. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. brighton brielle . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.
Having Taylor around was quite possibly the best thing to happen to Brighton Brielle in a long time. The evening of getting dolled up and going out to dinner and gone well, much to Travis' hope, and it didn't take long before one dinner turned into two, which turned into spending the day together, going on different outings—which had been the first time that Brighton Brielle had chosen to leave the house instead of being forced to because Travis said she'd been cooped up in her room for far too long. No, this time, she was willing to go out in public, even if it was just something as simple as walking to a nearby café for lunch.
Of course, Travis was nothing but thrilled to see his daughter and his girlfriend getting along. In the weeks following the first dinner, he learned that part of the reason why Brighton Brielle was so much more at ease when Taylor was around was because Taylor had met Lily—and therefore, Brighton Brielle—on multiple different occasions. Taylor had lightly mentioned to him that Brighton Brielle would occasionally ask her for stories about Lily, but neither Taylor nor Travis thought any harm came of it. In fact, Travis thought it was probably good for his daughter to have someone that she could talk to about her mom, to help her process her grief.
And it seemed to be paying off. The more that Taylor was around, the more Brighton Brielle seemed to grow comfortable with Travis. She'd begun to hold longer conversations with him, sometimes even willing to crack a joke here or there, or laugh at one of his many attempts. It truly felt like they were making progress, and like they were becoming something like a family.
Brighton Brielle had been in her room, reading one of the many books that Taylor had recommended to her, when she heard the sound of the front door to the house opening from downstairs, and voices and footsteps began to fill the house. "We're home, Brin!" Travis' voice filtered up the stairs. She knew that his use of we could only mean one thing: that Taylor was also there, and she carefully set her book down on her nightstand, standing up from her bed and smoothing the blanket so it didn't look like she had been sitting there, and left her room to make her way downstairs and greet her father and his girlfriend.
"Are you gonna give her the thing, Tay?" Travis asked, lowering his voice so it was hard for Brighton Brielle to hear what he was saying.
Taylor simply nodded in response before she turned to greet the girl that was walking into the foyer to see them. "Hey, Bella."
Brighton Brielle smiled in response, approaching Taylor with a slight apprehension before Taylor beckoned her into a tight hug, which Brighton Brielle gladly returned, a smile making its way onto her face. She wasn't sure how, but somehow, Taylor just knew the right thing to do. Taylor knew that she wanted to feel that kind of love, the same kind of love that Lily never failed to show her while she was alive.
"Hey, Belles, what do you say we go up to your room?" Taylor asked once they had pulled apart from the hug. "I have something that I want to show you."
Brighton Brielle looked confused as to why that statement would lead to her and Taylor going up to her room, but she nodded in agreement, turning to go up to her room. Taylor gave Travis a smile before she picked up the gift bag he had been holding and followed Brighton Brielle through the house and up to her room.
Brighton Brielle sat down on her bed, taking notice of the gift bag in Taylor's hand that she'd failed to notice Travis holding just moments before. Taylor sat down next to her on the bed, putting the gift bag in her lap and turning to address the girl. "In the amount of time that I've known you, I've noticed that there seems to be something that's really important to you," she started, choosing her words carefully as to not make the situation blow itself up far beyond what she wanted it to. "And I wanted to make sure that you had something really special to commemorate this specific thing. So, for the past two weeks or so, I've done a lot of digging, and I have something for you that I really hope you'll love."
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SOMEONE'S DAUGHTER || t.s.
Fanfiction03.28.23 "stop, you're losing me" HAZEL ALWYN had seen the signs. She'd noticed how her dad rarely talked to his girlfriend. She'd seen the tabloids of him saying he wanted to go to her shows, but it had never been on his calendar. Yet, on the eveni...