MAROON ! | j. champion

o27. after party

IN REAL LIFE

THE SURPRISE SONG SECTION WAS always maeve's favorite aspect of the eras tour, and now that she got to do it for her own fans, made her excited every night. that feeling multiplied now that she was singing two, both suggested by a guy she had a massive crush on.

sure, she'd been doing surprise songs every night since new york, but they were sad. they all reflected how she felt in taylor swift's words— these were happier, better. maeve looked out into the audience, realizing the next ten minutes of her first la show would soon be over, and she'd get to see her friends at the after party, "so, normally, i only do one 'taylor swift' song at the end of each show. but, someone special told me i should do two, and i apparently do whatever he wants."

the crowd cheered, maeve smiled but searched for a familiar face. when she met his eyes, he blew her a kiss and winked as a joke, causing her to scrunch her nose up before blowing a kiss back. she positioned her guitar on her body, "this is a song i've loved since it came out when i was like, 15 or so, which is kind of worrying considering the song isn't very appropriate." slight laughs came from different sections of the crowd before erupting into screams as maeve began singing dress.

WHEN MAEVE HAD FINALLY ARRIVED at the club her manager had rented for a post-show after party, she immediately ran over to her best friends. "conan, holy fuck it's been so long!" she stood on her tippy toes to hug him, conan hugging her back just as happy. "i know, it's been ages," conan pulled away and grabbed her face before squeezing it, to which maeve laughed.

she went on to greet olivia and bea, who would not shut up about the way she sang two love songs that 'had to do with jack.' maeve rolled her eyes, "he asked, guys." jenna ran over to maeve and gave her a kiss on the cheek, clearly already a little tipsy, "you looked so hot up there, mae." maeve giggled, happy the conversation with her best friends wouldn't go any further. she hugged her friend and went on to greet others, audrey already mingling with those she had been wanting to meet.

"maeve!" the voice came from her left, at the bar. she looked over, the room seemingly stopping in time as she walked over. the voice came from jack, causing her to walk at a pace faster than she ever had. she smiled at him, "hi jack!" she ordered a drink quickly, ignoring the way jack was inching towards her in hopes of an accidental hand brush, or something.

      jack took another sip of his own drink, which was just lemon water since he had to be on set the next day, "thanks for singing both songs i requested, you really do do whatever i want you to! i just have that power, i guess. pretty privilege, you think?"

     "oh, definitely pretty privilege," maeve nodded her head along, biting her lip to hide the ever growing smile on her face. "it's very unfair, you use your looks to get whatever you want!" jack shrugged and pretended to flip his hair behind his shoulder, "i'm just loved like that."

"definitely."

"totally," slowly inched himself closer to maeve, hoping the people dancing around them served as a good enough distraction for him to put his arm around her waist. he wanted to be next to her, at all times. that was probably an issue, but he'd address that later.