Promises

Chapter Seven

Taylor had done quite a good job of calming herself down over the course of the morning, but when the doorbell rang and Mrs Yanez came into her apartment a little after 10 am, all of her anxiety came rushing back.

"Mum, can you open the door? I don't want to scare her" she begged Andrea in a higher-pitched voice than usual.

Nevada, who was sitting on the couch opposite to Taylor, put their coffee mug down and laughed.

"Don't worry, you can't scare Bev that easily. And trust me, she has seen everything with those kids at the CA camps. And I mean everything" they grinned.

"That one time when we were both supervisors one of the kids-" they started, but were cut off. In fact, they kept talking, but no sound came out of their mouth.

Taylor stared at Nevada in shock and disbelief, and then turned towards the door where her mum and Mrs Yanez were coming in.

Mrs Yanez giggled.

"Stop telling that story, Nev" she scolded the other conjurer playfully and then gave a quick nod in their direction.

"Good to see you too!" Nevada laughed in fake-annoyance after they had regained their voice. They got up to greet their old friend.

Taylor still hadn't processed what had happened, however Andrea seemed to not have noticed anything.

After hugging and exchanging greetings with Nevada, Mrs Yanez turned to where Taylor was sitting and approached her.

"Miss Swift, it's been a while! I'm happy to see you again, even though I can't actually see you under these circumstances ..." she trailed off and grinned.

Taylor stood up and shook her hand.

"You can see my silhouette too?" she asked, to which Mrs Yanez simply nodded.

"Oh, and please, can you call me Taylor? This is a way less formal environment than the last time, and it feels kinda awkward otherwise ..." Taylor added.

"Of course, Taylor. I'm Beverly" the tall, blonde woman smiled warmly.

They all sat down, and Beverly started looking around the room.

"You have a very nice place here, Taylor" she complimented the singer.

"Thank you" Taylor could feel the blood rising to her cheeks, thankful that no one could see it. She still got nervous when new people came into her house for the first time. She nervously bounced her leg, unsure of how to start the conversation.

Andrea came to her rescue.

"Would you like to drink something, Beverly?" she asked politely.

"Oh, a cup of coffee would be great. It's been so cold outside lately, I haven't gotten used to it yet" Beverly answered with a genuine smile.

While Andrea went to the kitchen to make coffee, the three others made small-talk, catching up with each other. Taylor could tell from the way Nevada and Beverly interacted that they were indeed good friends. It reminded her of herself and her closest friends Abigail and Selena. She felt a pang in her heart – she had had to lie to all her friends, telling them she was simply sick with a cold at home, and having to decline them paying her a visit.

She sighed audibly.

"It's going to be alright, Taylor. I promise. We will find a way" Beverly smiled at her reassuringly, and Nevada nodded in agreement.

Taylor wasn't sure if it was just the woman's intuition, or if she could read her mind. She decided to ask her should the opportunity present itself.