Someone's Daughter

24. everything to keep you looking at me

Holy moly, y'all. We've got a TRACK LIST!!!

I have a huge thing for track numbers, and I absolutely extended it into my book, because of course. Who would I be if I didn't bring numbers into it?

Anywho, much thanks to my beta readers! Thank you everyone who voted on the last chapter!

Lovelovelove - R

April 23rd, 2020, Part Two.

At a small motel just northwest of Sunset Boulevard, an end cap fastened over the top of an extended lens on a professional-grade camera. It fit tightly into a travel bag, the side of which read G. Harrells.

A purple class ring hung from a chain around the neck of a man in his late 30s. The chain glistened in the California sun as he walked towards his car.

He rebooted his phone and checked his texts; there were three, the first was from Mandy.

Have fun on your work trip. Love you!

He smiled gently, typed out, love you too, then remembered he was running out of time and held down the power button on his phone, shutting it back down completely.

—~—~—

Taylor had her hair pulled up in a bun, in grey running shorts and a blue tee shirt. Standing on the other side of the tennis court, she didn't look anything like a pop star. She had the energy of an overzealous college student bouncing around a Rec Center and a blinding smile to match.

Caroline felt out of place in her mismatched athletic clothes, purple shorts, and a zig-zag striped flowy tank top. Kennedy's braid felt like the only thing tying it all together, tying her to the tennis court. She was trying to aim the ball toward Taylor and stay in one spot. She was doing her best not to ask Taylor about anything more than the restoration of the tennis court itself.

Taylor didn't look satisfied with her, talking about school and her life in Texas, answering her questions about the vines growing around the house, the fence, and the garden shed. The woman's minuscule frown was grating on the girl. She didn't know how to fix it without asking directly. She didn't want to ask anything Taylor didn't want to answer.

It had been an hour of awkward silence and school-related small talk in between polite serves and parries. Taylor was losing patience.

"You don't have to go so easy on me, Caroline."

She squinted with a meek grin and hit the ball almost out of Taylor's reach, lighting a fire under her own feet.

The woman rolled her shoulders and peered at her, waiting for the next serve, vibrant and hungry. "That's more like it."

Okay, not too much of an ass, Taylor, just enough to break the ice. Don't look like you're plotting her downfall.

Taylor hit back hard, and Caroline sacrificed her knees to catch the trajectory. Her eyes were wide as she stood to face the next parry, a gentle toss that she spiked towards the front.

Taylor found herself laughing as she dove for it. She acted wild, as if this were a match with Kennedy or Joe. She wasn't letting Caroline into her personal life or holding her outside the shark-infested moat and barricade around her career. She already had her spies in place. She had her precautions; she didn't need anymore.

She could enjoy the girl on the other side of the net. She could be herself, fall from the pedestal and be human. She could laugh like she did with family.