Secrets

Chapter Fifteen

"Meredith! Come here!" Karlie cooed as she saw the cat coming out of the house and onto the balcony where she and Taylor were sitting in the lounge chairs. She stretched out her arm, and Meredith approached her.

"Hello baby" she continued talking to the cat as she scratched her ears. Meredith purred, and Karlie picked her up into her lap.

Taylor just stared at the scene in front of her with her mouth open. She quickly reached for her phone that was lying on the table to take a few pictures.

"I still cannot believe this. Karlie, you must be a cat whisperer. Why does she love you?" she said in bewilderment.

"Because we're buddies" Karlie grinned.

"Right, Meredith?" she asked towards the cat.

Taylor rolled her eyes. She played annoyed, but in reality she loved that her cat and Karlie got along so well. She figured that Meredith must sense how much of a positive effect Karlie's presence had on the singer.

It was another beautiful summer day in Rhode Island, and Karlie was visiting for the second time before her classes started the next week. The two women sat in their usual spot on the balcony, drinking coffee and talking. Karlie had arrived earlier in the day and would stay for two nights. Taylor was beyond nervous, more so than the last time.

She had every reason to be, and Karlie was just as nervous, even though she didn't let it show. After Taylor's appearance on the radio show and the subsequent text message, to which Karlie had genuinely replied how much she had loved it, they had become flirtier with each other during their texts and FaceTime calls. Now that they were seeing each other in person again for the first time, they were both self-conscious about the way they acted around each other.

They had exchanged long, tight hugs before and there had always been little touches and looks, but now they had started to increase the amount of those. Neither of them knew how to talk about what was between them, however, and hoped the other one would be braver and make the first move. Taylor was still debating with herself if it was really fair to Karlie to be dragged into her less than normal life in this way.

***

The afternoon found them in their other usual spot in Taylor's mansion – the kitchen. They wanted to bake cookies together, however a discussion on what kind of cookies to bake had ensued. Taylor wanted to go for traditional chocolate chip cookies, while Karlie swore Taylor had to try her healthy oatmeal cookies. She insisted they were a hit among her family and friends and that she had started spelling the word cookie with a 'K'. Taylor just rolled her eyes at that, but then gave in, letting Karlie take over command.

As Taylor went through her drawers and cabinets to find the ingredients Karlie had instructed her they needed, she turned towards the taller girl with an apologetic look, but then started laughing.

"Ok, I was gonna say we're out of baking soda, but Karlie, you look ridiculous in my apron" she giggled as she saw what the student had put over her clothes.

Karlie ignored the last statement.

"We're out of baking soda? We're in this huge house, there are three different brands of margarine in your fridge, but there's no baking soda?" she exclaimed in a fake-annoyed voice, gesturing wildly.

"And they say I'm the dramatic one" Taylor said sarcastically.

Karlie grinned in response.

"Rule number one, always have every ingredient you might need for kookies in your house" Karlie stated.