taylor swift + joe alwyn: story of us

Christmas Break

Suddenly all eyes were on Taylor. Taylor was yelling at Tom in her head, how does he always manage to put me in situations where I can't say no? So instead she smiled sweetly, "Sure."

There was a chorus of cheers from the crowd, as Tom grinned. All Taylor wanted to do at that moment was get off of the stage. Tom helped her down the stairs, and as soon as she stepped on the floor Selena and Abigail came running towards her.

"Wait so you and Tom are dating now?" Abigail asked eagerly.

Taylor shrugged, "Um, yeah, I guess."

Selena raised an eyebrow, seeing she wasn't that happy about it. She and Abigail exchanged glances, before Tom came back up, whisking Taylor away to the dance floor. Joe was standing next to Hailey, wishing that the last ten minutes had never happened. Wishing that he had been the one to ask Taylor to be his girlfriend.

"Joey, can you drive me home soon?" Hailey asked, making her voice drip with sweetness.

Joe looked towards her, "Oh, sure." He was relieved that this night could finally end. He made a mental note to himself to never ever go to a school dance again.

Taylor and Tom were still dancing, and she could see over Tom's shoulder Joe leaving with Hailey. She bit her lip, trying to focus on Tom. Her boyfriend. Yet her thoughts kept wondering back to the blonde british boy that had just left the dance.

That night, when Joe had made it back from home from the dance, he heard a ringing sound coming from his nightstand. He picked up his phone curiously, recognizing the caller ID as Taylor wanting to facetime him.

He swiped to pick up, and Taylor's face appeared on the screen. She seemed to be sitting on her bed, in a simple red oversized t-shirt.

"Hey what's up," Joe asked, propping the phone up on his nightstand.

Taylor shrugged, "Nothing much, we didn't really get to talk much at the dance so I was just seeing how you were."

Joe thought back to Taylor and Tom becoming official, and how hurt he felt. "Yeah, the dance was good fun. What about you?"

"Good, good," Taylor nodded, leaning back against her bed frame.

"So... you and Tom are official now?" Joe couldn't resist bringing up the topic.

Taylor forced a smile, "Yup!"

Joe smiled back, his acting skills making it seem genuine, "That's great. See, didn't I tell you that he had a thing for you."

Taylor giggled, "I guess you were right."

After that, they moved onto more genuine topics about school, and where they could meet up next. By the time they hung up, it was already one in the morning. Over the weekend they continued on with their normal activities, hanging out at one another's houses.

They were still close, but both Joe and Taylor could feel an undeniable tension between them that they both refused to acknowledge. On Monday, back in school, Tom and Taylor were joined by the hip. Tom always had an arm thrown around Taylor's shoulder, and Taylor's arm occasionally around his waist. Joe resisted the urge to vomit in a bucket, but kept a smile plastered on his face instead.

And this is how it went on for another three weeks. Three weeks until it was almost Christmas break. Taylor, Joe, Selena, Abigail and, sadly for Joe, Tom were sitting in a coffee shop after school.

"So what's everyone doing for Christmas break?" asked Taylor, leaning her head on Tom's shoulder.

Abigail grinned excitedly, "I'm going to California with my family!"