The Soldier's Girl (Under Editing)

Chapter 4

CAROLINE'S POV

My dad and I once again sat in those chairs in front of the huge bookcase. We sat in silence waiting. The woman said that as soon as they got here she'd bring them in to meet me. Something about the way she called them 'they' made me anxious. My hands were sweating and I was shaking. I'd told my dad it was just because I was cold but that was a lie.

I swear I could hear the beat of a heart but it wasn't mine, it wasn't in sync with the beat of my own. It must've been my dad's. It just dawned on me that he must be nervous too. He was sending his only daughter to live with an unknown family so he could go fight in a foriegn country for a year. He was probably the most nervous of us all. I used to think that my dad was the bravest man alive and that nothing ever scared him, over the years I've learned that isn't true.

I took a deep breath and fixed my eyes on the floor when I heard footsteps outside the room, my dad prepared to stand up. I heard the doorknob slowly turn, this was the moment of truth. As soon as the the door opened I stood up, looking back now I don't know why I did. Maybe it was because of the familiar voice, maybe it was the nice scent that wafted our way, maybe it was out of impulse.

"Hey girl!" Said the voice. I immediately recognized it, but I couldn't put my finger on who it was until I looked up.

Standing in front of me was Taylor Swift. I thought it couldn't be right. I blinked my eyes but she was still there. She was wearing a blue sundress and she looked flawless. She outstretched her long arms and smiled so her perfect teeth were showing through her red lipstick. I went in for the hug and hugged her tight like we were old friends. I was only as tall as her shoulder so when I hugged her my head fit perfectly in the flat part of her chest right below her neck and collar bone. I thought that it must be a joke, Taylor Swift as my foster parents. Or just my foster... mom?

I was reassured that it wasn't a joke when she shook hands with my dad and introduced herself.

"I'm Taylor." She said as if we already didn't know. I glanced at my dad and he looked relived. I realized that I was relived too. This whole time I'd been tense, waiting for my worst nightmare to walk through the door. When Taylor walked in I thought that it might not be so bad after all.

"I'm Charlie and this is Caroline." He told her. She turned to me and smiled while looking me in the eyes. I felt as though my heart might leap out of my chest.

"Hi." That was all I could produce. Before anyone could say another word the woman in the black pantsuit started talking and we all sat down. She explained the process of how they placed me with Taylor and how she would be my foster mom. I really didn't catch everything she said because I was still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I'd be spending the next year living with Taylor Swift.

I kept looking at her from across the table and I caught her looking at me too. Or maybe she caught me. When she would look back at me I would quickly advert my eyes.

After a few moments the woman had stopped talking and was going to leave the room so it was just us.

TAYLOR'S POV

Caroline had made a great first impression and I could only hope I did the same. She was a very polite girl. The first things I noticed about her were her dazzling green eyes, in the black and white photo I had gotten you couldn't see those. When I met her father, Charlie, I expected the same eyes. But Charlie's were a deep brown at went well with his camo army uniform. The part of them that was alike was their blonde hair, it was a lighter shade than mine but it was beautiful.

I also noticed the way she hugged, not to soft but not to tremendously tight. Just perfect, and her head rested perfectly on the upper part of my chest. As we sat she stole glances at me (I knew that we both weren't listening to this woman that was talking to us drone on) and whenever I looked back she would turn away and blush. At that point I knew I had made the right choice by doing this. I'd be slowing down my career a little and putting a potential relationship on hold, but I knew it would be worth it. 

Soon the woman had left and we were alone to talk.

"She just never shuts up does she." Charlie said lightening the mood. Caroline and I both laughed.

"So Caroline..." I started. As soon as I said her name her eyes lit up and a smile formed in her lips. We talked for a long time about a lot of things. They seemed like very nice people and Caroline was more talkative after the lady left us alone, which was a good thing. After everything I had concluded that Caroline was pretty upset about her dad leaving, I'd have to be careful about that.

After about a half hour of us talking we all got ready to leave. We decided to get together sometime before Charlie left so we could move some of Caroline's things into my apartment.

Before we walked our separate ways to our cars I gave Caroline another hug, I couldn't help but smile when she rested her head on me again in that same spot. I went in to have Charlie a handshake but his strong arms wrapped me into a hug. Then he said something just quiet enough for me to hear.

"Thank you so much, you're a lifesaver." He whispered in my ear. I gave him a smile and said goodbye to them both. Before I drove away I sat in my car for a second taking it all in. What Charlie told me may not seem like much, but it meant the world. I turned around and they were still sitting in his red pickup truck on the other side of the parking lot. I couldn't wait to see what would come in the next year.

CAROLINE'S POV

Before buckling my seat belt in my dad's truck I just sat their for a second and so did my dad. I could feel my mouth hanging open in amazement of everything that just happened. He had his palms rested on his camouflage pants staring at the steering wheel, almost as if he was in disbelief.

"Dad." I said with my eyebrows raised as I breathed out in a 'what just happened' kind of way. He let a deep breath out of his mouth that turned into a chuckle at the end while he shook his head back and forth.

"Taylor Swift, huh?" He said while smiling as he looked into my green eyes that looked just like my mom's did.

"Taylor Swift." I said while giving him a smirk. He looked back at me in a half smile.

"Your mother would be so proud of you." He added. I didn't know why he would say that, that was completely off topic. And I didn't even do anything to make anyone proud? He finally put the key in the car and I buckled my seat beat. As we rode away all of could think of was what the next year might hold.

That evening after the 'I just met a celebrity' excitement had worn off I counted the weeks on my calendar. Close to five. In five weeks he'd be gone. Being with Taylor would be great and everything, but I'd really miss my dad. I'd miss the way he'd tell jokes, the way he'd talk to me like I was the most important thing in the world and the stories he told about when I was younger and mom was around.

At around 11 o'clock when my dad was in bed I went out on the back patio of this house that I hardly knew and looked up at the stars. I wondered who else could see them, was Taylor looking at them right now? Could my old foster family in Virginia from when I was nine see them? Maybe the girl I shared a room with back then that always made fun of me for getting nightmares was looking at these stars right now. Did the American soldiers in Afghanistan where my dad would be in a few weeks notice how pretty the night sky was tonight?

The one thing I new for sure was that up with all those stars was my mom, watching out for me.

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AN

Hey! Sorry it took 4 chapters until Caroline and Taylor finally meet, but I didn't want to rush it and I wanted the background to be told. And I didn't want to be one of those stories where Taylor's like "omg im gonna go pick up a child for fun!!!!11!!1!1!!" Because that's not how things would really work in real life. Thanks for reading! I'll update again Sunday.