1 (jaylor) wisteria hearts and caged folk songs

chapter seven.

There are comets in your eyes
Fire in your soul
And starlight in your smile

Perhaps you did not know it was there
All those times you searched for it
Blindly in the dark
Clinging to the hope of it all

I had the privilege of finding it
Flew into the palm of my hand
Don't worry, love
I'll keep it safe
Keep it warm and dry
Until you're ready for that sparkle again

Until you're ready to feel it all again
Until you're ready for stardust to cover your cheeks
Then I'll give it to you
But until then, I'll keep it safe in the palm of my hand.

This really was the most beautiful and thoughtful present that she had ever received. It touched places in her soul, heart and head, that nothing had ever reached before.

There is nothing that holds strength
More than the broken heart
Shattered and jagged edges cut it

Over and over again

But with a little bit of love and light
It can heal itself all over
It can learn to love and be loved

As if it had never known pain before.

"Joe," Taylor croaked. "This is so beautiful, I don't even think I could find the words to describe it to you." Because page after page, there were poems. Poems that he'd chosen and written, just for her.

Forgive yourself for falling
Into that dark place
That stole your sparkle
Turned butterflies to dust
Dreams into mist
That stole your hopes and
Sat back watching

The obsidian skies
That crushed it all in a single
Ink spattered spot
Made you doubt you'd ever
Feel the light dance across your eyelids
Ever again

Well, let me tell you
I will light every match in the universe
Hold up lanterns to guide your path

Catch fireflies in the palm of my hands
To keep you from ever feeling
That numbing darkness ever again.

"I don't... I don't even have the words to thank you for this, I'm truly speechless," Taylor said through tear-stained cheeks. "It must have taken you ages."
"It didn't take me too long," He was so relieved that she loved his present. "And I hope that you don't... that you don't think that it's weird or anything."
"Why would it be weird?" Taylor asked.
"I don't know... it's just an unusual thing to give someone."
Taylor smiled. "I mean... my whole life isn't exactly built on normal. But this? It's beautiful. It's the most normal thing I have in my life. You're the most normal thing I have in my life, Joe. But I love it." She held it to her chest. "I really, truly love it." She kissed him again, and she knew. She could spend the rest of her life here, with him.

She'd thought that she'd learnt from her past relationships not to throw herself in headfirst, but this was different. Joe was different. He was unlike anyone she'd ever been prepared to give her heart to. He wasn't actively reaching for her heart, wasn't trying to force her into giving it to him. He wasn't like the others. He looked at her and he didn't see Taylor Swift, a celebrity with millions of followers, a voice that everyone knew. He didn't see the version of her that was plastered across every headline of every tabloid. She could tell that he looked at her and saw her as if she was anonymous as if she was just a random girl, and he was just a random boy. And that was exactly what she wanted. She knew it was different. This time it was all so different.

"I'm really falling in love with you," She quietly admitted. "And... and that's really scary." She always felt scared to fall in love. She'd heard, once, that everything that falls, gets broken. But Joe had made her realise that maybe some people can stop you from breaking. Some people will fall with you, but help you grow wings so you never have to touch rock bottom again.
"I'm in love with you, Taylor. And it's okay that it's scary, and we don't have to do anything that you don't want to do, and if you want to slow down, or stop, that's okay too." He gave her hand a squeeze. "Scary doesn't always mean bad things. It's one of the great secrets of this tiny universe, this wonderous, eternal infinity."
"I'm... I just really want you to know what you're getting yourself into. For once... I'm scared, but I have this... this feeling. It's like this gentle knowingness that it's all going to work out for us."
"I don't care about any of it, Taylor. I don't care about what they say about you, or about me. I don't care if they pick apart everything about us." He shook his head. "Because when I'm with you, none of that exists."
"We'd never be able to go out without cameras in our faces, magazines writing about us. It never stops, Joe. You think that you're alone, and then they find you again. They'll harass us when we go out and-"
"I don't care."
"And I hate it - they're so mean all of the time and I can't believe some of the things that they say to me... and I don't want them to say things about you too-"
"I don't care about that, love. I don't care. I want to be with you. I want to be seen with you. I want you. I don't care about all of the other stuff." He assured her.