Kaylor: The Timeline

Chapter 4.1

July 13, 2014

"Yes, honey, you didn't think I knew that?"

Taylor's mind goes blank as her mouth drops. The last thing she ever expected to happen was feeling as though she is the one caught off guard in this situation. Time feels as though it has stopped, staring at her mother's easy smile, her sparkling and mildly surprised eyes.

"Didn't you think I knew?" Andrea asks, now directing her question to Karlie.

Taylor turns to the girl beside her for the first time since grabbing her hand, and sees that Karlie's expression is quite similar to her own with wide eyes and a dropped jaw, but with hints of a smile, cheeks pink.

"I... Not really," Karlie says slowly.

"I thought you did," Andrea says, shrugging her shoulders.

"'Not really'?" Taylor asks, furrowing her brow with a smile.

Karlie shrugs her shoulders and smiles at the singer. "I don't know. Sometimes I just thought...it wasn't enough to mention."

"How did you know, then?!" Taylor asks of her mother now, beginning to feel an overwhelming sense of relief. She knows.

"You don't think I can tell when my daughter is seeing someone, after close to a decade since you started dating for the first time?" Andrea asks, rolling her eyes. "If you wanted to keep it such a secret I don't know why you invited Karlie over your apartment in June. It was obvious."

Taylor's eyes widen. "We weren't dating then," Taylor says quietly, thinking back to that dinner.

"Oh, yes you were," Andrea replies knowingly.

"Do Dad and Austin.."

"I haven't mentioned anything," Andrea says as Taylor's voice wanders off.

"Oh," Taylor replies. She glances back and forth from Karlie to her mother, unsure of just what to say next.

"So you guys are doing well?" Andrea asks.

Taylor can't help but have a smile as big as can be on her face when she gives the simple answer, "Yes." Karlie squeezes her hand even harder than she has been already.

Just then the plane begins to shake, signaling Scott and Austin Swifts' footsteps getting nearer. When they arrive in the passenger area of the private jet, Scott doesn't even glance in Taylor and Karlie's direction as he sits beside Andrea, sitting opposite Taylor and Karlie.

"I'll sit alone, it's fine," Austin say sarcastically, sitting out on a couch to their sides.

Taylor looks over at him and sees he had been quickly looking at Taylor and Karlie's intertwined hands before making eye contact with the singer.

The same nervousness that she had been feeling all weekend has returned as Scott and Austin now sit in the plane, but now both Karlie and Andrea are staring at her in anticipation. Karlie gives her hand a quick and reassuring pulse, and with a final deep breath says, "Karlie is my girlfriend. We're dating."

A pin drop could be heard in the plane as a thick silence settles over the group. Taylor bites at her bottom lip, thankful as ever for Karlie's strength as her squeezing hand keeps her grounded. She's staring at her father, but quickly turns her head when hearing a loud groan from Austin.

Her breathing becomes shallow, seeing Austin cover his face with his hands as he groans. The last thing she could have ever expected was a disapproving brother, she had been so convinced that her family would be supportive. Does he have to do this now? In front of Karlie?