reputation | a taylor swift fanfiction ✓

track 6 | look what you made me do

november 4th, 2016; downtown london

     taylor gazed out the window of joe's black chevy. they were on the highway, driving towards the city of london. taylor had been confused as to why there was both a london, and a city of london, but joe, being educated on london's history, had told her why.

     taylor sat in the backseat, and she had put on sunglasses and a hat so she wouldn't be recognized. they were going to the polo bar for brunch. "we don't have full english breakfasts every day. most of us eat what you americans eat, but i thought you might want the experience," joe had said, emphasizing experience. taylor had rolled her eyes.

      now, they pulled up to a parking structure. they left the car and walked a block to the restaurant, and they waited for an empty table. taylor wasn't used to waiting for a table; once the waiter or waitress recognized her, they would give her and her party the first empty table.

     the wait wasn't long. taylor took off her sunglasses and hat after they were seated. taylor ordered a full english breakfast. joe got some pancakes. they both ordered coffee.

    they sat for a while. their food came, and they thanked the waitress. the silence was broken, so joe said, "i never got around to asking you this, but you never told me why you wanted to come with me to london.."

    "you wanted me to," said taylor, spearing a couple of beans on her fork.

     "you were hesitant to do it." his blue eyes stared into her own.

     she sighed, swallowing. "have you ever wanted to get away from it all, when things are too overwhelming? i know london isn't the ideal place to get away, but it's better than constantly dodging paparazzi every day in l.a., or new york." taylor paused to try the slow roasted thyme tomato.

     "that's it? or was it just so you could spend some quality time with me?" his eyes sparkled. "just kidding."

    taylor laughed, but then she said, solemnly, "i didn't come so i could bond with you. i don't trust nobody and nobody trusts me, anyway."

     joe frowned. his fingers twitched, but then he took his coffee mug with the same hand and drank from it, as if he was hesitating.

      taylor wondered if he had wanted to take her hand. she looked at him, but he was busy stirring his coffee with a spoon. 

     joe finally cut up another of his pancakes and took a bite. the moment was gone. she wondered if joe wanted to be more than friends. taylor could safely call them friends, but to overstep it would be too much.

     taylor decided to lighten the mood by showing him a video of her cats, olivia and meredith, playing. this brought him back to his light, charming self, and they made small talk until the meal was over. she put on her sunglasses and hat.

    after, joe took them sightseeing. they visited the british museum, then the westminster abbey. they took pictures and bought souvenirs. "london is a cool place to sightsee," taylor remarked as they entered the gift shop of the westminster abbey.

     "it is pretty," joe admitted. "but once you spend some time in london, you see all the ugliness that it hides."

     "like me," taylor murmured to herself subconsciously.

     "what?" said joe.

     "nothing," she said quickly, examining some keychains so she wouldn't have to meet his eyes.
 
      in the corner of her eye, taylor saw joe's eyebrows furrow, and his expression soften for a moment before he looked away.

   by the time they left the westminster abbey, it was around dinnertime. they got some takeout and went back to joe's apartment. once situated on the couch and eating dinner, taylor debated whether she should ask joe whether he liked her romantically. the moment at breakfast and at the gift shop hadn't been really important, but it made taylor doubt herself. were the gestures friendly or romantic?

        she suddenly remembered that she had work to do. she went and got her laptop, and signed into her emails. she had sent a voice recording of lyrics for a song called 'delicate' to both max martin and shellback, who knew she was in london. they had both replied, suggesting that she put this one as the fifth song on her upcoming album, and praising the lyrics. they had also said to work on the second verse while they worked on the bridge for her. taylor wanted to write this one with them face-to-face, so she starred the email and went through the rest of her inbox.

       after a while, taylor excused herself. joe didn't seem in the mood to chat. taylor went to her temporary room and decided to scroll through her social medias.

     fans were disappointed that she hadn't released her biannual album. taylor did feel a little bit bad, but the album would be coming out around this time next year. she was already planning the lead single and the album cover. the album would be highlighting her tarnished reputation and throwing some not-so-subtle shade at her enemies. taylor was ready to expose the people who had wronged her. the world had moved on from her infamous feuds, but one thing was for sure: maybe she had gotten her karma, but everyone would get theirs.

     of course, taylor was the kind of person who attacked only if someone else provoked her. she was a forgiving person, but she had the power to turn into a metaphorical snake if provoked.

     taylor realized that she shouldn't be leading herself down these dark paths. she opened instagram and read her fans' posts, which was a source of happiness for her. they had stayed by her side, still supporting her, even when she had gone on hiatus. she had been so nervous about her fans leaving her, but here they were, still giving her love and support.

     this went on for half an hour until joe knocked on her door. "yeah?" said taylor, her mouth dry. she wanted a glass of water.

     "i'm gonna get ready for bed," said joe. 

     "um, yeah," said taylor. "yeah, i'll be going to bed in a few minutes. good night, i guess."

     "good night" said joe, awkwardly. he didn't seem like a person who said good night a lot. but then again, he did live alone.

     taylor nodded, and he shut the door behind him.

       very long a/n: if you read my last update (it's deleted now), you would know that i recently read a twitter thread about the alleged important dates of taylor and joe's relationship. i've decided not to change the dates in the near future because:
      1) it's too much work rn. the thread says their relationship started in september 2016 and they escaped to london in november (they go to london in november in this book too haha). that means they probably kept in touch for four months since they met in may, which means i will have to write about four months before their romantic relationship starts. then, i will have to find a way to skip past two months (sept to nov) so I can get to their getaway to london, w/o making it look like i'm lazy. i have other responsibilities, and trying to find time to heavily edit my book is hard right now. i'm sticking with the loose plot line i have in mind, for now.
      2) not many people/swifties know about the thread yet so me being a detective and changing the dates to accurately match the real dates of their relationship is kind of tedious. besides, when I first started to write this fanfiction, i wanted to combine true facts about their relationship with things I made up, not make everything true. thank you for coming to my ted talk
here's the link to the twitter thread if you want: https://mobile.twitter.com/taylortrivia13/status/984526452296224770