Pounding the streets of the Hollywood Hills, I push in my AirPods and pull up my hood,not wanting the attention that my presence brings these days
It's not that I don't like fame and all it's trappings but some days I just want to be Travis from Pickering and not Travis Kelce from Particular Taste.
I dig in deeper as the bass line of a new song we are working on kicks in. Gabe might be a pain in the ass but he knows how to work a bass like few others.
My voice kicks in and it sounds good, it sound damn good
I grin and shake my head as I keep running, we are on to another winner that much I'm sure of and this is just the rough edit
I round a corner and head towards the park when a blond figure sat on the grass in a pose way better suited to Buddha catches my eye
"No. Fuckin. Way!"
The burly dude in a suit even though it's 70 degrees stands out like a sore thumb and I recognise him as the guy I was toying with last night at the Ellen after show, he's too engrossed with his phone right now to spot me so I sneak up behind the meditating Princess and lower my lips right to her ear before I make my presence known
"Boo"
It's almost a whisper but you would think I had shot her judging by her reaction.
She screams and jumps to her feet, spinning and kicking me hard in the balls and I fold like a deck of cards, landing on my knees, my hands automatically covering my hopefully not too damaged 'pride and joy'.
I look up at her from behind my shades and it takes her a second to recognise me but when she finally does it's her that drops to her knees
"Oh my God I'm so sorry"
"If this doesn't work properly after that kick I'm suing" I splutter and I see her lips trying to curl into a smile but she's fighting it hard
"Taylor! You okay?!" Yells the minder as he starts walking towards us but she grabs my hood and pulls it up assuring him that everything is fine and I'm an old friend that's dropped something and we're busy trying to find it
"So I wasn't imagining things last night" I say, finally recovering enough to push myself to my feet
"What do you mean?"
"Your team panicking every time I so much as looked in your direction"
She follows me to her feet and I can't help the way my eyes scan over her body, her modesty covered only by a sports bra and tight black shorts
"Well I have a reputation to protect, I can't be seen talking to..."
"To who? A bad boy? A rocker?...a Canadian?!"
"Yes and yes and being Canadian is fine "
"I'm a human being Taylor, just like you"
"Yeah" she blushes as she wipes imaginary grass from her shorts "I know, I'm sorry"
"So you seem to have me pigeonholed, the bad boy rocker, how's about you tell me who you are?"
"Whoever I'm told to be" she replies mysteriously and turns and begins to walk back to her minder but I'm even more intrigued by her than ever so I quickly grab hold of her and turn her to me, the contact causing her to blush furiously
"Whoever I'm told to be, what the fuck does that mean?!"
"It means I don't know who I am anymore" the eyes that had sparkled so brightly as she worked the room last night now sparkle with tears as I stand and stare in disbelief.
Last night I saw the most confident, beautiful women bring a roof full of strangers to their knees and I had been sure she was everything I had read she was; beautiful and enchanting but detached and demanding but now, after having spent just a few minutes talking to her I don't know who the hell she is and apparently neither does she and that just makes me want to find out
