Invisible string

Chapter 2: the interview

The past few months—or more like the past year—had been a roller coaster of emotions. It had been a pretty awful year. Things with Joe had ended last year, and then, when she thought she and Matty were finally meant to be after all these years, after all the timings not being quite right. They had finally connected, and she thought this was it.

It was stupid of her to let herself fall for his words—fall for him in general. The thought of him brought a shiver down her spine. Good riddance, really.

But now, every time she was left alone with her thoughts, she felt herself slipping down a hole. It was getting harder to get out of bed, to function in general. The only thing that kept her going, that kept her functioning as a human being, was the tour.

It had become an outlet for her, a way to throw all her feelings out there and connect with her fans. The tour and her fans had been the only lights in her life recently.

And, well, obviously, her family and friends too, she thought, as she saw a message from Gigi on her phone.

She finished her routine quickly, returned to her room, took a shower, and finally—after getting ready for bed—opened Gigi’s message.

Gigi

Have you seen this? Hazel from Twenty one pilots just asked you out I guess

[Video]

She is cute btw

Taylor
What?!

She quickly clicked on the video and was met with a clip from an interview they had done, apparently the day before.

She knew who they were—of course she knew.

A lot of people might find that shocking or hard to believe, but the thing was, she really loved music. And by that, she meant all music in general. She could listen to rock, country, rap—as long as it was good.

And Twenty One Pilots? They were good.

She had noticed them last year when a song of theirs called “Holding on to You” came on the radio. She had found the lyrics so vulnerable, so raw, that she immediately had to look them up. She had been quite impressed when she discovered they were only two people.

She had been a casual listener after that—not that they had released another album or new music recently.

But she hadn’t known the frontwoman of the band was into girls. After seeing the clip, she looked for the full interview, which lasted about forty minutes.

Suddenly, the interview video ended, and another video of them started. Without realizing it, Taylor spent the night watching compilations, funny moments, and mashups on TikTok and YouTube. She found herself laughing at their antics, at Hazel’s dry and sarcastic remarks, and feeling herself flush. She had to admit: Hazel was cute.

Like, really, really cute and beautiful.

It was 6 a.m. for her when her phone rang with a call from Selena.

“Hello?” she answered.

“Why are you awake if it’s like 6 a.m. for you?”

Taylor flopped onto the bed, her phone pressed against her cheek. Her voice was hoarse from exhaustion and the tiniest bit of laughter.

“I could ask you the same thing,” she told Selena, “why are you calling me when you know it’s six a.m.?”

On the other end, Selena chuckled, that low, knowing laugh she always had when she was about to corner Taylor with the truth. “Because I had a feeling you weren’t asleep. And turns out… I was right.”