It's All Part of the Story

I knew you were trouble

January 2014

"Good morning," Taylor says cheerfully when Austin pads into the kitchen of his sister's brand new New York apartment, still looking half asleep.

He yawns and runs a hand through his hair as he smiles quickly at Taylor, and Taylor can't help but laugh at how his attempts to tame his hair have only made it worse, locks of hair sticking up in every direction.

"Morning," he mumbles, voice still thick with sleep.

"You're up early," Taylor comments as Austin slides onto one of the high stools to sit at the breakfast bar, propping his head up with his hand. "Did you sleep okay?"

He nods with a small smile.

"Do you want something to drink? Juice, lemonade, water?" Taylor asks as she pulls a variety of fresh fruit from the fridge and places them on the counter net to a cutting board.

"Water, please," Austin says around a yawn, head snapping up when he hears someone descending the stairs. "Who else is here?"

"Karlie," Taylor says, dropping a glass of water in front of him, holding onto the pitcher of water as she watches Austin down the whole glass in one go, refilling the glass before returning the pitcher back to the fridge.

"She wasn't here last night," Austin comments lightly.

"She had to work late," Taylor explains as she begins cutting up the fruit she has laid out and adding the pieces to two bowls.

"Morning," Karlie says, walking into the kitchen and shooting Austin a smile but bypassing Taylor to make a beeline for the coffee machine, pouring coffee into the mug that's already there waiting for her and taking a sip, sighing.

"Good morning," both Austin and Taylor says so Karlie turns to them, steps close to stand behind Taylor and wrap an arm around the blonde's waist, careful to keep her hot coffee away from Taylor's skin.

Taylor melts into her, shifts back and Karlie presses her lips to Taylor's shoulder in a lingering kiss and Taylor's eyes slide closed as a content smile makes its way onto her face.

"What did you guys get up to last night?" Karlie asks softly, looking between Taylor and Austin curiously.

"We watched The Conjuring," Austin says, lighting up excitedly and Taylor can't help but smile.

"I thought you hated horror movies," Karlie whispers into Taylor's ear, fingers tapping lightly at her hip.

"He loves them," Taylor whispers back, turning her head to see Karlie's endeared look.

"What time do we need to leave for the airport at?" Karlie asks louder and Taylor glances at the digital clock on the oven.

"We need to leave in an hour," she says and Austin nods, downs the rest of his water as he slides off his chair to go get ready.

They both watch as Austin disappears up the stairs before Taylor turns in Karlie's embrace, carefully plucking Karlie's coffee cup from her hand and setting it down on the counter behind her to then slide her arms around Karlie as Karlie sighs softly and leans in, hands sliding up Taylor's arms and looping around her neck.

"Sleep well?" Taylor asks and Karlie nods. "What time did you get in?"

"Three," Karlie admits softly and Taylor's eyes go wide, hand stroking Karlie's back soothingly.

"That's so late," she says and Karlie shoots her a wry smile.

"The shoot ran over and then we got stuck discussing contracts," Karlie says with an exasperated sigh so Taylor just tightens her arms around the brunette, one of her hands sliding under Karlie's shirt to splay her fingers against the soft skin there.

The first time Taylor had tentatively broached the possibility of Karlie coming with her to Nashville to celebrate her mother's birthday, she had been worried that it was maybe too much too soon. That coupled with the fact that Karlie was super busy preparing for the Spring fashion weeks had meant that Taylor was fully prepared for Karlie to tell her that she couldn't come. Instead Karlie had smiled at her and asked her if she was sure and that if Taylor wanted her there, then there was no where else she would rather be.

"You come out on top?" Taylor asks teasingly and Karlie smiles.

"Always," she says, but then she has to duck her head to yawn softly.

"That's my girl," Taylor says with a laugh.

"Mmmh," Karlie chuckles, lifting her head to meet Taylor's eyes.

"Good morning," Taylor whispers as she pulls Karlie in even closer and brushes her lips against Karlie's.

Karlie smiles as Taylor presses her lips harder against Karlie's, kisses her languidly and Karlie softly sighs into the kiss as Taylor sweeps her tongue across Karlie's lower lip.

They're just pulling away, Karlie's fingers playing with the short hairs at the nape of Taylor's neck when they hear the telltale sounds of footsteps descending the stairs.

"Oh, sorry," Austin says quickly when he catches the two embracing and he's already turning away when Taylor calls him back with an amused smile and Karlie doesn't even have to hide her smile because Austin's looking everywhere but at them, bumps into one of the high chairs as he moves closer.

"I'm gonna go start getting ready," Karlie says still smiling into her mug of coffee.

"I'll be up in a bit," Taylor says, smiling when Karlie leans in for a quick, lingering kiss before grabbing her bowl of fruit and walking away.

"I didn't mean to chase her away, I just forgot my phone" Austin says, worriedly looking over his shoulder at Karlie's retreating figure.

"You didn't," Taylor says, easily dismissing Austin's concern. "We were already done making out," she adds with a smile as she watches Karlie's shoulders shake with laughter as she heads back upstairs.

"Oh geez," Austin says with his nose crinkled in distaste and Taylor laughs loudly.

Austin studies Taylor's face and realises that it's been quite some time since he has seen his sister this happy.

"I haven't even had coffee yet," Austin whines as he steals a piece of pineapple from Taylor's bowl.

"What can I say Austin, my girlfriend is hot," Taylor fires back before popping a strawberry in her mouth.

"Taylor please stop talking."

Two hours later, all three of them are settled on Taylor's private jet on their way to Nashville to celebrate Andrea's birthday. Taylor is busy scrolling through work emails, Austin is watching a movie and Karlie is napping against Taylor's shoulder.

Austin looks up from the closing credits of his movie to find Taylor staring pensively out of the window.

"What are you thinking so hard about Teff?" he asks pulling his headphones out of his ears.

Taylor shrugs and shakes her head before glancing down at Karlie who has managed to burrow even closer into Taylor's side which draws a small smile from the blonde.

"You don't think we're moving too fast?" Taylor asks as she runs her fingers through Karlie's hair, pausing to scratch lightly at the base of her neck.

"Do you think you're moving too fast?" Austin asks raising a questioning eyebrow at his sister.

Taylor rolls her eyes at him. "I like her Austin, I really like her, and that terrifies me," she says in a small voice glancing back down at Karlie who lets out a sleepy sigh.

Austin leans forward in his seat and dips his head to catch Taylor's eyes.

"You've never been afraid of putting yourself out there and from what I've seen over these past couple of weeks, then you're already in trouble Teff," he says sincerely.

Taylor lets out a small laugh as she leans back against her headrest and she can't fight the small smile that breaks out across her face.

"You're right, I'm in so much trouble," she mumbles as she presses a gentle kiss against Karlie's forehead.