the stars in your eyes | t.s. one shots

it's new

hi! i had a request for a y/n taygracie story and i don't really like writing y/n stories but my gracie girl is back opening for eras again so this felt like a good way to celebrate <3 i've been a gracie fan since 2021 and the only time i've ever seen her was eras cincinnati n2 when she sang 'i miss you, i'm sorry' with taylor because her opening set got cancelled, so you'll never ever have to ask me twice to write taygracie stories because i do feel as though i witness the ultimate taygracie moment with my own two eyes tehe. and i'm seeing her for the real first time in march eeeekkk! but anyway, enough of my rambling- enjoy this one! (you're about to experience more than 5600 more words of my rambling just in a different form) 

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"Taylor, I want you to meet my boyfriend this weekend."

The words ring in the woman's ears as she looks to the younger woman, her brows knitted. "I didn't know you were actually seeing someone." Taylor's heard about a casual hookup, maybe a 'friends with benefits' type of situation, mentioned in passing, but the word boyfriend makes it seem a lot more serious than that.

"I mean, it's new," Gracie shrugs. She fiddles with the bracelets hugging her wrist, the way that she always does when she's nervous. "I mean, I guess I probably shouldn't call him my boyfriend. We haven't officially taken on that title yet... but..." She pauses, choosing her words carefully. "I'd be really upset if he was to go out with someone else, and I think he'd feel the same way about me."

Taylor can't help but bite her lip. This all sounds a little too familiar. And not particularly in a good way. Still, she does some more investigating before letting herself jump to any conclusions. "Do you want that? Do you want to be his girlfriend?"

"Oh yeah," she nods with confidence. "I really like him, Tay. Please, he's coming down for the shows and I just... I really want you to meet him." Her voice gets quieter. "Your opinion means a lot to me."

Taylor knows that much. She knows Gracie takes every word she says as more precious than gold. She's sure she's not worthy of the pedestal that Gracie puts her on, and tries to be so open with the young woman about the mistakes she's made in the past. The many, many mistakes. That's what being young is- endless trials and tribulations, relentless soul searching. It's the time in your life where you just don't know who you're meant to be, and you'd give absolutely anything to figure that out. Taylor knows Gracie has been experiencing a lot of turmoil lately... and she knows that Gracie's been talking to a man a whole lot older than she is.

Of course, Gracie is 25 now. She can absolutely make that decision for herself. She can make that judgement. But Taylor's got a feeling this guy is even older than she is- and that doesn't settle well with her. Most of all, she wonders what kind of a man in his late 30s would see a girl of Gracie's age and decide he'd be willing to date her.

She doesn't have good experience with those sorts of men.

Taylor was certainly much younger than Gracie back then; her frontal lobe wasn't nearly as developed. But Taylor has also known Gracie for a long time now. And when she looks across the room at her, Taylor still sees the girl with the long hair, the wide eyes, and the fragile heart. A girl who walked into the Eras Tour for the first time a year and a half ago. Though she's done a lot of growing up since then, Taylor will always remember that Gracie. The one who, the night before her first show, cried in Taylor's hotel room, nearly throwing up because she was so anxious. 

Since then, her confidence has grown exponentially. Gracie is sure of herself, she's poised and gracious. But Taylor knows that deep down, she can't have changed that much just eighteen months. Beneath the shining new outside, Gracie is, and always will be, that raw and delicate girl with an absolute heart of gold. That's the kind of heart that the world loves to take and twist, to pull apart and shatter into pieces.