Promises

Chapter Three

Karlie looked at her phone in bewilderment when she saw that Taylor was calling her. Then she realized she had been waiting for her for almost ten minutes, and felt nervousness rising in her chest.

"What's wrong, babe?" she whispered as she picked up the call.

"Karlie" Taylor breathed heavily at the end of the line.

"I ..."

"Oh my god, what happened? Are you ok? I'm coming to the bathroom!" Karlie said hastily.

"No!" Taylor interrupted her.

"Sorry ... no, it's fine, don't come. I ... ugh ... do you remember what Code Black Cat means?" she added a bit calmer.

Karlie took in a sharp breath. Of course she remembered.

"What happened?" she asked again.

"I ... can't see myself in the mirror. I've been staring at it for a while now. And someone came in earlier and didn't see me ..." Taylor explained.

"Oh" was all Karlie could say.

"Exactly. I have no idea how to reverse this. I swear I didn't do it intentionally. I just felt a little dizzy before ... Karlie, we need to go home immediately. But I have no idea how" the singer stated, sounding exhausted.

Karlie thought for a while.

"Well Michael is still here too. We can't possibly tell him, right?" she said, glancing in the security guard's direction, who was luckily occupied with his phone.

"No" Taylor said determinedly.

"I have an idea" Karlie said.

"I will give the phone to him and you will say that you're waiting at the backdoor, and we will call a cab to drive us home. In the meantime, he can go back and get the car. It should be a good distraction for the paparazzi as well" she explained.

Taylor thought about it for a while.

"Sounds good" she finally said.

"I have no other idea anyways. Can you put him on the phone?"

Karlie did as she was told.

Michael was very skeptical, but Taylor insisted he didn't need to check on her and that she and Karlie would get home safely. When he couldn't come up with any counter-arguments anymore, he gave in and followed his boss's instructions.

"Thank you, Michael" Karlie did her best to smile sweetly at him and not seem suspicious.

"We will see you at home!"

"Take care, girls!" he replied and took his bag, putting on his sunglasses as he went out the door.

Karlie could see that the paparazzi outside were clearly expecting her and Taylor to follow him and looked confused accordingly when that didn't happen. They tried to get a look inside the café.

The tall girl let out a breath and turned around to go towards the bathroom. When she opened the door, Taylor was nowhere to be seen – but that was why they were doing this in the first place.

"I'm here" she could hear a faint whisper coming from the other side of the room.

She jumped a little in surprise.

"Please don't be scared" Taylor's voice now sounded closer to her, and a soft hand touched her shoulder.

"Oh God ... this is really weird" Karlie whispered.