her house for dinner a few times to meet previous partners, and he had always had plenty of criticisms when the suitor had left the room, examples including: