The Soldier's Girl (Under Editing)

Chapter 16

CAROLINE'S POV

I followed Taylor into the backseat of the same black SUV. We drove for what seemed like a long time until we reached a place with a lot of shops. The car came to a stop, but before anyone got out Taylor rummaged through her purse and slipped black Ray-Bans over her eyes. I would soon find out why.

Outside the car door were five grown men with cameras the size of their faces. Most where wearing ball caps and looking like they hadn't shaved in days. I'd always seen candid pictures of Taylor, but I never stopped to think that there would be paparazzi when I was around. It was actually very scary.

Taylor stepped outside the car first, I followed and she waited outside for me. The entrance to the grocery store was a good 20 yards away. Once the both of us were out if the safety of the car Taylor silently started toward the door to the store. My heart was pounding as I caught up with her.

They all followed us as we walked, one of them was really close to me. I steered myself closer to Taylor for safety. I'm sure in all the pictures they got I looked terrified. My eyes were wide and my eyebrows slightly pushed together and then I realized why Taylor was wearing sunglasses.

We weren't even half way there. The loud noises their cameras made rang in my ears. They didn't say much, only one of them was trying to get Taylor to look at him. The one got kind of close to me again, but one of Taylor's bodyguards made him back off. I walked even closer to Taylor and this time she put her hand on my back, still looking straight ahead.

She walked me all the way to the entrance, where relief washed over me. Once we were fully inside the store Taylor took off the sunglasses. I could feel her keep glancing down at me so I tried to act cool about it, even though on the inside I was scared to death.

She grabbed a cart and headed toward the produce, I walked there with her, staying close. We walked up and down aisles without saying much. Every once and a while she would ask me to choose between two types of food to see which I preferred. After a half hour we were done.

We went to check out and they gave us two sacks, I carried one and Taylor carried one. I knew that as soon as we exited the store there would be paparazzi waiting for us again. After Taylor paid we started towards the door. I let her go out first and I followed, this time a lot more had shown up. My chest began to ache longingly, I didn't really know what for though. Was it for my dad? For Nashville?

All I knew is that I wanted to be away from these people, they scared me and I didn't like it. I followed Taylor back to the car, feeling sick to my stomach the whole way. I loved Taylor and I loved being with her, but this was the first downside I'd experienced to being with her. When we climbed back into the car Taylor sat in the middle seat instead of the window seat so she was right beside me.

I wondered if how upset I was was noticeable. I didn't say anything on the car ride back to Taylor's. She didn't say much either, when she did try to make conversation I would just shrug or shake my head back and forth so I wouldn't have to say anything. When we were halfway there Taylor put her arm around me so the inside of her elbow was right on the side of my neck and her forearm was draped loosely down my front.

"What's wrong?" She asked, putting her face closer to mine and whispering so only I could hear. I assumed she knew what was wrong, I just shrugged and avoided her eyes. She took her free hand and clasped it to the one hanging around me, now both her arms were around me and I was hoping she couldn't feel my heart beating.

Once we were back at her house I went up to my new room, mostly because it was the only place I knew how to get to. I changed back into my dad's old sweatshirt just because it made me feel safe. After Taylor put away the groceries she followed me up there. As soon as she walked in the room she cut right to the chase.

"I'm sorry." She said as she sat down beside me on the bed. I didn't really know why she was apologizing, she couldn't help it. I was immediately uncomfortable, I didn't want to be upset in front of Taylor, the only times she'd seen me upset it was because of my parents. But that was reasonable, this just made me feel weak.

I tried to be cool, I tried as hard as I could to just calm down, but it was impossible. I didn't want to be like this but I could feel myself shaking, and I knew Taylor noticed it because she embraced me and held me tighter so it would stop. I didn't want this to be happening, I liked it that Taylor cared enough for me to try and help, but I didn't want her to see me right now. I'd been sad around her enough lately.

I wanted to stop, I wanted us both to just be happy and I wanted this to never have happened. But it was too late for that.

TAYLOR'S POV

Caroline was still really shaken up. She tried to hide it, but I could tell. I couldn't help but think it was all my fault. It had been over an hour since the paparazzi run in and now we were eating lunch at the kitchen table. I had made grilled cheese with some of the groceries we had just bought.

We didn't talk because we were both fixed on the Friends rerun that was playing on the TV. I got up to go get on some shoes, leaving Caroline alone in the kitchen. When I came back she was finished eating.

"Do you want to go outside?" I asked as I lead her out the back door. We went into my backyard and I took her straight to my trampoline. We both took our shoes off and hopped on. We jumped and laughed until we were completely out of breath.

The two of us plopped down on the trampoline. We sat there talking for almost half an hour. Caroline sat cross legged straight across from me and I sat the same way.

"When did you get that sweatshirt?" I asked once the conversation slowed, I was pointing towards the gray sweatshirt she had worn almost every night since she came here. She looked down to where I was pointing before answering.

"It's my dad's." She said while looking towards the grass off to the side, instead of my eyes like before. Her dad had been a touchy subject lately, before when I asked her about him she politely answered me. Just in the past week she'd been less willing to talk to me about it. That worried me, I wanted to be there for her to talk to, even if it was about things that made her sad. I also really hoped the whole paparazzi thing earlier wouldn't make her distance herself from me.

I especially wanted to be there for her to talk about her dad with. I couldn't imagine being in her situation, I know she probably missed Charlie a lot, she just hardly ever shows it. One of the only times she'd really opened up to me about it was when she got his letter.

That night she let me hold her until she felt better. I thought that that meant she trusted me in sharing moments like that with her. Now I can tell she tries her best to hide her emotions, but I wished she wouldn't. I understand that she's going to be upset and she's going to miss her dad, I wished Caroline knew that it was okay to come to me with things like this.