It was Joe's birthday today. They'd moved back to New York so that Taylor could finalise the sale of her old apartment, and Joe had arranged to meet a friend for a walk in the early morning. She'd thought long and hard about what to do to make this day special. She'd adored everything he'd done for her birthday and she felt like she had to do something that at least compared to it. She'd written a song about the time at the lakes together, and she was so excited to sing it to him.
Because Joe was out for the moment, it gave Taylor enough time to wrap his gifts. She had spent all of last night trying to perfect the melody of her song, and she'd finally gotten it to a place she was happy with. She laughed when she went out into an emergency closest with her guitar, trying to keep Joe from hearing her practice. She was so excited to show it to him. For the first time, she wasn't afraid to be at the house on her own. It was the first time that she hadn't actually noticed that she was doing this - that she was alone.
She wrapped up his presents, she'd brought them all online recently. She didn't know what to get him because he wasn't the kind of person that liked to wear excessive labels. She wasn't the sort of person that liked to buy her friends and family any material and insignificant gifts.
"Taylor? Love?" She heard Joe open the door, and he came inside, his cheeks red from the cold.
"How was it?!" Taylor asked, shoving the presents behind her back. She smiled as he came in. "I missed you." She was still as in love with him as she was the very first time they kissed. Even more so, probably.
"It was good," He said as he cupped her cheeks and kissed her, "but I missed you. And now we can spend the entire day together."
Taylor leaned up and kissed him. "I got you something."
"I told you that I didn't need anything," he smiled. "You're here, and that's all I need."
"It's not much, Joe, really. I wanted to get you something." Taylor handed him the bag with her gifts in it. Joe looked at the bag and then back up at her.
"This is a lot!"
"No, it's really not." Taylor smiled. "Anyway, you deserve it." She kissed him on the cheek, as she led him into the living room. She was so excited to spend today with Joe, she had their evening planned out for over a week. All the stuff she needed for it was sitting in a suitcase under the bed that she'd given Joe strict instructions not to touch.
He sat down on the couch before he started opening her presents. "There's a card but you have to open it later." Taylor insisted.
"You really didn't have to do this, my love."
"Of course I did, Joe!" She rest her head on his shoulder as he opened the first gift. It was a fountain pen. She'd seen Joe scribbling in a notebook with a pencil that was literally the size of one of Meredith's paws.
"Taylor, this is too much." It wasn't. It might have been the most expensive one she could find, but it definitely wasn't too much. "It's beautiful."
"It's not too much!" She kissed his cheek. "Everyone says that this one is supposedly the best to use and I thought that you could use it instead of that old pencil..." Joe smiled.
"I love it." He wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close to him. "It's the nicest pen I have ever had. I can't wait to use it."
He opened the next gift, where she'd gotten him a couple of different notebooks. One of them was for his poetry because she had seen that his old one was falling apart at the seams, and another one was full of blank sheet music. "It's for the piano," she told him softly. "Because you play it so beautifully, and now you can keep track of everything. And that one is for all the random poetic thoughts you have."
Joe loved the gifts so much. Taylor had listened and paid attention to everything that he'd said or done. He fucking loved her so much.
The next gift was her favourite gift out of all of them, it was the gift that she was most excited to give him.
"Oh my god, Taylor!" Joe said as he realised what it was. It was a vintage edition of William Wordsworth's poetry. She had paid particular attention to his bookshelf, making sure that she didn't get him anything that he already had. "This must have cost a fortune!" It was signed by William himself, and she'd stumbled across it after hours of researching. She just shrugged with a smile. The price didn't matter - his reaction was priceless. His hands actually trembled as he held it.
"I love it." He set it down carefully beside him, before pulling her into him. He could squeeze her tightly now and she didn't even flinch. "I love it so fucking much, my love."
"I hope so," Taylor said, gazing up into his eyes. "I just thought that it was perfect... I hope that it is..."
"Of course it is! It is going to be my most prized possession ever." He kissed her. She loved seeing him like this. He was so happy.
After they'd sat on the couch together for a while, Joe holding Taylor warmly in his arms, Taylor told him what they were going to do today. He'd told her that she could choose what she thought would be nice.
"It's a surprise." She murmured against his lips. "So I'm driving."
She had wanted to do this for so long, and today seemed like the perfect day to do it.
It would also be the first time they'd be out in public since... who knows when. They weren't afraid to go in public together, and they'd hold hands while outside, but they wouldn't say anything.
Taylor got changed into jeans, a knitted jersey and a coat. She didn't need a scarf anymore.
She also didn't look at herself in the mirror and hated everything she saw. She looked healthier now. She knew that she had a long way to go and that sometimes her eating disorder still got the better of her, but she was doing good. She could admit that now. Her eyes sparkled all of the time, and her smile had returned completely. In fact, it was hard for her to stop smiling. She was just so happy with where she was in her life, so happy with Joe. She made her a better person. Minus the fighting in an abandoned New York building - but they don't speak of that night, ever.
The paparazzi had followed them to the cafe, and she'd had regrets. Her security was in the car behind her, and they'd get the two of them into the building, blocking them from the prying cameras.
Joe held her hand, telling her that it was okay. They got out of the car, and she tried not to get overwhelmed by the cameras. She'd not been in this situation for a while and she'd forgotten how bad it was sometimes.
They got inside, and the cafe was empty. Only an older couple who were sitting in chairs at the back of the place remained. They didn't even look at Taylor and Joe, which she was relieved by.
"It reminds me why I like staying at home." Taylor laughed as she sat down at the table. They'd both ordered. "I thought that it would be crazy to think about where we were when we met each other here." Taylor took his hand across the table. "Little did we know where it would lead us."
"It was the best day of my life," Joe told her with an honest smile. "Seeing you - meeting you. It has, and always will be, the best day of my life."
Taylor smiled at him. She couldn't believe where she was. "God, if anyone would have told me when I was sitting by that window that in three months, I'd be here, I wouldn't have believed them. Not for a single second."
"And yet here we are," he squeezed her hand. "Against it all, we are here. We made it."
"I've been thinking, and I think that we always would have made it here, to this point. I think that we would have ended up together no matter what. You can't control when you meet a person, but if there's a string of gold tying them to you, then I think that you're destined to find them." She smiled.
She'd told Joe that he had to stay in the piano room until she was ready. While she'd been searching through Joe's apartment, she'd discovered that it had an attic. A perfectly cosy, empty attic. She had begun to move pillows and blankets up there when it started to rain. There was supposed to be a storm tonight, and she hoped there would be. It would make it all perfect. She hung up a sheet with two nails on the wall. She'd planned this so that it would be absolutely perfect.
She lay out pillows, blankets, and even the fairy lights from the Christmas tree. She wanted it to look like the fort that Joe had made her.
She stood back and admired her work. The last thing she needed to bring up was Joe's last present and her guitar. She'd kept the card and the final present until last because they were different to all the others. She wasn't so sure about the last gift, but she hoped that he would like it all the same. She sat everything up perfectly, she made sure that the card and the final present were sitting nicely, and that her guitar was tuned and perfect. She was nervous for him to come up.
She went down the stairs and heard Joe playing the soft melody of daylight. She loved that song so much, it was one of her all-time favourites. She loved that golden daylight and golden strings had become their special thing.
"Oh, hey," Joe said, stopping playing.
"I might just stay here all night," she smiled as she leaned against the door frame. Joe stood up, walking over to her. He cupped her cheeks.
"I love you."
She smiled a radiant smile as she kissed him. "I love you too." She took his hand and led him towards the stairs of the attic. Joe didn't ask questions, although he did mention that he didn't even know that there was an attic. When they walked up, Taylor smiled. It really looked beautiful up here. The projector that she'd put facing the white sheet was playing a slide show of all of their videos and photos of their trip to the lakes. It was perfect.
"You have to sit down," Taylor smiled, but Joe couldn't move. This was so beautiful, and it was something that only Taylor would think of. In fact, he had tears in his eyes. It was so astoundingly beautiful that he couldn't talk. The videos of their trip, and they'd taken a lot. Cute videos of Taylor dancing in her pyjamas by the fire, the two of them hugging in the kitchen, and so many more. Joe hadn't even realised that she'd gotten all of this on camera. There were videos of him by the lakes, of him in the kitchen. This was the best thing that anyone had ever done for him. It was the most thoughtful. He loved her so much.
"Joe," Taylor whispered in his ear, bringing home back to reality. He sat down, and she began to play.
Is it romantic how all my elegies eulogize me?
I'm not cut out for all these cynical clones
These hunters with cell phones
Take me to the lakes where all the poets went to die
I don't belong, and my beloved, neither do you
Those Windermere peaks look like a perfect place to cry
I'm setting off, but not without my muse
What should be over burrowed under my skin
In heart-stopping waves of hurt
I've come too far to watch some namedropping sleaze
Tell me what are my words worth
Take me to the lakes where all the poets went to die
I don't belong, and my beloved, neither do you
Those Windermere peaks look like a perfect place to cry
I'm setting off, but not without my muse
I want auroras and sad prose
I want to watch wisteria grow right over my bare feet
'Cause I haven't moved in years
And I want you right here
A red rose grew up out of ice frozen ground
With no one around to tweet it
While I bathe in cliffside pools
With my calamitous love and insurmountable grief
Take me to the lakes where all the poets went to die
I don't belong, and my beloved, neither do you
Those Windermere peaks look like a perfect place to cry
I'm setting off, but not without my muse
No, not without you
When she finished playing, she looked up at Joe with tears in her eyes. "I love you."
He pulled her into him as they watched their trip fly by in front of their eyes.
"I love you too, Taylor. I love you more than I could even begin to tell you." He kissed her.
"You can open the other present," Taylor told him softly.
"I need a moment to collect myself after that... masterpiece."
"It wasn't that good - I didn't have that much time to practice it... but I wanted to write a song about our trip - because I loved it so much." Taylor leaned a head on his shoulder as she watched a video she'd taken of Joe standing on the edge of the water by the lake, sunlight making him golden. "And I want you to know that if there is one person in the entire world that I'd want to move to a tiny cottage in the middle of nowhere... and spend the rest of my life there, it would be you. It would always be you." She sighed.
"You have to sing it to me again later," Joe said as he kissed her. He began to unwrap the last gift, and Taylor smiled.
While they were at her Rhode Island home, she'd painted a simple picture. It was two stars, like the ones that guide the way to Neverland, and between them was a single thread of gold. She'd loved how she had painted the string so that it looked like it had gold dust falling from it as if the string was alive.
Taylor had included the card in the back of the canvas, and Joe opened it carefully.
Joe,
As a person who is very fond of words and making sure that they sound absolutely perfect together... I must say that you leave me speechless.
When you said hello to me in that cafe, I caught a glimpse of something that I hadn't had the privilege of seeing in years. But it seemed to follow you around, lingering in the room where you stood. I didn't see it at first - I was numb to anything remotely good. But there you were. You didn't care that I was broken, that I was numb at first. You didn't care that you were the one that was holding me together - you stayed, no matter what.
But I see now, so clearly, that what I caught a glimmer of behind you that day... was that golden string tying you to me, and me to you. It followed us through the ups and the downs. It never faltered, not even once. You never tried to stop me from anything - you never told me to shut up, or that I shouldn't be... standing up for myself. You didn't rush me. You didn't force me to find myself too quickly. Because that's the thing - I have found myself with you, Joe.
You didn't try and stop me from doing all the things necessary to get myself to this point, even when I'm sure you wanted to.
You just walked beside me as I followed another golden string... right to myself. You were at the end of that one, too.
You're at the end of all my strings, Joe. They all lead and pull towards you.
Happy birthday. I should've said that sooner than now, but I got a little carried away.
I guess we were right, Joe.
The poets truly did write our love in the stars.
I love you to the moon and to Saturn, for infinity and further.
Taylor.