wallflowers: one shot collection [Kaylor]

riptide

A/N: A warning, this isn't proofread at all because it's just too damn long and I'm too tired but I promised you guys something. Enjoy!

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She has a perfect view of the beach from her rental house. The back patio is placed perfectly on the hilly bluff that overlooks one of the quaint beaches that line the coast of this sleepy beach town, and she can practically smell the ocean even with the glass doors closed. She can almost hear it clearly, too. Her three suitcases are still leaning up against the large sectional couch that dominates a decent portion of the living room, and she is currently putting off the inevitable chore of unpacking. She will be staying here for a month, so living out of a suitcase isn't necessarily an option for this carefully planned vacation.

Her guitar cases are strewn across the off-white loveseat that is sitting adjacent to the couch, and her two curious cats are busying themselves by pawing at anything that catches their attention. The house is eerily quiet since it's just Taylor trapped within the four walls that surround her. Her security detail helped her transport her luggage from the back of her chauffeured SUV, but they made a point of making themselves scarce afterwards. Taylor had been reluctant to bring them along in the first place, but she can't possibly go on vacation without a security presence. Her profession is glamorous in a lot of aspects but there are downsides as well, and one of them is the heightened chance of being mobbed or encountering a crazed person who means her harm. The whole point of taking this vacation is to get out of the spotlight for a while. She's been overexposed in the media thanks to the success of her fifth album and a number of recent controversies, and now that award season is over and summer is here, it's time for her to take some time for herself. She has five homes but none of them seemed up to the task of offering a peaceful form of escape. New York City feels like a fishbowl now, and she is the one who is on display. Beverly Hills is infested with paparazzi, Nashville is infested with her parents, Rhode Island is far too secluded, and London is just too out of the way. She contemplated going off into the woods for a few months like her friend Ed, but she doesn't think she could handle being in the wilderness for an extended period of time. Visiting a state park is cute every now and then, but she can't imagine living in a small log cabin and cutting yourself off from the rest of the world. She thinks she'd go crazy if she didn't have a decent phone signal and access to Wi-Fi. So instead of disappearing into the woods, Taylor got a reference from her real estate agent and found a cozy but impressive house to rent in a small Southern California beach town. It is ninety miles shy of Los Angeles, and it's so under the radar that the idea of paparazzi traveling there for a shot of a celebrity is laughable. She hadn't even known it existed until her real estate agent gave her a listing address and showed her some pictures of the residence. It passed every mental checklist that Taylor had created, so she packed her things and put down a deposit as an afterthought.

Taylor can stay in this small, unfamiliar town for as long as she pleases, but she's decided to just put down a month's rent to give herself some breathing room. She just needs a break from the lights and the glitz and the fame. A break from Tree's fiery PR tactics and her mother's dismay over her recent life choices. She can't seem to satisfy anyone nowadays, not even her fans.

It's best to get away from it all before it becomes too much to handle, so that's exactly what Taylor does. She needs the time to work on her songwriting anyway, and what better way to do that than in a beautiful beach house with a clear schedule ahead of her? She has no pressing matters to attend to until the summer is over, meaning she is free to do as she pleases. It's such a rare occurrence in her life, and she intends to take advantage of it.

Taylor jumps a little when she feels something rub up against her ankle, but when she sees that it's just Olivia she calms down immediately. A small smile fights its way onto her face and she bends down and scratches behind the cat's folded left ear. She gets a purr of contentment in return, and it makes her feel more loved than it probably should. The last two years of her life have been extremely hectic but at the end of the day she always has her cats to come home to. They are probably the only two creatures in the world who still tolerate her, and she loves them for it. Even Meredith has been a little less temperamental lately, undoubtedly sensing that Taylor is getting enough flak from everyone else in her life, and therefore needs a little love.