again | taylor swift au

chapter 4

Taylor feels like she spends the rest of the day in a trance. Like she's walking the line somewhere between awake and a horrible nightmare. She just can't get it off of her mind. She simply can't believe that he's gone.

When dinnertime rolls around, once the snow has stopped but the city is still quiet, before the roads have been cleared, Gracie comes into Taylor's room. "Hey," she says softly, "how are you doing?"

"Alright," Taylor sighs, pushing her hair out of her face. "What's up?"

"You wanna go to Central Park and play in the snow? Maybe find some food along the way?"

A smile grows on the girl's face. "Yeah. That sounds really fun."

Gracie throws Taylor's winter hat and gloves at her. "It's cold out."

Taylor giggles, catching the accessories just before they hit her. "Thanks." Her voice is dripping with sarcasm, causing Gracie to laugh.

"We're leaving in ten minutes," she calls, heading out of Taylor's room to get herself ready to go out. "We've gotta take the M train and it's coming in twenty." Taylor climbs out from under her covers, where she's been huddling all day to combat the cold, and slips out of her pajama shorts into a pair of black leggings and a black turtleneck. Overtop, she puts on a crewneck sweatshirt and loose jeans. Then, Taylor pulls her hair back into loose braids and slips her beanie onto her head. She looks in the mirror and sees dark circles under her eyes, red from crying on and off throughout the day. But, she pastes a smile on her face and nods. She knows she's going to feel better once she gets out and has a bit of fun with Gracie.

She slips out of her room and ties her snow boots onto her feet before zipping up her coat. Gracie is ready just as she is.

"Let's do this," Gracie says, zipping her phone into her pocket and opening up the door to the apartment.

Though it hasn't been a great day for either of them, they are both hoping that they can go have a bit of fun. So, they hop on the train up to Central Park and soon, find themselves in a wintery wonderland. It's all so gorgeous, the snow laying thick on the ground, decorating the trees in a sparkling white, and the pond frosted over. It's dark, but the moon shines down on them. Taylor feels like a little kid again, instantly running into the snow.

She feels a snowball hit her back and whips around to see Gracie laughing. "Oh, watch out!" Taylor exclaims, bending down to grab some snow. Gracie squeals, running away but ending up falling down, diving right into the foot of snow below her.

It isn't long before neither of them can stop laughing as they hurl balls of snow at each other. They're both over the hangovers they had this morning, the remnant of 24 hours ago. And all of the fun that they're having is taking Taylor's mind off of the thoughts that have been lingering in her brain all day, eating her alive from the inside out.

Eventually, Gracie holds her hands up in the air. "Okay, okay, truce."

"Nope. It doesn't work like that Abrams," Taylor fires back. "You want it to stop, you've gotta admit that I win."

"Fine, fine, I surrender, you win," Gracie says.

Taylor smirks. "Ha! Take that! You started it, but you didn't end it." She jumps in the air, pumping her fists as a dance of victory.

"Remind me to never get on your bad side," Gracie rolls her eyes.

"It's a good thing I'm absolutely obsessed with you, so you'd have to screw up pretty bad for that to happen," Taylor winks. "However... throwing snow at me is a good first step down that road."

"I was willing to take the risk that you'd forgive me," she shrugs, pulling her phone out of her pocket. Gracie takes off one glove to use the touch screen. She takes a few pictures, capturing Taylor in the foreground, with the backdrop of skyscrapers, lit by the lampposts along the pathways and the city lights. There's a certain sense of magic- as there tends to be in the city. You are always able to find the wonder in mundane situations in New York. It's special.