invisible string - jaylor oneshots

remember when

"Hi." She breathes out, temporarily placing the phone between her shoulder and ear while she pulls the seat belt around her and tucks it in to the lock. Phone back in her hand, she leans against the black fabric chair, waiting for the car to move. Michael Bolton is on the radio but she is too tired to care.
"Hey." Oh how she'd missed the sound of his voice in her ear, in person, late at night. The phone will just have to do for now. "How was the show?"
She perks up at his question and sits up a little straighter. "Amaaaazing," Taylor gushes, her voice becoming more animated by the millisecond. "Seattle was so loud, like seriously it was next level."
"Awesome, tell me about it."
Her mom climbs in on the other side of her and then the car starts to move. "They literally did not stop screaming. Like, I couldn't even start on the piano because they were deafening. It was so cool."
"Awwwggh," he half-grunts. "I wish I could have been there."
She turns and looks out the window, the Seattle skyline whizzing into the distance as they head to the airport. "Me too."
Their conversation hits a lull, something that is not uncommon these days. But it's not awkward. It's normal for them. Sometimes it's just having that connection, even an audio one that spans two continents and an ocean, and the ability to say something if one of them felt like it, that matters. Silence is golden, one could say.
"Soon," Taylor says finally, her voice quiet. "Just a few more days, and I'll be back in London." She pauses for a second and then with a smile asks, "are you excited to see me?"
There's no hesitation on his end. "Of course." He rolls his eyes and laughs at the audacity of the question. Of course he is. "It's just about ...." he pauses, doing some mental math. "Maybe 75 hours or so left to go."
Taylor smiles at his words. Where she would think how it's all the way until the weekend until she'll be in the UK, which seems like forever, he's already breaking it down in hours. "I can't wait to see you," she says softly. "I'm going to attach myself to you and never let go. I'm going to bear hug you like you've never been bear hugged before. I'm going to be a koala. No... a panda," she states, changing her mind. "They're cuter. You're going to have to pry me off of you," she tells him. "I'm going to cover myself in super glue and that will be that," she declares. "You'll be stuck with me forever," she laughs..
"That will make it hard to go to the bathroom," he chuckles.
Taylor scoffs. "No big deal, we will get creative."
"So this means I'll be accompanying you on stage then."
"Yes, the fans will love it."
"Whatever will I wear?" he jokes which cracks Taylor up, and for a minute the phone line is taken over by their laugher. "I'm not wearing a bodysuit," Joe says sternly after a moment. "That is where I draw the line."
"But you would look so cute in one," Taylor whines, "I have a snake one that you would totally rock."
"But I'm not a snake. I'm more of a .... a ... a .... I'm more of a puppy dog."
Taylor bursts out laughing, so loudly that her mom looks over at her with a look of 'what's going on' on her face. "A puppy............ dog............ I'm................ Dying.....oh...... my......God," Taylor chokes out one word at a time in between laughing, barely able to talk.
"Why is this so funny?" Joe literally doesn't know what is so funny about it.
Taylor has tears streaming down her face from this. "Because," she finally says. "On tumblr –"
"Nevermind, I don't think I want to know," Joe interrupts the second he hears the word 'tumblr.' "It's probably better that I don't know."
She can't stop giggling. "No... it's that—"
"Is this some sort of meme or ..."
She takes a deep breath in to try and stop laughing. "They say you look like a cute little puppy, like a golden retriever," she explains. "So I'm dying because you happened to just somehow pick that."
"Tumblr is so weird. I don't look anything like a puppy dog."
Taylor scrunches her nose up, while noticing the car is turning into the flight center at the Seattle airport. "I mean...I kind of see it, to be honest."
"I hope you're kidding."
"No, I mean, like this is a compliment. Puppies are cute!"
"Gee, thanks. I'm so flattered to know that you think I look like a dog."
"Oh stop," she laughs, knowing full well that he is being fake-offended. "Anyway. What are you doing today?"
"Errrm," he pauses. "I'm not sure. Maybe exercising. I don't really have anything planned."
"You're not planning my welcome-home-to-London party? I am seriously disappointed," Taylor laments. "It is the perfect excuse for a party."
"Maybe I wanted you all to myself, hmm?"
Taylor feels her cheeks pink up and smiles. "Now that you put it that way, we can skip the party."
Joe laughs. The car pulls to a stop, and everyone starts piling out onto the pitch black runway. "Are you at the airport now?"
"Yeah, I probably should hang up," she confirms. "Send me some funny texts and I'll read them on the plane."
"Okay. Love you."
"Love you too."