The Lucky One (2) - Taylor Swift

19

Taylor walked out onto the balcony the following morning and found Grace sitting with her new laptop. The view from her Nashville apartment was great, which is why Grace was sitting outside with her complete and utter focus on a computer screen.

Taylor flattened out her purple dress as she sat across the glass patio table. After she recovered from the mild hangover, she took Grace around Nashville to see where she went to school and used to play. It was a very fun day that ended with a quiet dinner at Andrea's.

Grace had a pen in her left hand, she clicked it open from the top in a repeating pattern like a beat. Taylor stared at her, waiting for the brunette's green eyes to shift up and give her even a glance. It didn't come, so Taylor cleared her throat expectantly and asked, "What are you doing?"

Finally, Grace's focus shifted and she set the pen down, "I am attempting to pull hospital records."

"From who?" Taylor narrowed her gaze.

"Every assistant my father has had, dated back to the time he was eighteen and gained access to his trust," Grace explained casually, "I believe that their records would show any indications of pregnancy if I filtered it to the year after they were dismissed. That way I can find out how many half-siblings I have, if there are more."

"Sweetie, that sounds illegal."

Grace stopped typing and shifted her eyes to the other side of the balcony, "You make a good point."

"Let's not hack bank, medical, government or sensitive information. Parker and I won't bail you out. Twitter, okay, mine's fine! But please... not something that's going to get you in handcuffs."

"It's good that I was only considering my course of action," Grace pursed her red lips, "I suppose I could just make some calls and get files of his bank records dropped off again."

"The last time you did that, we sat in a dingy file room for like two months. Please no," Taylor was enjoying having so much time together. The last thing she wanted was to lose Grace to her father's bad practices again.

Now that Grace was sober and her mind was clearer than ever, it felt like it was always moving too fast for her to keep up. She was picking up habits she had before she started drinking, like the ability to learn just about anything she set her mind to. Taylor liked getting to know sober Grace for the first time, she was silly and usually quite calm. She made more jokes, she really looked at Taylor in a way she hadn't before.

There was no gloss over her gaze. She was the most authentic version of Grace yet.

"Fine," Grace closed the computer lid and held her focus on Taylor's eyes, "You look pretty in the daylight."

"Compared to the dark?" Taylor still couldn't take a compliment.

"You feel pretty in the dark," Grace blew her a kiss teasingly and Taylor started to laugh.

"That was cheesy and ridiculous."

"It was intended."

Taylor laughed with Grace for a minute until she looked out at the view again and her attention was captured by a photographer with a large zoom lens on his camera, "There's a pap."

"What?" Grace squinted down at the sidewalk but by the time she located it in her vision, Taylor had gotten up and went back inside. Grace sighed, ran a hand through her long hair and picked up her laptop to head inside.

Taylor had immediately thumped down on the couch and buried herself in her phone. Grace's laptop went on the kitchen table as she approached. She pressed a kiss to the crown of Taylor's head and asked if she was okay.