Chapter Text
Even at the age of 30, you still considered yourself an ‘emo kid’. Still preferred to listen to rock or punk or bands that did more screaming than actual singing. You still had those lip piercings that you got almost 20 years ago that you swear you wouldn’t feel yourself without, and as time went on, your arms became more and more covered in tattoos, reminders of what you considered to be the most defining moments of your life.
Music is always something you had relied on, it was always there, and no matter the mood you were in it never let you down. It provided some of your core memories with your friends and family, it kept you company when you were alone, and in your darkest moments, it gave you a reason to keep holding on, it gave you hope.
You’d always firmly said that while, yes, you mainly listened to heavy music, you absolutely could appreciate the talent involved in genres of music. You didn’t hate other music, in fact some of it made it onto your ‘All the good stuff’ playlist of Spotify, it’s just that if you had a choice, you were less likely to choose it. If a charting popstar type artist got your attention, sure, you’d pay the money to go see them live because you know it’d be a good show. At this point, you’d seen Lady Gaga about as many times as you’d seen Bring Me The Horizon and frankly, you wouldn’t be able to say who was better live!
There was one artist, though, who you just never understood the fascination around. Taylor Swift… She just seemed so… dull? Overrated? Generally meh?
Your friends loved her, and you just didn’t get it.
To be fair, you hadn’t really bothered to listen to any of her music, but you’d just never had a reason to. And of course, you didn’t actually know her, but that didn’t stop you from feeling some kind of weird negativity about her.
You never considered yourself to be a judgemental person, in fact, you actively tried to live the ‘never judge a book by its cover or its first 10 pages’ life. So, even though you saw what Taylor publicly got up to because like every other 30 something human being, you were addicted to social media, where she was heavily featured despite your efforts to block any posts that popped up when you refreshed your timeline, you doubted much of what you saw was true. It wasn’t what she allegedly got up to that bothered you, it was the fact that she was EVERYWHERE, and it felt like you weren’t being given a choice to not see her all the time.
For some reason, and you knew how stupid this sounded, it felt personal.
Imagine having a personal vendetta towards someone who essentially lived in a different plane of existence to you? Who you would never cross paths with, and never really have any reason to have a personal vendetta towards? It was mad, and yet, here you were, scrolling through Facebook on a Sunday night before bed, taking the time to block every post that was even remotely related to her.
That’s when the group chat with your friends started to go off…
Jodie - GUYS
Jodie - GUYS
Jodie - GUYS
Jodie - DID YOU SEE?!
Sacha - I SAW
Sacha - SHIT
Emily - OMG
Emily - CAN WE GO?!
Emily - WE HAVE TO GO!
Emily - WE’RE GOING RIGHT?!
y/n - Um guys, what are you talking about?
Jodie - For god sake y/n
y/n - What?!
Sacha -TAYLOR
Sacha - SWIFT
Sacha - TOUR
Emily - THE ERAS
Emily - ALL OF THEM
Jodie - IN ONE SHOW
y/n - Ok…..
Jodie - Ok?
Jodie - O FUCKING K?
“Oh good, here we go” you said out loud to yourself while facepalming as a barrage of texts came through from your nearest and dearest, all threatening to kick you out of the chat for not sharing their incredibly intense (and if your mind so incredibly unwarranted) enthusiasm.
You know they’d forgive you for your indifference eventually, so instead of potentially causing any more anti-swift-related breakdowns, you silenced the chat for the night and went to sleep. After all, you had work in the morning, and your boss was having you come in early to prep for an exclusive with some big-deal guest.
Your alarm went off at 6:00am and practically scared the living shit out of you in the process.
You cursed yourself for setting the alarm extra loud the night before. At the time, you were just making sure you didn’t sleep through it, given it’s earlier than usual time and all, now though, you just felt lucky that your heart was still beating, nevermind that you were up and getting ready for work. And now, it won't stop.
“Jesus fucking christ would you shut up!” you said, frantically pressing the broken screen of your phone.
When you finally managed to stop it. You dragged yourself into the bathroom for a shower. The cold water felt like tiny knives against your skin, but it woke you up and that’s what you really needed. Washed and (mostly) awake, you made your way over to your wardrobe and pulled out your ‘big-deal guest outfit’ - dark grey cigarette-style trousers and a matching double-breasted blazer.
You knew you looked good in the outfit, but it was far too formal for you. One of the joys of hosting a show on your local radio station was that you were heard, not seen. Most days it didn’t matter what you rocked up to work in. Normally, you’d go for something like ripped black jeans, some sort of colourful band tee and a plaid overshirt, because, you know, 30-year-old-emo-kid and all that. You liked to add a pop of colour to every outfit you wore, and you weren’t going to be stripped of that joy just because of some big-deal guest.
You added your new Kieth Haring shirt to the outfit and instantly felt more like yourself. The multi-coloured doodles looked incredible against the dullness of the pant suit. You style your short hair and forego a last look in the mirror before heading out the door and making your way down to your car.
Starting the engine, you noticed the time, 6:45am. You had 15 minutes to make it to work - luckily, the drive only took 10 minutes, and at this time of the morning there would be no traffic on the road to fight against. You turn the radio on to keep you company and instantly regret it…
I knew you were trouble when you walked in
“Are you fucking kidding me? No, not today, not this early. NO!” you shouted at no-one as you turned the volume down to zero, opting for complete silence instead of risking any other stations.
You arrived at work in record time, parked your car and made your way into the small radio studio that was like your second home. Everyone seems on edge, you guessed it was because of this guest your boss talked about. You weren’t nervous, you didn’t get many big guests being a local radio station, but when you did, you remembered they were just people who had more money than you, and frankly, that could describe pretty much everyone else in the building, so what was the big deal?
Your boss, Matt, clocked you from across the kitchen while you were making some breakfast.
“Hey n/y, you ready for today?” Matt said. He was being weird and antsy, unable to stand still for even a millisecond. It was annoying as hell.
“Um yes? Why would I not be ready?”
“Oh you don’t know do you? Who the guest is?”
“No Matt I do not, they’re not on my show so why would I? I’m just here early to help out if needed, remember? So if you don’t mind, please try and make sure I'm not” you said, pouring the boiling water into your mint tea before grabbing the mug and your breakfast and walking towards your room in the studio.
“Y/N!” Matt shouted as you walked away
You stopped in your tracks and turned round to look at him expectantly.
“IT’S TAYLOR SWIFT” he shouted at you across the room with a stupid smile on his face.
Your face falls so far it almost hits the floor and you whisper to yourself….
“You have got to be fucking kidding me”.