almost | taylor swift au

chapter 39

5:00 at the Mercury Lounge means one thing: soundcheck. With an hour until doors, everyone is excited. The stage is set, the lights are programmed, and all that there's left to do is make sure that the instruments and mics are at the right levels. Taylor goes first, all alone on the stage with her acoustic guitar, plugged into an amp on the side of the stage. This time, her set's going to be acoustic. If it all goes well, she might look into getting a band to play with her for next time. But right now, she wants to keep it cheap and simple.

She plays through 'State of Grace,' and the sound technician messes with her levels until he figures out what she needs. She finishes up the song, and it's all easy and painless.

"Taylor, that's all that we need from you. Thanks," he calls to her. "Can we get Gracie and her band up there?"

So Taylor and Gracie trade places by the lead microphone and Taylor heads into the portion of the room that's designated for the audience, but right now, is all empty. She sits down on the floor, realizing that it's probably disgusting but not really caring. Taylor takes a deep breath and looks around. She really does want to soak in every last bit of today.

Gracie smiles, taking a sneaky photo of Taylor sitting down there before she turns her attention back to the soundcheck. Since she's headlining, they play through a few of her songs: '21,' 'I Miss You, I'm Sorry,' and 'Close to You.' Since she's set to play piano on 'I Miss You, I'm Sorry,' that one is especially important to check. She also is going to play guitar on 'Close to You.' She knows that it's a song she's never going to release, but she also knows that it's her intellectual property at the end of the day. She doesn't own the master recording, but she wrote the words and the music. So she can play it live all that she wants.

As Gracie stands onstage and Taylor sits in the audience, both girls are thinking the same thing. They're thinking that in an hour, this room will be full of people, all here to see them put on a show. They wonder what it's going to be like, if they'll see any familiar faces in the audience or if it'll be a sea of strangers who, by the end of the night, will feel like two hundred and fifty of their closest friends.

Soundcheck is finished up by 5:30. That gives Taylor and Gracie an hour until Taylor takes the stage. "I have a pizza delivery coming in fifteen minutes," Gracie says. "If you want any drinks, go harass the bartender."

"Perfect, thanks," Taylor nods. She slips out of the green room into the adjacent entryway, where she places her forearms on the bar. "So... can you do a Shirley Temple?" she asks.

The bartender turns his head to her. "Yep. Four dollars."

Just a moment later, with drink in hand, Taylor returns to the green room and sits down with Gracie. The two girls look at each other and Taylor starts to laugh, for no apparent reason. "I can't believe that this is really happening. All of it... the day is here. I've got two songs out for the world and I'm opening up at the Mercury Lounge for my best friend's headlining show... it's just everything I've ever dreamed of."

Gracie smiles. She is so happy that, even if her experience in the music industry got off to a rocky start on The Unprompted's tour, Taylor is still able to view it all through rose-colored glasses. She sees the sparkles and magic alongside the harsh realities of it all. And the fact that she was able to preserve that wonder, the whimsy of it all... that's what makes Taylor special. That's what is going to ensure that she really will be a special artist, one who is here to stay.

After a few minutes, Gracie gets a text that she needs to go meet the pizza delivery guy. She slips out of the room and she sees through the windows, that besides the entry queue that's forming, there's two men standing outside of the Mercury Lounge. One with a pizza box, and one without. Gracie thinks she recognizes the second man's silhouette, but she hopes she's wrong.