August 31st 2019
Saturday night. The blonde had been waiting for this point in her life for a long time - going to college, escaping her small town - but she never anticipated how lonely she would feel when it finally happened. She's been in the city a couple of days now, far away from everything she knows and sharing an apartment with a girl who's never been around long enough to even introduce herself.
"What can I get you?" She looks up as the bartender speaks but before she can answer there's another voice, "I'll have another beer, Tim, and whatever the lady is having." She looks over to the woman beside her and for a moment her breath catches, her eyes flicker to the bartender, "I'll have the same again," she gives him a soft smile and glances back to the other woman as he walks away, "thank you."
She recieves a nod in response as the blonde finishes her first beer and then moves to the stool next to her. "I don't usually buy drinks for girls when I haven't even asked their name," the confidence in her smirk gives the younger woman butterflies as she blushes, "Taylor, Taylor Swift" The bartender sits their drinks down in front of them and the woman gives him a nod as he turns away, the exchange giving Taylor the impression that the two are at least familiar with each other.
They spend hours sitting on those barstools as the time passed as if it was mere minutes. Taylor finally learns her name after almost an hour; Karlie Kloss, named after her mom's favourite artist, Carly Simon. Taylor couldn't help thinking that the legacy was perfect since both women are somewhat of a mystery to her. "What do you do, Taylor?" The jade green eyes of the woman narrow as her chin rests comfortably on her palm as her elbow leans on the bar. She takes a sip of her beer as Taylor fumbles with her fingers in her lap, her palms sweaty as her eyes raise for a brief few seconds to mumble a half truth, "I'm a writer."
Technically, she's an almost English major but she's spent most of her life writing and isn't exactly keen on explaining that she isn't legally supposed to be drinking, so she decides to bend the truth a little. What does it really matter anyway? Karlie is a stranger in a bar.
Taylor's breathy laugh gives the taller girl a reason to raise her eyebrow, "what's funny?" Taylor shakes her head as she sighs, meeting the soft eyes of the other woman and pausing for a moment. "Come on, it can't be that bad." Karlie's lips upturn into a reassuring smile but it's her delicate touch as her hand rests on Taylor's thigh that gives the blonde the courage to speak again. "Sometimes I just wonder if I should've bothered leaving Tennessee, this city is so loud and I'm starting to think it's not going to offer nearly as much inspiration as i thought it might." You can hear the defeat in Taylor's voice as she looks away from Karlie again, feeling like a child.
"New York is overwhelming," she scoffs as she laughs and Taylor looks back to the blonde in front of her as Karlie shakes her head, "but it can be magical if you let it, you've just got to be open to new things," with a gentle smirk on her lips and a twinkle in her eye, the taller blonde rises to her feet. "What're you doing?" Taylor chuckles, taking a second to observe the slim and strong figure of the 6'2 woman. "Finding something for you to write about." As she offers a hand to help Taylor up from her stool, Taylor weighs her options in her head. She could go with this beautiful stranger and have the best night of her life or she could stay and probably never see Karlie again. "Okay." A nervous laugh passes the once red lips of the nervous blonde and she takes the hand of her taller counterpart and she rises to her feet.
They pull on their respective coats to venture out into the Fall evening, and Taylor's trembling fingers struggle to button her coat. "You'd think I made you nervous with all of this shaking." Karlie's light laugh makes the stampeding butterflies in Taylor's stomach go wild and the taller girl with the emerald eyes reaches out to help Taylor, buttoning the last button on her coat as the smaller girl and her ocean eyes gets to examine the gorgeous features of the modelesque woman in front of her. As Karlie finishes, her eyes drift up and she catches Taylor memorising every speck of hazel mixed within the green, and for a few short seconds their eyes lock. It's not much, but for both of them it's something.
