Love Story (Taylor Swift x fem!OC)

Chapter 40

Taylor's brain was a mess.

Just. A. Huge. Mess.

She didn't even know what happened. One moment, she's performing in front of her fans and the next she's spiraling and having a panic attack. And worst of all, she'd made Gabi come all this way to help her through it. The only benefit she saw in all of that was that she was now in her megacrush's arms. But it took loads of embarrassment and crying to get there, so that was maybe not so good.

Also, throughout the whole mess, Taylor had been called a wonderful nickname that made her heart flutter, something she couldn't think about at the time because of, well, obvious reasons. That, she supposed, was another obvious plus side to the whole situation. It gave her a tiny flicker of hope, small as a candle, that maybe, just maybe, Gabi liked her too. Or would like her one day. Maybe.

Of course, it's dangerous to dream, but Taylor simply couldn't help it. She'd known 2023 Gabi for all of maybe 36 hours (which was honestly pushing it a little), and she was already down.

Bad.

Whipped, as some might say.

But she was drawn out of her thoughts by Gabi saying, "Love, as comfortable as it is sitting here, do you want to go back to your hotel or wherever you're staying? I don't know if this tour is the same as Fearless..."

There it was. That wonderful nickname that caught Taylor off-guard every single time. In fact, she almost forgot she had to respond before rushing out to say something.

"Oh. Yeah, we're staying at a hotel. Um, it's the Mandalay Bay hotel... We can walk there from here though. But I should probably let you get back to where you're staying. Um, thank you. Again. I-I was in a really bad... place."

"Tay, we're staying in the same hotel!" Gabi said excitedly. "God, I probably sound nineteen again or something."

"Wait, that's amazing! Can we- can we..." Taylor trailed off, blushing now.

"Sleepover?" Gabi guessed. It sounded more embarrassing now that it had been said out loud. She supposed they'd just play into the sound-like-a-teenager thing they kind of had going on. God, Gabi really made her feel like she was a teenager again. But she digressed.

"If you're okay with that..." Taylor said.

Gabi nodded. "Do you want your room or my room? Fair warning, if we go to mind, Zach is there, and he will be about as annoying and fan-boy-ish as it gets." Taylor smiled.

"I kind of wanna meet him! Let's do yours, if that's okay."

"Sure! Lemme just text him that a friend is coming. We'll surprise him and scare him when you show up." Gabi smirked slightly. Taylor just smiled back, but inside she was beginning to panic.

Gabi clearly cared a lot about Zach and (maybe?) his opinion. She wasn't too sure about the second one. But either way, she wanted to make a good impression, and appearance was already out the window. She performed for three and a half hours and cried for another hour or two after that. If she wanted her and Gabi to go anywhere, and Gabi wanted it too, then this first impression would be a big. Deal. So, yeah. She was panicking slightly.

But once again, she was drawn out of her thoughts by Gabi saying, "So you ready to go? You should probably grab anything you need, right?" Taylor nodded. "You okay? You seem a little nervous..."

"Yeah," Taylor forced out. "Just excited!"

Gabi nodded, not seeming to buy it, but said, "Okay... If it's Zach you're worried about, don't worry. He's actually really nice. We're just kind of like those siblings that trash talk each other all the time in front of other people for the heck of it." Taylor nodded. That did help a little.

"Hang on," she said, switching the subject. "I've just gotta grab something." Gabi nodded. "Okay. Ready to go!" She was Taylor Swift. She had this in the bag. Definitely.