The Seven Husbands of Taylor Swift

45

TAYLOR SWIFT
The room feels like it's closing in on me, the air thick with tension and the weight of all the years I've spent hiding this secret pressing down on my chest. Alice's voice is loud, sharp, cutting through the stillness like a knife. I can't even meet her eyes—those eyes that look so much like mine, only angrier, more betrayed. My throat tightens, and my mind races, desperate to find something to say, some excuse, but everything I come up with feels flimsy, weak.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I blurt out, the words tasting bitter on my tongue. As soon as they leave my lips, I regret them, but it's too late. The lie sits there, ugly and obvious, and Alice's face contorts in disbelief. I can see the exact moment my words hit her, the moment her anger deepens into something more—a hurt so profound I almost can't bear to witness it.

"Don't lie to me!" she yells, her voice trembling, filled with fury and confusion. "Your mom said it! So did my parents! Everyone's been lying to me, and now you—" She chokes on her words, her eyes blazing with accusation. "You've been lying to me this whole time!"

Her words slice through me, and I feel an ache deep in my chest. I should have told her the truth. I should have prepared for this moment, but I was a coward. I thought I could keep running from this, from her. I thought I could avoid the fallout, but now it's all unraveling, and I'm standing here helpless, caught in the wreckage I created.

My hands shake as I try to muster a response, something to fix this, but nothing comes out. I'm frozen, trapped in this awful silence, and the gap between us feels like it's growing wider by the second.

"You've been playing me this whole time," Alice says, her voice lower now but no less intense. She wipes furiously at the tears streaking her cheeks, her whole body trembling. "You let me think we were writing some damn book together! You let me think I was helping you!" Her voice breaks, and she steps back as if putting more distance between us will shield her from the pain.

"I—" My voice cracks. I can't even finish the sentence. I don't know what to say that won't make things worse, but she's waiting for something, and I can't just stand here. "I didn't mean for it to be like this. I never wanted to hurt you, Alice." My voice is soft, almost pleading, but it's nowhere near enough. It sounds pitiful to my own ears, like an excuse instead of the truth she deserves.

"Then why?" she demands, stepping forward again, her face twisting in frustration. "Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you say something instead of letting me walk into this? I thought—I thought we were..." Her voice trails off as she struggles to find the right words. "I thought we were building something, but the whole time, you were just keeping secrets!"

"I was scared." The words tumble out before I can stop them, and my voice is shaking now too. "I was scared, Alice. I didn't know how to tell you. I didn't want to lose you. I didn't—"

Her laugh echoes in the room, sharp and humorless, as if it were the only thing keeping her from falling apart. "Lose me?" she spits, her voice laced with bitterness. "You never had me, Taylor! You were never there! You can't lose something you never even tried to keep!" Her chest rises and falls with anger, her words heavy, filled with all the pain I wish I could take back.

Then she hits me with the one truth that breaks everything. "You gave me away!"

Those four words pierce me like a knife, and I flinch, my breath catching in my throat. The weight of it, the rawness of her accusation, crushes me. She's right—I did give her away. I chose that path all those years ago.

"I was young... I didn't know what else to do," I whisper, my voice barely holding together, the cracks in it unmistakable. "I thought I was giving you a better life, Alice. I thought I was doing what was best."