isn't it? [taylor swift]

chapter 52

The 2021 Grammy's had approached faster than Leia had anticipated.

Before she knew it, she was standing in her hotel suite, staring at herself in the mirror as Georgie ran around behind her, frantically searching for her missing face mask. They didn't have to wear them on the red carpet, but everyone had been asked to wear one while seated at the outdoor ceremony.

Leia's was matched perfectly to her black dress, and unfortunately for Georgie, her sister's matching green one was blending in with the other clothes she'd left strewn across their room.

Riven was somewhere downstairs, getting the car sorted with Azul and meeting with some of the other publicists before they would head from the hotel to the venue. Leia was actually really looking forward to the night - although she'd be lying if she said she wasn't nervous.

She wasn't even nominated, but she was performing her new single - which she hadn't even released. It was one thing to perform when you're not nominated but debuting a new song was something that she was sure was remarkable risky - especially since she'd been out of the song-sphere since early 2019.

The song had been pretty out of nowhere. One of the demos that she'd sent to Jack had caught his eye and a somewhat depressing song had blossomed into a genuinely great pop track, something that Leia was actually really proud of. They'd originally pencilled the name as "All Is Well That Ends Well", but Leia had felt that firstly, it was too long, and secondly, it sounded too much like that line from Lover.

So they'd met half-way and settled on 'ends well'. Casual, less intense and much easier to remember.

Did it help that Taylor was attending, and it would be the first time she'd actually seen her since that night that she'd help them finish Mr Perfectly Fine? Probably not.

Jack had at least text her to give her the heads up that Joe wasn't coming with her, which kind of had frustrated Leia to an extent. Taylor was nominated for Album of the Year, and if she won, would be making history again... and Joe wasn't even here? Sure, she knew he had other commitments, but that kind of settled poorly in her chest.

She had to remind herself that it wasn't her responsibility to think about that.

Taylor was her friend - they were in that middle ground. She would respect that, even if that meant keeping her negative opinions about Joe (which she suspected Jack shared, considering he was spilling this gossip to her) to herself.

Leia was surprisingly also presenting! She'd been surprised at the idea that she was performing and presenting but since it was a remarkably quieter ceremony than usual due to the pandemic restrictions in LA, she figured that it made more sense for the organisers to double up on uses of her since she wasn't even nominated.

"Found it!" Georgie exclaimed, emerging from beneath the hotel bed with her green mask dangling victoriously from her fingers. "It was under the bed. Of course it was under the bed."

Leia smiled at her sister's reflection in the mirror. "We're going to be late if you don't hurry up."

"Says the woman who spent forty-five minutes deciding between two identical black dresses," Georgie retorted, fastening the mask around her ears and adjusting it to fit comfortably. The emerald fabric complemented her eyes, making them appear even more vibrantly blue than usual. "Which is so stupid since you've got another quick change once you've finished your performance."

The sisters made their way through the hotel corridor, Georgie practically bouncing with each step while Leia tried to calm the flutter of butterflies in her stomach. The elevator ride down was a blur of last-minute preparations, Leia checking her lipstick one more time, Georgie adjusting the strap of her sister's dress.