*Third Person POV*
"Hello?" Carter answers her phone after it had woken her up.
"Dude! Big news!"
"God Alex! What?" Carter asks annoyed.
"People magazine wants to interview you about your surgery and have a photo shoot!" He screeches excitedly.
"Really?" Carter asks quite shocked.
"Yes! The interviewer, Emily, is willing to come to your hotel room and everything! They will do the shoot right there in Chicago too!"
"You're too enthusiastic for this early in the morning." Carter grumbles.
"Isn't it like almost noon in Chicago?"
"Yeah, but I'm still used to California time."
"Anyway, are you up for it?"
"Yeah I guess."
"Okay, can she come by tomorrow around like 2?"
"Yeah sounds good."
"Sweet! I'll let her know and talk to you later! Hope you're doing better."
"I am, thanks."
"Bye." He says and Carter hangs up the phone.
Carter lays in the empty bed and stares at the ceiling and starts to wonder what type of things the interviewer will ask her. She better not throw any shade at Taylor for the sake of her own life.
She loses her thoughts when her phone buzzes with a text from Danielle asking her if she wants some breakfast. Of course she wants breakfast, she is starving.
*
"I brought food!" Danielle says in an indescribable accent as she walks into the room with a bag full of food.
"Yay!" Carter sits up in the bed and smiles as her girlfriend approaches her. Danielle sets the food down and practically falls onto Carter. Carter wraps her arms around her tightly as she giggles. "Somebody's in a good mood!" Carter smiles once Danielle sits up in her lap.
"I am! Because we're going to pitchfork festival in a couple hours!" Danielle smiles excitedly.
"You know I can't be around loud music for too long." Carter makes a pouty face.
"I know, I have it all planned out. We are going to stay away from all the main stages where it's really loud and you can chose one set to go listen to up close. That way it won't be too bad."
"You smart girl." Carter giggles.
"So which set do you want to hear?" Danielle asks eagerly.
"Show me the list again?" Carter asks. Danielle pulls her phone out of her back pocket and searches for something for a second before showing Carter. "CHVRCHES, no question needed."
"I knew you would say that." Danielle smiles.
"Well you know me too well." Carter smirks. Danielle pulls her into a long, passionate kiss. "You also know I'm going to let you go listen to other bands when you want as well."
"I know, but I don't want to leave you."
"If I feel well enough I might just tag along."
"I hope you do." Danielle lays her head on Carter's chest. Carter rubs her back in circles for a minute before mentioning the food. They sit in the bed and eat, spilling crumbs all over. Luckily the maid will be in to clean it up once they leave.
"Oh D, guess what!?" Carter asks excited.
"What?" Danielle looks over at her with a mouthful of food.
"Guess."
"You know I hate this game." D scowls at her.
"Just make a guess."
"You're pregnant?" Danielle asks jokingly.
"Yes, and it's yours." Carter laughs. "But seriously."
"Okay umm, you are," Dani pauses for a second to think. "You are... Okay I seriously have no idea." She gives up.
"I have an interview with people magazine tomorrow." Carter says quickly followed by a big cheesy smile.
"What? No way! About what?"
"They want to know what happened to my head." Carter says pointing to her head. "Oh and also a photo shoot."
"That's so rad babe!" Danielle hugs her girlfriend and follows it with a big kiss.
*
"You might want to tone down your dancing a bit if you want to make it through the day." Danielle grabs Carter by the arm. Carter looks at her disappointed, but she can already feel the negative effects of dancing too hard.
"Good idea." Carter shrugs out of breath. "But it's hard not to dance to CHVRCHES." She says, making Danielle laugh.
*
Lauren Mayberry walks off stage and greets each Haim girl with a hug, while Carter stands back and tries not to fangirl too hard.
"And who's this?" Lauren asks, slightly pointing towards Carter. Lauren already know who she is but she is waiting for Danielle to tell her.
"My girlfriend, Carter." Danielle smiles and reaches out her hand to Carter. Carter takes it and steps closer to Dani. Carter then shakes Lauren's hand with her free hand.
"Nice to finally meet you Carter, I'm Lauren." Lauren says in her cute accent.
"It's so cool to meet you, I'm a big fan." Carter smiles completely star struck.
*
"Dudes! We are doing a podcast with Lauren Mayberry!" Este yells excited once she finds her sisters.
"No way!" Danielle smiles surprised.
"Rad!" Alana says drunkenly.
"Yeah, we gotta go now." Este says and points her thumb backwards. Danielle grabs Carter's hand and they all follow Este to a small trailer. They go in and have a seat at the small set up and Carter sits off to the side next to strangers who run the podcast. She listens to the four girls and smiles every time Danielle gets a chance to speak.
Carter patiently waits for it to get over even though she is in a lot of pain and her medication is in Danielle's Levis pocket. She silently exits the trailer feeling like she needs to puke because of the migraine. She stands towards the back and takes in deep breaths.
"Carter? You alright?" Dash runs up to her and grabs her arm. Carter shakes her head. "What do you need?" He asks worried.
"My medication is in Danielle's pocket." Carter says quickly.
"I'll go see if I can steal her for a second. Hold on, alright?" Dash runs and opens the door to the trailer. The girls get distracted by him and the podcast guys get angry and shoo him out. No luck with helping Carter. "Hey, she can't leave right now. Can you hold on?" He asks awkwardly.
"I'll be fine." Carter says softly even though she doesn't feel near fine.
"Okay good, I'll go get you some water real quick." He says and leaves again. He returns with a cold bottle of water. Carter drinks some of the water, but it's not helping at all. They soon hear a lot more noise inside the trailer and assume they're done. Dash rushes back in and grabs Danielle after she poses for a photograph. She rushes out with him and quickly gives Carter her pill.
"I'm so sorry baby, I forgot." She holds Carter tightly and slightly rocks her back and forth. Carter closes her eyes and takes in Danielle's scent, which calms her quickly. They stay in that position for a while.
"I think I would give you two a Grammy for being the cutest couple." Lauren smiles once she walks upon the scene. "I have to get going to meet the boys for dinner. Hope to see you soon." Lauren hugs both Dani and Carter before walking off.
***
"Hey Car?" Danielle shouts from across the hotel room.
"Hmmm?" Carter answers still half asleep.
"You need to get up and get ready for that interview and whatever." Dani tugs on her uncovered foot.
"Okay." Carter throws the blankets off of her and sits up. "Where're Este and Alana?"
"Down having breakfast. Get dressed and we'll go down." D answers. Carter quickly gets dressed and brushes her hair. "Take this before you forget again." Dani hands Carter her pill.
"Always taking care of me." Carter smiles at her before swallowing the small pill.
*
"I'm going to be in and out of here, we are working on some new stuff at a studio, and you know me I probably forgot five things." Danielle explains as she quickly grabs things from around the room.
"Okay, the interviewer should be here soon."
"I'll try not to interrupt if I need to come in here."
"Just don't let Alana, the queen of interrupting, in the room and we'll be just fine." Carter laughs.
"I won't." Danielle lets out a small laugh before swinging a full backpack on to her back. "I love you. See you soon. And have fun." She kisses Carter between every phrase.
"I love you too." Carter hugs her.
"See you later." Dani waves as she walks out of the room.
*
Carter quickly gets up when she hears a knock on the door.
"Hi, Carter right?" A classy dressed woman greets her.
"Yeah that's me." Carter smiles charmingly.
"I'm Emily the reporter from People Magazine. It's nice to meet you and I can't wait to hear your story."
"It's nice to meet you too. Come on in." Emily walks in and Carter closes the door behind her. "Have a seat." Carter gestures to one of the chairs set up close to each other.
"So I guess I'll start by asking you some questions." Emily flips open her notebook, turns on a recording device, and gets her pen ready to write. "So where were you when you started to feel ill?"
"Taylor Swift concert, but please don't twist anything and cause shit between her and I."
"Don't worry I wouldn't do that." Emily giggles.
"Why were you at the concert?"
"I've sort of been tagging along on tour with one of her openers."
"Who?"
"HAIM."
"And why?" Emily asks and Carter pauses not sure what to say. She can't out Danielle to a popular pop culture magazine.
"This feels like a police report, not an interview."
"Oops I'm sorry. How about you just tell me what happened."
Carter tells the entire story trying hard not to call Danielle anything but her name, using any nicknames or saying girlfriend could give their relationship away. It's probably not even a good idea she mentioned her. But how can she tell the story without mentioning her greatest supporter.
"What are your relations with Haim?"
"We are really close friends."
"You mentioned Danielle a lot more, are you closer to her?" Emily asks and as soon as she finishes her sentence Danielle walks in the door.
"Sorry I just forgot my phone charger." She says and walks past Carter and searches through Carter's bag to find a charger. "Got it, sorry babe- I mean Carter." Danielle blushes hard after screwing up and waves as she quickly exits the room.
"Which one of the three was that?" Emily asks after writing something down.
"It was Danielle." Carter answers honestly. She figures that Emily is catching on to their relationship.
"You share a room with her?"
"I share a room with all three of them."
"Which bed do you sleep in?"
"That one." Carter points to the bed closest to them.
"With Danielle?" She asks and Carter nods her head. Emily starts writing more and Carter tries to peek at her notes.
"Are you really going to use all of this information for the magazine."
"I use what makes a good story." Emily answers. Carter keeps quiet and thinks, why did I do this? She is going to fuck up my story just to make it more interesting. I honestly thought it was interesting enough. "And Danielle, she is your girlfriend."
"Ummm.." Carter looks down thinking of an answer. Emily looks at her expecting an answer. "Our relationship is a secret."
"I'm afraid not for long." Emily says calmly as she writes more.
"No! Don't please!" Carter takes Emily's pen from her hand mid-sentence.
"Keeping me from writing it won't make me forget it, plus I'm recording everything."
"You are really invading my privacy and I want you to leave. I'm also requesting to cancel the magazine article."
"I'm afraid you can't cancel. But I will leave since I'm finished anyway." She packs her things and stands up for the chair. "Goodbye Carter, your article will be published soon and a copy will be sent to you." And she is gone.
Carter runs up to the door after it closes and punches it with a lot of force, bloodying her knuckles. She hits it again and again with both hands in attempt to get her anger out. After a while she leans against the door and slides to the floor holding her hands together that are covered in blood. She feels so stupid that she agreed to do the interview. If she would have thought about it more she would've figured out what would happen. That way she would have denied and the whole issue would be nonexistent. She has never been so angry at herself.
*
"I'm just coming by to see if it's over and if you're okay." Danielle walks into the room trying to put the key in her front pocket. "What happened?" D looks up to see her girlfriend staring at her blankly with blood all over her hands and her white shirt. She runs to her and kneels in front of her. She searches her for any cuts and notices the large gashes and bruises on Carter's knuckles. "Did you beat her up?"
"I wish, it was just the door." Carter answers plainly.
"What happened? Why did you do this?"
"She acted nice, but then she manipulated me and wrote things I didn't even say or want said!" Carter says starting to yell at the end of her sentence.
"Shhh baby, what did she write?" Danielle asks calmly holding Carter's bloody hands in hers.
"She is going to tell everybody in the world and its all my fault." Carter starts to sob.
"What is she going to tell?" Danielle asks. "Oh..." She looks down once she realizes what Carter is talking about. "It's okay, it doesn't matter." Danielle plays off to be her normal chill self. But she is extremely worried inside.
"It does matter. You didn't want it out, and I fucked up."
"Listen Carter, it's not your fault. I'm going to get you cleaned up and we'll think about it, okay?" Danielle pulls her up and takes her into the washroom.
*
"You guys can just put it out there before the article is released. That way it isn't just a huge shock or whatever." Alana suggests. "Plus the fandom pretty much already knows." She says under her breath.
"That's actually a good idea." Carter says. Danielle nods her head in agreement.
"I'll post on my Instagram." Danielle says searching for the app on her phone. She types it a caption after finding a good photo, deletes it, and types it again about three times before sending it out. Her heart beats rapidly as she stares at what she just told the world. "Ugh it's so dorky." Danielle whines as she slides the phone over to Carter for her to read it.
I really need to get something off of my chest by letting you guys know a huge part of my life. I'm in love with this amazing girl, and yes that makes me gay.
"It's perfect. It's definitely something you would say." Carter giggles and stares at the image Dani posted. It's a photo that was taken of them over the Fourth of July, it's Danielle kissing Carter's cheek as Carter smiles looking at the camera. It really is a perfect example of their relationship. "And the picture is so perfect." Carter hands her her phone back.
*
"I feel like such a huge weight has been lifted off of my chest." Danielle sighs happily as she lays on Carter's chest.
"My chest feels heavier for some reason." Carter says sarcastically.
"Have you read the comments on it yet?" Alana asks her sister.
"No." Danielle answers.
"Most of them say, 'Yes I knew it!', 'I'm so happy for you!', and the the one I see the most is 'This better not be a joke!'." Alana says with a small giggle after each one.
"I should clarify that it's not a joke." Danielle replies. She snaps a quick selfie with Carter and posts it saying, It's not a joke.
"Seriously you two are goals as fuck!" Alana says apparently looking at the new post.
"I feel good as fuck!" Danielle laughs.
"We should go celebrate!" Alana suggests.
"But Este is gone with her boyfriend and Carter doesn't feel too well." Danielle excuses.
"Blah blah blah!" Alana mocks her. A pillow flies across the room hitting Alana in the face.
"Go party yourself." Danielle says after throwing the pillow.
"I can't. I need a babe."
"Go find one."
"I think I'll just nap instead. I have a serious relationship with my bed."
"Okay whatever."
*
"Will you two stop making out! I'm trying to sleep!" Alana throws a pillow across the room at the couple. There sure is a lot of pillow throwing in this family.
"Hey! D will you throw that pillow back? I was actually using it." Alana asks. Danielle throws it back hitting Alana in the face.
"Chill out Alana, it's not even loud." Danielle says.
"I know, it's just grossing me out." Alana complains.
"You're just jealous!" Carter shouts out.
"True." Alana admits. "But I'm making sure you two have your own room for the rest of this tour."
"Fine with me." Carter says.
***
*Carter's POV*
The girls are at the venue sound checking and all that. I stayed behind because I wanted to go explore the city a little bit. Danielle told me not to go out by myself, but we all know I'm terrible at obeying.
"Hi! Is there anything I can help you with?" A hipster dude greats me as soon as I walk in the door of a cool looking music shop.
"I'm just looking, hoping to maybe find something cool for my girlfriend." I smile.
"What is she into?"
"She is super into music, she plays guitar and drums, she just loves music."
"Have a look at some of our guitars, these are our vintage guitars, those are our limited addition, and those are just the normal ones." He shows me to the large wall covered in all different types of guitars. I have him pull down a couple different ones and I try them out.
"Hey, can you get me that one?" I ask pointing to a gorgeous white, limited edition guitar. He hands it to me and I tune it before playing a few chords. The guitar sounds amazing, plus it's absolutely beautiful, and it reminds me of Danielle.
I made the purchase without questioning the amount or anything and I walked out happily. I can't wait to give it to Danielle.
*
"What's that?" Donna asks me as I walk in the girls' dressing room.
"What do you think?" I ask her after pulling the guitar out of its case.
"That's a gorgeous guitar, what's it for?" She asks and I hand it to her to play.
"It's for Danielle." I smile.
"Why? It's not her birthday, or any other holiday."
"Just because I love her." I shrug.
"That's so sweet." Donna smiles at me. "I hear them coming, are you going to hide it?" Donna stands up quick to help me. I quickly close the case and push it under the sofa. We sit on the sofa and act casual.
"Hey, you're here." Danielle smiles when she walks in and comes right over for a hug.
*Third Person POV*
Alana and Carter come up with a plan to surprise Danielle over text. Danielle tries to peek at Carter's phone multiple times and Carter hides it each time, which upsets Danielle.
"Hey D, Dash just texted me he needs you to help him with something on the drums." Alana says, starting the plan her and Carter had discussed.
"Okay." Danielle said softly and stands up from the couch. Alana gives Danielle Dash's whereabouts and D leaves the room.
"Damn, she is upset." Este says as soon as the door closes. "What did you do?" She turns to look at Carter.
"I bought her a present." Carter answers.
"Well it must have been terrible."
"She doesn't know about it yet." Alana says. Carter pulls the guitar out from under the couch and opens the case to show Este.
"Shit dude. That's beautiful." Este says. "You could propose to her with this thing and there would be no way for her to say no."
"I'm not proposing, not yet anyway." Carter says and wipes Este's fingerprints from the guitar.
"Why did you buy it?" Este asks.
"Just because. I guess just as a thank you for everything she has done."
"How much was it?"
"That doesn't matter." Carter answers. The price was in the thousands, but Carter doesn't care, she just wants to make Danielle smile and give her something to thank her for everything.
"Dude, seriously. How much did you spend?" Este asks again.
"I don't know, nor do I care."
"I want to know so bad, but then again I kind of don't." Este says.
"It was a lot, that's all I'm saying."
*
"Dude, she's coming!" Alana says while closing the door and holding it closed.
"I'm not ready!" Carter hurries to calm herself down.
"What the fuck? Open the door!" Danielle pushes on the door to open it.
"Hold on!" Alana yells back.
"Okay let her in." Carter says calmly as she stands in the center of the room with the guitar behind her back, barely hidden. Alana opens the door and Danielle walks in with a confused/angry expression. "Hi!" Carter smiles excitedly.
"What are you doing?" Danielle approaches her.
"Stop! Close your eyes!" Carter demands.
"No, why?" Danielle looks at her confuse.
"Este, blindfold." Carter says and Este quickly ties a scarf around Dani's eyes so she can't see.
"Seriously, what the fuck are you doing?" Danielle asks.
"Just hold on babe." Carter says as she holds up the strap to put over Danielle's head. Carter positions the guitar in Danielle's hands and pulls the blindfold off taking some hair with it.
"What is this?" Danielle looks down at it with her mouth open in shock.
"It's your present. The reason we were acting weird."
"Holy shit, really?" Danielle looks up at her before looking back down at the instrument.
"Yeah, I bought it for you. Do you like it?"
"I love it, it's gorgeous. Just like you." Danielle looks up at Carter with a smirk.
"I'm glad you think so." Carter blushes. Danielle pulls Carter into a kiss with the guitar between them.
"Thank you so much. I love you." Dani kisses her again.
"I love you too." Carter smiles.
"I'm totally playing with this tonight." Danielle grins.
"Playing with what? Carter or the guitar?" Este laughs at her own joke until everyone laughs with her.