Family Friends (Taylor Swift Fanfiction)

Chapter Forty Six

I watched him out the corner of my eye, his head was in his hands and every so often he would shake it. His feet were placed firmly on the the floor in sturdy work boots and the only thing he had brought with him was a small backpack that he hadn't touched. It was six in the morning, he had been here for a total of 5 hours and I already felt uneasy around him. Mom had left as soon as she had woken up and seen him, hailing a taxi to take her back to Taylor's apartment at 2am. He hadn't been let in to see Libby, he had to wait till visiting hours at nine. I hadn't slept at all after Dad arrived. I had just sat there in this damn plastic chair watching him. Taylor was starting to stir next to me, she had been in and out of sleep throughout the night.

"You okay?" Taylor asks me blinking at the bright lights. It was Christmas morning, I had been looking forward to this day since October and now it was here and all I could feel was the rock of guilt lodged in the pit of my stomach.

"I want to go home," I say plainly to Taylor. I didn't want to be here, where Libby wasn't going to wake up early to open her Santa Sack. Where her and Tiger weren't going to fight over the presents under the tree. I didn't want to be here with Dad, who was only going to get angry and cry.

"Can we please go home Taylor," I say again sounding like a small child.
Taylor doesn't say anything, instead she nods and begins slowly picking up the few belongings she had scattered around.

I glance over at Dad one last time before the double doors close behind us, he lifts his head and gives me saddened smile and a slow shake of his head. Then the doors are closed between us and I can just make out his figure through the frosted glass. I almost feel bad for him and it takes everything in me not to run back in and hug him.

"Ready to go Audrey?" Taylor asks as the lift opens for us. I nod and this time I don't look back.

The taxi ride back to Taylor's apartment was possibly the slowest car ride of my life. I sat in the back seat next to Taylor looking out the window. Watching the people on the side walk disappear into buildings carrying carefully wrapped presents or stacked plates of food. Little flakes of snow were falling from the sky and the noise of the traffic seemed to dissaper as I lost myself in the life happening around me. For the rest of the ride home I didn't think about Libby in her hospital bed, I didn't think about Dad alone in the corridor or Ella and Clara back in Chicago. I was at peace with the snow falling and New Yorkers scurrying along the side walk in the early morning.

"Audrey were here," Taylor whispers, I hadn't even noticed the taxi had stopped. Instantly the feeling of guilt returned and I didn't want to hop out.

"It'll be okay," Taylor says giving my shoulder a soft squeeze. Eventualy I stumble out if the taxi and the noise of New York returns. I had been sitting in a quiet hospital ward for so long I had almost forgotten how loud it was.

Taylors apartment building was airy and quiet when we finnaly got inside. I collapse as soon as my feet hit the soft rug that adorned Taylor's kitchen floor. The  time on the oven read 7:18am, it felt more like 11am if im being honest.

"I have to pick Ed up from the airport at 10," Taylor tells me, "so I'm gonna get some sleep before I have to leave again. You should sleep too."

Groaning I pick myself up off the couch and follow Taylor up the stairs. I enter my bedroom, the one I had claimed with polaroids and fairy lights. It hadn't been touched since the accident my suitcase still lay barely open in the corner and my laptop sat on the bed still open. I force myself to change into my pajamas, discarding the clohes I had lived in the past two days on the floor. I didn't feel like sleeping, I just felt numb. Sitting on the edge of my bed I stare at the floor and the chipped red nail polish on my toes. I hear foot steps enter my room and I don't even look up. I only look up when I feel the bed dip beside me and a strong arm wrap around my waste.