Pitch Perfect Harmony

Betrayed by Thirteen

"Is Travis with you? You should start to check his outfits maybe", a message from Tree arrived the next day. It was about noon and Travis was at practice. "He's not home. What's the problem?", Taylor wanted to know. Tree decided to call her and Taylor picked up instantly. "So, you haven't been on social media today. I like that but I still have to tell you something or show you something. Give me a second I'll send you a picture", Tree said making Taylor weirdly anxious. What did he wear? And where even?

Taylor quickly noticed that the picture was from the podcast episode that came out today. She looked at Travis' outfit but it needed two looks for her to see and read "John Mayer". "Are you okay?", Tree asked because it went silent on the other end of the line. Taylor swallowed not knowing what to think of that. "Yeah, I... I'll talk to him", she answered. "I'm assuming he doesn't know the story", Tree said. "I'll talk to him", Taylor just repeated wanting to end the call. "Okay. Text me later?", Tree asked. Taylor agreed and so they did end the call. Tree was hoping that the couple would talk and Taylor would be fine. She knew how hard this topic could still be for her. Taylor sat down on the couch sighing. She didn't expect this. She didn't know he listened to John's music.

This was one of the few relationships Taylor couldn't just let go of. Every time this man came up in a conversation around her, she felt the anxiety he had caused her years ago. All the questions she had as a twenty or twenty-something-year-old when she finally understood how wrong it had been. By now, she knew that it was his fault more than hers but a relationship was always about two people. And she had loved him. She really did even though she didn't understand it anymore today.

When Travis came home, Taylor lay on the couch so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't notice him enter. He hadn't looked at his phone yet cause it had been buried in his bag too deep. "Tay?", he asked into the living room confused that she hadn't come to greet him yet. "Here you are", he found her but instantly knew that something was wrong. So he walked up to her gently touching her shoulder so she would notice him. Taylor jumped up before recognizing him. "It's just me, sorry", he said and she just came back over and hid in his arms. "Hey, are you okay?", he asked carefully while just holding her. She thought about that for a moment but then shook her head. "Oh, Tay, what happened?", he asked walking them over to the couch to sit down. Taylor sat down on his lap resting her head on his shoulder. Travis had his arms loosely around her waist waiting for her to feel comfortable enough to talk.

"The podcast", she started. "Oh shit, did I say something wrong?", he wanted to know immediately. "No! No, you couldn't know. And it was... It was just a shirt", she answered trying to play it down because she felt so ridiculous for acting like this because of a shirt. "Oh, I... what did I wear?", he couldn't remember. "A merch shirt from John", Taylor said. "Mayer", she added quickly. "Oh, that thing. Yeah, I think a friend gave it to me a while ago. I had a phase", Travis explained trying to figure out what was wrong about that. But he didn't see it. "And I shouldn't have been wearing that?", he decided to just ask. Taylor slowly shook her head. "Probably not", she mumbled. "I hope everyone understands that you just didn't know", she added. "Know what? I mean he can't be an ex, he's like what... about ten years older?", Travis said not knowing how wrong he was. Taylor clenched knowing that he should be right there but wasn't. "Thirteen", she corrected him silently.

"Oh fuck, he is. I'm so sorry!", Travis immediately read her reaction correctly. "No, I mean... you're kinda right. I shouldn't have been with him", she mumbled hiding her face in the crook of his neck. He hugged her feeling bad about his stupid assumption before. "I'm sorry", he repeated. "It's okay, you couldn't know. It's just... one of the few stories that I can't let go of. It just never fully leaves my head", Taylor explained insecurely. "I regret it", she added silently. Travis just listened still holding her gently pressed against his chest. "How long ago was it?", he decided to ask. Taylor sighed. He would now understand just how stupid she had been. "I was nineteen", she told him. It took him a second but then he just held her tighter out of reflex. "Nineteen?!", he repeated in disbelief.