Kaylor: The Timeline

Chapter 10.2

When the knock is heard at the door, it isn't difficult for Karlie to see Taylor's body immediately tense up. Karlie's body even does the same when both Taylor and Tree spin their heads to look at Karlie expectantly.

"Um," Karlie stammers, looking back and forth between the two women she is sitting at the kitchen table with. "Should I answer the door?" Karlie asks, sounding unsure.

"I didn't invite him here," Taylor answers.

"Right," Karlie mutters, as she stands up from the table, far more clumsily than she would have ordinarily, now that her legs are shaking, and heads towards Taylor's apartment door. She leaves the kitchen and goes through the living room towards the welcome area. She takes a deep and steadying breath as her hand rests on the door knob, before pulling it open.

Josh looks ever so slightly surprised at Karlie answering the door, but other than that his expression is blank, but Karlie's mouth drops when she sees three men in suits flanking his sides.

"What the— what are you doing Josh?" Karlie hisses, quickly stepping into the hallway and easing the door closed behind her.

"What?" Josh asks, glancing back and forth between Karlie and the closed door, looking genuinely lost. "I told you minutes ago that I was here."

"Who are these people?" Karlie asks, doing her best to focus on Josh alone, so as to pretend she hasn't just talked about the men who are staring at her as if they were't even here.

"My legal team," Josh replies, sounding as though it should be obvious. "He is for my personal affairs," Josh says, gesturing a thumb towards the man to his right, "And they are for my business affairs," he continues, gesturing to the two men to his left. "I didn't know what category this would fall under exactly."

"Why couldn't you have just come over by yourself?" Karlie asks quietly, panicking because of the three unexpected faces staring at her. Knowing her secret.

"That's not how I sign legal documents. And trust me, that's not how Taylor Swift signs contracts either. She won't be surprised that I've brought them," Josh answers. "But she had no problem letting you sign a contract when you were alone."

Karlie gives Josh a hard stare, not necessarily having a rebuttal to his comment, but not enjoying the comment either way. "Fine. Just come in, then," Karlie says, turning on her heel and pushing the door in. She silently leads the larger than expected party towards the kitchen.

Josh has been in Taylor's apartment once before, the night of the Met Gala, but now Karlie can't help but feel exposed. She was walking Josh through a space that had been her hideaway from him for some time. If these walls meant anything to Karlie, surely they meant life after Josh. Karlie feels ashamed when she realizes she is quite happy that the majority of photographs that are of her and Taylor are temporarily not hanging from the walls, because Josh seeing those would surely be painful for the both of them, in very different ways. There are a few still hanging though, and Karlie doesn't even need to turn her head to look behind her to know that Josh's eyes were glued to the photographs they walked past.

When they enter the kitchen, Taylor doesn't even so much as look at them, sitting at the kitchen table with her hands folded. Tree walks over, with a smile not unlike that of a shark, and professionally shakes hands and makes introductions. Karlie drifts away to sit beside Taylor. Karlie grips Taylor's thigh beneath the table, both so as to physically assure Taylor, as well as steady herself. Karlie tries to tune out the conversation going on behind her, with the false laughs and questions, knowing how it is all a show. A charade of friendliness and camaraderie. Yet the only two in the room who really any positive relationship at all are sitting side by side, in complete silence.