[kaylor] strippers and unrequited love;

thirteen (#trueswiftie)

        When Taylor wakes up, she feels as if she's been hit by a truck. She didn't even drink that much last night, so the blame is placed on the floor she had slept on. She was positive that she had laid down on the couch and fallen asleep, but at some point in the night Taylor must have fallen off and not even woken up. 

        With a groan, she pushes herself up on her elbows and sits motionless for a moment, letting herself return to consciousness. She rolls onto her side to rub at her eyes, ripping the cobwebs of sleep from them. The singer sighs and urges herself to sit up. Her spine cracks and tingles as she straightens up and Taylor feels at least a dozen knots in her back and shoulder from the floor. She now regrets not just getting in bed with Karlie; the girl had said she wanted her to anyway. 

        But Karlie was drunk out of her mind. She probably would have woken up and gotten scared at seeing Taylor in bed with her again without remembering their conversation the night before. Taylor knew it was better to play it safe than go after what she wanted.

        Standing up from the floor, Taylor slowly walks towards her bedroom. The house is eerily silent on the upper floor and the only sound is Taylor's heart gently thudding in her chest.

        When she reaches her bedroom, her heart starts spazming and leaping around in its cage. The bed is empty, all of the lights are on, her drawers are open and torn through, and Karlie is nowhere to be found.

        Taylor lets out a whimper as stress begins to bloom in her. She was just thinking that her and Karlie were doing good and now Taylor had gone and fucked up and made the girl run again.

        Too exhausted to even consider dealing with the situation, Taylor turns in her spot and goes to walk downstairs. Her eyes are swirls of red veins from lack of sleep and blue from her tears. 

        It's not until she's halfway down the stairs does the smell of food cooking waft into her nose. Her gait slows now and her head tilts in confusion. Taylor wonders if maybe Selena or Lily had stayed over. She's embarrassed that she never really checked or thanked either of them for clearing out the party and cleaning up to the best of their anility (she thinks as she observes a stack of red solo cups and bent paper plates littering her coffee table). Taylor pushes the door to the kitchen open gently and peeks her head in. Her jaw drops.

        Karlie is leaning over the stove wearing an apron, pushing around what appears to be eggs with a spatula. There's other various breakfast foods decorating the counter; a generous stack of pancakes, slices of toast, cereal and milk. A whole spread. A short gasp tumbles from Taylor's lips and the stripper looks up with a grin.

        "You're up! Man, you sleep late." Karlie shakes her head and flips her spatula gently in the eggs.

        "You... You're... You didn't..." 

        "Leave? No, I  didn't." Karlie frowns slightly at the older girl's assumption. The tears are still in Taylor's eyes when she had stepped in the kitchen and Karlie isn't blind. She doesn't take offense, though, because she doesn't have the best track record of sticking around.

        "Sorry, I had just... I saw you weren't in there and my room was a mess so I just thought..."

        "No, I get it, it looked extremely suspicious. I was looking for some different clothes because I was still in my dress from last night. I hope you don't mind," Karlie spins and Taylor notices she's wearing her pajamas. Something about this makes her heart flutter.

        "Well, I'm glad you didn't leave," Taylor says through a yawn, taking a seat at one of the stools. She brings her arms up and rests her head on her hands. The pure energy of Karlie flitting around the kitchen is mesmerizing. It's like the girl has been up for hours. "You weren't lying about not getting hungover."