Wildest Dream

Out of The Wood

The second part of Kissgate series

***

Taylor woke up with an excruciating headache. Last night was a blur and she didn't even remember how the hell she got into her bed. Taylor closed her eyes again with a loud groan. The side of her bed was empty already. Apparently Karlie had been up for a while as it felt cold. Yet it still smelled like her, so Taylor snuggled into Karlie's side to soak up the lingering scent. It brought smile to her lips and little by little, the last night's memories were coming back to her.

"Hey, sleepy head," Karlie's voice came from the direction of her kitchen.

Then a whiff of strong coffee followed, alluring Taylor to open her eyes. Taylor squinted to make out the silhouette of Karlie, standing on the doorway. She was holding two steaming cups of coffee. Taylor laid on her back, just enjoying the quite sight of her girl. With a fresh face and a bedhead, Karlie still looked amazing.

"I feel like my head is going to explode," Taylor whined while accepting her coffee.

Karlie just chuckled. "Well, I'm not surprised. You were really drunk last night."

"That's all?" Taylor complained, looking at Karlie in disbelief. Karlie just shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, I expected to be pampered when I'm hungover, you know?"

"Yeah?"

Karlie smiled, putting her mug on the night table. Then she crawled over Taylor, hovering above her with a seductive smile on her lips. Karlie laid soft kisses on Taylor, starting from her forehead.

"Something like this?"

"Uh, huh."

Karlie was just about to lowered her body onto Taylor's when they were disturbed by a loud banging sound from the front door. Still sensitive from loud noises, Taylor covered her ears. The headache was back.

"God, who's coming this early?"

"Well, it's not that early, Tay. It's already past ten."

"Ugh, whatever," Taylor covered her head with her pillow, rolling to her side.

Karlie just shook her head in amusement and laid one last kiss to Taylor's exposed shoulder, before she got up and met their guest. Their unwanted guest was still banging at the door, which grew more impatiently each time. Karlie looked through the peep hole and found Tree in front of Taylor's door. Confused, Karlie opened the door right away.

"Where's Taylor?" Tree barged in without much preambles, heading straight to Taylor's bedroom.

"Well, good morning to you too," Karlie muttered sarcastically, still holding the door open.

Muffled shouting could be heard from the bedroom. Karlie couldn't make out the words but it sounded serious. Concerned, Karlie went to the bedroom and ready to defend Taylor from whatever shit Tree was having. She found a dumbfounded Taylor, sitting by the edge of her bed, staring at the screen of Tree's phone.

"Taylor, what's wrong?"

Taylor didn't answer her, still lost in whatever was there on the screen. Karlie's stomach twisted as she sensed that something must be terribly wrong. Karlie altered her confused look at Tree, demanding some kind of explanation for Taylor's panicked state. Tree answered Karlie's question with a cold voice.

"You two were photographed last night. Kissing. It's all over the news now."

"What?!"

Karlie pulled out her own phone and checked the web. Tree was right. A fan recorded her and Taylor at last night's concert. It was blurry but it definitely wasn't a heterosexual behavior from both of them. Karlie gulped hard, as she had been dreading this moment ever since her and Taylor got together. The moment when the press finally caught their scent.

"I've told you that this," Tree pointed between Karlie and Taylor, "was a bad idea from the start. You've never listened to me."

"What do we do now?"

Taylor's voice seemed hollow, so different from the way she talked to Karlie just mere minutes ago. Taylor didn't even look at Karlie. She looked at her publicist with desperation in her eyes. It was clear that she was frightened. Karlie wanted to rush to her side and comfort her, but she knew that the gesture would be unwelcomed now. It killed her to be so helpless in this situation.

"I can make up something about it," Tree sighed like she had to reinstate world peace or something. Then she altered a pointed look between Taylor and Karlie.

"But you can't continue this, at least until everything has settled down for a bit."

"How long?" Taylor didn't even protest it, she just accepted right away.

"I don't know," Tree admitted. "Quite long, I guess."

"Okay. Fine. Just do whatever you need to do. Just make it disappear."

"Alright. I need to go now. Just lay low for a while, okay?"

As quickly as she showed up, Tree went out of the room then Taylor's apartment in a brisk pace. There were only Taylor and Karlie alone in the room again, being left in screaming silence. Taylor was still ignoring her, staring blankly ahead. Got too caught up in her own mind.

"Don't I have a say in this too?"

"Huh?" Taylor finally glanced at her. Her eyes were wild and unfocused.

"You didn't even ask me, what I want to do," Karlie said in a shaky voice. She was hurting and it showed. "You just acted like you were the only one who was affected by this. I'm here too, Taylor."

"I just did what's best for us, Karlie."

"Don't even try to go there," Karlie laughed wryly, shaking her head.

"What do you mean?" Taylor's voice grew impatient.

"You didn't even acknowledge me then. Not even a word. And really? Just make it disappear? Which one, Taylor? The rumors? Or me?"

"Oh, come on! You saw it too, didn't you? There's no way we could get away with it unless we do something drastic."

"You just agreed to whatever Tree said. Didn't you hear what she said? She said that we can't continue this? Do you even understand what it means?"

Taylor dropped her head onto her palms weakly. She couldn't handle this and Karlie's anger at the same time. She just wanted to get away and hide until the storm passed.

"It's not for forever, Karlie."

Taylor kept silent, looking down at her lap to avoid Karlie's hurtful look. Karlie couldn't stand how weak and helpless Taylor looked. The anger drained out of her as fast as it came by. She got onto Taylor's bed and sat beside her. Taylor turned her head to find her girl, but still dropping her gaze down. Scared of what she might found there.

"Taylor," Karlie gently tipped Taylor's chin upward with her finger.

"It's going to be okay, baby. We both know that something like this might happen when we first decided to be together."

Taylor's eyes desperately tried to find reassurance within Karlie's green ones. She held the hand on her chin tightly.

"I know. But I'm still not ready for this. Nobody could ever be ready for something like this. I can't have my career crumbling down now. Not when I've got this far, Karlie."

"You need to understand this. Please tell me you'd understand," Taylor's voice quivered when she pleaded to Karlie. "Because I can't lose you either."

Karlie brushed Taylor's hair reassuringly. Then she kissed her forehead, hoping that somehow with the simple touch, Taylor could understand these feelings that Karlie had for her. Praying for a better end for them.

"Then tell me what I should do, baby? How do we get through this?"

"I hope you understand that we need to stay away for a while. And I need to do another stunts as damage control."

"Okay. I'll try. For you."

Then Karlie kissed Taylor with the desperation that she had never felt before. Something that felt a lot like the last kiss for both of them.

"You know I'd do anything for you, Taylor."