The Singer's Girl

Chapter 15

CAROLINE'S POV

I went back to school the Monday after release week had ended. It was nice to catch up with my friends, but weird to see how different things were at school after Taylor had released an album. Like one of the top news stories this week was her album, so everyone at school knew, and they also knew that I hadn't been to school all last week. Nobody usually treated me different just because I lived with Taylor Swift, but it kind of felt that way that first Monday back.

When Taylor picked me up from school that afternoon she had a huge smile on her face for a reason I'm still not sure of. I hadn't been getting much sleep and when I didn't get much sleep I was grouchy, but seeing Taylor happy made me happy. I had decided within the last day that I wasn't going to tell Taylor that I couldn't sleep when I couldn't sleep. She seemed to get so worried over it and I wasn't that worried, so she didn't need to know when I had sleepless nights. My reasoning is that I would be a happier person if Taylor wasn't always so concerned about me, because when she was concerned it kind of scared me.

"Hey you." She said when I got into the passengers seat of her car.

"Hey Taylor." I said a little less enthusiastically. Then she grabbed my head with one hand and pulled it towards her face so she could give me a kiss.

"Mmmmwah." She over exaggerated the sound then laughed at herself. Her presence automatically put me in a better mood. She pulled out of the high school parking lot and started driving the opposite way we usually go.

"Let's do something." She said.

"Okay." I said and I felt her glance over at me.

"What do you want to do?" She asked me.

"Let's just drive around." I said and she agreed. She drove us out of town onto some highway that was lined with huge shady trees. She talked to me as she drove and even though it wasn't like she was boring me I felt like I could fall asleep. Which is something that never happens anymore. I used to nap all of the time and now I can't even sleep at night. I let her talk to me and I reached to the backseat to grab a blanket. I spread it over my legs and listened to Taylor.

I realized that it was her voice making me sleepy. I can never sleep because I'm always overthinking things and I'm never calm, her voice talking to me was just so comforting and I never wanted her to stop. We drove away from town for about thirty minutes when Taylor said we should probably turn around.

"So how was your day?" She asked as we headed back and I shrugged. I felt her look over at me when my eyes started feeling heavier.

"Start talking again." I told her, aware of the fact that if I fell asleep it would be my first real sleep in forever.

"Why?" She chuckled and looked over at me.

"I don't know, I just like it when you talk to me." I said and she started talking again. I let myself close my eyes and all I focused on was her voice, I wasn't thinking of my parents or death or anything but Taylor.

Soon her voice was fading into the background of my mind as she lulled me into much needed sleep.

TAYLOR'S POV

I turned the radio down as I pulled the car into the parking lot of our apartment building. I looked over at Caroline who had been asleep in the passengers seat for about an hour, I just kept driving and wasting gas so she could get some sleep. But now it was finally time to get her up.

"Caroline, babe, it's time to wake up." I said, rubbing her arm.

"Mmmm Taylor." She groaned when she opened her eyes.

"Mmmm Caroline, you fell asleep." I said, hoping that she would still be in the mood to sleep tonight. I sat in the car with her for a while while she woke up, when we got out she held onto my arm all the way inside and too the elevator. I hoped it meant she was still tired.

"Are you tired?" I asked, stroking her hair on the way up the elevator.

"Yeah." She said and I smiled. Once we got into the apartment I started making supper in the kitchen and Caroline sat on a barstool watching me. She was still a little sleepy and I think she wasn't fully awake.

"There's this kid in my english class," Caroline started, drawing out her words and staring intently at a knob on the cupboard.

"And, and he's such a babe. His hair." She said still staring at the knob. I laughed because I knew she was kind of out of it.

"Really? Any other hot boys?" I asked smiling.

"Kelsey has a thing with this guy. And he's super cute but he's such a douche." She said yawning and finally taking her eyes off of the knob and looking at the boiling pot of water on the stove.

"He's a douche?!" I laughed, acting like I was shocked.

"Yeah, but he's super cute." She repeated.

"You're super cute." I said to see what she would say. She just looked up at me.

"Taylor, you're just," She paused for a second.

"You're just so cute, so so so cute." She said looking at me and I could see the tired bags around her eyes. I went around to her barstool and gave her a huge kiss on the cheek.

"I think you need to go back to bed." I laughed, hugging her tightly. The thing about Caroline was that usually when she was tired she got a little bit of an attitude, I didn't think it was going to come out tonight until she wouldn't let me go.

"No, Taylor." She said, turning from very loopy to very clingy and demanding.

"Love you so much, but I've got to make supper." I said giving her one last tight squeeze. She let go of me but as soon as I walked away from her the tears came out.

"Caroline, I think you're okay, I'm right here." I said, getting frustrated that she would cry over something like this. I get that she hadn't gotten a good rest until she just slept in my car, but she could still just go to bed or be a little more mature.

"I just want my dad." She cried and I knew that this night was over for her.

"Care, come on, we're going to bed, you're tired. I know you miss him, but you'd feel better if you slept some more." I said trying to lead her to her room.

"It's okay, come here." I told her, hugging her and then pulling away and walking up the stairs with her behind me. Once we got to her room she got into her bed without protesting. I sat down in the edge of her bed and stroked her hair for a while.

"I hope you have a good sleep, I love you."

"I love you." She managed to say through shaky breaths.

"Goodnight. Go to bed." I said as I leaned down to hug her. She was still crying a little as I shut the lights off and left the room. She hadn't had a real meltdown like that in a long time, the only other times she truly got really upset were when she was having anxiety attacks. This kind of thing that just happened reminded me of something that would happen when her dad first died. She could turn any situation as an excuse to cry over her dad.

Besides the sleep issues and the crying about me not talking to her on the phone that one time during release week, I'd say she's done pretty good emotion-wise lately. Until now, but I couldn't blame her. I just prayed that she got a good nights sleep, that's what she needed.