A Place in This World - A Taylor Swift Adoption Story

We could talk (for hours and hours)

May 27, 2023

Rose's POV

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As we walked over, I saw Taylor waving out of the corner of my eye, so I turned around and waved back to her as I walked backwards. They watched me walk in with Harley. I turned around to face the door, and by default, Harley's parents. I shook their hands, greeting them with my name, and they waved at Taylor, giving her a thumbs up. Harley led me to her room, which was dpownstaris, good for her, that dress would be hard to take upstairs, and closed the door behind her. "Whoa." Her room was huge, painted a light baby pink. It was lined with LED lights and posters, one even being the Eras Tour poster signed by Taylor herself. I made sure to shoot a quick text to Taylor and check in.

"Thanks," she said, smiling. She looked at herself in the mirror, twirling. "How are you liking the neighborhood?" she asked, twirling. I shrugged. She handed me her camera and her phone, blushing a bit.

"Pictures?"

"Yes, please! My mom didn't let me pose for some of them and I want to do some other poses." I nodded, grinning and agreeing. I positioned myself so I could take some insane shots. Harley smiled and did some flirty poses. I made sure to check them, and she confirmed that they looked good.

"For your boyfriend?" I asked, and she looked away shyly. "Sorry. Girlfriend?" She shook her head. "Oh. Let me veer away from the topic then," I said, suddenly ashamed.

"Yeah. Hey, could you unzip me, please?" I nodded, getting the zipper and pulling down. I looked away before Harley pulled the dress down. I heard drawers opening and shutting, and about 30 seconds later Harley tapped me on the shoulder. I opened my eyes and she was standing there, holding her dress and moving towards her closet. I sat down on her bed, and she just side-eyed me. "You can sit on my bed, you know," she assured me, and I slowly got up, sitting on the bed end."

"Oh, thanks," I said, settling in. I was happy I changed into some comfy clothes. Harley reached on top of a shelf in her closet, then pulled out a book. She handed it to me, then sat across from me, looking down at her hands. "Oh cool, you draw? I wish I could do that," I started, flipping slowly through the pages and soaking in the art. She nodded.

"Yeah. I don't really show it to anyone, but you seem nice enough." I chuckled as I flipped the pages. I found an insane pencil drawing of Taylor. Of Joe. Of me. I guess I must've look surprised because Harley just answered my mental question. "I found your Instagram. That's how I got it." I nodded, starstruck. She was insanely talented. But she still didn't look me in the eye. She looked at me when I was looking down, but averted my gaze. I shrugged it off for a bit. Her mom walked in, smiling.

"Hey, you two. Rose, Taylor mentioned you're going back onstage tomorrow, so she would like you to be asleep before 3." My eyes widened. It seemed so funny being able to consider that normal. At some point in my life at the home, that was when I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep because of the nightmares. "Harley, try to be nice to your guest." Under her breath, I heard her mutter, "And look at her if she's talking to you." She shut the door behind her and I put the sketchbook back in Harley's lap.

"Can I ask you a question?" I broke the silence. She looked up, the same way she didn't look at me in the eyes earlier.

"Go ahead," she replied, shakily. I'm guessing she didn't like questions of this sort.

"Why don't you look at people directly? Not that I care, I try to avoid that stuff too, but it seems like your parents care about it." Harley grabbed a pencil from her desk and started sketching on a blank page. i thought she was ignoring me until she cleared her throat and flipped the page around.

"I have autism," she whispered out, like a dirty secret. "My parents moved me here and used school and the neighborhood to try and get me used to social encounters." Pause. "Then Taylor came, and about two years later, Joe. That was in 2016." she pointed to the picture. It was a drawing of her and me, only I had a weird face. "I feel like if I look directly into someone's eyes, I can only see this. Weird looks. So instead, I look at their lips. It helps with my APD too, so it's a win-win for me."

"Oh, I know that one, I have it too!" I said, laughing a bit. "Auditory processing. It takes me a bit. That's why I need captions."

"Me too!" she said. It seemed like she wasn't as nervous to speak bout it, especially now that she could relate to me a small amount. She reached under her bed and got a laptop. "I don't have TV, but we can watch a movie on here?" she offered, logging in. I got up and put her sketchbook back. "Thank you!" Her face was now just a smiley-face.

"Yeah, of course. You can pick."

"I'm going to be honest, I only watch movies with The Rock, Keving Hart, Sandra Bullock, or Jim Carrey. Those are people I've met thanks to Taylor, and they were really nice. Makes it easier for me to know they're not mean in real life." I nodded. That I didn't really understand, but at least she was explaining why. I let her pick.

"Ooh, 'The Truman Show'! I love that movie." Harley clicked on it, and the movie started. We settled in together, Harley leaning on my shoulder slightly. I texted Taylor, to which she replied with a thumbs up. I put my phone up for a picture and Harley smiled into the camera.

"To Taylor?" I nodded.

"And my friends from the home." She nodded and focused back on the movie. I texted it to the group chat, which was already blowing up with comments about me on stage. I just texted them the picture of me and Harley with the text "Miss you guys, but this'll do for now 🫶🏻". Of course, that just made it blow up more. I smiled as I muted it for the night and watched the movie with Harley.

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A/N - Oh im smelling the chemistry from here guys!! make sure to vote this UPPPP