almost | taylor swift au

chapter 38

As the days go by, Taylor's streams start to climb. She notices more and more engagement on her posts and feels really good about the direction that she is heading. Her second song does better than her first did in its first week. It doesn't take a genius to know that that's a good sign.

Of course, it's not without hard work. She has poured every piece of her into writing these songs. She has worked her ass off to try to promote things. Gracie has been an angel in helping her, strategically tagging Taylor in posts and posting both of Taylor's songs to her story. Everyone knows that Taylor is opening for Gracie at the Mercury Lounge, so Taylor knows that right now, a lot of her audience is coming from Gracie's fans. But she's okay with that. She knows that she can grow from there.

But right now,  she really does have to focus on Gracie's fans. Because it's the day of their show at the Mercury Lounge.

When Taylor wakes up that morning, her stomach is tied in knots. She can't believe that this is really happening. She doesn't think she's ever been quite so nervous. Not on the day she performed at a festival in her hometown, singing a song that she wrote in front of an audience for the first time. Not on the day that she met Anthony, or when she performed her first set of primarily original music in Los Angeles with Gracie a few months ago. Today, it means something entirely different to her. It's just all a dream come true.

She can't help but giggle- her parents and brother are going to be coming up to watch the concert. Austin will fit in just fine with the crowd at the Mercury Lounge, but Andrea and Scott Swift... they'll be about twice the age of most people in the audience. She thinks of the concerts she's been to there before, and how she's always been able to pick out the parents of the artist. How they stick out like a sore thumb. That's going to be her parents tonight. She never thought of that. She never thought that they'd be in that position, because she never quite allowed herself to imagine what it would be like to play her favorite venue.

But whether or not she's able to wrap her head around it all, it's happening. Tonight.

Taylor and Gracie have been rehearsing a lot over the course of the last two weeks. Every time that their schedules have lined up and they've both been free, they've been in a rehearsal studio together with Gracie's band. Taylor has loved watching Gracie work and has learned so much from her about performing.

And Gracie has felt honored to watch Taylor work as well. Being an outsider, watching someone's career grow when it isn't your own... it feels like a whole different type of pride. Like, you're really allowed to burst with pride in your friend, while the world always sends you messages saying you can't be quite that proud of yourself, even if you want to be. That would make you full of yourself, stuck up. The more Gracie thinks about it, the more she realizes that it's all just a bunch of bullshit. But that doesn't change the fact that it's real, and that it's there.

The morning of their show, the girls decide to treat themselves a little bit. They start out the day by getting their nails done. Taylor picks a sparkly red color to go with the red dress that she picked out to wear tonight. Gracie goes for a simple French tip. Both girls make sure to keep their nails short enough to play their guitars still, a request which cracks their nail tech up.

As they're walking home from the salon, Gracie gets a call. She sees on the screen of her phone that it's Anthony. She picks up the phone.

"Gracie," Anthony says, "I've got some good news about your show tonight."

"Wait, I'm with Taylor. Can she hear it too?"

"Of course," Anthony says.

"I'm putting you on speaker."

"Hi Taylor." Anthony's voice rings out into the warm summer air of the city. "Are you excited?"

"So excited," Taylor says. Gracie nods in agreement.