Survivor - Connor x OC

Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince

Taylor Swift – Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince

Taylor put her earbuds in and flipped through her phone. She lowered herself onto the top step of the stairwell, checking to make sure she still had service here. Shaking Connor hadn't been easy, but she had eventually convinced him that he needed to go reconcile whatever disagreement he had with Markus while she ordered room service.

She wasn't entirely sure why she didn't want Connor to know she was going off to talk to Alex in private, except that it was about him. Just the whole thing was making her nervous, and maybe she was still on the fence about whether she wanted to stay in Detroit or go home to Los Angeles.

The phone started to ring in her ear, and she closed her eyes, waiting for him to answer. Feeling her heart rate increase. Her lips quirked when she imagined Connor scanning her. Knowing. "Well, well. Finally made time in your busy schedule to call."

"Hey Alex," she sighed. It had really only been a day since she told him he didn't need to call her every day to check on her, but he wasn't going to let it pass without comment. That wasn't in his nature.

"Are you staying in Washington D.C. while they vote on this bill?" He sounded like he'd been itching to ask it. Taylor sat the phone in her hand down on the stair, just by her hip, and crossed her arms over her knees.

"I don't think so. Nothing is decided just yet, but I think we'll fly back to Detroit by then end of the week. Next week at the earliest." She didn't want to tell him they might put in the extra days because of the threat from Helping Humans. There was no need to worry him unnecessarily. "We have no idea how long it will take the bill to get through Congress, if it even passes. President Warren is hoping it passes through before the holidays."

"And what about you?" Alex asked it very neutrally, but she knew what he really wanted to know. How soon would she be coming back to Los Angeles? At the end of the day, he only cared about this insomuch as she was a part of it. He wasn't asking about the bill at all.

"I didn't call to talk about my flight plans," she said finally. She leaned forward, pressed her forehead against her folded arms, listening to the silence all around her.

"Well what did you call to talk about?" Alex said when he realized she wasn't continuing. He sounded apprehensive now. She wished she knew if he suspected or if he just thought she was going to say that she was never coming home. As the silence stretched on, he added, softer, "I'm listening, Taylor."

Just that was enough to almost break her. She couldn't bring herself to imagine doing anything to hurt him, not on purpose. He was the person who had stuck around, who had waded through all of her messes and put all of her pieces back together. He was the one who was always there, always checking on her. He was her family.

"You were right," she managed to croak out, over the raw lump in her throat that was forming already.

"You gotta be more specific. That happens all the time with me." He was trying to make a joke, trying to make her smile. He could already tell how fragile she was becoming. He could always tell. She smiled despite herself.

"About Connor." She huffed, a tremble going up her spine. She didn't think it would be this hard. "About me and Connor. You were right. I lied."

"Oh." Alex's one-word response was hard to decipher. Perhaps more surprise than anything else. Clearly, he was expecting her to say something else. "Taylor, I was teasing before. I really don't care if you're in love with an android."

"I know." Almost a whisper now. Maybe she was just telling him as a prelude to the real truth: she couldn't leave Connor now. But she didn't want to leave Alex either. Life wasn't fair.