this is me trying | taylor swift

eight

❝sweet like honey, karma is a cat❞

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

Ella woke up with a pounding headache that radiated around her head. She looked around to see herself in her bed, wearing just a large t-shirt. As she examined the unfamiliar shirt, she noticed that it wasn't hers, and recognized it as one of Taylor's fan-made t-shirts with her own face on it. She smiled at the irony of her sister wearing her own face to bed, but the events of the night prior quickly came back to her. Immediately, Ella's smile was wiped off her face as she began to recall everything that happened. She mentally cursed herself and lied back down, pulling the comforter over her head in embarrassment. How did she allow herself to have a panic attack in front of Selena and Taylor? The quick motion caused her already throbbing head to hurt even more from all the tears she cried last night, and Ella cradled her head, trying to minimize the pain as she closed her eyes.

✮

Taylor sighed as she finished making blueberry pancakes. Ella's favorite. Although Taylor would consider her anxiety to be at a manageable level at this point in her life, she remembered that her comfort foods always helped boost her mood after having panic attacks and so she decided to do the same for her sister.

After Ella had fallen asleep last night, Selena and Taylor talked about everything that happened and what to do to best help Ella. Together, the two decided that the best way to avoid any questions would be to allow Ella to sleep in the laundry room until the party began dwindling down, and then moving her upstairs to her own bedroom. Taylor knew how sensitive Ella was and how much she hated attention, and the last thing that would help her anxiety would be if a room full of friends and family saw her passed out and carried by her sister and began to ask questions. Therefore, the two girls did their best to place blankets under, around, and on top of the teen in order to make the hard floor less uncomfortable for the time being. They turned off the light and left the door slightly ajar, in case Ella woke up and didn't know where she was.

After this, Taylor was no longer in a party mood. A thousand thoughts circulated in her head, all about her sister, and none about the celebration at hand. Nonetheless, she was a professional, and knew that she had to finish out the night. Taylor put a smile on her face, as she followed Selena back to the great room, where the majority of the people were still talking, eating, and dancing. She sighed a breath of relief as she noticed that there were a few less people than earlier, meaning that the party would slowly be coming to an end and the sooner it ended, the sooner she could focus on the more pertinent task at hand: Ella. Selena could feel Taylor tense up, as she placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it. The two exchanged a knowing glance, before joining the party once more.

✮

Three hours and twenty "Ella-check-ups" courtesy of a rotating cycle between Taylor and Selena, the last few people left. The only people that remained were Taylor, Taylor's parents, and Selena, who was going to talk to Taylor's parents with her, to better explain the situation with Ella, since she was there.

"I'm exhausted. What time is it?" Andrea yawned, as she locked the front, before picking up a few of the plates left on one of the tables.

"It's almost 1:30 A.M., honey. We can deal with the mess tomorrow," Scott responded, kissing the top of his wife's head. Andrea nodded in agreement, as she placed the plates on the counter and turning to leave the kitchen.

"Wait guys, I need to talk to you really quickly," Taylor approached her parents, unsure of what to say. Although having a panic attack wasn't technically a big deal, she knew that her parents would definitely prefer to know what was going on in their fifteen year old daughter's life and it wouldn't be right for her to keep that a secret, especially when it wouldn't benefit Ella.