6th Nov
Currently both Taylor and Joe were staying at Taylor's home in LA. Taylor's script she submitted was accepted with open hands and she had been working with the director to discuss the project for the past month. Joe was at the audition for the same movie, and he should be home at any minute. They were both hoping that this would work out well, not only because of their careers, but also because they could potentially be working on the same film together.
The door unlocked and revealed a disheveled and dejected Joe. He took off his shoes and coat, taking a deep breath and smirking before walking over to Taylor. Lying on the couch reading a book, her hair was all over the place and minimal makeup was on her face, yet to him she was the most beautiful person in the world.
"Hey babe," he grinned, kissing her cheek.
Taylor jumping in surprise but quickly got up to wrap her arms around his neck, placing kisses into his hair.
"How was it?" she asked eagerly.
Joe sighed and sat down onto the couch, running his hands through his hair and covering his face. He sat there in silence, provoking a worried Taylor to sit down with his and rub his back gently.
"My love, it's okay if you didn't get it. Come on, tell me about it hm?" she said, wrapping her arms around him.
Joe looked up grinning like a devil and immediately tackled her rugby style, landing on top of her on the couch. He pushed a few strands of hair out of her flushed face and pressed a kiss onto her soft lips.
"I got you," he said. "You know what else I got?"
"What?" she said, smiling cheekily.
"The part." he whispered. "I got it. We're gonna be in the credits of a movie together, my love."
Taylor squealed excitedly and lifted her head to plant kisses all over his face.
"We're going to be in a movie together," she said in disbelief.
"Yes we are." he smiled.
"If I'm going to be honest, I've been waiting for this for many years."
"Me too," Joe admitted.
20th Nov
Taylor sighed dramatically, crumpling yet another piece of paper and throwing is behind her shoulder. She was yet again struggling to come up with the exact lines for a script, and she was stressing about it since she was going to be presenting it to a director she really admired soon. It was a big deal for her that he had agreed on a project together, but she had fucked up when she agreed to help write some lyrics for the soundtracks too. She had always had a knack for music and songwriting, but she could never imagine herself as an international music star. She was afraid that she had bit off more than she could chew, and the producer was also being slow with sending over tracks. She was already halfway there, she just was at the climax and needed the right words for the big argument. It also had to fit into the track he sent over too. She also had to decide on a potential title, which was proving quite hard for herself.
Joe walked into her home study and pulled out a chair to sit down next to her. She was so concentrated that she didn't even realise he had been sitting there until she finally looked up ten minutes later.
"Hey babe," she sighed softly.
Joe could see that she was tensed up and stood up to get behind her, placing his hands on both her shoulders and began kneading and massaging them gently. She turned her head around to smile at him, before turning around again and bending over the piece of paper. For some reason, Taylor always liked physically writing down ber drafts onto paper instead of typing it digitally. It was only when she had co- writers that she had to share a document so they could share their opinions on the drafts, which was not the case this time.
He stopped massaging her and placed his chin on her shoulder, peeking over it.
"What scene is this?"
"It's the big fight scene. It has to go with a song we're going to call 'exile'. I'm just figuring out how it will lead into the song."
Joe looked at the paper she was writing on and glanced at the lines she had written down. He gently took the pencil from her hands and wrote down a couple things on the piece of paper.
"You could do it like this, making the introduction start here and then have them sing it starting here," he said, making a few markings on the paper.
She glanced at him shortly and smiled. "That would actually work out very well, thank you so much babe. Actually, I still need to write the lyrics for this song. I really shouldn't have agreed to it, look at me now."
Joe sat down again on the chair beside her and placed his hand on her back, rubbing it gently.
"Let's go over to the piano hm? We can break it down and I can help," he said assuringly.
They squeezed onto the piano bench together and Taylor roughly played the tune over and over again frustratedly. Joe was murmuring and she looked over at him curiously.
"What did you say, babe? I missed it, sorry."
"I may have come up with some lyrics," he said shyly, playing with his fingers.
"Come on, sing it for me," she said excitedly.
She started a voice recording on her phone and started playing the tune again. while Joe began singing softly.
"I can see you standin', honey
With his arms around your body
Laughin' but the joke's not funny at all
And it took you five whole minutes
To pack us up and leave me with it
Holdin' all this love out here in the hall" he stuttered a few times and stumbled over his words but finished singing a completed first verse.
"Oh my goodness babe that was amazing!" Taylor paused the recording and wrapped her arms around him. "You're so talented, I love you."
"Love you too," he mumbled into her hair as he pressed kisses onto her hair.
They continued writing the song for an hour, before finishing it and sending a recording to the producer. They agreed to put Joe's name as a co-writer on this song but they didn't want him to be affiliated with Taylor and have their relationship public, so they agreed to make it a pseudonym.
"Oooh... I can make it William as a first name since my grandfather was named that and he was a songwriter..." he drifted off.
"I love that."
"And for the surname... I could do, um, Bowery?" Joe mused.
"Why Bowery."
Joe thought of the Bowery Hotel he was taking Taylor to as a surprise for their two month anniversary in a week. He wasn't really good at keeping secrets, but he was determined to do it since he had only a week left.
"Um... no reason. It just... sounded cool," he shrugged.
Taylor eyed him suspiciously but then let it go, hugging him again and placing a kiss on his lips which he prolonged.
23rd Nov
It was the day before thanksgiving and Taylor and Joe had agreed to return to her parents' house in Nashville to celebrate, since the British don't traditionally celebrate it anyways. Because they were already staying in LA, they decided to take a short flight to Nashville instead of a long road trip. "Those 12 hours were the worst 12 hours of my life," Joe had joked, referencing their road trip to Lake District and back. He earned a not so friendly punch from Taylor.
This time for their flight, since it was so short, they decided to take economy class. When they got the plane, Joe immediately sat down at the window seat, making Taylor pout.
"Now you will have to ask someone to make space for you when you need the toilet," he grinned cheekily.
"I hate you so much," she whispered, leaning her head onto his shoulder and entwining their fingers.
"Ah, last time I was on a plane I met you again," Joe reminisced.
"You're too sweet to be hated on," she rolled her eyes playfully.
Shortly after the plane had taken off, Taylor and Joe had fallen asleep on each other's shoulders.
When they landed, they immediately took a cab to Taylor's parents' place because they were going to be staying there until the 26th.
"Hey Honey," Andrea said as soon as she opened the door. She wrapped her arms around Taylor in a warm embrace while Joe stood there awkwardly on the doorstep.
Andrea noticed Joe's hand being intertwined with Taylor's and smirked. "Well hello Joseph, how are you?"
"I'm good, Mrs Swift, haven't seen you in a while."
She glanced between the pair and looked expectantly at Taylor.
Taylor blushed and said, "Um Mom? Uhh, yeah we're dating. He's my boyfriend now."
Andrea looked excitedly at them and embraced them together. She let them into the house and they were greeted by Kitty, her dog.
Joe started laughing when he heard the name of the dog. "You named your dog Kitty?" he said in disbelief.
"You guys make such a cute couple," Andrea commented. "You guys can put your things away in the room second to the left and take a walk before dinner if you'd like."
"Thank you Mrs Swift," Joe said shyly.
"Joe, honey, you can call me Andrea you know?"
"Well then, thank you Andrea." Joe blushed and Taylor squeezed his hand harder.
After they set down their things and unpacked a bit in their shared room, Taylor and Joe decided to take a walk back to their old elementary school. They held hands as they walked past autumn trees and the familiar parks. When they got to the front door, they stood there silently, Taylor's head on Joe's shoulder, reminiscing together on the memories they had made there.
"I still remember that big fight we had with Inez," Taylor giggled. "It seems silly now, doesn't it?"
"Ah, I still have those army tanks somewhere you know. I marked your name on the one you gave me." Joe said softly.
"I love you," Taylor whispered.
"Love you too babe," Joe said. He checked his watch and realised they should start heading home. "Let's get home now, shall we?"
"Race you!" Taylor shoved Joe gently to give her a head start and started running, surging ahead of him. Unfortunately, he too had long, strong legs and he overtook her, gently yanking her ponytail as he surpassed her. He turned around to check on her and she stuck her tongue out at him. Suddenly, he paused to catch his breath seeing Taylor was still behind and she ran up from behind. She hopped onto him piggyback style, and he grabbed her thighs on both sides to support her. She pulled on his golden hair for support and leaned onto him even more, begging for him to carry her the rest of the way. Stumbling due to the extra weight on him, they took twice as long to return.
Still piggybacking him, Taylor extended her arm and rang the doorbell. The door opened, revealing a surprised Andrea.
"Hey guys, what did you get yourself into? Joseph, please don't drop my baby girl."
"Don't worry, I won't," Joe said, then carried Taylor upstairs to their room. This house was still so familiar to him, nothing has really changed.
"Taylor, is your old room still yours?"
"I actually have no idea."
They both stood up instinctively and walked over to where Taylor's old room was. They opened the door and saw that except for a few things Taylor had brought with her when she moved out, the room was pretty much still the same. They walked around the room looking at Taylor's old things, giggling at random tidbits that contained many memories.
Taylor opened one of her drawers on her desk and recognized a familiar object. She gasped lightly, attracting Joe's attention. He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. They both peered at the object excitedly.
"Oh my goodness," Taylor whispered.
A/N:
hey guys! im writing this as my teacher is talking about how she started the wrong zoom boooooo ughhhh. Um anyways, i hope you enjoyed this part because ive been procrastinating and ive been lazy and busy from school so i havent updated in a while. i'll try to so better next time whoopsies.
love, allegra <3