Call It What You Want: Taylor Swift + Joe Alwyn

seven

"Oh my god Taylor... what happened...?!"

No words came out of my mouth. All of a sudden felt sick to the bottom of my stomach.

"I-...I feel sick Joe..."

"He did this... didn't he?"

"I think I'm gonna throw up..." I managed to mutter out before I ran past Joe and to the bathroom, in which I did indeed, throw up.

Joe was right behind me, holding back my messy, knotted hair.

"I think you're in shock Tay..."

"No... this is normal... I've been throwing up almost every day lately..." I said, taking a deep breath.

"From stress?"

I nodded slowly and my body fell onto the floor, leaning against the wall.

"I'm sorry for coming here... I didn't know where else to go..."

"Taylor don't ever apologise for coming to me. I told you to call or come over whenever you needed, and I meant it."

I gave Joe a small smile. It wasn't much but I hope he realised it was me thanking him.

"Can I call the police?" Joe asked as be stood up and reached his hand out to slowly pull me up.

I flinched a little as he pulled me, my arm was still bleeding and it hurt a lot.

"No he-... he said he'd kill me if I ever called the police on him... just leave it... it's fine."

Joe sighed but I think he knew I was stubborn about my decision not to call the police, so he didn't push me.

"Fine... why don't I help you with your arm and maybe you could tell me what happened?"

I nodded slowly as Joe sat me down on the edge of the bathtub. I don't know why he wanted to help me, or why he cared so much. Somehow he made me feel like I was actually worth something.

He grabbed a small cloth and ran it under warm water, then held it near my arm.

"I'm just gonna wipe some of the blood off okay? And then i'll put a bandage around it." Joe said softly as he started to dab my arm lightly with the cloth.

My arm automatically tensed up as I flinched. I didn't want to seem weak in front of Joe, but at this point he's already seen me at my most vulnerable state, so why bother trying to be strong.

"I know it hurts... I'm sorry I'll try to be more gentle," Joe started to press lighter around the wound on my arm, "I'm gonna clean the actual cut now okay?"

I nodded and took a deep breath, preparing for this to be painful.

As expected, it was painful. Very painful. The pain caused tears to fill my eyes, which I squeezed shut in attempt to distract myself.

"It's pretty deep... I'm gonna put some antibacterial spray on it, it'll help with scarring, is that ok?" Joe asked as he finished wiping my arm and got a small spray bottle from the cabinet under the sink.

"Will it hurt...?"

"It'll sting a little, but trust me it helps."

I stared at the bottle for a second. I didn't want to put myself in more pain if this stuff wasn't guaranteed to work.

"Are you sure it works..?"

Joe pulled up his sleeve and showed me his wrist, which had nothing but one freckle on it.

"See that?" Joe asked.

"There's nothing there..." I said, pointing out the obvious.

"Exactly. That's thanks to this stuff. It works like magic, I promise."