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

she's glowing

"Hey Traaavviiss," Taylor murmurs, her heart racing as she walks down the hallway of her Rhode Island house. The hardwood floor is cool against her bare feet and the sea breeze drifts in through the window of the gorgeous sunny morning, before the afternoon heat creeps in. Outside, she can hear birds singing and in the distance, children playing in the ocean below. She walks into the living room, where her fiancée is sitting on the sofa, a glass of orange juice in his hand and looking at the morning news on the TV.

"Hey beautiful," the football player says to her as she sits down beside him, perching precariously on the cushion beneath her. He's about to mindlessly tell her that he was thinking about going out for a swim in a little bit, and would she like to come- something which has been one of their favorite ways to spend their days this summer. In Travis's off-season and Taylor's break after finishing up her Eras Tour, they've mostly spent their time up at Holiday House, relaxing and enjoying each other's company. They've also been preparing. The second weekend in September, all of their friends and family will be coming up to Watch Hill for their wedding- an intimate ceremony held on their grounds. The excitement hangs thick in the air.

But just as he's about to ask her if she'd like to spend the afternoon at the in-ground pool, he notices that she looks like she's got something on her mind. She's got that look on her face, her eyebrows furrowed and her cheeks flushed. So instead, he grabs her hand and rubs the back of it with the pad of his thumb. "What's going on, my love?"

"Trav, uh... I woke up this morning and I wasn't feeling too well and I just threw up," she says, her voice quiet and high-pitched. She feels like a child, having to admit a big and scary truth for the first time ever.

"Oh, baby girl," he says, letting out a sigh as he stands up. "You should be lying down. Come on." He places his hand on her shoulder and lightly guides her body so that her head is resting on the pillow at the end of the sofa, then scoops her legs up and rests them on the other side. "Can I get you anything? Do you have a fever?"

"Honey, I don't think it's a stomach bug." Taylor shakes her head, wigging out of the position that Travis has maneuvered her into so that she's propped up on her elbows. "I think it's got to do with the fact that I went off my birth control three months ago."

"Oh... shit..." he mutters, instinctively reaching up to rub his temple with two fingers.

Upon hearing that, Taylor's face turns white. She feels her stomach doing flips. She'd thought that they were on the same page about this- that it was what they both wanted. "I mean," she says, her voice small, "if you don't want... I could do it on my own..."

"Taylor." Travis instantly stops her, placing both of his hands on her shoulders. "What are you going on about? Who the fuck would I be to walk out on you because of this when I was the one who told you to go off of the pill in the first place? Honey, I love you so much and I want nothing more than to have a baby with you."

"Oh." The blonde smiles up at the man in front of her. "I'm sorry. I'd thought, when you said, 'Oh shit,' that you were... hesitant about it all."

"No, no, sweet girl," he tells her, sitting back down by her side and wrapping his arms around her torso, "that's not what I meant at all. You caught me off guard. I'm so sorry, baby."

She takes a deep breath. "It's okay. I'm just... I'm sort of freaking out," she admits. "I know that it's something we both want but it feels a lot easier when it's all in the hypothetical, you know?" She rests her head on his shoulder and he begins to stroke her hair lightly. Not a word is exchanged between the two for a bit. They both spend some time taking it all in. The gravity of the situation. This could be the last sacred moment shared between the two of them when it really is, just the two of them. The final minutes before everything changes forever.