It was after minutes of deep speculation that he finally realised Kalli was watching him, he turned to her at once noticing the look of intermingled confusion and fear on her face.
"Taylor, why am I here?" she took a deep breath and looked around "How did I get here?"
"What's the last thing you remember?" he spoke reluctantly, each word grazing his throat. She stared thoughtfully into nowhere for a moment and then seemingly reached a conclusion.
"It was going to storm." her brow furrowed as she struggled to remember anything subsequent to that, obviously she realised that time had passed since and, to Taylor that didn't appear to surprise her. Welcoming the momentary distraction he relayed the story to her, observing the growing sorrow becoming transparent within her perfect features. She said nothing until it finished, watched him for a moment and then looked at the floor.
"Taylor, I'm sorry." shaking her head she searched for the right words "When, I...uh...you know..." taking a deep breath she started again "I lose control, it's the drugs. I don't know what I'm doing..." she trailed off recognising the look of shock apparent on Taylors face.
"Drugs?" the realisation had come to him quickly, a hard blow signaling his ignorance and naivety; she had looked so innocent and harmless, a sweet flower who had been wronged but could do no wrong herself. You were probably stupid not to notice, he scolded himself, what else could have been wrong with her?
Silence overcame them as he examined the room which was to be their temporary home, trying to put the recent revelation out of his head, it was unimportant. The room was small, the walls had been painted white but had, over time collected grime and dirt causing a pale yellow to cover the whole surface, the floor was uncovered and the hard wood was uncomfortable beneath him. The light bulb in the corner swung endlessly making the small amount of light flicker, creating what seemed like moving shadows along the walls. There was a round, broken table pushed against one of the walls and two chairs were perched underneath it, other than that the room was unfurnished. In the far corner was a sink and next to it a lighter patch of wall where evidently a cooker or oven had been ripped out. An open door lead to a dirty bathroom which sent smothering fumes around the small room. There was one window which, at present was covered with a large piece of wood and a door that he presumed lead to the outside world. He stared at the door, such an easy escape, open and out was all that would be needed. But he was locked here, unable to move further than a few inches, he once again felt the warm stinging tears inhabit his eyes. He blinked them away and looked back at Kalli who was staring absently at the floor.
Suddenly, the thought occured to him that part of this was her fault; if she hadn't run, collapsed outside the door then he would have been safe. It was a stupid thing to do, he knew how dangerous going anywhere minus his bodyguard was but he had to know if she was alright.
"How could you do something so stupid?" he asked her, unaware that she couldn't read his thoughts "If your mind had been completely together we wouldn't be in this situation." she stared at him open mouthed, nodding her head for a moment but then became annoyed at his accusation.
"Did I ask you to follow me?" she hissed at him.
"I could hardly let you run off into the night. I didn't know what the hell was wrong with you."
"If I'd have wanted to talk to you Taylor I would have stayed right where I was."
"Right, the state you were in I'm surprised you could even speak well enough to tell me your intentions."
"What?"
"You went there last night so you could fuck me Kalli, don't deny it..."
"I think the fame's gone to your head mate. I'm sure there are hundreds of girls who'd jump at the opportunity so why didn't you pick one of them for 'attention'?" He stared at her for a moment, mentally unwinding the question, then grimacing as the implications became clear.
"You still think that's all I invited you over for isn't it?" his gaze pierced into her troubled soul, he could see years of neglect and pain working away at her heart "Listen, I'm sorry if you can't accept that I just wanted to be your friend but I think this isn't the time or place to be arguing about it."
"Shit! You started it."
"Well, okay, sorry. Now I'm finishing it." They both sat back against the wall, he avoided looking in her direction and he had a feeling she was doing the same.