reputation | a taylor swift fanfiction ✓

track 3 | i did something bad

october 13th

taylor's publicist flung a US magazine at her table. she set down the starbucks peppermint mocha she was sipping and looked at her publicist.

"your mom sent us this," she said smoothly. taylor frowned as she stared at the cover. it said, 'taylor swift's new fling' in yellow lettering, and under it in black said, 'rising actor joe alwyn'.

"thanks. you may leave," said taylor. her publicist left the house, and taylor heard her car starting up. she flipped to the article about her and joe. grainy photographs of them and a short essay about her and joe's 'date' filled the page. she wanted to go yell at whoever wrote this, but she knew it was useless.

taylor finished her starbucks coffee and went to go get ready. she altered her makeup as she had done so many times to make herself look, well, not like taylor swift. then, she brushed her hair a different way and put on sunglasses. after pulling on a flowy blouse, skirt, and jacket, she grabbed a pair of her 1989 keds to wear and locked the door behind her. the old taylor was dead, but her shoes weren't.

she got into her car and drove to the nearest pharmacy to buy a couple copies of that US magazine. then, she drove to a couple grocery stores, another pharmacy, and a bookstore and came back to her house with twenty-eight copies of the magazine. next, she fed them into the paper shredder while uttering a few choice swear words at US. taylor dumped the shreds into her recycling bin. finally, she flung herself on her couch and was joined by her cats for a grey's anatomy marathon while coming up with lyrics for another song.

"look," she cooed to meredith when meredith grey came on screen. "it's you, cutie. look." the cat didn't budge. taylor poked her. meredith was asleep. she rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the screen.

a few minutes later, her phone dinged with a new message from joe. i read that US article about our date. i guess i'm famous now.

taylor laughed, then replied: famous in a bad way. it's what happens when you get seen with taylor swift. it's either 'new boyfriend' or 'new member of taylor's squad'. she sent a shrug emoji.

joe replied, ha ha ha. check your driveway.

taylor frowned, put on her slippers, walked to the front window of her house, and parted the curtain to see a black chevrolet parked in her driveway. the doorbell rang. she opened it. "joe, why are you here?"

he held a tray covered in aluminum foil out to her. taylor took it and peeked under the foil to see a pile of cookies. she took one out and bit into it. the outside was warm and tasted of sugar, while the inside was pure peanut butter.

taylor looked back up, frowning. "but what if i was allergic?" she tilted her head and pointed a finger at joe. "what if?"

joe's eyes immediately widened and he pulled out his phone to call 911.

"don't worry," said taylor, laughing. "i'm not allergic. they're decent though."

"decent?" joe exclaimed.

"the outside tastes a bit dry and it clashes with the peanut butter. but...thanks for thinking of me, i guess."

"can i come in?" joe asked. taylor nodded and took the tray, putting it on her counter. after letting joe pet her cats and compliment every piece of furniture she had, they sat outside in her backyard with glasses of lemon-infused iced tea.

"does it bother you?" said joe after a while.

"what?" said taylor, lowering her glass. she twirled the straw between her fingers.