almost | taylor swift au

chapter 3

It isn't all that long before Taylor and Jett find themselves hot and heavy on the dance floor of a Chelsea club. The kind that Taylor is usually on the outside of, looking in and feeling the vibrations of the bass even from the sidewalk.

She never thought that it would be her thing, but to her surprise, she kind of likes it. Jett is good company, buying her cocktails and holding her hand as their bodies press together while they dance. Being freshly 21, she's most certainly on the younger end of people here, but there's still a lot of people her age, which she likes. She's the youngest one on tour by quite a few years and hasn't really gotten to hang out with many people in their early 20's for the past few months.

Taylor thinks that they're lucky that nobody in the club seems to know who Jett is. Since she hasn't been out in public with him before, she hasn't really ever been able to gauge just how famous the band is. Obviously, the crowds at concerts know them. She doesn't know if most people on the street would recognize them, but they seem to be slipping by unnoticed just fine in the room full of people with a few drinks in them.

At one point in the night, Taylor ends up dancing with a group of other girls her age, when Jett goes over to the bar to get himself another beer. He comes back over and looks at her. "Tay, come and dance with me," he says, grabbing her arm.

"You can dance with us," she offers, pulling him into their circle.

"This is our night, come on," he tells her. "It's our first date out in public, remember?"

"Right..." she says, then turns back to the girls. "It was great meeting you." She follows Jett over to another part of the dance floor, and finds that he chugs his beer quite quickly.

"Come on," he says, "let's get out of here. I have somewhere else I want to take you."

Before Taylor can protest, he takes her hand and leads her off of the dance floor, setting his newly empty glass on the bar. Taylor does the same, taking a last sip of her vodka Diet Coke before setting it down for the bar tender to take. The pair walks out into the chilly nighttime air. As they stand outside of the bar, Taylor feels the heat from a subway vent, but it doesn't combat the biting cold. She rubs her arms. "Jett, why did you want to leave?"

"I thought we could go somewhere where it's just the two of us," he smiles at her.

"But, I thought we were having a good time. You said you were going to get another drink, and you offered to get me another too, just to chug it and insist on going... is everything okay? Did you..." she pauses, almost afraid to say what she is about to ask, but then takes a deep breath and continues. "Did you not like that I was dancing with those girls?"

"There's just something so romantic about New York at night," he replies. "The way that it isn't quite still, but it somehow feels so quiet compared to what it looks like during the day. Come on, I know a spot where we can go."

Without letting Taylor respond, once again, he laces his fingers through hers and leads the way. As Taylor runs to keep up with Jett, her heels hit the pavement, making a noise with every step. She's thankful that the few drinks she had are probably masking some of the pain that the shoes would normally be causing her. She can already feel her toes pinching a bit, so she knows that soon enough, she'll really be feeling it.

Before she knows it, she finds herself at an entrance to the High Line. "Come on," Jett says, holding up the chain that blocks off the stair case and indicating for Taylor to duck under it.

"What?" Taylor asks, drawing in a quick breath. "Jett...  the park closes at night. You're crazy. They've gotta have cameras on these entrances, and we could get into-"