foolish one

do my best to seem bulletproof

A fruity cocktail in hand, the beginnings of a tan on her skin, and the most magnificent view of the ocean. It had sounded absolutely perfect when Blake suggested the getaway to the Bahamas. What she'd desperately needed after three tiring months of performing across Europe.

And it was paradise in the beginning, when they'd first arrived, but it was slowly turning into Taylor's personal hell. Because who on earth would find it fun to watch their crush and close friend flirt with each other?

Well, maybe flirt should be used loosely. You'd think they were shoving their tongues down each other's throats with the amount of jealousy sitting in the pit of her stomach. There was nothing more than light touches and smiles exchanged but it was enough for her blood pressure to skyrocket.

God, when did she get to this point? When did she become the person that would get in the way of a friend's happiness?

But in her heart of hearts, she knew that this was a different case. Travis was different. Sometimes, in her head, she cursed him for making her feel so much. She was perfectly fine on her own after Joe. In fact, she was enjoying the single life! Everything was normal, until Miles invited Travis into the VIP tent for her show in Kansas City and introduced the two of them backstage. That's when everything went to shit.

Because... look at him! Who could look at that face and not turn to mush? Then she got to know him, really know him, and every little butterfly she had in her stomach transformed into dinosaurs. Not only did he look like he was carved by the gods themselves, but he was also the kindest, funniest guy she'd ever met. He was close with his family; was the right amount of cocky and confident, yet still humble; he was even good with kids! You interact with someone like that and try not to fall head over heels. Impossible.

So, here she was, moping on the balcony as the party carried on inside the house, downstairs. The music was pumping but she could still hear the joyous laughter of her friends.

Funnily enough, she supposed that music was the thing that started this whole downward spiral two nights ago.

It was only their fifth evening away but they treated every night like it was their last on the island. It wasn't often that they got to have vacation, let alone have a vacation as a group. So, if they were gonna party until the sun came up for 10 days straight, they'd have an absolute blast while doing it and deal with the repercussions later.

They had just finished a game of Truth or Drink, where the questions were so risqué that most players had a buzz going at this point (except for Cara, she was shameless). Ashley decided to put on some music on shuffle to "really get the vibes going", as she'd said. The tunes varied from Kendrick Lamar to SZA, Beyonce to Shania Twain, and Kanye had showed up once but was very quickly skipped. Then, a classic came on that made one person groan and the rest of the group squeal. A small indie record known as Lover by Taylor Swift.

"Turn it off!" Taylor had whined from her spot on the couch, squeezed between Ashley and Travis, where she was nursing her second G&T for the night. She was proud of her music but she didn't necessarily want to listen to it in her free time.

But her friends didn't listen to her and, in fact, turned the volume up so that the guitar strums reverberated throughout the living room. Of course.

Ryan, the culprit of increasing the volume, turned from the speaker he'd been fiddling with and stretched out his hand to Blake, wiggling his eyebrows in silent invitation. She giggled and rolled her eyes as if it was the biggest chore to dance with him, but then fell into his arms like natural.

Then Miles and Keleigh quickly followed suit. Which had left Cara, Ashley, Taylor and Travis to twiddle their thumbs. She could have sworn that she saw, out of her peripheral vision, that Ashley was about to turn to Travis when Cara jumped from the floor. "Ash? Would you do me the honour?"