Timeless

Lover - Part I

November 2018

NY

It was a widely known fact that she was living her best life. If you looked into her social media accounts she was always smiling alongside friends and family, if you happened to be walking around New York City you were sure to find a billboard of her every couple of blocks, if you turned on the TV you couldn't go more than an hour without seeing her promoting a product, and at night you could find her giving an interview during a late night show. Yes, she was living her best life, everyone seemed to agree she was, everyone but her.

Work was flowing steadily and she kept busy most of the time, however, buried beneath all of her commitments, there was a reserved special time that occurred every two weeks, a time where she could let go of the façade and just be herself, a secret time no one knew about.

She glanced at the clock that sat on the corner of her desk, five more minutes and she was off for the weekend.

"Karlie, could you please sign these before you go?" Her assistant took her out of her thoughts.

"Sure, you caught me with one foot at the door"

"You are leaving on time? Are you feeling well?" He joked and she rolled her eyes.

"I have a life too, believe it or not"

"Oh, I know, but your personal life rarely prevents you from being the workaholic we all know and love"

"Well, work will have to wait until Monday" She said, turning off her computer and putting the rest of her stuff away.

"Any special plans this weekend?"

"Something like that" She could barely contain her smile

"Have fun, you deserve it boss" He was sincere, and she appreciated the gesture.

"Thanks Eric, you too" She gave him the signed papers and walked out of the office, leaving all worries behind with every step she made.

Nashville

She was sitting at the piano, mindlessly playing the same chords over and over again, while silently cursing at the clock for not making time go by faster.

Karlie had sent her a text when she landed, which had been a little over half an hour ago. Part of her felt bad for not being there to meet her at the airport, but she knew they had to lay low for the time being. If someone caught on the fact that they were both in the city at the same time, it was going to be easy for the fans to connect the dots and the press to go wild with the story.

Taylor had been in Nashville for almost two weeks trying to work on her new album, she had chosen Nashville as the city always brought her a sense of calmness, it was definitely not as hectic as Manhattan or LA and she almost felt like a normal person when she was there, almost.

"Honey, I'm home" the cheerful voice brought her out of her reverie and she quickly made her way to the front door, where the woman she had been waiting for stood.

Karlie was a sight to behold for Taylor, standing by the door and wearing the same gray suit she had worn to work, looking impeccable as always even after a three-hour flight.

Taylor immediately went to her, wrapped her arms around her neck and kissed her.

"I've missed you" she whispered as they parted.

"I've missed you too"

"How was your flight? Are you hungry?"

"Long and yes"

They made their way to the kitchen where Taylor had something already in the oven.

At the early stages of their relationship everything had been perfect, they were friends to the eye of the world, and nobody suspected the true nature of their relationship. Unfortunately, people started talking, and soon enough they found themselves caught in the eye of the storm. It had been a hard time and their relationship barely survived. It was then when they agreed that no matter where they were in the world, they were always going to set time aside to be with each other, even if it was only possible every couple of weeks.

"That smells delicious" Karlie said while wrapping her arms around Taylor from behind.

"I've been trying out some new recipes this past week"

"I could easily get used to this" She started nibbling Taylor's neck, making most of the singer's coherent thoughts go away, one by one.

"You should stop what you are doing, if you don't want me to burn our dinner"

"Fine, we'll have plenty of time this weekend anyway" She said while reluctantly moving away from Taylor and walking over to the fridge to open a bottle of wine to go along with their meal.

"How's the new album coming along?"

"Good but not too good, hence the recipe trying" She pulled a container from the oven.

Karlie knew Taylor was a bit guarded when it came to talk about music when working on a new album, so she decided to drop the subject and started putting the table.

They had missed each other, and between laughter and wine, their evening flowed as easily as always.

Not long after dinner they moved to the living room, both housing a glass of wine comfortably in their hands.

"We should start thinking about Christmas decorations" Taylor suggested

"I love Christmas, something about setting up the tree, the lights and stockings. It's just magical, makes you want to keep that magic even if it's just for a little longer."

"You know, we could always leave the Christmas lights up until January and keep the magic going for a little longer. And you know what, we could go a bit crazy and leave them up until Valentine's day and then replace them with little hearts, and in March we can put another set of decorations like butterflies and just keep the theme changing all year round."

"You're a goof" Karlie laughed and looked at Taylor in the eyes, her expression showing nothing but pure adoration.

"I love you"

"I love you, too"

They didn't know it yet, but this was going to be one of their favorite weekends, for years to come.