A week later, they arrived in NYC, New York. Finally, Evie thought. After the whirlwind emotions, it felt good to be somewhere where she felt at home and comforted. They had arrived the day before and Evie spent the day-off with her band at a spa which was much needed. Evie had not told anyone about her feeling for Taylor. She knew herself that Taylor wouldn’t date her but she had not been ready to hear it from someone else. Plus, no one even knew she liked girls. Would anyone take it seriously? Everything was fine between her an Taylor on a friendship level besides the fact that Taylor had not told her anything about meeting Travis. Normally, Evie was a direct person and would bombard her friends with questions after a potential date but this was different. She didn’t want to know anything about it because she feared that they were falling for each other and Evie wasn’t in the place to give Taylor dating tips. She didn’t want them to become a thing and she felt bad because as a real friend, she was supposed to be more genuine and supportive. But the fact that Taylor had been so open about her life before and was so secretive now unsettled her.
After the spa, Evie went back to her apartment and got herself ready for a evening in bed accompanied by her laptop and Netflix. Suddenly, she got a call and it was Taylor who waited for her to accept it. Evie greeted her and listened to what Taylor had to say. “Hi Evie! I am currently in a writing block and need to get out. Would you go out for dinner with me?”. There was no way she didn’t want to. They talked for a short while on the phone and agreed to go a fancy Italian restaurant and bar in SoHo. “My driver picks you up at 8 okay?”, Taylor asked. “Okay see you then.”.
Later that evening, they sat in the restaurants, plates almost empty and satisfied. “Today was awwwful, I swear! I had so many ideas but I just couldn’t bring them to paper. What’s wrong with me?”, Taylor asked her. “I don’t know but I wouldn’t stress myself in your position. You’re constantly writing, a few days without will hurt no one. Take your time with it.”, Evie assured her and couldn’t believe that she was in the position to give Taylor advice, considering her success. Evie told her about a song idea she had which she also struggled with. “I am already done with the beginning and have an idea for the chorus but I feel like something is missing. I don’t know if I am the one to sing it. Do you know what I mean?”, Evie told her and was grateful that she had Taylor as a friend, someone who understood what she thought and who was always willing to talk about music all day long. “I’ve been there before, I know what you mean. These were the songs that ended up becoming collaborations with other artists. Oh! I’ve got an idea.”, Taylor suddenly said and Evie could see her brain working just by looking into her eyes. “What if we two collab?”, Taylor started enthusiastically. “I don’t know how long it takes to write and record it but once it’s out it would be so cool to sing it together during the acoustic set on tour!”. Evie couldn’t even respond as fast as Taylor was talking as she was so excited by the idea. Taylor really loved music and didn’t hold it back. But Evie was hooked on the idea as well, she had never done a collaboration before and she had loved to discuss music with Taylor before so why not work together? They started discussing the idea and hyped themselves up and it was also the alcohol that night, that influenced them a little. Evie was usually more indecisiveness and had to take her time to make decisions but once she was a little tipsy, she was always open to fun ideas. They quickly finished their drinks and decided to work on the song as soon as possible because they already had so many ideas that needed to be put to paper before they could be forgotten. They sat in the backseat of Taylors driver’s car when Taylor leaned over to Evie and casually said: “I rent a place on Cornelia Street.”. The place was set and the driver drove them to her town house. Before, they had mostly hung out in hotels as they were touring and Evie was curious how Taylor lived like. Taylor had told her that she had a place in the city but she had not told her where exactly and how often she was there. Evie had no clue that she lived in a beautiful town house that was filled with so much personality for someone who had to travel a lot for their job. “I can see you living here.”, Evie said once they settled themselves in the living room. There were so many details that screamed Taylor’s name for example the little pictures of her cats here and there which she loved dearly and missed on tour.Â
They sat down on the generous and comfy couch and Evie showed Taylor her song idea. It was a song she had started before the tour and was about an an newcomer actor who had reached out to her after her AMAs performance. The had never met in person because he lived in L.A., California but they had texted quite a lot and got along really well. But Evie had been hurt by her previous relationship that had ended messy and hadn’t been ready for someone new. In the song, she reflected on the fear of getting hurt while still wanting to take a chance on love. It captured the tension between protecting oneself and the desire to let someone in. She wasn’t interested in the actor anymore but the song fit pretty well, now that she was crushing on Taylor. She already had a melody and a rough idea for how the song was supposed to song but had been unsure if it would fit her voice. But now she had Taylor by her side and couldn’t wait for her to try it out with her. “Alright, we can work with that. I mean you already have quite a lot, we mostly need to work on a second a verse and catchy bridge.”. Taylor was really focused now and switched into a professional mode. They had never written a song before and the situation was new to both of them. Taylor went up to her piano, sat down and started playing the melody Evie had just shown her before. It was impressive how easily she could recreate it. Evie stood beside her and just watched her work, she didn’t know how Taylor created songs and was intrigued in it. “Sooo…second verse…”, Taylor started saying and they both began to exchange ideas. They were now writing this song about a imaginary person because Taylor obviously didn’t know the actor who this song had been intended to be about. But the song’s topic was something everyone could relate to and Evie wondered who Taylor was thinking about in that moment as she herself was definitely thinking about Taylor. They tried out different ideas and came up with a second verse pretty quickly and it was surprising how naturally the song writing process happened. After the the second verse was ready they tried to play the whole song until the missing bridge. The song had an upbeat sound to it and it was fun so sing along together, both a little drunk and full of excitement for their collaboration. “This will be great!”, Evie said agitatedly after they had finished it three times in a row, after they had made a few mistakes in the first two attempts. “Okay so for the bridge we need to change the melody a bit…What about this?”, Taylor said and showed Evie a melody on the piano. Evie liked it and wanted to try it herself. She sat down beside Taylor as she piano bench was big enough for two people and laid her hands on the keys. She was more confident on the guitar and couldn’t recreate Taylors melody that easily. “Wait, how do you do it again?”, she asked and suddenly felt insecure. But Taylor gave her no reason to and just laid her left hand on Evie’s to play it together. Taylors hands were soft and even though Evie had touched Taylor before, this felt more intimate. Taylors hand on hers were so distractive that she couldn’t focus on the melody and was even more last than she had been before. “Sorry…I…I am a bit tipsy so bear with me. Can you show it again?”, she asked Taylor. On the one hand because she really wanted to learn it but on the other hand because she wanted to feel close to Taylor again. Without saying anything, Taylor did it again but left her hand on Evies afterwards. Evies heart was pounding and she couldn’t do anything but stare at their hands. The moment seemed to last forever and Evie was wondering what Taylor thought of it as she was also just staring at their hands in silence. How could she not feel the tension in this room, Evie thought to herself. Suddenly, Taylor interrupted her thoughts as she turned her head around to look at Evie. Her eyes alternated between Evies eyes and her lips and the tension in the room grew. Their bodies seemed to move autonomously as their faces moved closer to each other until there was only and inch left between them. They stayed like that for a short while and Evie’s heart seemed to explode any other second. She wanted to kiss Taylor so badly but she couldn’t believe that Taylor thought the same even though she was not backing away. Suddenly, the words “You’re the risk, I’m gonna take it.” came to her mind and something in her told her to kiss Taylor. And that’s what she did. She moved an inch closer and their soft lips touched for a while while everything around them seemed to disappear. There seemed to be no sirens outside, all lights seemed to go out and there were just these two apparent friends kissing each other.Â
After a while which seemed like an eternity, their lips parted. The kiss felt right, Evie knew that for herself but she was too scared to look into Taylors eyes in case she could find regret in them. They both sat there and stared at the piano keys, unsure of what to do next. Everything around Evie seemed to spin and she realized that she was not only really nervous but also really drunk. The fear of a ruined friendship, the feelings for Taylor and the glasses of white wine were a dangerous combination. “I think I have to use the bathroom real quick!”. In the bathroom, she closed the door as fast as she could and threw up into in the toilet.Â
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