isn't it? [taylor swift]

chapter 70

Leia could feel her heartbeat in her fingertips.

Taylor sat at the piano in the center of the stage, silhouetted by warm, gold floodlight. Her hair was curling slightly at the ends from the Tennessee air, stuck a little to her neck, her eyes scanning the stadium like she could feel every single person - every scream, every breath - and still somehow find just one.

Leia hadn't moved in three minutes.

She'd known the surprise song section was coming. Everyone around her had. Georgie was to her left, holding back her always overwhelming excitement already. Riven was somewhere behind them, arms crossed and unmoving, but Leia could tell by the way his foot had started tapping that he was bracing for something too.

Taylor touched one hand gently to the keys as she moved on from the guitar segment, the crowd screaming and roaring around them as she shot a grin out towards them all. And her gaze lingered - a little too long - in the direction where Leia stood.

Leia's stomach twisted as they locked eyes for a split second, a soft grin falling across her lips as she leaned back against Austin who had swung an arm around her shoulders.

Taylor dropped the eye contact and leaned in to the mic, voice soft and easy as she addressed the crowd again.

"I was trying to think about what to say before this next song," she said, voice soft but clear, warm in the hush. "And I guess what keeps coming to mind is... how grateful I feel tonight. Not just for this show. For everything. For right now. For where I am."

The crowd swelled with noise. Taylor smiled and nodded, but there was something else in her eyes - something quieter that only those standing in the VIP tent really knew well. She was being truthful to the fans, and they'd all see that emotion in her since Leia and her had reconnected.

"I know I've said this before, but I mean it tonight more than I ever have," she went on. "I'm the happiest I've ever been. In my life. Like... in a way I didn't know was possible."

Leia felt the breath catch in her chest. There was movement beside her - someone reacting, maybe Georgie cheering again, maybe someone else turning - but she didn't look. Her eyes were too busy focused on her girlfriend, that little knowing smile on her lips as Taylor chuckled to herself at the piano.

Taylor looked down at the keys, fingers grazing them gently, and then looked up again. Right toward Leia. She smiled like a secret again.

"You know when something feels so good and so rare that you almost want to keep it to yourself?" she said, and the crowd made a soft sound, a collective "aww",  like they were picking up on something just below the surface. "But then you realize that part of joy is letting it glow. Letting it be seen."

Leia's throat tightened. She didn't blink.

Taylor hesitated, just a moment, then added, "I feel lucky. Every day. Because someone I love reminds me what it's like to feel... safe. And challenged. And alive."

The crowd erupted - not with confusion, but with euphoria. The kind of noise people make when they believe in something bigger than themselves. Fans started screaming things from every corner of the stadium.

This was the first time Taylor had even hinted at a relationship or even something of the sorts since the news had broken that her and Joe had been broken up for almost a year. Sure, the fans had speculated hundreds of different relationships she potentially was having behind the scenes, but to get a confirmation like this? That was new.

Leia's stomach turned with emotion again - that slow, blooming ache of being seen, even when no one else quite knew what they were looking at. Taylor glanced down. Laughed lightly into the mic and regained control of the stadium once more.