would like to FaceTime...

[Decline] []

...

"Oh my god," August immediately greeted Taylor. Well, really, it was more like an over excited squeal.

Taylor let out a soft laugh and waved at the camera. "Hey, August," she chuckled, watching as the younger girl's face lit up with a massive grin.

"It really is you," August mumbled, sitting up even straighter and Taylor had to lean back against the couch she was sitting on as she laughed harder.

"Did you still think I was some creepy imposter?" Taylor asked and August smiled sheepishly, shrugging her shoulders.

"Maybe!"

"I literally sent you pictures of myself," she pointed out and August narrowed her eyes, leaning closer to her phone.

"It could have been a very good clone," she retorted, making Taylor snort loudly.

"Well, you could still be talking to a clone right now," she mentioned which made August blank for a moment in shock.

"You're right, what the fuck?" she said all too seriously but just seconds after they both burst out laughing.

Taylor cleared her throat and smiled at August. "Alright, here's what I had in mind," she said and went to grab her acoustic guitar that was resting next to her on the sofa.

She fumbled a little to set her phone on the coffee table in front of her, resting it against an empty mug so it wouldn't fall. She started playing the chords then, messing around until she got the rhythm she had figured out only mere moments ago.

"Okay, so, it's in the key of A minor," Taylor explained before jumping directly into the small intro she had written and then strumming along as she quietly sang the lyrics, scribbled in quick, illegible letters on the back of a receipt she had found near her.

"I didn't have it in myself to go with grace," she sang, finally getting to the chorus. "And you're the hero flying around saving face. And if I'm dead to you— Uh, hold on," she stopped for a moment in thought humming along to the melody until it came to her. "Oh! And if I'm dead to you, why are you at the wake? OH, OH I GOT IT! Cursing my name, wishing I stayed, look at how my tears ricochet!"

She played the tune again on the guitar before finally stopping and looking up expectantly at August who had been eerily quiet this whole time.

She found August staring at her with her glasses on, her brows furrowed, seemingly deep in thought. She was nodding her head, her fingers resting lightly over her chin.

"What do you think?" Taylor asked and August tilted her head, still in thought. It made Taylor nervous. Even when working with famous producers, she had never felt her palms sweat so much. Maybe it was the coffee she had not too long ago.

"Have you tried— wait—"

Taylor watched as August scrambled out of her bed and walked to the other side of her room. She then set her phone down and sat down herself, staring at what Taylor assumed was a keyboard; she couldn't exactly see it.

Confirming her suspicion, August played a quick chord on her keyboard. An A minor chord. Then, with her right hand, she played the exact same melody Taylor had sung, which was quite impressive, considering she had only just heard it once.

"Okay, can you sing the first verse again?" August asked, and Taylor nodded. August gave her a cue by playing the four chords of the progression once before Taylor jumped in and started singing.

August attempted to improvise a little as Taylor was singing, but she always hit the right notes and by the time they had finished singing the first chorus, Taylor's heart was beating fast in excitement.

"The lyrics are amazing," August told her when Taylor had stopped singing. "Did you just come up with them?"

Taylor nodded. "Yeah, I've been meaning to write something like this for some time now, but I just never had the inspiration. Until now."

Thanks to you.

August beamed at her. "Well, it sounds amazing, but it definitely needs some piano behind it instead of guitar."

"I agree with you there," Taylor laughed softly. "Hold on just a second. I'm gonna head to the music room."

August made a small sound in her throat. "You have a whole music room."

"Yeah, you wanna see?" Taylor switched her camera around and showed August the small room with a large piano in the middle and various other instruments strewn about the place. A couple of acoustic guitars, a few electric ones, and other string and percussive instruments.

"Dude, hold on, is that a Gibson relic?" August's eyes suddenly widened.

Taylor stopped the camera in front of an acoustic guitar with a brown sunburst finish and a few scratches here and there.

"Yeah," Taylor laughed, walking over toward it. "It was a gift. 1952, refinished and restored."

"Dude, that is so fucking awesome," August let a small whistle as Taylor returned to her piano and sat down.

"You can try it out one day, if you like," She told August. "You know, when this lockdown's finally over."

"Are you— did you just— was I just invited over to Taylor Swift's house?"

Taylor snorted again, laughing loudly. "Can you stop saying my full name like that? It's almost like you never actually hated my music."

"I never actually hated your music," August told her sincerely and they both smiled at each other, and though it might have been the poor lighting in her room, Taylor could have sworn the red tint on August's cheeks was a blush.

"Right so, you wanna play that again?"

"Yeah," Taylor smirked amusedly at her and started playing the notes.

While Taylor played the basic chords, August added a melody on top while playing on her own keyboard and Taylor sang the lyrics and as soon as she had reached the end of the chorus again, it was like she had already written a second verse even though she had been blocked before this phone call.

"You wear the same jewels that I gave you as you bury me?" August recalled the words Taylor had just sung and let out a heavy breath. "That is powerful as fuck. How do you come up with that?"

"I am a poet, my dear," Taylor joked, winking playfully at August.

"You are," she said seriously instead. "Writing lyrics is always the hardest part for me. Melodies on the other hand just come to me."

Taylor was about to respond when she got a new idea. "How about this for a bridge?" She said instead and started playing it.

"Hm, instead of and when I fight you used to tell me I was brave," August mumbled, humming for a second, her finger waving in the air in front of her while her eyes watched the black and white keys in front of her intensely. "Final chorus, change it up, uhm—"

Taylor raised an eyebrow, intrigued, a lightbulb flashing above her head. "So the battleships will sink beneath the waves / You had to kill me but it killed you just the same—"

"Cursing my name, wishing I stayed," August continued, bouncing in her chair excitedly.

"Oh! You turned into my worst fears," Taylor sang, stretching out the last word. August dropped her hands to her lap as Taylor continued playing, watching in awe as Taylor wrote the last bit to her song. "And you're tossing out the blame, drunk on this pain / crossing out the good years..."

"Cursing my name, Wishing I'd stayed, look at how my tears ricochet," they both ended at the same time.

Taylor looked up at the screen to see August grinning widely at her.

"I think you just wrote a fucking hit," August said, clapping her hands slowly.

Taylor was breathless, even if the song didn't require much effort to sing. She was beaming at the younger girl, feeling her heart flutter excitedly.

She just wrote a fucking hit.

She had to send it to her producer immediately.

"This is just..." Taylor let out a shaky breath, completely speechless. It seemed, she had poured all of her words into that song for the night.

"I'll tell you what," August said, smirking with a teasing glint of mischief in her eyes. "This is a Taylor Swift song I'd definitely let someone blast in my car."

Taylor burst out laughing, holding on to her piano as her head lolled back.

"I'm glad you liked it," Taylor said, her eyes softening. "I'd never have been able to write it without you."

Suddenly, there was loud banging on August's side of the call, and Taylor looked at her worriedly as August grimaced.

"That's probably my sister," August muttered and sure enough, just a second later, Taylor heard yelling. "August Elizabeth James, it's five o'clock in the morning! I don't give two shits about how 'nice' or whatever the fuck that song sounded. IT'S FIVE O'CLOCK IN THE FUCKING MORNING. I'VE GOT WORK IN A FEW HOURS. LET ME GET SOME REST, FOR GOD'S SAKE."

August looked at Taylor, her cheeks red as a tomato and Taylor couldn't help but laugh. "I'm sorry, you could blame it on me," Taylor offered but August just shook her head, getting up from her stool and walking toward her door.

When she opened it, she flipped her phone around and shoved it in another girl's face. Presumably, her sister's. They looked a lot alike.

"Apologise to Taylor Swift right now."

To Taylor's surprise, the other girl simply laughed. "You're ridiculous, Auggie. Go to sleep."

"Apologise!"

"To a picture? No thank you. I'm going back to bed, and SO SHOULD YOU! You're gonna wake mom and dad."

Taylor smirked, very entertained by this interaction. "This is not a picture," she said, watching as August's sister slowly turned around and stared at the screen, wide-eyed and frozen like a deer caught in the headlights.

"That's— that's not the real Taylor, is it?" The other sibling whispered, though Taylor could still hear her.

"It is," August whispered back mockingly.

"What the fuck, August?" She exclaimed and Taylor couldn't hold in her laughter any longer. This was too amusing.

"Goodnight, Zoë," August said and Taylor watched as her sister's mouth slowly hung open while August closed the door.

"That just made my night," Taylor announced and August furrowed her eyebrows at her.

"And not the song you just wrote?"

"Nope, definitely this encounter," she chuckled and August grinned at her.

"Hm, well, I guess I really should get some sleep now," August said and Taylor nodded, already heading out of her music room.

The birds were already chirping outside. They had been talking for almost two hours on the phone. It didn't feel like it.

"Goodnight, August James," Taylor said softly while walking up the stairs to her room.

"Goodnight, Miss Taylor Fucking Swift," August replied with a wide, toothy grin. "And by the way, that's your contact name in my phone."

And before Taylor could say anything, August hung up. She let out a laugh in disbelief and got under her bed sheets, a wide smile playing on her face.

She would record the song first thing in the morning and send it to Jack. This was a hit for sure.

———