the stars in your eyes | t.s. one shots

training camp (2)

The morning after his amazing evening with Taylor, Travis arrives at his extra conditioning session, though not exactly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. In all honesty, he was up all night thinking about the beautiful woman who was in a hotel room, only a few miles away. The beautiful woman who was, in fact, only in this city to see him.

The fact that she wanted to dive into this during training camp speaks volumes to him. Training camp is intense- and he'd warned her of that. He'd warned her that he wouldn't have a lot of time and pretty much told her, point blank, that football needed to be his first priority. Yet somehow, she'd told him she understands that more than he could know. She'd launched right into a story about how her rehearsals for the Eras Tour had been the final nail in the coffin, when the guy who she was dating couldn't understand why she didn't have time for him when she needed to be doubling down and focusing on putting on the best show that she could possibly produce. She'd smiled with grace and told him that a football game isn't all that different. He has to practice so that when it comes time for the watchful eyes of the world to be fixated upon him, he is ready to be the best version of himself that's within him.

Though they've only spent one evening together, Travis's first impression of Taylor is already solidified. She's incredibly grounded, she's funny, and she's sweet. She genuinely listens to and cares about everything he has to say. On top of all of that, of course, she's gorgeous. It's a dangerous combination. It hasn't yet been long enough for Travis to be envisioning waking up beside her every morning, putting on a pot of coffee while she pads around the kitchen in bare feet and his tee shirt, telling him all about the silly dreams that she's had overnight. But that's exactly what he's doing. He's envisioning that and so much more. For the first time, looking at the future in a mundane and domestic way suddenly feels so invigorating.

He channels that energy into his physicality, pushing himself through his morning workout. His muscles are sore. His back hurts, his legs hurt. But it's his shoulder that really gets to him. He'd gotten surgery on it several years ago, to help clean up the remnants of an old injury. It wasn't a huge procedure or anything, but he was most certainly due to have it done. It still gives him trouble every now and then, when he's pushing himself too hard. Usually, that's his cue to sit out for a bit. But not today. He can't risk it today, not with Taylor all set to meet him at 10:00. He can't be in the gym a single second longer than scheduled. He doesn't get to leave until he's done all of the requested conditioning- and Andy didn't go easy on him for this one, that's for sure. That just means that he has to push through it, ignoring the pain.

Travis pretty much lives with shoving down his pain, each and every day. It usually isn't all that big of a deal for him. Today, that shoulder is really nagging at him. He knows he should stop, and if the circumstances were any other, he would. Today, he takes another swig of water and keeps lifting the weights he was given in his personalized regimen.

The clock has never ticked more slowly as he finishes up. Meanwhile, across town, Taylor sits in front of the mirror in her hotel room, blending out her blush. Last night was amazing- that's why she's panicking about today. She hopes that it will be every bit as magical as yesterday. She's already built it up in her head to be, and she fears that that could only lead to disappointment.

After finishing up her makeup, she looks at her hair in the mirror. She's thinking about wearing her natural curls today. She doesn't usually do that on dates, feeling that the circumstances might be too formal for what has the potential to be a frizzy and unruly mane. Still, something about Travis made her feel so comfortable yesterday, like he wouldn't care if her hair wasn't perfect. Her curls have always been something that she feels makes her special, but she's been told to tame them time and again. Today, she realizes, that there's no voices in her head telling her that she needs to do so. She leaves her hair natural, spraying only a bit of water into it to help moisturize her natural pattern of waves.