almost | taylor swift au

chapter 30

The next morning, armed with the whole story of what happened between Taylor and Jett, Gracie makes a vow to herself that she's going to do whatever it takes to help her friend. It's time for Taylor to realize that she's worth so much more than what that relationship minimized her into being. She's far more beautiful than he ever made her feel, far more intelligent than he ever allowed her to be. Taylor deserves to shine like the star that she is.

And part of moving on from a relationship is building a new life. Forming new routines, separate from those that included that person who you once held so dear to your heart. And for Taylor, her new life is going to be in New York City. With Gracie. Which makes them both feel pretty lucky.

And so the day of shopping with Andrea commences. They start off at IKEA, where Taylor is going to have to pick up a lot of furniture. They start with the most important stuff- first, a simple white bedframe. Nothing too fancy, just something to put a mattress on top of. That's really all that she's going to need.

To match that, she picks out the rest of a bedroom set in white. A nightstand, a dressing table and chair, and a dresser.

"What do you say we go somewhere a little bit more fun for some bedding and décor?" Andrea asks her daughter after all of the basics are selected. "Gracie, is there any other major furniture that you two will be needing?"

Gracie pauses to think. The sofa was hers, but Carmen did take an armchair in the living room, as well as the TV. She relays this information to Andrea.

"I think we can work with that." She leads the way down the aisle of IKEA until they reach the armchairs, but they don't see anything that they love. Andrea looks at the girls. "We'll keep our eyes open, but we can deal with that later. Kitchen stuff now."

Taylor can't help but laugh. Her mom is a little too excited, having come with a meticulous list of everything that they're going to be buying today. And as they traipse through the kitchen section of the store, she keeps turning to Gracie and asking, "What about this?" It's as though Taylor gets no say in the matter, because the mother knows that her daughter will only insist that it's all too much. Because as Taylor sees it, it absolutely is. But Andrea doesn't care. She wants to make sure that her girl is going to be comfortable in her new apartment.

After they've racked up quite the bill at the IKEA, and the trunk is absolutely stuffed full of furniture to be built tomorrow once they're in the city, they're off to Target to finish off everything on the list that they didn't pick up. The more fun stuff like bedding and décor for Taylor's room. On the way there, they stop for lunch.

As they ride around in the car, Taylor and Gracie have a great time blasting their favorite songs and singing as Andrea drives. They have found that they have a very similar taste in music, and over the last few days, they've each been sharing some favorite songs that the other didn't already know.

Andrea loves watching her daughter so happy with her new friend. Growing up, there were times that Taylor really didn't have any friends. She remembers how she would go to pick Taylor up from school and have no idea what to expect when her daughter got into the car. Whether it had been a good day or a bad day.

They spend over an hour and a half running about the aisles of Target, Gracie and Taylor picking out everything that they need for the apartment. Andrea is more than happy to treat them. She knows that Taylor's first apartment is a very special time for her. The young woman is so excited to finally be moving out, making her own way in the world.

At the end of the extravaganza, once Taylor proclaims that they're all good and they check out, everyone is tired from a day of shopping, but they're all happy and anticipating the big move tomorrow.