"Do you think your mom will like the flowers?"
"Well she's more of a tulip person."
Taylor drops the bouquet of roses she had been holding, letting them fall to the floor dramatically.
"Shut up. Are you serious?!" Panic has set in. They're leaving in an hour and a half and now she has to get a fresh bouquet of flowers – tulips – to take upstate with them. It had taken her half an hour to decide on the roses in the first place. She doesn't want to come off as a try hard but isn't it like, tradition to come bearing gifts? She can't just show up at Karlie's parents' house empty handed.
"I told you not to get flowers anyway." Karlie laughs as she picks up the neglected roses. She checks over the beautiful red petals and marvels at how green and perfectly trimmed the stems are. "These are better than the roses you get me."
"I've already impressed you." Taylor huffs as she whips out her phone, preparing to call down to her security to let them know that she needs to go back to the florist.
Karlie swipes the phone out of her grasp, grabbing a hold of it effortlessly. Taylor stomps her foot and reaches for it. Karlie holds the iPhone above her head, just out of Taylor's reach. Sometimes Taylor is convinced that she's dating a twelve year old. A freakishly tall twelve year old.
"Karlie I need to call down to security so I can go get your mom tulips!"
"She can live with these roses, everyone loves roses."
"But she likes tulips more. I need her to like me," Taylor isn't too proud to whine. She attempts hopping up to grab up her phone but her heels don't make it an easy feet, and Karlie takes a measured step back.
"They already like you!"
"Okay that is a bold faced lie! Kimby and Kariann said that everyone's still weird about it." Taylor tries once again to reach her phone. Even in her heels Karlie still has a good two inches on her, plus her arms are obnoxiously long.
"That's just because they haven't gotten to know you. When we get there you're going to charm everyone and then you're going to feel dumb for worrying."
Taylor pouts. She gives Karlie that puppy look that she's learned to perfect over the last year. A jutted out bottom lip and a well-placed hand on Karlie's forearm. It usually does the trick but her girlfriend seems to be set in her ways today.
"No tulips." Karlie warns.
"Okay, no tulips." Taylor flashes an innocent smile. Too innocent. Karlie gives her a look but hands the phone over anyway. Taylor grins and then makes a run for it. She cuts diagonally through the living room, almost knocking her knee against the arm of one of the couches. By the time she reaches the stairs, Karlie's on her heels. The model's faster and isn't wearing heels but Taylor's filled with determination as she rushes up the stairs. She knows outrunning Karlie isn't feasible, and when strong arms wrap around her from behind she accepts defeat. Karlie lifts her up effortlessly. Taylor still marvels at the woman's strength to this day.
"Why are you like this?" Taylor deadpans as Karlie carries her towards the master bedroom. The model just laughs in Taylor's ear and nudges the door open with her foot. Meredith and Olivia look towards the door immediately. It looks as if they were having a serious cat conversation at the foot of the bed. Meredith looks unimpressed but Olivia's already audibly purring at the sight of her caregivers.
Karlie dumps Taylor onto the bed, and Taylor bounces a little from the force of it. She glares up at her grinning girlfriend. If she wasn't so cute Taylor would be very upset. It's very hard to be angry at Karlie Kloss, though. Sure, she has her aggravating moments and the two have had their fair share of fights and rough patches, but it's all worth it. Nothing in this world has ever made more sense to Taylor than Karlie. She's pretty sure the model is the only one who can truly put up with her idiosyncrasies and insecurities.
Taylor's train of thought crashes into a wall when Karlie all but fall on top of her, pressing her full weight against Taylor's slightly smaller body. "I repeat; why are you like this?" Taylor mumbles as she blows some of Karlie's hair out of her face. Karlie gives no answer, continuing to lay her dead weight against Taylor as if they have all the time in the world. As if they don't need to be on the road in an hour.
"I'm going to keep laying here until you give up this flower thing. Say you give up."
"I don't even have time anymore, so I give up. When your mom shuns me you'll only have yourself to blame." Taylor's always had a flair for the dramatic.
"Good." Karlie ignores Taylor's dramatics and rolls off of her, jostling Meredith in the process. The dark grey and white cat jumps aside, looking personally offended and surprised that Karlie would dare touch her in such a way. Taylor laughs at the startled look on her cat's face. Meanwhile, Olivia is already eagerly climbing onto Karlie's chest. She's a lot more personable than her big sister.
"I just want them to like me." Taylor breaks the silence that has developed between them. Karlie stops scratching behind Olivia's folded right ear, turning her head towards Taylor. Taylor does the same, so that they're almost nose to nose. She feels that familiar clenching in her stomach. It's a feeling she always gets when she's able to observe Karlie's face up close. The angular cheekbones, the perfect smattering of freckles, the adorable button nose. Taylor knows every feature of Karlie's face yet she's always left breathless in moments like this.
"They're going to love you," Karlie looks so sure of it.
"They still hate me for not really being there for your birthday."
Karlie rolls her eyes. They look extra beautiful today – something that Taylor didn't even know was possible. It's hard to describe them because 'green' just doesn't seem to do them justice. There always has to be an adjective in front. Sometimes they're moss green. Sometimes emerald. Sometimes they look like jade.
"Playing a sold out show the next day is more important."
Taylor's face smooths over. She shakes her head firmly, her ruby red lips pressing into a hard line.
"Nothing like that is ever more important than you. It doesn't even compare."
"Your career is your life, Taylor. Does it suck sometimes? Yeah, sure, but we make it work. My parents don't understand that but when they see us together they'll get it. I know they'll get it." Karlie grazes her nose against Taylor's. It immediately sets the singer at ease. "And if they don't then that's their loss, I'm not going to stop dating you. If you haven't noticed, I kind of love you."
Taylor can't help the smile that spreads across her face. She feels the warmness in her chest and she's pretty sure she's blushing. She presses a soft kiss to Karlie's lips.
"I love you too."
"Even though I'm annoying?"
"Even though you're annoying."
They both laugh and Taylor's content to just lay there and stare into Karlie's eyes for a few more minutes – a few hours, really – but they kind of have things to pack and places to be. They're making the three and a half hour drive to upstate New York to visit Karlie's family. Karlie had accompanied Taylor down to Nashville for Christmas and it had gone extremely well. Karlie is used to Taylor's parents and younger brother, having met them too many times to count over the last year and a half. She's already solidified her relationship with Taylor's parents. They think she's wonderful, just like everyone else does. Taylor's happy that she has her parents' support with this relationship but she's also filled with apprehension when she thinks about her relationship with Karlie's own family. She's met the twins many times and they even stayed over her apartment once while visiting Karlie. They're young and funny, albeit a little nosy when it comes to Taylor and Karlie's relationship. Kimby, in particular, is a handful. Taylor loves them both though, and had thought that Karlie's parents would be easy to befriend as well. She's met them before, along with Karlie's older sister but she could never seem to get through to them. Kristine always thought Taylor had some ulterior motive and Karlie's parents were just so hard to read.
Sure, everything was pleasant and dandy on the outside but there was always a sense of aloofness about Karlie's father, and Karlie's mother was still confused as to why Karlie had left her ex-boyfriend in favor of Taylor.
Taylor stopped when her thoughts drifted to Joshua Kushner. She would not go there, not today at least. It was still a bit of a sore subject because it was so obvious that Karlie's family favored Josh, even though he hardly made any time for Karlie, putting his career before her time and time again.
Karlie starts to line their luggage up by the bedroom door. They're only going to be gone for a week but Taylor over packs wherever she goes. She likes to be prepared for anything. Upstate New York is considerably colder and snowier than the city, and with it being the dead of winter Taylor deems it necessary to pack for a surprise blizzard. Karlie tells her that there's not going to be a storm but Taylor packs for it just in case. She also packs what she would normally wear this time of year – heels, jeans, comfy sweaters, etc. – so there's quite a bit of luggage for her security to load. Compared to Taylor, Karlie is practically roughing it.
"Babe can you make sure the cookies are wrapped properly? They're cooling on the counter in the kitchen." Taylor calls over her shoulder when Karlie readies herself to start taking the luggage downstairs. "Oh! And the wine, don't forget the wine!"
"Cookies and wine, got it. I'll get the cat carriers too."
At the mention of cat carriers, a look of impending doom flashes across Olivia's face. She hops off of the bed and darts past Karlie, disappearing out of the room in a flash of white fur. Taylor knows finding her and convincing her to get into her carrier will not be easy.
"This is why I didn't mention the cat carriers," Taylor says.
"I forgot how badly she freaks out, I'll get her." With that last statement, Karlie lifts two suitcases and walks out of the room, making kissy noises to seek out Olivia as she goes. Taylor smiles as she watches her girlfriend disappears.
When she's certain that she's alone, Taylor ventures into her closet. She approaches her large vanity table and bends down to the very last drawer. It appears empty but Taylor knows better. Her fingers reach towards the very back of the drawer until she brushes against a velvet box. She quickly grabs it and closes the drawer, looking over her shoulder to make sure she's still alone. It's been hard hiding this from Karlie, who always seems to know when Taylor is up to something. She won't need to hide for much longer, though. Not if this week goes the way Taylor plans.
Taylor sighs and opens the lid to reveal the ring. The box is a royal navy blue, a signature for Harry Winston pieces, and Taylor is still a little surprised when she's faced with the sparkling ring settled inside. It's all still a little surreal.
It took her a very long time to find the perfect ring. She had gone through numerous private jewelers, referenced to her by her publicist Tree, but everything had seemed too garish. One of the things that Taylor adores about Karlie is how simple everything is when they're together. Before Taylor came into her life, Karlie hadn't even had to deal with paparazzi. She's a supermodel but she was a supermodel who led a pretty private and normal life outside of work.
Taylor envied that normalcy when they met and befriended one another. One of the hardest things about pursuing a relationship with the girl was the fact that Taylor was stripping that normalcy away from Karlie. Now Karlie has a bounty on her head wherever she goes. The model takes it in stride, as she does most things, but she still enjoys the simpler things in life. Taylor wanted to incorporate that into this engagement ring. She didn't want something crazy or too big because that's not Karlie. But she also wanted Karlie to have a nicely sized diamond. Karlie deserved the best and it was hard finding a middle ground.
Harry Winston ended up being the best option. A three and a half carat cushion cut center stone, framed with micropavé diamonds on a platinum micropavé band. It's simple, elegant and Taylor just knows it'll look amazing on Karlie's hand.
Life works in funny ways. Growing up, Taylor always dreamed about being swept off of her feet. She envisioned being wooed and then proposed to. Something out of a Disney storybook. Now she's twenty-six and trying to work up the courage to propose to her girlfriend. Taylor lets out a laugh at the absurdity of the situation but the joy freezes in her veins when she hears Karlie's voice from behind her.
"What's so funny?"
Taylor jumps and quickly looks over her shoulder, accidentally snapping the lid on the engagement box shut harder than intended. It makes a resonating sound but Taylor coughs in an attempt to mask it. Karlie's standing by the door, looking at her with furrowed eyebrows and a confused little grin.
"N-nothing. I was just, um, trying to decide what else to pack." It's a lame excuse, even by Taylor's standards, but Karlie falls for it.
"Nothing else, we have twenty minutes to get on the road and I still can't find Olivia. I'm going to finish taking the luggage down, can you get Liv?"
Taylor nods quickly, anything to get Karlie out of the closet. "Yeah, I'll be down soon."
Karlie gives her another look, sensing something off about her, but just murmurs something unintelligible and disappears. Taylor waits a few moments and then peeks her head out to glance in her bedroom. Karlie's gone, as are the last of their suitcases. Taylor quickly scrambles to her feet and makes a beeline for her purse of the day. She slips the engagement ring in and just prays that Karlie doesn't find a reason to rifle through it during the drive upstate. She'd have stowed it in one of her suitcases but Karlie's already lugged everything downstairs.
Taylor takes one more look around the room, making sure nothing's been left behind. She's halfway to the door when she hears a soft meow. Olivia slides from under the bed, obviously torn between not wanting to be put in her carrier and not wanting to be left behind completely.
Taylor scoops the white kitten up and keeps a tight hold on her as she treks downstairs. "Found her!" Taylor announces happily as she ventures into the living room. Karlie's already placing an indifferent Meredith into her own personalized cat carrier. Meredith doesn't like it either but at least she accepts her fate.
"Olivia," Karlie's tone switched to the saccharine baby voice that's reserved only for the cats, "it's just a few hours. Then you can run all over for an entire week!" Taylor hands Olivia over to Karlie gently and watches in amusement as Olivia starts fruitlessly pawing at Karlie, silently begging for mercy. She definitely won't get it from Karlie.
It takes a couple minutes to get Olivia into the carrier. She latches onto Karlie's forearm for dear life, refusing to be trapped for what probably feels like an eternity to a cat. Karlie lets out a victorious cheer when she finally gets Olivia into the carrier. She quickly zips the flap closed and then bends down to look at Olivia through the meshed front. "She's so unimpressed with me."
"She really is. You're on her list now." Taylor says drily as she grabs up Meredith's carrier. Their luggage has already been taken down to be loaded into the car and it's about time for them to head down too. Karlie grabs the handle of Olivia's carrier and heads to the door while Taylor does her usual lookover of the apartment. She's always nervous about missing something, even if it's something small like forgetting to switch off a light.
"You packed their travel bowls right?" Taylor asks as she makes her way towards the foyer. Karlie's waiting patiently by the front door, knowing how Taylor is. Knowing that she needs to be reassured that they have everything they could possibly need.
"Yes dear," Karlie says it with a roll of her eyes but there's a dimpled grin on her face. "Don't forget the flowers."
"The flowers!" Taylor hurries back towards the living room. Meredith lets out an indignant mewl from her carrier, not appreciating being manhandled so carelessly. Taylor mutters a quick 'sorry' to her cat and when her eyes fall on the bouquet of roses sitting on the coffee table, Taylor lets out a sigh of relief. She scoops the flowers up with her free arm, saying a silent thank you to the heavens. Showing up with the wrong flowers was better than showing up with no flowers at all.
They walk down to the lobby together. The elevator in Taylor's apartment is unreliable and they really can't afford to get stuck at a time like this, so they take the stairs. Photographers are waiting outside. It's a necessary evil that Taylor's had to deal with for years now, but nothing has been the same since Taylor and Karlie went public. They escaped for a bit, taking an impromptu vacation to get away from the headlines and Tree's calls, but they had to return to the city eventually. Now it seems as if there's always some inane rumor circulating about the two of them. Just last week Tree had called and asked Taylor if she and Karlie had taken a trip to a toy shop in Greenwich Village.
"Why would we go to a toy shop? We don't have kids."
"Not those toys, Taylor. A sex shop."
"What?! Ew, oh my god!"
"So am I correct in assuming that you did not go to the...Pink Pussycat Boutique?"
"No we did not, but thanks for asking."
Some of the rumors are mortifying but they're almost always untrue. Karlie and Taylor don't have leaks in their camp – knock on wood – so whenever there's some special 'insider' information sourced in an article, Tree calls the bluff and usually gets it taken down if it risks being detrimental. Taylor knows that it's better to just ignore the stupid articles but she still has an image to uphold, and she cannot have people thinking that she and her girlfriend buy six inch dildos in the Village.
The flashes greet them the second they step outside. Karlie flashes a little smile towards some of the cameras, always the sweetheart, but Taylor keeps her head straight and her eyes focused. There are two matching black Lincoln Navigators on the curb. They'll be driving the first one and two members of Taylor's security will be following them in the second. She's pretty sure Karlie's parents are already holding the security situation against her but she can't just go on trips without them. She wishes she could but she no longer has that luxury. They need to accompany her everywhere and be accommodated when Taylor stays somewhere.
Karlie puts Olivia's carrier in the backseat first, and then takes Meredith from Taylor to slide her in too. When everyone's all packed in, Taylor climbs into the drivers' seat while Karlie takes her spot on the passenger's side.
The bouquet of roses now sits on Karlie's lap. The car is silent as Taylor takes a deep breath before turning the key in the ignition. Karlie programs her family's address into the car's GPS and Taylor eyes it as she pulls away from the curb. They're silent starting off. Karlie fiddles with Taylor's phone to get some music going and Taylor's too busy carefully navigating through the busy New York City streets.
"Your iTunes library is still ridiculous." Karlie murmurs. On the few times where they have taken trips, Karlie is almost always the DJ. Taylor's phone is always used because she has so many songs from so many different genres and time periods. She no longer listens to half of the stuff on there so Karlie calls her a digital music hoarder.
"It is not! I am a person who lives and breathes music. Just go to the Big Sur playlist you big baby."
Karlie ignores her and spends another few agonizing minutes going through Taylor's extensive music library. Taylor's merging onto the highway by the time a loud and nostalgic song unexpectedly blares from the speakers.
"Oh. My. God." Taylor shakes her head while Karlie starts to nod her head along to the beat.
"DEBBIE JUST HIT THE WALL, SHE NEVER HAD IT ALL!" Karlie sings along at the top of her lungs, carelessly head banging along to the steady drum beat and the guitar riffs.
Taylor's grin is fighting through and by the time Karlie reaches the chorus, she can no longer hide it. Karlie never wants to sing when Taylor puts on a song in the car but her inhibitions seem to lower when Bowling For Soup is involved.
"SHE'S STILL PREOCCUPIED WITH NINETEEN, NINETEEN, NINETEEN EIGHTY-FIVE!"
Taylor shakes her head again, merging into the far left lane. She glances in her rearview mirror – which is shaking thanks to the loudness of the radio – and sees that her security have kept up with her.
When the song ends Karlie searches for something else, not trusting the shuffle feature to play something that she enjoys. Taylor's not even surprised when another familiar song starts to play. She gives Karlie a look while the model bangs her head around again, looking as if she hasn't a care in the world.
"What?! This song is a classic!" Karlie exclaims when she notices Taylor's stare.
"I'm in love with a dork."
Karlie throws her head back and laughs, her green eyes crinkling at the edges and flashing brightly. Taylor has to remind herself that her eyes need to be focused on the road, and she reluctantly turns away to make sure they're not about to veer off and crash into the median.
She keeps her eyes forward but can't help but grin when Karlie rests her hand on Taylor's thigh. Taylor slowly moves her right hand over Karlie's, keeping her eyes on the road as she lifts their intertwined hands. She presses a kiss to the back of Karlie's hand and their hands stay locked together.
Karlie continues to sing I Knew You Were Trouble and Taylor finds herself singing along by the time the second run of the chorus comes around.
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A/N: So this is just a cute little story that's been bouncing around in my head lately. This is actually my first time writing Kaylor and I'm slowly getting the hang of writing dialogue between the two, so hopefully I do it justice. I don't intend for there to really be any angst in this but I never know where my mind's going to take me. I can, however, promise that this story will be filled with a lot of fluff. Thanks for reading :)