GETAWAY CAR

17. You Belong With Me

January 30th 2017

Taylor's POV

"That sounded great, babe." Karlie smirks as I finish playing 'You Belong With Me' on the guitar, a special request from the woman herself. "Thanks kar." I sigh as I sit down beside her, smiling faintly as I lean my head on her shoulder. "Are you still feeling bad?" She asks, drawing faint circles on my back as I cross my legs. "Mhm." I mumble, barely having the energy to answer. She sighs and wraps her arms around me, gently pressing a kiss to the top of my head.

I've had nightmares every night since we got here and I've barely slept on top of feeling run down. "Maybe you should see a doctor?" She suggests and I shake my head, "it's probably just a bug, I'll be fine in a few days." I try to brush it off, I don't want to see a doctor, I just want to get this over with and go home. "You said that a couple of days ago, Taylor I think it's time to give in." She argues with me but I don't say anything, simply sighing and closing my eyes as I rest my head on her shoulder.

"Are you ready for the next one?" I hear a voice and open my eyes to see Paul standing in front of me. "Can we skip this one today? I'm not in the mood to think about him right now." I sigh as I get up and he shrugs, "you're the boss." I feel obliged to perform Better Man at this show, it's like closing a haunting chapter of my past and after that I'm never looking back, that's one of the reasons I didn't release it myself but I know Little Big Town will do the song the justice it deserves. The irony of the song is striking, he hurt me so bad that I could only write a country song and my country roots were one of the things he hated the most.

"So, what's next?" They all look to me and I plaster a smile onto my face, "urm Red." I say, glancing down to the setlist by my feet and they start playing and I wait for my intro before singing, "loving him is like driving a new Maserati down a dead end street, faster than the wind, passionate as sin, ending so suddenly."

I meet Karlie's eyes across the room and I wink as I sing and she dances along to the song. I'm really glad I brought her with me today, she's my sunshine.

•••

We finish with 'Shake It Off' and by the time it's over, I'm completely exhausted but the sight of Karlie playing with Maisie makes my heart almost burst. She's sitting on the floor with Maisie lying on a blanket in front of her and she's holding her little hands as she leans over her, making faces and making the baby dance as she stares at the woman with wide eyes and a smile on her face.

"You two are adorable." I laugh as I sit down, wrapping my arms around the woman's waist and kissing her cheek. "Are you ready to go home, babe?" Karlie asks and I nod as another headache starts coming on. "How about we pick up some food and spend the rest of the day snuggled up in bed? How does that sound?" She looks at me as I rest my head on her shoulder and my eyes meet hers. "You mean it?" I ask and she smiles as she nods, "it sounds perfect." I sigh and she chuckles softly. "Come on then, let's get you home." She rubs my arm and grabs Maisie as she gets up and then holds her hand out to help me up.

"Wow." I say as I get up, getting lightheaded and dizzy as I make it to my feet. I grab the edge of a nearby table to support myself and quickly regain my balance, "are you okay?" Karlie asks and I nod, "yea, I just got up too quickly." I brush it off but she continues to look at me with worry filled eyes, "I'm fine, Karlie." I tell her, smiling softly. "Okay, come on then." She concedes and holds my coat out to me so I can put it on and she puts Maisie's on so we can go to the car.