The Reunion
It had been years since Taylor had talked to Dianna. She could confidently say she was over those green eyes. Well, if being over someone meant you could go a couple weeks without thinking of them.
Dianna was no longer in Taylor’s dreams. She thought that was good progress. It made it easier to forget the dreams when Taylor would wake up next to Karlie. By the time Karlie wasn’t there when she woke up, she had stopped having the dreams anyway.
But of course, someone like Dianna doesn’t stay out of your thoughts for very long. To be fair, it was hard to ignore someone when they quite literally show up to your dressing room. Unannounced, Taylor might add.
“Di? Wh-What are you doing here?” The last person Taylor expected to be standing in her doorway, was in fact standing in her doorway.
“Hi Taylor.” Dianna hesitated. Taylor wasn’t used to seeing a nervous Dianna. It wasn’t exactly her style. She tended to portray herself as more confident, like she knew everyone in the room was looking at her. “I was just here to see the show, I thought I’d stop by and wish you goodluck.”
Based on their history, Taylor knew there was probably a lot more to this encounter than just saying goodluck.
“Thank you.” To be honest, Taylor wasn’t sure how to approach this. On one hand, knowing Dianna didn’t completely hate her provided Taylor a sense of relief. On the other hand, she knew how broken she had left Dianna, and that definitely left a lot of guilt in her mind. “Do you want to come in? I don’t have long before I have to go on, but I’d love to catch up.”
It was the truth. Taylor had, of course, been keeping up with Dianna on social media. She knew about Winston, but she couldn’t quite figure out how the other woman was doing.
“I’m actually supposed to meet a few friends, but maybe we could catch up after?”
“Of course!” Taylor’s mind raced at the idea of where this could go. “You’ll be at the after party?”
“If that’s where you’ll be.” Dianna flashed a small smile. Damn, Taylor was swooning over such simple words. She couldn’t help herself.
“Perfect.” Taylor heard someone calling her ten minute warning to stage in the background. “I’ll see you then.”
“I’ll be looking forward to it.” With that, Dianna turned and walked down the hall. As she was leaving, she looked back with a wink.
“Break a leg, kid.”
It was nice to know that some things between them would never change.
Performing always gave Taylor a rush, but knowing Dianna was in the audience just caused her to play up the performance even more. She tried her very hardest not to look over at Dianna, but the two had definitely locked eyes more than a few times. It amazed her how even in a room full of people, singing a song meant for someone else, she felt as if she was only singing to Dianna.
Once she had finished both of her sets, she made her way back to her dressing room. She wasn’t surprised to be met with a greeting from Joe, but the encounter seemed to bring her back to reality.
“That was a great performance.” Taylor had to admit, Joe did have a very nice accent. If things were different, she could almost see herself falling for him for real. “It was probably my favorite so far.”
Joe and Taylor’s relationship was complicated. At least, it was to anyone who wasn’t in the industry. Their relationship started as nothing more than a PR. At its core, it was still just that. But Taylor had become quite fond of Joe. He was kind and charismatic, and he genuinely cared about her.
At the very least, you could consider the two very close friends.
“Thank you.” Taylor began removing her stage makeup and preparing for the after party. “I think it may have been one of my favorites, too.”
Taylor smiled to herself. Maybe it was just because of a certain someone in the audience.
It took less than thirty minutes for Taylor and Joe to get in the car that would be taking them to the after party. By the time they settled in, Taylor was beginning to feel very nervous.
She had no idea what the night had in store for her. Right as they were pulling up, she had forced herself to calm down. She told herself this was super casual, just two old friends catching up. Everything was fine.
Soon, the cameras were flashing and she was being led by Joe towards a private venue. Once inside, she was on high alert, constantly checking her surroundings.
The pair were led through a large room that was filled with tables of people eating. After that, they were led up a flight of stairs that hosted more private areas, which were all also filled with people eating and drinking.
Taylor had her own private area, complete with a buffet of many different expensive foods and their own private bartender. A few of Taylor’s friends were already there, including Dianna and her friends. She wasn’t sure how they knew where to go, but she was somewhat thankful that she wouldn’t be spending half the night looking for Dianna.
Although, from what she could tell, Dianna seemed to have already become friendly with the bartender. Typical.
“Hey, so I’m just gonna make the rounds. Don’t feel like you have to be tied to me all night.” Taylor turned to Joe. “Go have some fun. My treat.”
Joe laughed. “How kind of you. Let me know if you need anything, alright?”
“Of course.” Joe made his way to the table Gigi and a few other models were at.
Well, at least he’d be occupied for the rest of the night. Unfortunately, that meant Taylor couldn’t put off facing Dianna any longer. So she walked up to the bar and ordered an old fashioned.
“Still the same order, huh?” Dianna chuckled as she turned to face Taylor.
“You know me,” Taylor thanked the bartender and took a sip. “I’m glad you came.”
“Why wouldn’t I?” Dianna looked genuinely confused.
“I don’t know…” Taylor decided to just dive right in. “I didn’t think you’d be fond of me after everything.”
“Well I’m just full of surprises.” Dianna looked around. “Do you wanna go somewhere more private to talk?”
While Taylor had her own space, the area was quickly filling up with people. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to be in a room alone with Dianna, but she definitely did not want to have whatever conversation they were about to have in a crowd of people.
“Sure. Know any places?”
“Of course I do.” Dianna grabbed Taylor’s hand and led her down to the main room, then towards a set of stairs that was off to the side. She never would’ve noticed it herself, but of course, Dianna seemed to know where everything was. Finally, the pair found themselves in a secluded booth in a room that was a lot calmer than the rest of the building.
“So...how have you been?” Taylor thought it was best to start easy.
“Well, you could say I’ve been better.” Dianna’s eyes darted down and then back up very quickly. “But I’ve also been worse. So I’ll say I’ve been alright. How have you been? You seem to be very happy.”
With that, Taylor snorted. She knew in the way Dianna said the last bit that she was being more sarcastic than anything.
“Yeah, it does look that way, doesn’t it?” Taylor swirled the small straw in her cup. “It’s been kinda hard lately. You know, break ups and all that. It’s especially hard to sell an album about love when you feel pretty heartbroken.”
It always shocked Taylor how open she could be with Dianna. Even after years apart, she couldn’t help but answer the other woman honestly.
“Hey, try getting divorced to a man you barely speak to AND broken up with at the same time. Not so fun, either.”
Taylor’s eyes shot up. So there was a reason Dianna had come to see her.
“I’m so sorry, Di.” She reached across the table and touched the blonde’s hand. “What happened?”
“Oh you know, the marriage wasn’t exactly real in the first place.” Dianna rolled her eyes. “But, I was seeing this girl. Molly. I really thought this one was it. You know how that goes, though.”
Hearing that Dianna had indeed been with the blonde that was constantly on her instagram came as no surprise to Taylor. But it still hurt a little bit. She instantly was mad at herself for feeling hurt. Taylor was the one that left Dianna for another woman, she didn’t have the right to be upset about Dianna moving on.
“Yeah, I get that.” Taylor wasn’t sure where to take the conversation. “Things will work out the way they’re supposed to in the end.”
“You know, it’s funny you say that,” Dianna had a bit of a wild look in her eyes. Taylor wasn’t sure if it was from the alcohol or because of what the woman in front of her was about to say. “I’ve been thinking the same thing. And now, here we are. In a booth. Talking for the first time in five years.”
“And what does that have to do with things working out in the end?”
Taylor could barely breathe, she knew exactly where Di was going with the conversation now. She could barely contain her excitement. No one had ever made Taylor feel so crazy, so in love, so passionate, and so completely helpless all at the same time. But Dianna had such a profound effect on her that she had never totally gotten over her. She wasn’t sure if she ever would, or if she ever wanted to.
Dianna looked as if she was thinking something over.
With a sigh, she settled on one question.
“How’s Joe?”
Taylor let out the breath she had been holding. Of course Dianna would bring up Joe. Because of course, someone like Joe was exactly the reason they didn’t work out last time around. Well, partially.
“He’s fine.” Taylor quickly recovered. “It’s not like that, though.”
Dianna chuckled, “I know, Taylor. You’re not exactly subtle with all your grand gestures around times square trying to win Karlie back.”
Ouch. She wasn’t expecting Dianna to bring up that name. She also wasn’t expecting to be able to so clearly see the sadness written across Dianna’s face. The woman looked tired. Like she had heard this story before. As if it kept her up at night.
“Dianna…” Taylor knew there was nothing she could say to fix the broken person in front of her. She thought she might as well try to. “I am so sorry for what I did to you. I know there’s no way for me to make it up to you, but if I could, I would completely change everything I did. I thought I loved Karlie but I know now that it was just the easy way out. Everything between us just happened so fast, and I wasn’t ready. I’m sorry.”
Tears began to build up in the singer's eyes. So much so, that she missed the single tear drop down Dianna’s face.
“Thank you, Taylor. It means a lot.” Dianna regained her composure. “I know I rushed things and I’m sorry too. But I didn’t talk to you again to relive our past. It’s okay, really. I’ve moved on and I’m sure you have to. So no worries.”
Had Dianna really moved on? Taylor knew she hadn’t, she was still writing songs about the actress, so she knew she couldn’t have moved on. But to hear that Dianna had...That stung.
“So, why did you come to my dressing room then?”
“Well, I do miss you. I really wanted to see Phoebe and when I saw you were performing I knew it was impossible for me to not go..” Taylor couldn’t tell if Dianna was telling the truth or not. “So here we are. Talking to you again is really nice, I’d like to try being friends.”
Friends!? Taylor could not wrap her mind around this conversation. They had shifted from Dianna being on the verge of saying they were meant to be, to Dianna merely wanting to be friends.
Fine. If that’s how it was going to be, then Taylor would play by Dianna’s rules.
“Yeah, I think being friends would be great.”
“Great!” Dianna smiled enthusiastically. “Do you wanna head back up or do you want to keep talking down here?”
“Let’s head back up.” Taylor was still confused about what was going on. “Hold on though, can I get your new number?”
“Oh! Of course!” Dianna took Taylor’s phone and typed her information in. “There. Now come on let’s go, you’re missing your own party!”
And with that, the two women made their way to the party and carried on almost as if there was no tension between them. As if neither one of them was waiting for the other to make a move. As if they really were just a couple of friends that were going out for the night.
Deep down, they both knew they had never been just friends, and there was no way they would ever be just friends.
In fact, for the first time in a long time, Taylor spent all night dreaming about Dianna.