almost | taylor swift au

chapter 35

Taylor smiles at her phone screen as she watches the likes and comments roll into her notifications. After a strategizing meeting with Anthony a week ago, she's spent her days trying to gain traction on social media, and her post is finally doing well. Gracie has been so encouraging, sharing everything that Taylor is posting to her story and publicly professing her absolute adoration of the other girl. Gracie's fans have started to catch on to Taylor and are enjoying the snippets that she's shared so far of her music. And with the algorithms doing their thing, she's really hoping that she'll be able to drum up some excitement over the next two weeks until the big release.

As Taylor scrolls through her Instagram feed, Gracie looks up from the other side of their living room. They've got a new vinyl album spinning in the background as they hang out, both of them taking some time to rest on days off from a busy schedule. Taylor has felt like she's spent her every waking moment, when she's not at her job, in Anthony's office scheming. And if she isn't physically in the office, she's at home, still working on the plans that the two have come up with. Even though Anthony told her it would be a lot of work, she's still so surprised at all that it takes to release your first single. But she knows that every step of the way is going to be worth it. And she's so happy.

"So," Gracie asks, "have you got any plans to celebrate the big day? A raging party or anything?"

Taylor stares blankly at her friend. "Big day... what do you mean?"

"Your song release, you idiot," Gracie laughs, throwing a pillow across the room at Taylor, causing both of them to erupt in laughter. "You've gotta celebrate somehow."

"Oh, no, nothing planned."

"Can I throw you a party?" Gracie asks. "Just something small on Thursday evening... invite over the other girls and we can have cake and stream the song on Spotify at midnight or something. It's important to be with people who you care about and who care about you when you release something new."

Taylor can't help but smile. She nods, remembering the party that she went to on the night that Gracie released her EP. It really was such a fun night, and she likes the idea of doing something to celebrate all of her hard work.

"My friend Maisie is going to be in town," Gracie comments. "I think you'd love her. Can I invite her over?"

"Of course," Taylor nods. "The more the merrier."

"Oh, so I'll make sure to invite my entire contacts list."

Taylor lets out a giggle. "Okay, yeah. Sounds like a plan."

"Every girl I went to high school with and haven't talked to since then... sending out an invite as we speak."

"Perfect, perfect."

Gracie looks back down at her phone, and then a moment later, speaks again. "Maisie's playing the Mercury Lounge the night before. She wants to know if we wanna come. It's sold out but she says she can sneak us in. You down?"

"When have you ever known me to turn down the Mercury Lounge?" Taylor raises her eyebrows.

"Touche," Gracie nods. "I'll let her know."

"I can't believe we're going to be playing there so soon. It feels so... it's just all completely surreal," Taylor remarks.

Gracie nods, running her hands through her long brown hair. "It is... I've always wanted to play there. And for you, with it being your first show that's like... open to the public... that's so insane. We're going to give that stage a show like none it's ever seen before."

A big smile grows on Taylor's face. "For sure." She pauses. "Anthony wants me to have two songs out by then. And like, I know that that isn't a lot of songs... but I honestly wasn't sure if I'd ever get even one, so the whole idea of two... that's so crazy."