"I'm just having fun. That's your line, Tree."
Taylor stretches out in the recliner. She's exhausted, beyond the physical, beyond anything she can pinpoint. There's no more of a convenient excuse than to blame it on the tour...it's only natural she's tired. Everybody is going to buy that. Hell, maybe she'll even buy it, too.
Tree sits on the love seat adjacent from her, crossing one leg over the other. She wants to say something, she opens her mouth to do just that and then Taylor watches her close it. This all takes place of the neighborhood of less than thirty seconds and all she can do is stare.
"Nope. Don't do that. Tell me."
"I work for you. Not the other way around. Doesn't matter what I was going to say."
"It matters to me."
Her publicist sighs resignedly. "I was going to ask if that line you'd like to me give the news outlets... anonymously, of course...is it really just a line? And I'm asking as your friend. I think it's just fine to leave it at that. It's your business. I'm---"
"Curious?" Taylor runs her fingers over Olivia's ears. "No, it's totally fine. I mean...it's two fold. We do have fun. He's nice. I like him. Who wouldn't? But do I wanna fucking get my heart ripped out of my chest again, no, not really. Can't say I'm up to that particular experience right now."
Things with Joe had been a whirlwind from the very beginning. She felt tossed directly into the eye of the storm with nothing to cling to. Drowning, it was akin to drowning, just how strong her emotions tended to be when it came to him, how the stakes always seemed incredibly high. They had finally fallen into some kind of comfortable compatibility during the pandemic, their own bubble and it was okay, for awhile. He'd convinced her privacy was what they needed, a low key existence was what she truly wanted, even if she didn't know it.
When the day arrived that she'd feared, actual manifestations of the lyrics she had written, instead of speaking her mind, it sat and festered and destroyed her from the inside out. Eventually, there had been nothing left.
"That's only natural," Tree replies calmly. "One hundred percent understood."
Typically, Taylor appreciates what a steady presence the other woman is (given she's quite the opposite, nine times out of ten) but there's something about just how unaffected she is that's oddly annoying.
Maybe Tree senses just that because she reaches out to squeeze her foot gently. "Hey, all I'm saying is that maybe you're overthinking. You've had a long few months and you jumped head first into the tour...you didn't take any time for yourself before now...it makes complete sense that you don't know up from down. I'll handle the press, I'll say whatever you need me to and you take care of whatever you want this to be. Okay?"
It's exactly what she needs to hear. The tightness in her chest cavity unfurls a little. "Thanks."
Tree smiles. "You're welcome. And Taylor? Just for the record? You deserve to have fun."
When she's alone with just the cats and a glass of wine in bed with Law & Order reruns playing for background noise, she considers this. Everytime she's been around Travis, it's all been incredibly easy. She didn't have to be self conscious about seeming as though she "liked attention," or attracted the spotlight because the bottom line was, he didn't care. Spending time with him was probably the most relaxed she's been in a very long time. She's even able to tune out the usual noise that tends to blast whenever she starts seeing someone new. It's difficult to be uptight when the person making up the other half of the equation is so nonchalant.
So why not just enjoy it, she thinks, for however long it lasts.
Two games, one after party and one brunch date later, they talk daily, even if it's a simple text and when he casually asks if she wants to come to Minneapolis, the answer is an automatic yes.
