november 5th; london, england

taylor sat at the table, safely in joe's apartment. she had enjoyed the brunch yesterday, but she'd constantly worried about paparazzi showing up. but, it seemed like there were no paps in london. or maybe it was because people minded their own business more, in england.

still, she liked it better in the safety of the apartment. she had work to do, and it was best done in privacy. taylor had only come to london to lay low, and enjoy her time with joe.

she looked up as joe walked into the kitchen wearing a dress shirt and slacks. "good morning," she said.

"good morning," he replied. "do you want food?"

taylor shrugged nonchalantly. "i can order something myself." she watched as he made himself some cereal. "do you have plans today?" immediately, she regretted saying this. joe was all dressed up. of course he had plans today.

slowly, joe set down the milk carton. "yeah, why?"

"great," said taylor. why was she acting so detached? "i'm going to be doing work and i need privacy."

joe nodded. "i have a meeting anyway, and then i'll just roam around. i have a spare key to the flat. i'll let you borrow it for the remainder of the time that you're here." joe poked around in a drawer until he found it, then gave it to taylor. she closed her hand around the cold piece of metal.

taylor gave him a thank you, then went back to her work while joe got ready, and left the apartment. perhaps some time apart would be best for both of them. she needed to do some work.

taylor wanted to take a break from songwriting, so she decided to think about the album's concept. obviously, she didn't want it to entirely be about love. breakups weren't an option, either. she already had an entire album, red, about breakups. what could she do?

frustrated, taylor shut her laptop. she hadn't had anything to eat today. she didn't want to make herself some toast or cereal. no, she wanted to go out.

taylor glanced out the window. the sky was gray, and the clouds were puffy. it would definitely rain today. she put on a coat and wig and packed her bag. perhaps she would go to a coffee shop—the change of environment might help. taylor called an uber, and it drove her to dc&sa, the closest coffee shop to joe's apartment. with her sunglasses and wig still on, she ordered a latte and a scone and sat far from the door.

while waiting for her latte, she noticed a local newspaper on a stand. there was a sub-headline that said "taylor swift spotted in london". she picked it up and skimmed through the short article. it said that she had run off with a british friend, most likely joe alwyn, because all of taylor's british friends weren't in britain. then, there were a few sentences talking about a "blooming romance" between her and joe. as soon as taylor came upon the phrase "serial dater", she shut the paper and put it back on the stand. to the media, she had a reputation of being a "serial dater" and a "snake". taylor felt mildly nauseous.

she picked up her scone and took a bite. it was buttery, and tasted of blueberries. she had pointed to a random baked good in the glass case and paid for it. the scone felt dry while she swallowed. it was a good scone, really, but reading that article had taken away her appetite.

taylor's latte came, and she murmured a "thank you" to the barista. she opened her laptop and tried to think of concept ideas for her album. taylor wanted to phone a friend, but this album was going to be hers, and not anyone else's. if she had come up with concepts for her 5 previous albums, she could come up with a concept for this one.

taylor sat back and sipped her latte. she still felt frustrated about the newspaper and how it depicted her. and, suddenly, she had an album concept. elated, taylor typed in "reputation" into a word document titled 'album ideas'. "reputation" was fitting, because taylor definitely had a tarnished reputation. taylor quickly finished her coffee and had another uber take her back to the apartment. she didn't want to skype her team just yet, though. she would need to refine the concept before presenting it. nevertheless, she was excited to reveal it to the world. 

back at the flat, taylor brainstormed promotion ideas. she needed something to make it special. last album, there had been 13 polaroids that had come with the deluxe version of 1989. she gave in and skyped a few trusted friends. 

first, taylor skyped her manager. taylor explained her concept, watching her manager's eyes grow wide. "wow," said taylor's manager. "that's just so...perfect. it's so fitting. i say go through with it." she paused. "and you said you needed more development?"

"yeah," said taylor. "there needs to be something different. my debut album was my debut album. fearless showed off what an eighteen-year-old could do. speak now was when i matured and also proved that i could write songs. red was sad and also when i started gaining real clout. 1989 was pop, not country. but what can i do for this? rap or something?"

her manager laughed. "hmm. i don't know. what are things people have said about you? maybe you could work those into your songs. i don't know."

taylor gasped. "oh my god." she fumbled for her phone, and opened instagram. "remember this?" 

she showed her the picture of taylor at the met gala, where people had flooded her comment section with snake emojis, prompting her to disable the comments.

"wow," taylor's manager said. "i smell an amazing album. i actually have to go now. good luck on the album."

"thank you," said taylor, and ended the call. energized, she added 'snake' to her list of ideas. she could do so much with snakes, but this wouldn't be enough. she knew she also needed some softer songs. taylor knew she was incapable of writing 13 dark, angsty songs. she needed something else. taylor typed 'breakup' into her list. 

just then, taylor heard a key in the lock of the door. it was 1 p.m. joe's meeting must be finished. taylor shut her laptop, not wanting joe to see her album plans. she heard him put something on the counter, then wash his hands. taylor went to the kitchen. "how was the meeting?" she said.

"it was fine," he said, drying his hands on the hand towel. "you seem happier than when i left. what happened?" 

she erased her smile. "i...was just talking to a friend who i haven't seen in a while." taylor felt mildly guilty for lying to him, but she brushed it off. keeping her album a secret came first.

"or maybe it was me that made you happy," said joe, winking. "i make all your gray days clear."

taylor decided to ignore this statement.

"so," she said, leaning on the counter, "do you have any other wild plans for today?"

joe frowned. "no...but i wanted to take you somewhere tonight. dinner, actually. it'll be fun."

"really?" said taylor. "i hope this isn't any sort of romantic date, though."

"it's not," said joe. "you'll like it." 

a/n: ok guys it's been so long and i'm sorry for leaving you all in the dark. i did update irregularly on my spam book, but i've decided to finish this book, regardless of whether or not people even read it, or how long it takes to complete it. i'm sorry for not updating but that's because i didn't know where to take the story. anyway, thanks if you're still here and you haven't forgotten about me/my book. this school year is definitely going to be more busy than last year, but i assure you that i will make my best effort to write as much as i can. anyway i hope you enjoyed this filler chapter lol