Phoenix [Kaylor]

The New Album

Author's Note: Zach (beachwolf92) and I started writing this during our post-concert high after Super Saturday, at about 2am. It was a rambling text conversation that I edited into a coherent story, hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it. 😘

July 2017

Karlie walks into the music room, surprised but also excited that her girlfriend is letting her come for a visit. Taylor doesn't share her new songs with anyone until they're completely finished, unless she's sharing them with a collaborator, so Karlie knows she must have something ready. Over the last couple of years, she's heard a song here or there, as Taylor prepared for them to be released by other artists, or as a one-off for that movie. But it's been more than three years since she's heard anything Taylor intended to release herself, and she's ready. She knows Tay has her reasons for keeping the music a secret, not the least of which is that Karlie is always so damn proud of her girl, and can't lie to save her life, so anything Karlie has heard needs to be close to release or Karlie might burst. But still. Karlie feels a bit like all the Swifties online who freak out every time Taylor posts anything, praying it might be time. For the first time, Kar knows they might actually be on to something, if her invitation into Taylor's office is any indication.

Taylor isn't sitting at the piano, or with a guitar in her hand like Karlie expects. Instead, she sits on the couch, her MacBook in her lap, curled under a blanket, even though it's easily over ninety outside. "Hey, babe," Karlie greets her softly, careful not to startle a genius at work. "How's it coming?" Karlie tries not to push about the music. Taylor hadn't taken the decision to back off her usual album release schedule lightly, and Karlie doesn't ever want her to think she made the wrong choice. She needed the time and the space and Karlie respects that more than anyone. She knows the true fans will too, the ones who want her to be happy more than they want her to be famous or whatever. The same fans who will support them, together, one day. But Karlie knows the time Taylor has spent down here has been increasing. She's spent more time with people like Jack, and Ryan, and even Ed. And she suspects she's here because the time has come for the hiatus to end.

The last time they did this, things had been different. They'd been a new couple, barely together a few months. They'd been in the car, driving the pacific coast highway, alone in the bliss of the honeymoon phase, enjoying the newness of their intimacy and the beauty of being able to share so much with someone so incredible, and strong, and so...right. Someone who fit perfectly, the other piece of the puzzle. Taylor had been driving, and they'd been talking about everything and nothing when the mood had shifted. It had worried Karlie at first, the way Taylor suddenly turned shy, and she'd wracked her brain trying to figure out what she'd said or done to damage the fragile connection they were both still nurturing. But after a few minutes of silence, Taylor had seemed to come to a decision, asking tentatively if Karlie truly liked her music. Karlie had gushed over her favorite songs from Taylor's albums, glad to be able to provide some reassurance. If Taylor was afraid that Karlie was only pretending to like her songs to get into her jeans, that was an insecurity Karlie could happily erase. Taylor had then asked Karlie to get out her phone, plug it into the aux input in the car stereo, and choose the album called "Christmas Classics."

"Christmas? Taylor, honey, Christmas is over," Karlie had said, wondering why in the hell Taylor was so nervous to play her this totally random album, unless she was concerned Karlie would judge her for listening to Christmas music out of season, which, actually, she was.

"It's, um, it's not actually Christmas music," Taylor had replied, her eyes steadfastly on the road ahead, the quaver in her voice betraying anxiety Karlie had hoped she was slowly easing. "It's my new album. It's going to come out this fall. I want you to hear it. But Karlie, it's not, it's full of the ghosts of my ex, and I just, I don't know if we're there, you and me, and I don't want to scare you off."