CLEAN || Taylor Swift Adoption

TWELVE

A/N: Publishing on Wattpad during school? My insecurities could never... except for the fact that this story is about to get good quickly, haha. Thank me later ;)

"All of this silence and patience, pining in anticipation..."

~EVERLEIGH~

August 5, 2019

Taylor left the room again, and Sydney, along with some of the other Taylor Nation employees, escorted us all back outside into the yard to hang out. Considering it was late at night and we'd been in the Session for hours on end, there was more food in case people were still hungry, or hadn't eaten before the Session due to being so nervous.

My friends and I went over to reclaim our spot by the pool, sitting down on the ground to recap the Session together while we waited to meet Taylor. It was pitch black outside, with the only light coming from the lights that Taylor had outside her house and around her property. Needless to say, we were all giddy with excitement as we sat together to catch up.

"Okay," Ava started. "Let me just say that this has been the most amazing day of my life so far. Like, this whole thing has just been so incredible."

"It really has been," Etta agreed. "But we need to talk about the important stuff. What are y'all's favorite songs from the album?"

"Mine is 'Cornelia Street'," I said. "That's an easy one. It was literally one of the best things that I've ever heard. But I also loved 'Death By A Thousand Cuts' and 'Daylight.'"

"I loved 'Paper Rings'," Ava said. "That song was so much fun. I can't wait for the album to be released and to be able to listen to that song while dancing around my room like no one's watching."

"You would do that," I teased her, nudging her shoulder. Ava only smirked in return, giving me a look that said 'you know me too well.'

"You know which one I loved?" Opal asked. "'London Boy.' It was so much fun and so adorable. Like, if we're gonna talk about songs that are fun to dance to..."

"What about 'Afterglow'?" Blaire interrupted. "Not to dance to, but to cry to. It was such a pretty song!"

"And that's the one where Taylor grabbed Ever's hand!" Ryker exclaimed, shaking my shoulder. "Ugh, that was adorable."

"Yeah, Ev, you and Taylor had so many cute moments together tonight," Etta said. "Like, you literally got to dance with her in front of everyone. So many people would kill to be you right now."

"But the best part was by far when Taylor wiped away Ever's tears after 'Soon You'll Get Better,'" Ava said. "Like, Taylor was already so emotional about that song before she even had us listen to us. And then as soon as it was over, Ever just started bawling. And Taylor came back in and literally held Ev's face in her hand and dried her tears. It was the sweetest thing I've ever seen."

I blushed. "It was really nice of her to do that," I said, tucking a curl of hair behind my ear. "But yeah, I did cry really hard to that song. It... it made me think of my dad. And I haven't thought about him in forever, so I got really strangely emotional."

"What happened to your dad?" Opal asked gently. "If you don't mind sharing, that is."

"No, it's fine," I said. Since I had only met Opal earlier that day, it made sense that she didn't know that I was in foster care, like all of my other friends had known about me for almost as long as I'd known them. "He died of cancer when I was four.  And my mom passed away from childbirth. So... when Dad died, I got put into foster care. And I've been in the system ever since."