Begin Again

You Took The Time To Memorize Me

June 20th, 2023
Veronica's POV:

The past three days have gone by in a blur. It doesn't feel real. I went to a Taylor Swift concert, and she played Seven, I made a post that went viral, and the next day I met Taylor, I spent the day with her, my dad tried to hurt both of us, and he got arrested for child abuse, and then the biggest crescendo of them all happened. Taylor asked me if I would be okay with her adopting me if she can. I said yes faster than she sang it in Love Story, and now? Now I'm in New York with her at her house, and we're taking things one step at a time. The media doesn't know who I am which is a bonus. I mean sure, a handful of photos were posted online by some fans and paparazzi from the day Taylor and I met and spent together. People have been speculating about who I am and what made Taylor so keen to spend so much time with me since she's never done that in the past with a fan whom she met on the streets of a city.

"Hey, Veronica, for your room, what's your favorite color?" Taylor asks me from the other side of the couch. I'm currently curled up reading a book in a corner of the couch. "I like any shade of blue. I think 1989 or Lover blue is pretty," I reply, still reading the page of my book. The nice thing is that we're living in her Tribeca penthouse so no matter what, my room will have a killer view of New York City. "Thanks for doing all of this by the way," I say. "Of course, honey! You more than deserve this! Besides, I'm so happy to be able to do something like this since I don't have kids yet and it's not like my friends are over here enough with their kids to justify them having a room," Taylor says, smiling at me from her computer. I laugh. "Favorite animal?" Taylor adds. "Uhhhh sting ray. Or Stitch from Lilo and Stitch. He's great," I tell her. Now it's Taylor's turn to laugh. "Stitch?" she asks incredulously. "What? He's cute! I like his little voice and how much he cares about Lilo," I say with a shrug. I earned myself a "Touché," for that.

"When's your birthday?" Taylor asks me. "What, are you going to put a big mural of my zodiac sign on the wall?" I ask sarcastically laughing. "Haha, no. First off, I kinda need to know so I can celebrate it with you and spoil you rotten. And second, I'm making you a Barnes & Noble account because girl, you've gone through a book a day since I met you," Taylor informs me. "July 7th, 2007 at 2:07 in the afternoon. I pride myself on being born on all 2's, 0's, and most importantly, 7's. Don't know if you can tell, but 7 is my lucky number. My zodiac sign is Cancer like Selena's. I'll be sixteen this year. And yes, I did listen to fifteen on repeat last year," I addressed.

She gasps looking at me with wide eyes as she says, "You're joking. Are you really born on the 7th? And sweet sixteen! That's exciting!" "Yeah! You have no idea how happy I am about Speak Now Taylor's Version being released on my birthday. I grew up calming myself with Never Grow Up and screaming Enchanted, Back To December, Long Live, and like all of the songs. Not to mention dancing to Mine like nothing else in the world mattered. And one of my favorite age song lyrics you've written so far is "sixteen lost in a film scene" so I'm excited to listen to Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince a million times just for that lyric," I ramble. "I love that!" Taylor says, smiling proudly in regards to her self-written album and Lover song she opened the Eras Tour being spoken about. She closes her computer and I close my book after I put a bookmark in.

"Favorite album, song, era, and whatever other details you wanna give me. Go," Taylor went on. "This is so hard. I have so many favorite songs," I whine. "Fine. Top seven or thirteen. Your choice," Taylor compromises. "Deal!" I chirp. "Favorite era is Rep. Always has been, always will be. Well, it has been ever since it came out. Before that was 1989 which has now been demoted to second place. Folklore is in third place since I can relate to the most songs on it. Also, I'm sorry, but that cardigan is like the best piece of merch I've ever seen someone do. Some of the girls at my school have it and they love it. So in my ideal world, I would have bought it. And besides, I love the song Cardigan. Like even in these past few days, you've treated me like I'm not an old cardigan under someone's bed. You've treated me like I'm your favorite. Anyways... My favorite era is Rep. I love the aesthetic of 1989 but since I'm a Rep girly, I'm loyal to it. If I had it my way, I would have gone to the Rep tour or at least found a way to get the VIP box. It's the coolest thing ever! You outdid yourself with it! Now for songs... Seven, Bad Blood but specifically the featuring Kendrick Lamar version, Never Grow Up, Begin Again, King of My Heart, Call It What You Want, I Did Something Bad, You're Losing Me, The Moment I Knew, Welcome To New York, My Tears Ricochet, Willow, Mine, and many, many more. I mean I could honestly go all the way to 22 songs," I continue.