[4] Jump Then Fall

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I want to tell her, Karlie thinks as she double bounces Taylor on her trampoline, her squeal of delight making her blonde hair stand on end. She'd thought this earlier, in the kitchen, eating nutella with her straight out of the jar, their long tongues licking spoons, dramatically sighing  over the heavenly chocolate-hazelnut spread. She wanted to tell her then, giggling over sticky fingers, but she didn't.

Karlie knows when she first thought it: over a guitar in a hotel in Arizona, Taylor had just gotten off the stage hours before, her blonde hair falling over her face, fingers red from playing her own secret show. She hadn't quite known then, but she knows now. This doesn't feel like just friends; there's an ease there that she's never quite had with anyone before. She smiles, watching her flailing limbs and flying hair, and thinks she's beautiful. That thought gives Karlie a twist in her stomach that has nothing to do with the trampoline. But she is so out of my league...

But that's just it. He knows their chemistry runs deeper than just that fashion show runway. It's why she didn't mind that even though Taylor had called her over to her house with the pretense of baking cookies, she had put down her spatula and exclaimed "Do you want to see my trampoline?!" Of course, she'd said yes, because, why not? She looked so gleeful, that even though she'd rather sit on a sofa and spend time with her calmly, it really didn't matter what they were doing if it meant she got to see her smile. And two overly-sized humans for a trampoline made her smile.

She must feel this too. She must know. I want to tell her--

Suddenly, they both bounce too high and promptly end up falling on top of each other, a tangle of bodies in the middle of the trampoline. They collapse into each other, gasping for air, high from the adrenaline rush of constantly jumping and falling, laughing silently about nothing at all. Slowly, the laughter fades out, and its just them, lying on their backs on a trampoline, staring at the big blue sky. Without warning, Taylor jumps up.

"C'mon Karlie, bounce with meeee!", gently kicking the model's side with her bare toes.

"No, I can't. I'm too tired," Karlie protests to no one in particular, closing her eyes against the bright, LA sun. Taylor rolls her eyes, a pantomime of annoyance were it not for the smile playing at her lips.

"No, I can't, I'm too tired," she teases, elongating her vowels and adding influxes where they don't belong. She's terrible at imitating Karlie's accent and she knows it.

"Are you mocking me?" she asks, though the answer is obvious.

"No, I would never!" she replies, and Karlie looks visibly pained, this attempt worse than the last. She laughs easily, dropping down to sit cross-legged facing her. "Karrrrrrlllll." She pokes her side with her pointer finger, watching her squint into the sun "Watcha thinkin'?"

She eyes her questioningly. "You sure you want to know?".

"Yeah, of course I want to know!"

"You sure? 'Cause if I tell you what I'm thinking about right now--" She smirks and looks away, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks. Taylor swats his arm, "Karlie tell me!"

It's just," she furrows her brow, uncertain if it's the right time to say it. Fuck just do it. "There is something more than that here...right?" She sits up to gauge her reaction better. "I'm not imagining things, am I?" It catches Taylor off-guard, her mouth opening and closing like a fish.

"Karlie....." she starts slowly, "We would never work. You know that, you must know that."

Karlie sighs heavily and scratches the back of her head. "Yeah I know."

In a way, they've discussed this, though not directly. Karlie knows they come to relationships from different places.

"I just wanted to know... y'know... if you felt it too?" Karlie cautiously looks up at her through her fringe. By now, they are both sitting cross-legged in the center of the trampoline, facing each other. Taylor is staring at her hands, her expression is unreadable. The silence is tangible, spilling over edges and rushing forward into unknowns.

"Yeah, I know, I'm not completely blind. There is something here, but I think it's like..." Taylor pauses and bites her lip, staring off into the distance behind Karlie. "That's not what I want from this, 'cause, you know...." She trails off, trying to fit the words together.

"...everything will change?" Karlie supplies.

They both look up into each other's faces, and smile at each other. Karlie gets it. She can hear Taylor's thoughts almost. The singer doesn't want to fuck this up, whatever this is. She's not ready.

So she changes the subject.

Karlie claps a hand on her back. "C'mon, lets go finish those cookies! And maybe you can show me that new song about Mr. One Direction Boy you were talking about."

Taylor clicks her tongue against her teeth and narrows her eyes, all disdain, were it not for the grin playing at the corners of her mouth. "You're such an dork."

"Yep," Karlie says, dismounting from the trampoline gracefully. "But I'm your favorite, right?" She stands with her arms out and head cocked to the side, grinning stupidly back at her.

"Definitely." She says, swinging her legs over the trampoline's edge, "And that's saying a lot." Karlie offers her a hand to help her down, and she takes it without question, jumping down. They stand there facing each other, for a moment, their hands intertwined, and Karlie can't help thinking this feels so right--

--until she pulls her hand away and scampers back towards the house. "Race you to the living room!" she calls over her shoulder, and Karlie groans to chase after her.


Give her time, she thinks, smiling as she runs after her. She'll come 'round.



Fin

-/-

Thanks for reading! :)  Thought this would be cute fluff.


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