Secrets

Chapter Thirteen

Karlie stood behind the wide window wall, enchanted by the view. She took out her phone and took multiple pictures. She was standing in a suite of the 11th floor of an expensive hotel in NYC, overlooking Central Park. She couldn't stop looking at the city that she had now called her home for two years. She thought she could make out her neighborhood in the distance, but she wasn't sure about it.

The tall student was waiting for Taylor, who was about to be there any minute. She had been a little early as always when it came to meeting Taylor, but one of Taylor's security guards had recognized her in the lobby of the hotel and invited her to wait inside the suite. She was happy that the man trusted her enough; he had assured her that Taylor wouldn't mind and that she would probably even get mad if he made her wait in the lobby all alone.

The suite was, once again, bigger than Karlie's apartment, but she had almost gotten used to being in such glamorous spaces when she was with Taylor. She still preferred her small cozy apartment, but she didn't get as overwhelmed anymore as when she had visited Taylor in Rhode Island the week before. The room Karlie was in was flooded with daylight from the window side, and it had a dark hardwood floor. There was a wooden dining table with dark wooden chairs on one side of the room and an arrangement of a small, light gray couch and two armchairs in the same color and style around a low wooden table on the other side. Karlie noticed that some of Taylor's clothes and her bag were lying around the couch; the singer must have not had much time here before she had left.

Karlie could hear voices coming from the hallway, and as she turned around Taylor walked into the suite. Her face lit up at seeing the blonde woman and she smiled her wide signature smile. Taylor returned the big, genuine smile and quickly approached the student. The hugged each other tightly.

"Hey you" Taylor said and squeezed Karlie tightly.

"Hey you" Karlie said back and laughed.

"Thank you for coming by on such a short notice" Taylor said, separating from Karlie and looking into her eyes.

Karlie's green eyes were endlessly fascinating to the singer, and her gaze lingered.

"Of course" Karlie replied, not averting her gaze from Taylor's blue eyes either.

She laughed and reached for the singer's face.

"What did they do with your eyebrows? You have glitter everywhere" she giggled.

Taylor's heart started racing at the touch, but she did her best to keep her cool.

"I know" she said with fake-annoyance in her voice.

"The things they do to you at photo-shoots. But it went really well, you will like the results" she smirked.

"Can't I see them now?" Karlie begged playfully.

"No, sorry. You gotta wait like everyone else" Taylor laughed.

Karlie pouted, but then couldn't stop the grin from creeping onto her face.

"I'm glad your day went well" she stated.

Taylor nodded, then gestured towards Karlie to follow her into the kitchen to grab something to drink. She wasn't sure how to act around the younger girl after they had cuddled on the couch at her Rhode Island home, but there had not been any awkwardness the next day, so she just hoped it would stay that way.

"Yeah, it went well. Apart from the paparazzi that followed me from the photoshoot to the hotel. They were so obnoxious. I could hardly enter the lobby hadn't it been for my security guards."

Karlie's eyes went wide.

"Really? No one was there when I arrived earlier."

"Yeah, it happens sometimes, especially because I haven't been in the public eye as much as during the tour this summer, so they are looking for something, anything to write about. They're probably still waiting outside, thinking I'll come out again tonight" she laughed drily.