Pitch Perfect Harmony

More Than A Guest

The first day Taylor was at Travis' place, she already seemed more energetic than the last times they met. Travis loved to see her like that and of course, he knew her tour was incredibly challenging. He would never blame her for it. It was more like he could get to know another side of her. Another side he really liked. After their little lunch, she even decided to bake something. He asked if he could help but Taylor just wanted him to tell her where certain things were in his kitchen or if he even owned them. Despite him not being prepared to bake at all, Taylor managed to get some simple cookies going. "Now they only need twenty minutes", she told him proudly. "What do we do in the meantime?", Taylor asked immediately. Travis smiled at her excited question. "I could show you something", he said mysteriously. "As long as it's not a hidden room full of weird sex toys, I'm in", she said making him laugh hard. "How do you even come up with these thoughts?", he wanted to know caching his breath while still laughing. Taylor just shrugged laughing with him a little.

"No, it's a little more serious actually", he finally pulled himself together. "Oh, okay", Taylor got a little nervous. "I'll get my laptop real quick. Be right back", he said before leaving her alone for a second. "So... I've been thinking about moving for a while now", he began already surprising her. "I always thought that a gated community or just something safer than this would be a good idea. And now that you... are here and hopefully will be here more often... I guess, I finally decided to do it", he explained while the laptop was booting. "Because of me?", she asked a little uncomfortable. "No! At least not just because of you. As I said, I was thinking about that for a while now, and having you here kinda just gave me a little push to start looking for houses. When your security checked the house, they didn't seem happy with you staying here and I totally get it. It's not something you can do anything about but compared to your own homes, this is not the safest place to be for you", he continued. Taylor sighed still not convinced that he didn't just do it because of her.

"So, now I'm looking around and... I mean, I'm not asking you to move in with me. That's absolutely not what's happening. We just... said I love you for the first time. But still... I want you to feel comfortable at whatever place I'll live at too", Travis tried to comfort her while still explaining his thought process. "I'm comfortable when you're around", she said a little insecure. She didn't want to be his problem. "Tay", he wanted her to look at him again. "I'm not moving because of you. You're at most the catalyst for it but I don't think that's a problem. I'm actually happy that I finally started looking for houses", he told her. "But... I mean, you're right. If I'm here, you're less safe", she mumbled. Travis sighed and pulled her into a hug. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable bringing this up but he kind of knew it was going to happen. "You're less safe here too. It's about us now", he said silently at her ear before softly kissing her temple. "You haven't done anything wrong. Please don't blame yourself. I made this decision and yes, you played a role in that but that's what I hope it will be like now: That we impact each other's decisions to a degree because we care about each other. So, I also wanted to let you see the houses I might be interested in before I move there", he continued to talk her out of her insecurities.

"And you already have some houses in mind?", she asked finally more interested in the actual question than the whole reasoning. "A few. I haven't talked to anyone yet, nothing's set", he explained now opening a few pages on his laptop. "You know, I'm really glad you think of me like that. It's just... You don't have to leave this place because of me", she said. "It's not because of you", he just repeated looking at her until she seemed to be okay with it. So he showed her what kind of houses he was looking for and what he liked. Taylor recognized the style of his house in all of them. He seemed to have a specific taste and she liked it. It was a little less playful than her style but overall, he still liked it more cozy than modern and a little bit vintage or at least classic. The neighborhoods he looked at seemed to fit too. She tried to block out thoughts about her own safety often because it would probably drive her crazy otherwise. Looking at houses she might be at a lot, she had to face these thoughts. He did check for the security of the houses and also privacy. There weren't big windows to the sides someone could look inside and the plots were always locked behind high gates. They still looked good and the staged rooms in the pictures seemed okay most of the time.

"I don't think you need my help, honestly. These are all fine. I'm sure you'd update the security systems anyway and in case of privacy they'd all work", she said. "Okay, and what do you like?", he asked. "Oh, yeah... ahm... the last one and the one with the pool and gym kinda thing look good to me. They're not too extraordinary but also not small and... I mean who wouldn't want a pool in the basement?", she answered. "I like that one too. Having a place to work out is kinda necessary I guess and a pool is fun too. But it's also pretty bright and I like the floorplan a lot", he agreed: "I'll talk to a realtor. Maybe they could find similar houses to look at." Taylor nodded slowly. "But it's your decision in the end. I'm just a guest", she said. "You're more than just a guest but I get it. I'll still show you some stuff soon maybe. You should feel comfortable there too", he insisted. "Thanks, Trav", she agreed. In perfect timing, the cookies were ready right after she said that. It smelled great already.

Here's another chapter because I'm at home sick. Might update a little faster for the next few days :)