Two kisses are being placed on her shoulder, right on top of the soft fabric of her shirt, slowly wandering down to the sleeve and finally landing right on the warm skin of her naked arm. She can smell his aftershave already, way before having opened her eyes. She loves to smell him when she wakes up, loves to feel with all of her senses that he's right there, right with her. His scruffy face presses a few more gentle kisses onto her arm and she can hear him whispering his good mornings onto her skin. His big hand is securely placed around her torso, right on top of the white hotel bed sheets. She groans slowly, her head pounding like she was hit by a truck. For a split second she feels unable to remember what is going on? Why does her head hurt like this? Why is she so nauseous? Why is there an IV drip attached to her hand? Suddenly, these dark thoughts cross her mind again. He told her last night. He told her what happened.
Even though she feels as weak as she barely has before, Taylor forces herself to open her eyes once. She needs to wake up. She needs to wake up to speak to Tree, to solve this situation, to make sure no one has witnessed her in her unconscious state. With half open eyes, Taylor moves quickly, almost panicky and looks down confusedly to the man in bed next to her. He's fully dressed, freshly showered, just casually lying on his stomach right next to her. His arm still wrapped around her body, his thumb stroking gently over the fabric of her blanket. He can't help smile at her gently. Her hair is curly and quite literally everywhere. She's got the same grumpy look on her face as per usual when he has to wakes her up. She's never liked getting up. No matter what time of the day it is.
"Hi." she mumbles, her voice rusky and still full of sleep. It makes Travis smile quietly.
"Hi beautiful." he says, moves closer to her to press a gentle kiss onto her lips. She barely moves her face and he's unsure if she's too tired still or uncomfortable kissing him without having brushed her teeth yet. He couldn't care less about these things, but he knows she does.
"How are you feeling?" he asks then, moving his face closer to her cheek again to leave a kiss there.
"Horrible." she groans, closing her eyes again for a moment. She's been awake for less than five minutes and already feels exhausted. She takes a deep breath, hoping it will cure her upset stomach or the head that feels like exploding. But it doesn't help. Of course it doesn't.
"Headache?" he asks gently, reaching for her hand to intertwine with his. She's got her eyes closed again, just nods quietly. And Travis hates it. He hates seeing his girl as sick and weak as she is now. In the past year of loving this woman, he's not seen her like this at all. Taylor is full of energy and life. Probably has more energy than most people he knows. But seeing her like this, and knowing that another person is the reason for it, makes his blood boil in an unruly way. He knows he most likely broke this guy's nose last night. But if he could, without consequences, there'd be far worse things he'd do to him.
His thumb is drawing gentle circles on her hand and he doesn't rush her waking up again. Instead, he just stays right there next to her, watching her drift off again slowly. And it's quiet between them again. The kind of quiet he's never been able to enjoy with anyone else. But with her, it's different. With her, silence doesn't have to be a form of insecurity. There's pure clarity between them. Nothing but love, support, honesty. He loves sitting in silence with her, because it reminds him that besides all the earthly things he loves about her... at the end of the day she's just the purest little soul he's ever been privileged to know.
"I need to get up." she whispers weakly then, her voice whiny. He just shakes his head no, getting closer to her hand he's holding in his and presses another kiss on top of it.
"We've still got a couple of hours until the flight. I just wanted to wake you cause I knew it'll take a while for you to be alright. Don't stress about it, baby." he says, but Taylor just takes another deep breath and carefully tries to sit up. She notices that her hand is still connected to the IV stand next to the bed. Still in disbelief about the events of last night, Taylor just sits up, leaning against the backrest of the hotel bed. She feels dizzy, nauseous. And she can't believe Travis has to see her like this. She must look absolutely horrendous, that she's sure of.
