Love's Charade

fifteen - taylor

"What do you mean you have to go?" Mandy called out in confusion as I grabbed for my bag, quickly shoving my phone inside and scrambling towards the door. "We are not done here! Taylor, you can't just leave in the middle of very important rehearsals, even if you created this whole tour!"

"I just need to, it's important." I told her, rushing to take my costume boots off and stuff my feet back into my shoes from earlier. "I'm really, really sorry but I have to go. I'll be back this afternoon; I swear I will. I promise I won't be back any later than three."

"Fine, but you better be. I'll hold you to three o'clock, and if you're late, I'll make you clean the costume cupboard." Mandy sighed, waving her hand at me as I got to my feet and slung my bag over my shoulder. She knew she couldn't stop me, and I knew the frantic look on my face was freaking her out a little. No one was going to bother stopping me right now. I think they were all a little freaked out by how fast I'd panicked when they couldn't figure out the reason. But that phone call had scared the shit out of me, and I was acting on impulse.

I ran out of the dance studio and down the stairs onto the footpath, avoiding my backup dancers as they stared at me, bewildered at what I was doing. But I didn't stop. My heart thumping, I went out to the car and climbed into the back. I just had to go.

It took almost an hour to drive out to the rehab facility, and when Lou stopped the car outside, I paused with my hand on the door handle. All of a sudden, I was second guessing myself about coming here. Would he even want to see me? Maybe I shouldn't be here.

"Are you okay Miss Swift?" Lou asked a moment later when I still didn't move from where I sat.

"Yeah." I mumbled. "I'm just...I'm just nervous I guess. What if he doesn't want to see me?"

"You saved him darling, of course he wants to see you." 

"I forced him here though, I didn't give him a choice. I didn't talk to him about it first, I just did it." I said weakly, everything suddenly catching up to me. When we'd said goodbye in the hospital, it really seemed like he didn't want me to see him ever again. I hadn't understood. His lips had said one thing, but the look on his face and the way he'd kissed me said something totally different. 

"If he's mad about it, he will see you did it to help him, and he'll come around eventually Miss Swift." Lou shrugged like he was really sure about it. "You did what you thought was right, and you did do the right thing for him. This is what he needs."

"Okay, yeah." I smiled, a little reassured. Hopefully that was right. "Thanks a lot Lou. I'll be back soon okay."

Lou smiled, nodded, and told me to take as much time as I needed before I got out of the car. Since the facility had pretty good security already, I was allowed to go in by myself without an escort. Nervous as to what Travis would say when he saw me, I talked to the person at the reception and signed in. Then I was taken down to a visiting room by a lovely nurse, and she told me that they'd let Travis know he had a visitor and he should be here soon. Twisting my hands together, I sat down at one of the tables and looked around as I waited for Travis.

The place was like a prison, a pale, white prison. It unnerved me a little, even though I knew it was only here for people to get the help they needed. People were sitting in groups with visitors, talking over their small tables. There were a few nurses casually hanging around like guards, just keeping an eye on everything. A few people started staring at me after a moment and I quickly looked down into my lap, not wanting to draw any attention to myself right now. Minutes ticked by as I waited, and I grew more and more sure that Travis wasn't coming.

"Blondie?"

I looked up.

"Oh my god." I whispered in shock, shooting to my feet at the sight of him standing in front of me. "Travis, what the hell happened to you?" He looked like he'd been in a bad fight; his nose swollen and bruised, a few shallow cuts and bruising splotches over his jaw and forehead. God, he'd been in rehab for one day and it already looked like he'd spent a week in prison or something.