I'll give you my sunshine

Chapter 30

Taylor's POV:

It was 5:30ish when we finally left the set. Both Frankie and I were exhausted and both secretly glad that the day was done.

I had some work I had to finish up at my office, but it only took an hour or so.

Right as we had wrapped up the last scene of the day, Frankie's foot finally gave in and fell off of the hinge, connecting it to the rest of the leg.

I had taken it to one of the stagehands to try mend again, but this time one of the screws had actually snapped, so there was nothing to really do, which meant Frankie was stuck using the pair of crutches from the first aid room.

As the walk from the building where my office was and the parking lot was on a declining hill, we took it quite slowly so that Frankie didn't face-plant on the concrete.

"Are you ok?" I asked her as we made our way to the car, my arm stretched out behind her back just in case she fell.

"Yep," she said, her head pointed to the ground as she focused on trying not to fall.

"Ok," I said, getting increasingly worried about her losing her balance and falling forward.

Luckily, though, we made it to the parking lot with no accidents.

We got to my car, and I helped her get into the passenger seat, which was a lot harder than I anticipated as the car was quite high up, and she had no free hands or an extra foot to actually get into the car.

Eventually, though, she got in, and I rushed the crutches back to the first aid room as I knew I would inevitably forget to bring them back.

I got back to the car and caught my breath before turning the car on and pulling out of the parking lot.

"I'm not sure what the paparazzi situation is going to be, so just keep your head low, alright?" I said to Frankie as we pulled up to the gate, and I wound down my window to tap my ID to get out.

She nodded and turned her head toward me while ducking down.

To my dismay, there were just as many, if not more, than this morning. Most of them sat on the grass surrounding the set and then scrambled up and saw the gate open.

Paying no attention, I just drove past them and hoped they didn't get any sellable photos to put on the cover of tomorrow's paper.

"How are you doing with everything?" I asked Frankie once we were clear of any paparazzos.

"Honestly, today was quite hard." She said that, which saddened me a lot.

"Oh, I'm sorry, sweetie; you should have said something." I said, taking one hand off the steering wheel and putting it on her knee.

"I wasn't finding it hard to cope really; I just hated how everyone's asking me if I'm ok and making it out that I'm some brave super girl for being here and coping so well, and just them talking about how awful it is to lose a parent, and I just feel like I'm not as sad as I should be." She admitted to me that I could hear in her voice that she had started crying, but I didn't want to turn my head to look at her in case it just made her feel worse and more vulnerable.

"Frankie, there is no one right amount of grieving; you and your mom had a complicated relationship; it's completely fine, however sad, or not sad you feel." I said.

"Yeah, I guess. I feel mad at myself for being sad at all. It's like I know in my brain that my mom treaded me awfully, and I shouldn't be sad, but in my heart she's still my mom, and I just don't know how to feel." She said it through her tears.

"She was your mom, honey; of course you're going to be sad, but like I said, whatever you're feeling is completely valid, and please do talk to me whenever you want to; I'm here to help, whatever the issue is, ok?" I said to her.

"Ok, thanks Taylor." She said this, smiling slightly.

"Of course, sweetie." I said back to her.

We spent the rest of the car ride just listening to what was on the radio, and then soon enough, we got back home.

"Ok, so you wait here while I just run inside and grab those crutches." I said this as I parked the car.

"Ok." Frankie said, nodding as I quickly jumped out of the car and walked up to the house.

I let myself into the house and found the crutches in Frankie's room, which I then picked up and bought back outside.

"Here you are." I said, holding out the crutches for her as she got out of the car.

Once she was safely in them, I got all my stuff and Frankie's leg out of the trunk of the car.

"Alright, let's go." I said, gesturing to the house with my head as my hands were all full.

We got in the house, and I sent Frankie to go watch some TV or something, as I was expecting a call from Tree.

I walk through the house and to the back garden, where I sit on the porch and wait for trees to call.

15 or so minutes later, my phone started to ring, and after doing a quick check to make sure Frankie wasn't behind me, I answered the call.

"Hey Tree," I said, standing up from my seat.

"Hi Taylor, how was your day?" She asked me.

"It was aright, thanks, yours?" I asked her.

"Good, thanks. How's Frankie doing?" She asked.

"She's ok, I think; I don't think she knows how she feels, to be honest." I said, sighing.

"I get that. I think it'll be good for her to be staying with someone she trusts; she might find it easier to console you."Tree said.

"That's true. I just feel awfully bad for her. I can't even begin to think about how she must be feeling. It must be so overwhelming, especially with the media reporting on it every five minutes." I said.

"That's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about. There's obviously been an awful amount of coverage on Frankie's mom, and I got word from one of my sources at TMZ that they've been tipped off about how Frankie's mom died." Tree said that I could feel her upset over the phone.

"Shit. Ok." I said, my heart sinking. "Is there any way you can get them to hold off the information?" I asked hopefully.

"Unfortunately not; I did try, but if TMZ doesn't report on it, someone else will, and they weren't willing to lose any money on not reporting it." She said.

"Yeah ok. God, that's just so shy; it's been like 24 hours. I don't know what I'm going to tell Frankie." I said, running my hand through my hair as I tried to figure out what to do.

"Just tell her the truth; that's all you can. But while I have you on the phone, we should probably also touch base on what you want to do about the eventual public knowledge that you've taken Frankie in." She said.

"Yeah, I'd like to hold off on it until Frankie's had some real time to process everything. You and I both know it'll be the story of the week, and that's the last thing I want Frankie to be focusing on right now." I said. I wanted Frankie to be able to focus on grieving and healing from her mother, and her being bombarded with everyone and their mother enquiring about her living situation wouldn't help that.

"That's perfectly fine, but if some news outlet somehow gets word of it, there might not be much I can do." Tree warned.

"Yeah, I know; any time is good, though." I said, mentally touching wood, that no one would tip it off.

"I absolutely agree, and how are you doing with everything?" Tree asked me.

"I'm fine; I'm just thankful that Frankie's out of her mom's house. She's an absolutely wonderful kid, and I'm selfishly quite glad that she's living with me now." I said everything was completely true.

"Well, I'm glad; Frankie's very lucky to have you too." Tree said back, which made me smile.

"Thanks Tree, now I should probably go see Frankie and make us some dinner. I'll speak to you later." I said, getting ready to end the conversation.

"Ok, Taylor, have a good evening." Tree said.

"Thanks, you too; bye." I said this before hanging up the phone and walking back outside.

On my way through the kitchen, I stopped in on Frankie in the living room.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked her as she sat on the sofa, watching a TV show.

"Yeah, I'm alright, thanks," Frankie said, smiling lightly at me.

"Good, well, I'm going to go make some dinner. Do you have anything particular in mind?" I asked her.

"No, I'm fine with anything; thanks, though." She said.

"Of course, we'll just come and find me if you need anything." I said this before heading back to the kitchen.

After flicking through some cook books and printing out Pinterest recipes, I settled on making enchiladas.

So I put on some music and spent the next 45 minutes cooking food.

Considering that Frankie was on crutches right now, I figured we could just sit on the sofa again, so I played up both our dishes and took them into the living room.

"Dinner is served." I said it in a horribly fake posh British accent, which made Frankie laugh.

"Oh Taylor, that was awful, but thank you." She said. Sitting up on the sofa, she was at the right angle to eat.

As I sat down, I picked up the remote from the coffee table and turned off whatever Frankie was watching, or rather, just had on in the background.

"Do you want to watch another movie?" I asked her.

"Yeah, sure," she said.

"Great, any suggestions?" I asked her again.

"No, not really; just put on anything; I'm not fussed." She shrugged.

"Challenge accepted." I said, smiling as I flicked through movies to watch.

After a few minutes, I picked out a classic film, Guessless, to watch.

"Have you seen this before?" I asked her.

"Nope." Frankie said, shaking her head but not sounding dismissive of the movie.

"You'll love it; it's the best." I said. Pressing play.

"This had better live up to the hype you're creating." She said it jokingly as the film started.

"Oh, it will trust me." I said. Sitting back and starting to eat my dinner.

After we both finished our meals, I took our plates back into the kitchen and loaded them into the dishwasher before making my way back to the living room, where Benji had stolen my seat.

I picked him up and placed him on my lap, stroking him as I carried on watching the movie.

Periodically, I would glance over at Frankie to see if she was enjoying it or not, and by the looks of it, she was.

An hour or so into the movie, I looked over at Frankie again and saw that this time she was frowning with an almost grimace-like face while staring intently at the TV.

"Are you ok?" I asked her, concerned.

"My leg really hurts." She said. Breaking her eye contact with the TV and looking down at her leg as one of her hands moved from her lap to massage her leg.

"Is it phantom pain?" I asked, not sure if I was using the right word.

She nodded, now using both hands as she quite harshly rubbed at her leg.

"Can I get you some painkillers?" I asked her, moving Benji off my lap in preparation to get up.

"Yes please." She said, her voice barely louder than a whisper.

"Ok, I'll be right back." I said, rubbing her shoulder as I left the room.

I rushed back to the kitchen, where I grabbed her an Advil and a glass of water.

Once back in the living room, I held out the pills for her as she took the water.

She swallowed the pills and looked up at me with teary eyes. "Thanks Taylor." She said it was barely audible.

"Of course, honey, is there anything else I can do?" I asked her and stood with my hand on her shoulder.

"No, it's ok, it's not a super bad one; I'll just wait for it to pass." She said, taking a deep breath in an attempt to stop the few tears rolling down her face.

"Are you sure? I don't mind." I said, not wanting her to hold back anything I could do to help.

"Could you just pass me that pillow there?" She said this, pointing to the sofa cushion on the other end of the sofa.

I passed it to her, and she positioned it so that her leg was lying on top and being elevated by it.

"Thanks." She said this after she had laid back on the sofa, seemingly satisfied with the pillow.

"Are you alright?" I asked, still concerned, and stood up in case she needed something else.

"There's not much to do; let's just carry on with the movie." She said.

I didn't want to press her any more, so I just agreed and carried on with the movie.

While Frankie watched, I cleared our plates and took them into the kitchen, where I scooped two bowls of ice cream for us.

I brought them back into the living room, where I was greeted with a very happy Frankie.

"Oh my god, ice cream!" She said it excitedly, sitting up.

"Absolutely." I said, handing the bowl to her.

"Thanks, Taylor," she said. Smiling happily.

"My pleasure." I said, sitting down.

Soon, the movie finished, and the sun was just beginning to set.

"Want to go for a swim?" I asked Frankie as the end credits scrolled.

"You have a pool?" She asked excitedly.

"I sure do. Want to see?" I asked her.

"Of course." She said, nodding.


Frankie's POV:

I followed Taylor upstairs to a closet-like room, where there was a small drawer of still-in-the-wrapper swimming costumes.

"Choose one." She said, gesturing to the costumes.

"Are you sure?" I asked, not wanting to take something Taylor might want.

"Yeah, they might be a tad big, but nothing a safety pin can't fix." She shrugged.

"Wow, ok, thanks." I said, taking a floral-patterned bikini.

"You are most welcome; I'll grab us some towels and meet me downstairs on the porch." Taylor said.

"Ok." I said, nodding, as we walked out of the room and I went downstairs to mine.

I put the swimsuit on and chucked a pair of shorts and a baggy shirt over it.

Then I went, still on crutches, down to the porch, where Taylor was sitting with two rolled-up towels.

"Hey, does it fit ok?" She asked, standing up.

"Yeah, it was fine; thank you." I said, smiling gratefully.

"Great, well follow me, and be careful on those crutches." She said, gesturing to the cobbled path down the edge of the garden.

It took a good minute to walk down to the pool, which was almost like a separate part of the garden, accessed by a gate at the edge of the garden, and the pool and patio themselves were surrounded by shrubbery and trees.

The pool was, unsurprisingly, big and very well maintained; it even had a hot tub in one of the corners.

I took off the shirt and shorts and waited for Taylor to do the same.

"Leave your crutches on one of the loungers, and I'll help you get in." Taylor said as she folded up her clothes.

I nodded, standing up and putting the crutches leaning on the closest lounger to me as I kept my balance on the one behind me.

Taylor walked over to me and put her arm around my side so I could get to the edge of the pool, where I sat down at the ladder and awkwardly used my one foot to get in.

"Well done. How'd it feel? She asked as I adjusted to the cold temperature of the water.

"Cold, but good." I said, doggy-paddling to warm myself up.

Taylor then got in and immediately put her head under the water.

"Look over there." She said, pointing to the sunset that we had an amazing view of.

"Oh wow, that's beautiful." I said, and it really did.

"Isn't it." She said, taking it in for a few more seconds before abruptly chucking herself backwards into a backstroke.

I swam over to her, where she was sitting on the in-pool bench, going around the perimeter of the pool.

"How's your leg feeling?" She asked, looking toward my leg.

"A lot better, actually." I said truthfully that being in the water really helped; I don't think I realized just how much constant pain I was actually in until being in the pool.

"That's great!" She said this, running her hands through her hair. "On another note, what do you want to do about going to set tomorrow?" She asked, pushing the bits of fringe still on her forehead out of her face.

"I think I'd still like to go; obviously, not film anything, but just being there really helped today." I said.

"Yeah, that's fine with me, and then we can go shopping for all new things. When we get your leg fixed, we can get you a whole new wardrobe, decorate your room, and so on." Taylor said it enthusiastically.

"Yeah, that sounds great." I said, smiling.

It did sound great, but I still felt a hint of guilt that I was moving my whole life to Taylor's. It was almost like a betrayal to my mom.

I shoved that thought to the back of my mind, though, and Taylor and I swam around for another 30 or so minutes until it got so dark we couldn't see anything.

Taylor helped me back out of the pool, and we managed to get dried off and get out clothes the right way and everything in the dark before going back up to the house.

"You're welcome to use the pool anytime; just tell me when so I know where you are, but that's completely there for you to use as you please." Taylor said as we walked through the house.

"Thanks Taylor." I said, turning down the hall to my room.

"Of course, well, I'm probably going to go to sleep now, so I'll see you in the morning, Frankie," she said, smiling as she walked upstairs.

"Night," I said, going back to my room.

I got changed, brushed my hair, and put it up in a messy bun before getting into bed.

I was so tired that I fell asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Authors note

Sorry for the wait again! It's been insanely busy again and I'm always so tired when I sit down to write I never get much done haha.

Eras tour movie premiere tonight! I can't wait to see Taylor outfit (granted she actually goes)

1989tv comes out this month!!! The 27th can't come fast enough. What vault track are you most excited for?

Love you all so much,
Audrey xx