The Butterfly Weeds [Taylor Swift Adoption Story]

ROSE

Lay the table with the fancy shit and watch you tolerate it

Roses are widely known for their romantic symbolism. Love, romance, sex, passion, admiration, desire, and beauty. They are the perfect gift for your spouse. Did you know on Valentine's Day 84% of flowers purchased are roses and 69% of them are red? 250 million roses are produced every year for the holiday! Americans spend 2.3 billion dollars on flowers which make up 30% of all florist's sales for the year. This flower must be pretty romantic then!

One Week Later
December 23rd; 2023
Taylor Swift's Point of View
Joe and I are sitting in the car together. It's very silent. Honestly, it's silent for us most of the time. The two of us are coming back from one of those Christmas parties your friend is holding that you don't want to go to but feel really obligated to. We went for an hour to make it obvious we were there. We don't want people to think we're half-assed together. We had to make an appearance together, especially after my disaster of a birthday party. His hands are kept tucked away to make it obvious he doesn't want them to be touched or held. The two of us eventually get back home around 8 p.m. When we walk in though, we see Ivy dressed nicely, the table has a cloth over it, there's a candle lit, and the rest of the table is made.

"Welcome to...restaurant Fancy French Name. Let me take your coats." Ivy takes our coats and hangs them up. Joe and I look at one another, quite confused.

"Let me take you to your table." Ivy walks over to the kitchen and shows us to the makeshift fancy restaurant-style table. She pulls out the seat for me and I sit down and Joe sits across from me. The two of us giggle at her antics as she pours us a glass of water.

"What is this?" I ask her with a smile.

"I wanted to do something special for you and Joe."

"You set up a dinner date for us?" Joe looks up at her.

"Yes. Tonight you will first be served some of the finest hummus with pita chips. You will then have some chicken fingers which have been slowly roasted...in the oven at 425 for 15 minutes. You will then end the night with the creamiest of ice creams." She explains without breaking character.

"Sounds lovely. Am I allowed wine?" I ask.

"Uh...yes. You can get that yourself."

"My goodness! I have to serve my own drinks here."

"I DON'T KNOW HOW ALCOHOL REALLY WORKS."

"I'm just yanking your chain hun. I'm excited, thank you." I get up and grab myself a glass of white wine and Joe pours himself a glass of red. The two of us sit back down with our wine. Ivy places our hummus and chips in front of us before leaving the room. Joe and I begin snacking on the hummus. It's one of my favorite foods honestly.

"She's so sweet," I tell Joe, putting another chip in my mouth.

"She knows we see right through her, right?"

"Oh god yeah. See, if we don't do this dinner we will disappoint her and then we will feel like shit." She clearly set this up to try and fix our relationship. There's an awkward long pause. We don't know what to say. The two of us take long sips of our wine to try and avoid conversing.

"You still working on your album?" He asks awkwardly.

"Uh, yeah. I've just been struggling a lot with it. I've been working with Jack but, no matter what I write, I seem to hate it. I can't tell you how many papers I've ripped up." This album will be the death of me I swear.

"Maybe you just need to look for a different muse? I don't know. I'm not as big into the songwriting gig as you."

I take a moment to think. Maybe he's right. Joe is the inspiration behind so many of my songs...I hate to change it. Something's not working though. "Maybe you're right."