UNSOLVED

5

Author's Note:

Thank you for all the feedback! It means a lot to me. <3 Thank you for reading!

***

Taylor took a deep breath, then rang the doorbell. She jumped a little in surprise when a dog started barking. She could hear muffled footsteps approaching the door. The door was opened, and then Karlie was standing in front of her with her genuine, wide signature smile.

"Hey Taylor, come in!"

Taylor mumbled a shy 'hi' back but was caught off guard when the tall woman gave her a light hug. Before she could remember to hug her back, they had separated again. The sweet scent of Karlie's shampoo lingered in Taylor's nose. She felt overwhelmed.

She snapped out of it when she felt a small dog jumping up and down next to her legs, trying to get her attention. The dog barked loudly and wagged his tail. She took a step back.

Karlie laughed. "Joe, leave Taylor alone. Go!" The dog distanced himself from Taylor, but nevertheless continued to look at her with big, expectant eyes.

"That's my dog, Joe. He's usually with my parents in St Louis but I have him right now" Karlie explained. She grinned. "Not a dog person?"

Taylor blushed. She cleared her throat before she spoke, not trusting her voice in front of Karlie yet. "No, to be honest. I have two cats."

"Really? You have to tell me all about them later!" Karlie exclaimed. Taylor simply smiled in response. Karlie's genuine interest in her still overwhelmed her.

She took off her jacket and they went into the next room. It was a spacious living room, and the April sun was shining through the large windows. A brunette woman was sitting on the sofa and stood up to greet them. Taylor was confused for a second before she introduced herself.

"Hey, you must be Taylor. I'm Lily, Karlie's manager. It's nice to meet you."

Oh, Taylor thought. Her manager? She smiled nervously and returned the greeting. Karlie seemed to sense her nervousness and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, we'll just talk about some formal stuff, because you'll be in my video. I'll give you a proper apartment tour later." She smiled.

Taylor nodded, and they sat down. Lily poured them each a glass of water.

"Sorry Taylor, I know this is all new for you, and I don't mean to overwhelm you." Lily's voice was friendly and reassuring.

"But you need to know that we take collaborations seriously. This is Karlie's job, and you're working with her today. You're an intern at Blaze, so we needed to get their permission to work with you too, in your case from Ms. Stone because she's your supervisor. I understand you do not have a manager or an agent of your own yet?"

Taylor gulped. "No. I only started like a month ago."

Lily nodded. "I'll need you to sign a form, because of course you will also get a share of the ad revenue generated by the video you two are filming today."

Wow, Taylor thought. She had gotten an insight of how all of this worked in the past month, but she was nevertheless amazed by the professionality behind Karlie's and Lily's work. It's her job, of course they are being professional, she thought. Karlie has like what? Three or four million subscribers? Her heart started beating faster at the thought. She didn't want to think about the numbers.

Lily and Karlie worked her through the form and made sure she understood every word of it. Karlie was sitting next to Taylor, touching her shoulder every now and then in reassurance. It both distracted and comforted Taylor.