Act Two, Chapter Fourteen

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October Seventeenth, 2023

Uh, oh,

It's 2 AM. Taylor's watched her phone ring out twice, but she tries again, this time successfully.

She doesn't fully realize how late it is, so when Mikah grumbles out "Dude, it's the middle of the night." The only thing she can say is,

"Oh."

She's high. Like, very high, and Mikah can tell.

"How much did you smoke at Jack's?"

"Umm, I dunno. I think like two between both of us."

She hears Mikah chuckle, "You're gonna feel like shit, later, you know."

"Yeahhh, I knoww," Taylor sighs. "I miss you."

"You saw me, like, 2 days ago," She can't see her, but knows she's doing that stupid pout that kills her every time. "I miss you, too, though. We should just move in together at this point."

"But we're not even, like, together together, right?"

"Do you want to be?" They should probably have this conversation while Taylor's sober, but if there's one thing she's learned over the past month she's been hanging out with her, Taylor fully loses her filter when she's inebriated.

She hesitates for a moment, "I guess so, yeah."

"Me too, honestly."

Taylor swallows, "Can we have this conversation when I'm sober, please?"

"Yeah, yeah, totally," Mikah says, nodding, even though she can't see her. "I won't do anything you're not comfortable with, okay? If you wanna try being girlfriend/girlfriend and it doesn't feel right, that's okay. You have full lead."

"Okay. Thanks," Taylor whispers. "Good night."

"Night."

I'm falling in love.

***

October Twenty-First, 2023

Oh, no,

They had the conversation pretty much immediately after Taylor woke up and ridded herself of her headache, where they---for the most part---officially established themselves as girlfriends. And now she has to tell Tree.

She probably should've told her before now, but she's been dreading telling Tree about this since they started hanging out. It's not like she won't support her or anything, it's just the publicity and the politics and all that bullshit.

Tree loves Taylor like a daughter, and she knows that, but she's not always...approving of her romantic choices, let's say. Tree cares about Taylor The Person more than Taylor herself does, but she gets paid to protect Taylor The Brand.

"I, um, I have something that I need to talk to you about, it's kind of important, I guess." Tree gets this look on her face that can only be described as oh boy.

"So, remember a few weeks ago when I told you I was seeing someone?" Tree nods. "Well, we're like official now, I guess, as of a few days ago and--"

Taylor watches her publicist take a deep breath, "Taylor, if you're pregnant, I swear to god, I'm gonna need a raise."

Taylor just sits there for a moment. "Why would I be..?"

"You're with someone, it's new, you're off birth control, that's never a good combo."

"Wait, how do you know I'm off birth control?" That woman can seriously read her mind.

"You took four consecutive days off last month," Tree shrugs. Ah, yep, that'll do it. "Seriously, though, if I have to do damage control for a pregnancy that I don't even know whose it is I'm gonna need you to pay me more."

"Okay, well, I'm most certainly not pregnant, because, 1) I am literally on my period," She stops to take a breath. She had a whole list of ways this could go, but for some reason the assumption she was pregnant didn't occur to her.

Fuck it, rip the band-aid off.

"And 2) I'm...dating a woman."

Tree falls silent, far too long than Taylor would like. "Please don't be mad. I know it'll complicate things and I'm sorry, I just-"

"Hey, honey," Tree scoots closer, immediately clocking the panicked nature of her clients' words. "I'm not mad, I promise. I'm just...separating my publicist train of thought from my actual train of thought. I'm happy for you."

Taylor smiles, at least the hard part is over with.

"Tell me about her, I won't ask any PR questions."

"Promise?"

Tree chuckles, "promise."

"God, Tree, she's perfect. Her name is Mikah, she's 29. Fresh out of college, only writes in cursive, and she's just so, so sweet." She's got that stupid, down bad smile on her face, one of those smiles you can hear.

"The bar is like, so low for me, but she's just—I don't know, she just does everything right,"

She brings her hands up to cover her face, "she has this brother, though. Lives with him. He's honestly kind of an asshole. Wouldn't be surprised if her ran his mouth to the media, so sorry about that.."

Taylor continues gushing about this girl for ten, maybe fifteen minutes. Just telling Tree absolutely everything from how Jack set them up, to how she had to completely restock Mikah's pantry the other day because the only thing she had was a half empty bag of white chocolate chips.

"Obviously, I want to see her in person before I form an opinion, but from what I can tell, but she seems really great." Tree gives Taylor a gentle arm squeeze, "you seem really happy, hon."

"I am. I really, really am."

I'm falling in love, again

***

October Twenty-Second, 2023

Oh,

"You're sure you've never been with a woman before? Like, 100% sure?" Mikah says, gently rolling Taylor off of her.

"I'm pretty sure, yeah." Taylor shrugs, scooting so her head is laying on the younger blonde's arm. "Why?"

"You're just very good with your hands, that's all." Mikah murmurs, feeling Taylor gently kiss her face.

"I've been playing guitar since I was twelve, I just have strong fingers, I guess."

Mikah kisses Taylor's head, gathering her into her arms. "Okay, Mrs. I Basically Made Out With All My Friends in My Twenties"

Taylor playfully hits Mikah with the back of her hand. "Well, yeah. I've kissed girls before, but you're the first one I've slept with."

"I'm honored."

"I don't even think I knew women would sleep with each other until I was, like, your age."

Mikah immediately sits up, looking down at her girlfriend, bewildered. "You're fucking joking! You cannot be serious right now."

"I'm serious! I knew it was a thing that happened I just didn't know how!" Taylor laughs.

"Oh my god, you are so straight."

"Babe, be so for real right now. You saw my tits on the second date, I am not fucking straight."

"Did you just come out to me?"

Taylor shrugs, "I didn't specify how I'm not straight so no, not really." She positions herself so Mikah is laying on her chest, "rest assured my actual coming out will be significantly more tearful."

Mikah smiles into her, "gotcha."

They just lay there, in silence, for a few minutes. Soaking up the warmth of the moment, listening to the other breathe.

"I have a song coming out Friday." Mikah murmurs, breaking the silence.

"Seriously!?" Taylor exclaims, the younger woman nods in response. She brings her face to hers, kissing her soundly. "Holy shit, this is big! Which song is it?"

Mikah giggles at her girlfriends' enthusiasm. "Funeral. You know, the super fucking sad one."

Taylor's smile just grows wider. "I'm so fucking proud of you, oh my gosh. I'm gonna make that song go number one, I promise you."

"It's not really the style of song to do that.."

"I don't care. It's going number one because I said so." She kisses her again, deeper this time. "Everyone's gonna love you, I promise. Because I love you."

"Stop it. I love you, too."

I'm falling in love.

🩶🩶🩶

act 2 is coming to a close!! and then act 3!! and then it's over 😭😭
sorry for the delay i've been going through it recently
not proofread
vote/comment/etc love youuu alllll