Secrets

Chapter Four

The next day Karlie woke up from loud music blasting through the house. For a second she was disoriented, then she remembered that she was in her childhood bedroom at her parents' house. The events from last night came rushing back into her head. She groaned and shoved her face back into her pillow. But it was of no use, she would not be able to fall asleep anymore. Besides, she realized how hungry she was. She hadn't eaten since before the concert the day before, as they had gotten back home late.

She reached for her phone on the night stand. The display showed 10 am and unread messages from some of her friends. Probably asking her how the concert had been and if she was still alive. She had been bothering her friends with the concert for months (not to mention with her love for Taylor and her music for years) but then had not texted them even one line after the show.

Karlie sighed. How was she supposed to explain all of this to them when they weren't allowed to know about her younger sisters' skills? She would just have to say they had gotten picked randomly to get into Club Red, hoping it was believable.

But she would get back to her friends later, she decided as she made her way down the stairs into the kitchen. It was a Saturday and both her parents were home.

"Morning" she greeted as she walked into the kitchen, where her mother was sitting on a bar stool at the island, reading the newspaper and drinking what was most likely her second or third cup of coffee already.

"Good morning, sweetheart" her mother replied.

"I'm glad to see you're finally up. You got home late last night."

"Yeah, about that ..." Karlie trailed off.

The twins were in the living room, blasting "Holy ground" and singing along. It sounded horrible.

"How do these two have all this energy left?" she asked towards her mother.

The woman giggled.

"They've been like this all morning. They've been talking about how the three of you got to meet Taylor? Is that true? I found it hard to believe at first, you never know what kind of stories these two come up with. I thought you had simply still hung out after the show when I read your text last night."

Karlie laughed.

"It is true. We indeed got to meet Taylor."

Her mother looked at her surprised. She put the newspaper down and got up towards the sink to fill a glass with water.

"Really? How does that work? Do you not usually have to buy special tickets for a meet and greet?"

"It's different with Taylor. She looks at social media of fans who will be at her shows, and her mom goes around the stadium picking out people who seem to be having extra fun or have extraordinary costumes" Karlie explained.

She went to the fridge to pour herself a glass of orange juice, then leaned against the counter.

"And her mom approached us when we were standing in the lobby after the show and asked us to come to Club Red, that's what the meet and greet is called and-"

"Wait you went with a stranger? How did you know it was Taylor Swift's mom? Anyone could say that!" her mother exclaimed.

Karlie laughed.

"Calm down, mom. The fans know her mom, she appears in Taylor's videos and photos on social media all the time."

Her mother still looked doubtful, but accepted the explanation.