I am your summer

Part II - KARLIE - Chapter 3

When Karlie steps out onto the street, she realizes it has begun to rain. She curses under her breath and walks faster. Taylor lives in a quiet side street and it's a little bit of a walk towards the next metro station. She doesn't have a jacket, and the rain feels cold against her skin. She doesn't come far when without a warning, a loud thunder bursts through the air, immediately followed by a large and heavy downpour.

Karlie is soaked in seconds and seeks refuge in the entrance of a small shop. She can see other people on the street either do the same or start running. Her teeth are clattering. Damn it, she thinks. I can't catch a cold, we have two away games next week. She shuts her eyes and wishes the thunderstorm away.

Her earlier conversation with Taylor still on her mind and the taste of her lips still lingering on her mouth, she thinks back to Tokyo and to everything that led her to having to apologize to Taylor in the first place.

___________

Karlie stopped dead in her tracks when she saw her. Her teammate bumped into her, and Karlie dropped the ball onto the floor. It bounced a few times, then rolled away. Karlie paid it no mind.

"Karlie?"

The tall athlete wasn't listening. Her eyes had zeroed in on the figure of the person who had just entered the gym. It was a woman, a bag thrown over her shoulder and a stack of paper in her arms. She was glancing nervously around the gym, then headed towards the bleachers. Karlie watched her sit down and study her notes. It seemed like she hadn't noticed Karlie.

It's her. It was all Karlie could think. It's Taylor. Even from the distance, there was no mistaking it. Karlie knew from the way her blonde hair was falling over her shoulder and from the way she carried herself. She had only seen her for one night of her life, but she would recognize her anywhere. The woman who still occupied Karlie's thoughts before she fell asleep at night, whose face she secretly looked for in every crowd, who she wished she was kissing every time she took another girl home. Taylor.

"Karlie?" Her teammate asked again.

Karlie snapped out of her daze. She felt like the world had slowed down, but it had only been a couple of seconds. The ball she had dropped was still rolling across the field. The teammate at the other end of the court whom she had meant to pass it to picked it up and threw it back. Karlie caught it.

"Oh, sorry. I just remembered something." She tried to appear nonchalant.

"Who's that who just came in?"

Her teammate looked towards the bleachers. She shrugged. "Must be the new reporter that coach was telling us about. We have an interview after practice, remember?"

"Oh. Right." Karlie breathed out audibly. It had slipped her mind. She still felt jetlagged.

They rounded up their practice with simple lay-up's and give-and-go's, then coach told them to take a quick shower.

Once inside the locker room, Karlie searched for her agenda in her bag and pulled out the schedule. It was written there clear as day: Saturday, July 18th. Saitama Super Arena. Light Practice 1-2:30 PM. Subsequent interview w/ Taylor Swift*, Vibrant Magazine. * Substitute for Cara Delevingne.

Their usual reporter, Cara, wasn't in Tokyo yet. Right. She knew that. She hadn't given the substitute much thought. And yet, it had been right in front of her. Cara, the reporter, knew Taylor, apparently also a reporter and coincidentally the woman who had been on Karlie's mind for a year.

Karlie sat down on the bench with a sigh, trying to process everything. Her teammates were already starting to shower. She couldn't believe that Taylor was working for Vibrant Magazine. Had she already been working there when they met? She surely wasn't a sports journalist, or she would have recognized Karlie at the bar?