The Lucky One (2) - Taylor Swift

19

"There's hardly ever any here," she began, "I hate it."

"They'll leave and we'll still have a convivial day," the brunette assured her, "I am looking forward to meeting Abigail and your other school friends."

"Do you have any school friends I'll ever meet?" Taylor was certain she knew the answer but asked anyways, it felt more polite.

"I didn't make friends," Grace shook her head, "There were only a few other girls in my class."

"Why didn't you make friends with them? Your father?"

"Partially. The other factor being that you know as well as I that after certain actions have taken place, a camaraderie is difficult to maintain."

"What do you mean?" Taylor's eyebrows furrowed as the words rolled off her tongue, "What actions?"

"Actions..." Grace pursed her lips. She fiddled with her friendship bracelet nervously, she didn't want to explain further.

"Actions like... Gracie, you didn't?!"

"I was very certain of my sexuality and they were looking to experiment. There is your answer, darling. I have no friends from school because my father did not permit it so I fucked them instead. I was all about instant gratification."

Taylor covered her mouth, "Okay, I know you won't tell me the number of people you've been with but give me the range? Give me something."

Grace rattled off a few numbers from various ages and Taylor blinked at her with astonishment.

"That many?"

"If I had known I was capable of having a monogamous relationship, it would have been far less. You were an accident— a happy accident."

"Did you ever get tested for STD's?" Taylor asked, "Are we good?"

"Yes, of course!" Grace defended herself, "I've have never encountered anything, I was very careful."

"Okay," Taylor leaned back on the couch again. The seriousness of the conversation had led to her sitting up momentarily. It got quiet for a second until she put the ages all together, "Holy shit, Grace. I'm not judging you but holy fuck?"

"Taylor, this is why I never told you," Grace could not enjoy her hacking tutorial whatsoever. She closed the lid with a grumble and continued to focus her attention on her lover.

"I'm just surprised!"

"Okay, Taylor, think about when you first met me. I handed you a card with nothing but a phone number on it under my initials. Surely, love, you have done some dot connecting? I had an NDA made up by a private attorney, might I add, that you signed."

"But hearing the number is like, that's real! How many of them have you called darling? How many of them a good girl? Is that where you learned the kink jokes— did you call someone mommy?" Taylor was obviously overwhelmed by the information but at least she wasn't thinking about the paparazzi.

"I will not answer those first two questions," Grace cleared her throat and stiffened her posture, "But I will make it clear, that I never have and never will call someone mommy."

"So someone called you mommy?" Taylor gasped, she wasn't upset. It was more so as if she had just heard the hot gossip of the week.

"Well!" Grace stood up ceremoniously, "This has been fun, however, I'm going to go find a meeting!"

"You just got back half an hour ago," Taylor checked the time on her phone.

"It's unfathomable that it has only been that long," Grace said, "Kiss me so I can avoid you for an hour."

"The paps will follow you," Taylor accepted the short kiss, "Don't bring home another woman, since you attract them so easily."

"Taylor Alison."

"I'm joking! Go, sorry for driving you nuts."

Grace narrowed her eyes but let it go. Taylor knew that was the one and only time she would be able to get away with that kind of teasing so she savoured it and watched as Grace put her heels on and started towards the elevator, almost not believing that Grace was headed to another meeting until she looked out the window a few minutes later and saw Grace's elegant stride a block down.

They were going to be late for their plans, Taylor texted her friends and said they would be late, but then Grace was back just in time to leave, "You're supposed to be another twenty minutes."

"I left halfway through, we shouldn't be late."

"Perfect," Taylor smoothed out her hair, "Thank you, I appreciate it. Are you good?"

That question, despite how casually it was delivered from Taylor's mouth, meant a lot. It was more than a courteous question, it was actually along the lines of do you need to cancel and lay in bed all day until the urge to drink goes away?

Because there had been that kind of day only a few days before and with a second meeting so soon after the first, Taylor worried more than usual. Grace had spent the entire day in bed with her eyes closed, the blanket around her face as I'm Just A Kid by Simple Plan played a bit too loud on the speaker in their bedroom.

It was dramatic and Grace had listened to it on repeat for three hours, but then she got out of bed and helped Taylor put dinner together just so they got some time together.

"I'm not swinging for the fences, I'm just trying to hit the ball," Grace's reply was something that she and Michael exchanged often, but not usually something Taylor heard.

"Okay miss baseball," Taylor smiled and kissed the side of Grace's face right along her jaw. She had to brush away the lipstick mark with the pad of her thumb, something they had both gotten very used to doing over the past handful of months, "If you need to leave or step away, you just say the word."

"I will."

Taylor was incredibly happy that hanging out with her friends went so well. Grace fit right in, she didn't put her foot in her mouth like Taylor had been expecting her to from being nervous. She was charming and funny and held back the words the average person wouldn't understand.

The singer laughed over the plate of food in front of her at something Abigail said. Her elbow brushed against Grace's arm as she pushed some food onto her fork. Grace nudged it back with the same force, and Taylor repeated it.

"So, Grace," Abigail said upon noticing the nauseating game of gentle shoving across from her, "What have you been doing since you guys moved in together? The first thing I would do is get rid of that bird cage."

"Leave my bird cage alone," Taylor's response was threatening, she pointed her knife across the table towards her friend.

Grace shrugged because nothing felt that monumental, "I organized the spice cabinet. Moved some books around and ordered higher thread count sheets. Taught myself how to hack, I'm learning how to drive. Speaking of which, Taylor, you promised to take me when we get back to New York and you're not allowed to cancel this time."

"Oh no," Abby chuckled, "Taylor cannot teach you how to drive. She's been in two accidents in one day."

"Accidents! They weren't both my fault."

"Tay, I'm impressed that you haven't turned you both into roadkill by now," the redhead teased her, "Wait, did you say you taught yourself how to hack?"

"Low level, mainly Twitter."

"Grace is like a sponge. She can probably recite every word we've said since we came in here," Taylor hummed, "It's kind of shitty when we're arguing and she just knows exactly what word I used at what moment."

"If you don't want me to remember specific words then you probably shouldn't use them," Grace smiled, "But she's right, I'm convinced being sober has allowed me to begin using a part of my brain I forgot about."

Exactly seven minutes later, Grace was showing Taylor's friends just how easy it was to break into someone Twitter account.

She went for an easy target and closed the account, Kanye didn't need Twitter anyways.