delicate [1] | TAYLOR SWIFT

33

Kaia loved whenever Taylor played music around the apartment. She loved music. She loved live music even more, and she loved Taylor's music more than anything. So, naturally, whenever the blonde spent the whole day on the couch with her guitar in hand, or switching between her guitar and the piano in hopes of getting more inspiration, Kaia loved it. She liked to sit and listen to her play for hours.

At least, that's how it was up until the last week. Taylor was still playing beautifully, but Kaia had come to notice that the blonde had been using her music as an escape. There wasn't anything wrong with it. Music was definitely a healthy outlet. But it meant that Taylor was also pulling away from her.

She started noticing it when the singer had received that phone call from her publicist on their date at the museum on Thursday afternoon. Taylor hadn't exactly told her yet what that phone call was about, or all the other phone calls after it that came from Tree, and several from lawyers, she was pretty sure. It had sounded mostly legal. She hadn't explained that early meeting they had on Friday morning, either.

All Kaia knew was that whatever had happened was serious enough to make Taylor feel like she had to close herself off and find solace in her music alone. Their conversations were always kept brief. Whenever Kaia was in the room while she was writing, she would close off and sit at her piano so stiffly that Kaia would simply make herself busy elsewhere without another word. Sometimes, she would catch Taylor watching her closely from across the room but she would look away immediately.

Whenever she would invite her to come and sit with her to watch something, or just hang out, Taylor would simply refuse, and if Kaia ever asked her to go out with her to run some errand, or simply do something, anything outside, Taylor would genuinely look terrified and say she had a lot to work on.

Taylor was hiding from the world at home, and she was hiding at home from Kaia, and she had absolutely no idea how to help her girlfriend.

Frankly, it hurt. Any time Taylor turned down any of her offers, it stung a little. She was already pushing her away and Kaia had absolutely no idea why. It was starting to feel like she was concerned, especially when Taylor stopped coming to her for any kind of affection. Taylor, whose whole love language was physical touch Kaia had come to learn, was always so close and still far enough to avoid any kind of contact. And as the days passed, the distance grew more and more.

Kaia was losing her patience, and fast. She had tried to give Taylor some space, thinking that maybe that's all she needed and trust that she would eventually come to her and try to ask for some help, or just support. But she never did, and Kaia wasn't only disappointed, but she was mad.

On Wednesday evening, Taylor was sitting at her piano once again when Kaia got bored. She was restless and the baking show she was watching wasn't cutting it anymore. She could have easily texted any of her friends and gone out to hang out with them but she didn't want to. She wanted to spend some time with Taylor tonight.

She made her way downstairs and toward the main room with the piano and lurked in the background for a while, watching Taylor from the doorway as she scribbled in her notebook. She was humming under her breath and tapping her pencil against the wood to a steady beat before she stopped, scratched something out very aggressively, and wrote something else under it.

Kaia cleared her throat to make her presence known, having accidentally spooked Taylor on more than one occasion already.

"Oh, hi!" The blonde said softly as she looked up. She closed her journal and sat it down on the bench next to her.

"Are you hungry? I was thinking we could go out and grab something to eat. The fridge is empty so I can't really make anything for dinner," Kaia started, walking toward the blonde.