UNSOLVED

11

Taylor was sitting on the sofa in Emma's office, drinking a cup of coffee. She felt hungry, but it was still two hours until lunch.

"This looks good, you wrote way more than most interns" Emma said and grinned. She put Taylor's two month internship report aside.

"Well, I do lots of things" Taylor laughed.

"And I'm sure you'll do so much more in the next four months."

Taylor felt grateful for Emma's kind words. They were exactly what she needed to hear after the couple of days she had had.

"So, Taylor" Emma started. "I got an e-mail from Ms. Aldridge this morning, Karlie's manager. She wants to collaborate again." She smiled.

Taylor's face fell. The announcement had come too unexpected for Taylor to mask her feelings. Emma tilted her head to the side. "What's wrong? Are you not happy about it?"

"I ..." Taylor didn't know what to say.

"I have to say I'm surprised her manager messaged me. They could have at least put you in CC. I would have forwarded it to you, but since we had this appointment anyways I thought I'd tell you in person." Emma looked at Taylor expectantly.

"Yeah ... weird." Taylor swallowed thickly.

"Did filming not go well the last time?" Emma asked with concern in her voice. "I saw the video and it looked like you were having fun? I know the final edit isn't always how it went down in reality, but you were so happy afterwards, too?"

Taylor shook her head no. She couldn't form words, too focused on not crying. She realized that Emma had no idea Karlie and she had been meeting privately. And how would she know? She also hadn't been at the party on Friday, so there was no way she had seen them act friendly. Taylor sighed.

"No, the filming was fun. I'm sorry. I'd love to collaborate again. Please tell her that." Taylor cleared her throat.

"Okay ..." Emma said, not sounding convinced.

"You know you're allowed to write your own business e-mails, as long as I agree to what you're doing outside of Blaze, right?"

Taylor looked at her hands in her lap, then spoke quietly. "Yeah, I know. But please, if you don't mind, please reply in my stead."

"Okay." Emma seemed to be wrecking her brain for something else to say. "I don't know if you saw, but Karlie seems to have a boyfriend now? Did she tell you about him?"

Oh my God, Taylor thought. Can the ground swallow me whole.

She put on her best smile. "Oh yeah, I saw. I'm happy for her, but she didn't mention him. I just thought it strange that there were paparazzi photos on our website?"

Emma nodded. She didn't catch on to Taylor's fake smile. "Yeah, but from what I've heard the article was specifically requested by her manager. I don't know, it's not my department, really." She shrugged and laughed.

Taylor simply hummed in response. She couldn't get out of the office quickly enough. Luckily for her, Emma had no more topics to talk about for now and let her go. Taylor practically ran down the hallway, towards the elevator and then outside. The noises of the city surrounded her, and she walked quickly down the block. She had no destination. All she wanted was to walk off her frustration before she went back to the office.

She checked her phone. There was a text message each from her mum and brother, and then a push notification from Twitter. She opened it only to wish she hadn't. She groaned. Karlie had made a post. She had reached five million subscribers on her channel and thanked people for their support. Just last week Taylor would have felt proud and would have immediately replied, congratulating her. Now it only filled her with sadness, and she quickly closed Twitter.