Girls Never Go Out of Style - A Kaylor Fanfic

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

The night of graduation, Taylor was ready. But not in the way her parents expected.

Sure, she was decked out in the black dress that they had bought for her to wear underneath her gown. Her mortarboard was laid out on her bed, ready for her to grab on the way to the high school for the last t

But she also had her suitcases packed with everything with which she had not been able to bring herself to part. Her guitar was in its case, waiting beside her other bags where she had stashed them in a dark corner of the back porch. She had a wad of cash tucked into her purse, the spoils from pawning the ring that Charles had given her for her birthday.

There was a benefit to Charles proposing to her (if you could even call it that). Now that everyone expected her to wear the diamond he had given her, they weren't concerned about the whereabouts of the other ring.

The diamond would be gone, too, soon enough.

She just hoped that Karlie had gotten her message, that she had understood what Taylor was trying to tell her.

Taylor had hoped that Karlie would show up before graduation, and she could avoid the whole spectacle. But when the time came to depart for the school and Karlie wasn't there, Taylor had no choice but to go along. Her nerves jangled the whole time, through photo ops and commencement speeches and walking up to get her diploma. By the time Mr. Smith had switched her tassel to the other side, she felt as though she could collapse from anxiety.

This has to work, she chanted over and over in her head. Karlie has to come get me. We have to get out of here.

Taylor and her parents got back home late, after a celebratory dinner with Charles and his parents. Hours passed, ridiculously slowly. By the time Andrea and Scott went to bed, Taylor was on the verge of admitting that her plan had fallen through. The lyrics were too obscure, or Karlie hadn't read them, or hadn't understood... Karlie wasn't coming, one way or another.

But she couldn't quite bring herself to take off her dress, to put on her pajamas and give up hope and go to bed, knowing that tomorrow she would wake up into a life that wasn't her own, anymore. She sat by her window, the one overlooking the back yard, and she waited.

Well after midnight, Taylor's vigil was rewarded with the sight of headlights approaching. Before the car was close enough for the light to sweep through the windows, potentially waking the sleeping Swifts, the driver slowed almost to a crawl and turned them off.

Karlie!

Taylor kicked off her heels and shoved her feet into a pair of flats, then snuck down the stairs as quickly and as quietly as she could. She stole through the kitchen to the back door. The door creaked loudly as Taylor opened it, and she froze for a moment before quickly slipping out into the back yard. There, in the shadows by the garden gate, stood Karlie beside her waiting car. She already had the trunk open.

They said nothing, grimly serious as they loaded Taylor's luggage into the trunk. They weren't out of the woods yet, not by a long shot, and at any moment--

Suddenly the flood lights on the back porch blazed to life, catching the girls in the middle of their escape. They froze, blinking in the sudden illumination.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" Scott roared from the back porch. Andrea appeared behind him, tying the sash on her satin dressing gown.

"Taylor?" she asked blearily, snapping into angry wakefulness as she saw Karlie. "Taylor, get back in this house now!"

Karlie jolted back to life. She grabbed the last of Taylor's bags and thrust them into the car, slammed the trunk lid, and grabbed Taylor's hand. "Come on," she said.

Andrea and Scott burst out into the yard in pursuit of their daughter, catching her just before she ducked into the passenger seat. Andrea reached for Taylor, but Taylor pulled away.

"No!" Her voice was so forceful that it shocked her parents enough to let her go.

"Taylor, you can't do this," Andrea said.

"Yes, I can."

"You know that if you get in that car, you can never come back here. This will no longer be your home."

Taylor glanced over her shoulder, catching Karlie's eye. Karlie stood tense, at the ready, prepared, it looked, to do whatever it might take to defend Taylor. Her black eye looked grisly, but when she smiled at Taylor, her face brightened so much that it was barely noticeable.

"That's okay," Taylor said, turning back to her parents. "I have a new home now."

Ignoring their protests, Taylor got into the car and closed the door with a definitive snap.

"Drive," she commanded Karlie. Her bravado was gone, the fear creeping back in. "Get us out of here before--"

She didn't finish the thought, but Karlie filled in the blank silently. What would the Swifts do? Come after them? Call the cops? She didn't put anything past anyone anymore, not after all that had happened in the past year.

"On it," she said. She revved the engine and gunned it, not looking back until they were well outside the city limits.

They drove until both of them were so tired that continuing was dangerous, then found a roadside motel with the vacancy sign illuminated.

Taylor was anxious, and kept glancing out the window, until Karlie convinced her to come to bed. She insisted on wedging a chair beneath the doorknob, just in case, before she would lay her head on the pillow.

They waited until they were another day's drive away to hock Taylor's engagement ring, adding the money to their bundle of cash: Taylor's savings, Karlie's college fund, the money Karlie had put back from odd jobs, the money from Taylor's birthday ring.

"It's not that much," Taylor fretted that night after they counted up.

"It's enough," Karlie said.

"You sound so sure," Taylor said, biting her lip. "Aren't you scared?"

Karlie wrapped her arms around Taylor, resing her chin on the other girl's shoulder. "Not as scared as I was when I thought I would never see you again," she said.

Taylor had to smile, despite her nervousness.

"I can't believe we're doing this," she mused. "We're going to New York. Together."

"Yeah," Karlie said. "I've got a good feeling about it. We've been through too much for this not to work out."

"I think you're right," Taylor mused. "New York... I think it's been waiting for us."

THE END