Unwritten (Kaylor g!p)

Chapter 9

Taylor's POV

"Taylor, it's Harry. Look, there's no rush but I was wondering what you wanted to do with your stuff here. I can toss it if you don't want it or I can arrange to have it shipped to Louisiana. I heard through the grapevine that you're in California. I'm guessing you're staying with Kendall. It explains a lot if I'm right. It's fucked up, swee– I miss you and I hate you at the same time. It's not the same here without you. Call me back," Harry requested on his voicemail.

He sounded so sad and it was difficult to hear him like that. Most of the time I could push the guilt away but it wasn't always so easy. Hearing him like that made it harder. I saved the message and got out of my car.

It was my first day at the café. Karlie's giant truck was outside already. A few other cars were in the lot too. I walked to the back door where Karlie told me most employees entered the building. I found Karlie in her office looking over invoices. It was 6:30, but she wanted to show me around the kitchen before the restaurant opened for the day.

"Morning," I said.

"Mornin'," she replied looking up at me with a sweet smile. "Are you excited?"

"Nervous is more like it," I told her. If I screwed up it wasn't just the customer that suffered. A plate coming back could throw everything off.

"You're going to be fine," she said confidently. "Imagine what it felt like opening this place. I threw up twice before I unlocked the door for the first time."

"Yikes." It made me feel a little better to know that, though. "You don't still do that, do you?" I joked.

"Not in about nine years, but that was because I drank too much the night before," she winked. "You can leave your purse in here. I've already talked to everyone and they know what to expect. We shouldn't be too busy so I'll work with you until you're comfortable."

"Okay," I nodded. I set my bag down on the folding chair beside her desk.

"If you want you can put that in here." She opened the drawer on the other side of her.

"Oh, yeah. That's probably better." I moved my purse to the drawer and in doing so I got a closer look at some of her tattoos. I had finally decided what I wanted to wear in my skin. "Do you mind me asking who does your tattoos? I think I figured out what I want but I don't want to go to some random artist."

"Rene Lenier," she answered. "I can get you her card."

"That would be great, thanks. I'm a little nervous about doing it but in a good way," I told her. I figured if anyone could understand that it would be Karlie.

"If you need a hand to hold I can come with you," she chuckled. "What are you going to get?"

"Don't laugh, but I was thinking an empty birdcage with the door open," I told her. It was good symbolism, right?

"Why would I laugh at that?" she asked curiously. "I think it's great. It means something to you, that's important."

"It does. I don't want to put something on my body that doesn't have meaning to me. No tribal butterfly tramp stamps for me." Kendall had one. She got it on the sly in Cancun on her senior year spring break trip.

"Good, I've told Kendall how trashy she looks when that shit on her back is hanging out," Karlie said. "I have all Japanese traditional tattoos because they all mean something." She held up her arm and pointed at her forearm to show me a tattoo that didn't fit. It was a sloppy heart with 'I love u' in the middle of it. "This is the first time Jo wrote that she loved me on paper. It's my favorite."