A/N: I'm so sorry for not updating! I feel like it's been years since I last posted a new chapter but yeah, I'm finally off of school now so I'm hoping to be able to post a lot more than I have been in the last few days!

Thanks so much for reading!! You're all awesome! :) :) 

Maddie :)

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Karlie

            “Okay, that was a life changing experience.” I breathed. Taylor had just let me listen to ‘1989’ in its entirety: whole day before it was supposed to be released. I couldn’t find the words to let her know how incredible it was. The songs she wrote told the story of the last two years of her life, and it hadn’t even occurred to me how she had gone through. I loved all of her previous albums, but there was something different about this one that I couldn’t put my finger on.

“Thanks, Karlie.” Taylor gushed. She leaned in and gave me a lingering peck on my cheek, and I smiled in return.

“No! Thank you for letting me listen to it a day early!” I said as I shook my head. “Now that I’ve heard it before everyone else I feel like I’m in on some huge secret.” I said with a laugh. I moved my hand and traced it along her waist, resting my arm as it met her side. Taylor giggled in return and looked up at me, her blue eyes meeting mine.

“You know, I’ve wanted to share it with you over the last few months. When I was finishing up the last couple of songs all I wanted to do was send them to you. I was proud of the album and how it turned out, but I still really wanted to hear your opinion. It’s too late to change anything now of course; it’s just reassuring for me that you like it.” She admitted coyly.

“Taylor,” I sighed. “You could have sent it to me. I know that we weren’t speaking but when it comes to your work that’s totally different—it has nothing to do with anything going on between us.” I reasoned. She nodded her head in agreement and the corners of her mouth rose into a small smile.

“I guess you’re right, I just wanted to give you your space, that’s all.” She said, placing her hands on mine. My eyes met hers again and I chewed my lip anxiously. I remembered all of the nights in St. Louis where I was praying for her to get a hold of me; I would wait up at night hoping for something—an email, a text or a phone call, but it never came. However, it was somewhat comforting to know that Taylor hadn’t forgotten about me.

            “Well, that was really thoughtful of you,” I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes. “That was the last thing I wanted, you know that?” I asked. Taylor’s eyes widened in surprise and another smile came across her lips.

“Really? It didn’t seem like it when you slammed the door in my face.” She quipped. I let out a small chuckle and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear.

“Please, I was just playing hard to get,” I retorted. Taylor threw her head back and burst into laughter—I didn’t think it was as hilarious as she made it out to be.

“Alright, Kloss. Whatever helps you sleep at night.” Taylor managed in between giggles. I nudged her shoulder playfully and stood up to walk into the kitchen.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I questioned in mock hurt as I looked over my shoulder.

“You know exactly what it means!” Taylor accused. She hopped off of her bed and jogged to catch up to me. She threw her arm over my shoulder when she grew close enough, and placed a quick kiss on my cheek. “You kissed me last night—on more than one occasion, actually—if I remember correctly.” She wiggled her eyebrows at me and pushed her tongue to the corner of her mouth as she teased me. I couldn’t help but laugh at how hard she was trying to tease me.

“I don’t think that’s how it went down,” I started. “But whatever helps you sleep at night, I guess.” I pouted my lip at her and placed my hand on the fridge door, pulling it open.

“Yeah, alright. I’ll let you win this time.” She joked. Taylor leaned back against the kitchen counter and used her arms to push her up so that she was sitting on top of it. “So, what’s for breakfast? Or brunch, I should say.” She asked as she swung her legs from side to side. I turned to face her and I shrugged my shoulders.

“I don’t know, what do you have? I didn’t see much in the fridge, so it’s up to you.” I held my finger and pointed at the refrigerator as the door closed shut.

“I guess we could go out to eat?” Taylor offered. “There’s that place that does an awesome brunch less than a block from here. I don’t really feel like running out to get groceries right now, so we should eat out instead.” She suggested.  I took a few steps towards Taylor, closing the gap between the two of us so that I was standing the space between her legs. I let my hands rest on her waist as I leaned my hips against the front of the counter.

“Sounds great,” I said softly. “It’s strange to think that we only have a couple of days left until we both go back to work.” I groaned as my chin fell into my chest.

“I know,” Taylor agreed. “It’s just bad timing, Karls. There’s not much we can do about it. Besides, I’m only promoting my album for two weeks, and I’ll be back with lots of time for Thanksgiving festivities!” She exclaimed. Taylor placed her hands on my shoulders and squeezed soothingly.

“I guess so,” I let out a sigh and allowed my gaze to meet hers. “I’m really excited for Thanksgiving with you, you know. Are we going to have our own, or did you want to go to your parents’?” I asked. I leaned in and place a soft kiss on her lips, and I felt Taylor smile against me.

“We should do our own. I’ll invite my parents up and we can have it here, that’d be fun, wouldn’t it?” She urged.

“It totally would be! Let’s do it—we’ll call your parents later.” I offered. I thought of the days that we had spent at Taylor’s parents house and a smile crept upon my face. Her mom and dad were really easy to be around; I got along well with them, and Taylor had said that they really liked me too. Thinking of spending the holiday with them rather than my parents seemed like a much better idea, although I couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed that my parents hadn’t come around to me and Taylor yet.

            “What are you thinking about?” Taylor asked suddenly. She brought her thumb to my chin and raised it delicately so that we were seeing eye-to-eye.

“Nothing too important.” I lied as I avoided her gaze. Taylor She rolled her eyes and coughed.

“I know you’re lying,” She warned. “Tell me the truth, Karlie.”

“I don’t know—I’ve been thinking about the phone call with my parents yesterday, and I guess it just sucks that they don’t support us. I wanted them to meet you so badly, and I wanted them to love you like I do, but they won’t even hear it.” I sighed hopelessly. Taylor shook her head and furrowed her brow.

“You can’t blame them,” She reasoned. “They’re only looking out for you. I would be acting the same way if the roles were reversed. And don’t get me wrong, Karlie—I want to meet them too, but it’s going to be awhile until they come to terms with us being together again.” She added. I knew she was right. Maybe I shouldn’t have taken Taylor back, but I didn’t care. She made a mistake, and I forgave her for it, so it should have been the end of the discussion.

“Let’s hope for the best then,” I raised my eyebrows with a sigh and I turned to walk out of the kitchen. Behind me, I heard Taylor hop off of the counter and her footsteps pattered on the hardwood floor, making their way to me. “We should hurry up and eat though, I’m starving!” I announced. I bent over and picked up my jacket that was still on the floor from last night. Throwing it over my shoulder, I turned to face Taylor, who was slipping her coat on as well.

“Yeah, me too,” She agreed. “I can’t wait.”

*                                                             *                                                            *

“Why was that only our first time going to that place?” I asked as we walked out of the restaurant and into the busy street. There were cameras everywhere—I guess the paparazzi knew that we were back together. I placed my hand on the small of Taylor’s back as we hopped into the black SUV that was waiting for us on the curb.

“I don’t know, but we’re definitely going there again soon!” Taylor chimed. “Do you think they know that we’re back on?” Taylor asked as she nodded her head towards the cameras. They began to fade off in the distance as the SUV pulled away to head back to Taylor’s place.

“Most likely,” I said. “Or if they don’t know then they probably suspect something.” I pointed out. Taylor nodded her head in understanding and pulled her phone out of her pocket.

“I’ll check my Tumblr—Maybe the fans have picked up on it.” She said as she flashed me a smirk.

“Oh please, I’m sure they’ve already made gifs of us leaving the restaurant!” I joked. We shared a laugh and I wrapped my arm around her shoulder. Taylor laced her fingers through mine and I leaned in to give her a quick kiss on her cheek. Then, she leaned her head on my shoulder, but I jumped when I felt my phone buzz in my jean pocket.

“Sorry Tay, give me two seconds.” I apologized. I reach inside my pants for my phone and dragged it out. The caller ID read ‘Mom’, and I let out a groan in disgust.

“Who is it?” Taylor asked, noticing my discomfort.

“It’s my Mom,” I complained. “She probably just wants to remind me that I’m not coming to their dinner.” I sighed. I hurriedly pressed the ‘talk’ button and raised the phone to my ear.

            “Hello?” I said.

“Hi, honey. How are you?” My mom said on the other end. Her tone was delicate, as if she was dancing around the argument that we had yesterday.

“I’m fine,” I replied flatly. “What do you want?” I asked.

“Are you with Taylor right now?” My mom questioned. I rolled my eyes dramatically and let out another deep sigh.

“Maybe. Why?”

“Well, your father and I have been thinking,” Her voice trailed off and I already knew what she was going to say. “You must really love this girl, Karlie. We would love to get to know her and maybe we’ll be able to get past what she did to you.”

“I’m already past it,” I scoffed. “So why is it still a big deal for you guys?” I asked. Taylor’s mouth dropped open and she hit me on the shoulder.

“Be nice!” Taylor ordered, half-whispering, half-shouting. I shook my head at her and gently pushed her hand away.

            “It’s because we want what’s best for you, sweetie. That’s all we’ve ever wanted, and you know that. Anyway, we were hoping that maybe you wouldn’t mind coming down to visit us for Thanksgiving after all?” I could feel my mom brace herself through the phone. She knew that I wasn’t impressed with the way they had treated me yesterday, but she still decided to try and make up.

“No, we’re fine, thanks. Taylor and I already made plans to have a dinner at her place. We invited her family too.” I growled. I felt Taylor’s hand on mine and I looked over at her.

“Karlie, don’t be like that!” She scolded. “I want to go! We haven’t even told my parents about our plans yet, so we’ll just scrap it. Let’s just go. Please?” She begged as she pouted her lip and softened her eyes.

            “Is that Taylor who said that?” I heard my mom call through my phone speaker. “You should listen to her. We’ll all have fun. I promise. You don’t even have to stay for the night—even a day visit would be fine. Please Karlie? Your father and your siblings would love to see you again.” Between Taylor and my mom, I knew that they wouldn’t stop pestering me if I didn’t agree, so I raised my hands up in defeat.

“Fine. We’ll come down and see you in a few weeks,” I grumbled. “But if you, Dad, or any of the girls say anything remotely negative about Taylor being there then we’re leaving. Got it?” I ordered.

“Of course! We can’t wait to see you! I’m already counting down the days!” My mom squealed. “I’ll let you go now anyway. Thanks so much Karlie. Love you!”

“Love you too,” I replied. “Bye.” I quickly hung up my phone and placed it back in my pocket. I was weary about bringing Taylor to St. Louis; although my mom had told me that she was excited, I had a feeling that my sisters wouldn’t be too thrilled about it. They were all furious with Taylor the entire time that I was home, and I knew that they hadn’t gotten over it just yet. I could already feel the anxiety tearing at my chest and the dinner was still a month away—even worse, Taylor was probably going to feel even more nervous than me, and I would have to be the one reassure her.

“So we’re going to St. Louis?” Taylor asked as squeezed my hand and flashed her eyes at me.

“I guess so,” I said lowly. “I’m already nervous about it.” I admitted.

“Don’t freak out just yet,” She advised. She raised her eyebrows at me knowingly but it didn’t help to take any of the weight off of my chest. “Your mom seemed to be in a pretty good mood, so maybe the whole thing will go over well.” She laughed. I nodded my head in agreement, and I hoped that she was right.

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I know this one isn't the best but please hang in there because I've got awesome stuff coming :)