this is me trying | taylor swift

four

❝say you'll remember me❞

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

Ella finished her last math problem and shut her textbook. She wanted to get homework done before she went out to dinner with Taylor, and had just finished. Her phone read 6:03 P.M., and she got up to begin getting ready. She slipped on a pair of ripped straight leg jeans and a black sweater, before giving it a French tuck and paired the outfit with a cream pair of platform high-top Converse. She decided to throw her hair back in a claw clip and began doing some light makeup.

✮

"Ella, are you ready?" Taylor's voice sounded from the other side of Ella's bedroom door, as she knocked.

"Yeah, just about. Come in," Ella responded and Taylor walked in. Ella smiled at her beautiful older sister, who was wearing a pair of jeans with a crystal butterfly cutout and black body suit with her hair straightened. 

"Aww, you look so cute!" Taylor cooed at Ella, admiring the younger girl. Ella blushed as she looked down, before murmuring a quiet thank you. The two girls walked downstairs, but not before saying goodbye to their parents, who were sitting in the living room, watching a television show. 

They walked out of the garage and into the black Escalade that was waiting in their driveway, greeting George, Taylor's driver and bodyguard in Nashville. 

"Okay, I don't think that there will be too many paparazzi, but just in case there is, hold onto my arm and put these on. George will keep them from getting too close," The older girl said to Ella, passing her a pair of black sunglasses. Ella sighed heavily. As much as she admired her sister and  thought her job was the coolest thing in the world, she couldn't help but be disappointed that they could never do "normal" sister outings, like her friends could. How the teenager longed for a day where Taylor and herself could do something as simple as go to the mall and stand in a check-out line, goofing around and observing strangers, without it becoming national news. Nonetheless, she wouldn't change anything for the world, but times like this made her wish for that sense of normalcy.

"Hey, now! We're still gonna have so much fun, don't you worry your pretty little head," Taylor sensed Ella's mood shift as she poked her sister's sides, making a small smile appear on her face.

"There's that smile!" Taylor pulled Ella into a side hug, kissing the top of her head. Like Ella, Taylor wished to experience an ordinary day with Ella. The last time they had a somewhat normal day was right at the beginning of the pandemic when the two had gone grocery shopping together. Nobody recognized Taylor because of the masks and sunglasses she was wearing, as well as the desolate state of public places at the time. Taylor loved her fans and her life wholeheartedly, so she felt guilty even admitting that sometimes, she wished she wasn't Taylor Swift, the celebrity, but just Taylor, Ella's big sister. However, small things like dinner with her sister made her regain a sense of that normalcy, and she appreciated that immensely. 

✮

Luckily, there were only a few paparazzi and they were all very respectful and maintained their distance, so Taylor and Ella were able to enter the restaurant without a hitch. They were quickly seated in a more secluded area in the back of the rustic restaurant, towards the kitchen, for which Taylor was very thankful for. 

"What do you think you're gonna get?" Taylor asked Ella, who was sitting across from her at their booth. The restaurant was not crowded, so the two could easily hear each other over the soft jazz music that was playing in the overhead speakers. 

"I'm not sure yet," Ella responded, looking through the menu. Her family had a running joke that no matter where they were, Ella would manage to find a version of the same thing on every menu and order it -- the item being a Nashville hot chicken sandwich and fries with ranch. Finally, Ella got to the section that listed the sandwiches, and quickly found the one she wanted, reading the description. However, for the first time in her whole fifteen years of existence, one part of the description caught Ella's eye. The calorie value.