Wondering If You Knew

I Never Saw You Coming

Karlie's POV

November 2013

Karlie was rushed into the building and greeted by her hair and makeup team. They barely waited for her to sit down before they got to work. Today was the taping of the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show and Karlie was excited. Show days always gave her a rush, even though she had been doing this for years now. "Never gets easier, does it Kloss," her best friend Jourdan said as she was seated before her own team. "Nope, but it's always worth the nerves," Karlie was starting to relax a bit more.

She had been going to fittings for the last few months, and she loved all of the outfits she was going to wear. Karlie was particularly fond of the gigantic, colorful butterfly wings she would be wearing in the opening theme. She was also a bit more excited that Taylor Swift would be performing in the show this year. She was a huge fan of Taylor, but she had never gotten to meet her before. They had exchanged a few tweets about wanting to bake cookies, but it never amounted to anything more.

Karlie was interrupted from her thoughts as a large amount of flashes and yelling came from the entrance to the building. Karlie couldn't make out who it was, but they were surrounded by several security guards. "That must be queen Taylor herself," Jourdan said, "I can't imagine having to go through that on a daily basis." Karlie watched as Taylor was escorted to her own section where her own team would be waiting. Taylor was looking around the room, seemingly overwhelmed with the amount of crazy going on backstage. Taylor's eyes met Karlie's and they shared smiles. Karlie thought her fangirl heart was going to burst. "Easy there killer," Jourdan joked, "You'll get to meet her after the taping."

The next hour flew by in a breeze, and Karlie was getting ready to get in the lineup when she felt someone approach her. It was none other than Taylor herself. "Hi, I'm Taylor. You're going to do great out there," the blonde was giving her a reassuring smile. "Thanks, Taylor. You're going to rock, too. I'm Karlie, by the way." "I already know who you are silly, but thanks," the two were grinning at each other but were then interrupted by the stage managers' count down. "Have a great show, ladies," one of them said. It was time to start the show.

Taylor's POV

Fall Out Boy were opening with My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark, and Taylor was joining in on the second verse. As she was in the middle of her verse, Taylor felt someone brush her arm. It was Karlie; Karlie looked at her reassuringly and made all of Taylor's nerves wash away. Taylor was confident now. She didn't have any doubts in herself at the moment, and she was going to show it. 

The rest of the show was easier than Taylor thought it was going to be. She found it so easy to interact with the angels, not awkward like she thought it was going to be. She was on stage with Karlie once more that night during the snow angels segment. She also got to share the spotlight with her friends Lily and Cara.

Once the show was over, they were all backstage and the angels were about to take a picture. Taylor was invited into it and was placed up front. Afterwards, Taylor posed for more pictures with a bunch of the models. She spotted Karlie in the crowd and made her way over to her. Karlie had been standing in a group composed of herself, Lily, and Cara. "That was amazing!" Taylor said as she approached the group. "I knew you would love it," Lily said. "Ah, but the night has only begun!" shouted Cara.They all headed to the after party where Taylor swore she would get the chance to speak to Karlie.

Somehow, Taylor had gotten separated from the other girls and was searching the room for a familiar face. The party was filled mostly with models and people in the fashion industry, most of whom Taylor did not know. She was completely out of her element. Suddenly slender fingers touched her arm. She turned around to see Karlie chuckling. "You seem a bit overwhelmed," she joked. "I guess it's just because I don't know very many people," Taylor tried to seem like she had it together when in reality she had kind of been freaking out. "Lily has a tale over there, why don't we go join her," Karlie said. "Ok," Taylor was more than relieved to finally find someone to talk to.

After about an hour of laughter and drinking, the girls all decided they wanted to leave, but they didn't want the night to be over just yet. "Why don't we all head back to my place?" Taylor offered, "I have more booze" she only half joked. "Sounds great, I haven't gotten to see your new place yet!" Lily exclaimed. "Yeah I'm down, I don't have anything to do tomorrow, so we could keep the party going all night," Karlie said.

The ride to Taylor's building was filled with stories of nostalgia from Lily and Taylor, who were ust getting the chance to catch up. They arrived at the apartment building and started to head up. "Just a warning, I have completely unpacked all of my boxes yet," Taylor said before they entered the apartment. "Woah, Taylor, this place is insane," Karlie said in awe of the perfect decoration Taylor had. "I baked some cookies in the kitchen for the first time today, so it's starting to feel like home," Taylor said.

"Hey, are those home movies I see?" Lily questioned. "Yeah, mom sent me some boxes from back home in Nashville," Taylor said, a bit embarrassed at the thought of what could possibly be on those videos. "We should totally watch some!" Karlie remarked. "I don't think you guys want to see those," Taylor blushed. "Of course we do! I've seen you do some crazy stuff Taylor, what could possibly be on these videos that you could be embarrassed about," Lily chuckled. "Fine, I'll get it set up if you guys pop some popcorn," Taylor sighed.

They spent the next few hours watching videos of Taylor when she was little, Karlie and Lily "awing" at little Taylor every now and then. The next video Taylor put in was of her performing on a stage in a restaurant somewhere. "Oh! This is actually one of my favorite ones. It's from the night I met Scott and got offered a record deal," Taylor said, suddenly becoming more interested. The video showed Taylor performing a few songs and then cut to her walking off stage where she was approached by a familiar looking brunette "Oh my God, pause it!" Lily exclaimed. The video paused on the image of a girl that was talking to Taylor next to the stage. "Is that who I think it is?!" Lily gasped. That girl was Karlie.

Karlie's POV

"Oh my God! I remember that night!" Karlie exclaimed, "I was in Nashville with my parents and we were at the Bluebird that night!" She couldn't believe this could happen. The girl that she had fallen for that night was worldwide superstar Taylor Swift. "I told you you would go on to great things!" Karlie laughed. Taylor was still in awe, "Yeah, you sure showed me." "That's absolutely insane! What are the odds of this happening?" Lily found this astounding. "I don't know, but it feels like one in a million," Karlie thought.

The rest of the night was spent watching more videos and talking about the show. "I think I'm going to turn in for the night," Lily said as she stretched her arms up. "The guest bedroom is the first one on the right," Taylor said as Lily headed upstairs. She gave Taylor a thumbs up as she headed into her room, already half asleep.

Karlie and Taylor looked at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter. "i can't believe that is an actual thing that happened," Karlie said between chuckles. "Yeah, it's so crazy to think about. That was such a long time ago," Taylor was still trying to wrap her mind around it. They sat in silence for a while as they watched TV.

Karlie couldn't believe she was sitting on the couch of the girl that she had met in Nashville all those years ago. While surprise was still the dominant feeling going on inside Karlie's head at the moment, there was still this sense of uncertainty in the back of her mind. Karlie was straight. She had a boyfriend. There's no way she could still have feelings for Taylor. They had only met once, she couldn't have fallen in love with her... right? Karlie looked over at Taylor, who was watching an episode of Grey's Anatomy with an intense look of concentration on her face. She could feel a well of emotion surge inside of her, but she didn't know what emotion it was.

"Karlie, are you ok?" It was Taylor. She was looking at Karlie with a look of concern on her face. "You look like you've seen a ghost," Taylor said. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking about some shoots i have in a few weeks. They're really important, and I'm worried about messing up," Karlie hoped Taylor couldn't read through her lie. "I'm sure you'll be perfect," Taylor said with a reassuring smile that made Karlie feel like everything would be ok. "Yep, this is going to be rough," Karlie thought as she realized the one thing that had been on her mind since that night at the Bluebird: she was in love with Taylor Swift.