It had been a few days since Dixie's party, and the two hadn't gotten to see each other very much. Karlie was busy working on a few projects and Taylor had a sudden influx of requests for co-write sessions. So needless to say, when the songwriter got a text from the model asking her if she was up for a quick lunch date, she happily accepted.
Taylor was at a café, sitting at a table near the big window, waiting for her girlfriend. Karlie had texted her a few minutes ago to let her know she was on her way. So the blonde was scrolling through her phone, checking her emails and scheduling appointments she had for later in the week while she waited.
Upon walking in the café, Karlie immediately spotted her girlfriend by the window. She watched her eyebrows furrow as the songwriter looked at something on her phone and found herself grinning as she approached the table.
Taylor happens to look up just as Karlie approaches the table and flashes the model a bright smile as she stands. Karlie wraps her arms around her girlfriend. "Hey you." She says, pulling back to place a sweet kiss on the songwriter's lips.
"Hi." Taylor breathes out, leaning back to look at Karlie's bright smile.
"I'm sorry for running late. My meeting took a lot more time than I expected. Have you been waiting long?" The model rambles out in apology.
"It's okay. I was just going through some emails. I was only here for a few minutes."
"You want anything?" Karlie asks, taking Taylor's hand in hers as she gestures to the counter.
"I'll go with you. I'm not sure what I want yet."
They browse the menu while they wait in line, their hands remaining linked the entire time. When the person in front of them was finished, they stepped up to the register.
"What can I get for you ladies?" The barista asks with a polite smile. Karlie glances at Taylor, letting her girlfriend order first.
Taylor eyes the model for a moment, engaging in a little stare down. Karlie just chuckled and rolled her eyes, gesturing to the girl waiting to take their order. Taylor huffed, but turned to place an order anyway. "Can I get a medium blended vanilla bean iced coffee, please?"
The barista nodded, typing Taylor's order into the computer before looking to Karlie. "I'll take a medium strawberry banana smoothie, please." The girl added Karlie's order and glanced up at the pair. "Will that be all for you today? Would you like to add one of our fresh baked pastries or something sweet for dessert?"
Karlie looked at Taylor, silently asking if she wanted anything else. "Nope, that's it." Taylor says.
"Okay. Your total comes to $8.75."
Before Taylor can even reach for her money, Karlie is already handing the barista a $10 bill. She huffs in frustration, making Karlie laugh. The cashier hands back the change and the model drops it into the tip jar before moving off to the side to wait for their order.
"You know, one of these days I'm going to just shove you out of the way so you can't pay."
Karlie throws her head back in laughter and Taylor smiles at the sight, even as several customers are now shooting them strange looks.
Karlie shakes her head and smiles at the songwriter. She knows that Taylor can pay for herself, but she really likes being able to spoil her girlfriend as much as possible. Not that paying for coffee is a big deal, but she likes doing little things like that. It's just who she is. She takes care of everyone around her.
"I'm serious." Taylor says, trying to keep her face impassive, but she can't when Karlie's smiling at her like that.
"Stop looking at me like that!" Taylor laughs, bringing her hands up to playfully shove her girlfriend. "I'm trying to be intimidating and threatening."
Karlie puts her hands up, fending off her girlfriend's attack. She grabs Taylor's hands, catching the girl off guard just long enough for her to pull the songwriter's body into hers, surprising her with a quick kiss on the lips.
Taylor instantly stops struggling once Karlie's lips are on hers. But before she can really process what just happened, Karlie is already pulling away; the sound of the blender and chatter of guests in the café bringing her back to reality.
Karlie slings her arm around Taylor's shoulders, hugging her girlfriend into her side while they wait for their drinks. A few minutes later, a barista calls out their order, setting the drinks on the counter in front of them.
The model steps forward and grabs the drinks, thanking the baristas before handing Taylor her coffee. "Come on." Karlie says, tugging their hands as she leads them towards the door.
"Wait, I thought we were getting lunch?" Taylor asks, confused why they were walking away from the café.
"It's really nice out. I thought we could go for a walk. I just wanna spend some quiet time alone with you. We can still get lunch too though if you want."
"Ok." Taylor blushes and looks down to hide her smile.
When she glances back up, she finds the model looking at her with bright green eyes and an adorably happy grin adorning her face. "What?" She asks.
"You look beautiful."
Taylor tries not to roll her eyes and brush off the compliment, knowing her girlfriend is being completely sincere. "How's your day been?" She asks, desperate to change the subject.
"Pretty boring so far. I had to cut my gym session early because one of my meetings got pushed up this morning, so I'll probably go for a run later."
"Of course you will." Taylor scoffs and the two exchange wry smiles.
"What about you?" Karlie asks.
Taylor shrugs, lifting her drink to her mouth to take a sip. "Nothing unusual. I have a lot of appointments coming up later in the week."
"Oh yeah? A lot of writing sessions?" Karlie asks, genuinely curious.
"Surprisingly, yeah." Taylor nods. "I've gotten a lot of emails lately about people wanting to come in and co-write or at least have think sessions. It's kind of weird."
"Why do you say that?"
"The timing, I guess? It's a strange time to be working on new music. It's already summer, so most people would have wanted a new single ready to go by now. Anything we work on won't be ready for a while yet."
Karlie nods her head in understanding. She hears a bit of scuffling and looks around. She notices a few paparazzi running along the other side of the street. She takes a deep breath and sighs.
Taylor looks up at her in concern. "What's wrong?"
Karlie glances back to the other side of the street and sees a few of them aiming their cameras towards them. She wishes she didn't have to deal with this right now. All she wanted to do was take a walk with her girlfriend she hasn't seen in days. She feels terrible that Taylor has to go through all of this because of her.
"There are some paparazzi up ahead." She says quietly.
"What? Where?" Taylor asks, looking around.
"Across the street. They're at the corner by the crosswalk."
"Oh." Taylor says quietly, spotting the people with large camera bags and big lensed cameras dangling across their bodies.
"Are you okay? We can slip in one of these stores and wait for them to leave." Karlie gestures with her shoulder to the stores they're passing.
Taylor sighs. "There's no guarantee they'll leave though. We could be hiding in there for a while."
"What do you want to do?"
Taylor looks up and notices how genuinely upset her girlfriend looks. She looks down at their intertwined hands and then back into worried green eyes. "I want to enjoy the nice weather while walking around the city with my girlfriend that I haven't seen in days."
Karlie's face immediately lights up and Taylor knows she said the right thing.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure." Taylor smiles, squeezing the model's hand reassuringly.
"Ok." Karlie sighs. "Are you ready for this?"
"Ready as I'll ever be." Taylor shrugs, flashing her girlfriend a small smile as they wait for the crossing signal. Karlie didn't say anything, but Taylor definitely smiled when she felt the model grip her hand a little tighter.
They cross the street and within seconds, the flashes start. It's really disorienting and Taylor stumbles a bit, but Karlie's quick to catch her as she slips her arm around Taylor's waist, pulling her into her side as they walk. "Just keep your head down. You don't have to smile or answer any questions. Just stay with me."
Taylor nods as she leans into Karlie's side a bit. She wraps her arm around Karlie's waist and tries to match her stride when the questions start.
"Karlie! Karlie look here please!"
"How's your day going Karlie?"
"What are you working on now?"
"Who's your mystery girl?"
"How long have you two been together?"
"How did you two meet?"
The questions are flying in faster than Taylor can comprehend and she wonders how Karlie deals with this. She knows how lucky they are that there's only a few here. She glances up at the model and finds Karlie's eyes already on her.
The questions and flashes fade away around her and all she can see is Karlie. She knows this girl would do anything to protect her and she can tell Karlie is worried how she's reacting to this. She manages a small smile and Karlie pulls her impossibly closer as she tilts her head down and kisses the top of her head.
The cameras are clicking and flashing wildly, capturing an incredibly intimate and private moment between the two. Soon, they're across the street and heading into the park. Lucky for them, the paparazzi don't follow. After shouting out for them to have a good day and to enjoy their walk, they seem to disperse.
The girls walk in silence for a few minutes. The park isn't very crowded, but it's a beautiful day. The sun is shining and there's a nice light breeze blowing down the path. All around them, there's business people on their phones, families strolling together, pet owners walking their dogs, couples doing the same as them; enjoying the beautiful summer weather, and there's people running and jogging past them.
"I'm sorry." Karlie apologizes timidly, finally breaking the silence. It breaks Taylor's heart hearing her girlfriend sound so sad.
"It's okay." She assures her. "It wasn't even that bad." She replies, nuzzling her face into the model's neck.
"This time." Karlie huffs dejectedly. "What about next time when there's more? And they aren't as nice and start asking us invasive personal questions and get all up in our faces?"
Taylor sighs, leaning into Karlie's side. "If it comes to that, we'll deal with it." She squeezes her arm against Karlie's side reassuringly. "Together."
Karlie looks down at her girlfriend with utter adoration in her eyes. She stops them for a moment, turning to fully face the songwriter. Her hand reaches up to gently cup the songwriter's face as she leans down and slowly brings their lips together in a kiss. When they separate, Taylor swears she hears Karlie sigh in relief.
She wonders if maybe Karlie's exes weren't so open and accepting of her situation and it makes her heart ache. Karlie is such a wonderful, thoughtful, giving person. She can't imagine how anyone could walk away from someone like that. "Are you okay?"
Karlie shakes her head and chuckles. She reaches up to tuck a strand of hair behind the songwriter's ear. "I should be the one asking you that."
Taylor smirks as she crosses her arms behind Karlie's neck. "You're avoiding answering my question."
Karlie cracks a small smile. "I'm not avoiding it. I'm just more worried about you and how you're handling all of that. I know it's a lot to take in. I want to make sure you're okay."
"I'm okay." Taylor mumbles, pressing a chaste kiss to Karlie's lips. "Are you?" She asks, studying her girlfriend's face.
"I think so." Karlie nods. "Can you pinch me so I know I'm not dreaming?" She jokes.
Taylor rolls her eyes and playfully pushes herself into Karlie. The model instantly wraps her arms around her, pulling her in for a tight hug. "You're such a dork sometimes." Taylor mumbles against her girlfriend's chest.
"Yeah." Karlie sighs. "But I'm your dork."
Taylor doesn't even have to look up to know Karlie is smiling. She can hear it in her voice.
They walk through the park for a while, finally stopping by a food truck to grab something to eat. Karlie ordered some kind of vegetarian wrap while Taylor ordered a chicken fajita wrap. They settle down at a picnic table to eat and end up sharing their meals with each other.
Once they're done eating, they continue walking around for a bit. Karlie pulls her phone out to check the time and sighs.
"I should probably get going. I wanted to stop by IMG for a bit before my meeting at 4. Do you want me to call you a cab or something?"
"No, it's okay. I was actually going to swing by my manager's office to discuss some things with him. It's just a few blocks from here."
"Are you sure? I don't really feel comfortable with you walking around the city by yourself."
"I've managed to do it just fine the last few years. I'm a big girl."
"I know you are." Karlie sighs. "I just worry about you. I don't like the idea of you walking around by yourself, especially now with the paparazzi and everything."
Taylor gently cups Karlie's cheek, her eyes softening. "I know. I think it's really sweet how much you worry about me. But you can't put me in a bubble or always be there to protect me, no matter how much you want to."
Karlie challengingly arches her eyebrow, silently daring her girlfriend to test her.
"Karlie." Taylor chides, shaking her head.
The model sighs in frustration.
"Karlie." Taylor repeats, nudging Karlie's nose with her forehead, urging the girl to look at her. When she does, she tangles their fingers together, keeping her eyes locked on her girlfriend's.
"I know you want to protect me. It's one of the many things I adore about you. You're always so caring and protective. But I also need you to trust me."
Karlie cracks a small grin as Taylor uses her own words against her.
"I need you to trust that I can handle myself. I need you to have enough faith in our relationship to know that I'm in this. I'm not just going to up and leave you when things get rocky. I'm not going anywhere, okay? I just need you to trust me. Can you do that?"
The model nods; bright green eyes brimming with tears. "I trust you."
"Good." The songwriter smiles, unlinking their hands so she can tenderly stroke Karlie's cheek with her thumb. The model brings her hand up and places it over Taylor's, leaning into her girlfriend's touch.
Instead of pulling away Karlie takes Taylor's hand in hers and kisses her knuckles. She keeps her lips pressed to the back of the songwriter's hands, her eyes locked on Taylor's the entire time. They gaze at each other, their eyes expressing the thoughts they can't seem to voice aloud yet.
After a few moments, Taylor breaks the silence.
"You should probably get going babe." Taylor says quietly, making Karlie quickly snap back to reality. She unlinks her hands, gently trailing down before coming to a stop on the model's chest.
Karlie knows she should get going, but she was having a really hard time pulling herself away. She would much rather stay wrapped up with Taylor all day than to go deal with meetings and schedules. She sighs, her arms coming to wrap around Taylor's lower back as she kisses the crown of her head.
"I don't wanna go." She mumbles, burying her face in Taylor's blonde curls.
Taylor chuckles and when she pulls back, she isn't surprised to find the model with a pout on her face. "I don't want you to go. But you have stuff to do."
"Nope. I don't wanna do it. I'll just stay here with you." Karlie decides, tightening her grip around the songwriter's back.
Taylor happens to find her girlfriend's pouting to be quite endearing and is having a hard time trying to scold her when she's being so damn cute. She just shakes her head and sighs. "Karlie." She halfheartedly warns.
"Fiiiiiiiine." Karlie dramatically relents. She takes a step back, putting a little distance between them, but keeps her hands locked with Taylor's. "Will you text me when you get to the office? And later when you get home?"
"Of course." Taylor smiles.
"Okay. Have a good day, baby." Karlie kisses her girlfriend sweetly on the lips.
"You too." Taylor grins before finally going their separate ways.
**********************************************************
Taylor had been pacing in her living room for the last half hour. She was working hard all week coming up with new material but now she had run into a bit of writer's block. She couldn't come up with lyrics, or chords, or anything. Nothing was working.
The songwriter sighed, running her hands through her hair in frustration before deciding to take a break for a bit, hoping that might help her. She went into the kitchen to look for something to eat. She had just stuck her head in the fridge when she heard a knock at her door. The blonde closed the refrigerator and stared at the door for a second before moving towards it, trying to think if she made plans with anyone, but she couldn't think of anything.
She checks the peephole before pulling the door open, surprised to find her girlfriend there. "Hi."
"Hey baby." Karlie smiles, taking in her girlfriend's appearance.
Taylor was dressed loose fitting sweatpants and a long sleeve shirt. She had on a thick pair of glasses and her hair was messily tied back in a little pony tail. Karlie had never seen her like this, but she immediately decided that this was her favorite look on her girlfriend.
"This is a nice surprise." Taylor smiles back, a little confused why her girlfriend was here. "Did we make plans or something?" She asks, hoping she hadn't forgotten something like that.
"No." Karlie says quietly, looking down as she scuffs her foot along the concrete. Taylor smiles at the nervous tick. "I got home from work and I just had this weird feeling weighing on me. I tried working out for a bit and I took a shower, but nothing was helping." The model looks up and smiles shyly at the songwriter.
"I realized we haven't spent much time together lately, and I don't know. I just really missed you. So I picked up some take out and thought I'd surprise you." She shrugs, holding up a bag of food.
"Aww. That's so sweet." Taylor grins, leaning in to kiss her girlfriend on the cheek. "Your timing is actually perfect. I was just looking for something to eat when you got here." She shuts the door behind Karlie.
"Well I'm glad I came over then. Are you okay with Chinese?" The model toes off her shoes before following her girlfriend into the kitchen.
"Oh my god, Chinese sounds fantastic!" Taylor groans.
"Perfect." Karlie chuckles, setting the bag of food on the table. Taylor eyes her girlfriend as she started pulling out loads of containers of food.
"What?" The model asks, noticing the look Taylor is giving her.
"How much food did you buy?" She asks in disbelief.
Karlie nervously scratches the back of her neck. "I wasn't sure what you liked. So I got a little bit of everything." She sheepishly admits.
Taylor just shakes her head and goes to get some plates and silverware. "Do you want anything to drink?" She offers.
Karlie smiles as she shrugs and Taylor immediately rolls her eyes. She grabs a bottle of wine she had on the counter and pours two glasses. She makes her way towards the table and hands one to Karlie, knowing the model is too polite to voice what she actually wants and will gladly take anything she offers.
"Thank you." Karlie accepts the glass with a smile, placing a quick kiss on Taylor's cheek. They sit down in their chairs, passing various containers of food as they fill their plates. They're half way through eating and have come to a slight lull in conversation. Karlie takes the opportunity to ask about the upcoming holiday.
"So what does your schedule look like coming up?"
"I'm pretty busy until the end of June. I've got a lot of one on one sessions booked. After that, I don't have a whole lot going on. What about you?" Taylor asks, sipping her wine.
"Same. I've got a few shoots coming up, but I'm actually off for the 4th."
"Oh really? Do you have anything planned?" Taylor asks, scooping up a bit of rice and taking a bite.
"Nothing planned really. I usually head back home and spend the holidays with my family. We have a backyard barbeque and head to the park to watch the firework show."
"That sounds like fun." Taylor smiles, happy to hear some of Karlie's family traditions.
"What about you?" The model asks, tracing the base of the wine glass with her finger.
"I usually spend it with my family as well. Sometimes we head out to our summer house. It's normally just my parents, my brother, and me."
"That's awesome. Is it on the water?"
"Yeah. It's actually in Rhode Island, right by the ocean."
"Sounds amazing."
"It is." Taylor sighs. "I haven't been there in years. I miss it."
Karlie wonders if she should ask why Taylor hasn't been there in a while, but she figures her girlfriend would tell her if she wanted her to know. "Are you going there this year?" The model asks, carefully studying Taylor's face.
"I don't know. I haven't really thought about it." Taylor admits with a sigh.
Karlie picks up on the fact that this seems to be a bit of a sore spot for her girlfriend. She wonders if it actually has to do with her family, or if there's something else she's missing.
"Would you, um..." Taylor trails off. She wonders if it's too soon to ask Karlie to meet her family. She's in a much better place now and she knows her family would absolutely love Karlie.
"What?" Karlie asks gently.
"N-nothing." Taylor stammers, losing the nerve to ask. "Never mind."
"Are you sure?" Karlie asks, sensing it was something important if it made her girlfriend this nervous to ask.
"Yeah, I'm sure. It was dumb. Don't worry about it." The songwriter brushes it off. She didn't want to intrude on Karlie's plans with her family, and she wasn't even sure if her family was doing anything for the 4th.
"Okay." Karlie says quietly. She thought maybe Taylor was going to ask her to join her, but she could be wrong. She couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, but then again, maybe it was too soon to meet each other's parents. She would never want to rush Taylor into something like that, so she swallowed her disappointment and instead focused on enjoying dinner with her girlfriend.
They finish their meals with an awkward tension in the air. Neither one of them is sure what to say or do to fix it, but they can both feel it. Little do they know, they're both worrying about the same thing.
"Did you have enough to eat?" Karlie asks, wanting to get rid of the awkwardness.
"I did. Thank you again for surprising me with dinner." Taylor thanks her quietly.
"You're welcome." Karlie sincerely replies.
Taylor goes to stand up, but Karlie rests her hand on her forearm, gesturing for her to stay sitting. "I got it." She says, grabbing their plates to take them to the sink.
"I can do that. You already brought me dinner." Taylor insists, coming to stand beside the model.
Karlie looks up from the plate she's washing and smiles at her girlfriend. "It's okay. I got the dishes. Why don't you pack up the leftovers and put them in the fridge while I do these?"
"You sure?" Taylor asks. "I can do both."
Karlie chuckles, pressing a kiss to her girlfriend's nose. "Seriously. It's okay. The sooner we deal with these, the sooner we can go watch a movie or something. So hurry up and put the food away because I'm in the mood for some snuggles."
Taylor grins up at the model before turning around to put the food away. Once Karlie's done with the dishes, the two girls settle on the couch in the living room. The songwriter goes to her Netflix and starts an episode of Friends.
The cats finally decide to make an appearance. Meredith climbs into the chair next to them, curling into a ball and closing her eyes. Olivia brushes against the model's legs, begging for some attention, which Karlie promptly gives her.
Taylor watches with a smile as Karlie brings the cat up to her face and talks to it, scrunching her nose adorably as she says something that the songwriter can't quite make out, but she enjoys the smile it brings to her girlfriend's face.
Karlie looks at the cat's bright blue eyes for another minute before setting her down on the arm rest, only for the cat to flop off the couch and head off somewhere new. She turns to find a similar pair of blue eyes, though these are her absolute favorite, already on her.
"What?" She asks, but Taylor just shakes her head, using her hand to adjust the glasses that had slipped down a bit.
Her girlfriend is easily the most adorable person she knows without even trying. She shows up randomly to bring her dinner, she insists on doing the dishes, she talks to her cats like they're people and can actually understand her.
Karlie wearily eyes her for a moment, but eventually just reaches over to pull the songwriter into her. "Alright. It's snuggle time."
Taylor laughs as she lets herself be pulled into her girlfriend's chest. Karlie wraps her arms around her, resting her chin over Taylor's shoulder as the songwriter leans her back against Karlie's front as they turn their attention to the screen.
As Taylor watches the show, she notices Karlie's eyes on her. "You're not even watching."
Karlie doesn't say anything, she just kisses the small spot behind her girlfriend's ear.
When Karlie doesn't actually respond, Taylor turns to look at the model. "Why aren't you watching?"
Karlie smiles as she tucks a strand of hair that had fallen out of her girlfriend's ponytail behind her ear. "I got distracted."
"Distracted?" Taylor repeats, arching her eyebrow.
The model nods. "You're very distracting."
"How am I distracting?" The songwriter scoffs. "I was actually watching the show, unlike someone."
"I tried watching!" Karlie defends, "But then Chandler said something that made you do that quiet little chuckle. And then your lips stayed in a cute little half smile and all I could think about is how much I wanted to kiss you because you're so beautiful when you smile."
Taylor nudges her glasses with her hand as she rubs her nose, trying to hide her blush, but the model already knows she's blushing.
"And then I tried to count your freckles, but I got distracted by how cute your nose is when your scrunch it up to adjust your glasses, which made me notice how much bluer your eyes are without your contacts. And no matter how many times you adjust your glasses, they keep slipping down from your cute little ears. And then there's the whole matter of how beautiful you look dressed in sweats, a little ponytail, and glasses."
The songwriter just stares back at her girlfriend in amazement. It's one thing for Karlie to compliment her and tell her she's beautiful; they are together after all. But it's a completely different thing to have someone take some of the things you dislike most about yourself, and compliment you on them. Anyone can tell you you're beautiful, but this girl actually makes her feel like she's beautiful.
"So, yes." Karlie nods. "I'd say you are quite distracting." She says, tapping the songwriter's nose with her index finger.
Taylor feels like her heart is going to beat right out of her chest, and the way Karlie is looking at her right now is certainly not helping calm her racing heart. It's hard to believe she's a songwriter right now because she can't think of any words that would ever be enough.
But Karlie doesn't need her to say anything. She can see it in the awestruck look in her girlfriend's eyes and the half smile that lights up her face.
So they say it in the only way that feels appropriate for a moment like this; silently with their eyes, as they steal each other's breath away with a long slow kiss.