The Start Of An Age - Taylor Swift

chapter 18: ideal friday mornings

~evermore~

I ran my hands through Red's hair as she rested on my chest. Feeling her heartbeat through me and hearing her breathe in sync with me was the most calming thing in the world. She moved slightly, wrapping her arms around my waist and putting her leg over mine. I looked down at her and pulled my head back letting it rest against the wall. 

The sun was just starting to rise meaning it was early, probably not later than six. I wished I could sleep but I'd been awake for days. I wasn't sure what was keeping it up but I just had this feeling like something bad was going to happen. Red kept telling me to just leave it but I knew I couldn't. Every time I'd had one of these feelings, something had happened.

It could be anything from a big storm to one of my friends getting their hearts broken or someones cat running away. It was never the same thing twice, but the feeling never changed and I'd learned to always trust my gut when it came to it.

"eve?" yawned Red tiredly as she stretched her legs out. 

"What, baby?" I answered and looked down at her. She looked back at me, frowning.

"You didn't get any sleep?" she asked and I shook my head slowly. "Babe, you've been awake for days, it's not healthy," she continued, looking worried.

"I'll be fine, don't you worry about me," I said and smiled, pulling her closer to my face so I could kiss her on the forehead. "You look adorable in the mornings." 

She smiled and blushed slightly. "Thank you, so do you.." she said, but was interrupted by another yawn. "We don't have anything planned today do we?" she asked and looked over towards the alarm clock on my nightstand. 

"Well there's my friend Estes thing but that's not til eight PM," I answered quietly.

"Oh right," she sighed and moved further down my chest until she was pretty much lying with her head on my stomach. "You know.. this is the best way ever to spend a Friday morning, just cuddling with you."

I smiled, my whole body feeling warm as she spoke. "I agree," I stated. My stomach tingled when she complimented me or said anything about our life together. "As much as I wish it could stay like this forever, I'm getting really hungry. How about some breakfast before everyone else wakes up?" I said starting to sit up a bit. Red nodded and sat up next to me with a soft groan.

"Can we match today?" she asked as she stood up. She looked back at me and smiled warmly. It felt like my insides were melting, she just had the most beautiful smile. I'd truly never seen anything like it.

"Anything for you," I said trying not to look absolutely dumbfounded by her smile. 

"Yay!" she squeaked and walked over to my closet. She looked through all my clothes as I just stared at her, admiring her. It felt so right seeing her wear my oversized Eagles T-shirt when she woke up. I really couldn't remember what my life was like before her, except that it was miserable compared to this.

Red threw a brown plaid shirt and a black skirt on the bed next to me and walked towards the door. "Alright then.." I said with a small laugh and grabbed the clothes. Just as I was done putting them on my girlfriend came back wearing a simple black crop top with long sleeves and a red and brown plaid skirt, paired with socks reaching just below her knees. 

"Do my hair for me?" she asked and held out a hair tie as she turned around.

I grabbed my hairbrush from the nightstand behind me before turning back to her. "Of course. Just a ponytail?" I asked and she nodded. I quickly did her hair and after a check in the mirror to make sure I did a good job she smiled and gave me a hug. 

"I love you," she whispered into my chest before looking up at me, her eyes begging for a kiss which I gave her. "Now let's make breakfast, I want bacon!"

We walked downstairs and as expected the first floor was completely empty. Red led me to the kitchen and sat down by the counter as we got there. I smiled at her and walked over to the fridge where I grabbed the packet of bacon. "You think five will be enough?" I asked, not turning around as I grabbed a frying pan from a cupboard underneath me. 

"Yeah, that's fine," answered Red from behind me.

I put the bacon in the pan and watched as it slowly started sizzling when the heat turned up. As I moved the pieces around and occasionally turned to look at my girlfriend, who was scrolling through new articles reading the titles out loud, a cat jumped up on the counter.

"Olivia, don't touch," I said and pushed the cat away when she tried the frying pan.

"How is she even out here? I'm surprised no one locked her away in their room when they went to sleep," said Red and laughed. I shrugged and grabbed the cat, placing her in front of her. 

Once the bacon was done and I'd put it on a plate Red started eating it immediately, not even waiting for me to hand her a knife and fork. I grabbed some cereal for myself and we ate in silence as Olivia walked back and forth between our plates. 

"Can you put my dishes away if I give her some treats?" I asked and nodded towards the cat. 

"Yeah of course," answered Red as she stood up and grabbed both our dishes. 

I walked over to the pantry and took out a small glass jar filled with cat treats. Olivia jumped off the kitchen island and sprinted over to me, circling me as I opened the jar. I grabbed a small pillow shaped treat and held it out to the cat. She quickly took it and walked away with it before dropping it and starting to lick it a few steps away from me. "Strange cat," I said and put the jar back in the pantry.

An hour or two passed and me and Red were sat in front of the TV. Then Red suddenly looked up at me and just sat there staring for a moment. "It's so calm, so quiet," she said after a while. "It's like 8.30 and no one's up. It's really peaceful." 

Just as she said that my phone started vibrating on the armrest next to me and I picked it up to see who was calling. It was "mother." calling me. I gave Red an annoyed look. "You jinxed it," I whispered and Red smiled. I picked up the phone quickly and placed it against my ear. "Hey Mom!" I said enthusiastically. 

"evermore, hi. I tried calling folklore but she didn't pick up so I figured you'd be the best to call," she answered through the phone. 

"Yeah, is everything alright?" I asked meeting Red's gaze as she gave me a questioning look. 

"Oh yes, everything's great. I just wanted to let you guys know me and Travis are coming over later. You know, just to check up on you, maybe go somewhere to eat?" she said happily. 

"Wait question," I heard Travis' voice say quietly from the other end of the call. "So are they all your children but they're all also dating each other?" he asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

"I told you it's complicated, they're not really my children you know, I made them but they're not-" whispered Taylor and I looked at Red who gave me a worried look. I heard my mother sigh before speaking again, louder. "So we'll be there around 12.30, make sure everyone's up and ready then. I love you."

"Love you too Mother," I whispered and the call hung up.

"'They're not real' that's what she was going to say." I thought to myself. "Like we don't even mean anything, like we don't walk around town and talk to 'real' people, like she didn't mean for us to exist.."

"What did she say?" Red asked as soon as I put the phone down. 

"We're going out to lunch with them later, all of us," I said and smiled at her.

Her eyebrows pulled together and she tilted her head slightly. "Why does that make you sad?" she asked slowly. I smiled and stood up from the couch. 

"It doesn't, I'm fine. Let's go wake everyone up," I said and reached my hand out. Red grabbed it and pulled herself up and we walked towards the stairs.