isn't it? [taylor swift]

chapter 53

Number one.

It had gone straight to number one in the charts - and not just in the USA, but in sixteen other countries. Her performance at the Grammys was being dubbed the 'comeback of the century' by various media outlets and she'd found herself performing it non-stop on award shows since.

It was nice.

It was also a very nice distraction from the reminder that she no longer had the love of her life.

Leia was beginning to sound like a broken record again, and her close friends were now officially growing tired of it. Georgie had asked her to either shut up about Taylor or just tell the blonde how she was really feeling... and well, they all knew that Leia was never going to do that.

Her supposedly quiet April that Riven had planned had been turned into a non-stop media circus. There was no more 'easing her into it', but rather throwing themselves fifty miles an hour at a brick wall and hoping they somehow phased through to the other side. And to be fair, she had to give it to Riven - it had worked.

She'd had very little time to mope around about the seemingly forever future that was awaiting Taylor and Joe, since she'd had little time to do much else than travel, sleep and wonder if she was hated or loved by the Universe.

Standard things.

To be honest, she'd not really spoken too much to Taylor either. They'd texted back and forth a few times and Gigi had slowly started to get their old group chat coming back to life, but other than that, it was pretty quiet on that front. Leia knew why, but she didn't want to think about it. Taylor wasn't in New York, so Leia wasn't on her mind. That was her easy solution, as to why Taylor wasn't messaging her often.

Even with her newfound success, Leia found herself caught in the familiar push and pull of the industry's demands. By late April, she had settled into a rhythm of sorts - interviews in the morning, studio sessions in the afternoon, and the occasional evening event that had her stumbling back to her apartment well past midnight, feet aching and voice raw.

She was sober still.

Tonight was one of those rare evenings at home. Her apartment in New York felt both foreign and familiar after weeks on the road. Georgie had flown back to London for a friend's birthday, leaving Leia to rattle around the space alone, surrounded by half-unpacked suitcases and forgotten coffee mugs.

The clock on her microwave blinked 11:43 PM as she padded across the hardwood floors, the city lights casting long shadows through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Outside, New York hummed with its perpetual energy, oblivious to her quiet solitude within these walls.

Leia sank onto her couch, wincing as her muscles protested. The day's recording session had been particularly gruelling - Jack pushing her through take after take until her throat felt scraped raw. But the results had been worth it. The new track was coming together beautifully, something with a little more edge than 'ends well' but equally catchy.

She reached for her phone, scrolling mindlessly through social media notifications. The response to her comeback continued to overwhelm her... fan theories about her lyrics, articles analysing her every move and an endless stream of comments expressing how much they'd missed her voice.

It felt nice to be in the news for something good for once.

It was strange, this rebirth. Sometimes she still felt like that girl from three years ago, wide-eyed and drowning in her own mistakes. Other times, she barely recognised herself in the mirror. She was more guarded, more deliberate, wearing her experiences like armour.

A little less innocent. A lot less happy.

Leia's phone buzzed against her thigh, startling her from her thoughts. She'd been staring at the same Instagram post for several minutes, not really seeing it, her mind wandering through the labyrinth of her new reality. With a sigh, she glanced down at the notification, expecting another message from Riven about tomorrow's schedule or perhaps Georgie checking in from London.