isn't it? [taylor swift]

chapter 1

May 2016

"I'm not going."

"We don't have time for this, Leia."

The blonde model rolled her eyes as the brunette girl flailed her arms around, ignoring the small chuckles of some of the others in the room as she paced back and forth in front of the hotel mirror. The smaller girl stopped, finally staring into the tall mirror with shock written across her face as she lifted strands of her hair out of the way to examine the area in question.

Leia's heart sank as she saw the small burnt strands, her singed hair looking more like a buzzcut patch than curled. She pressed her fingertips against the almost hairless post, feeling the burnt ends sticking to her fingertips. Panic bubbled up inside her, threatening to spill over.

"I can't go outside like this," she muttered, her voice barely audible. "This is not supposed to be happening."

"It's not as bad as you think, Leia," the blonde model said with a reassuring smile, although Leia rolled her eyes knowing that if roles had been reversed, there would be a bigger drama happening before their eyes. "We'll find a way to cover it up."

"What's wrong with Leia?"

Antonio, their stylist for the evening, asked. His eyes were gentle until he noticed the patch at the front of Leia's crown, his lips pulling into a thin line as he shared a look with the model. The blonde looked back at him before turning her attention back to Leia.

"Babe, you'd look good completely bald."

"Karlie, that's not even fucking helpful right now," Leia bit back, noticing how Karlie's face fell a little as she tried to comfort her friend and was immediately bit back at.

"Leia, I'm just trying to help you."

Her words struck a chord in Leia, and the younger girl I couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt for shutting her down so quickly. Karlie had always been supportive of her, ever since they'd first ran into each other a few years prior. Leia had been lucky enough to book her first properly public gig at a small fashion show, where Karlie happened to be walking. The show had been a disaster - half the models had wardrobe malfunctions minutes before the show started, somehow four out of six strips on Leia's guitar snapped moments before she stepped out, and to top it all off, there had been a completely chaotic power cut and the show had been cancelled ten minutes in.

It had truly been a bonding experience for the singer and the model. While they'd moved in different directions in their lives, they'd still kept in touch. Karlie had very quickly moved into the inner circle of the modelling world, while Leia had kept her head down and started working on getting signed to labels and finding her voice.

Three years later, her first official single was charting across the world and Karlie had invited her to be her plus one to the Met Gala. She was pretty rue she was about Karlie's fifth back-up option, but Leia didn't care. She just knew that this was the perfect opportunity to reach a new audience with her music.

Leia took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart. She couldn't let a little hair mishap ruin this moment for Karlie - or for herself. She turned back to look at herself in the mirror once more. The patch of burnt hair stared back at her, almost mocking her.

"I'm sorry, Kar. It's just...this is a big night for me, you know? I want everything to be perfect."

Karlie nodded, reaching out and squeezing Leia's hair before looking back at Antonio who was examining the patch a little closer now that Leia seemed to have relaxed ever so slightly.

"Is there anything we can do to salvage this situation?" Leia asked him, her voice steady despite the panic that still lingered within her. She'd only ever worked with the man once before - again, an event with Karlie - but she'd seen the wonders that he'd pulled off for others.