golden [kaylor]

( two. )

Thank you for the feedback, you guys! This is the first time Wattpad has popped up and actually told me that one of my fics was ranked, which is pretty cool. Anyway, this chapter is where things start getting fun. I know they're kind of short right now, but that'll probably change soon enough.

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The woman has her back turned to you when you walk back into the bakery, looking at a collection of vegan-friendly pastries.  It's in the downtime hours, so you're sort of surprised anyone is here, but you don't question the presence of a customer.

You've been here seven months, and you've come to learn the way things work already.  Willow Springs is nestled perfectly between downtown Denver and Rocky Mountain National Park.  In the winters, it's a quiet little town, one where people learn your face and your name and ask you about your day when they see you on the street.

But from late March to probably the end of October, the place is active and busy, the four hotels filled with travelers wanting the perfect mixture of downtown and hiking trails.  Your shop is busiest in the mornings, when hikers enter to grab themselves some cookies or doughnuts or cinnamon rolls before they hit the trails for the day.

The woman is wearing Nike leggings and tennis shoes, and her hair is pulled back in a high ponytail, so it's fairly obvious she's more the athletic type.  It's ranging on late afternoon, though, so you're curious what she's doing getting such a late start.  Generally it isn't advisable to be on the trails in the dusk or nighttime hours, because of wolves, mountain lions, and bears roaming about.

You shrug, and busy yourself straightening m&m cookies on a shelf in order to look like you're not just standing and staring at the customer while you wait.  You're in the process of sliding one cookie off from halfway on top of another when you hear the rustle of the girl approaching the counter.  Your hair is in a bun, but stray strands (ones you're still not used to being dark brown) fall in your face as you look up.

The face staring back at you makes your heart leap in your throat.

Thankfully, shock keeps your show smile glued on to your face, but you take far too long to respond, "What can I get for you?"

Green eyes bore into your face.  You tug awkwardly at your clear gloves, feeling the material rub at the new cat tattoo on your wrist.  You have to pretend you have no idea why you're being stared at like you have two heads, so you let your eyes narrow, staring through the colored contacts, "Is there something on my face?"

The girl shakes her head, as if snapping herself out of a trance, "You just look like someone I know.  Used to know."

And that confirms it.  Used to know.  It stings, hearing those words and knowing they're about you.  You subtly take her in.  Her hair is shorter than it used to be, and her face seems paler.  Those eyes are darker too.  And there's no smile.  She doesn't look like she broke off a piece of the sun and swallowed it.  She just looks tired.  And you want to reach out to her.  You want to call her by name.

You decide to acknowledge her, the only way you can because Witness Protection will have you dead if you give away who you are, "Taylor Swift?  Yeah, if I had a dollar for every time someone said that, I'd be living in a mansion.  It's so sad what happened to her.  But you look familiar too, though."