Stay - Taylor Swift

Chapter 52

Grace could name four occasions in her life when her heart felt like it stopped beating:

The first was when she found her brother after he passed away. A little piece of her died with him that unfortunate day. She thought the world would never feel okay again.

The second being when Taylor admitted she had feelings for her. She hadn't realized she had been pining after the singer too and as much as she hated to admit it at the time, she was lovestruck.

The third time was when she found out her father died. Taylor was there with her as soon as she could be and when she thought her world would never be okay once again, Taylor proved her wrong. Things became okay again.

The fourth time was when Taylor muttered those simple yet ever so complicated words after that huge argument, asking the brunette to dedicate the rest of her life to their relationship. She almost burst into tears as she looked into Taylor's eyes, it was one of the happiest moments of her life even after following such a cursed moment.

So the fifth time it ever happened to her, when she felt the organ in her chest fall out and feel like it had been run over by a dozen semi-trucks, Grace began to cry. She was stunned, frozen in place as she read Taylor's chicken scratch.

She stared at the ring placed on the counter for a moment, wishing Taylor had been there so Grace could tell her just how gorgeous it was and how much she finally appreciated the gesture. It was such a Taylor thing to do, leave behind the engagement ring she had never given as she ran away.

But Grace wouldn't accept it like that, without Taylor by her side. The second she clued in and began to realize that the love of her life was slipping through her fingers, she pulled her phone out her back pocket and dialled the only number she knew off by heart, forgetting about the fact she had speed dial.

Please pick up the phone, Taylor. Please don't be too far gone yet.

In the SUV five blocks away, Taylor heard a ringing noise on the passenger seat. She didn't even realize her ringer was on until she heard that ringtone.

The same sound that only played when Grace called her, 'Photograph' by Ed Sheeran. She had changed it the same day she accepted it really was their song. She was driving, she couldn't pick up. She couldn't answer anyways, running from someone meant not caving in when they called, right?

It was when Taylor realized she was fidgeting with the chain around her neck, the same one she hadn't taken off for a minute since it had been given to her that she realized this was a stupid idea.

She turned the corner and somehow ended up at the lookout that led to the water. Of course she had unconsciously made it to the place she and Grace officially started dating, that was just her luck.

She shut the engine off and rested her head against the steering wheel, careful not to set off the horn as she cried. The warm tears dripping onto the floor mat, some hitting her shoes as they fell.

Her phone was still ringing, over and over again like the thoughts racing through her mind. She had done it this time, she had walked away from something real and unforgettable. Taylor knew she had just made the biggest mistake of her entire life.

But if she's calling me, she still wants me. How does she know already? Maybe she just needs to know if we have eggs, she would call for that. She would also call just to tell me that she missed me, not that she would do that right now, would she?

Deep down, as much as she tried to convince herself that Grace was calling because she forgot if there was eggs in the fridge, she knew Grace had found the note. She knew Grace was calling to try and get her to come home.