I'll give you my sunshine

Chapter 21

Taylor's POV:

It was now Saturday, our last full day on Mount Shasta.

We had booked out an extra day here just in case we didn't finish filming everything, and so we had a free day today.

"What do you guys want to do today?" I asked everyone as we sat in the restaurant of the hotel eating breakfast.

A lot of the crew had gone home late last night once we established no filming would be happening today, leaving the six kids and then 10 or so adults.

"Could we go back hiking in the mountains?" Max asked hopefully.

I shot a glance at Frankie, who just shrugged and said, "I don't mind."

"That's definitely an option; anything else?" I asked.

Over the course of breakfast, we drafted a fair amount of options and narrowed them down to: hiking, going shopping at the mall, spending the day in one of the various parks, or bowling.

Ok, what're we thinking then?" I asked as everyone deliberated what we should do.

Eventually we decided to make a base at the park, and then anyone who wanted to could go up into the mountains.

"Let's aim to be downstairs and ready in the lobby in like 20 minutes, then?" I said this to everyone as we finished breakfast and began to walk back towards our rooms.

Once in my room, I packed my bag. I had a few nice bottles of wine in my suitcase, so I decided to put those in the bag.

Most of us were basically already ready, so it was just a matter of packing anything we wanted to bring.

I was pretty set on the idea of not doing any hiking, so I wasn't too concerned about wearing an outfit I didn't want to potentially ruin.

The park we were told to go to was only a 15- or so-minute walk away, so we were there in pretty decent time.

"Ok kids, if you're wanting to go anywhere away from the park, please have an adult with you." I said as we walked into the park.

Max and Joseph practically ran off, and one of the men from the lighting department followed them.

The grass was luckily quite dry, so we were able to just sit down without any trouble.

"Do you need some help sitting?" I asked Frankie as I placed my bag on the floor.

Yes, please. What do you think is the best way to do it?" She asked hesitantly.

"Whatever you think works." I said to her, smiling.

"Ok, I think if I take my leg off first, She said, bunching up the hem of her shorts to above where her prosthetic ends.

Ok, cool, you do that, and I'll help you get down to the floor." I said, moving closer to where she was standing, that she could balance on me once her leg was off.

She unclipped and pulled off her leg, and then I held both of her hands as she sat down on the grass.

"You good?" I asked, then sitting down with her, the four or so others who hadn't run off were already sat down doing what they wanted.

"Yeah, thanks for helping me." She said this, taking her phone and book out of her bag.

"Did you ever hear back from your mom?" I asked her.

That last evening, Frankie still hadn't heard back from her mom, so she spent a while trying to call her but eventually gave up.

She shook her head. "Nah, but I'm sure it'll be fine; I may just have to wait an extra day or so to get into the prosthetist." She said it, shrugging.

"Ah ok. Hopefully the wait is not too long; how's your leg holding up?" I asked her.

"Good, it still feels pretty secure, so hopefully it'll get me through the week." She said.

Yeah, let's hope so. Are you enjoying the book?" I asked her, noting she was reading one of the books I had bought her.

Yes, it's amazing! I don't want to finish it." She said. Showing she was almost done with it.

"I know the feeling. It's got such a good ending, though." I said, winking.

"Oh god, now I have to finish it." She said it jokingly, rolling her eyes.

"Good," I said, smiling.

We spent the next hour or so in silence, both reading, before Frankie's phone started to ring.

She looked around as if trying to find a space of privacy. But her leg was still off, and she didn't exactly have a lot of time to put it back on and walk away before the call rang out.

"You ok?" I asked her, closing the book around my hand.

Yeah, it's my mom." She said, holding off on answering it.

"It's ok, answer it; I won't listen." I said, even though I would very much be listening to it.

She nodded, accepted the call, and placed it in her ear.

Although she didn't have it on speakerphone, I could hear everything her mom yelled right as she picked up the phone.

"Why the fuck did you take so long to pick up?" She yelled.

I pretended to be reading my book.

"I'm sorry, I was trying to find my phone in my bag." She was lying.

"Ok. Well can you tell me why you called me like 20 times last night and told me I need to call your prosthetist?" She said. I'm not yelling now, but I'm still not talking at a very pleasant tone or volume.

"Yeah, the foot part on my prosthetic came loose, and I wanted you to make the appointment as quickly as possible because she books up really fast." Frankie said, speaking softly and clearly, trying to get her mom to do the same.

"That really could have waited; I'm not your fucking servant; you can't expect me to pick up every damn time you call." Her mom said

"Ok, I got that. Sorry, can you please make the appointment though?" Frankie asked.

"I'll do it when you're home; I have better things to be doing. Is it currently loose and unwalkable?" She asked Frankie.

Yes, it's usable right now; Taylor had one of the stagehands tighten it, but it's only a temporary fix; can you please just call them?" She said this, starting to tear up.

"You're being ridiculous. I have a life, and I shouldn't be running after you and everything you do. I'll do it when you're home." Her mom said, sounding impatient.

Mum, please, I don't want to be waiting ages for the appointment; the leg will only be usable for a little while." She said this, trying to mask her voice from the tears rolling down her face.

The line then went dead. She'd hung up on her daughter.

Hey, are you okay?" I asked, getting a packet of tissues out of my bag.

"Yeah, sorry, I'm not sure why I'm crying." She said this, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Don't say sorry for crying, ever; it's good to feel your emotions, not just suppress them." I said, handing her the tissues.

Yeah, I guess." She said it, her voice still shaky.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked her, hopeful she might finally tell me what she's all but confirmed is going on at home.

No, it's ok, I just—my mom just—no, it's ok, I'm fine." She said it, clearly trying to say something other than what she said.

All I wanted to do was just tell her that she could tell me anything. If her mom was as awful as I thought she was, she could just come live with me and I would never have to worry about her again.

"Ok, that's fine; you know you can talk to me about anything, right?" I said, smiling at her sympathetically.

"Yeah, I do, thanks," she said after a few moments of silence.

Just then, Lailah and Naomi emerged out of the layer of trees backing onto the mountain.

"Hey girls, where are Olive and Mary?" I asked. Mary was a lighting coordinator and the adult I had seen them go off with.

Oh, they're just coming; we raced down the hill." Lailah said, sitting herself down next to Frankie.

Ok, good, how was the walk?" I asked them.

Oh, it was fine; you didn't miss out on much." Naomi said.

"Are you okay, Frankie?" Lailah asked, seeing her slightly red face and eyes from crying.

Yeah, I'm good, thanks." She said this, avoiding direct eye contact with her.

"Can we order a pizza or something? I'm getting hungry." Naomi then said:

"I don't see why not; do you know where the others all went?" I asked the girls.

"The others all stayed together; they weren't too far out; should we go get them?" Lailah asked.

"Would you mind just going to tell them to be back here in the next 45 minutes or so?" I asked them.

Yeah, sure, cmon Naomi," Lailah said, and they both stood back up.

"Wait before you go, what pizzas would you want?" I asked them.

"Just a cheese one for me," Naomi said.

"I'll eat anything," Lailah said.

Ok, cool, sounds good." I said. Pulling out my phone to order.

I asked everyone else who hasn't gone up the mountain what they'd like and made a little list in my notes app.

While we waited for Naomi and Lailah to come back, Olive and Mary came out of the trees.

"Hey guys!" I said once they were in earshot.

"Did we beat Naomi and Lailah?" Olive asked enthusiastically.

"Oh, no, they were here a good 5 minutes ago, but I sent them back out to ask what the others still up there want for pizza." I said.

Ah, ok, we're getting pizza." Olive asked.

"Yep, what do you want?" I asked.

"Pepperoni?" She asked.

Yeah, of course.



Frankie's POV:

*that evening*

It was our last evening on location.

We had done filming, and we were all sitting outside in the garden of the hotel having a very chill party.

Although everyone else was celebrating being done here in Mount Shasta and just having a good time, I could not help but feel a sense of sadness.

I had almost grown accustomed to not having to worry about my mom and her antics for almost a whole week. I would miss it.

I sat on the flimsy wooden bench alone, fiddling with the tab on my can of Diet Coke, trying not to think too hard about when I would again feel this sense of freedom, happiness, and acceptance all day, every day.

Hey, are you okay?" Taylor said from in front of me, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine, you?" I asked her.

"I'm good! Cmon and dance with us." She said, I was pretty sure she was drunk, but not like Mom." She was happy and more laidback. Mom was the opposite when she was drunk, which is more often than not these days.

"I'm ok; thanks for asking though." I said, not attempting to hide my sombre attitude.

"Is anything wrong?" She asked, her eyebrows furrowed.

"No, I just don't want my foot to come loose again, and I'm a terrible dancer." I said it was the truth, just not the full one.

"Do you know if your mom booked that appointment with the prosthe—whatever it's called?" She laughed.

She was definitely drunk.

"I haven't spoken to her since this morning, but I doubt it; I don't even think she would know how to be honest." I said, lightly giggling at my joke.

Taylor rolled her eyes. I could tell she thought that it was dark enough that I wouldn't see it, but I did, and it made me smile.

Damn, that stinks." Do you mind if I sit for a second?" She asked, glancing at the spare space on the otherwise unoccupied bench.

No, of course not." I said I was shuffling myself up a bit for no reason other than politeness.

"Is there any other reason you don't want to dance?" She asked seriously, placing her drink on the upturned plant pot next to us.

"Honestly, I'm sad that we're going home tomorrow; I don't want this to end." I said, sighing.

"Me neither; I've had such a good time here." She said, looking around at everyone dancing to some song from the 90s I vaguely recognised.

"You don't?" I asked. I had it in my head for some reason that I was the only person who didn't want this week to end.

"Of course not! It's been an absolute blast; of course I'm excited to get back to the cats and all, but this has been so fun!" She said it enthusiastically.

Yeah, you're right." I said, not wanting to get too attached to the idea of Taylor not wanting this to end either.

"And why exactly don't you want to go home?" She asked.

"Are you drunk enough that you'll forget this conversation tomorrow?" I asked her.

"It depends on what you're about to tell me." She said it, winking.

"I'll take that as a no, then." I winked back jokingly.

I could see the defeat on her face. I knew she just wanted me to admit that my mom was an awfully self-centred bitch, and I really wanted to too. But I wasn't sure if I could physically admit that out loud.

"You know you can tell me anything, right?" She said, placing her hand on my leg—well, really, my prosthetic, but the intent was still there.

"Yeah, I know. It's the same reason as you, really, minus the cats, of course." I laughed.

"I get that, but what would you do if I told you we had another week planned on location?" Taylor said, smirking.

"Really? I thought it was just this one?" I asked curiously, not wanting to get my hopes up.

"Mmhm, on Long Island. There's obviously the James and Augustine scenes there, and then the flashback bits with you and James from the previous year." Taylor said.

Oh, I thought we'd just film that on some beach near LA and not on location." I said, slightly shocked.

"Never, if we're setting part of this on Long Island, it's going to be on Long Island." Taylor said it happily.

"That sounds great, thanks." I said it gratefully. I'm truly happy that this wasn't the end of us filming on location.

"No worries, honey, come here." She said this, holding out her arm for a hug.

I happily leaned into it. Taylor's hugs were somewhat magical.

Authors note
So much happened in the last like week omfg

Literally all of her surprise songs this weekend killed me. Like she was on a shoot and kill mission this week istg 😭.

And the Mine TV snippet???? I'm so pumped for this album you have no idea.

Audrey xx