"I look ridiculous!" I huff from under the baseball cap Travis assured me was the height of 'street fashion'
"You look fine"
"Well I feel stupid"
"Well get over it, anyways, this way there's less chance of people recognising you"
He had a point.
Up until today any time I had been seen in public I had been dressed to the nines.
Dress, heels, hair curled, makeup perfect, now here I was walking down the busy LA street wearing a baseball cap over my waist length curls, a blue, cropped, sweatshirt and blue skinny jeans with a pair of red and white baseball boots
"Okay, fine, now what are we going to do? What are you going to show me that's going to change my life and inspire me to write an album filled with hit songs?"
"That's easy" He replies whilst powering along the busy street, his long legs ensuring I have to almost run every step just to keep up with him "I'm going to show you you" and suddenly he stops walking and points to a small, white restaurant
"A German restaurant? That's where you bring me?"
"Well you're part German aren't you? German opera singer for a grandmother according to Wiki and I'm hungry, jail food isn't what a growing boy like me needs"
"This isn't going to change anything" I say crossing my arms and huffing. "I'm part German, so what? I know that part of me"
"You don't show that part of you though, not in the way you dress or the music you make. You want people to buy what you're telling them then you have to tell them the truth"
"My dad doesn't like to shout about where we're from"
"Yeah well your dad is a dick. Also, who the fuck wants a superstar that blends in?"
I sigh, hating how much sense he's making today. A night in jail seems to have worked wonders on him
"Now come on, food and dancing first then who knows what the day will bring"
"Dancing?!"
"You don't dance?" He asks almost in shock as we begin moving inside of the restaurant, the sounds and smells immediately assaulting my senses
"My dad hates the way I dance"
"And that's just one more reason for me to hate your dad. Look Taylor, I'm not being funny here but you can't have an ass like you have and not shake it, it's like me having the face I have and then wearing a mask, it's a complete waste of your finest asset, excuse the pun. Table for two"
The short woman with brown hair and glasses hands us menus and then walks us to our table, never once gawking or demanding a selfie, she's completely oblivious to who we are and I love how that makes me feel. Like I'm Taylor again and not just TaylorSwift.
"So what do you think?"
"I think it feels like home" I reply whilst closing my eyes and letting the scents and the German being spoken take me back to my home and my grandmother, I can hear her singing whilst she cooked in the kitchen and my brother yelling at me for hanging around when he just wanted to be left alone.
God I miss them.
I miss me
"So your parents were born there or just your grandmother?"
"My grandmother" my voice is a whisper, this place is stirring a whirlwind of emotions in me and part of me hates Travis for bringing me here and making me confront this stuff and the other part wants to thank him for bringing me home
"When'd you last go there?"
"I haven't"
"What? You've never been to Germany?!"
I shake my head not wanting to get into it as I pretend to peruse the menu but in truth I'm not hungry, there's a ball of sadness sitting in my stomach and it isn't leaving any room for food
After Travis orders half of the menu and a beer to wash it down with we make polite conversation about work and he points out the many differences between being a rock star like him and a pop star like me, I counter that most of the differences are because he's male and I'm female and the standards expected for both are different but he declares it's a rock versus pop thing and downs his beer as if to prove it.
"Don't you ever get sick of the taste of beer?"
"Do you ever get sick of the taste of chocolate?"
"That's a silly question, no one ever gets sick of the taste of chocolate" I tilt my head to the side and pout
"Cute" he tells me, that brooding look covering his face again only this time he's looking out at me from behind his disguise of shades and a hoody and I can't see the darkness I'm so desperate to see in his eyes
"Want one?" He asks whilst shaking the empty bottle
"I'm only 19, I can't"
"There is no such thing as can't Taylor, you need to realise that" he holds the empty bottle in the air and then raises two fingers and the woman smiles and nods
"She knows who you are"
"Yeah, that's Cindy. She feeds me and I mention this place on Social media every now and then"
A few moments later 'Cindy' returns with two beers, she looks at me kindly and then smiles whilst handing me an open bottle of beer
"Ready?" Travis asks holding his bottle up to mine
"For what?"
"For the real fun to begin" and with that he clinks our bottles together and chuckles loudly
"What would your daddy say Swiftie if he knew what I was doing to you?"
"He'd murder us both" I say as I raise the bottle to my lips and then drink
*what will the day bring now???
*this might seem a bit random but it was initially a Shawmila story I wrote and it was about Shawn reintroducing Camila to her Cuban heritage, when converting it made sense to focus on Taylor's German heritage. Hope that makes sense
