the stars in your eyes | t.s. one shots

in front of the paparazzi

Taylor melts into the sofa as soon as she gets back into the apartment. A blanket of sobriety is beginning to cover both her and her boyfriend as they are becoming more and more removed from the Saturday Night Live afterparty that they attended tonight. They've had an amazing night, starting at a restaurant to share a wonderful meal, then moving along to the filming of the comedy show, where they both made surprise appearances. Then, the party. Travis was wonderful. He let Taylor mingle about the room, talk to everyone she wanted to talk to. He'd come and check in on her every few minutes, but mostly let her have her space. He didn't cling to her all night, he held his own separate conversations. Every now and then, she'd call him over, hoping to introduce him to someone. He'd done the same thing throughout the course of the evening. Everyone knew they were together, without having to see them attached at the hip the entire night.

He turns on the lamp on the coffee table beside her, then sitting down. In the glow of the lightbulb, she can easily see her red lipstick stained in his mustache and her foundation painting his nose. She can't help but giggle a bit. "You're gonna need a makeup wipe, Trav. You stole some from me with those kisses earlier."

He blushes. "Oh... Sorry..."

"Don't worry about it," she says, tucking her feet up under her and resting her head on his shoulder. "But... can I talk to you about something?"

"Of course, anything. You know that."

"When we were getting out of the car at the restaurant," Taylor begins, "when there were all of those paparazzi..." She grimaces. She doesn't quite know how to go about addressing this. "Trav, you kind of grabbed my ass. Right in front of them."

His face turns to be the same color as a tomato. "Tay, I'm sorry, I-"

"No, don't apologize..." she says. "I just want you to know that... everyone saw that. There's photos, there's videos..."

"Does it bother you?" he asks, placing his hand on top of hers. "I won't do it again if it does."

Taylor lets out a sigh. She thinks about being in her twenties, how she might've killed to have a man who actually liked her enough to grab her ass in front of the watchful eyes of the whole world. It's a new thing for her... some of the other men she's been with have been nearly ashamed of her. Afraid to display any sort of affection, if they were even willing to be seen with her. She thinks about when she was fifteen, and her high school boyfriend did what Travis did tonight at a football game, and not only did her friends see it, but her mom saw what had happened. She thought she might die that night... and Andrea was far from thrilled. But she's much older now. Her mom, and probably everyone else, is quite aware of the fact that it wasn't Travis's first time placing his hand on her ass. 

The vigilant eyes of the world have been glued to the couple recently. Taylor and Travis knew they'd be a conversation, but they'd be lying if they said they had any idea of the commotion they were going to cause. 

At the end of the day, Taylor doesn't want Travis to think she doesn't like it... because the truth is, she does. She loves the way that he touches her and leaves her craving more. She really wants to impress that upon him. So, she takes his hand and guides it to her bottom, giving him a little wink. "Don't stop doing it, please," she whispers to him. 

"I wouldn't say that it bothers me..." Taylor continues slowly, taking her time to curate the words she wants to say. "I really liked it... You know that I love when you touch me like that." She blushes upon seeing the smirk forming on his lips. "I would say... well, the media is going to have a field day. It's gonna be everywhere... and I can't say that my favorite headlines to read include discussion about my ass."

A twinkle in Travis's eye, he starts to laugh. "Why not? Those sound like great headlines. I love that ass."

Taylor feels her heart swell. One of her favorite things about Travis is his silly sense of humor. He can still be a mere child sometimes... and that's something that she didn't realize she was missing in her life, until she started dating him. She loves that he's unlocked a side of her that she thought was gone for good. She loves the way he brings out her own silliness, loves the way he makes her laugh from deep in her belly. She playfully slaps his chest, rolling her eyes. "Please, Trav." She glances to the side, looking at his face. "Let me put it this way: this ass is for you and only you."

He lightly tickles her ribs, but when he speaks again, his tone is more serious. "Okay, okay. Point taken, not in front of the paparazzi? Is that what you're saying?"

"Yeah, I guess it is..." she says sheepishly, pushing her hair out of her face before massaging her temples with her fingers. "I'm sorry... you did everything so right tonight that I hate even having to bring it up. It was a great night and I loved it. Please know that. It made my heart skip a beat, the way that you made it feel like we were the only two people in the world. How you didn't even care who was watching, how you didn't even notice... I loved that. But when your life looks like mine does... you've just gotta be a little bit mindful of when something like that does and doesn't happen, I think."

Travis laughs again, which Taylor finds reassuring. It's like he's saying it's all okay, that he gets it. "There's gonna be a video on Twitter and Tree's gonna lose her shit, isn't she?"

Taylor pauses, debating on whether she should be honest or make an excuse, before she starts to laugh with him. "Yeah. Actually, I'm surprised that she hasn't already."

"Got it, got it," Travis says. "Well... we can't undo the past, but I'll be more careful in the future. But, right now... there's no flashing cameras..." He raises his eyebrows at her, making the woman sitting beside him roll her eyes.

"God, Travis. Yes, you can touch me however the hell you want right now." She fakes annoyance in her voice, but the smile on her face tells him that there's not a single part of her that doesn't want it.

That's all that he needs, to be granted the permission for his fingers to explore. She's not sure his hand leaves her body for the entire rest of the night, as they walk to their room and get themselves ready for bed. She can't help but laugh a little bit at how adamant he is about the contact, but she's not surprised. They share a love language of physical touch. And as they're finally between the bedsheets, he gives her a goodnight kiss.

"I had an amazing night tonight, Trav. Seriously, thank you. I love you."

"I love you too," he tells her. "And when we're all over social media tomorrow? As far as I'm concerned, let them see it. Make sure that the whole world knows that this is serious and real and that I'm the luckiest man on the whole entire planet."

"You and me," Taylor says, snuggling her body into him. "Forever."

"Forever," he mutters into her hair. "Goodnight, T. Sweet dreams."