Tayvis One-Shots

letter by letter

collaboration with the amazing @newromantics_23 

Taylor's POV

I woke up to the soft glow of morning light filtering through the curtains, stretching lazily as I reached across the bed. My fingers met empty sheets.

Travis wasn't there.

That alone was odd. He was usually the one who clung to me in the mornings, pressing lazy kisses to my shoulder while mumbling that he wasn't ready to get up yet. But today, the bed was cool beside me, like he had been gone for a while.

I blinked the sleep from my eyes, rubbing at my face as I sat up. That's when I saw it—a small, neatly folded note sitting on my nightstand. My name was written across the front in Travis's messy handwriting.

My stomach flipped.

This wasn't something he normally did. Travis was romantic in his own way, but he was more of a grand-gesture, spontaneous kind of guy. Not a carefully planned, leave-a-morning-note kind of guy.

I reached for it, my fingers slightly shaky, and unfolded the paper.

"Good morning, sweetheart. I have something special planned for you today. Go to the kitchen for your first clue. Love, T."

A clue?

I frowned slightly, but warmth spread through my chest. I knew him well enough to know that if he had planned something, it was going to be good.

I slid out of bed, padding barefoot down the hall to the kitchen. The house was quiet, too quiet, like it was waiting for something.

When I stepped into the kitchen, my eyes immediately landed on something small and golden sitting on the counter.

A bracelet.

It was delicate, the kind of jewelry Travis knew I liked, with a tiny charm in the center. I picked it up carefully, turning it over in my hands, and that's when I noticed it—the single engraved letter.

M.

I sucked in a breath.

What?

Before I could even start overthinking, I noticed another note resting beside it.

"Follow the trail, baby. Go to the place where we had our first movie night."

The breath I let out was shaky.

I knew exactly where that was.

My heartbeat picked up as I walked toward the living room, memories flashing behind my eyes.

That first movie night had been when I had really started falling for Travis. It was a few weeks into dating, and I had been hesitant when he had insisted on watching Remember the Titans because I wasn't much of a football person, but he had sworn I would love it.

And I had—because I had spent the whole movie curled up in his arms, his body warm and solid, his deep chuckles vibrating against me every time he whispered dumb side comments about the film. At some point, I had stopped paying attention to the screen and had just watched him instead.

When I stepped into the living room, I immediately saw the next bracelet draped over the armrest of the couch.

This one had an A.

A pattern was forming, but my mind was too fuzzy to put it together just yet.

Another note was tucked underneath it.