; 𝙢𝙖𝙮 𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙛𝙖𝙡𝙡, 𝙢𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙧𝙪𝙣.
——
The sweet scent of the candle burning beside the window ledge wafted through the room. She sat in screaming silence, and the only sound heard was raindrops trickling outside.
She tried to immerse herself into the book that was clutched in her hands, but to no avail. She kept thinking about him, and wondered what he was doing right now.
She wondered if he felt the same way about her, and pondered whether she had the same effect on him as he did on her.
She couldn't help but grin from ear to ear when she thought back to last night. They had coincidentally met at a bar, and spent hours chatting and catching up.
——
𝗹 𝗮 𝘀 𝘁 𝗻 𝗶 𝗴 𝗵 𝘁 ;
"We'll be back," Taylor's friends reassured her, "We're just gonna get a couple drinks, we'll get one for you."
Taylor nodded hesitantly, not really wanting to be alone at a dimly-lit bar which reeked of alcohol and where everyone couldn't even stand up straight.
She sat alone for a few minutes, getting out her phone to distract herself.
"Fancy seeing you here," a husky, familiar voice whispered in her ear, and although the place was lively and filled with noise, she could hear him speak coherently.
She turned around, feeling her gut churn when she realized who he was. The unfathomable man she met in the Met Gala. He was clad in a plain T-shirt and dark jeans, and his Nikes illuminated his figure.
"Oh, hi," Taylor mumbled, feeling her cheeks turn hot. He grinned, asking her if he could sit beside her, and she nodded.
"How are you? How's New York? Do you like it?" Taylor rambled continuously, trying to break the awkward tension between them.
"I'm great, it's great. You should visit London sometime," he grinned, making her stomach fill with butterflies, "I'll show you around, if you're considering visiting."
"I'd love that," she smiled, putting the strand of hair that fell out of her ponytail behind her ear.
They chatted continuously, as if they were old friends catching up, and there was no hint of awkwardness between the duo.
"So.. how's your boyfriend?" he inquired, suddenly regretting bringing up that subject as her smile suddenly faded, and her eyes didn't light up as bright anymore.
"I don't know," she mumbled truthfully, "I haven't seen him for weeks."
He nodded, not wanting to drag her along the topic anymore, as she didn't seem comfortable talking about it. However, he wondered. He wondered what he had done to her, and how he treated her to make her seem so.. sad.
He knew that if he had a chance, just a tiny glimmer of hope, he would be her boyfriend and he would treat her right, just like how she was supposed to be treated. But he knew that he didn't have a chance, because she was Taylor Swift and he was just some guy who had a crush on her.
His hand found its way under the table and he laced his fingers with hers, not really in his right mind at that moment. He was just doing what his heart was telling him to, and what he had wanted to do since the day he laid eyes on her.
Their hearts palpitated rhythmically, and their faces were now beet red, but they didn't care. They felt the time around them stop, and the background noise get incoherent.
They could only hear each other's heartbeats.
——
𝘁 𝗵 𝗲 𝗽 𝗿 𝗲 𝘀 𝗲 𝗻 𝘁 ;
Her train of thoughts were interrupted by the buzzing of her phone on the nightstand.
Oh, how she wished for it to be Joe, but it was not.
Rolling her eyes, she picked up the phone.
"Seriously, Tom? What's your excuse this time?" she seethed to the phone, tiredness lacing in her voice.
"..I'm sorry, babe, I was busy," he said after a long time, as if he just cooked up that excuse.
"Well you can go back to being busy because we're done," she hissed, then slammed her phone on the nightstand.
She didn't know why, but it didn't bother her too much when she broke up with him. She had already lost feelings for him when he started becoming a different person— coming home late, not bothering to answer any of her texts and calls, and barely making an effort to even see her.
She found herself dialing Joe's number, which shocked her, but she didn't care. She had to see him right now.
"Hello?" his groggy voice sounded through the phone, his British accent evident.
"Hey," she said, biting her lip, "Do you wanna come over?" She mentally facepalmed herself, knowing that there were better words to phrase that.
"See you," she could feel his grin over the phone.
A few minutes later, she heard a knock on the door, and she jumped out of her seat. Her heart pounded against her chest as she opened the door, revealing a slightly wet Joe, who had a boyish grin plastered on his face.
"Shit! I forgot it was raining.. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked you to come," Taylor rambled, but was interrupted by Joe placing a kiss on her cheek.
"It's fine," he smiled, his face slightly getting redder, and she noticed, but she too, was blushing mad.
"I broke up with him," she sighed, and felt as if a weight has been lifted off her shoulders. Joe jerked his head towards her, and furrowed his eyebrows.
"Oh yeah?" he remarked, trying not to smile, "How do you feel about that?"
"I mean, I don't know.. it doesn't really matter, I never see him anymore anyway," she sighed.
He nodded, trying to think of a topic to distract them both, as there was an awkward tension between them.
"So.. why'd you call me here?" he asked, plopping himself on the couch.
"I.." she stuttered, trying to think of a reason, but to no avail. In fact, she didn't even know why she called him. She just wanted to, so she did.
Realizing that she either didn't want to answer or didn't have an answer, he quickly changed the topic, and asked her if he wanted to watch a movie, which she agreed to.
Joe picked up the remote, putting on a show on Netflix, which was the first recommendation displayed.
They sat there awkwardly, and relaxed into the couch, not making any physical contact.
After a few minutes, he could hear her soft snores beside him, and he smiled.
He picked her up bridal style, went into her room and placed her on the bed, trying to make as little noise as possible.
"Stay," she whispered, softly but coherent enough that he could hear her.
"Are you sure?" he inquired, feeling his heart skip a beat.
"I don't want to be alone," she admitted, half-awake, then patted the spot on the mattress beside her, "Sleep beside me.."
He obliged, then laid down down beside her, and staring at her as she was stirring in her sleep.
"I like you," he blurted out truthfully, which caused her to sit up suddenly.
Her facial expression changed, but not in a bad way. She looked relieved.
He started becoming nervous as he wasn't quite sure of her reaction, and because she was quiet for too long.
"I like you too," she admitted, honesty lacing in her voice.
"You do?" he remarked in disbelief, as he had expected a worse reply. She nodded, looking at him and smiling sweetly.
He couldn't take it anymore. He crashed his lips on hers and put his hand on her cheek, doing what he had longed to do since the moment he met her.
Their lips moved in sync and it was as if they shared the same heartbeats. They felt as if their problems washed away and the time had stopped.
They pulled away, grinning, and their faces were crimson red but they couldn't care less.
At that moment, they knew, they were in love.
———
𝙖 / 𝙣 : 𝗵𝗶 𝗴𝘂𝘆𝘀! 𝘀𝗼 𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗶 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗶 𝘄𝗮𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝗼𝗽𝘀. 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝘄𝗮𝘆, 𝗶 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻. 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗲𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆! <𝟯