New Century (Adopted by Taylor Swift)

Chapter 2

Monday, March 13th, 2023

Tess lays down on the hotel room floor as she waits for her brother to be ready, holding her phone above her head...always a good idea.

She feels the same way as she does when she paces around the kitchen late at night. She can't catch her breath and she doesn't know why. Her heart's beating ridiculously fast but it isn't pounding in her ears, it's more like it's trying to run away from her body...What a nice thought. She should write that down. Or maybe paint it...

And after what feels like ages, her brother is finally out of the bathroom. He's wearing his typical navy blue khakis and collared shirt with a three quarter zip that he always wears when it gets hot. Which given they are in Arizona, it is.

She's just wearing some blue pants that look like jeans but aren't actually with a white t-shirt with a lilac cardigan that makes her look happier than she feels. She can go back to just wearing t-shirts in a week. And for some reason the navy blue makes them weirdly color coordinated. Are they really those people?

"You ready?" he asks with his slightly British accent as he nearly, and probably intentionally, steps on her while going to put on his shoes.

she grumbles some kind of response as she sits up and they leave the hotel room, heading to the stadium.

When they get to the stadium, Tess feels a wave of anxiety wash over her again. Typical. She trails slightly behind her brother, dragging the heels of her shoes against the pavement like she always does, so much so that almost all her shoes have holes in the heels. She's a faster walker than her brother but she doesn't like people walking behind, it's some kind of pet peeve...or trust issue.

They walk up to the entrance and Tess lets Cal do the talking, they probably wouldn't listen to her anyway. She follows her brother into the stadium once the security guard lets them in and they head towards what looks like backstage.

As they get further backstage, Tess can hear people's voices and feels a sudden urge to hide behind her brother when they walk through the door. But she can't do that. That's for babies. And even though she loves her brother, she wouldn't even dare hold his hand let alone hide behind him. That's just not how they do things.

They hear music playing as they walk further into the backstage area and finally reach a door. Cal goes to open the door and quietly they let themselves into the rehearsal area, standing by the door as they watch the dancers warm up.

They enjoy their anonymity for a moment as they watch everyone practice some sort of routine. It feels familiar to them, like rehearsal at a theater camp Cal used to do, or the beginning of a filming day when they were all still waking up.

Then, five seconds later, someone shouts something and all eyes are on them.
Tess can feel the heat rushing into her cheeks in a way that makes her feel almost feverish. And the only thing she can hear for a split second is the sound of her heart pounding in her ears. Everything feels hazy and distorted like jumping into a pool on a hot day after you'd just been laying in the sun. When your skin is still hot and the water is cold and yet the frigid-ness hasn't quite sunk in yet. And everything around you is floating in slow motion

And then...

It's fucking freezing

~~~~~

Taylor stares at herself in the mirror, drying off her face with a towel. Her eyes are still a little red but not quite as puffy as they had been.

Blake: Are you sure you're really okay??

She sighs, maybe calling Blake was the wrong move. But she has to be at the stadium in an hour which really isn't enough time to let a mental breakdown run its course. That's more of a 3 hour minimum kind of situation.