i had this thought last night and Kaia would DEFINITELY bully Taylor into releasing Evermore Long Pond Session. Kaia would be an evermore bitch for sure. she would make Taylor perform the songs live and film them for the fans. She rly would. Like at gun point, seriously. She would also bully Taylor for that Closure intro.
Also her favourite song is 'Tis The Damn Season.
That's Kaia for yall
anyway!
Please enjoy this chapter!! Thank you so so so much for 5K reads wtfff!! I love you guys!
———
When Kaia walked into the house with a grocery bag filled with bags of crisps, tubs of ice cream, and multiple packs of beer, she hadn't expected the sweet smell of baked goods to engulf her so warmly.
She got out of her windbreaker and shoes and popped her head into the kitchen where she found Taylor haunched over a saucepan, whisk in one hand and phone in the other.
An old familiar song was coming from her phone, one that Kaia specifically remembered getting shit for listening to it from Taylor. And yet here she was, listening to it herself. With a little smile on her face, Kaia crept up behind her and stepped on her tiptoes, resting her chin on Taylor's shoulder to try and see what she was making.
"What is that?" Kaia laughed, pointing at the melting, brown goo.
"Christ! Kaia!" Taylor exclaimed, jumping in surprise. She turned around, a frown settling on her face. "Could you have crept inside any quieter?"
"Probably, yeah," she grinned crookedly, pressing a soft peck on Taylor's pouting lips. "What are you making?"
"Caramel!" Taylor responded, a little excited pep in her tone.
"Why?"
Kaia set the grocery bag on the counter and started emptying it, placing the ice cream in the freezer and the beers in the fridge to allow them to cool before her friends arrived.
"Because I'm making cinnamon rolls!"
Kaia raised her eyebrows, tilting her head to the side. "Caramel with cinnamon rolls?"
"It's great!" Taylor nodded eagerly, turning the heat off under the saucepan. "Also, I made French toast."
"Again... why?" Kaia laughed, pulling the bottle of orange juice from the fridge and grabbing an empty glass to pour some in.
"I wanted to make you breakfast. Should I need another reason?"
"Oh, you were serious about that!" Kaia spotted the plates with the French toast on the table, decorated beautifully with powdered sugar and some red fruits on top.
"Why wouldn't I have been serious? I've been making you breakfast all week," Taylor shook her head at Kaia as she poured the caramel into a saucer. She then brought it over to the table in the middle, kissing Kaia's cheek on her way. "Voila!"
"Ah, merci! You've been spoiling me a lot lately, darling."
"Well, you're mine to spoil, and I love doing it," Taylor responded with a wide beam.
They sat down and started eating in comfortable silence. Kaia kept stealing glances at Taylor, her wet hair tied up in a bun. She was dressed in an old sweater from the very back of Kaia's closet with a pair of purple leggings.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Taylor asked while chewing on a piece of strawberry and dipping another one into the caramel.
"You chose my most worn-out jumper," Kaia laughed, wiping her mouth with a napkin before bunching it up in her hand. "I bought in year 10!"
Taylor scrunched her nose as she tried to make the calculations. "What year is that?"
"Ten," Kaia responded cheekily, making the blonde roll her eyes. "I don't know. I was like fifteen or something."
"Ah," Taylor nodded, glancing down at the top. "It's comfy!"
"It looks good on you," Kaia beamed, reaching across the table for Taylor's hand.
"Great, because I'm keeping it!" Taylor grinned back, brushing her thumb over Kaia's knuckles. "So, Tree has some news. She called earlier, while you were out."
Kaia raised her eyebrows in interest. "About the photos?"
Taylor nodded solemnly. "Apparently... I don't know. The guy who posted them online, practically a nobody. Some guy named Edward. He didn't take the pictures, obviously. They were sold to him. When the lawyers talked to him, he said he got them in an email. Tree had that email tracked down, but it didn't lead anywhere. It was a fake name, I guess. Uh..."
Taylor pulled her phone out and slid it across the table so Kaia could see the screenshot of the email address the pictures were sent from.
"Does it mean anything to you?"
"J.bird92yahoo.com?" Kaia read out loud, scratching the back of her head in thought. "J Bird?"
"Yeah, I guess," Taylor shrugged. "Either way. The email was obviously a fake one that was created for this purpose only and it has no other leads so... it's a dead end."
Kaia nodded slowly, letting out a heavy sigh. "Honestly... it doesn't matter anymore."
"Of course it matters, Kaia!" Taylor replied with a little frown. "Unless someone named J Bird snuck into our home that night, it was someone we had willingly invited, to our house, that took those pictures and profited off of them."
"I genuinely don't think any of our friends are capable of doing that!" Kaia exclaimed, holding her hands up before dropping them into her lap heavily.
"I don't know," Taylor huffed, moving her food around in her plate with her fork. "I just think we need to be more careful."
Kaia nodded, agreeing to that, at least, and returned to her breakfast.
"Okay, I'm going to head upstairs and shower," she announced when she was done, finishing the last sip of her juice. "You don't have to make the cinnamon rolls."
"The dough's already done," Taylor told her with a shrug, holding her second cup of coffee up to her mouth.
"Suit yourself, Lapinou," Kaia chuckled as she ran upstairs.
She came back down a while later, dressed similarly in a comfortable pair of pants and an oversized cardigan. Taylor was sitting on the old piano in the room, the same one that Kaia had learned to play on all those years ago. She left a kiss on the back of Taylor's head and sat down next to her, arms wrapped around her waist.
"Is this new?" She asked, watching the blonde's nimble fingers move expertly over the black and white keys.
"Mhm, yeah... just messing around," she replied quietly, focused on her chord progression. "I had an idea earlier."
"It sounds lovely," Kaia murmured, resting her cheek on Taylor's shoulder. "Does it have any lyrics?"
"I'm not sure."
Taylor started humming her tune softly and Kaia could feel goosebumps rise along her arms. It sounded eerie and beautiful and she was genuinely impressed and grateful to get to witness this creative moment.
"I think— I've got this idea... it goes something like..." Taylor said, repeating the chord progression once again before she started singing.
"Don't blame me, love made me crazy, if it doesn't you ain't doing it right... Lord save me, my drug is my baby, I'll be using for the rest of my life... Or something..."
She dropped her hands back in her lap and turned to look at Kaia expectantly, but the brunette was left speechless.
"Babe, that sounded amazing!" She managed to say, giving Taylor's knee a squeeze. "You need to finish it."
"I will," the blonde chuckled, taking Kaia's hand in hers. "Thank you. I have a good feeling about it."
"Me too," Kaia reassured her with a grin. "So, just between you and me, what kind of drug am I?"
Taylor scoffed, turning back around to face the piano. "Who said this song was about you?"
"Uh-huh, okay, what other people have you been going around calling baby lately?" Kaia asked, trying her best to hide her amused expression.
"Oh, I don't think you guys have met. You wouldn't know her. Her name's Mary-Jane," Taylor joked along, making Kaia bump shoulders with her.
"Okay, well, you just tell her I'd love to meet her. She sounds great if you want to keep using her for the rest of your life."
"I'll be sure to pass the message along," Taylor continued, having a hard time containing her laughter.
"For the record, if I were any kind of drug, I would not be marijuana. I'd be like, meth or something."
"You've watched one too many episodes of Breaking Bad."
Kaia beamed widely, leaning against Taylor once again. She closed her eyes and listened to her girlfriend practice, feeling a sense of serenity wash over her. One she hadn't felt in a while.
It felt great to sit still for a moment and forget about the rest of the world, to simply focus on Taylor, and on their time together. In the comfort and safety of her own home.
"Hey, baby?" Taylor interrupted the quietness some time later.
"Who, me? Or Mary Jane?"
Taylor snorted and poked Kaia's side with her finger. "You!"
"Oh! Lucky me!" Kaia exclaimed, clapping her hands together.
"You're the worst," Taylor laughed, going back to whatever song she was playing.
Kaia giggled softly, kissing Taylor's cheek apologetically. "What is it?"
Taylor paused her playing for a moment, glancing at Kaia before turning to look at the piano. There were a bunch of framed photographs on the piano top. Most of them were childhood pictures of Kaia and Layla, many with their parents, and some of their mother Nour on her own in the middle. But in the very front, added pretty recently, was a picture of Kaia and Taylor together in Nashville, wrapped up in each other's arms and Kaia's lips pressed against Taylor's cheek in a sweet kiss.
"Are you going to keep this picture up?" She asked, her voice a little tight.
"Oh... uhm," Kaia stuttered, unsure of what she wanted to do. Frankly, she had kind of forgotten that the picture wasn't so simple. She had looked at it so many times ever since she had framed it, and though it always brought a smile to her face, it just became a part of the house that she didn't realise it needed to go when certain guests were coming over.
And frankly, Kaia was tired. She was actually exhausted. Her best friends, if anything, deserved to know the truth, didn't they?
"I don't want to have to take it down, to be honest," Kaia told Taylor.
Taylor held her hand and laced their fingers together in her lap. "You don't have to."
"They'll probably find out..."
"They probably already know," Taylor pointed out, which made Kaia bury her face in her shoulder to hide.
"I've literally been ignoring the group chat for weeks now!" She admitted. "It's going go be a disaster."
"No, it's not," Taylor chuckled, wrapping her arms around Kaia in a warm hug. "They're your friends. And I've met them. They're insane at times— well, all the time. But they're great people. They'll probably give you shit for not telling them but they'll forgive you."
"So... you're okay with telling them? I thought you said we needed to be more careful."
Taylor nodded. "I know, but... If you trust them, then so do I."
"Okay," Kaia murmured, letting out a shaky breath. "Okay! I'm going to be the disaster."
Taylor laughed softly again, patting Kaia's back comfortingly. "And I'll be here for it."
"To mock me."
"Yeah, what else?"
Kaia rolled her eyes as she got up to walk away.
"Hey!" Taylor called after her, a giggle in her voice. She grabbed Kaia by the hand and pulled her in until she flopped down in her lap, hugging her tightly. "I love you."
"Okay," Kaia grumbled, folding her arms over her chest.
"I do," Taylor mumbled, nuzzling Kaia's neck. "I really, really do."
"Sure."
"I loooove you," she continued in a singsong voice, swaying sideways which was starting to make it really hard for Kaia to keep a straight face.
"Sure you do!"
"I do! I'm not wearing your initial around my neck because I just kind of like you," Taylor laughed, holding the chain up in Kaia's field of vision.
Kaia sighed dramatically, turning around in Taylor's lap and placing her hands around her shoulders. The singer beamed widely at her, pressing the softest of pecks on Kaia's button nose. She held her by the waist with one hand and reached up with the other one, holding the little heart-shaped locket in her hand.
"Kibs?"
"Mhm?"
Taylor dropped the locket back into place and tilted Kaia's chin up, their lips brushing against each other. "I love you."
Kaia wanted to keep her poker face on but it was really hard when Taylor was being so sweet. Her mouth broke into a grin, dimples and all, and she murmured, "I know."
"Say it back!" Taylor pouted, flicking Kaia's nose with her own.
"I guess I love you too!"
Taylor breathed out a laugh, poking Kaia's right dimple. "I guess I'll take it."
Sniggering softly, Kaia closed the distance between them, kissing her sweetly.
"I do," Kaia repeated when she pulled away, mocking Taylor from a few minutes ago. "I loooooove you!"
"Sure," Taylor teased her back.
"I do! I love you! I can say it in like, five languages!"
"Prove it," Taylor challenged her, leaning back to get a better look at her face.
"Je t'aime," Kaia responded in French. "Bhebek. Te quiero. Ti amo. Ich Liebe Dich. Saranghaeyo. That last one was Korean!"
"Ooh!" Taylor raised her eyebrows, impressed. "Okay... I guess maybe you do love me. In like, five languages."
"Well, it was actually like seven languages."
"Show off!"
Kaia shrugged nonchalantly, giggling as Taylor's fingers dug into her sides to tickle her. She fell forward in her fit of laughter, their lips crashing once again. Taylor got up and carried Kaia with her in one swift movement. She wrapped her legs around her waist as she was carried toward the couch.
"Taylor," Kaia managed to say as the blonde attached her lips to her neck. "They're going to be here soon."
"How soon?" she asked without stopping.
"I don't know, soon. Round three can wait until tonight."
"I'm not going for round three," Taylor shrugged, leaning back with an easy grin. "Besides, aren't they always late?"
"Yes, and Mica also has the worst possible timings ever. He'll walk in halfway through!"
"That sounds like Mica's problem," she laughed, grabbing Kaia by the jaw to kiss her cheek. "But you smell amazing right now and I can't get enough."
Kaia sighed in defeat and smiled amusedly to herself as she craned her neck back to give Taylor easier access to all her favourite spots.
As if on cue, as soon as the blonde's fingers started to travel under Kaia's hoodie, the doorbell rang.
"Told ya," Kaia mentioned with a smirk. "You get that. I'm going to the bathroom and make sure I look presentable."
"You look fine," Taylor called after Kaia as she ran up the stairs, two steps at a time, but she really needed to use the toilet anyway.
Kaia made sure Taylor hadn't left any visible marks on her neck and splashed her face with some water, a little flushed from earlier. Then, she combed the mess that was her hair (thank you, Taylor) and sprayed some perfume on before heading back downstairs.
She saw Mica first, standing in the doorway with his phone in his hand, everyone else's voices coming from the living room.
"Saluuuuuuut," he greeted her without even looking up from his device. Kaia rolled her eyes, holding him from the back of his shoulders and hopping on his back.
"Who's so important that you can't even look up for a second?" She asked, glancing over his shoulder to try and sneak a peek at the contact name.
"Your dad," he shot back, wiggling his shoulders to trying and get Kaia off him but she clung on like a Koala.
"Oi, leave my dad out of this!" Kaia exclaimed, slapping his forehead with a loud smack.
"Ow! Bitch!"
Kaia was grinning widely, digging her heels into his legs. "Giddy-up!"
"I'm not your fucking horse," Mica muttered, still trying to get Kaia off his back.
"Will you two stop bickering and get in here?" Jules called out from the living room.
Kaia finally got down and followed her best friend inside where she found Jules, Anna, Emilia, and Will sitting on the long couch and Taylor on one of the armchairs. Mica, of course, immediately took the opportunity to run and jump into the other one.
"How are you guys?" Kaia asked with a chuckle, waving at them awkwardly.
"We're good," Anna answered, her eyes narrowed. "How are you?"
"Great, actually!"
"Well, that explains why you've been completely ignoring us," Emilia said sarcastically. Her dark eyes were soft, showing great concern for her friend, though.
Kaia cleared her throat, brushing her fingers through her hair while sharing a look with Taylor. "Let me get the crisps and whatever else from the kitchen. Anyone want anything specific?"
"Uh, yeah, whatever that cinnamon smell is coming from!" Will replied with a grin.
"Oh! The cinnamon rolls!" Taylor suddenly remembered, her cheeks growing red and Kaia knew it was because she had totally forgotten about them while she was too busy trying to make-out with her earlier. "Be right back."
Taylor got up and ran toward the kitchen, leaving Kaia chuckling as she followed her at a much more leisurely pace.
"Don't take too long, you two," Anna called after them, making everyone else snigger quietly.
Kaia shook her head, the back of her neck burning. She came up behind Taylor as she brought the tray out and placed it on the marble countertop, brushing her hand on the small of her back.
"You good?" Taylor asked softly, taking off the oven mitts.
"Yeah, I'm good," Kaia chuckled, grabbing a couple of empty bowls to fill them up with snacks.
Taylor passed behind Kaia to grab a spatula, making sure to leave a peck on her cheek on her way. Kaia's lips automatically widened into a grin.
Kaia took the snacks to her friends and went back to make some tea as Taylor was still scooping up the rolls onto plates.
"These look amazing," she mentioned, almost drooling at the sight and the smell.
"Yeah? I was like, this close to burning them," Taylor laughed sheepishly, pinching her fingers together.
She moved to take them over to the other room while Kaia got the tea ready. When she came back, she placed the tray on the coffee table and went to sit down but there weren't any places left.
"When did you get to London?" Anna was asking Taylor, taking a second to smile at Kaia in thanks for the cup of tea.
"Yeah, I had no idea you were coming!" Mica chimed in, shifting in his chair with his legs dangling over the arm. Kaia would have sat down with him if he had been able to sit like a normal person.
"Ah, it wasn't planned," Taylor explained, covering her hands with the sleeves of the jumper she was wearing. "I got in a few nights ago."
"Oh, shit, how's the jet lag?" Will responded conversationally.
Kaia glanced at her girlfriend, a small, playful smirk on her face.
"It's okay. I'm still trying to fight it," Taylor chuckled, crossing one leg over the other. Kaia shook her head, walking over to the armchair and giving Taylor's knee a tap.
She looked up in confusion as she uncrossed her legs and Kaia gave her a satisfied smile, settling down in her lap. She could have easily gotten a chair from any other room or simply sat down on the carpet but that would have been too much trouble and she wanted to sit next to her girlfriend.
Besides, her friends were obviously already aware. She decided to play dumb though and act as normal as possible without mentioning anything outright.
"I'm sure you're getting loads of good nights' rest," Mica said in a teasing tone like the little shit he was.
"Some nights, yeah," Taylor replied, snaking her arms around Kaia's waist and pulling her into her chest as she leaned backwards.
Kaia watched as Mica and Taylor had a silent stand-off with playful narrowed eyes and it looked like Mica was about to lose by smiling when Jules broke the silence.
"What's in London, anyway?" She asked, cutting a piece of cinnamon roll with the side of her fork and chewing on it slowly.
"Jules," Anna said, turning toward her and giving her a nice side-hug.
"What?" She grumbled, trying to shrug off her friend.
"Kaia's in London," Anna told her matter-of-factly which, to everyone's surprise, made Kaia snort loudly.
She covered her face in her hands in embarrassment as she laughed at the situation and soon, her friends were joining in.
"Oh, I thought we agreed we weren't going to address the giant elephant in the room," Emilia said, a little amused smirk shot in the direction of the couple in question.
"They're practically begging us to," Mica chuckled, placing a handful of pre-popped buttery popcorn in his mouth from the bowl in his lap.
"What— we're not!" Kaia shot at him defensively but the photographer only looked at her with a bored expression.
"You're acting like a married couple, like that isn't obvious. C'est mignon!" [It's cute].
Kaia could feel the red in her cheek seep all the way up to the tips of her ears.
"In my defence, I promise I didn't say anything," Will stated rather nervously.
"You're okay, mate," Kaia chuckled, trying to make herself even smaller. Sure, she was an actress, but she really hated having so much attention on her. "Just get your bloody questions out of the way so we can start playing Monopoly?"
"No, wait, I got my deck of Cards Against Humanity!" Mica announced, pointing limply at his bag all the way across the room on the floor.
"No way, I was promised a game of monopoly!" Will countered, sitting up with his arms crossed.
"Okay, no questions, then? Great!" Kaia clapped her hands enthusiastically when Anna laughed and got up abruptly.
"Loads of questions! First of all, when? Second of all, what the hell? Third of all, huh?"
Taylor snickered, leaning her chin on Kaia's shoulder. "Four months in a few days," she told the group with a little smile, squeezing Kaia even closer.
"And you've only just decided to tell us?!" Emilia asked, sounding hurt.
Kaia brushed her fingers through her hair awkwardly before dropping them back in her lap, fiddling with her sleeves. "Well, actually... to be honest, I probably wouldn't have said anything either if it wasn't for, you know, the whole world technically finding out."
"Wow," Mica whistled, grinning crookedly at Kaia.
"Ouch," Anna muttered, her bottom lip popping out. "No hard feelings though. We get it."
"We forgive you," Emma chuckled, reaching over Will to grab Kaia's hand and squeeze it comfortingly.
"So... we're good?" Kaia asked, chewing anxiously on the inside of her cheek.
"Babes, of course," Millie reassured her. "How are you guys doing? It can't have been easy."
Kaia glanced back at Taylor who gave her a small smile and reached for her hand, lacing their fingers together.
"It's been better," Kaia admitted with a dry chuckle, running her thumb over Taylor's hand.
"We're okay though," Taylor added softly, squeezing Kaia's hand. "Right, Kibbles?"
"Of course, Tibbles," she responded with a little grin, leaning back against the blonde with a soft sigh.
"Okay, ew, stop being so cute," Anna grumbled with a wave of her hand.
Specifically, her left hand.
More specifically, her left hand that had a very large rock which shimmered in the light.
"Anna Marie Jones! What in the bloody world is that?!" Kaia exclaimed loudly, jumping up from Taylor's lap and standing right in front of Anna instead.
Everyone else leaned toward her to get a better look at the engagement ring, eyes wide open in shock.
"Oh, this thing?" Anna responded nonchalantly, brushing her bangs back with her hand, putting the diamond on full display. "Just a gift from Andrew for our four-year-anniversary!"
"Oh my fucking god, when the hell did that happen?" Emilia demanded, snatching Anna's hand in hers and taking a very close look at her ring finger.
"Last night."
"Putain, tu es sérieuse? That's great news! Oh my god!" Kaia squealed, wrapping her arms tightly around her friend. "Congrats!" [Shit, are you serious?]
"Congratulations, Anna!"
"Félicitation, chérie!"
"Congrats!"
"Ah, thank you, guys!" Anna managed to let out, her voice breathless from Kaia's embrace. "I'd like to be alive for the wedding, Kibs."
"Right... right, sorry!" Kaia laughed sheepishly, finally pulling away. "So, when's the wedding? Or is that too early? I don't know, I know nothing about engagements."
"Ideally in the spring," Anna replied, laughing along.
"I'm going to fight you for the Maid of Honour position," Emilia told Kaia, playfully threatening her.
"Oh, I was just going to flip a coin to be honest," Anna confessed, making the two girls gasp.
"Thanks for thinking of me," Jules muttered playfully.
"Babe, you would have never done it even if I had begged you," Anna shot back and the model laughed, nodding in agreement.
"Yeah, I am not wearing a dress."
"Is that really a good way to go about it? A coin toss?" Taylor chuckled, leaning forward on the arm of the chair, and Kaia noticed how her eyes kept jumping to the ring, a little smile playing in her expression.
"It's perfect, if you ask me," Mica cackled, stuffing his mouth with a handful of crisps. How was he always eating?
"Of course you would think so, mate," Will laughed, shaking his head at the photographer. "How about the winner of game night wins the title?"
Kaia's head snapped toward Emilia, her lips instantly spreading into a smirk. Even black out drunk, no one could ever beat her and her competitiveness at games because she would rather die than lose. It wasn't exactly easy playing online Scrabble against Taylor.
"I'm down if you're down," Kaia said, holding her hand out. Millie immediately shook it, smirking back.
"I'm down."
"Okay. Cool..."
"Cool, cool, cool, cool..."
"I'm starting to regret this," Anna muttered.
"Babe," Taylor called, her blue eyes dancing in amusement. "I think this is the disaster you were worried about."
Kaia walked over to her girlfriend, not even a single hint of playfulness in her demeanour. "Don't worry, I'm going to win this."
"Honey, that's exactly why I'm worried," Taylor laughed anxiously, but Kaia was already walking toward the boxes of board games.
"So, what are we playing first? Monopoly?"
"Risk."
Kaia turned with a raised eyebrow at Emilia, nodding her head slowly. "Okay... okay, we can play Risk."
She grabbed the old box from the pile and started setting it up on the coffee table.
"I'm seriously starting to regret this." Anna sounded just as nervous as Taylor.
"This is going to be great." Mica was about the only other person excited about it.
The game, as predicted by Taylor, was a disaster.
In the end, it was only Emilia and Kaia who were really playing the game. Everyone else was not in the mood to get involved in their competition. Not even Taylor who was arguably the most competitive person Kaia had ever met.
There were a few playful insults tossed back and forth and many harmless threats until eventually, Emilia was starting to gain the upper hand by winning more than half the territories on the board.
Kaia was not amused, and perhaps some even harsher insults were thrown at her friend.
It was a close call in the end, but Kaia was left defeated and it hurt her ego harder than having a job offer turned down.
"HA! Loser!"
"Grow up, Mills," Kaia grumbled, rolling her eyes at her friend as she got up and flopped down on the sofa.
"So... that's 1-0, to Emilia," Anna called out like a referee. "Anyone want a drink?" She sounded desperate.
"Yes, please," Jules grumbled, pushing herself up and starting toward the kitchen.
Kaia laughed sheepishly and followed her to go and grab the beers for everyone.
"You okay?" She asked her friend who was filling a glass of water, a little unreadable look on her face. She had been quieter than usual today.
Jules smiled at Kaia and gave her a small nod. "Yeah, just a little tired. I had a shoot yesterday that ran very late."
"Okay," the actress responded softly, though she wasn't entirely convinced. "You know I'm here if you ever need to talk, right?"
She held out her hand and gave Jules's fingers a small squeeze.
"I know. Thanks, Kibs," Jules replied with a tight smile, hiding once again behind her glass of water.
They ordered pizzas for lunch, and moved on to play a game of UNO next while waiting for their food to get there. By the time Kaia had won all three rounds of the game, she was already tipsy. Mica was already plastered, and everyone else was exhausted. Taylor's eyelids were pretty heavy but she remained awake, watching Kaia try her literal best to defeat her friend.
Kaia didn't even realise just how passionate she was about that maid of honour title.
They kept going back and forth until the sun had set, eventually stopping on a game of Monopoly. It was probably the longest game Kaia had ever played and Will kept landing on all her properties with the most hotels until he was completely broke. Anna gave up before mortgaging any of her properties when she landed on one of Emilia's lands that hurt her wallet quite hard.
Mica, in his drunk state, somehow still managed to stay afloat, though he did go in and out of jail quite often, and for some reason, he kept getting every single Get Out Of Jail Free card.
At around nine, Taylor dropped her cards on the table and got up, covering her face as she yawned.
"I'm going to pass out," she chuckled tiredly, stretching her arms over her head.
"Okay, goodnight," Kaia mumbled without really paying her any mind, too focused on counting the cash in front of her.
"Goodnight, darling. Good luck," Taylor said through another yawn, kissing the top of Kaia's head before heading upstairs.
"Millie's going to need more luck," Kaia muttered back, grabbing the dice when it was her turn and rolling them.
"You guys are insane," Will exclaimed, pulling at his hair. "No one's ever finished a game of monopoly! Just give up!"
"We're at a draw, William!" Emilia yelled at her boyfriend, slapping her palm against the wooden table. "We can't end the night with a draw!"
The poor man looked quite frightened.
"She's right," Kaia replied, moving her metal dog to her spot. And... she just lost money to Mica, of all people.
"Ha ha! Come to papa!"
"Ew," Kaia muttered, tossing the few bills in his direction.
"Okay!" Anna announced loudly, having had enough of her two friends' constant bickering. "You know what? You can both be fucking bridesmaids. I'm making Mica my Maid of Honour."
"What the fuck?" Kaia cried out, slapping the card in her hand on the table. "That's not fair! You'll end up eating fricken instant noodles!"
"Honestly, that would be an awesome wedding," Mica replied with a crooked grin.
"See?" Emilia agreed with Kaia. "We're ending this tonight."
"Jesus fucking Christ," Anna sighed, flopping back down on the couch. "Can I go pass out next to your girlfriend?"
"No," Kaia mumbled in response, passing the dice over to Emilia.
"Okay," Mica groaned. "I'm out. Can I go sleep next to your girlfriend?"
"Nope. You can pass out of the couch."
"Jee, thanks."
Eventually, though, Kaia and Emilia shared a glance, and they both burst out laughing as they silently agreed that they were both way too exhausted to keep going.
"Okay, wait, who's got more assets?" Will asked, trying to be the mediator.
"You count, I'm exhausted," Kaia told him, stretching backwards until she flopped on the carpet.
It was quiet for a moment, everyone way too tired to make conversation until the blond actor spoke again.
"It is with great sadness that I announce the winner of tonight's battle is... Kaia."
She was too tired to even cheer for herself.
"Well... fuck," Emilia muttered and once again, everyone was laughing.
"Are you guys staying over?" Kaia asked when Jules snorted loudly.
"No, I'm not a fan of hearing you and your girlfriend fuck."
"She's probably already asleep. No chance of sex tonight," Kaia sighed, pretending to sound disappointed.
"Still," Anna laughed softly. "Andrew's on his way back from the studio. He'll pick us up."
They all left relatively early except for Mica who crashed in Layla's old room. Kaia climbed into bed next to Taylor at around 10:30, already feeling sleep wash over her, when the blonde turned around and smiled at her, snaking an arm around her waist.
"So, who was the winner?"
"You're looking at her," Kaia smirked, wiggling her eyebrows playfully.
"Ooh! That's so hot," Taylor exclaimed, leaving a kiss on Kaia's cheek. "Are you excited to be a Maid of Honour?"
"Actually, I'm terrified! I've never done that before! I've only been to like, one or two weddings my whole life!"
"You'll be fine," Taylor giggled softly, nuzzling Kaia's hair. "I'll help you."
"Will you be my date?" Kaia asked with a cheeky smile. "To a wedding with a seriously undetermined date?"
"It would be my pleasure!" Taylor beamed back at her, pecking her lips softly. "Baby, I was thinking..."
"Mhm?" Kaia hummed, her eyes already closing.
"Well, since we're already living together in New York, but it's probably not the best decision to even step foot in that city any time soon... and I mean, London's just so much quieter and calmer, and, it'd just be easier if I found a place here. If I moved here, officially."
Kaia's eyes snapped open completely. She looked at Taylor, trying to process her words but in her drunk and tired state, she wasn't sure she was properly focused.
"What do you say?" Taylor asked, a little excited smile playing on her lips. But when Kaia didn't answer, it started to drop. "Baby?"