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Taylor leaned on the ledge and looked out at the New York skyline. She promised herself that when she first moved to New York that she would never feel small, but over the past year, that had changed. Between the two stalking incidents, the Kim Kardashian/Kanye West incident that led to many people bullying her on social media, and the fact that everyone was demanding that she released her latest album, for the first time ever in her life, she felt small and it wasn’t a good thing. While the city wasn’t closing in on her, she felt like she was alone and lost in her life. It seemed like everyone that was around her was doing better than her or involved with someone. Her childhood friends Abigail and Britt, had Ben and Matt, Ed had Cherry, Gigi had Zayn, Selena now had The Weeknd, and Blake had Ryan. She was actually starting to feel like the third wheel when she went out with anyone and it was starting to get old. She longed for that connection with someone like she had with Adam and Tom. While she still wasn’t really over the both of them, Adam because he was her longest and Tom mainly because it was a different kind of relationship, she knew that neither of them would have worked out because no one had any time for each other and that wasn’t good for anyone. They would have seen each other maybe once a month and the long distance thing didn’t work for her once, so there was no way that she was going to try it again with either of them. She didn’t want to put either of them through that.Taylor sighed as she stared out at the city. She felt her phone vibrate and pulled it out of her back pocket. She was expecting a text from Karlie, saying that she was on her way over, but it wasn’t, it was another Tindr match. She quickly looked at it and then put it away. It was another idiot who knew who she was and she quickly blocked him. She sighed. She wanted to be with someone, but not someone who was looking for just a quick fix or someone who was looking to spend the night with her just to jump start their careers, she wanted something that was more like what she had with Adam or Tom for that matter, but it seemed that it wasn’t going to happen on that app. Everyone she was matched with knew who she was and it wasn’t a good thing. She just wanted someone who didn’t care that she was, but she knew that this wasn’t going to happen. She was just going to have to settle on the fact that it wasn’t going to happen and that everyone was going to know who she was no matter how hard she tried to make herself not like her.She sighed as she stared out at the city and then felt her phone go off again. This time It was the text from Karlie saying that she was running five minutes late and would be stopping to pick up Gigi and Blake, who had decided that she was going to use Gigi’s apartment as a halfway point between her house upstate and Taylor’s downtown apartment, so that she could go home later tonight and be with her kids the next morning. As she went to reply, a message came in from Selena saying, in her typical style, saying that she would be joining them at the last minute, because The Weeknd told her that she should see her friends more often and spend less time with him because of the fact that the tabloids were having too much fun with the headlines that they were creating. Taylor smiled as she read the text. Maybe this wasn’t going to be such a bad night after all. As she replied to Selena, she felt a few drops hit her, causing her to look up and then it started to rain. She knew that it was supposed to rain, but it was supposed to start later.“Darn it,” she said to herself. “I wanted to have dinner on the roof.” She sighed and then grabbed her phone and headed in. As she entered the master bedroom, she pulled out her phone and looked through her phone again. Her Tinder app was right on the homepage of her phone. While she wanted it to be front and center, at the last second, she moved it to the back of the phone, so that no one could see it and ask her why she was on it in the first place. She had a feeling that no one would question it, but she didn’t know how anyone would react if they found it. As she moved it, she opened it accidently. Taylor knew it was by accident, but she couldn’t help but look one more time. It was starting to become an addiction, to the point where she found herself on it multiple times a day. She sighed to herself and then stopped after she swiped left on multiple profiles. This one wasn’t like most of the guys that were on here. His profile picture didn’t show him drinking, doing something douchey, or just looking smug. The picture looked it was from his work ID, done professionally, or something. She didn’t know what it was about him, but he was cute. She opened his profile and smiled to herself. He was close, just a few blocks away, in fact the only goofy picture that he had in his profile was one outside her building, which it seemed that he sent to someone, like his little sister or something like that, just to make them jealous. However the smile faded as she looked down his profile and read his bio.I just moved here from New Jersey¸ he wrote. I wanted to spread my wings a bit, but I’m starting to think that this was mistake. All I do is work, go back to my tiny apartment and nothing else. I’m using this to maybe make a friend or two, but I have a feeling that this isn’t going to happen. All I want is someone to hang out with. Maybe go to a museum with or see a movie or even have dinner for that matter. I’ll give this a week and then delete it; because it’s not gonna work.Taylor actually felt sorry for Garrett, which was his name. He sort of looked like Ryan Gosling if he hadn’t gone into acting, went to college, got a degree, and then got a job, which was fine by her. As she looked at his other pictures, she felt something, something that she hadn’t felt in a long time. Something she hadn’t felt since Adam. Was she really attracted to this normal guy? This guy who was a nobody and just wanted someone to talk to and hangout with. She actually felt bad for him and knew how he felt. She too felt small and was looking for someone. As she was about to swipe right, the doorbell buzzed. She rolled her eyes. It was like Selena to arrive early when she replied late. She walked over to the intercom, checked the camera, making sure that it was actually Selena and not a fan trying to gain access to her apartment, and then buzzed her up. She was glad that someone was on time for once.Taylor looked back at her phone and was Garrett’s picture, one where he was standing in the middle of a book store, looking lost, trying to find a connection of some kind with someone. She then sighed. “I’ll give him a chance,” Taylor said. “He could be fun and a break from the norm.” Taylor swiped right on his profile, closed the app, moving the app off the home screen to the very last page and the put her phone in her back pocket, heading to meet Selena at the door. This was going to be an interesting night. Maybe he’d get back to her tomorrow when no one was around or at least that’s what he hoped.
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“Have a nice night,” the girl behind the counter of The Strand Bookstore said as she slid the bag across the counter. Garrett mustered a smile and took the bag and the receipt from her. “Thanks,” he said. “And you as well.” He headed toward the door and sighed. It was going to be a long, lonely weekend again and he wasn’t looking forward to it. When he first moved to NYC, mainly because of the fact that he was going to live rent free in a building that his aunt owned, he promised himself that he would make some friends, but that never happened. It wasn’t like New Jersey where your coworkers hung out with you after work, here everyone was in a rush to go back home or back to their apartments and meet up with their friends that they had for years. It was actually kind of sad in his opinion. Garrett actually felt small for the first time in his life and was ready to go back home and start commuting again. But, a free apartment was keeping him from doing so and he knew that he would never get that nice of a place again no matter how hard he tried. As he walked down the subway and boarded the L toward the west side of the island, he glanced down at the bag of books in his hand. He would finish them by Sunday and then he would repeat the cycle again next weekend. He wished that more of the people that he worked with were more opened to hanging out, but most of them have little circles that have room for no one new.Garrett figured that he would wait one more year, giving his sister, Becks, a chance to come in and spend the weekend with him, and then pack up his life and head back home. While he didn’t want to that, it seemed that this was going to be his only option, at least he would have friends back home, but the only problem was that he would feel like a third wheel all the time. He was the only single one out of all his friends and it was hard to go out in a group and not feel alienated. While they did call him all the time when they were in the city, he never went to hang out with them because of the fact that they never talked to him. While he would go out with one couple by himself, in a large group, it wasn’t fun. He found himself most of the time sitting in a dark corner, scrolling through his phone while everyone else was having a good time. As he passed the local bar that was two buildings away, he saw that it was empty.“Why not,” he said to himself. “I earned that drink after what Tristan in accounting had me do whatever that was this week.” Garrett then picked up the pace and headed toward his apartment. The rain that was supposed to come in later tonight had come earlier than expected, but that wasn’t going to stop him from going out. He was glad that he was only one building away from his apartment and not six like the last time that it rained and was soaked by the time that he got home. As he entered the lobby to his building, the doorman smiled.“Got a package for you,” he said. “I had to sign for it too. It must be something important.” He then reached down behind the desk and handed a large square package. Garrett was puzzled at first, but the he realized what it was. It was the record that he had been waiting to arrive for the past week. The shipper sure took his or her sweet time getting it here. “Thanks,” Garrett said as he took the package and then headed up stairs. He was wondering why he hadn’t gotten this yet. He totally forgot that he had won this in an auction and had paid for it everything. He was eager to see if it was in good condition as the seller said it was.As he opened the door to his apartment, dropped his books on the floor and started to tear the brown paper package apart. Between the books that he was buying every week and his vinyl record addiction, he was starting to wonder what was going to cause him go broke first. As he opened the paper, he saw the bubble wrap that was wrapped around it as well. He knew which record it was and started to smile. He had started tracking down a first pressing of Neil Young’s Harvest months ago and while most of the ones that he had come across weren’t actually first pressings, he finally managed to find one and at a good price too. As he opened it up, he smiled. Maybe it wasn’t going to be such a lonely weekend after all. The seller was right; the condition of it was perfect. The jacket and the record, which he carefully pulled out, was perfect, as if had never been played. He was happy that the seller didn’t lie to him. He then placed the record on the table and headed out. He would listen to it later, right now he want that drink more than anything. As he glanced out the window, he saw that the rain was coming to steady, meaning that the bar would be empty. Usually if it rained, the bridge and tunnel people stayed home and went to their local watering hole instead of driving or taking the train in, meaning that the bar would be empty. Garrett pulled his door closed and then exited the building.As he walked back up the street, he felt his phone go off. “Probably Becks,” he said to himself. His sister wanted to come in so badly, but now wasn’t the time. He didn’t want to confront her when he was this down, so maybe in a few weeks. He sighed as he walked in and saw that Al, the bartender, was staring at the TV. “Slow night,” he asked as he sat down at the end of the bar. Al turned around and smiled. He was glad to see that someone was coming in.“Not at all,” he said. “You know that it picks up post dinner rush.” Garrett smiled. He knew that it was still early, but this might be as busy as it got in here tonight. Al then placed a drink in front of him and he pulled out a $20. “First one’s on me,” Al told him. “Then you pay.” Garrett nodded as he focused on the TV screen and started to watch the baseball game that was already four innings in. As he sat there, his phone went off again, causing Al to look over at him.“That fire starter app finally getting you matches,” Al asked him. “I thought that you were deleting that after a week.” As Garrett snapped out of his trance, which was fine since the Yankees were up 3-1, he realized that it might be a match from Tindr. One of his friends told him that he should try it to meet people and while it seemed like a good idea, he had little luck with it. While he had a few matches, most of them flaked on him right before their dates or were no shows, which gave him little hope. Today was supposed to be the last day for it and while at lunch, he scrolled through a few girls, mostly swiping left, but as he came across this one girl, he stopped. She looked vaguely familiar, as if he had seen her somewhere before. He shrugged it off and read her profile.Taylor Allison here, her profile started. I’m new to this and thought that I’d give it a shot. I like to sing and loudly at that. My friends say that I’m a bit of a goof ball, but I deny it. I like to travel and miss the beach house that my family had on the Jersey Shore that we had to sell when we moved to Nashville, but I now live here in NYC. I would like to go to the MoMA or the Met in NYC where I live, because every time I go, it’s either closed or too crowded. I like books and the stores that sell them. Oh and I can’t forget… I love cats.Garrett couldn’t help but laugh. She was cute and probably way out of his league. He was sure that she would never see his request for a match, but he figured that he try anyway. But now it was different. They were actually matched and he didn’t know what to do. As he looked up at Al, he shrugged and then nodded.“It’s a match,” Garrett told him. “But I think that she’s out of my league.” Al took his empty glass away and then refilled it just as a large group of people walked in. The dinner rush was ending and now they were looking for a place to drink.“If you answer her,” Al said as he wiped his head, getting ready to go to work. “I’ll give you your drinks free from the rest of the night.” Garrett was shocked. There was a sign behind the bar that stated that no one would get a drink for free unless they just had a kid, but Al was the one who told him that he should be more adventurous when he first moved here and he was who told him that there are plenty of fish in the sea here, but this was crazy. Garrett glanced back down at his phone and took a deep breath.Hey, he typed. Wanna grab dinner or a cup of coffee sometime. He hesitated for a second, but then looked at the beer and hit send. It seemed that that first pressing of Harvest and those books were going to have to wait till tomorrow
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“Don’t you dare touch that phone,” Gigi yelled at Blake as she reached for her phone as danced across the coffee table. “If you even think of touching, you’re doing a shot.” Dinner had ended hours ago, but everyone had decided to stay and hang out since it actually had been a while since everyone had seen each other in a very long time. At first it seemed that they were going to be sitting around looking at their phones, showing each other pictures that the took from their world travels, although Taylor was the only one who hadn’t gone anywhere in the past year, Selena then got an idea.“I play this game with my friends all the time,” Selena said earlier in the night. “We all put our phones face down on the table and ignore them as long as we can. No matter what happens” They all agreed, but Taylor was worried that her phone would be going off all the time because of all the Tindr matches and alerts that she was going to be getting. So before she put her phones with the others, she flicked the switch on the side and turned off the sound. It was an unfair advantage, but she knew that it was the only way to keep her secret safe from everyone. While it seemed for a while that no one’s phone was going off, Blake’s phone when off first.“Ryan’s by himself with both girls,” Blake said. “He might be texting me asking where something is. James is probably giving him some problems. Like asking where I am and when I’m coming home.” Gigi rolled her eyes, but before she had a chance to answer, Taylor stepped in.“I think we can make an exception to the rule,” Taylor said. “Ryan is probably trying to get her to go to bed, but she won’t unless she says good night to you.” They all nodded in agreement. Blake then grabbed her phone and stepped away from everyone, taking the phone call from Ryan. Taylor wanted to look at her phone, but didn’t want to do a shot, in fact, it seemed that no one wanted to do a shot and everyone was avoiding their phones.“Kookies,” Karlie said as she came out of the kitchen. “Get them while they’re hot and fresh out of the oven.” As everyone heard that, they got up and grabbed one. It seemed that this was what everyone needed. It had been so long since they all hung out that it wasn’t funny. As she took a bit of one of the kookies, Karlie looked over at Taylor. “So when’s that album coming out,” she asked. “You know that the internet is starting to lose their minds and people are starting to demand that you release it. In fact, I had two girls ask me if I knew anything in my coding classes, but I had to tell them I knew as much as they did.” Taylor swallowed hard when she heard that. The truth was that she had been writing, but nothing was good enough. The two break ups that she had were mutual and nothing bad happened recently. She had the issues with Kanye and Kim, but she did not want to dreg that up and start something new with them. She sighed.“Good,” she lied. “I talked to Max Martin last week and he said that he liked what he saw and was going to work with it, but don’t expect something new till like next year. I haven’t even started to make the musical arrangements.” The four girls let out a collective groan. It seemed that ever Taylor’s friends wanted new music. While she said that she was going to take up to a year and a half off, it seemed that it was going to turn into two years, which she thought that she deserved since she had been stuck in a never ending cycle of touring and recording just like Bob Dylan was, but that wasn’t for her. She needed a break and it was well deserved.“Come on,” Gigi groaned. “You’re killing us here. I know that you said that you were planning on taking a year to a year and a half off, but now it’s turning into two years. I wanna go back up on stage and strut again. That was fun.” Everyone laughed remembering how amazing the show at Met Life was when they all came out. Taylor smiled and realized that she might have to actually start really writing lyrics instead of watching true crime shows all day. She sighed softly.“It would be funny if we both released albums at the same time,” Selena said. “We should totally go on tour with each other and do something like Jay Z and Kanye West did. But only better.” The thought of this made Taylor smile a bit. While it might be hard to tour with Selena, knowing her track record, it might be a good thing mainly because of the fact that Taylor would be able to keep her sane and maybe even get rid of those idiot friends who want to party all the time. But Taylor knew that this was a pipe dream. Her label and Selena’s label would never agree to letting them tour together. It was a dream, but a nice dream. Blake walked back and smiled.“Everything alright,” Taylor asked. Blake nodded as she took a cookie and poured herself another glass of wine. “Of course,” Blake said. “James was just being James and refused to go to bed without saying goodnight to me and Selena you better do a shot or else I’m going push you out into the rain and sell the pictures to TMZ.” Gigi, Karlie and Taylor turned around and saw that Selena was standing with her phone in hand, with a surprised look on her face. She knew that she was busted and there was no way out. Gigi walked over and pour the mix of vodka and fruit juice into a glass.“Drink up,” she told her. “You’re the first.” Selena shook her head. She couldn’t believe how stupid she was. Selena sighed and took her shot. “What is it,” she asked. Gigi shrugged. “It’s not jungle juice,” Gigi said. “It’s more of what a bartender would call a jolly rancher.” Selena shrugged. While it wasn’t bad, it was too sweet for her liking. “And I apologize,” Selena said. “T and Amy keep texting me about something stupid. They kept arguing about if I’m actually going to go back into the studio or not this year. Of course I had to answer them, if not they’d think that I’m dead or something.” Taylor rolled her eyes. At least they didn’t catch on her little tactic or else she’d be drunk on the floor. As Selena put her phone back down on the table, she accidently knocked Taylor’s phone on the floor, which caused her to panic. She was going to get caught and it was going to result in something more than just shots. Gigi was known for doling out punishments that fit the crime and she knew that it meant shots for her. As Selena picked up Taylor’s phone, she noticed that the silent switch was turned on. “You cheater,” Selena said causing everyone else to turn around. “You had your phone on silent the entire time. That’s so not fair.”Taylor blushed bright red. She was caught in her own lie. “I must have forgot to turn in back on this morning,” she said as she looked down. Gigi shook her head. She then walked over and looked at Taylor’s phone. She knew that Taylor was lying, but she didn’t want to call her out on something that she didn’t know what, but she was going to get to the bottom of it.“So why’d you leave your phone on silent,” Gigi asked. “Someone texting you too much and you don’t want your friends to find out?” Selena, Karlie and Blake couldn’t help but laugh. “Trying to hide a new man from us,” Karlie said as she came over and sat next to Taylor, letting her know that it was OK to be embarrassed.“She’s probably not ready for us to meet him yet,” Blake said. “After all, we didn’t meet Calvin until three months after she had started dating him.” Taylor breathed a sigh of relief. She was glad her friends where actually cared about her and would accept what she was about to tell them. But before she had a chance to explain what was going on, her phone went off loud enough for everyone to hear. Gigi looked down at the screen and the started to laugh.“Tindr,” she asked trying to contain her laughter. “Are you kidding me? Taylor, you aren’t that desperate, are you?” Taylor heard Gigi’s reaction and felt tears well up in her eyes. She didn’t thank that Gigi could be so mean. Before anyone else hand a chance to answer, Taylor grabbed her phone and ran upstairs, closing her door to her bedroom. As they heard the door slam shut, Karlie looked over at Gigi, scowling.“You know that you could have been a bit nicer,” she said. “Now we have to work on getting her out of there and that’s going to be bad as the break up with Tom.” Karlie got up and headed up stairs as Selena was coming back down. Selena had at least gone after her and tried to reason with her, but it seemed that even that wasn’t going to happen. “She locked herself in there,” Selena said. “I’m staying until she comes out. She was there for me when I came out of rehab all those times, so I wanna be there for her.” Karlie nodded and then looked over at Blake and Gigi. She remembered that the both of them hand to leave by 10, Blake was going back home and Gigi had an early flight to Paris for a shoot with Vogue Japan. “Go,” Karlie said. “Selena and I got this. We’ll send your apologies. We all know that no one was trying to be mean.” Gigi nodded.“I wasn’t going to make fun of her or anything,” Gigi said. “I just thought it was…” Karlie stopped her. “We all did,” Karlie said. “But it was wrong. We should have given her a chance to explain what she was doing. I’m sure that she had good intentions.” Karlie then got up and hugged Gigi and Blake. “Text when you get home,” she said. “We will,” Blake and Gigi said in unison and then headed out the door. As soon as they were gone, Karlie turned to Selena.“It’s gonna be a long night,” Karlie said as she climbed the stairs. “Are you sure that she locked the door.” Selena nodded. “I tried it,” Selena said. “There’s no other way in there. Karlie then remember something.“Yes there is,” she said. “Grab your jacket and follow me. We might get a little wet.” Selena looked at her like she was crazy, but she knew that Karlie had spent more nights in this apartment more than anyone, so she knew a few trick that no one else knew. Selena grabbed her jacket and followed Karlie up the stairs. From the sound of it, it wasn’t going to be a long night after all.
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“You’re crazy,” Selena said as she looked out the door in the upper guest room. “It’s coming down out there. There’s no way in hell that I’m going out there and besides that, how the hell are we going to get into Taylor’s room anyway. She probably locked that door.” Karlie rolled her eyes. At times Selena was such a diva, but then again, unlike her, Selena wasn’t in the elements for modeling shoots all the time like she was, for her, this was going to be a cake walk. A little rain never bother her. Karlie put up her hood and the dragged Selena, who almost clung to the door frame, out the door, heading across the patio. It wasn’t that bad as Selena thought, it was just a typical east coast spring rain that fell steady. As they neared the master bedroom, Karlie pushed opened the patio doors no problem, as if she knew that it was going to be unlocked. “How’d you know that,” Selena said looking at Karlie puzzled.“Taylor likes to leave it opened so when the wind blows from the north, she can get a nice breeze coming into her room,” Karlie told her as lead Selena inside and closed the door behind them. “I’m surprised that the stalker from February didn’t think to push it opened.” Selena shook her head. She knew that Taylor was a little laxed in somethings, but you would think after that incident, she would at least lock the door so that no one could get in. As then entered Taylor’s room, they found her curled up on the bed with Olivia and Meredith, the second who was rarely affectionate to anyone, cuddling up to her, as if they were trying to comfort her, letting her know that it was OK to be upset. As Karlie shut the door, Taylor looked up and then turned away. After what happened, she just wanted to be left alone. Karlie walked over to one side of the bed and sat next to her. At first, Taylor didn’t want to have anything to do with either of them, but then she picked up her head and put it in Karlie’s lap. She sobbed a little as Selena came over and start to rub her back.“All I wanted to do was meet someone,” she said between sobs. “I want to be like you guys and be happy and stop feeling like a third wheel. It’s not like I going on there and looking for a hook up or anything. I just want to try something different. I’ve rejected everyone who figured out who I was and that meant everyone.” Karlie and Selena felt bad after they heard that. Maybe they should have let her explain what was going on instead of laughing. Karlie and Selena sighed at the same time.“Tay,” Karlie started. “We weren’t laughing at you; we were laughing at the fact that you had a Tindr notification on your phone. I mean you could easily have any guy you want and all you would have to do is walk up to them and say that you saw them across the room and you wanted to talk to them.” Karlie looked up at Selena, hoping that she could add something to what she said.“After you ran upstairs, we realized how wrong it was,” Selena said. “We should have asked you why you were using the app in the first place. It’s not like we were going to make fun of you or anything. We just wanted to have a better understanding of why you were using it in the first place.” Taylor stopped sobbing and pick up Olivia. She tried to pick up Meredith, but as usual, Meredith didn’t want any part of it and jumped off the bed, scurrying away. Taylor sighed and then blew her nose. She mustered a smile and wiped her eyes.“Thank you,” she said as she pet Olivia, causing her to purr loudly. “I guess that I’m tired of dating famous people and want someone normal for a change. Someone who doesn’t care that I’m famous and just wants to be with me for… well me. So I decided to try Tindr. I know that it’s commonly used for hook ups, but I read a lot of good stories of people finding someone who they fell in love with. I know I’m crazy, but I have a feeling that it could I could make it work, even if we just start as friends.” Taylor looked over at her friends, hoping that they understood where she was coming from. Karlie smiled.“Is that all,” she asked. “Well how are you doing it anyway? Using an alias of some kind?” Taylor actually laughed. She was starting to feel better now that she had someone to talk to. “No,” Taylor said. “I’m just using my first and middle name. No one is smart enough to go and look for my full name, but there have been a few who knew it was me right away. I shot them down and blocked them.” Selena then leaned over hugged Taylor.“So what about the one you got the message from,” she asked Taylor. “Have you talked to him at all?” Taylor shook her head. “You can’t talk to anyone unless you’re matched with them,” she told her. “Once you’re matched, you can talk with anyone. So most of the time, if they look a bit creepy or stalkerish, I swipe left, but if they look like they’re gonna be alright, I give them a chance, but usually when we get to the chat screen, that’s where they get creepy and start to tell me that the know who I am and that’s when I end it. But this guy is different, he looks decent at least.” Karlie and Selena nodded. They had a better understanding on what Taylor was doing; at least she was being safe. The two of them then got curious.“So what does he look like,” Karlie asked her. “I’m sure that he falls in with the kind of guys that you date.” Selena heard this and giggled. “Yeah,” Selena said. “Tall, dark hair and spends some time at the gym.” She and Karlie started to laugh as Taylor rolled her eyes. She knew that they were right, but this guy barely fit the mold. Taylor opened the app and looked at the match that she had. Sure enough it was the lonely guy from earlier tonight and they had matched. He even sent her a message, but before she looked at that, she turned the phone toward Karlie and Selena. Upon seeing the picture, Karlie and Selena breathed a sigh of relief. He was normal and actually kind of cute.“He’s actually not bad,” Selena said. “But then again, he seems that he would be humbled if he met someone famous.” Karlie nodded and the tapped his profile and read it. “He’s lonely.” Karlie said. “And he’s a big reader too Tay. I think you two would be a great fit.” Karlie then spotted the message from him. “You should answer him,” She told her. “I mean he seems like he’s gonna be a good guy and not a creeper like some of the guys on these thing can be.” Selena grabbed the phone and looked at him and smiled. “He sort of reminds me of a normal Ryan Gosling,” Selena told Taylor. “Like he might not be as buff or something to that effect, but I don’t know, for all we know he’s ripped as hell underneath that shirt.” The three of them then laughed. While at first, Taylor was going to keep this to herself, she was glad that she told her two best friends about what she was doing. The weight of the world was off her shoulders. As she stared at the message, she started to smile.“He wants to meet for dinner,” Taylor said. She started to think about where she could meet him, somewhere not too expensive but not under super in expensive. As she thought about it, Karlie perked up. “Shake Shack,” she suggested, but Taylor shook her head no. It wasn’t going to work like that. It wasn’t a date with Ella, it was more serious. As the three of them sat there, Selena then perked up.“Coco and Cru,” she said causing Karlie and Taylor to look up. “It’s this little place at the corner of Broadway and Bleecker Street. It’s so small that I’m sure that you could rent the place out and have them close the shades for some privacy, this way no photographers could assume that you’re dating someone again.” Taylor then hugged her. Selena was right; she needed to go somewhere small and private, away from the public eye so that she could make him feel comfortable. While she did think about having him come here, it was too early for that, and she also though that meeting on neutral ground was better for this, just in case things went wrong and she had to get out of there, but she never got that vibe from him and it seemed that it was going to be fine. Taylor looked over at the clock and knew that it was too call and try to set up anything, so she would have to call in the morning and set something up.“Thank you both,” she said. “I guess that I need this. I should have told you guys sooner. I’m sure that Blake and Gigi are worried as you were.” She then leaned over and hugged the both of them. Taylor then focused on her phone and started to type a simple reply to Garrett, inviting him to dinner tomorrow. She hoped that he would find the message either tonight or tomorrow and that he would accept the response that she gave him. She smiled as she hit the send button. Now was the hardest part, but the only thing that she could do was wait.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Garrett groaned as the morning light hit his face. “I’m never drinking again,” he said to himself. “Or at least not lying to anyone to get free drinks, that was a mistake.” It was a mistake going to the bar last night and letting Al know that he got a match on Tindr. Al told everyone that he had gotten a promotion, this way he didn’t have to pay for a drink at all last night. It was fine until the shots came out. After that things were a blur. He didn’t remember much and not only that, he had no clue how or who brought him home. He reached over slowly and made sure that he didn’t bring anyone home. As he reached over and didn’t feel anyone, he breathed a sigh of relief. After one too many drunken nights in college, he decide that if he was heavily drunk, he would never bring anyone home with it because it wasn’t fun for either of them and the mornings were awkward for everyone. As he out of bed, he realized that he never really did get a chance to place that record that he had gotten yesterday and decided that since it was just him, he could play it. He slowly pulled the record out of the sleeve and then put it on the player and started it up, letting the needle drop onto the record.Out on the Weekend started to play and Garrett started to smile. He didn’t feel lonely, mainly because of the match that he had gotten last night. As he started to make breakfast, an omelet to take the edge off, then remember that he never did check his match at the end of the night to see if he had gotten a response for Taylor. As he dug through his coat pockets, he couldn’t find it and then he remembered how he found it the last time.“Alexa call my phone,” he yelled out. “OK,” the large tube said and ring came from his pants pocket. He rolled his eyes. He had to start remembering to take it out and then put in on the holder that he brought for it instead of leaving it in his pants or at the bar, which is something that he did on a regular basis. As he opened the app, he smiled. Taylor had finally gotten back to himSure!, she wrote to him. I know a great little place downtown called Coco and Cru. From what I here it’s small, but a great place for a first date because it’s easy to talk and such without having to yell over everyone. If you’re interested let me know.Garrett smiled. This was like a dream come true and she called it a date. He then read it for a third time and finally figure out what to reply back. His finger hovered over the reply button for a second and he was starting to have second thoughts about this. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea. She seemed a little out of his league and he was starting to think that she was bot, but as he read her message for a fourth time, he realized that it was real and he finally sent the message. Now the only thing that he could do was wait her to reply. He moved his omelet onto a plate and waited for a response*Taylor stumbled down the stairs and once she got to the kitchen, she sat on a stool and held her hands against her head. While it seemed to celebrate the fact that she might have finally found a good guy, in reality, it was the worst idea ever. She looked over at the counter and saw that there were two empty bottles of wine sitting on the counter. She then turned and saw that there were five more on the counter. While they did open two bottles when Blake and Gigi were here, after they left, they must have opened five bottles after she sent that message. She remembered the first glass, but nothing more. It seemed that Karlie tried to bake drunk as well from all the burnt kookies that there on the counter. Taylor shook her head and turned on the coffee maker. She needed coffee more than anything right now and maybe something from that new bakery that opened down the street. As she stood there, letting the coffee machine warm up, she realized that she should have gone with Garrett to Sarabeth’s, mainly because she had to do was make a phone call and the entire place would be there’s. She reached for her phone, which she left down here last night just in case he got back to her. As she when to unlock her phone, Karlie stumbled down the stairs and leaned against the counter. Selena and Karlie were the only two who were allowed to keep a change of clothes at her house just in case they had to spend the night. As Karlie leaned against the counter in her little baby doll nightie, she looked up at Taylor and shook her head.“I swear I say this all the time,” she started. “But I’m never drinking like that again.” Taylor couldn’t help but laugh, knowing that she felt the same way. “I feel like death.” Taylor laughed again. “Judging from the way that your hair looks, you might have hand the rougher night out of all of us.” Karlie smelt the coffee and smiled. “Nope,” she said. “That one on the couch didn’t make it to bed.” Taylor looked over and say that Selena was on asleep on the couch, with Olivia snuggled up next to her. Taylor then walked over and nudged Selena, who stretched and then shielded her eyes.“Why is your apartment so bright,” Selena said, causing Taylor and Karlie to laugh. “And why do I always end up on the couch when I sleep here. I swear, next time I’m gonna get up those stairs.” Taylor came back and handed her a cup of coffee. “We’ll all feel better after breakfast,” Taylor said. “Then I have to call Sarabeth’s and ask the manager if he’ll let me rent out the place.” Selena and Karlie looked each other and then realized that Taylor wanted to go somewhere she knew.“I think that’s a better choice,” Selena said. “It’s a place you know and also since you go there so much, the manager will have no problem with doing you a favor.” Karlie nodded. “It’s close to home,” she said. “So if you don’t like him when he walks in, you can ditch him and forget he ever contacted you.” Those words stung. Even if Taylor didn’t like him, she wasn’t going to ditch him and let him be alone, that wasn’t her way. Karlie sipped her coffee and then start to two out the burnt kookies from last night. “Did he ever reply,” she asked.Taylor opened the app and then smiled. “He wrote back,” she said. “And he said that he’s fine with the place I picked.” Karlie laughed. “Boy is he gonna be disappointed when he finds out that you’re changing the place, but what did he say.” Taylor look at her phone and pulled it closer. “I really don’t like that place, but its fine,” she read. “Just let me know what time and I’ll be there and I will meet you there.” Taylor breathed a sigh of relief. She quickly sent him a reply as started to mix the batter. Karle then came over and hip checked her. “Call Sarabeth’s,” she said. “And then go find something to wear. Selena and I have this.” Taylor looked at her like she was crazy, but Karlie was right. She had things to do. As she climbed the stairs, she called Sarabeth’s and hoped that it was going to be alright if he booked the entire place on short notice.*Garrett cleared his plates and heard his phone ding. He looked over and saw that there was a new message for Taylor.Well if that’s the case, Taylor said. How about Sarabeth’s in Tribecca? It’s a great restaurant that I go to all the time and the food is very good. I’ll make reservations for 7:30. See you then.Garrett smiled. He always wanted to go there, mainly because of the fact that so many people talked about how good it was and it looked like it as finally going to happen. He was actually excited to go on this date and meet this girl. Harvest ended and Garrett switched over to his iPod. He then decided that he would figure out what he was wearing and take shower before he realized what time it was and hand to panic. He then headed to the bathroom to get ready.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Garrett walked out of the Franklin Street Subway stopped and walked down the street toward Sarabeth’s. This was still weird for him and it was probably weird for Taylor too. The both of them probably hadn’t been on dates in years probably and he hoped that it wasn’t going to be awkward for the both of them. He just wanted to play it cool and hope that he didn’t embarrass himself like he did on his last date, which was a complete disaster for him and whatever he name was. He learned the hard way never to go to a concert on a first date because all his date would do is let other guys by her drinks. After that night at Shea Stadium, he also vowed never to go to small, local shows again. He was getting too old for that and the kids kept getting younger and younger, meaning that it wasn’t going to be fun anymore.Garrett looked down at his watch as he slowed his pace down a bit. He knew that he was a bit early, but it was alright. It was better to be early than late. It was a cool spring night so he didn’t mind walking to it since this was the closest stop was a few blocks away. He sighed as he passed Taylor Swift’s building and thought of Becks and how she was dying to come in and visit him. This place was the number one on her list of places to see, but ever since the stalking incidents over the past year, security had heightened around the building and made it impossible to catch a glimpse of her. All she wanted to do was sit on the steps and show her friends that she had actually been there, making them jealous that she knew where it was and they didn’t. But recently, it seemed that it was going to be impossible. He wanted to tell Becks that it wasn’t going to happen, but he wasn’t going to tell her that, she was his sister after all and she was the one who joined him as they chased Danny DeVito down the Asbury Boardwalk three summers ago in order to get a picture with him. As he walked pasted the building, he saw that the lights were on in her apartment, but then again they always seemed that they were on all the time. She liked to make it look like someone was there all the time so that if anyone wanted to break in or try to gain access to the building, they would have to wait a few days and try to decide if she was actually there or not. After stopping for a brief second, he started to move again. He wasn’t going to be late for this that’s for sure. It would be wrong to stand up someone that he was going on a date with.“I wish I knew more about her than just what she had on her profile,” he said to himself as he crossed the street. Every time he typed her name into Facebook or twitter, nothing came up. Even LinkedIn said that she didn’t exist. It was strange; as if she wasn’t using her real last name like all the girls did on social media. Garrett knew that the only option that he had was to go with was what on her profile and that was it. A first, he had panicked a little, but then he realized that they had music in common. He figured that this would be a good starting point, so why not use this as his way in. He then crossed the street and then realized that he was on the wrong side. He felt dumb bit decided that it was better, this way he could walk down the street a bit and then cross when he got closer. Soon he got near it and crossed again.As he crossed Greenwich, he noticed that Sarabeth’s looked like it was closed. There were many times that he passed it during cab rides back from the ferry when he went to see his aunt over on Staten Island and the place was always packed, but for some odd reason, it looked like it was closed. Maybe they had a private event and forgot to post on social media that they were closed that night. He was slightly confused by this, but decided that he would still try anyway. As he climbed the steps to the restaurant and went to open the door, it opened and the hostess smiled at him, greeting him warmly. “Come with me,” she said surprising him a bit. “I was told to let you in and give you a seat. Your date will be here shortly.” Garrett was even more confused. He wanted to know how she knew that he was on a date and if the place was closed then why was he being allowed inside? But he shrugged it off and then followed her inside wondering why the restaurant was so empty.*“Is that him,” Karlie asked as she leaned over the captain’s chair, watching for Garrett to arrive. While Selena had gone to meet up with The Weeknd on tour, Karlie had insisted on coming with her just in case things go bad. She was going to sit in the car and wait for the date to be over, but Taylor had told her driver that he was to drive off after she entered the restaurant. “No,” Taylor said as she checked her phone. “It’s just someone passing. I’m gonna be fine Karlie, I don’t know why you even came.” Karlie sighed and the hit the back of the seat.“I came just in case,” she told. “Taylor, what if he’s actually some kind of serial killer who wants to wear your face as a mask. I’m here to take a picture of the guy just in case you disappear.” Taylor rolled her eyes. She had made a monster and turned Karlie into a true crime fan and was starting to think that it was a huge mistake. Taylor sighed. “Look,” she said. “You can stay five minutes in the truck, but then after that back to the apartment. If I’m not home by 12, you have my permission to call the cops.” Karlie though about if for a moment and knew that there was no other options. She sighed and then looked up at Taylor. “Deal,” she said defeated. “Just do me a favor and hide your phone if he tries to kidnap you, this way we can find you via it.” Taylor rolled her eyes. Karlie was like her mother at times. As she looked out the windshield, she saw the door to Sarabeth’s open and someone walk it. She looked at the clock and realized that it was time. She tapped the driver and he drove forward. As she went to get out of the car, Karlie stopped her.“Just do me a favor,” Karlie said. “Be yourself and not the image that he knows. I personally think that Calvin and Tom didn’t get to know the real Taylor and got the one that was all about her image.” Taylor blushed a little. She knew that Karlie was right. Adam was the only one got close to seeing it while on tour when he showed up, but even then she didn’t feel comfortable enough to relax around him. She felt that things had to be perfect and she couldn’t be herself. Even with Tom it maybe came out once, but quickly retreated and she became her usual self. She sighed. “I will,” she told Karlie and then walked up the up the stairs. The door opened and she walked inside.
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Garrett sat at the table and looked over the menu as a waitress placed a glass of water in front of him. The whole restaurant was empty for some odd reason and while he liked it, it was slightly eerie, as if this was going to be his last meal for that matter and while it creped him out, he actually liked it. It was nice to have a popular place like this all just the two of them. He glanced at his watch and was starting to wonder if he was going to be stood up. It was just a little past seven thirty and Taylor said she would be there at 7:30 sharp. He was starting to get a bit nervous, but then again she was a girl and they usually a little later than they normally say they’re going to be. Just as he was starting to get a bit nervous, the door opened in walked his date. As Garrett saw this, he smiled. Her profile picture didn’t do her justice. She was prettier in person and still had that plain quality about her. As she looked up, she smiled at him and walked over. At first, Garrett didn’t know what to do. As she neared, he did the one thing that he knew how to do, be a gentleman. He got up and as she got close, he could see her face was lit up.“Garrett,” she asked and he nodded. Taylor then hugged him. For a brief second, Garrett didn’t know what to do, but eventually her hugged her back. Something about her hug was welcoming and friendly, like she was an old friend who he hadn’t seen in a while. “Yes,” Garrett said as she broke the hug. “I take it that you are Taylor.” She nodded and he breathed a sigh of relief to himself softly. While he was confident that it was her, he had to make sure. It had happened once before and it was embarrassing as all hell for both parties involved. He then helped her into her chair and pushed her in. “It’s finally nice to meet you in person,” Taylor said. “I debated for like two hours if I should swipe on you or not. But when I read your bio, I knew that I wanted to meet you.Garrett nodded. While his sister told him that it made him sound desperate, he thought that it was fine and so did Taylor. “Thank you,” he told her. “It’s hard to make friends here when everyone you work with lives in Brooklyn and never invites you to come and hang out.” The waitress came over and poured a glass of water for Taylor. “A bottle of Spindrift when you get a second,” she asked the waitress. “You like wine, right?” Garrett nodded. As he glanced over the list he saw that it was one of the most expensive bottles on it. “Are you sure,” he asked her. “I’m fine with just glasses.” Taylor shook her head. “Don’t worry about it, this is on me.” Taylor closed her menu, as if she ate here all the time knowing what she liked. “So you like museums,” she started. “I take it that The Met is your favorite.”Garrett smiled. She really did read his profile and wanted to get to know him. “Well, yeah. I say. I like it because of the fact that you can pay what you want and go for free if you want. I’ve spent many lonely Saturdays wandering around there. I’ve actually spent a few minutes sitting in front of that Jackson Pollock listening to jazz, because I wanted and also pretended that I had money while sitting on Robert Lehman’s couch.” This made Taylor laugh, not in a bad way; she actually thought that it seemed fun. “That actually seems like fun,” she told him. Taylor stopped herself. She had to lie a bit here, because of the fact that she didn’t want him to know who she was yet. “I’ve lived here for a while and I’ve always wanted to go there, maybe we can go there some time and you can show me that couch that you were talking about.” Before Garrett had a chance to answer, the waitress came back with the bottle and poured to glasses of it for the two of them.“Ready to order,” the waitress asked. Taylor looked over at Garrett and he nodded. “I’ll have a margarita pizza,” Taylor said. Garrett looked her and smiled. “Make that two,” he said. The waitress smiled. “One should be enough for two,” the waitress said. “Is there anything else for the two of you?” Garrett glanced at the menu quickly and nodded. “And order of the meatballs and crispy calamari.” The waitress nodded and then walked away. Taylor smiled. “Those are my favorite,” she said. “Have you ever eaten here before?” Garrett shook his head. “No,” he said. “My boss wanted to take all to dinner here for Christmas, but everyone was against it, so he moved it to some place that wasn’t as nice as this place is.” Taylor nodded. This was a good choice after all.“So why are you lonely,” Taylor asked him. “I know you’re profile said that you were looking for someone to hang out with. You don’t have to answer that if you don’t want to.” Garrett nodded. “It’s fine,” he told her. “I’ve wanted to tell someone for so long how I felt.” He pulled in his chair and then looked Taylor in the eye.“I moved here about a year ago because my aunt offered me an apartment rent free in one of the building that she owned,” he started. “I was commuting roughly an hour each day to and from work every day and she started to feel bad. At first I wasn’t going to take it, but then my parents told me to go for a year and see if I like it. At first, I thought I wasn’t going to like it, but then everything about the city drew me in and I liked it. But I had no friends and that’s what hurts. Everyone I want to hang out with lives in Brooklyn and doesn’t want anyone new in their group or their lives for that matter. So that’s why I’m looking for someone.” Taylor fell silent. She didn’t think that there was actually someone like her. Her heart raced a little and she actually was falling for him. There was something about him that was different. It seemed that he actually didn’t care if she was famous or not, all he was looking for was a friend. Karlie, Selena and everyone else had nothing to worry about. He was completely harmless. “What about you,” Garrett asked. “What’s your story?” Taylor fell silent. She didn’t want to come out to him yet. She didn’t know how he would react or if she should tell him. Garrett looked at her as if something was wrong. Taylor took a deep breath and sighed a bit.“I moved here back in 2014, during the summer,” she started. “I wanted a change and felt that New York was the best bet to get it and sure enough, I was right. Everything was good up until last summer, when some events took place and things changed. I started to feel small and for the first time in my life, I felt lonely. All my friends were in stable relationships, but me, I wasn’t. I felt like a third wheel and didn’t like it. I actually starting to feel lost too, which was another feeling that I never thought that I would feel in my life. I haven’t told anyone this, but I would get up in the middle of the night and just go out and walk around, trying to find myself. So I figured that I’d try this out and it looked like it was a success.” Taylor reached out and put her hand on top of Garrett’s and smiled, causing him to smile back. This was what he wanted and more. For the first time in a long time he felt a connection with someone and it was wonderful. The waitress then returned and place three plates on the table. Garrett looked up and was confused.“Your appetizers,” she said. “And the mozzarella is on the house Ms. Swift. It’s from the manager.” Garrett stopped and the looked over at Taylor, who was turning bright red. As he looked at her, he realized that it was her. The girl that he had made this date with was no other than the biggest pop star in the world. Garrett then up and then walk toward the door. He wasn’t angry; he just needed a second to clear his head. As he passed Taylor, she grabbed him, as if she was stopping him from leaving.“You’re… you’re not leaving are you,” she asked him with tears in her eyes. Garrett shook his head and the walked out the door, leaving Taylor alone. She then got up and walked toward the door.
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Garrett pushed the doors opened and sat on the steps. He quickly put his head between his legs and then sighed to himself. How could he have been so stupid and also so blind? He should have went with his gut with one this one and realized that it was her. At first he thought that Taylor was another girl catfishing him, but as he stared at her photo, he started to think that it was just someone who looked, which could happen. He didn’t believe that this was actually happening. It was like everyone’s fantasy to hang out with a famous person let alone go on a date with one and it was actually happening to him. He felt bad for getting up so soon and not giving Taylor a chance to explain why she didn’t tell him who she really was, but then he slowly started to realize why she did it.As he sat there, he heard the door open. He looked back and saw that Taylor was peeking out the door, almost scared to walk out. “Is there anyone around,” she asked. At first, Garrett was confused by this, but then he realized what she was asking. “No,” he said. “No photographers or fans for that matter. It’s safe to come out if you want. There’s some people milling around, but no one to take our pictures.” Taylor walked out and sat next to him on the steps, looking down at the ground.“I’m sorry,” she said as she averted her gaze at first, but then looked at him with tears in her eyes. “I should have been more up front with you and told you the truth like I wanted to. But when I say your pictures and read your profile, I knew that I wanted to be at least friends with you. I felt like that I was going through the same thing that you were and I could relate. But then I realized what might happen if I told you who I was and I decided against it.” She then looked over at him and smiled softly. “Can we still try to be friends?”Garrett smiled. While he was somewhat hurt by this, he did understand why she had to lie. “Of course,” he said. “No harm no fowl. I mean, I fully understand why you didn’t tell me who you were. For you knew I was some serial killer who wanted you for my collection.” Taylor stood up and started to laugh. “You know Karlie said the same thing,” she told him up. “She insisted on sitting in the car outside.” Garrett looked at her. “Kloss, right” he asked. Taylor nodded. “Well I guess that I better brush up on who all your friends are. I have a feeling that somethings have changed.” Taylor nodded.“Only a little bit,” she told him. “After the latest Kanye West incident I lost two people, Zendaya and Kendall, but I only really hung out with them a few times, so it’s not a big deal.” As they walked in, Garrett realized that Taylor had not let go of his hand. While he wanted to say something, he didn’t. It actually felt right. As then walked back in Taylor looked at him and smiled.“You’ll meet everyone soon or later,” she said as she scooped a meatball onto her plate and then one onto Garrett’s. “But I have a feeling that you’re going to see Karlie tonight when you come over. I have a feeling that she didn’t go home like I told her to and she’s now pacing around wondering if I’m dead or alive. But then again, she is spending a few days with me while the floors of her apartment are getting redone.” Garrett laughed. He knew that Taylor and her friends had a tight bond, but that was crazy. “What? Is Selena Gomez there too,” he asked. “She’s probably holding one of your cats so tight that it’s trying to escape.” Taylor laughed when she heard that. “No,” she said. “She actually left to go meet up with The Weeknd for the South American part of his tour.” Garrett was surprised how much she knew about her. He barely knew where his keys were. As soon as they finished the appetizers, the pizza came out. Garrett picked up a slice and then placed it on Taylor’s place, offering it to her first.“You should come over for a while,” Taylor said. “At least show Karlie that you aren’t a psycho killer or whatever she said you are.” Garrett laughed. At first he thought that it wasn’t a good idea, but getting into one of Taylor’s friend’s good graces would be the best thing right now for him. This way once he met the rest of them, things might not be as awkward. Garrett nodded as he bit into the pizza. While it wasn’t the best that he ever had, it was still pretty good. “I think that it would be a smart thing,” he said. “This way she doesn’t come after me if I ever her in person.” Taylor laughed. “She’s harmless,” Taylor said. “Don’t worry about her.” Hearing that made Garrett smile and reassured him that everything was going to be fine. Now if he could impress Karlie, things would be better.
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An hour later, they were done with dinner and after arguing over who was going to pay for dinner, which Taylor did much to his dismay, they got up to leave. Taylor had called for her car and it was already so it was waiting for them and so here the paparazzi. Taylor sighed and then looked over at Garrett. “I’m sorry about this,” she said with general concern in her voice. “I had a feeling that it was too good to be true. Brendan should be with them since they were probably lingering outside the apartment. They probably followed the car over here and figured that I was inside.” Garrett nodded. He understood fully what was going on and knew what being friends with Taylor came with. “I’ll be fine,” he told her, which caused Taylor to look at him. “Let them take all the photos they want. We both know that we’re just friends and if the tabloids want to think otherwise, then by all means, let them have their fun. We both know it’s false.” Taylor nodded. She was surprised that someone was so understanding about what would happen if they were spotted with her. “Pull your jacket over your face,” she told him. “This way they won’t see your face and you’re right. It’s just rumors after. Nothing is true unless it’s People or Us Weekly. They haven’t had a story from me in a long time, so why not.” Garrett nodded and pulled his jacket over his face, blocking it from the photographers as Taylor grabbed his hand. She was going have to be his eyes for this and while it wasn’t hard, with all photographers, it was going to be interesting. As soon as Brendan stepped out of the car, Taylor pushed to door opened and led Garrett out the door. The paparazzi asked thing like “Who she was with” and “if that was her new boyfriend,” but neither Taylor nor Garrett gave them any answer. They just walked to the truck and got in. The driver then drove off, leaving the photographers at the restaurant. Taylor then hugged Garrett and smiled at him.“You did well,” she told him. “Good job on not talking to any of them or answering their questions.” Jarrett nodded. It was the least he could do after she took care of dinner. “It was nothing,” he said. “I’ve seen you do it enough on TV, so hard could it be. Although I was tempted to yell out something like “San Dimas High School Football Rules” as I was getting into the truck.” Taylor looked at him confused and Jarrett shook his head. “It’s from a movie,” he told her. “Never mind.” As they turned onto Franklin Street, Taylor put her hand on his shoulder. She then sighed a bit.“I should warn you before we get back the apartment that Karlie is a little defensive of me,” she started. “When I go up to get changed, she’s gonna start grilling you like she’s Olivia Benson in the interrogation room with a sex offender.” Garrett laughed, but then looked at Taylor and knew that she was serious. “You should have seen her with Adam and Tom,” Taylor continued. “I thought Adam was going to cry and Tom was going to confess to murdering Oden.” Taylor then started to laugh and Garrett knew that she was joking. “But in all seriousness, she’s going to be asking you all kinds a questions like who you work for and what you’re motives ar. She isn’t going to be easy on you. Trust me.” Garrett rolled his eyes. He was ready for this. Karlie wasn’t going to get to him at all. In fact, he had a feeling that she was going to like him. “Oh and before I forget, Karlie is kind spending the weekend at my place while hers gets repainted, so she might wanna tag along if we do anything over the weekend.” Garrett nodded. He was fine with that. Karlie was around longer than he was, so if she wanted to come, then she could.The car then pulled up in front of the pulled up in front of the building where a small group of fans were lingering around hoping to catch a glimpse of Taylor or one of her famous friends. As Garrett looked out the window, he wondered if this was a regular thing or something that happened once and a while. “Is this normal,” Garret asked. Taylor nodded. “Judging from the photo of you in front my building, you should know,” she said. “I could be up there on the terraces looking down and see at least sixteen groups of girls walk by and stand on my steps. I won’t go down then because of the fact that it would be mass chaos, but when I see a family with a little girl taking pictures, it’s a different story. I did it once and made a four year old on her birthday so happy, but I haven’t done it since.” Taylor looked at Brendan who then got out of the car and cleared a path. Garrett watched as Brendan handled the crowd with no problem. Once the girls were clear of the door, he knocked on the window. “You ready,” she asked as she took his hand. “And you don’t have to cover your head, because they won’t know who you are or will they care who you are. All they care about is seeing me.” Garrett nodded. Brendan then opened the door and Taylor lead Garrett out. The girls screamed for her to take pictures, but Taylor ignored them. One picture meant 20 and she didn’t want to stand outside all night. Sam, Taylor’s other bodyguard ushered them inside and then onto the elevator.“That was a rush,” Garrett said as the elevator closed. “Like I’ve only see that happen once in the city and that’s when Robert De Niro come out of Rao’s. It was something else.” Garrett looked over at saw that Taylor was looking at him smiling. He was confused by this. But before he had a chance ask any questions, Taylor leaned over and kissed him. At first, Garrett wanted to push her away, but something about this felt right. He then found himself putting his hands on her hips, and pulling her close. The height difference wasn’t there like it was with most girls, Taylor was at least the same height as him, even in the small kitten heals that she wore. The kiss that the two of them shared was magical. No tongues, just a simple kiss. It felt like time had stopped between the two of them. But it was short lived. Second later, the door to the elevator opened and someone cleared their throat. Garrett and Taylor looked back and saw that Karlie, wearing leggings and an old t-shirt, was standing right outside of the elevator.“Well…” she said slightly embarrassed, causing the two of them to blush. “I guess that the first date between you two is going well.” She then turned and walked back to the apartment. Garrett turned bright red and looked over at Taylor. “I guess that I should go,” he said. As he went to hit the button to go back down, Taylor grabbed his hand. “No,” she said with a sigh. “She needs to hear it from the both of us. Come with me.” Taylor grabbed his hand and led him toward her apartment. Part of him wanted to run, but as Taylor looked back at him smiling softly, he knew that this was going to be the best thing to do. Taylor pushed the door opened and led Garret inside.
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As Garrett followed Taylor into her apartment, he was impressed by it. From what he read on the internet, it was a former warehouse back when it was first built back in the 1920s and was saved by someone who had the right idea by saving it and turning it into apartments Taylor had purchased both of the penthouses and late last year combined them and turned them into one giant apartment. Garrett smiled as saw the purple couch that was many thought that was wasn’t hers, but as it turns out it was, along with many of the other things that he had seen floating around the internet and was glad that it was all real.Taylor had almost restored everything to what it was when it was converted in the 1980s and had tried to keep it original as possible. “Geez,” Garrett said as he passed the purple couch that he had seen pictures of. If Becks knew that he was actually in Taylor’s apartment, she’d flip. “Thanks,” Taylor said, but she was focused on something else. As they entered the kitchen, they found Karlie getting glasses of wine down. The look of wonder disappeared off his face and he then remembered what Taylor said, this was going to be the fun part of the night for him and Karlie. Taylor looked over at Garrett and then sighed. “I’m going to go get changed,” she said to both Karlie and Garrett. “Why don’t you two get to know each other a bit better so that there’s no bad blood between you two.” Taylor then left the kitchen and headed up stairs. As soon as she was gone, Karlie walked over to Garret and stood next to him. Garrett had to look up at Karlie because she towered over him. Her nickname wasn’t baby giraffe for nothing.“What the hell was that I saw in the elevator,” Karlie asked. “And don’t you lie to me either.” Garrett sighed. Lying would just get him more in trouble, so the best thing for him to do was going to tell the truth and not bend. “Taylor kissed me,” he told her. “I was telling her how crazy it was that people just stand out there and wait to see her and then all of a sudden, she kissed me. That’s all.” Karlie scowled. “Right,” she said. “And the fact that you didn’t realize that she was Taylor Swift is the real reason why you decided to ask her for a date” Garrett looked at her and then sighed. “The truth is Karlie, I didn’t know that it was her,” he started. “I had seen her picture a few times, but passed on her each time. She came up at least once a day and I kept passing on her, no swiping left, but just ignoring her. When she came up the other day, I finally gave her a look and figured that I’d give her a shot, not knowing who she was. I’m still in shock and even if she came out and told me who she was right away, I probably would have told her that I’m scared of her and turned her down.”Karlie looked at him and sighed. Taylor was right, he wasn’t a creep or a stalker, he was just star struck. “Sorry about that,” she said as she poured him a glass of while. “After the past couple of relationships, I just can’t stand seeing Taylor getting hurt again. I mean granted, the last two weren’t bad, they just ended. But the others were rough. You know that she tried to hide the fact that she was using Tindr from us.” Garrett laughed. He understood why she would do this. If anyone found out that superstar Taylor Swift was using it, sites like TMZ would have a fit and her career would be over and her image would be forever tarnished. “I’m sure that she got a lot of creeps coming after her,” Garrett said as he took the glass of wine from Karlie. “But you can trust me; the only thing that might happen is that my sister might freak out when I bring her here.” Karlie laughed. “With time,” she said. “I didn’t like Calvin or Tom at first either. So it will take me some time to get used to you being around here all the time. You know that once you start officially dating, she’s gonna ask you to move in. She did it with Calvin and Tom, but the both of them passed on the offer, so it’s gonna happen with you.” Garrett was confused by this and somewhat scared but what Karlie told him. He thought that Taylor just wanted to be friends and not to add his name to the somewhat long list of exes that she had. It then dawn on him what she had said earlier. But before he had a chance to answer, Taylor came back down and stood next to him. She was actually dressed down in yoga pants and a t-shirt and no makeup on, something that someone like him rarely sees.“Everything thing good,” Taylor asked as she stood next to him. Garrett nodded. This was weird, but it felt right. “Everything’s fine,” Garrett said. “Right Karlie?” Karlie cringed when she heard that. She knew that she had to give Garrett the respect that he deserved, even though she didn’t know him that well. She nodded and then smiled at the both of them. “We’re fine,” Karlie said as she took a sip of wine. “Just talking about how funny it was that didn’t realize that you were famous.” Taylor smiled. She was glad that Karlie was actually getting along with someone for once, instead of trying to go all Olivia Benson on someone. Karlie then slid a glass over to Taylor and smiled.“Garrett was just telling me about his job and what he was getting ready to start working on,” Karlie said. “It’s pretty interesting too.” Taylor looked over at Garrett. In the chaos of him finding out that the girl he was talking to for less than a day was actually a famous, trying to find come kind of connection. “I knew I forgot something,” Taylor said turning her attention toward Garrett. “You know what I do for a living, but I have no idea what you do for a living.” Garrett nodded. He thought that he told her what he did for a living, but it must have gotten lost in conversation.“I work for a marketing company that specializes in promoting album launches,” Garrett said. “The guy who runs it pretty much lets me do anything that I want, so I’m pretty much the brains behind the operation. We just did a major promotion for the latest album for Vampire Weekend, which was a whirlwind of fun because I help them set up three surprise shows that were played in smaller clubs with no announcement so that they could play the album to small crowds.” Taylor smiled when she heard this. Maybe going after this him was a good idea. When she released 1989, she invited fans over for a listening party and while she wanted to do something similar, she wanted to do something different. “Well, maybe you could help me plan something out before my new album released.” Garrett nodded. Things were about to slow down a bit for him mainly because fact that the spring was the worst time of year for album releases because of the fact that it wasn’t always a time for big releases. “Of course,” he said. “Have you label get in touch with me and we’ll start talking when it gets closer to a release.” Garrett then looked at the clock and realized that it was getting late. While he didn’t want to leave, he knew that he had to.“But now,” he started. “I have to go because of the fact that I have work tomorrow. Is there any way that I can see you again?” Taylor reached out and took his cell phone. She took his hand and unlocked it. She dialed a number and her phone danced across the counter. “Call me later in the week,” she told him. “We’ll figure something out. Maybe a date on Friday.” Garrett nodded. He liked that idea very much. “Sounds good,” he said as he leaned in and hugged her. Taylor then gave him a kiss on the cheek, which surprised him. “I will call you Wednesday.” Taylor then walked him to the door and showed him out. “I’ll call down and have the get you a car to take you home,” she said. “It’s much safer.” Garrett nodded. “Thank you.” As he stepped out the door and walked down the hall, he still couldn’t believe that this was happening. It was like a dream. As he entered the elevator, he started to realize that Karlie was right. Taylor was smittened with him and he was smittened with her. Something was going to happen or at least he hoped.
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As Garrett walked out of the apartment, he couldn’t help but smile. He was glad that Taylor was going to be a short subway ride away. It was only three stops and a short walk to his apartment, which was better than that time that he tried to date that girl who lived up in Astoria and it took him two hours to get there a back sometimes, but this, this was going to be the best thing for him and it was also going to be great to finally actually have some to talk to, that is if she was willing to of course. He was actually glad that actually answered her message instead of ignoring it. He wondered what Taylor had up her sleeve next. While he knew a lot about her because of Becks, she was still mysterious and kept her life a secret from him as much as she could. As he walked toward the Franklin street station, a light came on and blinded him for a second. At first he thought that it was a cop, but it wasn’t too late and he hadn’t done anything wrong, but then someone started talking.“Hey man, I’m Travis and I’m with TMZ,” he said as he turned his hat around. “Can I ask you a couple of questions?” Garrett ignored him and just walked to the train station. Was this guy actually standing outside of Taylor’s apartment waiting for him or was he just passing by and saw him coming out. “Did you and Taylor have a nice time and what does Karlie think of you? I saw her coming back earlier from getting dinner.” Garrett was right; this guy was just hanging out outside Taylor’s apartment waiting for someone to come out so that he could get a story and spin it so that it would make everyone look bad. All Garrett did was sigh and didn’t say one word to Travis or whatever his name was. He didn’t want give him an edge so he just ignored him eventually, the reporter cursed him out and gave up. Garrett then ventured down into the subway, but not sending a text to Taylor.A guy from TMZ tried to talk to me, he wrote. But took a play out of your book and didn’t give him one word. Nobody needs to know who I am.Garrett then placed the phone in his pocket and waited for the train. Seconds later, it pulled into the station and he got on. As he took a seat, he started to smile to himself. This wasn’t a dream, it was actually happening. He was eventually going to be dating Taylor Swift, if she wanted to date him of course, and it was a good thing. Karlie made it clear that Taylor was smitten with him and she hadn’t seen her like that in a long time. Well at least that what he thought she meant, but the way that Taylor was acting, all signs were point to yes. As he sat there, something else dawned on him. He would be leaving the world on normal life and entering Taylor’s world of high paced action and being under a microscope for everything. This scared him a bit, but at the same time, it interested him because of the fact that it was going to get him out of the normal, drab life that he was living and into something totally different and out of the norm, which was a good thing to him. Garrett sighed. He would have to wait till the next that he saw Taylor to see if she had any rules that she wanted him to follow.After a few minutes the subway stopped at his station, Christopher Street near Bleecker Street, and he got off. As her surfaced, his phone regained service and it went off. Garrett pulled out it out and saw that it was a reply from Taylor.Travis, right, she replied. That guy is always hangout outside trying to get anyone to talk so that he can get a story. Good job on not giving him any information or telling him who you are for that matter. I’ll talk to you at the end of the week and we’ll plan something for next Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Have a good week.Garrett smiled. He must have done something right if Taylor wanted to see him again. Then again, he wasn’t dealing with a regular, every day person who would flake on him and just give him one date; she was Taylor Swift after all. As he thought about this, his mind started to race again. While he had seen celebrities in the city before, this was different. He was actually hanging out with one and was going to be seen with her. The tabloids were going to label him as Taylor’s new boyfriend. But he didn’t mind that, he had a feeling that Taylor and he would be more than friends one day. There was a strange connection between the two of them and even she felt it.As Garrett unlocked his apartment, he remembered something. Becks had given him a present when he moved in here, but never actually opened it because it didn’t feel right. As he fished through the closet, he found the package that was wrapped in plain brown paper. Becks had drawn her usual heart on it. Becks had been doing it for years instead of signing her name. He then opened it and sure enough he was right about what was inside of it. Becks had spent all of her birthday money on Taylor Swift records, figuring that he’d eventually listen to them and actually like her. While he did like that one song called You Belong with Me, everything else he was unsure of. Becks said that it was all good, but being that he was raised on a steady diet of rock and roll and soul by his parents, he never really got into pop music. However Becks, because she was younger and had more friends to influence her musical taste, she got into pop music much to the dismay of their parents. She figured that having all of Taylor’s records would actually give them something to talk about and little did she know they would have more than just music.Garrett looked through the records and the came across Taylor’s first album, which featured a young, curly haired version of Taylor who had the whole world in front of her. Garrett wondered what this version of Taylor would think of her now. He then put her self-titled album on his record player and went to get headphones; he didn’t want his neighbors knocking on his door this late at night and started the record. While it was only Saturday, he had a feeling that he wasn’t going to hear from Taylor until Wednesday, which gave him plenty of time to get through her entire discography. Garrett sat in a chair and listened to the music started to play through the headphones.
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“You’re in love with him, aren’t you,” Karlie teased as Taylor put her phone down then next morning at their training session. “And no matter had you try to deny it; I can see it in your eyes. Tay you are so smitten with him that I’m surprised that you haven’t called him and invited him over for brunch.” Taylor rolled her eyes and sighed. She knew that Karlie was right. She had just met him and wanted to be with him already. He was different from all the guys that she dated. He wasn’t famous and he didn’t care that she was famous, which was a good thing. Taylor was glad that Karle brought this up at the end of the class and not during it or else she might have punched her square in the face or something worse. “I guess so,” Taylor said sigh, realizing that Karlie was right. “Is it weird that I want him to come with me to the Gala next month or do you think that it’s too soon for that even?” Karlie thought about it for a second and then noticed the crowd had gathered outside. She rolled her eyes. “Not as strange as this,” she said motioning toward the crowd. Taylor sighed. She thought that this was going to be quiet day. “I guess that we’re going to have to deal with the usual things that we deal with instead of trying to be normal people, huh,” Taylor asked. Before Karlie had the chance to answer, their trainer came over and tapped her on the shoulder.“I told your driver to use the alley,” she said. “This way you don’t have to deal with all those people and the photographers that are out there.” Karlie and Taylor smiled. They knew that they liked working for that reason, besides the fact that the trainers always kicked there asses. The grab the small bags that they brought with them and then headed to the alley. They quickly got in the car and left as a small crowd started to follow them down the street, but quickly gave up when they realized that they had no chance of catching up with them Taylor watched as the crowd gave up and she started to relax, she need a chance to get away from this and it seemed that Garrett was going to be the best chance for it.As they drove down the road, heading back to Franklin Street, Karlie looked at Taylor. “It’s your call on that,” she said confusing the hell out of Taylor, unsure of what she was talking. “I’m talking about the Met Gala Taylor. It’s not my choice. I’m not the one who’s gonna have to pay the extra money to bring him. So it’s up to you.” She was right. Taylor had gotten invited every one for the past couple of years, with the exception of the year that she was she was on the Red tour, she went to every gala that she could. It was still a month away and that was plenty of time to get to know him and then get him a tux so that he didn’t have to wear suit. She had a feeling that Garrett was alright, but she just wanted to make sure that he wasn’t going to use her to gain some kind of fame. She just hoped that he was a normal guy who was looking for a connection that she wanted to fine too. She sighed.“I could always call Anna Wintour and ask for another ticket,” Taylor said. “She would have no problem with me bringing me a guest. I was the chair last year and I did a ton of things for her, including that pointless, boring dinner party that I had to attend that could have been just drinks.” Karlie nodded. “I would just to make sure that he wants to go first. Like actually ask him and make sure that he’s interested. I know that the first time that I asked Josh he had no desire to go, but when he got there, he asked if I could join me again next year,” Karlie added. Taylor sighed. It wasn’t like she was going to tell him where to go and get fitted for a tux or anything; she was just going to ask if he would be interested. This was the hardest thing in the world for her currently, harder than the fact that she had to really focus and start writing that new album, but that was beside the point. While she wanted to be with him, she didn’t want to come on too strong. She needed some advice. ‘Abigail,’ she thought to herself. ‘She’d be the better one to talk to about this.’ Taylor was glad that Karlie was doing a shoot today, it would give her some private time and she would be able to talk to Abigail with no problem. This was all new to her and hadn’t dated anyone who wasn’t famous since high school. She was so confused with the feelings that she felt. It wasn’t the same as Tom and Adam, she actually felt safe around Garrett, like if they went out without body guards, everything would be fine. As the car pulled up in front of Taylor’s apartment, she grabbed her bag and climbed over Karlie.“See you for dinner tonight,” Taylor asked Karlie as she looked at her phone, trying to find the address of the shoot. “I should be,” Karlie said. “If not you could always invite Garrett over for dinner to keep you company.” Taylor rolled her eyes. “It’s a work night,” she told Karlie. “He’s not gonna wanna come out when he has to go to work the next day. It’s not fair to him.” Karlie knew that she was right. Garrett was not going to come out when he had to get up and go to work the next day. “I’ll call you if I’m not going to be here for dinner,” she said to Taylor. “But I should be back in time.” Taylor smiled and then gave Karlie a hug. “Don’t work too hard Kloss,” Taylor said. “Don’t fret over that boy too much Swift,” Karlie said as she closed the door to the car and then the driver drove off. Taylor turned and walked up the steps to her building. She was starting to fret over this boy that, as Karlie put it, she was smitten with. Abigail would be able to help and give her good advice about it or at least she hoped she would.
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An hour later, Taylor finished fixing her hair and getting dressed. She had minimal makeup on and was glad for once that she didn’t have to go all out like she usually did. Being out of the spotlight had its perks, but not having to get dressed up all the time was nice as well and this was one of those days where she was glad that she didn’t have to get dressed up at all. As checked herself in the mirror, wearing leggings, a short sleeve shirt, and a sweater over top of it, because of the fact that it was still cold in New York, her phoned dinged. She picked it up and then walked over the large screen iMac and waited. Seconds later, a face time request pop up from Abigail. Taylor answered the call and smiled as she saw Abigail appear on the screen.“Sorry for not getting back to you sooner,” Abigail said. “Matt and I were out with his parents for brunch since the decided to surprise us with a last minute visit that we wish that we knew about.” Taylor nodded. While Britt and her had been best friends since they were three days old, Abigail and her had a different bond. It was more of a sisterhood than a friendship. Taylor was the first person that she told besides her parents that Matt had proposed to her and Abigail was the first one that Taylor called when her and Tom ended it. They were really best friends and a lot closer than her and Britt were. “It’s fine,” Taylor said. “How’s everything else going with you?” Abigail shrugged. “Some old stuff,” she told her. “Matt had just asked asked me if I heard from you recently and I told him no because you were probably in recording more. What about you? What has the impressive Miss Swift been up to lately?” Taylor blushed a bit. She was nervous about telling Abigail the truth, but she was the best person for this after all. “Well…” Taylor said. “I met someone.” Abigail fell silent and then a hug smile came across her face. “You kidding, right,” Abigail asked as she couldn’t shake the smile from her face as she saw Taylor nod. “Do I know who he is or what he’s been in?” Taylor looked away for a second and then took a deep breath and looked back at Abigail.“If I tell you, you promise not to laugh,” Taylor asked. Abigail nodded. “I… I was using Tindr and I came across his profile and got matched with him and felt bad because he just wanted a friend, so I decided to give him a chance and see what happened with him. I went out to dinner with him yesterday and I think that he’s awesome. I don’t wanna rush things like I did with Tom, but I think that there’s a connection with him that even he felt and I think that he feels the same way too.” The smile quickly disappeared from Abigail’s face as she became concern. Abigail had known Taylor most her life and she was never known to anything this. “Taylor Alison Swift,” she said with a bit country twang in her voice. “First of all good for you, but are you crazy? You know that that you could gotten seriously hurt if you picked the wrong guy.” Taylor nodded. She was fully aware of this, but thank god she had a good screening process. “Believe me,” Taylor said. “Anyone who realized who I was, I blocked them right away. But this guy is different. He actually doesn’t car that I’m famous and likes me for me.” Abigail smiled. “That’s a good I guess,” she said. “What does he look like though?” Taylor was glad that she saved the picture of Garrett’s profile picture. She quickly sent a message to Abigail and waited for a reaction. As Abigail looked at her phone, she smiled. “He’s handsome Taylor,” she said. “I think things might work out between you two.” Taylor smiled. She was glad that Abigail was fine with him but now came the hard part.“I just need some advice,” she said as Abigail looked back up from her phone. “I really like the Garrett, but I don’t want to rush anything. I’ve only known him for a few days and I told Karlie this morning that I want to take him to the Met Gala next month.” Abigail laughed. “Tay,” She said. “Just ask him. I mean the worst thing that he could do is say no and you have to find some else to bring. I mean if worst comes to worst you could always bring me. But seriously, just tell him that you got an extra ticket from being a chair last year and you want him to be your date to the event. Like I said the worst he does is say no, so no loss there.” Taylor smiled. Abigail was the best when it came to this. “So just be me,” she asked and Abigail nodded. “Be the Taylor that I knew in high school,” she said. “I think he’d like that one a lot and get to know him. Invite him to spend the weekend with you and just stay home or do something that he likes. This way you know that you’re interested in him and the stuff that he likes.”Taylor smiled and nodded. She thought back the first date that they went on and thought about the conversation that they had. She knew that Garrett liked museums, so the Gala covered that, but she tried to remember what else he liked. She had time before she called him Wednesday, but she wanted to do something different from what she usually did. “Thanks,” Taylor said. “If I could only think of a second date, we’d be good.” Abigail then got an idea. “Ask him where his favorite restaurant is,” she told Taylor. “Make this one all about him and really make him feel special. Take him to his favorite place in the world and let him show you around.” Taylor smiled. She knew that she was still friends for this reason. This was going to be different from the first date that she had with him, in fact it was going to be fun.“Thank you,” Taylor said. “I think I’m going to do just that. I think that Garrett is going to be happy that I want to do something that he actually wants to do. We did something that I liked last time, so it’s his turn.” Abigail smiled. “That’s what I did with Matt,” she said. “He always wanted to do stuff that I wanted to do. But I finally told him that I wanted to do something that he wanted to do and he didn’t what to do. Eventually he just said dinner and drinks and I was fine with that. I have a feeling that Garrett is going to do the same thing.” Taylor laughed. Garrett came off as the type of guy who had an idea ready to go. “I think that I know what he’s gonna want to do,” Taylor said. “He mentioned that he was homesick to me the other night and I think him wanting to go home with me might actually make him happy.”Abigail sat up for a second and then held up a finger. “I gotta run,” she said. “Matt’s parents what to take out to look for a new couch for some odd reason. Talk to you soon.” Before Taylor had a chance to say anything, Abigail ended the call. It seemed that everyone in her life was in a rush over the past few days. She sighed to herself as she picked up Olivia, who had been by her feet the entire time, and then walked toward the living room. “At least someone wants hang out with me, even if they have to,” she said as she petted the cat. She headed down the stairs, thinking about what Garrett had told her that he liked to do. Wednesday was still a long way away, but she wanted to call Garrett today and plan out something for the weekend.As she walked down the stairs, she started to hum to herself and then stopped. She started to smile as the stood on the bottom step. She put Olivia down and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and started to play around on the piano. She was actually writing for the first time in a long time and finally found something that she liked. She reached for a notebook and started to scribble down some lyrics. Could Garrett be the muse that she was looking for or was it all something else. She didn’t care, whatever it was, she was actually writing again. As she sat there, she knew that it was going to be a long night of writing. Maybe seeing Garrett again was going to be a good thing.
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Garrett sat outside his midtown office and enjoyed the nice weather that had magically showed up in the middle of March. While the beginning of the week was nothing but rain and cold, somehow Wednesday had turned out to be nice. As he sat outside, he looked through his phone and started to do some research on Taylor’s life. He knew a bit about her, but didn’t know too much. Becks told him somethings, like how the Swifts used to vacation in Stone Harbor or that Taylor’s first job was picking praying mantises from Christmas trees on the farm that was next to her house, but that wasn’t what he was looking for. He was looking for who her friends were. The only ones that he knew where Selena Gomez and Karlie Kloss, but other than that, he was clueless. He wanted to ask Taylor these things, but didn’t want to come across as dumb and figured that he’d figure it out himself. As he sat there, his phone went off and he saw it was a message from his boss. Sure enough, his feeling was right. The building had a minor infestation from when a homeless man slept in the lobby last night and the management company felt that it would be better for everyone to work from home for the rest of the week. Garrett smiled and grabbed his bag. This meant that no one was really going to be working unless they had to so that meant that he had more time to do nothing. He was almost done with all of Taylor’s albums and had been listening to them nonstop since Saturday night. He was on his third pass through them all, making notes about all the songs on as he went along. But that was the least of his worries.He knew that Taylor was planning on calling him today. He wanted to call her, but felt that he would come off as stalkerish and decided that it was best to let her call. He was starting to think that it was something he did or said, but he shrugged it off. Taylor was probably busy doing things like song writing or recording or something to that effect, so he had nothing to worry about. If she called him, she called him and that was that. He understood if she never called him again if it was a onetime thing, but that kiss in the elevator said that there was something between them. Even Taylor felt it. The way that she looked at him said it all. She wanted to be with him, but it was too early. Garrett signed as he headed toward Union Square Park. It was nice enough so he decided to walk home. As he started to listen to Red for the third time, his phone rang. At first he was just going to ignore it, but then he realized that he should check it. He was surprised when he saw who was calling. He quickly answered.“Hello Ms. Swift,” Garrett said. “I thought that you weren’t going to call me.” Taylor laughed when she heard that. “Of course I was,” Taylor said. “I just didn’t want to call you why you were at work.” Garrett breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that. He didn’t even think of that. “Well I’m off for the rest of the day and the rest of the week,” Garrett said. “My building had a little incident, so I have a four day weekend.” He almost could see Taylor smile on the other end of the phone. “Come over,” she said. “Let’s plan out the weekend since we’re both free. Maybe we’ll actually go away and do something fun.” Garrett smiled and then headed through the park toward the subway. “I’ll be there in 20,” he told her. “Good,” I’ll see you then. The call ended and Garrett smiled. He hope that Taylor was going to take him to Nashville or Los Angeles for a few days, but even he’d be happy with staying in her apartment all weekend. Garrett headed down into the subway and started to make his way downtown, wondering what Taylor had in store for him*Twenty minutes later, Garrett turned onto Franklin Street and looked around. For once, the street was empty and there were no tourist taking pictures outside of Taylor’s apartment or photographers trying to take pictures out her going or coming from the gym. It was actually nice and meant that he wasn’t he didn’t have to ignore people or have people swarm around him while to tried to get in. Garrett then climbed the steps and rang the bell to Taylor’s apartment. The bell had a screen to see who was there, but no one answered. He wondered if Taylor had forgotten he was coming and then stepped out for a minute. As he pulled his phone to call her, he felt someone tap him on his shoulder. He turned around as saw Taylor was standing in the entry way smiling at him. “I was just about to call you, he said as he hugged hello. Taylor hugged him back and then gave him a kiss on the cheek. “I checked the screen and decided to come down when I saw it was you,” she told him. “I was better than sending Sam or Brendan down to get you. They would have patted you down and give you a full body check” Garrett nodded. He had met the both of them briefly the other night and they seemed to like him, but then again, they had to like everyone that Taylor brought into her life. She then pulled him in led him toward the elevator. As soon as they entered the elevator, Taylor kissed him on the lips.“Sorry I didn’t call you earlier this week,” she told him. “I got busy writing and I couldn’t break the grove that I was in.” Garrett smiled. He was fine with that and understood what she was going through. “It’s fine,” Garrett said. “I understand fully.” Garrett then moved his hands to Taylors hips and just stared into her eyes. There was a connection between the two for them, but they both seemed unsure of it. It was too soon the start anything, but it seemed that little moments like this where good enough for the both of them. The elevator dinged and the moment ended. Taylor then led him down the hallway to her apartment. “So you have long weekend,” she asked. “We should do something.” Garrett smiled.“Like what,” Garrett asked. “You wanna take a trip to LA or Nashville?” Taylor shook her head, confusing the hell out of him. “Actually,” Taylor started. “I was wondering what the name of that city was on the Jersey shore that you were talking about last Saturday. It seemed pretty interesting actually and I’ve always wanted to see that place where Bruce Springsteen got his start. What was it called again? The Old Stony?” Garrett couldn’t help but laugh. “The Stone Pony,” he said to her. “And that was adorable. We can go there. It should be opened tomorrow since it’s one of the days that they sell tickets. If not, I can get someone to let us in after dinner. In fact, my parents and my sister won’t be home this weekend. They’re going to look at a college for Becks.” Taylor breathed a sigh of relief when she heard that. While she wanted to meet his family, it was too early for that. She was just getting to know him still and didn’t want to rush things.“That’s perfect,” she said. “Do you have a car?” Garrett shook his head. “Not here,” he told here. “Back home my parents have my old, well not that old. A 4Runner for when I come back home. We can take a car service there and then use my car for the weekend.” While Taylor liked that idea, it was kind of risky. She then got an idea. “We’ll rent a car for the day and then take it back tomorrow when we get there.” Garrett thought about this for a second and then nodded. “I like it,” he said. “Just one question however, why are we renting a car when we can take a car service?” Taylor led him over to the couch and then sat him down and actually cuddled up to him. This was a big step for the both of them.“They’ll follow us,” Taylor said as she cuddled to him, making him feel comfortable. “The photographers I mean. I was thinking that we hold up some kind of barrier and get act like we’re getting into another car while the other three leave and cause the distraction. I know it’s crazy, but at least it will keep us from being followed and we can have some alone time. Of course my security team will be with us, but at least there will be no photographers.” Garrett sighed. She was right and while it was a weird idea, he had a better idea. “Let’s leave late,” he said. “Like at 1 AM. Most of the photographers will be up town taking pictures of everyone leaving the bars and clubs.” As Taylor heard that, she smiled. She then leaned in and kissed him on the lips, pulling herself into his lap. The kiss felt like it went on forever, but seconds later, it was broken up. The door opened and in walked Karlie and Gigi, who were both stunned by what they saw. The shock wore off quickly and then both felt embarrassed. “Sorry,” Gigi said. “We didn’t know that you were having company or PDA for that matter.” Garrett blushed brightly as he pushed Taylor off of him. “It’s fine,” Taylor said. “I should have told you guys that Garrett was joining us for dinner tonight since we’re planning on heading to his house tomorrow.”Gigi looked at Karlie and then shook her head. “Karlie, did you want to show us the proofs from your collaboration with Express,” Gigi said. At first Karlie was confused, but then realized what Gigi was getting at. “Yeah,” Karlie said. “I think their up in my room. You should see them. They turned out great.” Taylor rolled her eyes and got up. “We’ll be back shortly,” she said to Garrett giving him a kiss on the cheek. “Here’s the remote and then wifi password is Dibbles13.” Taylor then followed Karlie and Gigi upstairs.*As they entered the guest room that was temporarily turned into Karlie’s room, Gigi looked at Taylor and shook her head. “Is that the guy that you met on Tindr,” Gigi asked. Taylor looked around the room and then nodded. “And you’re already hooking up with him? Christ Tay, for all you know he’s a serial killer.” At first Taylor tried to keep it serious, but then Karlie lost it and made her laugh. Gigi then looked at the both of them and shook her head. “I’m trying to be serious here,” she said frustrated. Taylor the caught her breath and composed herself. “First,” She started. “I wanna apologize for laughing at you. The only reason we lost it was because of the fact that Karlie said the same thing and second, he’s a good guy. Karlie met him last weekend.” Gigi looked over at Karlie who nodded.“I warned him over the weekend,” Karlie said. “He’s on notice.” Taylor rolled her eyes. “Can the both of you do me one favor tonight, since I totally forgot that you both were coming over for dinner and give him a chance. He’s really a great guy. He’s not creepy or weird. He’s just lonely, like I am.” She was embarrassed to admit that. It was something that she was planning to keep this to herself, but felt that it was time to admit it. Gigi and Karlie looked at her. “Lonely,” Gigi asked. “Sweetie, what are you taking about? You have what might be the best group of friends out there, why one earth would you be lonely?” Taylor walked over to the window and looked out at the city, feeling small again. “You guys have boyfriends to go and do things with,” she started. “And for once in my life, I’m actually jealous of it. When I was with Adam and Tom, we did things thing that I never even thought of doing. Adam took me Coachella and Tom took me on a three week vacation that took me all over the globe. But now, I feel like all I’m doing is getting ready to go back into the studio, record an album and then tour. That’s why I’ve been delaying the process, not doing anything but traveling between Nashville, here, and Los Angeles, trying to find something to take my mind off it. That’s why I joined Tindr, to try and find someone who was just like me, lonely and looking for someone and I think I did. I mean, granted I feel something with him and he feels something with something with me, but we both are taking it slow. We both just want to be with someone and that’s it. If we wind up dating, then we wind up dating. I’m perfectly fine with that.” Taylor then breathed a sigh of relief. She wanted to get this off her chest for a long time and it actually felt good. After saying that, she felt the weight of the world come off her shoulders. She then looked up and saw Gigi and Karlie, wiping tears from their eyes. Gigi then walked over and said hugged her. Her tears dripped onto her shoulders. “I’m sorry Tay,” Gigi said as she tried to compose herself. “You should have said something. We, well at least me, would have hung out with you more often.” Gigi then lost it again, fully understanding where she was coming from. Karlie, who then was the better of the two, hugged her. “We’re here for you no matter what happens,” she said. “Even if it doesn’t work out between the two of you, we’ll be there no matter what.” Taylor nodded and felt better. “So you’re both willing to give him a chance,” she asked. Gigi and Karlie nodded. “I will,” Gigi said. “I mean he seems nice enough and I think Karlie’s already doing that, so I’m in.” Taylor smiled. She then hugged both of her friends. Before she had a chance to thank the two of them, there was a knock at the door. Taylor walked over and opened it, seeing that Garrett was on the other side.“Everything alright,” she asked him. Garrett nodded. “Yes,” he told her. “I just wanted to know if I should stay for dinner or not. I could run home and pack and then come back afterwards if there isn’t enough for me.” Gigi looked over at Taylor and smiled. “Of course you can stay,” Taylor said. “Gigi and Karlie want to get to know you a get to know you a better.” Gigi and Karlie nodded. “Go now and pack your bag and then come back,” Karlie suggested. “We’ll get dinner ready.” Garrett nodded. “I’ll call you when I’m heading back,” he said. Taylor then ran out of the room and then came back. “Just let yourself in when you finish,” she said. “And hurry back.Garrett nodded and then turned toward the opened space and headed back down the stairs. Taylor smiled to herself and then turned back to Karlie and Gigi. “Just don’t make him wear that god awful shirt that Tom wore,” Gigi said. “I don’t think that he needs to be embarrassed any more that Tom was.” Taylor picked up a pillow and then tossed at Gigi. “I think that Tom still has that,” she said with a laugh. “And I won’t. He’s not ready for that. Now come on, we’ve gotta start dinner or else I’m gonna start complaining.” As Taylor walked out of the room, Gigi stopped Karlie who looked at her.“Dinner, tomorrow, my apartment,” she said. “I’ll send out another group text later. I don’t trust him and think Taylor is a bit disillusioned with him and we need to talk about what we should do if she gets her heart broken again.” Karlie nodded. While she wanted to agree with Gigi, she knew that Garrett wasn’t a bad guy. He was someone that just wanted to be friends and that was it. Maybe he wanted more, but even he wasn’t sure about that. Karlie sighed and the nodded. “Of course,” she said. “What time and I’ll send out the text to everyone. Whoever can make it, can make it and that’s that.” Gigi nodded and then headed down stairs, acting like everything else was normal. Karlie sighed. She liked Garrett, but was still not sure that Taylor was right about him. She wanted to believe that Taylor was right about him just wanting to be friends, but she wasn’t sure. She sighed as she composed herself. She was being pulled in two directions at once.
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Garrett reached for his phone and turned off the alarm that he set on his phone, groaning a bit as he sat up. It was 1 in the morning and the street was empty, which was what he had hoped for. There was no major night life around here, with the exception of some smaller clubs and bars that no one famous ever went to, unless they planned on hiding from the public eye. As he looked out the window he saw that no photographers or fans were outside. He knew that Taylor wasn’t going to be happy when he woke her up, but at least they’d be able to sneak out of the city without being followed.Dinner with Karlie and Gigi wasn’t a bad as he thought it was going to be, but something about it didn’t feel right. While Karlie was warming up to him, he had a feeling that Gigi on the other hand still doubted his motives and was a bit cold toward him, which annoyed him, but then again, he’d be the same way if one of his friends started dating some random famous girl. He sighed and walked out of the spare bedroom on the lower level and smelled something cooking or possibly baking. As he walked into the kitchen, he discovered that Taylor was baking. “You know that we’re leaving in about ten minutes, right,” Garrett asked. Taylor put something in a Tupperware container and then turned toward him. “Just finishing up a gift for Karlie to take over to Gigi’s house tonight when she goes there for dinner,” she said as she finished jotting down a quick note. “I figured that it was the least I could do since we aren’t going to be there.” Garrett smiled. The idea of them being a ‘We’ intrigued him and also the fact that Taylor was such a good friend that he wondered how she and Gigi were even friends because of how she came off to people. “Did you even sleep,” Garrett asked. Taylor shook her head. “A bit,” she told him. “But I started writing again and I couldn’t sleep and I’m sure that Karlie is pissed too.” Garrett and Taylor then heard a door slam. They must have woken up Karlie up and they started to feel bad.“Is the car here yet,” he asked. Taylor glanced at her phone and nodded. “It just got here,” she told him as she picked up Olivia and kissed her goodbye. “Be good for Aunt Karlie,” she told the cat causing Garrett to laugh. “Is this a preview for when you have kids,” he asked her causing Taylor to laugh. “No, well maybe,” She said. “That’ still a long time off. Olivia and Meredith are my children for now.” Garrett laughed. “Says the crazy cat lady,” he said as he grabbed her bag. Taylor punched him playfully as she passed and opened the door. “How far is your parent’s house from Stone Harbor,” she asked. Garrett looked at her and though about it for a second. “Just about two hours,” he told. “Less since it’s not the summer yet. Why?” Taylor grabbed her bag and then followed him out.“I was wondering if it was possible to take a ride down there during the day,” she asked. “I haven’t been down there since 2004 and would love to see if my old house survived that storm from a few years ago. Unless you have something else planned of course.” Garrett heard that and smiled. “Of course,” he said. “It’s not far at all. I’ve made that drive may times myself without any issues during the off season with friends to check on their houses after major storms.” Taylor then hugged him. “Thank you she said as she pushed the door opened and then walked out of the front of the building. As she stared back at him, she wanted to invite him right there to the Met Gala, but the time was right. Maybe after this trip, she’d ask him. As she opened the door, Brendan tapped her on the shoulder. “We’re coming too, right,” he asked her. Taylor nodded. “Of course,” she said. “Just keep a safe distance. I managed to find a hotel for you guys to sleep in.” Brendan nodded and then got into the truck that was in the back. Taylor knew better than to go anywhere without her security team, just in case that a problem arose. She then climbed into the truck and sat next to Garrett.As the Truck pulled away from the curb, Garrett felt Taylor cuddle up to him. “How long of a ride is it,” Taylor asked with a yawn. Garrett stared out the window and though about for a second. “About...” before he had a chance to answer her, he discovered that Taylor had fallen as sleep with her head in his lap. “That was fast,” He said as he leaned down and kiss her on the cheek. It was only going to be a 45 minute ride, so he would stay up for the whole thing and wake Taylor when they got there so that she could walk inside. As he stared out the window, he watched the city move away, as if he and Taylor were leaving it behind. Once they entered the tunnel, Garrett started to smile. It felt good to be going home.*Forty five minutes later, the hired car pulled onto the street that Garrett grew up on. This wasn’t anything new, well maybe being driven in a hired car was, since he had done this many times before. As the driver opened the door, Garrett tried to wake Taylor, but she was fast asleep. He then slowly got out and picked her up and as he did this, Brendan walked over. “I got her,” he said. “Go to the hotel and get some rest. We’ll see you in the morning.” Brendan nodded and helped him carry in the bags; he wasn’t going to let Garrett struggle with anything. “Have a good night,” Brendan said and the headed back to the truck and headed toward the hotel, leaving Garrett and Taylor alone.Garrett then carried Taylor upstairs to the guest room and placed her on the bed. As he went to walk away, Taylor reached out and grabbed him. “Can you bring my bag up here so I can change,” she asked. “There’s no way that I’m going to sleep in my clothes.” Garrett nodded and ran down stairs and grabbed her bag handing in to her. Taylor too the bag and closed the door. Garrett headed down to his room and got changed. He then came back up and brought a bottle of water to Taylor. He then knocked on the door and she opened. She wasn’t any makeup but she was still recognizable. “Wow,” Garrett said. “You look better without makeup.” Taylor blushed as she took the bottle of water from him. “Well, I’ll see you in the morning. The bathroom’s right over there.” As Garrett walked toward, Taylor grabbed him. “No you don’t,” she told him. She then stopped and thought about what she wanted to say for a second. “Share the bed with me,” she said. “I really don’t wanna spend the night alone in a strange place.” Garrett sighed. “Ok,” he said as he followed her inside, seeing that she was wearing an old shirt and a pair of tight fitting shorts. “Just don’t try anything. I don’t want to ruin what we have.” Taylor smiled as she climbed into the bed.“You mean like this,” she said as she pulled him into bed and kissed him. She then wrapped her arms around him and pulled him tight. “No,” Garrett said. “I mean like this.” He then reached over and pulled Taylor over and spooned her. She then giggled as he did this. Both of them didn’t expect either of them to act this way so soon. Taylor then rolled over and kissed Garrett on the lips. She then broke the kiss and looked at him. Something about being here in the darkness all alone with him that was different than all the other times, it almost felt right. There was no sexual tension between the two of them, they just wanted to be together and be with each other. Garrett reached out and traced the outline of Taylor’s arm.“As much as I don’t want this to end, we should really get some sleep,” Garrett told her. “We’ve got a bit of a drive tomorrow and I think that if we got up around 8 and got on the road by 9, we’d make it there by 11:30 or earlier with no problem.” Taylor leaned in and kissed him one last time and then rolled over, allowing him to pull her close. It took Garrett a few seconds, but he eventually figured it out and managed to hold her. It hand been a long time since he had done this with a girl that it was almost foreign to him.“Sorry if this is a little awkward for you,” Garrett said. “But it’s been a long time since I’ve done something like this.” Garrett never got an answer. He then sat up and saw that Taylor had fallen asleep. She must have been really tired or just finally felt safe. He smiled as he settled down and drifted off to sleep himself. While it felt weird sharing another body next to him as he started to fall asleep, but then again after being single for so long, it actually felt right. He gave Taylor one final squeeze as he fell asleep.
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The sun came through the window and Garrett covered his eyes. He forgot that he old room goy sun in the morning. It was annoying, but the only good thing was when the sun came in around 9 AM, he was always up no matter what. He stretched and reached for Taylor, but discovered that she was already out of bed, which meant that she had gotten up long before him and went to the bathroom or something. As Garrett sat up, he eventually started to hear noise coming from the kitchen. Thinking that his parents had come home early, he then got up and walked down the stairs to see who was making all the noise.As he came into the kitchen, he started to laugh. Taylor was going through the kitchen looking for something. She was standing on a chair, as if she was a small child looking for a snack, looking through the cabinet where his mother kept all her baking supplies. “What on earth are you doing,” Garrett asked as he stood behind Taylor in case she fell. “I swear to god with all the noise that you were making, I thought that my parents were home and that would have been a bad thing for the both of us.” Taylor turned around and smiled when she saw that he had finally woken up. She got down off the chair and kissed him.“I was planning on surprising you by making breakfast for the both of us,” she told him as he stood in front of him. “But you mom doesn’t have a waffle iron or anything else to make things like that.” Garrett laughed. “My parents were never really into breakfast,” he told her. “They’re more into dinner and don’t have anything that makes breakfast besides bowls and spoons. Maybe Christmas day, but not every day people like some people are. We’ll just stop and get pork roll on the way there.” Taylor looked at him, confused. “What’s pork roll,” she asked, causing Garrett to smile. “God’s gift from New Jersey,” he told her. “You can get it with or without egg. It’s kind of like ham, but a bit bitter and a lot saltier. You can eat it anytime, but most people eat it for breakfast.” Taylor was curious. It actually sounded good or at least she wanted to try it. “You sold me,” Taylor said. “Were do we get it?” Garrett shrugged as he climbed the stairs. “Anywhere,” he said. “Get dressed and we’ll go. You’re body guards will be here soon and we should get ready to go. It shouldn’t be that bad of a ride, but we’re gonna be in the car for a while.” As Garrett climbed the stairs, Taylor ran past him and slammed the door to the bathroom. Garrett rolled his eyes and then grabbed some clothes and headed down stairs to the other shower. As he passed the bathroom door, Taylor stuck her head out. “Towels are,” she asked. Garret breathed a sigh of relief. She was taking it slow and he like that. “The closet right beside you,” he said. Taylor then smiled. “Thanks,” she said and closed the door. Garrett headed downstairs and into the other shower.*An hour later, Garrett was busy cleaning up the truck when Brendan and Sam pulled up in front of the house. “Does she really take this long to get ready to go anywhere,” Garrett asked. Sam laughed and the shook his head. “I guess that someone is new to the world of Taylor Swift,” he said. “Always add an hour to an hour and a half onto anything. Leaving the gym for most people takes five minutes, but if you’re Taylor Swift it takes an hour and a half if there are photographers lingering outside.” Garrett rolled his eyes. He knew that she took forever, but this was insane. There was no one who was going to see her or even think it was her for that matter. “I guess that you guys are used to it,” Garrett said as Sam and Brendan nodded. “You read a lot of magazines during that time,” Brendan said. He walked over and helped Garrett get most of the crap out of the back of the truck that they were going to use and he laughed. “So she’s making you take her to Stone Harbor,” he asked. “She must really like you if she wants you to go with her. She never asks anyone, even her own parents, to go there with her.” Garrett looked at him and started to think that this was not a good idea. Maybe this was going to be Taylor’s way of letting him know that she just wanted to be friends and see him when she wanted to see him and not when he wanted to, but he didn’t mind that. He actually had a friend that lived in the city, even if she was famous and wasn’t there most of the time was going to be good enough for him. “Why not,” he asked him. “I mean I’m not surprised that she hasn’t tried to buy it from the current owners.” Before Brendan had a chance to answer, Taylor walked out of the door. “Got everything,” she asked. Garrett nodded and then Taylor closed the door. She walked over and got in the passenger seat. Garrett then turned back and saw that Brendan had gotten back in the truck with Sam. This was going to be an interesting day for everyone. Garrett was now nervous and didn’t know what to expect. “So do we have to buy them breakfast too,” he asked. Taylor shook her head. “They ate before they came here,” she said. “So just us.” She then pulled a $100 and Garrett laughed. “No sweetie,” Garrett said. “That’s gonna be too much for them.” Taylor put on her sunglasses and smirked at him. “What if I wanted to give them a really good tip,” she asked. Garrett shook his head. “Well if that’s the case, then you’re gonna have to come in with me,” he told her. “No one is going to believe that Taylor Swift gave me $100 to buy two sandwiches.” Garrett then guided the car out of the drive way and headed down the street. He then took Taylor’s hand and held it tightly. Something about this felt so right. This was the start of a good day.
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“Are you sure you remember where your old summer house is,” Garrett asked. Taylor looked around and tried to remember where it was. They got down to Stone Harbor in no time. Even after spending at least 45 minutes with the owner of the little deli that was near his house, taking pictures with everyone who came in and signing more autographs that Garrett thought she would. Now they were driving around Stone Harbor trying to find the place, but neither of them cared, it was an adventure of the both of them. There were times that Garrett had to pull over to the side of the road and Taylor got out, him following shortly after, as she ran up to steps to some place that was closed for the season, but it was worth it. Taylor was actually happy for the first time in a long time. “It must be back on the main road,” she told him. “And we must be north the bird sanctuary, because you could climb onto the roof and look out and just see the ocean.”Garrett nodded and then turned the truck around and started to head back toward the main land of New Jersey. As he went to turn back onto the main road, Taylor stopped him. “Wait,” she said. “Before we go back, there are two things that I want to see.” Garrett looked at her and then realized what the first thing was. He then guided the truck over to the boardwalk and parked it in one of the many empty spaces. The meters weren’t in effect, so there was no need to feed it change. Before he had the chance to ask her something, Taylor got out of the truck and headed right for the steps. She then looked back at Garrett and smiled. “Are you coming or are you just gonna be like Sam and Brendan and sit in that truck all day.” She asked with a bit of country in her voice.” Garrett then got out of the truck and followed her onto the beach.It was March in New Jersey and while it wasn’t the warmest weather, at least it wasn’t snowing like it did earlier that month. As Garrett came to the top of the stairs, he saw that Taylor had walked down, onto the sand and then just sat in it as if she was spending the day on the beach, minus a blanket or chair. He walked over and sat next to her. Taylor then leaned her head against his shoulder. “I missed this,” she told him. “This is the exact beach that my mother would bring me and Austin to when we spent summers here. When we sold the house to move to Nashville, I was devastated, like to the point where I cried. I hoped to take my kids here one day, but now it wasn’t going to happen.” Garrett sighed. It was like when his parents sold their shore house on LBI after he graduated from high school. He was devastated when he came home from his first year of college and learned that there was no beach house to go to. He had planned on working at The Chicken or the Egg all summer before going back to school. He pulled Taylor close to him.“I guess when you spend so much time in a certain place, you become attached to it,” Garrett said to her. “Have you tried to buy it back from the current owners? I mean I’m sure that you could with no problem.” Taylor nodded. “I’ve tried so many times,” she told him. “But they won’t budge. They want $8 Million and they’re not budging. I even came down here during my tour almost two years ago and tried to visit the dock in the back, but even then they wanted a $1,000 just to let me back there.” As Garrett heard this, he smiled. “Well,” he said. “I’m sure that since it’s long before the tourist season and no one is around, we could easily sneak onto the dock with no problem.” Taylor smiled at him and then hugged him. “You’re bad and I like it she said. “Are we just going to pull into the driveway too?” Garrett nodded. “Of course,” he told her. “No one is going to question anything. The locals live down at the other end of the island, so no cops will be around. We should be fine.” Taylor smiled. She actually liked this idea. “There’s just one thing that I want to do before go over there,” He said. “Taylor looked at him and wondered what he was getting at. “Do you know remember where a liquor store is? We should get something to share while we sit out on that dock behind your former house.” Taylor smiled. “Fred’s over on 96th street,” she said. “It should be opened.” Garrett helped Taylor back up and they walked back to the truck and headed to the store that Taylor had mentioned.A half hour later, Garrett guided the truck into the driveway Taylor’s old summer house. Summer was a long way off, so no one else was around and no one would call the cops on them, but even if that happened, the cops wouldn’t do anything when they found out what was going on to begin with. As they sat there, Taylor looked at the house and smiled, but it quickly disappeared from her face. “Are you sure that this is a good idea,” she asked Garrett. “I mean the police would see the car and question everything and we could get arrested for trespassing.” Garrett put his hand on hers and then smiled softly. “Relax,” he said. “The worst thing that could happen is that we get caught and get a ticket for trespassing. We’re not going to get arrested.” Taylor looked at him in the eye and knew that he wasn’t lying and everything was going to be alright. “So we’re just going to drink this pint of whatever it is and then leave, right,” she asked. Garrett nodded. “Bulliet bourbon and yes that’s it and nothing else. We can go back home and get ready for tonight. Asbury won’t be too crowded and besides that it’s still too cold as well for anyone to come out. We’ll be fine.” Taylor nodded that the got out the truck and leaned against the hood. She looked at the house and smiled. “This was and still is a magical place to grow up.” Taylor then grabbed Garrett’s hand and led him back to the dock. They then sat on the edge of the dock and opened their beers.“I wish my parents would have kept this place,” Taylor said as she sipped the pint. She wasn’t the biggest fan of it, but this would have to do until later tonight. “But that would have been hard to do after moving to Nashville. My father wanted to keep it, but he didn’t want to rent it out either. So the only thing that could be done was to sell it and he did.” Jarrett took another sip of whiskey and then sighed. “I know how you feel,” he said causing her to look up at him. “We had a shore house on LBI, a small island an hour and a half north of here and I loved it. I had planned on bringing my kids there. But after I went to college, they sold it and did tell me.” Taylor sighed when she heard this. They were like two peas in a pod. She took another sip of the pint and looked at him. This was the right time and while she knew that it wasn’t the right to jump into something like this so quickly, she had to do something. She reached out and put her hand on top of Garrett’s, causing him to look up.“I need to talk to you about something,” she said as she put down the pint on the dock. “Since I came across your picture over on Tinder, I haven’t stopped thinking about you and since our first date, I can’t get you out of my head. I wanted to text you afterwards, but Karlie kept taking my phone away, telling me that it was too soon to have feelings like that.” She then took a deep breath and stood up from the edge of the dock. “I know that we just met and all, but I want us to be a couple and make things work. We can do it. You seem to be good a keeping secrets and want to play by my rules, so I think we can make it work. I’m just…” Before she could finish, Garrett walked over and wrapped his arms around her waist. “If you think we can make it work,” he said. “Then I’m more willing to try. I know that there are a lot of rules, but I’m willing to play by them and work with you.” Garrett then pushed her hair that was much longer than he last saw her in pictures in some gossip rag, out of her eyes and looked into them. Taylor stood up on her toes and kissed him and unlike last time in the elevator, Garrett kissed her back. Something about this felt right, as if was meant to be. Taylor the broke the kiss and smiled.“I guess that we’ll discuss everything on the ride back home,” she said. “What rules you’re going to have to follow I mean and other things too.” Garrett nodded. “Like how we’re gonna break the news to our parents and all your friends.” Taylor didn’t think that far in advanced. She knew that a few people were going to be upset that she was dating someone so soon again, but it was her choice and not there’s. They then sat back down at the edge of the dock and watched the tide roll in as they finished their pint. This was going to be a different relationship for the both of them.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Thank you,” Karlie said to her Uber driver as she got out of the back of the car that she had taken to Gigi’s apartment. She wasn’t running late or anything, but it sure felt like it. Between having to feed Meredith and Olivia, getting dressed and trying her hardest not to forget the cake that Taylor made at 1 AM, she felt like a complete mess. She had casually mentioned that Gigi was hosting dinner tomorrow and Taylor was kind of bummed that she wasn’t going to make it, so she baked a cake and wrote a note when she found out that wasn’t going to make it.Dear everyone, Taylor wrote in the note. I’m sorry that Garrett and I couldn’t be there, but we made plans before I found out that Gigi was planning on hosting dinner. Maybe we’ll do it again when the Goldwyn Estate is ready. We’ll have a big party to celebrate it being fully restored. Once again, sorry that we couldn’t be there tonight.Love Taylor and Garrett.Karlie sighed and pocketed the note. She knew that no one was going to read it anyway because this wasn’t going to be a normal dinner, it was going to be a dinner where they planned what to do if something bad happened to Taylor if Garrett hurt her in some way either mentally. After the last two break ups, where Taylor refused to do anything with anyone, she just wanted to stay home and watch Dateline all the time, which annoyed the crap out of everyone. Karlie sighed as the doorman held the door for her.While she herself was warming up to her, Gigi on the other hand wasn’t. She didn’t care for Calvin at the end of the relationship, mainly because of the fact that he almost ruined her21st birthday because of the fact that he was pissed that she crashed the date night that he had planned for him and Taylor and she had no desire to make friends with Tom, since she had a feeling that it wasn’t going to last between the two of them, so Karlie knew that she was going to hate Garrett with a passion no matter how friendly he was to her. This was going to be a long night for everyone. As she buzzed Gigi’s apartment, she wasn’t greeted by a voice like when she was at Taylor’s, but a buzzer, as if she knew who it was. It could have been anyone, including some crazed fan who had been stalking her for some time now, but Gigi didn’t seem concerned.Karlie walked in and headed up stairs. She had a feeling that everyone else was wondering why they were called here. She knew that Selena and The Weeknd were getting ready for his tour and also to make their relationship public both at Coachella and the Met Gala, but so was everyone else. This was difficult for all of them and the fact that most of them haven’t seen Taylor since her Fourth of July party last year and everyone one except her and Selena were in the dark, not knowing what was going on with Taylor. Karlie sighed as she knocked on Gigi’s door.“You too,” Hailee said as she answered the door. Karlie looked at her confused. Gigi had told her to text everyone and tell them that she was having dinner. “Did Gigi really call everyone?” At first Karlie was confused and didn’t know what Hailee was talking about, but as she walked in, she saw what she was talking about, but as she waked in, sitting in the living room of Gigi’s apartment, looking just as confused as she was, were Blake and Ryan, Ed, Selena and The Weeknd, and Hailee, who had rejoined the group after she opened the door. They all looked up at Karlie, hoping that she had some kind of answer. “Jesus,” Karlie said. “Did she call all of you?”“Texted actually,” Ryan said. “And it seems that James got ahold of mommy’s phone and learned how to type yes.” Blake the elbowed him and rolled her eyes, as if it wasn’t the answer that she was hoping for. Ed shook his head. “Email,” he said. “She told me that it was it was urgent and that Taylor was getting into trouble. But judging from everything that I’ve head, it isn’t.” Karlie shook her head and then sighed. She put the cake down and joined everyone. “I’m guessing that she hasn’t told you all the somewhat good news,” she asked. Everyone shook their head and Karlie thought long and hard about how to break the news. She didn’t want to flat out tell everyone that she was dating someone, but didn’t want to lie to them either. “Taylor is seeing someone she met on Tindr,” she told them. “I met him twice already and he’s not a bad guy. He’s lonely and just wants to be friends. But from the way that Taylor has been looking at him and the fact that I had to steal her phone last weekend in order to keep her from texting him and that’s the reason why she’s not here and we’re all here.” Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank god,” Blake said. “I thought that it was something more serious. Wait… is it the guy from the other night or is it someone different.” As they heard that they all stopped and looked over at Karlie, but before she had a chance to answer Gigi walked back into the room.“Let’s take it slow,” Gigi said. “We don’t wanna get too far ahead of ourselves. She met the guy on Tindr after all. We don’t know how he is.” The Weeknd leaned forward. “It might be good for her,” he said as he wrapped his arm around Selena. “I mean she’s dated nothing but famous people for years, so why not a normal person.” Ed nodded in agreement. “I’ve known her as long as Selena and I think it’s a good thing as well. I mean he sounds like a nice guy and from what Karlie has told us, he’ seem harmless. Look at me and Cherry. She’s not famous and she doesn’t care that that I’m famous.” Gigi rolled her eyes. “I agree with all of you, but we need to come up with a plan just in case she’s hurt by him. We don’t need another week of Taylor eating ice cream and sending us pictures of her cats again, do we?” Everyone nodded in agreement.“I suggest that let we have one week to herself and then we start dragging her out,” Selena said. “I guess that I could convince her to come to Disneyland for the day if anything happens.” Blake then stepped in. “And Ryan and I will convince her to come spend a week with us and the girls.” Ryan nodded in agreement. “If she doesn’t mind being poked in the face by a soon to be three year old who likes gets up before the sun even comes out.” Blake looked at Ryan shook her head. She knew that he was right, but the way he said it was so wrong.“I’ll call Martha and Lily and see if they want to help too,” Gigi said. “And I think that I’ll help her plan that Fourth of July party. That will help her forget everything.” Ed then looked over at Karlie. He then got up and bumped into her, causing her to look up and as she did, Ed nodded his head toward the bedrooms. After he disappeared, Karlie waited a second and the slipped away from the group unnoticed. As she walked toward the bedrooms, Ed poked his head out and motioned for her to come in.“Has she lost her god damn mind,” Ed asked Karlie. “Taylor’s gonna be fine and doesn’t need any help.” Karlie nodded. “I know,” Karlie said. “Gigi felt so bad after what happened with Tom that she doesn’t want the same thing to happen again. She was the one who told her to go and talk to him at the Gala last year.” Karlie sighed. She remembered toward the start of the night when Taylor first saw Tom and while she knew who he was, she wanted to meet him. Gigi, who watched her steal glances all night of Tom, finally told her that if she didn’t go over and talk to him she was. In a way, Gigi felt responsible for Hiddleswift and when it all ended, she felt responsible. “Gigi’s gonna get used to her having him around,” Karlie said. “Before she started dating Zayn the first time, she hated being the third wheel.” Ed nodded. “And to think that she was somewhat responsible for Taylor and Calvin for breaking up too,” Ed said. “You think that she’d learn by now not to interfere with Taylor’s dating life.” Before she had a chance to answer Ed, Karlie’s phone buzzed. She looked at it and her eyes went wide. “I think we have a bit of a problem,” she said to Ed. She then turned he phone toward him and Ed sighed. “I guess that Gigi was right for hold this thing,” he said. Karlie then turned the phone back stared at the picture of Taylor and Garrett, sitting in a restaurant, holding hands and enjoying a romantic dinner at a restaurant somewhere in New Jersey. “Shit,” Karlie said. “I just hope that she doesn’t text this to everyone.” As she stared at the picture, she knew that this was the worst thing that could happen. It looks like Gigi was right; it looked like they were going to have to plan something in case she had another bad break up. Karlie then looked over at Ed. “This is our secret,” she told him, causing Ed to nod. “I won’t say a word.” “Good,” Karlie said. “If you do, I’m shaving that red hair of yours.” She composed herself and let Ed walk out first. A few seconds later, she followed, making it look like she was ending a phone call.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Taylor stood on the porch of Moonstruck, a restaurant housed in an old Victorian in Asbury Park, and watched the sun set over the neighboring town of Ocean Grove and smiled to herself. She was actually happy for the first time in a while. It was a strange feeling, but she liked it. As she stood there, watching the golden orb disappear, Garrett came out and put his hand around her shoulders. “I worked here for a bit in college,” he told her. “I step many breaks on the top deck, watching the sunset. Somehow I managed to get all my breaks during the sunset. I guess that the owners and managers really liked me.” Taylor smiled at this heard this. Garrett was a lot more interesting than she thought, unlike the other guys that she dated. Taylor felt a chill as they stood there. While it was only March, it was still getting dark early. Garrett felt her shiver and then lead her way from the railing, helping her drape her shall across her shoulders. “I called in a favor from a friend,” he said as they walked down the steps. Taylor looked at him wondered what it was, but then again, they didn’t come all the way to Asbury Park just for dinner. Garrett had something up his sleeve and she was interested to know what it was. “Oh,” she asked. “And what’s that.” Garrett smiled as they walked toward a waiting car. He had planned on walking toward the boardwalk, but it was too cool for that. “You’ll see in a few seconds,” he said as he helped her into the back seat. “It’s something that you told me that you wanted to see in Asbury.” He then got in and the truck drove off. Taylor thought about what he was talking about as then drove a short distance toward and then realized what he was talking about.“You’re joking right,” she asked him as the turned onto Ocean Ave. Garrett shook his head. “A guy I went to high school with books concerts for the Stone Pony,” he told her. “And while there are no concerts tonight, he said that we could come and take a look inside.” Taylor hugged him as the pull up in front of the world famous rock club. “Really,” she asked as she realized that they were in stopped in front of it. Garrett nodded. “Yes,” he said. He pulled her out of the truck and then knocked on the main door. Seconds later, Chase, Garrett’s best friend from high school, opened the door. “Take your time,” he said as he smiled at the both of them, lighting up a cigarette. “I have to lock up when you’re done. So don’t worry about it.” Chase leaned against the wall and let Garrett and Taylor have the place to themselves.As Taylor looked around, she felt a connection to this place. While she never played here, she always wanted to mainly because Bruce Springsteen, one of her biggest influences, had played here so much. As she entered the club, she was in awe at the walls. “Shit,” she said. “Who hasn’t played here?” Garrett smiled. “Well, you for one,” he said as Taylor reached over and smacked him. “But yes, pretty much everyone has played here.” Taylor walked around, looking at the signed guitars, posters and other things that had been left behind over the years. Whild she didn’t know all the names, she knew most of them. “Wait…” she said. “Toby Keith played there?” Garrett nodded. “Back in 2009,” he told her as he walked over. “He had his bike with him and would ride to smaller venues and play a warm up show before his bigger one. I didn’t see it, but my dad happened to be riding down there that day and rode with him for a bit when he was heading back.”Taylor then turned her attention toward the stage and walked over and sat on it. She felt weird sitting on a stage that was so famous that she had never played. “I always wanted to play here,” she told him as Garrett came over and sat next to her. “I had the chance one, but it just never played out. Fearless had blown up and small venues like this weren’t an option anymore. I feel so dumb now.” Garrett smiled at her and pulled her close. “Maybe you can play a surprise show here one night before you start your next tour,” he suggested, causing Taylor to look up at him. “This and the Blue Bird as two small warm up shows and then you head out on your normal tour like nothing ever happened.” At first Taylor thought that he was crazy, but then she smiled. She actually liked this idea. It was similar to what Toby Keith did. “That’s a great idea,” she said with a smile. “In fact, I think I might just play small clubs before the tour starts and then wait a few weeks and start to real thing. It’s just what Harry Styles is doing.” She cringed as she said that. She didn’t have any issues with Harry, but the media would pick up on her doing this and say that she was stealing his idea. “Just make sure that you don’t play the same venues as he did and you’ll be fine,” Garrett said. “While they may think that you did this on purpose, it’s your own version of it.”Taylor smiled when she heard that. She was glad that he suggested this idea. As she sat there, she saw that Chase had left a guitar out for them. “He better not have the recording board set up,” Taylor said. Garrett then got up and looked. “It’s off,” he said. “If you wanna play, you can, that’s what it there for.” Taylor looked at the guitar and then got up. “Not now,” she said. But then as she went to turn away, she couldn’t resist. She then sat on the stool that was on stage and picked up the guitar. “Just one song,” she said. “Your choice.” Garrett thought about it for a second and the looked at her. “Style,” he suggested and caused Taylor to smile. “Everyone wants to hear Shake it Off when I pick up a guitar,” she says. “That or something from myself titled.” As she started to strum the opening chords, Garrett leaned against the rail and stared at her with all the attention that he could give her.*A half hour later, Garrett and Taylor walked out of the Stone Pony and started to walk over to the car that was waiting for them. Garrett went to get inside the truck, but Taylor then stopped him. “I wanted to do something to thank you for willing to put up with all the crap that’s going to happen over the next couple of days,” she said. “So I did a bit of digging around and found out one of the most popular places here and we’re going.” At first, Garrett was confused, but then it dawned on him. “Silverball,” he asked as his eyes went wide. “Did you rent it out?” Taylor shook her head. “I wanted to, but there was no time, so we’ll just go in regularly and have so protection with us.” Brendan and Sam got out of the truck and started to follow them as they walked toward the old arcade.“So I assume that you know all about me,” Taylor said as they walked onto the boardwalk. “But I know nothing about you. At least tell me about your family.” Garrett nodded and led her toward down the boardwalk. “Well,” he said as he opened the door to the arcade. “My mother is a lifelong homemaker whose sold Mary Kay products to put me and my sister in clothes that we wanted, I think we had three pink cars over the years when I was younger. My father is a regional manager of a supermarket chain. He’s been there for so long that he just worked his way to this position. He’s gonna retire in few more years, after my sister graduates from college.” Taylor perked up when she heard that as she paid for two hours for the both of them. “Sister,” she asked. “Is she a fan?” Garrett nodded as they walked through the turn style. “You don’t know the half of it,” he said as walked over to one of the older machines. “She’s obsessed with you to the point where she brought me all your albums on vinyl as a house warming gift. Becks will die when she finds out that I’m dating you and kept it from her.” Taylor started to laugh. While the arcade was crowded, most people just lingered off in the distance, not wanting to get too close. “Becks,” Taylor asked as she tried to figure out how to start the old fashioned pinball machine. Garrett then stepped behind her and placed his hand on hers. “Allow me,” he said. He helped her start the old game up and then stepped away. “And Becks is short for Rebecca. She’s named after a great grandmother on one of the sides. She was the one that dragged me to one of the 1989 tour stops at Met Life Stadium. She got to see you and I got to see Haim, so it was a win win for the both of us.” Taylor smiled as she missed her second ball. “Damnit,” she said. “This is harder than it looks.” Garrett then walked back over to her and put his hands on hers. “Use your body,” he told her. “Follow the ball and then shake the machine the same direction.” Taylor felt magic as he touched her. She wanted more, but this was good enough for now. As the played, they didn’t care who saw. All that mattered was that they were with each other. But they both thought about how they were going to break the news to everyone, something that they both dreaded.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The next two days it rained and kept Garrett and Taylor in the house, which gave them enough time to get to know each other. The two of them just hung around the house, watched Netflix and cuddled on the couch. They even ventured out to the local supermarket, Taylor wearing a wig that Garrett found in his sister’s room that must have been left out from Halloween and got thing for dinner as a group of young girls followed them around the store and wondered if was actually her or not, which caused the both of them to laugh.As Sunday approached, they quickly packed up and got ready to go back to NYC. “You’re parents are coming back soon, right,” Taylor asked as she carried her bags down the stairs. Garrett nodded. While he didn’t want the weekend to end, he knew that Taylor and he had to get back to reality, meaning that he had to go back to work and Taylor had to get back to doing what it was she was doing. “Sadly yes,” he said to her. “I don’t really need them wondering what Taylor Swift is doing in their house either and also have Becks passing out too.” Taylor knew that Garrett was right. It was too early for them to meet each other’s parents, but she kind of wanted to meet Becks just to see her reaction.“Maybe we can have your sister come visit the weekend after the Met Gala,” she said. “I’m sure that she would be happy to see New York for the first time.” Garrett nodded as he carried a bag down the stairs. “That’s a great idea,” he said not realizing what. “That fir…” What Taylor had said had started to dawn on him. “Wait,” Garrett said. “Are you asking me to go to the Met Gala with you?” Garrett went once and stood across the street from The Met and gawked with everyone else, but was disappointed when he found out that he had to stand across the street and wasn’t really able to see anything and could barely see anyone when they went to cross the street due to how crowded it was. A large grin appeared on his face and he hugged and kissed Taylor. “You’re joking, right?” Taylor shook her head. “Adam never wanted to go and I think you know what happened with Tom. I kind of want to use it as a coming out for the both of us. I know Selena and Able are going to be doing the same thing, but I think that the media will love it, especially because of the fact that Anna Wintour would sit us all together at one table.” Garrett nodded. “Of course,” he said. “I would love to. It’s been a dream of mine since I went two years ago to gawk and was let down by the fact that I could see anything. But this time around, it looks like I’ll be able to see everything.” Taylor smiled. “Great,” she said. “Now all I have to figure out who you’re going to wear.” Garrett smiled. “Tom Ford or Thom Brown,” he said. “The choice is yours.” Taylor nodded. “I’ll think about it,” she said. “I’m wearing either Gucci or Comme des Garcons. I don’t care of Rhianna is going to be wearing it too, I want to stand out.” Garrett laughed. “Just don’t make the same mistake that you did last year,” he said. “I’m still trying to figure out what that was.” Garrett then grabbed two bags and headed out. As he closed the door, Taylor sat down on the step and held her head. She had been feeling dizzy lately and while it wasn’t that big of a deal, something didn’t feel right. Something was off and she didn’t know what it was. Maybe it was all the stress from her fans putting on her to release a new album or the fact that everyone else wasn’t comfortable around Garrett yet, but she wasn’t worried about it. It’s not like it was going to affect her or anything. She heard the door open and the stood back up. “Is that everything,” he asked as he looked at Taylor. “I think so,” she told him. “I checked the bathroom while you were outside and got everything. So we’re good.” Garrett nodded. “We should get going then,” he said. “My mother just texted me saying that they were just going to get off the parkway in a few minutes.” Taylor nodded. While part of her wanted to stay and meet his parents and sister, she knew that it wasn’t time. She wanted him to meet her parents first. “Well we better get moving then,” she said.As they walked out of the house, Taylor started to feel dizzy again, but it was short lived as she sat down in the truck. She was going to make a doctor’s appointment as soon as she got back to New York and head back to Nashville after Garrett left and see what was wrong. Maybe it was a cold or just stress. “Everything alright,” Garrett asked. “You seem a bit distant.” Taylor shook her head. “I’m fine,” she said. “Just a little bummed that this weekend has to end. It was a blast.” Garrett laughed. “I think that it was unexpected for the both of us,” he told her. “So how are we going to break the news to everyone?” The dizziness returned for a second but then went away when she took a breath.“I texted Karlie last night,” she said. “I hope that you’re OK with that.” Garrett nodded. “It’s perfectly fine,” he said. “I actually don’t mind that she was the first one to find out. I’m sure that she’s good at keeping secrets. After all, she hasn’t told anyone where you are or what you’re doing for that matter.” Taylor smiled. Karlie was the most trustworthy friend that she had. When she told Karlie that she was going to take some time off, Karlie promised that she wouldn’t tell anyone anything. “I’m glad you’re fine with it,” she said. “Tom flipped when I told her.” She then yawned a bit. “If you want to nap, you can,” Garrett said. “I know that we didn’t sleep much the past couple of nights, spending time really getting to know each other. I’ll wake you when we get back to your apartment.” Taylor nodded and put her head in Garrett’s lap. Maybe a nap was what she needed and that would fix the dizzy spells.*An hour later, the truck stopped in front of Taylor’s apartment. As Garret went to nudge Taylor he looked up and saw that Karlie was standing in the doorway, looking nervous. Garrett slid out from underneath Taylor and walked over to the steps. “Is everything alright,” he asked Karlie. She looked at him and shook her head. “No,” she said. “And it’s my fault. Taylor texted me Friday night and I accidently left my phone opened. Gigi saw it and flipped out. Now everyone and I mean everyone is upstairs waiting for you and her to come up.” Garrett started to panic. He wanted to meet all of Taylor’s friends, but not this soon. As he turned to go back to the truck, he saw that Taylor was getting out of the truck. “I thought that you said that you were going to wake me up when we got here,” she said. Garret walked over to Taylor and look here in the eyes.“We… we have a bit of a problem,” he said. “It’s not a major problem, but it could cause some drama.” Taylor looked up and then saw that Karlie was standing in the door, looking nervously at her. It took a couple of seconds before she realize what was going on. Taylor got out of the truck and walked over to her. “Let me guess,” she said to Karlie. “Gigi accidently saw the text that I sent you and now everyone’s upstairs waiting to meet Garrett.” Karlie nodded and then Taylor sighed. She looked over at Garrett and knew that they weren’t ready yet. As she started to panic a bit she then got an idea. “Karlie, buy us some time and tell everyone that we hit traffic,” she said. “I’ll text you to make it look real. In the meantime, Garrett and I will go to his apartment and actually get ready to meet everyone.”At first, Garrett wasn’t too sure of this idea. But then again, it was better than getting a hotel for that matter. “That works,” he said. “I hope that you don’t mind a messy apartment with books everywhere.” Taylor smiled and then kissed him, not caring if anyone saw them kissing. “Let’s get a move on then,” Garrett said. “We don’t want anyone to see us.” Karlie headed back upstairs waiting to get the text. Garrett and Taylor got back into the truck and headed toward his apartment.After a short drive, the truck stopped in front of Garrett’s apartment building. Taylor started to feel dizzy again and thought it was just something that she ate over the weekend. ‘I’m fine,’ she told herself as she. ‘It’s nothing.’ It finally disappeared after she looked down. As she went to get out of the car, Garrett stopped her. “Are you sure you’re alright,” he asked her. “You’ve been acting strange since we left my parents’ house.” Taylor didn’t want him to worry; she did just start dating him after all and didn’t want him to think it was serious. “I’m fine,” she told him. “Just a little tired, that’s all.” Taylor then got out of the truck and waited for Garrett to get out. He was worried. Maybe she was just tired or maybe it was something else, but since she told him not to worry about it, he put it at the back of his mind. He opened the door to the building and headed up to his apartment.‘Something isn’t right,’ Taylor thought as they took the elevator up to Garrett’s apartment. ‘I just don’t feel right.’ She had been taking medicine for a cold that she couldn’t shake, but nothing else that wasn’t going to make her sick. She didn’t have the heart to tell him that she wasn’t feeling well. He wanted more than anything to meet her friends, so she just put it off. She’d call her mother and have her make her a doctor’s appointment for next week, this way she could figure out what was going on and if it was something was wrong with her.“Home sweet home,” he said as he opened the door. “Sorry if it’s a bit messy, but I didn’t expect you to come over so soon.” Taylor smiled. Garrett’s apartment was cleaner than she expected. She looked around and saw the pile of books on the floor. “Have you read all of these,” she asked as she walked over to the pile and looked at the different titles. “Not all of them,” Garrett said. “Most of them I brought just because I’ve been wanting to read them or they just seemed interesting. You want anything to drink.” Taylor took her eyes off the book that she picked up and looked back at Garrett. “Water’s fine,” she said. “I should text Karlie before I forgot.” Garrett walked toward the kitchen as Taylor pulled out her phone. She started to text Karlie, but the stopped halfway through. For some odd reason she was having trouble seeing the screen. As she closed her eyes to recover, she felt her legs go weak and then she felt herself falling down.As Garrett came around the corner, he saw Taylor starting to fall over. He dropped the bottle of water and caught her at the last second, before her head hit the ground. “Taylor,” Garrett said as he gave her a little shake trying to wake her up. But she didn’t respond. While everything seemed normal, she was just out. Garrett started to panic a bit. He wanted to call the paramedics, but didn’t want to attract the media. As he sat there rubbing Taylor’s face, he the saw her cell phone sitting on the ground unlocked. He quickly picked it up and scrolled down looking for someone to call. While he could call her mother, she was in Nashville and was too far away to help, but then he got an idea. He quickly scrolled through her phone then hit send.“Are you guys alright,” Karlie said after a few rings. Garrett felt tears well up in his eyes, but somehow managed to compose himself. “No,” he said. “Something happened. I stepped out of my kitchen and as I came out, Taylor passed out and now she isn’t waking up.” Karlie fell silent. “Listen,” she said. “I’ll be over ASAP. Until then keep her up right. I know what’s going on. She should be OK, but we should get her to Nashville and let a doctor take care of her. Her jet is always on standby so no need to worry. I’ll just tell everyone that you decided to stay an extra day and they’ll be gone. I’ll be there as soon.” Karlie hung up and Garrett did as he was told. He sat Taylor up and hoped that everything was OK. As soon as Karlie got here, he was going to pack a bag and go with them. He felt bad that this happened to Taylor and he wasn’t going to let her down by abandoning her at after what had just happened to her.
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Taylor stirred as the sun streaked through the window. As she laid in bed, she realized that something was very different. It was too quiet and there was no city noise. There was a dull highway roar off in the distance, but not the normal city noises that she usually heard when she slept in her apartment in New York. As she sat up, she discovered that she wasn’t in New York, but her parents’ house in Nashville and in the room that her mother had said was going to be her’s no matter where she lived. She was confused and slowly got out of bed. As her feet touched the floor, she discovered that she wasn’t dizzy for the first time in three weeks, which was the best feeling in the world for her. She smiled mainly because of the fact that she wasn’t light headed either, which best feeling in the world for her, after having to deal with them for as long as the dizzy spells. She knew that something was wrong, but wasn’t sure what. Then again, she didn’t remember the last few hours either. The last thing that she remembered was standing in Garrett’s apartment and then that was it. She was confused by this and also wondered why she was wearing hospital bracelets as well. As Taylor sat on the bed, trying to figure out what happened over the last couple of hours, she noticed that there was a note on the night stand.Taylor,
When you feel well enough or wake up, come downstairs. I’ll be waiting for you out in the garden and try to be quiet. Garrett and Karlie are exhausted from the flight and everything they did for you.MomTaylor was confused by the note and grabbed her robe and headed downstairs. Her mother would be able to tell her what happened.As she walked down the hallway, heading toward the stairs, she peeked in the first room and saw that Garrett was sleeping in the bed. Even when the door creaked opened, he didn’t wake up. He was out cold. He must have been exhausted. As she turned, she say that Karlie was sleeping in the bedroom across the hall as well and she too was out cold. She too was exhausted from whatever happened. Taylor felt bad for whatever she put the two of them through and would have to think of some way to thank them for all they did. She kissed Garrett on the cheek and headed downstairs.As Taylor stepped outside, she felt the warmth of the Nashville air. It was far different than that of New York, which was cold and somewhat wet and Los Angeles, which was cool, but not warm like this, but it felt wonderful. As she stepped out of the house, she saw her mother was down in garden. As she came down the steps, Andrea looked up and then smiled at her, almost as if she was breathing a sigh of relief.“Well there’s the problem child,” she said as Taylor rolled her eyes. “You scared everyone including your father and I. Austin was ready to fly out here and check up on you, but I assured him that everything was OK.” Taylor was still unclear about what happened. “What happened,” she asked. “The last thing that I remember was looking at a book at Garrett’s apartment and then the next thing that I know I’m waking up in my room in your house.” Andrea sighed. “Do you remember when you had that cold a few weeks ago and the doctor prescribed you that antibiotic that you had to finish,” she asked and Taylor nodded. “And then you were on that allergy pill that was supposed to help with those sinus headaches that you were having?” Taylor nodded again as she started to realize what her mother was getting out. “They caused an allergic reaction,” she asked her mother. Andrea nodded. “That’s what was causing your dizzy spells and also caused you to pass out. But it’s not your fault. Sweetie it was just a common mistake. The doctor said that you’re going to be fine.” Taylor breathed a sigh of relief.“I’m just glad that I wasn’t alone,” she said. Andrea smiled at her daughter. “You weren’t and you have a great new boyfriend by the way.” Taylor blushed a bit. She didn’t want her mother to meet him this way, but there was no way around it. “Thank you,” she said. “I guess that he was worried about me?” Andrea nodded. “When your father and I went to pick the three of you up from the plane, your father tried to take you from, but he refused. It was quite sweet and he almost slept on your floor last night too. Your father and I managed to convince him to sleep in a bed, but we think that he snuck back in there after we went to bed. There was no way he was letting you be alone in case something else happened.” Taylor did notice a blanket and pillow on the floor as she left the room, so that would explain why it was on the floor. She then took a sip of the tea that her mother had poured for her.“So what do you think of him,” Taylor ask as she put the cup back down. Andrea smiled. “I’m going to be honest with you honey,” she said. “When I saw him coming off the plane with you in his arms, I had a feeling that you were dating him, there was no denying it. Then at the hospital, I saw how he kept checking on you and knew that something was up. Eventually, your father and I cornered him and we talked it out of him. He’s wonderful.” Taylor breathed a sigh of relief. She had a feeling that her parents wouldn’t have a problem with him; she really had nothing to worry about. “Really,” Taylor asked as she leaned forward. Andrea nodded. “Yes,” she said. “You father took him out to dinner last night after he made sure that you were settled and grilled him. He said that he couldn’t find a bad bone in his body and in fact, he liked him so much that I think he wants you to offer him a job with that new company that he wants to start after you release your new record.” Taylor’s father briefly mentioned that he was interested in starting his own label, which would be a division of Big Machine Records, and Taylor could bring anyone who she wanted to it. She looked at her mother and smiled. “What’s dad going to have him doing,” she asked causing Andrea to shrug.“Your guess is as good as mine,” she told her. “You know how your father is. He always has something up his sleeve.” As they sat there, Karlie walked toward the kitchen, not realizing that they were outside. “Coffee,” Taylor and Andrea said at the same time, knowing that Karlie doesn’t function until she’s had it. “I’ll take care of her,” Andrea said. “She’s not gonna know what the hell she’s doing in the kitchen and you go wake up your boyfriend.” Taylor nodded and then headed upstairs.*
Taylor crept into the guest room that Garrett was sleeping in and looked at him. He was exhausted. He probably didn’t sleep well because of how worried he was. Taylor dropped her robe and climbed into bed with him. While she wasn’t wearing anything sexy, her mother must have put her in a set that she would be comfortable in, and she didn’t care that she was wearing either. She knew that Garrett wouldn’t care eitherAs she cuddled up to Garrett, shed started to try to wake him up. He’s harder to wake up than my cats, Taylor thought to herself. She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, hoping that it would wake him up. Garrett stirred and rolled over. “Five more minutes Taylor,” he said. Seconds later, Garrett sat up and looked at her in surprise. “You’re alright,” he said as he hugged her. “I called Karlie as soon as I caught you. She came over and you came back and asked to go home before you passed back out. So we did as we were told and took you home. The doctors said that it was an interaction with some medicines, it wasn’t serious, which was a good thing, but still scary.” Taylor leaned in and kissed him.“I wanna thank you for doing that,” she said. “I know that I wasn’t in the right state of mind, but at least you and Karlie listened to me and did what you knew what was right. I’m also sorry that you had to meet my parents like that. I wanted it to be under different circumstances, but my mom told me that they both approve of you. My dad is even considering offering you a job so that you can closer to me.” Garrett blushed and pulled Taylor down to the bed. He figured that they had five minutes of alone time before they had to go downstairs and see Andrea and Karlie. He kissed her and smiled. He and Scott had it off very well and when they were out to lunch yesterday before they went to bring Taylor home and Scott told their business plan. “I could use someone like you doing A&R,” Scott told him over lunch yesterday. “From what you told me, someone like you has an ear from music and would be good at it.” Garett had always had a dream of working in the field of music, but nothing ever panned out with it and he wound up working the boring job that he had. He knew that Taylor had to finish out her contract with Big Machine, but once that was done with, big things would happen.As they lied there, Taylor sighed. “I guess you met my mother too then,” she asked. “She told me that she likes you.” Andrea liked everyone, well maybe not Taylor Lautner, but she did love Adam, calling him her ‘second son’ at times. Garrett blushed a little as she said that. “She kept trying to feed me the first night that we came back from the hospital and all I wanted to do was sleep. But she fed me anyway. Karlie as well, which was a little awkward for the both of us.” Taylor rolled her eyes. She thought that her mother was bad during her 21st birthday, but this was a whole new level. “She’s like that,” she told him. The smell of breakfast started to fill the house. “And she’ll be looking for us soon if we don’t get down stairs soon.” Garrett kissed Taylor and got out of bed. “The doctor said that he wanted to see you tomorrow and then we can go back to New York.” Taylor smiled as she heard that. As she exited the room, letting Garrett get dressed, she went and grabbed her phone. She had some planning to do. It was time that everyone else met him.
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Garrett fell asleep before the plane even taxied for takeoff. Taylor breathed a sigh of relief when she saw this happen. She checked her phone and saw that everyone had said that they were coming to the party to meet Garrett for the first time. After all he did for her, including saving her from having to get stiches after her fall and forcing her into more hif, she felt that he at least deserved to meet everyone on her terms.“A party,” Karlie said a couple hours earlier as the packed their bags getting ready to go back to New York and normal life. Taylor shushed her and Karlie nodded. “Why? The Goldwyn Estate isn’t ready yet, is it?” Taylor nodded and then smiled. The contractor and interior designer that she was using had both called her the other day and told her that the work that they were doing was going to be done earlier than they expected it to be. “They finished everything earlier than they thought,“ She told her. “And I know that everyone wants to see it.” Karlie smiled and then looked at her. “Do you think it’s a good idea thought,” Karlie said. “I mean I know that you’re trying to keep a low profile after all. But do you think that a party is a good idea.” Taylor nodded. “It’s for Garrett,” she told Karlie in a whisper. “I know that everyone was trying to meet him last time, but everything didn’t work out. So now is the time and don’t worry about that low profile that I’m trying to keep, it seems that It’s been blown” Before Karlie had a chance to answer, there was a knock at the door. Andrea walked in and Taylor breathed a sigh of relief, she was worried that it was going to be Garrett. “The cater called,” she said. “Everything is good to go. All you have to do is get Garrett there and thing will be fine.” Taylor smiled as another knock came to the door. They looked up and saw that Garrett was standing there. “The car’s gonna be here in few minutes,” he said. “I can’t wait to get on the plane and sleep for a bit. You dad kept me out all night by the pool telling me about the new label.” When Taylor heard that, it looked like her plan was going work perfectly. “We’ll be down in a bit,” she told him. She then quickly packed her bag and looked over at Karlie. “We’ll talk after her falls asleep,” she said and Karlie nodded.“So as you were saying earlier,” Karlie said as she settled across from Taylor on the plane. “Everyone’s coming and you don’t mind having you cover blown?” Taylor nodded. “I’m over it,” Taylor said. “And besides that, I even called his parents and asked if I could fly out his little sister too. They were a bit surprised by this, but agreed to send her and not tell her. She’s coming out later with my parents, after the party’s started.” Karlie smiled. “She’s not gonna know what to do with herself,” she said. “I just hope the poor thing doesn’t pass out for shock.” Taylor laughed. “She should be fine,” Taylor said. “From what Garrett told me, she might freak out, but will not pass out at all.” Karlie smiled at that. “I guess that you sent your other plane to get her,” she asked and Taylor nodded. “It’s not branded like this one,” Taylor said. “That would have ruined the surprise.” Taylor’s phone went off and she smiled as she read it. “My parents have Garrett’s sister,” she said. “My mother told her that they co own the jet with someone and we went ahead on a regular flight. So she has no idea what’s going on.” Garrett stirred a bit but rolled over and went back to sleep. “So as I asked earlier, is everyone coming,” Karlie asked. “Taylor nodded. “Everyone who wasn’t busy,” she said. “And after the Gigi fiasco, everyone now wants to meet him.” The pilot then stuck his head out the door. “Five minutes,” he said to Taylor and Karlie.“So I guess that this is going to be the big test,” Karlie asked. “Nervous?” Taylor got up and went to wake Garrett up. “More than I am before I go on stage. I’m nervous that he might get a little too star struck and freak out.” Karlie laughed. “Everything’s gonna be fine,” she said. “Garrett’s gonna be fine and he’ll handle everything fine.” Taylor smiled and knew that Karlie was right. She walked over to Garrett and shook him gently. He then rolled over and looked at Taylor. “Time to get up,” she told him. “We’re landing soon.” Garrett sat up and was confused.“Was there bad weather or something,” he asked. “That flight felt longer than coming out.” Taylor smiled as she sat next to Garrett. “Well, not really. I kind of liked to you about where we were going. We’re not going back to the east coast right away.” Garrett looked at her a bit confused. “Well then where are we going,” he asked. “Taylor took a deep breath. “We’re going to Los Angeles,” she said. “If figured that you and Karlie deserve an thank you for doing what you did for me and I can’t think of a better way than showing you two what my new house looks like now that it’s done. You two are going to be the first ones to see it.” Garrett smiled. He had been following what was going on with the Goldwyn Estate for some time now and when he heard that it had gotten landmark status, he was thrilled.“You’re joking, right,” he asked. Taylor shook her head causing Garrett to smile. “I’ hold the next bit of information when we get to the house.” Taylor smiled. Garrett had mentioned that he liked Old Hollywood movies while they spent the weekend together. The watched everything from Gone with the Wind to Breakfast at Tiffany’s and the entire time he had a smile on his face. Something told Taylor that this was a good idea. As the plane started to descend, she wrapped her hand around his, hoping that he’d keep her safe if something went wrong.
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For years on end, Garrett had dreamed of going out to California and spending a week out there seeing all of the most famous sights that he had seen for years in magazines and on the internet. At one point, almost made it out there, but something came up on the day that he was supposed to buy tickets and the plans fell through causing him to put the idea on the back burner until the next opportunity arose and he had the money to do it. But now as he sat in the back of the car that was carrying him, Karlie, and Taylor, it seemed that he would actually be coming out here a lot more often then he initially thought. As then drove down Sunset boulevard, he saw all the sights that he only saw pictures of and was in awe of everything, including the Hollywood sign that lingered off in the distance. As they passed the Capital Records Tower, he smiled. “You see that light on the top,” he said to Taylor, causing her to look up from her phone, hoping that he wouldn’t read the text that she had just gotten from Hailee saying that she forgot the code to the gate. “It’ blinks ‘Hollywood’ in Morris code.” Karlie and Taylor looked at each other and didn’t believe it, but then again, after passing so many landmarks, they didn’t know to believe him or not.“I guess yo did a lot of research,” she asked. “Because you seem to know a lot about LA, but yet you’ve never been here.” Garrett sighed. “I tried once to come out here years ago,” he started. “But something came up and then I had to cancel plans because of it. So in my free time, I started doing research about all the famous landmarks that were out here.” Taylor smiled softly. She and Karlie took all the traveling for granted and never realized someone like Garrett had never really left the east coast and saw the rest of the world. The truck that they were in eventually turned north and then passed on of the famous Beverly Hills signs. “No facts about Beverly Hills,” Karlie asked. Garrett shook his head. “Too many to choose from,” he said. “Besides that, I think I’ll hold off on my trivia until we get to Taylor’s house.” Karlie looked at Taylor, who just shrugged. If Garrett wanted to be a bit secretive, the he could.*Minutes later, the truck that they were in turned onto Laurel Way and drove up the small street that seemed it would be impossible to get up if two cars were going in opposite directions. “It see you’re putting your personal touch on the area,” Garrett said as the passed a sign that read ‘I Knew You Were Trouble When You Walked In.’ Taylor laughed. “Not me,” she said. “Someone must have placed it there when they found out I was moving in and put it there. It’s already known that I live in the area.” Garrett and Karlie laughed as the driver hit a button and the gate to the Goldwyn Estate. As the truck stopped in front of the main entrance, waiting for the gate to open, Garrett was in awe. This house for many years was basically the White House of Hollywood. “You know how many famous people passed when Samuel Goldwyn owned this house,” Garrett asked as the car stopped and he got out. Karlie looked at him confused.“Who’s Samuel Goldwyn,” Karlie asked. “And why was he so important?” Taylor nodded as she snuck around the back to see if everyone was in place. Garret then looked at her. “Samuel Goldwyn was the most powerful man in Hollywood at one point. He, along with two other men named Louis B. Mayer and Marcus Lowe, ran one of the most powerful movie studios and theater chains in Hollywood and the US all the way up to the till the late 50s when they came into money issues and the golden age of Hollywood was coming to an end. Actors such as Clark Gable, the entire Barrymore family, minus Drew of course, and even Elizabeth Taylor and husband Richard Burton walked through that door and swam in that pool back.” Taylor then popped back over and smiled at Karlie. “Why don’t we go see the pool,” she said. “I mean, I dipped my feet in it when I came to look at it, but I haven’t seen it since.” Garrett felt a bit confused by this comment and wanted to see the inside of the house. He wanted to sit in the same room that Charlie Chaplin as he watched himself speak on screen for the first time, but it was Taylor’s house after and whatever she wanted to do it was her call. Maybe Taylor was just being nice since he mentioned the pool, mainly because of the fact that he wanted to secretly see it and where so many of his favorite celebrities hung out on sunny days. “Sure,” Garrett said. “From what I’ve read about the house, the view is awesome.” Goldwyn built the house behind the Beverly Hills Hotel so that he could have a view and see everything right down to his studio and everything else that was being built. Taylor breathed a sigh of relief. He was buying into it with no questions. As they started to walk around to the back of the house, Karlie stopped her.“Are you still sure that he’s gonna be alright,” Karlie asked. “I mean granted you’re into control, but still.” Taylor smiled. “He’s gonna be fine.” As they walked around the back of the house, Garrett noticed that something was off. There was a large tent near the pool and there was music was coming from it. “What’s going on,” Garrett asked as he turned back and looked at Taylor. “Just a party to celebrate somethings that need to be gotten out of the way,” Taylor said. At first, Garrett was uneasy about this, but then realized it was going to happen sooner or later and now was going to be the best time to do it. “Who’s here,” he asked as he started to prep himself. “And for the love of god Taylor, if you want everyone to meet me, just tell me. I might get a little star struck, but I can handle myself.” Taylor nudged Karlie and then smiled. She was right for a change.“Well,” Taylor said. “Beside Karlie there’s Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively, Gigi Hadid, whom you already met, Hailee Steinfeld, Selena Gomez and I think The Weeknd, but don’t hold me to that, he might be playing somewhere, Cara Delevingne, Ed Sheeran and the Haim sisters. My parents are on the way, but they’re waiting on my brother, so they’ll be here later tonight.” At first, Garrett freaked out a bit on the inside. All those famous people actually wanted to meet him? However, slowly but surely, he realized that it was fine. The fact that they wanted to meet him was a good thing. Karlie had told him while they were in Nashville that at first no one had any desire to meet Adam at all, but eventually, they warmed up a bit. However, this was different. They wanted to meet him and actually get to know him, which to him was a shock and they were willing to give him a chance.“So the whole squad’s here,” Garrett said jokingly as Taylor rolled her eyes. “That’s great. I guess it either this or the Met Gala. This is better though. I think that I’d be a little overwhelmed by the cameras to try to talk to everyone.” Taylor nodded. He was right, those were the only two choices and the gala wasn’t the best place and the fourth of July party wasn’t the best choice either because of the fact that it was going to be way too overwhelming, because of the fact there was going to be so much to do in a short amount of time. Taylor then grabbed Garrett’s hand and then led him toward the tent that hand been set up in the backyard. Her neighbors weren’t going to be too happy about the noise, but they’d get over it. “Now Ryan might be the only one who will mess with you,” she warned him. “But everyone else will be fine. Just remember, they’re people just like you.” Garrett nodded as he heard that. He was sure that he was going to be fine, but those words gave hi, the confidence that he wanted. As Taylor opened the tent, everyone fell silent. Karlie and Taylor walked in first, followed closely by Garrett. As he walked in, everyone fell silent. They didn’t know what to say or what to do for that matter. Ryan then cleared his throat and then walked over to Garrett. At first, Garrett was a little star struck, as Ryan got closer, it disappeared.“So you’re the one who’s causing all the trouble,” Ryan said. Garrett felt a little threatened by Ryan at first, but then he saw the playful, sarcastic smile; he knew that he was joking. Ryan then put his hand out and started to laugh. “It’s finally nice to meet you.” Garrett took his hand and shook it. It felt a little weird at first, but then he remembered what Taylor said. He shook Ryan’s hand and smiled. “Well it’s finally nice to meet you too,” he said. “Taylor has told me a lot about you and everyone else here. I guess you all couldn’t wait to meet me.” Ryan laughed and then led him over to where Blake was standing, but before he had a chance to even get close to her, Selena walked over and grabbed his arm.“After you’re done with that,” Selena said. “Able and I want to talk to you.” At first, Garrett was confused, but he looked up and saw that the Weeknd was sitting on the other side of the tent, waving at him. As he looked around the room, he saw everyone else that Taylor had mentioned. While this was strange to him, this was going to be his new life. As he stood there, everyone else eventually came over to him and introduced themselves to him. Something told him that he was going to like this new life that was presented to him.
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Two hours later, Garrett dipped his tired feet into the pool as the party went on behind him. This was something that he wasn’t going to forget, even if he and Taylor eventually broke up. He talked about Deadpool with Ryan, which ended with him somehow getting an on screen role in Deadpool 2. He told The Weeknd his theory about his albums, which caused him to have an in depth discussion about how right he was about the deeper meaning of his music , and had a conversation about Talking Heads, one of his favorite bands, with Selena, which was surreal in a way, because she never came off as a fan of Talk Heads.It had been a long couple of day and while it happened so fast, he was more than happy that it happened. As he sat there, kicking the water, Taylor came over and joined him. She rolled up her pant legs and dipped her legs in the water, leaning her head on his shoulder, smiling at him.“Overwhelmed,” she asked him. “Cara was looking for you and wanted to ask you about that tattoo of yours that’s peeking out of the top of your collar.” Garrett shook his head as he pulled up shirt in order to cover the tattoo. He was fine, he just need a minute to recover. “Not really,” he told her. “I just need a second to clear my head. I never knew that famous people would be so interested getting to know me. I always thought it was going to be the other way around.” Taylor looked at him and smiled. He was right. Normally, celebrities didn’t really care about regular everyday people like Garrett. Most of the time it was just a picture and then they would leave, but this time it was different. Everyone wanted to get to know him. “I guess it’s a little weird, right,” she asked him. “I mean you and Ed talked about music for almost an hour before Gigi pulled you away and talked to you.” Before he had a chance to answer, Taylor’s phone went off. She picked it up and looked at it.“I have something to tell you,” she said. “I raided your phone and called your parents and told them everything. They weren’t mad that we stayed at their hourse and understood fully why we didn’t hang around.” Garrett nodded. He was glad that they were so accepting, but he wondered how Becks was going to take it. “What about my sister,” he asked Taylor. “She’s gonna pissed that she wasn’t told first.” Taylor smiled at this.“She’s actually on her way out here,” Taylor said. “I asked your parents if she could come out and they said that it was fine. She’s actually flew out with my parents and should be here soon.” Garrett smiled as he heard that. He then started to get an idea. “You wanna surprise her,” he asked. Taylor smiled and nodded. “I’d love to,” she said. “What about everyone else.” Garrett stood up. “Oh they’ll be involved too,” he said. “Let me explain.” He then helped Taylor up and led her back to the party. This was going to be fun.*As the car carrying Andrea and Scott turned onto the long street, Andrea’s phone went off. “Everything alright,” Scott asked. “They didn’t move the party elsewhere, did they?” Andrea read the text and looked up at Scott. “Everything’s fine,” she told him as she looked down at Becks, Garrett’s sister, who was sleeping in her lap. “Taylor was just letting us in on the plan that her brother had come up with.” She handed Scott her phone and let him read it, which caused him to smile. “He’s such a good fit for Taylor that it’s not funny,” Scott said. “We should wake her up.” Andrea nodded and nudged Becks awake.“Are we there,” she asked still confused. “If not then I’m going back to sleep.” All Becks knew was that she was going out to California with her brother’s girlfriend’s parents to spend the weekend with them and be the first to meet them, which for her was a major deal because of the fact that she had met all his previous girlfriends after her parents had already met her. She was confused on why Garrett didn’t just bring her home, but at least she got a free trip out of it. Of course, no one was going to believe her that she was in California for a long weekend, because of the fact that she would have no proof. “We’re just about to pull into the driveway,” Andrea said. Becks smiled. She had talked to Andrea briefly after she got on the plane, but fell asleep quickly after the plane left Nashville and headed to California. But it didn’t bother her, Andrea and Scott were whoever Garrett was dating parent’s and they had a right to use the plane since it was their daughter’s.As Becks sat up she saw the massive house appear in front of her. It seemed like Garrett’s new girlfriend was, as her friends like to say, loaded. She was impressed. Garrett rarely had luck with his girlfriends, but this seemed to be the best thing that could happen to him. “Is this really her house,” she asked. “She brought it two years ago with her own money,” Scott said. “This is the first night that she’s spending here since she was remodeling it.” Becks was in awe at the house. She loved old Hollywood movies and this house that old Hollywood feel to it. As the car stopped in front of the door, Garrett stepped out. Becks jumped out of the car after it stopped and ran over to him, giving him a big hug. “I get to see your girlfriend’s house and I haven’t even been to your apartment yet,” she gloated. “Something’s wrong here.” She then smiled as Garrett shoved her. “Just be glad that she invited you,” he said as he led her inside. “She insisted that I invite actually.” Becks rolled her eyes. She didn’t believe her brother for one minute. She knew that his girlfriend wanted her here and it didn’t matter to her if Garrett thought that she was invading their space.“So where is she,” Becks asked. “Is she hiding from me or something?” Becks was dying to meet whoever she was and wanted to thank her for letting me come and visit. Garrett laughed. He wanted to bring Taylor out right away, but if he did it too early, everything would be ruined. It’s not like he was going to blurt out that he was dating Taylor Swift, but still. He just wanted it to be a surprise. “She here somewhere,” Garrett told her. “Take a seat and I’ll be right back.” Becks sighed and took a seat as Garrett walked out of the room.“She has no idea,” Taylor whispered as she sat stood at the top of the stairs. Garrett looked up and tried not to laugh. “No clue,” he said. “Now it’s your turn. She’ll have her face in her phone in no time. As Garrett reached the top of the stairs, Taylor walked down the steps and headed toward to living room. As she walked in, she saw that Garrett was right. Becks was focused on her phone. “So you must be Becks,” Taylor said. Becks nodded. “Yes,” Becks answered without even looking up. “I take it that you’re Garrett’s new girlfriend?” Taylor sat across from her and rolled her eyes. This was going to be hard to do because of the fact that she wasn’t looking at her. “I am,” Taylor said. “It’s nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard so much about you.” Becks nodded. “You as well,” Becks said. “So if you don’t mind me asking, who do you afford a place like this?” Taylor smiled. It was going to be easier than she thought. “Oh you know,” she started. “I do some musical things. I got lucky and brought his house. I guess that you could say that I’m the next Taylor Swift.” Becks rolled her eyes.“First of all there’s…” Becks stopped what she was saying and her jaw hit the ground. Sitting across from her was Taylor Swift herself. Becks didn’t believe what she was seeing. As she sat there, dumbfounded, Garrett walked back in. “I guess you’re surprised to see her,” Garrett asked. Becks had no answer and started to cry. She was in the same house as her favorite artist and didn’t believe it. Taylor got up, walked over to her, and hugged her. “No one’s gonna believe me,” Becks said. “This can’t be real.” Taylor let go of her and smiled. “It’s as real as it’s gonna get,” she said to her. “Now let’s get you a drink and dry your eyes. “ Garrett smiled as they walked into the kitchen. He felt bad for what was going to happen next, but it had to be done.“So is it just the three of us,” Becks asked. Taylor looked over and Garret and smiled. “Well,” Taylor started. “We’re kind of having a party.” Becks looked at her as she wiped her eyes. “A party,” Becks asked as she composed herself. “Whose here?” Before Garrett or Taylor had the chance to answer, Selena burst into the kitchen and shocked everyone. This wasn’t part of the plan, but it worked. “You have any whipped cream,” she asked as she opened the fridge. “We need it for the strawberries.” Becks stood there, mouth agape. She didn’t believe what she was seeing. She then rubbed her eyes and realized that Selena was staring at her.“What her deal,” Selena asked as she looked over at Taylor and Garrett. “It’s like she’s never seen a famous person before.” Garrett smiled. The truth was that Becks hadn’t really had a celebrity encounter before. There was a few times where they just missed someone famous in NYC or the airport when they were going somewhere. Even when there family went to LA they never encountered anyone famous, but now, it was different. Standing in front of her was Selena Gomez and she didn’t believe it was happening. “Well,” Garrett started. “She’s never really been around famous people before or has really had an encounter, so this is a first.” Before, Selena had a chance to say anything, Blake poked her head in.“Did you find-“ she then tilted her head and looked at Becks. “Is that his sister,” she asked. Taylor nodded as Becks rubbed her eyes for the second time tonight. She didn’t believe what she was seeing. “Blake Lively,” she asked which caused Blake to nod her head. Becks then looked over at her brother and shrugged. Before she had a chance to say anything to him, Selena grabbed her arm and tugged her away from Taylor and Garrett.“Come,” she said as she handed a tub of coolwhip to Blake. “There’s more than just the three of us and from the way that Garrett was taking about you and now all of us want to meet you. Karlie says that she thrilled to meet someone that’s a closet nerd like she is.” As Selena lead her out, Becks looked back at Garrett who mouthed ‘Go’ to her. Becks let Selena lead her out to the party. As the door closed, Taylor looked over at Garrett.“Are you sure that she’s going to be OK,” Taylor asked. Garrett laughed and started to smile. This was what he wanted to happen to her. Well. Maybe not this fast, but at least he gave her a good graduation present. “She’ll be OK,” Garrett said. “She might be a little overwhelmed, but she’d get over it pretty quick. “But just to be sure, I think that we should follow her.” Taylor smiled. She fell Garrett because of this reason. He didn’t care that he was around famous people, in fact, he actually fit with everyone nicely. Taylor closed the door behind them as them as they went to rejoin the party. She would worry about the Gala and what was going to be involved with it later.
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One Year LaterGarrett sighed to himself as he looked out the window of Taylor’s apartment. The crowd of photographers and fans was at least five deep for both and it was making impossible to even get out of the front door. For eight months now, the two of them had managed to keep their relationship a secret from the media and while both their families knew, everyone from TMZ to Access Hollywood was trying to figure out if they were really dating or not. The two of them found it funny and loved playing this game. Taylor had managed to figure out how to stay out of the spotlight and got to know Garrett by her own rules, instead of everyone else’s. Even during the release of her new album, Reputation, Garrett was there and supportive of her. They eve both agreed not to talk to any press about their relationship while she was promoting the album.Garrett spent his days leading up the launch of the new record label that Taylor was going to start after her contract had ended reading rumors and letting Taylor know what was going on. It was a lot of work for him, but he and Scott, had managed to keep it together and worked closely with Scott Borchetta, the head of Big Machine, to get the label up and running. After this tour cycle was over, the announcement would be made and the hard part of signing artist would be a perfect fit for the label.Garrett was by her side during the assault trial and while he couldn’t be in the court room with her, mainly for the safety of their relationship and also the fact that they wanted to keep it a secret still and he was there for her as the day ended, comforting her after spending all day in court, being under a hot spotlight trying to figure out if that DJ really grabbed her rear or not.It was easy to hide in Denver, mainly because of the fact that they stayed in a gated community that only those who loved there could access and it was easy to hide for the public when they were there, but now that they were spending most of their time in New York, Nashville or LA, it was getting harder and harder to keep their relationship a secret from the public. While they almost slipped up once, it was easy to recover because of the fact that they were spotted just holding hands as they came out of the supermarket. However, that was last year and now; it was time for them to come out to the public as a couple. Like Selena and The Weeknd did last year, which beside the fact that Taylor was still taking a break from the spotlight, they both agreed that Selena should have the spotlight to herself for once and not mess it up. Now it was there turn and Garrett was nervous.Taylor had reassured him that everything was going to be fine and that the press that was there was going to be glad to see that they were dating like they thought, but he was more nervous about meeting Anna Wintour and the fact that he would be doing everything wrong. He knew that she didn’t do interviews and was very selective about who was coming to the events that she was attending. Rumor had it was that if she saw someone that she didn’t like on the guest list, she would have them removed from the event so that she would be happy. Garrett hoped that this didn’t happen when they stepped on the red carpet. Taylor reassured him that it wouldn’t, but it was at the back of his mind.Garrett walked back up the stairs and knocked on Taylor’s bedroom door. This was the third time that he did this and he was starting to get nervous “We should get going,” he said through the door. “It’s almost twelve and we have to be on the carpet by four so that everything can work out right.” Taylor poked her head out of the bedroom and smiled at Garrett. She knew that he was right, but she wasn’t ready yet.This year’s Gala was celebrating what would have been Coco Channel’s 135 Birthday and everyone was going to be wearing Channel, which was the only thing that she and Garrett didn’t like, but they figured something out. Eventually after weeks of debating, they had to go against the grain and go with someone that they knew that no one would be wearing, Hedi Slimane, someone who if she was still alive, Coco herself would mentor when he was starting out. Hedi was just starting to get back into fashion after taking some time off to explore photography and while no one else knew that he was coming back, Taylor somehow found out and contacted him. After some convincing, she had managed to get him to make her dress and Garrett’s suit and that was the easy part.“I need five more minutes,” she told him. “I’m having a hard time deciding what shoes to wear.” Garrett laughed. “What you didn’t get him to make you shoes too,” he asked. Taylor shot a glare at him and the started to laugh. “The man did so much for us as it is,” she said. “I mean no one knows that he’s even coming back the fashion world. We’re the first ones to wear anything by him, so I think that asking him to make some shoes for me, would have been a little much.” Garrett knew that she was right and the remembered that she did buy a pair of shoe last week when they were in Nashville. “What about those ones you brought last week,” he asked. “I mean, I don’t think you work them yet.” Taylor forgot about those and ran over to the closet and came back with the brand new shoes that were from some small designer. “She gonna flip when I plug her,” Taylor said. The designer, Mel Walker, hand planned on sending her a pair of shoes, but when she saw her carrying them out of the Nordstrom in Nashville, she just dropped her a note thanking her for buying a pair. Garrett grabbed dress bag and his suit. While he wanted to offer her his hand, he decided against it. It was going to be a long couple of house. He knew that once they left the hotel they there were going to be dressed in, it would be different. Once they left the hotel, they could start their big public debut of being a couple.“Are you sure that this is a good idea,” Garrett asked Taylor. “I mean we could take that offer from People and then donate the money to whatever charity that we want.” Taylor nodded. “We’re going to be fine,” she told him. “Will you relax? Everything’s gonna be fine. Anna Wintour isn’t going to throw us out and nothing bad is going to happen.” Taylor then took his hand and squeezed it, letting him know that everything was going to be alright. As the elevator came to the ground floor, Taylor let go of Garrett’s hand. “Sorry,” she said. “But you know the rules. After tonight things will be different.” Taylor’s body guard then flung the door opened and she walked out first. Garrett watched as she walked through the crowd of photographers and fans with no problem. While Taylor was used to this, Garrett was still getting used to it. The photographers even started following him to his parent’s house when he went home, which was bad, and asked him questions as he went to get pizza. He knew that it was going to be crazy, but he didn’t expect it to be this crazy. He sighed as he stepped out of the lobby and dodged questions like ‘are he and Taylor dating’ and ‘who was he wearing tonight.’ But Garrett took Taylor’s advice and didn’t give them one inch. She told him from day one to ignore them and then will back off. It was the best suggestion that she ever gave him and it worked most of the time.As the door to the truck closed, Taylor reached for his hand again and took it in her’s again. “Sorry about that,” Taylor said. “I didn’t think that they were going to be that bad. At least during the staging and walk up the carpet things will be much more controlled. Garrett smiled as her heard that. At least one thing today as going to go according to plan and would be a success.
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Garrett paced in the room that that they had rented for the afternoon at The Mark Hotel, which was the hotel that everyone used to get dressed before then headed over to the museum. Everyone from Cindy Crawford and her kids, Preston and Kaia, to Dakota and Elle Fanning to William Fincher, were here getting ready for the Gala. The walk in caused Garrett to get a little star struck when Cindy Crawford ran up to them and asked them for a picture, causing Garrett to tell her the story of how she was his first crush because of the Pepsi commercial that she did during the Super Bowl in the 90s.While they weren’t windowed to walk the carpet until at least 3:30, he was worried about getting mobbed by everyone as they walked out of the hotel. This was their first public appearance as a couple and he had a feeling that things were going to get hectic as they tried to get in the car that was not going to be easy as fans and some press were going to be wondering who he was and if he was actually dating Taylor or not. It was going to be somewhat stressful, but yet Taylor assured him that everything was going to be fine, but he was worried. They had managed to keep their relationship a secret for this long, so why now? It just didn’t make sense for them to come out as a couple now.Garrett pulled on his dress shirt and then took it off. He knew that it was too early for it so he decided to wait until the last minute and just hang out in his dress pants. Taylor walked up behind him, wearing a white robe. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly, “First of all, relax,” she said. “We’ve got plenty of time and everything that you’re worried about you shouldn’t be because I keep telling you that we’re going to be fine and second, what does your tattoo mean.”Garrett breathed a sing of relief. He then looked in the mirror and saw the tattoo that he had gotten in college. “It’s similar to the one that my grandfather had,” he said referring to the hula girl that was on his shoulder. “I got it after I lost a bet to my grandfather. The man harassed me until the day he died that I had to get the same thing tattooed on my shoulder because my football team lost in the playoffs. I finally got it the week after he died. His was by Sailor Jerry and mine was by Doug Hardy, who is the son of Ed Hardy, who was one of the last artists to apprentice under him.” Taylor smiled as she head this story. While she hand always wanted to get a tattoo, specifically the number 13, on her wrist, but her father and agent always talked her out of it mainly because it wasn’t good for her image.“That’s wonderful,” she told him. “Was it in the same spot?” Garrett shook his head. “No,” he told her. “His was on his forearm and he would charge a quarter so that you could see her dance.” Taylor laughed. “Maybe you could take me to get the one that I’ve always wanted to get,” she said a bit playful. Garrett went to answer her, but before he had a chance to, a knock was heard on the door. Garrett opened it and let Taylor make-up and hair team in. Taylor smiled at him. “See you in an hour,” she told him and then disappeared into the bedroom. Garrett sighed and then sat on the couch, turning on the TV. While he wanted to go to the Met Gala so badly, he didn’t think that it was going to take this long.*An hour later, Garrett pulled on his suit jacket and put the Rolex that Taylor had brought him a few months earlier on and heard the door open. As he turned around he started to smile. Taylor walked out wearing a dark black dress that looked like something that Hedi and Coco would have collaborated on if she was still alive. The front was classic and the back was moderately low cut with a somewhat long train that flowed in the back. “Like,” she asked as she spun around. Garrett had only been involved in the initial fitting of his and never really saw any of the sketches that Hedi was working on. This was a total surprise.“Love it,” he told her. “I think that everyone is gonna be surprised when they see us.” Taylor nodded. They had done everything to stay out of the spotlight until now and it seemed to have worked. “It’s gonna be a bit surreal for the both of us,” she told him. “But the good thing is that at least that we don’t have to deal with any of the Kardashians or the Jenners tonight saying that we ruined everything.” Taylor had somehow gotten a leaked copy of the guest list for the Gala tonight and when she saw that none of them were on it, she was happy, but wondered what they did to not get invited in the first place. She shrugged it off and put it at the back of her mind, mainly because of the fact that it wasn’t that important. Garrett smiled.“Rumors are floating around that Anna is still pissed about that wax figure of her or something that Kris said,” Garrett said. “I’m thinking the second one is more accurate because she has no filter and doesn’t when to shut her month or do damage control for that matter.” Taylor rolled her eyes. She didn’t want to tell him that because they were debuting as a couple tonight, Anna Wintour didn’t want any drama, so she told those who were putting the list together not to include the Jenners or the Kardashians so that things would somewhat calm and a bit more normal than Kim and family attention whoring their way into the stoplight. Garrett glanced down at his watch and then sighed.“It’s time for us to head down,” Garrett said. “Let’s get this over with.” As Garrett went to the door, Taylor stopped him. “Everything’s going to be great,” she told him. “You’re going to have a good time. Just promise me one thing.” Garrett looked at her puzzled. “What’s that,” he asked. “If they have a party in the bathroom, please remember to come and get me. There’s no way in hell that I’m missing it this year.” At first, Garrett had no clue what she was talking about, but then he remembered the story from last year and nodded.“Of course I will,” he told her. “I’m not going to let you miss the best part of the night.” He then hooked his arm in hers and smiled. “Shall we?” Taylor nodded and flung the door opened. This was it. It was there time now.*As the two of them made their way through the lobby, every time the doors opened, the crowd would start to yell. At one point, Garrett had to shut the curtains to drown out the yelling so that he could relax. He never heard anything like this Most of the people who were there just wanted pictures with their favorite celebrities before then headed into the Gala, while others just wanted a look before their idols went under the massive tent that covered the steps to The Met, because the only people who were allowed under it were the press, which made no sense to Garrett.As they neared the door, Garrett stopped for a second and then squeezed Taylor’s hand. “Just give me a second,” he said as Taylor looked back at him. Garrett took a breath and closed his eyes. It had been such a ride over the past year that he totally forgot that he was dating someone famous until right this second. A few second later, he opened his eyes. “Ready,” he said as the doormen opened the doors and the crowd started to yell and scream. As they stepped out into the sunlight for the first time, Garrett was a bit overwhelmed by all the questions being thrown at but he then realized that they weren’t direct at him, but at Taylor.“He’s my boyfriend,” Taylor said confidentially. She then took his hand and led him toward a waiting car. Before they got in, Garrett grabbed Taylor, dipper her and kissed her, giving the crowd what they wanted, causing them to cheer. She then lead Garrett down the car and go it. As the door closed, the both of them started laugh. This was going to be a night to remember.
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As Garrett walked toward the bathroom, he looked back and saw that the security guard that he was talking to earlier as everyone was looking at the Gala exhibit was right. Most of the guards were around where the gala was taking place and also were a little laxed when it came to everyone wandering around The Met during the Gala. Garrett headed back toward the Great Hall and saw that it was completely empty. Everyone was over by the Temple of Dendur, listening to Anna Wintour babble on about how good it was to see everyone tonight, when in reality, she really couldn’t care who was here because she was the center of attention all night. Earlier, as he and Taylor walked up the red carpet, everything had gone smoother than he thought it would have.By the time that they arrived at the red carpet, things were already in full swing and while they weren’t the last ones to walk in, that belonged to Rihanna as always, they were right where they wanted to be, right in the middle of the group, between some major donors and a head of Cindy Crawford and her kids. The red carpet was tiring and a lot more work than he thought it would be. In fact, he understood why Taylor had told him that it was her least favorite thing to do because of the fact that were constantly walking back and forth across the carpet and after the fifth or sixth time, it was getting pointless.But now that it was all over, he could do the one thing that he always wanted to do, sit on Robert Lehman’s couch and not have anyone interrupt him or sit next to him and try to take a nap after walking around the museum all day. As he turned and headed for the grand stair case, which staying to the right would take him to the where he wanted to go, he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. He turned around and saw that a guard was behind him. Garrett started to panic, knowing fully that all he was allowed to see was just the where the Gala exhibit was and that was it, mainly because of the fact that Anna Wintour wanted everyone in the Gala.While there were rumors that someone was planning to have another party in the bathroom, it seemed that this idea was already dead because security was tight near the bathrooms to make sure that it didn’t’ happen again. As he was about to say something, someone put their hand on his shoulder. The guard turned around and saw that his boss and Taylor standing behind him. As soon as Garrett saw Taylor, she had that playful smirk on her face that she usually got when she got her way.“Miss Swift has informed me that she has made a sizable donation to the museum and tonight, according to director, she and her guest can go wherever they like,” the man said. The guard looked at them as Taylor shot him a dirty look. The man then sighed and stepped aside. Taylor walked over and hooked her arm in Garrett’s and the two of them walked toward the grand stair case.“So where are we going,” Taylor asked him. Garrett smiled and wrapped his around her waist. “I take it you’ve never just gone to a museum because you felt like it,” Garrett asked. Taylor stopped in the middle of the hall and moved her hands down her body, as if she was presenting herself to him. “Does it look like I could just go out and go to a museum without getting mobbed,” she asked Garrett causing him to laugh.“I guess not,” He told her. “But then again, I don’t know if you go out in disguises or not.” Taylor laughed when she heard that. She had done it once or twice, but she hated wearing wigs out in public and had gone mostly unnoticed, which thankfully was a good thing, but she didn’t want to do this all the time. As they neared the grand stare case, Garrett led her through the right door way, down a hall way and into a massive room that was a bit colder, which caused Taylor to shiver. Garrett then removed his coat, draping it across her shoulders.“This is the original building that first housed the Met,” he told her. “The whole museum varies in temperature when you walk through in order to preserve the artifacts.” Taylor looked around and wondered what they were doing here. It had somewhat of a creepy vibe to it. “So where are we going anyway,” she asked. “I hope that you just didn’t want to see this place when it was empty.” Garrett shook his head as he led her through the old church gates and toward the back. “Kind of,” he said. “I actually wanted to experience my favorite place in the museum without having to worry about someone interrupting me.” Taylor was confused as they walked into what was called the Robert Lehman wing, which housed the last Gala exhibit that she went to and started to regret this a bit.“So you want to see an exhibit that you can come to anytime you want,” she asked. “Garrett, we could be with everyone else and…” before she could finish she stopped dead in her track. She was in awe of what she saw. In front of her was what she could only assume was a fully decorated sitting room. While she was in this wing two years ago, she never knew that this room existed. “What is this place and why is it so… gaudy,” she asked as walked into the room. Garrett laughed as he watched Taylor walk around the room.“This is a replica of Robert Lehman’s sitting room,” Garrett said. Taylor looked back and him and raised an eyebrow. “Who,” she asked. “He was one of the CEOs of the now defunct finical company called Lehman Brothers. The Met wanted his collection so badly, that Robert Lehman told them that they had to recreate his townhouse in order to get it and this was the end result. The even got his couch.” Garrett sat on the couch that was in the center of the room and patted the cushion next to him. Taylor, a little uneasy, sat down next to him.“So this is your favorite room in the entire building,” Taylor asked as she looked at the three paintings that were around the fireplace. “It’s a little weird.” Garrett laughed. “Well, besides the Japanese courtyard that’s almost impossible to find if you don’t know where it is, then yes, this is my favorite room.” Taylor sighed. “So you like it because of the fact that it makes you feel like a rich old guy,” she asked causing Garrett to laugh. “Not really,” he said. “I actually think that is what Don Draper from Mad Men would have eventually gone the route it did at the end of the last season. I think that he would have spent his nights looking at his art, glass of whiskey in one hand a cigarette in the other, wondering what might have happened if he actually disappeared.”Taylor reached in her bag and pulled out a flask. “I know that it’s not over ice,” she said. “But it’s the best thing that I could do on such short notice.” Taylor took a sip and then cuddled up to Garrett. Even though it was weird having a picture of Jesus staring at them, it kind of felt right. “You want a picture,” she asked. “They must have moved something because the room feels so empty. Garrett nodded as he handed his phone to her. He scooted as close to the arm as he could and draped his arm on the other side of the arm rest, acting as if he was holding a cigarette.Taylor took the picture and the smiled. “Don Draper was never as good looking as you were,” she said. “And he was also a little bit of a weirdo too.” Garrett laughed. “If it wasn’t for him, the company that he worked for would still have been in the stone age.” He kissed her here again and looked at her. This still felt like a dream to him. A year later, this all still felt strange and felt like he was going to wake up and it was all going to be a dream.“So, how long would it take us to get to that garden that you mentioned,” Taylor asked bringing Garrett back to earth. He thought about it for a second in relation to where they are. “It’s gonna be a bit of a walk,” he told her. “But, if we hurry, we can be back before everything’s over.” Taylor smiled. “We can do that,” she said. “But if you know where other cool or interesting stuff is, then we can always just walk out like everyone else.” The grin Garrett’s face widened. He was finally going to get to live out his dream of playing tour guide at one of his favorite places in the world.“I guess we could take out time,” Garrett said. “I’m sure that no one will notice that we’re gone.” Garrett and Taylor then looked toward the guard, who nodded. It seemed like that his job tonight was just to follow them around the museum and make sure that they were safe. Garrett then grabbed Taylor’s hand and then led her out of the Lehman wing. The two of them ran up the stairs, laughing the entire time.
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Taylor smiled as they walked back to the Gala, which was something that the both of them didn’t want to do, but they knew that they had to. Taking Garrett to this event was a lot more fun than she thought it would be and she was glad that she made that donation to the museum to get the access that she wanted when they were only supposed to have access to certain parts of the museum. It was almost magical. Garrett showed her everything that he liked, from the deer covered in glass bubbles, to the full Frank Lloyd Wright living room, which was carefully taken apart and moved here so that everyone could see it and of course, the full Japanese Garden, it was like something that she had never experienced, even when she went to Japan for the 1989 Tour.She had always wanted to go to The Met, but the fact that she would be taking pictures with fans the entire time that she was there, didn’t make the experience sound fun at all. She was glad that she finally got to do it when the museum was empty and was glad that it was with Garrett, who told her all the facts about the art that he knew. It was wonderful and like nothing that she would ever experience again, which made it even more special.As they walked back toward the Gala, which they didn’t really want to do, they heard a sound and couldn’t where it was coming from. “Over here,” voice called out. Garrett and Taylor turned and saw that ASAP Rocky was standing in the door way that lead to the bathrooms. It seemed that for the second year in a row, the party was in the woman’s bathroom and not by the Tempe of Dendur like it was every year. “You going back to that wack ass party for those stiff white folks,” ASAP asked. Garrett and Taylor looked at each other, they were wondering if the real party was going to happen or if Anna Wintour put her foot down and told everyone not to do it, but it seemed that it was happening again. “Well,” Garrett started. “We were. But if you know of another party that’s better than that one, we’d be up for it.” ASAP laughed and motioned for them to follow him.As they walked down the narrow hallway, they came to the woman’s room. ASAP Rocky then pushed the door opened and Garrett and Taylor where in awe at what they saw.While the Met Gala was mainly for the fashion elite and socialites that Anna Wintour felt that she had to invite because they donated so much money to the costume institute, for the second year on a row, the younger attendees were having a party of their own in the bathroom, which was from the looks of it, was a lot more fun than the party that was nothing more than all the donors patting each other on the back. This was where the party that everyone wanted to be.As Garrett and Taylor entered the bathroom, they saw that there was even a bartender making drinks and it seemed that everyone who was young and hip was here. Bella Hadid was at the back of the bathroom with Hailey Baldwin, smoking cigarettes. Travis Scott, Mingos and Kid Cudi were rolling dice for $100s in one of the stalls, Rami Malak was taking to Elle and Dakota Fanning about a movie that they were going to be working on and everyone was having a grand old time, which countered the boring party that was taking place down the hall. Karlie and Selena were there too along with Ed, Blake and Ryan. Karlie looked and did a double take when she saw that Taylor and Garrett hand finally arrived.“Well it’s about time,” she said as she hugged to both of them hello. “We were starting to think that Anna kept your from coming.” Selena stepped forward and kiss Garrett on the cheek.“Seriously,” Selena said. “I went as far as sneaking in and out of the real event to see if you two were being held hostage.” Garrett and Taylor looked at each other. If everyone knew what they were really doing, they would have wanted to go. Karlie once told Garrett that she tried to go to the MoMA once, but a group of high schoolers spotted her and followed her around the entire time until she had a mob of them behind her. She finally gave up and left without seeing anything that she wanted to see and Selena said that she had tried to go The American Museum of Natural History with her mother, step father and little sister and was basically mobbed to the point where they left as well because of the fact that they couldn’t go five feet without people running up to her, asking for a picture.“No,” Taylor said. “We stepped out for some air. Garrett was getting a little overwhelmed by everyone coming up to him and talking, asking how we met.” The whole room fell silent as Taylor said that and Garrett sighed. This seemed to be the hot topic of the night and the answer that everyone wanted to know. While Taylor and Garrett were willing to answer any question that the press threw at them when they were on the carpet, the one question that they kept avoiding was how they met. She and Garrett both agreed on the ride over that they would not answer that question, no matter how hard they were pressed and times they were pressed hard. Most of the reporters understood why they were avoiding it, but some of them kept coming back to it. Garrett at one point actually snapped at one reporter because of the fact that he refused to back away from the question. But now, it seemed that avoiding this question was going to be impossible.“You know,” Hailey said as she stood up and smoothed out the Gucci dress that she was wearing. “Come to think of it, you two are a bit of a mystery when it to how you met. Most of the tabloids said that you met through online dating or something to that effect. I head through a stylist that you were set up by your parents because he seemed like a nice guy.” Garrett and Taylor had herd them all too. Garrett signed and then dragged Taylor out into the hallway. “We’ll be back in a minute,” he said. As he went to close the door, Ryan stood in front door, blocking anyone from listening to their conversation.As they stood in the hallway, Taylor looked at him. “I guess that this is how it’s gonna be,” Garrett said to her. “Everyone’s gonna find out sooner or later.” Taylor nodded. She didn’t want it to come out this way, but it looked like it was going to happen even if she didn’t want it to. “It’s fine. I guess that its better they find out from us instead of a tabloid or TMZ for that matter.” Garrett nodded. While he wasn’t fine with it, it was the best thing to do and also the right thing to do. “Let’s get this over with then.” He took Taylor’s hands and then walked back toward the bathroom.As then entered the bathroom, everyone looked at them. Garrett sighed as Taylor squeezed his hand, letting him know that everything was OK. “Alright,” he said. “You want the truth. Well here it is. Taylor and…” Before he had a chance to finish, one of the body guards that was positioned at the end of the hallway near where the gala was taking place had pulled opened the door and stood in the doorway.“I hate to be the bearer of bad news,” he said in a deep voice. “But the devil wears Prada herself has heard that there is another party happening where her party is and she ain’t happy about it.” Garret quickly ran to the end of the small hallway and looked out. Sure enough, Anna Wintour was walking down the hallway with an entourage of security guards. Garrett quickly ran back and looked in the bathroom.“We’ve got bigger problems than how Taylor and I met,” he said a bit out of breath. “Anna Wintour herself is on her way down here right now with enough security people to deal with all of us.” Everyone just looked at each other and started to think that this was a bad idea. However, as they all stood there, ASAP Rocky cleared his throat.“We ain’t scared of some crazy white woman who thinks that she runs the fashion world from her office, are we,” he asked. Everyone murmured knowing that he was right. “So are we gonna continue this party elsewhere or are we gonna go back to that boring white folks party.” Everyone nodded in unison, knowing that he was right. “But the only problem is where?” Taylor cleared her throat and everyone looked at her.“I can make a phone call and get this restaurant in New Jersey that has an upstairs to give us the space,” he said. “It’s just a bit bigger than this, but it’s perfect for what we need it for.” At first, everyone seemed to doubt this, but then ASAP Rocky chimed in again. “You know the owner or something,” he asked Garrett, which caused him to nod. “Get him on the phone and tell him that we’re gonna be there in about an hour.” He the stepped away from Garrett and got everyone’s attention.“Aight, listen up,” he started. “In about a minute, the devil herself is gonna be here. So much to our dismay, we gotta end this this party a bit early. However, if ya’ll want, my man Garrett here has offered to keep it going by getting us some space in New Jersey. Now I know it’s a bit far, but he’s willing to go out on a limb and let us keep the party going. So if ya’ll want in, call your drivers and tell them to be ready to follow Taylor’s car to the party spot, unless you wanna have to go back to that boring ass party.” At first, it seemed that no one was interested, but then, Bella chimed in.“I just texted Gigi and she says that she’s on her way to door right now,” she said. “So we’re both in.” Shortly after that, everyone else chimed in and started to call the car service. ASAP walked over and stood next to him. “Call you boy and get us set up,” he said. “I’ll provide the beats. But now, the only thing that we have to do is worry about Anna.” Garrett smiled.“Run,” he said. “She’ won’t be able to stop us.” Garrett then whistled. “Alright, listen up,” he said which caused everyone to look at him. “In the next 30 seconds, you all better be ready to run, because that’s the only way that we’re gonna get out of here, so take your shoes off, and pick up your dresses if they’re too long, because when I say so, we’re going.” As he finished saying that, he saw Taylor and the fanning sisters taking off their shoes and everyone else was pretty much getting ready. This was going to be the craziest thing that he’s ever done.*Anna Wintour was pissed as she walked down the hall away from the gala. She specifically told security not to let anyone have a party in the bathroom. It seemed that someone hand paid the guards off and allowed them to turn a blind eye to what was happening. Now for the second year in a row, she was having top donors complain to here that people where smoking and partying in the woman’s room yet again. This was going to be the last time that this as going to happen, that was for sure. Behavior like this was supposed to happen at the Gilded Lily or the Up&Down, but not here. She had considered banning them for the next year, but then she realized that that was a mistake. She would just make them come back to the party and suffer, that was the smartest thing to do.“Make sure none of them leave,” she said to the guards. “The Gala isn’t over and they should stay like everyone else.” They nodded. “Good,” she said. However as they neared the door way, the sound of a door slamming opened was heard and then she found herself flat on her ass. As the guards helped her up, she saw a large group of them running toward the exit. She wanted to yell at them, but it was too late. It was better to just let them go. “Later Ms. Wintour,” the last one out yelled as the disappeared from view. She scoffed as she walked toward the door to try to get a look at who was involved.*“She’s coming,” Rami yelled as he headed down the steps. Everyone was out of sight as Anna Wintour got to the top step. She got to the bottom of the red carpet just in time to see the trucks and limos drive off into the night, not knowing who was involved with the bathroom party. As cars pulled away and headed in the same direction as Taylor’s car. As Garrett caught his breath, he sent out the biggest group text ever.“So, I take it that you friend loved the idea,” Taylor asked as she started get changed in the truck. Everyone else hand a change of clothes in their cars as well, so it was going to be a typical after party. Garrett started to get undressed and nodded. “He said that it’s a week night and no one will know that we’re up there, having the party of the year.” Taylor smiled as pulled another dress on. “So it’s just as big as the bathroom that we were in?” Garrett shook his head. “It’s a lot bigger,” Garrett said. “I would have invited more, but I think we have a good crowd.” Taylor smiled.“Good,” she said. “I went to one after party after the 2016 Gala, but left because Kim and Kanye where throwing shade at me all night, so I went and had pizza in a unicorn onesie with Haim. That was a low point even for me.” Garrett laughed. “Well don’t worry about anything like that happening,” he said. “He’s got his cook working on food that we’ll all like and will have enough booze to keep everyone happy.” Taylor turned to him and smiled. “Zip me up,” she asked and Garrett did. He was glad that things worked out the way that they did, because this was going to be the best after party that anyone has experienced. As they drove toward the bar that his friend owned, Taylor snuggled up to Garrett as he answered texts for requests for what everyone wanted. It was going to be an interesting night when he saw that ASAP Rocky requested a few bottles of Aces, which for some odd reason his friend had on hand.Taylor pushed his phone down. “You’re coming on tour with me, right,” Taylor ask. Garrett nodded. “Of course,” he said. “As long as you’re doing one then I’m in. Oh and are you having a Fourth of July party this yet.” Taylor nodded. “Of course,” she said. “Everyone missed it.” Garrett smiled. This was the one party that he was looking forward to.
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“Jesus,” Alana called out. “Will you two get out here? It’s you’re party. What are you doing in there? Feeling each other up like teenagers?” Taylor rolled her eyes. While she was back to holding her annual 4th of July party, she and Garrett wanted a little alone time and that seemed impossible. While she was trying to be a good host, she just wanted five minutes of alone time with him so that she can tell him something. But that wasn’t going to happen. Tonight were the annual Watch Hill fireworks, so the beach was going to be packed, so that meant no late night walks on the beach, and they couldn’t go for a drive, because of the fact that they would followed, so it was impossible.“Five minutes,” she yelled as Garrett started to push the door closed, forcing Alana and her sisters out of the room so that they could be alone “I just need five minutes with my boyfriend so that I can talk to him.” Everyone was here and while it was a good thing, it was near impossible to be just the two of them. Garrett spent most of his days around a table by the pool surround by Ryan, Ben, Britt’s husband, Josh, and Matt, Abigail’s husband, wasting the day away while she was spent it being goofy with her friends. The two of them wanted to be together, but that was almost impossible. They constantly exchanged glances and tried to get close to each other, but the chance of getting close was always cut off by someone dragging them away and by the time that everyone went to bed, most of the time, the both of them would just pass out. While they had one day left, she needed to talk to him before they left.Garrett finally shut the door and stuck a mirror underneath it, making sure that there wasn’t anyone lingering around. Alana, Danielle and Este had finally left and headed back downstairs to join everyone else, who was also waiting for them to come back down and join the party. The Haim sisters had spent the past few minutes trying to get into the room so that they could drag the two of them out of there. He knew that Taylor had something on her mind, but what it was, he had no idea. “Alright, they’re gone finally,” he said as he walked over and sat on the bed. “Is something on your mind Tay? You seem a bit off.” Taylor had been acting weird the past couple of weeks. Leaving to take meetings, stepping out to take phone calls in between rehearsals for her upcoming tour and closing her computer when he walked into the room, something was up, but he didn’t know what.Taylor sat next to him on the bed and then took his hand. “I have something to tell you,” she told him. “And while I haven’t been completely honest a secretive with you lately, there’s a reason why.” Taylor got up and walked over to the dresser. She came back and handed him a picture of a little girl with blonde long hair. At first, Garrett thought it was her, but then he slowly realized that it wasn’t, in fact it was a totally different person.“Who’s this,” he asked her. “A cousin?” Taylor shook her head trying to fight back tears. “No,” she said as she wiped tears from her face. “She’s the reason why I’ve been secretive lately. I’ve been in contact with an adoption agency and I think I want to adopt her.” At first, Garrett was a bit angry with her, but when he glanced down at the picture, it quickly disappeared. He got up and hugged her.“And I suppose that you want me to be involved with the whole thing,” he asked her. Taylor pushed herself into his shoulder and started to cry. She was surprised that he was so accepting of this whole ordeal. For the past three weeks she had to slip away and cry because things didn’t look good, but yesterday, she finally got the word that it was actually going to happen and now that it seemed that Garrett wanted to be involved with the process; things were actually working the way that she wanted them to turn out. “Of course I want to be involved Taylor. Why wouldn’t I want to help? I’m sure that she’ll someday actually be our daughter.Taylor looked up at him, tears running down her face. “Really,” she said. “You…” Garrett pressed his finger to her lips. “We’ll talk more about it after your tour,” he told her. “Let’s just focus on that.” Taylor nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes. “What’s her name,” he asked. “Charlotte,” she told him. “ They call her Charlie for short. I’m not going to change it because she three and she know her name.” Garrett nodded and understood what she was getting at. At this age, a name change wouldn’t be a good thing. “Does she have a middle name,” he asked causing Taylor to shake her head. “Grace,” he suggested. “Savannah Grace Swift-Jones has a nice ring to it.” Taylor laughed. “We’ll talk about that when it gets closer to the time,” Taylor said as she started to compose herself. She looked at the clock and realized that five minutes were almost up.“We should get going,” she said. “I think they’re gonna send Ryan next and we all know that he isn’t afraid to kick down doors.” Garrett nodded. “My parents are still annoyed about that,” he said. As he went to the door, Taylor stopped him. “Speaking of Ryan,” she started. “How would you feel if we told them about our plans? I mean I knew about Inez about the same amount as her parents. So I think that it’s fair that they know what’s going on.” Garrett sigh a bit, but then nodded. She was right. After all, they were the only other people who they were friends with kids, so it would be the smartest thing to do.“I’m fine with it,” he told her. “We are both good with James and Inez, so why not let them know. Let’s convince them to come to brunch,” he asked as he saw the look on her face. “Who else do you want to invite?” Taylor smiled. “Karlie and Selena,” she told him. “They are my two oldest friends after all. So I think they should know too. I think that everyone else is leaving early tomorrow, so it should work out.” Garrett smirked a bit.“Getting Ryan and Blake to stay will be easy,” he said. “But the others, that’s up to you. But you should have no problem. We all know how much Selena loves brunch.” Taylor started to laugh and then nodded. “I’ll take care of those two if you get the others,” he said. Taylor smiled as she checked her makeup in the mirror. “I think we should really go this time,” she said. “I’m sure that Blake can’t hold Ryan back any longer.” Garrett and opened the door. As they walked down the hallway, they heard a commotion coming from the bottom of the stairs. Sure enough, Taylor was right. At the bottom of the stairs were Blake and Ryan and Blake was trying to keep him from going up there.“I was just about to go up and get you two,” Ryan said. “The Haim sisters said that if you weren’t down in five minutes, I was to go up and start banging on the door, without breaking it of course.” Taylor rolled her eyes and the looked at Garrett. “I was having issues with a draw,” she said. “It was stuck and I needed Garrett to help me get it opened.” Garrett nodded. “It was a mother to get out. I keep telling you to get newer dressers.” Taylor elbowed him. She felt that he was selling it too much.“Well you two better get out there or else you’re going to miss that show,” Black said. “You two have a front row seat.” As they started to walk out, Garrett tapped Blake on the shoulder. “Are you two in a rush to get back or can you stay for brunch tomorrow,” Garrett asked. “It’s gonna be small since everyone is pretty much leaving after the fireworks.” Blake and Ryan looked at each other and shrugged. “My mom has the kids and told us that we could stay as long as we wanted,” Blake started. “But don’t you have to get back to your tour?” Taylor shook her head. “Travel day,” she said. “The truckers have off today, so tomorrow they get back on the road and head to the next venue and since it’s only Boston, it’s a really short flight.” Ryan nodded. “Why not,” he said. “We felt like we haven’t hung out with your guys in a long time.”Garrett and Taylor smiled. Everything was working so far. Now all Taylor had to do was talk to Karlie and Selena and things would be alright. As they walked out, the fireworks had just started. The four of them ran over. Taylor and Garrett took a seat at the front of the group and settled in. Taylor snuggled up to Garrett as he placed his hand on her waist, pulling her a bit closer. This was a fitting way to end the short break that they had.
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The next morning Garrett woke up to the sound of the ocean crashing on the rocks below. It was a welcome change for once, instead of the laughter and heckling that came from the pool area that was right below the master bedroom. Last night was perfect. After the fireworks, Taylor asked Selena and Karlie to stay for brunch and of course they said yes, but as the night dragged on and people started to leave, Garrett could see that Taylor was starting to get nervous. He could see it on her face and hear it in her voice when people asked her if something was wrong. This was going to be the biggest thing that she was going to do and she was clearly nervous about what everyone was going to think after she told them what she was planning on doing. He walked out onto the balcony and looked out. The beach was just starting to get crowded and most of the people were enjoying their long weekend, hoping to catch a glimpse of Taylor. Sure enough, they were getting what they wanted. As he stood out on the balcony, he saw that Taylor was already up, looking out at the ocean down by the fence that protected her property. Garrett put on his swear pants and went down to join her.*Taylor sighed to herself as she looked out at the ocean. She was glad that she didn’t invite everyone to stay from brunch, because that would have been a disaster. She was also glad that everyone left last night and she went to bed early while Garrett stayed up with the remaining guests. She had a lot on her mind since she had told Garrett what was going on and while she wasn’t having second thoughts, a lot of thoughts started to cross her mind.Adopting a child was going to be a big life change for the both of them and while she felt ready, inside something wasn’t sitting right with her. She was going to thrust a young girl into the world of fame even if she wasn’t ready for it and while she and Garrett would help her get used to it, it was going to be hard for someone so young to understand why people were taking pictures of the three of them. They didn’t want to be like Blake and Ryan or Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard and not let they’re child or eventually children be seen, but she also didn’t want to thrust them into the spotlight either. It was going to be hard to find a balance. This was going to be the hardest thing that she ever did, harder than getting ready for her first tour. As she stood there, she felt someone walk up behind her and place hands on her shoulders. As she turned around, she saw that Garret was finally awake. She then stepped away from the fence so that they could not be seen by all the on lookers on the beach below.“Long night,” she asked as she turned back to the ocean. “You came up pretty late.” Garrett rolled his eyes. “I really didn’t realize how much Blake and Ryan were glad that they didn’t have to go back to their kids right away. Do they get out much?” Taylor laughed but it quickly died off. She started to realize that she and Garrett might turn into Blake and Ryan and that would be a bad thing for the both of them. The two of them liked to have fun, but the idea of having to slow down so soon scared her.“Do you think that we’re going to be good parents,” she asked as she stepped away from the fence. “I mean like are we going to like our parents and do you think that we’re actually ready for it?” Garrett pondered this question for a second. The thought of this never really crossed his mind. In fact, all he was concerned about right now was getting down to Foxboro for the show tomorrow. The fact that he was about to be a father was the last thing that he was thinking about.“We’ll be fine,” he told her. “What I’m worried about is what’s going to happen when we tell them. I mean I know that they’re going to be fine, but still. It’s gonna be hard to find the right words to tell them what we’re doing.” Taylor realized that Garrett was in the same state of mind that she was in. This was going to be a big change for the both of them. Adopting a child was going to be a big change for the both of them when it happened. They were going have to change a lot of things when she came into their lives, but they both knew that they were going to be alright.Garrett kissed her and then looked back toward the kitchen. “There she goes again,” Garrett said causing Taylor to look back and see that Karlie was in the kitchen looking for coffee as she normally did. “Do you think that she realizes that I move it every night or is she one of those people who will just keep looking until she finds it?” Taylor smacked Garrett and then started to laugh. “First you’re a jerk and second, you have no idea,” she told him. “I watched her search her parent’s house in St. Louis for 30 minutes one time until they came back from the store with coffee. Where’d you put it?” Garrett laughed. “Third cabinet from the stove, third shelf from the bottom,” he told her. Taylor then grabbed his hand and led him inside.*“Where’s the coffee,” Karlie said half asleep. Taylor walked over to the cabinet where Garrett said it was going to be and pulled it out. “Thank god,” Karlie said. “I swear that it was in a different place every single time I go look for it.” Garrett tried to keep a straight face as Taylor elbowed him.“I guess that people keep grabbing it and moving it after they used it and didn’t put it bacl in the same place,” she told her. “How are you up after all the wine that you drank last night?” Taylor said as looked over at the counter and saw that there were at least three empty bottles on the counter. Karlie shrugged. “I think that two for them are still full. “ Garrett picked up one of the three bottles and sure enough it was full. “I guess that we stopped after one,” he said and put the two bottles back in the wine rack.“Of course we did,” Blake said as she walked into the kitchen and headed to the fridge, pulling out peppers that were precut from the fruit platter. “No one wanted to be hungover today since we’re basically going home. But besides that, we all wanted to be sober when you told us the big news.” Taylor stopped trying to get the waffle iron out and looked back at Garrett. He shrugged and then nodded. Before he had a chance to grab anything, Ryan came in and helped Taylor grab it from the top shelf.“If I recall,” Ryan said. “You said it was some of the biggest news ever.” Garrett looked back at Taylor again and was starting to fight back laughter. It then dawned on Taylor and she had to keep a straight face. As Taylor put the waffle maker on the counter, Selena came into the kitchen. “Besides that, I think that we’re all glad that this party actually happened,” Selena said. “Unlike last year when I had nothing to do and was hoping to god that you were going to have this party, but no, you were taking a break and trying to discover yourself or something.” Everyone, including Selena, started to laugh. Taylor knew that she was somewhat right, but what they didn’t know was that it was the best thing that she could have done. She then smiled over at Garrett and nodded her head.“Garrett,” Taylor started. “Do you think that you can help me get more glasses from the storage? I don’t think that plastic ones that we’ve been using for the past few days won’t work for this.” Garrett nodded as he followed Taylor out of the kitchen as everyone else kept working on prep for breakfast.As soon as they were out of earshot, Taylor started to laugh as she closed the door to the storage closet. “What did you tell them last night,” she asked as she reached for the glass champagne flutes. Garrett took them and shook his head. “Nothing,” he said. “We all came in after…” Garret stopped. “Son of a bitch, I knew that they got together after I went to bed. This is them thinking that we got engaged.” Taylor rolled her eyes. She had a feeling that this might happen, but at least they didn’t think that she was pregnant, that would have been the worst thing in the world right now. “I guess that we’re going to have to burst their bubble and let them know that we’re not engaged, but I think that they’re going to be happy either way.” Taylor looked at him and smiled. “We’ll tell them after we eat or are least half way done with brunch,” she said. “This way we don’t have to spring it on them right away.” Garrett nodded. He wanted Taylor to be the one who broke the news, not him. Taylor handed him the last glass and then they went to rejoin the others, who they hoped had finished all the prep and started cooking.
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Bruch went exactly how Garrett and Taylor thought it would. There was no drama and everyone was civil. Garrett was initially thinking of inviting Cara to stay, but then changed his mind because of the fact that he knew that it would have turned into a prank war between the two of them, which would have ruined everything that Taylor wanted to do, so it was better that he didn’t.The one perk that came with having so many people over for brunch was that everyone had started to clean up right after they finished. As they stood there, cleaning the dishes, Blake nudged Taylor and then cleared her throat. “So what’s this big announcement that you are making,” she asked as everyone looked over wondering what was going on. “You did promise,” Selena said. “And the Taylor I know has been known to keep her promises.” Taylor sighed. As she stood there, collecting her thoughts, Garrett walked over and gave her hand a squeeze. It felt like time had stopped and that they were the only two in the entire room. He was by her through all the things that happened to her last year and the fact that he was by her side again, meant that he really cared for her. She took a deep breath and looked up at her friends.“Well first,” she started. “I hate to do this, but I’m going to have to burst all of your bubbles and let you know that there is no ring as of right now. It’s too early for that and even Garrett will agree with that.” Garrett nodded as Taylor saw a look of confusion come over everyone’s face. Karlie almost blurted out something, but decided that she would wait and see what Taylor had to say.“And second, I’m not pregnant either, so get that idea out of your head right now,” she said causing both Karlie and Selena to blush and look away at the same time, meaning that they had the same idea.” But, we are getting a child another way. For the past year, I have been working closely with an adoption agency, talking about the possibility of fostering or adopting a child because I feel that it’s time. So three days ago, I got the call saying that they finally found a child that would be a good match. While I’m on tour, the agency has agreed to hold her and keep her at the home that she is at and when the tour is over, we’ll start the process of getting her settled with Garrett and me. I know this isn’t what you expected, but I just thought I’d tell all of you first and yes, if you were wondering, I already told my parents and Garrett told his last night, so you all are the first group to know.”Silence filled the room after she finished and Taylor was starting to think that maybe that this was a bad idea after all, but before she had a chance to think, the silence was broken be Karlie squealing. Before she knew it, she was almost tackled to the ground and eventually, she felt two more arms wrap around her. “Holy shit Swift,” Karlie said. “I knew that you were planning something when I heard you on the phone the other day. I just knew that it was going to be something big, but I didn’t going to be this big.” Taylor saw the smile on her face and knew that ‘Aunt Karlie’ was going to be spoiling the living hell out of her even if she didn’t want her to.“James is gonna be so happy to have a playmate besides Inez,” Blake said. “Playdates and sleep over are gonna be such fun at both houses.” Taylor knew that she would be spending the night with the three girls when they spent the night at the Reynolds’ house and her house. She started to think about all the torture that poor Garret was going to endure as he tried to get away from them. She then realize that the same thing would happen to Ryan when she went to Blake and Ryan’s house, although knowing him, he would enjoy it a little too much, but at least Garrett would be willing to go away with him for the weekend when they did stay over. She then looked over at Selena, who had been trying to get a word in for the past few minutes, but was constantly cut off by Blake and Karlie. “Selena,” Taylor said. “Do you have something to add to this?”“I just want to know if you know what they look like,” she said. “I mean you never said if it was a boy or a girl. I just like how Blake assumed that it was going to be a girl and for all we know you’re getting a boy.” Blake looked at Selena and knew that she was right. She should have asked before she assumed that it was a girl that Taylor was adopting. Before she could shed her friends, Garrett handed her the picture. “I went and got it earlier,” he told her. “I figured that everyone wanted to would want to see her.” Taylor nodded. She had a feeling this was why he got up earlier. She turned the photo around and showed it to everyone.“They could have gotten her to smile,” Karlie said. “The damn photo looks like a mug shot.” Taylor then pulled the first photo away and showed a better photo of her, the same one that she showed Garrett. “That’s better,” Karlie said. “She’s adorable.” Blake took the photo and looked at her. “She a good match for you and Garrett and I guess that the agency did it on purpose?” Taylor shook her head. “No,” she said. “I had a few different photos sent to me, but none of them really stood out to me like she did. She’s gonna be a good fit with the two of us.” Garrett blushed a little. He was a bit nervous earlier, but now, now it seemed that everything was going to be alright. “So she’s going to start living with you after the tour is over, correct,” Selena asked. “Like before Christmas or after.” Taylor thought about this for a second. “After,” she said. “At least I hope that’s when it happens. It could be before thought. It all depends on how the home check goes.” Taylor then stepped back and took another deep breath. “I’m going to take a year and a half off again after the tour so that I can get to know her and make sure that she’s OK and also slowly let her know who I am and let her get used to her new life.” Garrett smiled. A year and a half was a long time, but for them it was going to be a good thing. It was going to be hard for all of them and it was going to take some time to get used to having another human in the house all the time that somewhat needed help with certain things.” Ryan looked over at him and then tilted his head toward the back yard. Garrett slipped away and followed him.“You’re thinking about proposing to her, aren’t you,” he asked as he closed to door. Garrett nodded. He was thinking about doing it while they were on tour, but decided after he heard that she was going to adopt Charlie, he decided that it was the best to wait and let her get settled. “I was going to next week,” he said. “But I think I’m going to wait now that there’s a little surprise coming in. I’m just glad that the condom didn’t break or I got too drunk and forgot to wear one, because that would have made everything awkward for everyone.” Ryan smiled. “That’s the best idea and you should get the kid involved,” he told him. “This way she’ll feel like she really belongs to the both of you. What’s her name anyway?”“Charlotte, but she likes to be called Charlie from what Taylor says,” Garrett told him. “We’re still debating on the middle name.” Ryan came over and hugged him. “Good,” he said to him. “At least you don’t have to argue over a name.” Garrett rolled his eyes. This was peak Ryan Reynolds. “Just remember one thing,” he continued. “She’s not just Taylor’s daughter, she’s yours too. That’s what Blake and I do with James and Inez. We both share the responsibility. Everything from dirty diapers, which for now you don’t have to worry about, to bath and bed times, but I’m sure that you’re both going to be fine. Just remember that.” Garrett smiled and nodded but before he hand the chance to answer, Taylor slid the door opened.“There you two are,” she said. “We’ve gotta go or else we’re gonna disappoint a lot of people.” Garrett nodded. “We’ll be out in a second,” he said. Taylor closed the door and Garret turned his attention back toward Ryan. “Thank you for the advice,” he told him. “I think I really needed that. I mean, my parents told me everything to expect and some things to do, but that advice put everything into perspective.” Ryan smiled.“You two are gonna be fine,” he told him. “At least you don’t have to deal with a soon to be three year old running around the house with no diaper on yelling ‘no potty’ all the time.” Garrett laughed and then hugged Ryan. This would be the last time that he would see him until the end of the tour and after Savannah came. ”Thanks,” he said. “I’ll text or call if we need help.” Garrett and Ryan then walked into the house to join their significant others. After that conversation that he had with Ryan, Garrett felt more confident about doing this with Taylor. As they all we their separate ways, Ryan waved and then blew him a kiss, causing him to laugh. Taylor saw this and rolled her eyes. There was a bromance between the two of them that was for sure.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Hours after the concert ended in Foxboro, fans crowded around the hotel that Taylor was supposedly staying at in Boston. The internet had said that they saw her walking in and a few employees said they saw her walking into one of the rooms. However, little did they know that this was a double that they sent so that the fans would be thrown off, but it made things worse and more fans showed up to try to get a glimpse of Taylor and after the show, it double, causing the cops to move the fans across the street, so that they wouldn’t block traffic or get hurt for that matter.While this was a normal thing that Taylor was used to, for Garrett it still was new. People held signs and were screaming at the top of their lungs, hoping for Taylor to step out on the balcony so that they could get a glimpse of her. However, little did they know that she wasn’t even staying there. Garrett smiled as he turned the corner and entered a small apartment building that had a few Air BnB homes in it. He pushed opened the door to the apartment and walked it.“The owner was right,” he said as he placed bag on the counter. “There was a really small and good Chinese place around the corner. It smelled like heaven” Taylor poked her head, hair wrapped in a towel from the shower, out of the bathroom and smiled. The two of them had decided to stay in smaller rentals for single or double nights so that they could have a little more privacy, away from the media and the fans. “Good,” Taylor said. “I’ll be out in a minute.” Garrett started to unpack everything and then noticed something on the table. There was another picture of Charlie on the table. It wasn’t like the other two that he saw earlier, which were only from the waist up, this time it was a full body picture and she was skinny as a rail. It was just probably her youthful body, but she needed to bulk up a bit and she’d look fine.“Isn’t she lovely,” Taylor said. “The agency said that she’s healthy, so don’t worry about how thin she is because she’ll fill out as she gets older.” Garrett smiled when he heard that. He was a bit worried about it but it seems like everything was going alright. Taylor then grabbed her food and walked over to the couch. Garrett grabbed his carton of noodles and joined her there, kissing the top of her head.“So, only five more months to go,” Garrett asked ask as he turned on the TV. They heard people walking down the street, heading home because they started to realize that Taylor wasn’t going to come out. “Yep,” she said after a bit. “It is gonna be a long five months too. I just want it to end so that we can get her and help her get settled.” Garrett smiled and her and took her hand. “Before you know it, it will all be over and we’ll be heading to pick her up,” he told her. “We’ll take it one day at a time.” As he sat there, he started to realize something.“We should have them bring her to us,” he suggested. “This way we don’t have to deal with the photographers.” Taylor looked at him and sighed. “While it’s a good idea,” she started. “They will still try to get pictures no matter what” After she said that, it dawned on her. “However you are right,” she said. “It would be smarter and safer to have her at our house so that no one can see her until we want them to. That’s actually a really good idea.”Taylor then sighed to herself, but she knew that Garrett heard it. She then turned to him and cuddled up against him. “Are you just as nervous as I am,” she asked. “I mean about this whole adopting thing. Blake told me horror stories and we don’t even know anything about her. The adoption agency keeps saying that we’re going to be fine.” Garrett kissed her and looked at her. “You do realize that we’re adopting a child who will be somewhat independent from us,” he said. “No changing diapers, no potty training and most importantly, no having to wake up in the middle of the nights for feedings and changings. It’s not going to be easy, but the hard stuff is almost over with.” Taylor looked and him and then started to cry. She had been holding it in for so long that it actually felt so good to let it out.“What if she doesn’t like us,” Taylor sobbed. “What if she wants to go back and find another family?” Garrett held her tight and tried to calm her down, which was a difficult thing. ”We’re gonna be fine,” he told her. “She’s going to love the fact that-“ Taylor placed her fingers over his lips, silencing him. “No,” she told him sternly. “She will not know who I am until I’m ready. I don’t want her growing up acting like a snob because I’m her mother. I will not raise my child to be a member of the plastics.” Garrett nodded. He remember her telling him about how when she first moved to Nashville she was bullied by girls who cared more about their purses than who they were friends with.“Got it,” he said as she removed her fingers from his mouth. “But what if she knows who you are already?” Before she could answer, a knock was at the door. Garrett got up and Taylor went down the hallway to the bedroom. This was the plan if somehow a fan found out that she was staying here. There were a few close calls over in Europe and one in Cleveland, but Garrett managed to get them to leave without any issues, but it was too close for comfort for the both of them. As Garrett peeked through the peephole and breathed a sigh of relief. It Tree, Taylor’s assistant.“Thank god,” he said as he opened the door. “No one followed you, right.” Tree shook her head. “No,” she said. “No one saw me came here and thank god too. I was worried that I was going to be followed by someone or a whole bunch of them for that matter, but I wasn’t.” Taylor, who managed to compose herself, then came out of the bedroom and was glad to see it wasn’t a fan, but Tree.“I thought that you were coming out tomorrow when we went to New Jersey for two nights,” Taylor said as she hugged Tree. The smile disappeared from Tree’s face shortly after. “Well,” she started. “It’s not bad, but I just got the paper work from the lawyers. I just need the both of you to sign them and then things will start to happen. Your lawyer will represent you in court, so you don’t have to show and cancel any dates and shortly after the tour is over, they’ll want the both of you to come in for interviews in order to finalize everything.” Taylor and Garrett looked at each other and then looked at the forms, there was a lot more work involved than they thought. It was a bunch of pages that they had to initial and finally at the end of the packet was where they had to sign. After a few minutes of signing pages over and over, they finally came to the end of the packet. They stopped and looked at each other.“Last chance,” Taylor said. “Are you sure you want to go through with this? Ruin your life and change it forever. No more dinners at 10, no more drinking, and probably no more Met Galas” Garrett looked at her, smiled and then playfully shoved her. “Of course,” he said to her. “I think that life will get a lot more interesting when we add her in and of course we’ll be going to the Met Gala. Charlie will wanna experience it because of all the stories that we’ll tell her and I think that she’ll melt Anna Wintour’s heart.” Taylor smiled when she heard that and signed her name to the last page. Garrett followed suit and signed his name as well. Tree then put the papers in an envelope and smiled at them. “I’ll keep you informed,” she said. “And good luck with the rest of the tour. See you during the holidays.” Tree opened and then headed out the door, heading back into the real world.As the door closed, Garrett looked at Taylor and smiled at her. As they stood in the silence of the apartment, they wondered what happened. Garrett lead Taylor back to the couch where they started to talk about what was going to happen after the tour ended and what they were going to do when Charile came into their lives.