"Uh hi" I stutter as Travis' dad pushes past me into the apartment, his rucksack hitting me and pushing me hard against the wall.
I peek out of the door hoping to see Jake but the elevator is open and empty so I stand in the entrance to Travis' apartment not knowing what to do or what to say.
His father hates me, he made that clear the first time we met but to find me here, in Travis' apartment, wearing Travis' clothes... this is going to go down like a lead balloon and after what happened a few weeks ago it's a confrontation I'm terrified to face.
I go to close the door but Travis' father appears at the end of the hallway "Shut the door on your way out" he instructs and begins to close the distance between us and I feel myself begin to panic, this is how it all started in my kitchen. A gap that became smaller an argument that grew louder and then pain, so much pain.
I back myself up against the wall as I feel my heart thumping as though it trying to bang out an SOS call
"Get. Out." Travis' father says lowering his face to mine
"Sir I'm just..." I want to explain that I'm staying here but he obviously isn't interested as he pulls the door from my grasp
"NOW!"
"I can't" I tell him whilst swallowing hard "I have nowhere else to go" I drop my head in humiliation and the way he fakes a laugh doesn't help
"I told you to stay away from my son and yet here you are in his apartment, wearing his clothes" he pulls the T-shirt away from my body and then lets it ping back into place
"He's just helping me out right now"
"Oh I know my son and I know exactly how he 'helps girls out'"
I cringe at the way Travis' father is talking about him but know it's true and it's probably the first conclusion anyone would jump to
"It's not like that" I know my cheeks are glowing and he's probably worked out that I'm lying but I had to try, I couldn't bare for him to think I was just another girl that Travis helped and then ditched afterwards.
Again he forces a laugh "Oh honey it's always like that with Travis. Don't think you're any different. No matter what he's told you don't think that once he gets what he wants you won't be thrown in the trash like every other girl that makes it so easy for him. He's a Rock Star he isn't looking for weight around his neck especially not from some fuckin pop princess like you"
I know tears are close, I can feel my eye balls beginning to burn but I have spent my whole life being weak and almost ended up dead in hospital because of it, I'm tired of feeling powerless and being walked all over. I'm tired of people telling me who I am instead of asking me who I want to be
If I back down and weaken myself now, one more man will know all he has to do is straighten his spine and toughen his words, raise his volume and Taylor Swift will crumble at his feet.
Last time that happened I crumbled at his feet with a knife buried four inches deep into my side, I won't be hurt or abused anymore. If Travis has taught me one thing its be yourself and stand the fuck up for yourself
"Um, hi!" I say forcing on the biggest smile I can "I'm Taylor Swift I don't think we have met properly" I hold out my hand to him but he looks at it as though I was holding out a dog poop for him to eat
"I know who you are"
"Well no, not really but Travis and I are friends and he won't be home till this evening so maybe we could get to know each other, instead of jumping to a whole load of conclusions"
"I would rather eat my own tongue" he says fixing me with a death stare
"We uh... don't have any tongue unfortunately but I could make you a coffee?"
"I don't want a coffee, what I want is you out of my sons apartment"
"I think he'd be pretty mad if he came back and I was gone though since he told the police he would take care of me until they found the person that stabbed me"
"He told them that or your record label forced him to tell them that?"
"Oh sir, I'm sorry but no one forces Travis to do anything"
"And yet here you are. Don't try to tell me he hasn't had you in that bed"
"I'm not telling you anything, that question is no one's business but our own"
Again he laughs that obnoxious laugh and I want to shove an entire toilet roll down his throat to shut him up
"No matter how famous, how rich, how married or how powerful they are no one can keep their legs closed around him, not even princess prim and proper" the pride dripping from his voice makes me to to vomit but I gulp down another unpleasant nickname as my heart thuds hard and my hands shake by my sides but I can't back down, I can't submit to him, I can't let him win
"Travis is a good man" I say, my voice sounding weaker than I wanted it to
"Travis is my son, don't talk to me as though I don't know him" he folds his arms over his faded Led Zeppelin T-shirt and glares at me
"He isn't just a rock star, he's a man, a kind, caring, funny man"
"Do.Not.Talk.To.Me.Like.That. Don't talk like you know him and I know nothing when he's my son and he's going to be in your life for half a second and that's that"
"Look I don't want to argue, I'm tired and sore..."
"Yeah? Well if only the person that stabbed you had tried a little bit harder we wouldn't be stood having this conversation and you wouldn't be stood here trying to drag my son down to your level now I told you to get out and I meant GET THE FUCK OUT!"
"Uh... dad?"
We both spin to see Travis and Jake stood in the doorway. Travis is pushing his shades into his hair and Jake is shaking his head as though he knows some shit is about to go down and as I look up at Travis' dad once more I see in his face that he is preparing for war
