Call it What You Want

21 - One Thing Right

September 2017

Taylor's POV

I woke alone in bed. After only having my eyes open for a few seconds, I felt my head throbbing in pain. I squeezed my eyes shut trying to make it stop and leaned back into my pillow. At some point last night, Joe must have changed me into pajamas because I wasn't wearing the clothes I wore yesterday.

"You had a wild night," I heard Joe say as he entered the room. I opened my eyes the slightest bit to see that he had brought me a glass of water and an advil. He handed them both to me and said, "you better sober up quickly.  Guests are arriving in six hours."

I slowly sat up and groaned. I picked the worst night to go out and get drunk. Tonight was my reputation secret session with fans. "What happened? Do I even want to know?" I wondered. I had zero recollection of what happened last night or how I even got home.

Joe gave me a concerned look. "Taylor, I don't know. I was hoping you could fill me in. All I know is that I got a call from you at about 22:00 last night. You sounded drunk out of your mind, so I drove to get you from a pub way out of town. I brought you back here and put you to bed. You could hardly function last night."

Now, I was embarrassed. I don't think Joe has ever experienced me that drunk before. "Ugh, I'm so sorry," I apologized. "Thanks so much for driving out to get me."

He nodded but bit his bottom lip which meant we had much more to talk about. "We have to get your car from the pub today. It's about a 30 minute drive out," he told me.

"Alright, let's get this over." I said standing up from bed.

Joe started to move toward the door but paused. "You're not going to tell me why you were out there last night?"

"It's a long story," I replied quickly hoping he would drop the subject. I was already feeling shitty and didn't want to feel worse about my actions. Why I ended up at the pub was one thing I definitely remembered.

"Well, you've got half an hour in the car to share," Joe said nonchalantly. This was his way of saying I'm pissed about last night but would never say that out loud. We were trying to keep each other honest, and I knew I owed him an explanation. I sighed before trudging out the the car.

After we had been driving for a few minutes, Joe brought last night up again. "Taylor, are you going to tell me why you were out at the pub last night? If you really don't want to talk about it fine, but I feel like I deserve a bit of an explanation since I had to drive out in the middle of the night to get you."

Where to even begin? The reason I went out was to see Natalie. I went to see Natalie because I'm still working with the CIA. There was no way I could share either of those things.

Before I could craft a clever lie, Joe jumped back in. "You said some crazy shit last night as we left the pub and drove home. First, you told me that you called James to tell him you quit the CIA. You even said I had a daughter which is just ridiculous. I just let you ramble."

"Wow, that is some next level shit. I must have been so wasted," I replied through gritted teeth. In my mind all I could think was what have I done? If I really did say those things last night, I would be in some deep shit. I checked my phone only to see that I had made a call to James last night. He already returned it too. The car started to feel warm, and I felt like I was spinning.

"Joe, stop the car!" I yelled. The moment it slowed down enough for me to get out, I jumped out and hurled on the side of the road. I inhaled a few deep breaths of fresh air before climbing back into the car.

"You okay love?"

"Mhmm, still getting it out of my system I guess."

Joe pulled back into traffic, and we rode in silence for a while.

Eventually, I spoke up. "Joe, I'm really sorry about last night. I'm sorry you had to come and get me in the state that I was. I shouldn't have stopped at the pub last night. I have been stressed about the album release and listening sessions. I'm afraid that I am about to tank both of my careers. I just needed to forget who I was for a night." It wasn't a full confession, but it was something. We pulled into the pub lot just as I finished.

Joe turned off the car and turned to face me. "Taylor," he began. "I'm not mad that you called me last night or that you were drunk.  I'm glad that you called me last night. I will always be happy to be there for you when you need me. I've just been a little hurt lately because you have been so distant. It's like you want to be on your own or sort things out alone, but I want to be with you through all of it. Taylor, I want to be a part of your life."

I didn't know Joe felt that way. "I want you to be a part of my life," I told him.

"Then please let me be," Joe pleaded.

I looked down to my lap. "I, I am just afraid that I'm not good for you. You have plenty going on too, and I don't want to burden you with all my problems. I want you to be happy, and I don't think you can be truly happy with me."

Joe reached out and took my hand in his. He gave it a reassuring squeeze. Then he said, "get out of the car."

"What?" I was dumbfounded. Weren't we just having a tender moment?

"Get out of the car," he repeated firmly.

I gave him a confused and helpless look before grabbing my purse and hurrying to exit the car. Maybe he realized that I wasn't the one for him. I stood on the gravel lot waiting to see if he would drive off and leave me there. It would have been a classic breakup scene.

Instead, Joe got out of the car and walked around it until he stood in front of me. Our eyes locked on each other. "I'm warning you that this was completely unplanned," he said.

Before I could ask questions, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny black box. I gasped and shook my head in disbelief the moment he bent down on one knee. He looked up at me nervously but with a massive grin on his face.

"Taylor, you are wrong. You are the only person in this world who I am truly happy with. You understand me like nobody else ever can. I love the adventures we've had together. I love our inside jokes. I love our cat children. I love when I get to be the first person to hear your new song. I love waking up next to you every morning because my heart aches when we are apart. Most importantly of all, I love you. Nothing you do or say could ever change that. I want to be a part of the rest of your life, and I want you to be a part of mine. Taylor Alison Swift, will you marry me?"

Maybe it was the alcohol left in the system or pure joy, but I was bawling happy tears in the pub lot. "Yes! Absolutely yes Joe." I grabbed Joe's hand to pull him up, so I could kiss him. A few random people who saw us from inside the pub came out clapping and cheering. When Joe opened the ring box, I noticed that it was my grandmother's ring. He took it out and proudly slid it on to my finger. In that moment, despite the unfortunate events of last night, I felt like I finally did one thing right.

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Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I truly was not expecting to write that ending. Thank you to all my loyal readers!!