golden [2] | TAYLOR SWIFT

29

Happy Sunday!!!

———

January, 2019

As Kaia walked into the recording studio in New York, she could hear Taylor's laugh coming from the recording booth. She hadn't noticed Kaia's arrival yet, checking something on her phone, presumably the lyrics to whatever song she was recording.

"Okay, remind me again why we chose to do it this high?" Taylor said into the microphone. "What if, and hear me out on this one, we changed the key? Like what if we dropped it about a million octaves lower?"

"First of all, that's musically impossible, second of all, it was your call and you will sound great, once you figure out how to get past the dying goat stage," Jack replied while laughing.

Taylor gasped loudly, finally looking up. "Oh my god, you asshole, I did not sound like a dying goat! My voice cracked!"

Taylor's eyes moved behind Jack though, finally seeing Kaia. She dropped her headphones around her neck, her lips parting in surprise. Kaia smiled at her, waving from her spot by the door. Jack turned around, his face splitting into a grin when he saw her and immediately engulfed her in a friendly hug.

"Hey! What're you doing here? I thought you were back in London!" He exclaimed, giving her shoulders a good squeeze before pulling away. He pointed an accusing finger at Taylor and pressed one of the many buttons on the equipment in front of him before speaking into the microphone. "You didn't mention your better half was stopping by!"

"Hey— why are you being so mean to me today?" Taylor pouted, her eyes meeting his for a second before returning to Kaia just as fast. "I had no idea she was stopping by! Let's take five?"

"Take an hour! I'll personally pay for the extra studio time," Jack teased with a playful smirk.

Taylor rolled her eyes as she made her way toward them. She stopped by Kaia's side, kissing her cheek and wrapping her arm around her waist. "Hey, you!" she said softly with a little smile. "You remember Laura? And that's Jon."

"Yeah, hey, everyone. Sorry to crash the uh, party unannounced," Kaia apologised, waving at everyone else in the room. They greeted her back, reassuring her that it was completely fine.

Just then, someone else walked in. She looked pretty familiar, with her guitar case hanging around her shoulder and Kaia did a double-take at the same time as the musician did. "Oh... hey, I'm not late, am I?"

"Right on time, actually!" Jack replied. "We can do the guitar bits while these two... smush booties, or whatever."

"Jack, ugh!" Taylor groaned, scrunching her nose, though Kaia couldn't help but crack a smile amusedly. "Kibs, I'd like to introduce you to Annie, or, you may know her as—"

"St. Vincent, hi!" Kaia exclaimed in disbelief, holding her hand out to shake the musician's hand. "Shit, I love your music."

"So I've heard," Annie grinned, grabbing Kaia's hand to shake it but instead she pulled her in for a hug. "For the record, I've binged your show. Big fan!"

Kaia's grin widened and she tried hard not to squeal too loudly. "Thank you, gosh. Taylor, you're going to get an earful back home for not preparing me for this."

Taylor tossed her head back as she laughed, squeezing Kaia's side. "In my defence, I thought we were meeting at home."

Kaia shrugged, resting her hand on the small of the singer's back. "Thought I'd surprise you. My flight got in early."