1. shimmer (a taylor swift au)

-chapter nineteen-

Ellie couldn't stop wriggling in the car on the way to the stadium. There were butterflies in her tummy, and her feet wanted to dance. She was wearing her Gracie T-shirt, and she couldn't wait to show the superstar about it. She'd even made Gracie a card thanking her for the hair bow. Ellie hadn't taken it out of her hair once - except to have a bath or two. Only because Taylor had told her she had to. It was one of her favourite things she'd gotten in her new life, and she wanted it close with her. Forever.
"You're full of beans today, El!" Scott chuckled from behind her. Scott was the only person who'd begun calling her that, and she liked the fact that they had something special between the two of them.
"I'm super super duper duper excited."
"Well, we'll have to wait and see," Taylor told her in her best Mom voice. "The weather isn't looking so good for today's show."
"But we've done it beforeee," Ellie whined. "We're in Cincy." She'd heard all the other adults calling it that, and she sure was going to call it that too. "We've gotta do it. It's just a little bit of rain."
Ellie turned to face Taylor. "What about if I hold an umbrella over you the whoooole time?"
The adults laughed, and Taylor reached out and took her hand.
"Thank you for the offer, bee. But I don't think that would work. It's supposed to hail and be quite serious. The other shows were really heavy rain - this is hail."

Ellie hated hail. She hated it because it reminded her of the time her father locked her outside and forced her to stand there in bare feet as it was stormy. There was hail and it hurt her head, the ground was freezing and made her feet cold. She remembered it like it was yesterday. Although, she couldn't remember what she'd done to deserve that punishment. She figured that she probably didn't bring him his beer fast enough. Ellie shivered, remembering it. Taylor had made her realise that she hadn't actually deserved any of it - no matter how naughty she'd been. She never deserved the punishments she'd received from her parents.

"We're thinking of starting an hour early," Taylor spoke, glancing up from her phone. "That way we'll be done and dusted by the time the really bad weather rolls through." Taylor sighed, thinking about how stressful the change of schedule was. She hated change to her routine, and the thought of it made her worried.
"When will Gracie perform?" Ellie asked as the car pulled up outside the stadium.
"I haven't thought it that far through yet," Taylor answered honestly. Climbing out of the car and holding Ellie's hand as she followed behind her, they headed backstage to find Gracie and the rest of the crew.

It was pretty obvious that running the concert as normal wasn't an option - all the weather outlets said the same thing. If she performed at eight, like usual... it was likely that they'd end up in terrible weather.
"I'm happy to miss out," Gracie shrugged. "I don't mind."
"Noooo!" Ellie exclaimed. "You can't! Watching you is like my favourite thing ever!"
Gracie held out her arms, and Ellie climbed into her lap.
"I'm wearing your bow," Ellie turned her head so she was sure Gracie could see it. "See? You're Like my favourite person ever and you deserve to play at Cincy too. Besides, I'm sure that people would be really really really sad if they didn't get to see you. Like me. I'd be super duper really really sad."
Taylor was leaning against the vanity, her arms crossed.
"Well, we'll need to cut Muna's time down... just to make sure we can start at seven." Taylor sighed. "If they play for twenty minutes, maybe we could make it work."
"But what about Gracie?" Ellie questioned.

Taylor glanced up at the two of them. At Gracie, all dressed and ready to go, and sighed. At her lovely friend, who was letting Ellie play with her hair. Who was smiling and laughing with her child - and knew that Ellie was right. Cincinnati deserved to hear the talent of Gracie Abrams too.
"What about if I brought you out later? With me?"
Ellie gasped, turning to face Gracie. "Yes oh yes oh yes oh yes! Gracieeeee you have to!"
Taylor watched as the realisation of what she'd suggested played through Gracie's mind.
"You mean... on stage. With you. At the same time as you. With everyone... Taylor, that's so many people."
"You don't have to," Taylor assured her. "It's not that bad, trust me." She paused. "Okay, I'll admit. It's pretty bad. But you're amazing, Gracie."
"I'll wait with you!" Ellie suggested. "It's gonna be so good, you're gonna get to be up there with Taylor!"
Gracie thought about it for a brief moment as she played with Ellie's hair.
"What would we sing?" Gracie asked. "Because I'm not good enough to sing your songs..."
"I want to sing one of yours," Taylor told her. Glancing at the clock, she shivered. "We've got forty minutes to pull something together. You pick a song and we'll see how it works..."
"Please do I miss you, I'm sorry!" Ellie suggested. "It's one of my favourites ever."
Gracie smiled, glancing down at the little girl. "Are you good with that?" She asked Taylor.
"I think so," Taylor told her. She knew all the lyrics - Ellie had insisted on listening to it a billion times after she'd heard it the first time. Taylor also knew that she knew every single word because it'd been one of her go-to songs when she'd broken up with Joe. Even she needed a good breakup song every once in a while, and Gracie Abrams was always the person she turned to when she needed it. Something about her lyrics... her voice. So brutally raw and honest in a way she knew her voice wasn't. She knew they were both talented, but Gracie just... she just captured the fragility of love so tenderly and perfectly. Taylor knew how to speak words that sounded like they'd been written centuries ago, or about tumultuous love stories with burning endings. Gracie was the songs you played with the skeletons dancing in your closet, her music was the warm embrace that a person longed for. There was just something so hauntingly captivating about Gracie's music that Taylor didn't have in her own. It was Victorian houses and petticoats and ghosts wandering around at night. It was summer rain and high heels and hair bows. Taylor just loved that about Gracie, which was why she'd been so excited to have her on tour. And seeing her with Ellie? It was priceless.