TNT Short Fics

So we'll run, we're ruining everything - 1/2

The sun pours in through the tall windows, spilling light across the room. A beam of dappled sun follows a path across the rug and traces across her bare legs where Taylor is sprawled out with her guitar. Travis follows the trail of light and shadow that highlights the blonde in her hair and the strong lines of her profile. As she looks up and off into the distance out the window the light catches the brilliant blue of her eyes and he sucks in a breath. Because sometimes he still can't believe she's real. That she's right here in front of him. That she has become his home.

She turns her head as if she can hear his thoughts, catching him watching her. And the sunlight has nothing on how her face lights up looking at him. Her smile widens across her face, and her eyes are so full of love and happiness that he can't stand it. He has to go to her.

As he settles in behind her and drops his chin to her shoulder, she picks her guitar back up, strumming.

"I think I want to stay here forever," she says as a melody starts to emerge.

******

The house had been a silly notion back in May. They'd taken a drive around the lake on their second day and pointed out the houses they'd loved and wanted to claim. Large lavish mansions and tiny little lakeside cottages, it didn't matter. As long as they saw themselves together there, it was theirs.

In the quiet dusk, he'd suddenly pulled off and off her confused expression pointed out a tiny lot overlooking an outcropping over the lake.

"The sun's about to set; let's stop."

As they watched the sun drop behind the mountains in brilliant oranges and lavenders, she'd caught sight of the house off to the side across the lake from them, the large swath of windows turning into a beautiful reflection of the setting sun. It wasn't the biggest house on Lake Como, not by far. But you could tell it had the perfect view of the sunset on one side and the sunrise on the other.

"Look, Trav," she pointed. "That'd be the perfect place to watch the world go by."

That is their secret dream. One they cooked up together that first fall when they talked about how sometimes when their worlds got too crazy, they dreamed up what they'd do if they ran away from it all. Be it a secret cottage garden or a job coaching football at Cleveland Heights High, they both had that place they dreamed about when it got to be too much.

"We need one together."

"Yeah?"

"Sure enough, can't have you running away without me now that I've got you, girl."

They'd volleyed ideas back and forth, some ridiculous, some elaborate, just silliness that had an undercurrent of truth to it. As the autumn air turned from crisp to cold, they'd retreated back to the car.

When he'd pulled back on the highway and headed for home, he'd turned to her with a serious tone and said, "I think I'd do anything with you, Tay. Just run away and watch the world go by."

As he'd watched her plane take off a few days later on its way to Sweden, he'd texted Andre and sent him a photo of the house. Can you find a real estate firm in Lake Como to do some research for me?

He'd thought it a long shot. They'd have to find the owners, and it was unlikely the person'd be willing to sell. Still, as he remembered the look on her face, he'd wanted to find a way to keep it there.

It turned out she had the same idea. Taylor sent him a screenshot a few days later of the house and a contact number in a text from her assistant. Look what Erica found.