I Hosted Parties and Starved my Body

chapter 5-- sparks fly whenever you smile

**Taylor's PoV**

Thursday, April 26, 2024

It was about noon when Taylor arrived at Kat's house. She could feel her heart beating in her chest as she rang the doorbell. Why was she so nervous? She surprised fans at their houses sometimes. But this felt different, Kat was going through something and Taylor had offered to help. She'd been watching Kat from the sidelines for almost 5 years now. She hadn't followed her until recently, but she'd been keeping up with her stuff.

A short, lavender-haired woman opened the door, she looked like she'd been crying. "Oh my God, it's actually you." She whispered, looking Taylor up and down.

Taylor chuckled, "Did you think I was lying?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at Kat. 

The shorter woman quickly looked away, blushing, "Maybe..." She then motioned for Taylor to follow her into the house. 

Kat's house was big, kind of like an influencer mom house, but way more colorful. Taylor had seen it in some of the woman's TikToks, but it was honestly much prettier in person.

Taylor sat next to where the shorter woman had huddled herself on the couch, a large throw blanket covering her. 

"So...uh..." Taylor began, not really knowing what to say, "How are the kids?" She finally settled on saying, as the older woman glared at her from her blanket.

"Fine."

"Oh. Uh...how are you...?"

Kat looked away, shuffling the blanket to cover her head, "How do you think?"

She wanted to reach for the other woman, but didn't for the sake of not making Kat feel uncomfortable. "I know that feeling..." 

"What feeling?" Geez, this woman was either dense as hell, or really going through it. 

"Feeling like you've fucked up." 

The other woman looked up at her with wide eyes, "Oooh, sorry I'm slow." She muttered the last part. 

Taylor chuckled, "It's fine Kat, I know what you're going through." She placed a hand on Kat's shoulder comfortingly. "I've kinda been through it all."

Kat shuffled away from Taylor's touch, sitting up so she fully faced her. "You saved my life..." She mumbled, Taylor almost not catching it.

Taylor tilted her head, confused, "What do you mean?" Was she being dense all of a sudden? How had Taylor saved her life? She knew a lot of fans said her music saved them, but she had no clue what Kat meant.

"August 23rd, 2019. I was invited to your weird ass album party. When I was walking back to my hotel, a man tried to kidnap me. You had your bodyguards stop him." Kat explained, hiding her face from Taylor's view. 

Taylor looked down at the floor, thinking to herself. That woman she'd helped up was Kat, wasn't she? Her hair had been a different color and she was a lot skinnier back then, but it was her. She hadn't realized the correlation between the pretty woman she'd talked to at the bar and the woman she'd helped on the street. 

"Ohhhh...that makes sense now." She says, flashing Kat a small smile. "Anyway," She said standing up, "You like cats?"

Kat pulled the blanket off her, staring at Taylor with a, 'what are you even talking about?' face. "Uh...obviously." The lavender haired woman waved her hands at the various cat decor.

"Cool, cool, I was thinking, to cheer you up, we could go to a cat shelter. Y'know, give some good girls and boys a nice home?" As she explained, Kat looked away and Taylor swore she could see the woman smiling.

"Yeah...uh that sounds cool." She turned back to the singer abruptly, sort of startling the blonde. 

Taylor smiled at her warmly, "Great, get your stuff ready and we'll head there." 

She watched as the short woman dragged herself into her room, which was right off the living room. Taylor checked her phone as she waited, a bunch of texts from her manager. She rolled her eyes, Tree was probably just yelling at her for running off for seemingly no reason.

Kat came out of her room in a light blue tank top and skinny jeans, still looking just as tired as before. Both of the women put on their shoes and got in Kat's car.

"What kind of cats do you like?" Taylor asked, trying to fill the awkward silence of the car ride to the shelter.

Kat glanced blankly at the singer, "Uh...any of them? I don't know specific breeds." The lavender woman muttered almost coldly.

That same awkward silence filled the air until they reached the local Humane Society. 

"This place has mostly positive reviews on Yelp." Kat said dryly as she turned the car off and opened the door to hop out.

The place looked very professional as they walked to the front desk, telling the person there that they were looking to adopt a cat.

"Ah. Wonderful, come right this way!" They said, leading them to where they held all the cats. Looking around, it seemed like all the little guys were well fed and healthy, and of course adorable.

"I have a strong urge to adopt them all." Kat whispered, leaning towards Taylor. The blonde couldn't help but notice how the other woman's face lit up as she looked around at the small animals.

Kat grabbed one of Taylor's arms, pulling her towards one of the cats. "This one is adorable." She whispered, her cheery smile almost infectious.

Taylor looked at the cat, she was a calico and looked to be a few years old. The name near her enclosure read 'Alison.' The singer smiled back at Kat as the shorter woman reached her hand in and Alison immediately started licking it.

"Aw, she likes you too!" 

Kat dissolved into a fit of giggles as the cat licked her hand, and Taylor couldn't help but laugh with her. Why was she so drawn to this particular woman so much? She wasn't even into women, she was straight, right? But the way Kat smiled, the way she giggled, it reminded her so much of herself that she couldn't help but feel endeared.

"I want this one! Alison." Kat told the shelter lady, almost to excitedly.

Taylor insisted that, because this was her idea, she would pay the adoption fee. Which Kat was stubborn about not letting happen.

"Girl, just let me pay, I don't care about the price I'm a goddamn billionaire." 

This, for some reason sent Kat into a fit of laughter that was jarring to Taylor. "Sorry, you're what?"

Taylor simply blinked at the shorter woman, looking down at her with an incredulous look on her face. "Forget it and just let me pay."

The rest of the car trip, from getting pet supplies to stopping at Starbucks, was much less awkward than the ride to the Humane Society. 

Instagram

TaylorSwift13☑ 

[coffeeandkats.img] 

met some new friends today! @lavkat

lavkat omg my new bestie!

TaylorSwift13☑ @lavkat heyyy girrrl

yelquinn @lavkat when were u gonna tell me ur friends w/taylor motherfuckin swift?

lavkat @yelquinn lol i forgot

Username1 ahhh, my two mothers! pls adopt me!

lavkat @Username1 sorry, i have too many kids already 🙅