The Cruelest Summer

Chapter 3- "I'm coming to New York."

"I'm coming to New York!!!"

Taylor couldn't believe it. She must've reread Joe's text thirteen hundred times, certain that she was either dreaming or hallucinating. Just yesterday she had convinced herself that she was never going to see Joe again....and now....he was coming to New York. Joe was coming to New York. Taylor repeated the phrase in her head, trying to make sense of it all. Would they meet up? Would that even be possible with the paparazzi and Tree's strict instructions to stay out of the headlines? Would Joe even want to see her? After all, he wasn't necessarily coming to the city to hang out with Taylor- he was coming for work. He had to prepare for his press tour for his movie, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk.

Taylor busied herself for an hour or so cleaning the kitchen to "Demons" by the National before replying to Joe's text. She hated herself for getting so obsessive over a simple message. You're being irrational Taylor. He's just a guy that you sometimes play 'Words With Friends' with and now he's coming to New York.......for his job. Not you.....his job. Okay? Don't make a big deal out of nothing. You're going to stay single forever anyway...remember? You're better off being alone.

With that in mind, Taylor hastily sent a text back to Joe. She hoped she didn't come across as desperate or too nosy.

***

"Nice!!!!!! When r u coming to NYC? Is the trip just for ur movie?"

"My flight lands tomorrow and yeah it's really just for work. I'm only gonna be here for a couple of days before I have to go back to London"

"Cool!! I gotta send you a list of places to check out since you know I'm kinda a local"

"That would be amazing, thx!!"

"Ofc!! Have a good flight"

***

There were so many other things that Taylor wanted to say to Joe, but she knew that she couldn't. Thankfully a phone call from Tree distracted her from those pesky thoughts.

"Hey, Taylor. How are you holding up?" Tree said carefully. Taylor noted the hesitancy in her voice. She knows about the breakup.

"Hey. I've been better to be honest," she heaved. "But at least I'm out of Australia and L.A, so I can just lay low and distract myself."

Taylor heard Tree take a deep breath from the other side of the line. "That's really good to hear sweetheart. Laying low is the best thing we can do right now to keep your name off of the Twitter trends." She paused. "What have you been up to?"

Taylor snorted. She found her publicist's genuine remark fucking hilarious. What had she been up to? Well.....she'd been binging reruns of Grey's Anatomy, writing cryptic poetry, playing with her cats, crying to Boniver music, drinking entire bottles of wine, and scrolling through every goddamn tweet and Instagram comment. Her feed was flooded with messages of "ur such a snake", "Katy was right", "ur sooo fake", "go die in a hole", "im burning my cds", "way to victimize yourself girlie", "biggest bitch in Hollywood", "no wonder Harry left you." And yet, she couldn't stop reading them.

"Taylor?"

Taylor's brain snapped back to reality. "What? Oh sorry..got distracted for a sec. Umm, I've been relaxing, talking to friends, trying new recipes..that sorta thing." She felt guilty for lying, especially to Tree who'd she become really close to over the past few years, but it was just easier that way. Tree had enough on her plate and she didn't want to worry her. If she told her what she was really up to, she'd be concerned.

"That's great," her publicist chirped. "Especially because of....you know...the breakup."

Taylor exhaled. "So you heard about me and Tom?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry sweetheart. His publicist reached out to me. That's mostly why I'm calling. We might have to push a press release in case this news leaks. It'll soften the blow."

"Okay, yeah I figured." Unfortunately, Taylor knew this bit all too well. She had gotten accustomed to breakup-related damage control over the past couple of years. Her experience, however, did not make the process any easier. In fact, every single time it was all the more embarrassing.