Invisible String [T.S-E.S BOOK ONE]

13

December 13th, 2012

"Taylor Swift! I didn't not fly here from New Jersey to not celebrate your birthday with you!" Eleanor yelled, jumping onto Taylor's bed. She was very careful to avoid Meredith, though. You can't hurt the queen.

Taylor groaned. "I get that you're like an athlete, but I am not getting up at five in the morning."

"It's nine." Eleanor laughed.

Taylor hid in her pillow. "Still early!"

"I made pancakes." She tried to entice the singer. "And Emma, Selena, Abby, and Hayley are coming."

Eleanor flew in the night before to be there for her best friend's birthday. Maisy had kept them far away from each other the last few months and it had killed Taylor to not get to go see Eleanor for her birthday. So, Eleanor decided to make it right and go see Taylor.

Taylor was overjoyed to get to spend time with the girl, but she was also a little more standoffish. They hadn't seen each other since the few days they hung out in October and a lot had changed.

The athlete was doing a great job at pretending that she didn't care that Taylor had a boyfriend. She had finally accepted the fact that maybe Maisy was right, maybe she was deep in love with the singer. However, before she could even book a plane ticket to see the singer, she saw the news. Not only had Taylor been in New York without telling her, but she was spotted out and about with her new man. Harry Styles. Eleanor had nothing against the young guy, she just wished she was him.

They didn't talk at all in Novermber after the news broke.

Taylor knew that the athlete was mad about it. She wanted to scream: it's all fake! But she couldn't do that to Harry. There were rumors circulating around that Harry was gay and in love with a bandmate. The truth is, he was a little gay. He hadn't even thought up a label for himself, though, as he was still trying to navigate the complexities of his sexuality and determine if he like women and men or just men or whatever. Taylor felt for the guy and since she seemed to be the hottest artist on the market, their publicists put them together to take the heat off.

Mike, Harry's publicist, wanted to keep Harry from being outed before he was ready and wanted to keep him in the good graces of the public. Tree, Taylor's new publicist, wanted the same for her. Most people called Taylor a man eater anyway, but there was a small population that had picked up on her friendship with Eleanor and certain elements of the songs she wrote about the women. Tree recommended that they nipped the rumors in the bud for now. Taylor wasn't ready for all that.

But now Eleanor was being weird with her and it was killing her! She wanted to say something so bad, but she couldn't. She wouldn't do that to Harry.

"Come on." Eleanor pulled Taylor out of her bed before quickly retracting her hands as if Taylor were on fire. "The food will get cold."

They ate in relative quiet. Eleanor cracked a small joke every once in a while, but they often fell flat. It was weird again. It hadn't been weird since Maisy.

"You know, I have four other guests for this little birthday shindig." Eleanor cracked a smile. She had planned a little party for their friends at Taylor's mom's house. It was nothing huge, but it was something fun to do. She had asked Alex and Kelley to come during their November National team camp and they jumped at the opportunity to see the singer. She also asked Hawk and Izzy a few weeks ago and they immediately cleared their schedules.

"Oh really?" Taylor raised an eyebrow. "Who?" She poked Eleanor with her fork.

"Ow!" Eleanor laughed, poking her right back. "It's a surprise."