Summer of Swift

Chapter Four

I was looking at the psychology books when Taylor walked in. She had a worried look on her face but as soon as she saw me, she replaced it with a grin.

"Everything okay?" I asked, putting down a book by Malcolm Gladwell.

"Yeah," she said although her smile seemed forced. "Everything's A-okay."
We walked around the small bookstore for a little longer-I was basically in heaven. I had two favorite places in the world: Taylor Swift concerts and bookstores.

"Do you like the smell of books?" I grabbed a book off the shelf and inhaled the scent of the pages.

Taylor laughed, "You're so weird. But I guess there is a certain appeal to the smell of pages."

I flipped through several books, once again wishing that one day, my book would be among the many on the shelves. But that would never happen.

"Did you ever think of publishing that book you wrote when you were thirteen?" I asked Taylor, picking up yet another book.

Taylor smiled, shaking her head, "Not really, I was more into the whole songwriting/music thing."

"I've always wanted to get a book published," I rambled on, unsure of what to talk about.

Taylor just smiled and followed me around the store, seemingly lost in her own world.

"I've always looked up to you for writing, I mean, for everything but especially for writing. It's amazing how you convey so much emotion in your songs, how you are able to tell a story so well," I talked on and on, willing myself to shut up but not quite doing it. "I mean, how do you even do-"

"Austin got a girl pregnant!" suddenly Taylor said and I shut up.

"What?" I whispered, not believing what I had just heard.

Taylor turned red in the face, "Uh, wow, wasn't sure I was supposed to tell you that."

"Well, you did so now you must explain," I said, leaving the bookstore.

Taylor and I sat down on a bench, watching cars and people pass.

"That's what he wanted to talk to me about in Starbucks," she said, "I guess he was at a party one night and got drunk and well... ended up with a pregnant girlfriend."

"Oh," I said softly, once again unsure of what to say.

"I just... can't believe it, you know? How could Austin be so stupid?" she shook her head.

"Taylor, he's twenty-two," I resisted the urge to sing the song. "He did what all other college guys his age are doing. He made a mistake. Unfortunately, he must pay."

She sighed, running her fingers through her hair, "This is not going to turn out okay. The media will find out and they'll somehow turn it to lies. Somehow turn it on me and... and... and... how is he going to handle this? He's only twenty-two." She talked on and on and I could see her starting to get worked up about the whole thing.
I hugged her until she finally stopped talking.

"It'll be okay in the end," I told her,

"We'll figure this out together, okay? If Austin was responsible enough to make the mistake, he'll be responsible enough to take care of the child. Also, he'll have help from his amazing sister and her friend."

Taylor smiled slightly, "Don't tell him I told you."

"I won't," I said. "It'll be okay."

Her eyes flickered back to the bookstore, "Did you want to buy anything?"

I shook my head, "No, I'm kind of broke. I kind of accidentally went on a Taylor Swift merchandise binge a few months ago."

Taylor laughed, throwing her head back like a little kid, "Why?? You are so weird. You know, I could just get some of that stuff for you for free. And also, I'll buy you a book considering you basically gave me money."

"No, Taylor, I couldn't accept your money. My job is to give you money, not get money."

"Maia, it's a book not a trust fund," Taylor dragged me back into the bookstore and after about two minutes of staring at each other, I finally sighed and pulled Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell off of the shelf.

Taylor nodded, content with herself. I looked around the store awkwardly as Taylor bought the book for me. I mean, I guess she was a multi-millionaire and I had given her thousands of dollars over the years so I mean the least she could do was buy me a book, right? I was so awkward, wow.

"Let's go!" Taylor smiled, a plastic bag in her hand.

She handed the bag to me as we left the bookstore and made our way back to her apartment. When we got there, Taylor opened the door to reveal Meredith sitting in an awkward position in the hallway.

"Mere!" Taylor knelt down and picked Meredith up, burying her face into Meredith's fur.

Meredith, on the other hand, just looked bored. Bored and hungry. I went and sat down on the couch, looking at the human sized bird cage Taylor had.

"Do you sit in there often?" I asked Taylor, pointing to the cage.

"Not recently," she said and then suddenly her eyes lit up. "Oo! I know! Let's have a tea party in there!"

I laughed, "Why not."

Twenty minutes later I was folded in on myself, sitting across Taylor in the human sized birdcage. It wasn't quite big enough to fit both of us comfortably. We were sipping tea and talking about anything and everything.

"See, I told you that you drink tea," I told Taylor, smiling.

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"Do you still think about last summer?" I asked.

"More than I should," she told me and I frowned.

That was understandable. I mean, getting kidnapped by your ex and all the hate wasn't exactly something to be forgotten easily but from what I had seen, the hate had died down and Joe was still locked away in jail.

"You're amazing, never forget that," I said, sipping my tea.

"You really saved me last summer," she said, lost in thought.

"You saved me before that," I countered, always determined to have her be the hero because, well, she was. "If you hadn't saved me before then, I wouldn't have been there to save you."

It was the first time in a while we had talked about the previous summer-it was a touchy subject for both of us. I still had nightmares about turning my back and Taylor disappearing, still worried about her being taken. And from the late night calls I often got from her, I knew she had been haunted with nightmares about the same thing. But we always felt better talking to each other since we had both gone through that. Together.

"We'll get through the Austin thing too," she said suddenly. "Together."

I nodded, "Together. "

A/N: Hey, another chapter for you! I'm seriously going to try to keep updating this regularly... I might try to do like a once a week update for both this and "Saving Swift" but I'm not sure... haha. I guess we'll just have to see because I'm bad at staying on a schedule.