Come Back...Be Here

Chapter 13

I ended up chatting with Danielle mostly on the plane, because everyone else either fell asleep or was being boring. 

"So what is really in New York that is such a secret?"I asked her finally. 

"You'll see when we get there." Replied Danielle. 

I stared her down, seeing if she would crack. But instead she just laughed. 

"You'll really like it." 

"This better be worth it." I sighed, and leaned back. We were sitting at the table in the plane, Taylor, Ed and Selena were sitting in the other reclining chairs. The rest of the team that was with us are on the couch. There wasn't a lot of them though. 

I looked out the window of the plane, the snow flurrying around us. I watched as we passed over cities and lights in the dark. My mom and dad would have loved this. My dad told me the first time he ever went on a plane in the snow. He couldn't wait for it to happen again. He said it was so beautiful. 

"Snow's pretty cool, huh?" Danielle asked, facing me. 

"Mhm." I replied, looking at her, the back out the window. "How much longer?" 

"Maybe like 15 minutes?" She said, checking her phone. 

"Darn." 

"Darn?" 

"I want this to last forever." I took out my phone and took a video of the window. 

Taylor finally woke up, and turned to look for me. She smiled when she saw us at the table. 

"Not much longer I assume?" She yawned. 

"Nope." Danielle replied. 

"Come check this out!" I said, moving so she could look out the window. 

"There's New York right there!" She said. 

"Not the snow!" 

"That too. It's pretty isn't it?" 

"Yeah." I moved back into the spot close to the window after she moved away. "So Taylor, why did you make everyone sacrifice their Christmas to go to New York?" 

"You'll see." 

"Ughhhhhh." I groaned. "Can you just tell me?" 

"We're almost there!" 

"The suspense is killing me!" 

"It's worth the wait." Taylor winked, and went back to her chair. 

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I fell asleep on the ride from the airport to Taylor's apartment. I had never been to her New York apartment, and it was bigger than I thought. It was decorated so nicely and perfectly for Christmas. There were presents under the tree and everything. 

Taylor showed Danielle and I around quickly, then showed us each our bedrooms. She then disappeared into her's. I carefully put my presents under the tree, and repeatedly apologized to Danielle for not having any present for her. Ed and Selena were nowhere to be found, as they had gone in a separate car, as had the few members of their teams that were with them. 

I put a Christmas movie on in the living room, which Danielle claimed was her favorite. It was the second Home Alone movie. 

After watching or about 15 minutes, I heard a knock at the door. I froze up, too worried to open the door as this was TAYLOR SWIFT's apartment. 

"Taylor? Taylor? Tay?" I called, hoping she would answer. 

Then I heard a familiar voice through the door. "Charlie, it's just me." 

"Joe?" 

"That's me." 

I ran to open the door. I was so happy he was here, and I gave him a big hug. 

"How are you?" He asked me. 

"I'm great!" I replied, taking my seat on the couch next to Danielle. 

"Danielle! Hi! How are you?" Asked Joe. 

"I'm good, Joe. You?" 

"Doing just fine." 

"We haven't seen Taylor in like 20 minutes." I told him. 

"Hmm." He said. "I'll go check on her." 

 "I'll come." I said. 

"Just stay here. It could be Christmas presents." He took off his coat and shoes and headed towards her room. 

"Tell me you know 'The Secret' please?" I turned to Danielle. 

"I do know PART of 'The Secret.'" She said. "But there's more to it apparently." 

"Tell me everything you know." 

"I can't do that." She laughed. 

"Why not?" 

"Because then it wouldn't be a secret!" 

"Ugh. Why do people always say that?" I realized quickly that I sounded very much like a child in this conversation, but it didn't matter. I have the patience of a child. 

"Charlie." 

"Danielle." 

"I promise you'll like what I know of the secret." She winked. 

"Why does everyone keep winking?" 

"Don't know." She replied, and looked back at the TV. 

I sighed in defeat because I knew I wasn't getting anything out of her.  I looked at the tree, nicely decorated with the presents. The ornaments that decorated it were all sorts of things. From where I was sitting, I could see a guitar ornament that Hallmark made during Taylor's Red era and there was one from Fearless too. There was a few stars on it that had pictures in them, but I couldn't tell what they were. There's a few ornaments from her childhood Christmas tree her mom gave her. 

I got up to go look closer, because I was curious about the pictures in the small frames. 

There was a picture of one of her Christmases when she was a little kid. There was here, Aunt Andrea, Uncle Scott and Austin along with her holding her guitar, which I assumed was her first. 

There was also a picture of her and Ed Sheeran, and near that was one of her and Selena Gomez. I wandered around the tree, looking at family pictures and stuff. But in the middle, I saw one very specific Christmas about 5 years ago I remember well. We had flown out to Florida to be with family for Christmas. Taylor wasn't supposed to be there, but she ended up coming to surprise us. That was the family picture that year. Then the one right next to it was a picture of just us, but it was one show where she gave us backstage passes. She would have given them to us all the time if my parents weren't always working. But the picture was her in the sparkly purple dress, and me smiling next to her. I was young at the time, but I still remember that night too. 

I stared at the picture next to it, which was basically the same picture but Taylor wasn't on one knee next to me, she was standing up between my parents, and my dad was holding me. 

Behind me I felt an arm around my shoulder. I looked over to see Danielle, and I leaned into her a bit. 

"I miss my parents." I said. 

"I'm sure." She replied.  

*A/N: Sorry for such a long wait on this! It's been since November and now it's February. I haven't had time for much other than school, basketball, soccer and homework, and my spring is going to be even crazier. Another chapter should be out before you know it! I'm trying to write as much as I can on my free days so in my crazy times I can jsst put out a pre-written chapter. Thanks for the support!*