She was supposed to be preparing for her latest album's world tour. In just a few months, she was supposed to be performing all of her best hits on stage for thousands of fans, if not millions who would probably be watching the live show through videos posted online by other fans or a lucky professionally shot live concert. This year, it was supposed to be in London.

But now, the only thing keeping Taylor busy was Netflix. The only cardio she was getting was not from jumping around a stage but from moving from her couch, to her fridge, and back to her bed in her Los Angeles home, with one or all three of her cats occasionally following her.

She didn't even have the motivation to sit at her piano and play a note or two. Sometimes, she picked up her guitar but she found that she only felt like playing riffs she had already long memorised and could play with her eyes closed, and only sang songs with little effort.

That night, her brother had sent a link to a video on the family group chat with a message tagging her specifically and saying, "this is you and your cats," and for once, with nothing better to do, she decided to indulge him and click on the link.

It instantly redirected her to the TikTok app which she had downloaded once earlier that year at her manager's request to post some kind of promotional video which was supposed to help out or something. She wasn't sure, but she had done as she was told and had never opened the app back again. Until that night.

The video that Austin had sent her turned out to be pretty cute. It was just about a guy showing off his cat as a parent shows off their actual human babies. She would never say this to actual parents but honestly, cats were a lot cuter.

Naturally, she double tapped on her screen to like the video and went to reply to her brother with a series of emojis that would convey playful anger but instead her finger allowed the screen to scroll onto the next video on her feed, which... also happened to be about a cat. This one was going crazy, jumping from one piece of furniture to another. She let out a laugh out loud, liked the video, and scrolled onto the next.

She had long forgotten to respond to her brother and fallen down a rabbit hole of one video after another, scrolling all through TikTok for hours. She hadn't realised how late it had gotten until her cat Benjamin had meowed and started rubbing his head against her leg. With a little frown, she checked the time and realised that it was already four o'clock in the morning. Her brother had sent that video at around one in the morning.

She had been scrolling through a never ending loop of videos for three whole hours...

No wonder people were obsessed with this app.

Benji meowed again, so she got up, stretched her limbs, and followed him all around the apartment until he stopped in the kitchen. He jumped up on the counter and looked at her expectantly, his tail twirling around her hand.

With a little laugh, Taylor rolled her eyes at his mischievousness and went to grab the small bag of treats, hoping the other two cats wouldn't hear her. She had no such luck, of course.

Soon enough, it was a cat feast in there and she was giving each one of them a chicken flavoured treat.

Giving them each a nice scratch behind their ears, she stretched her limbs again and trudged upstairs to her bedroom. She went to the bathroom first to freshen up and brush her teeth and then slipped under her sheets, keeping just her reading lamp on.

Surprisingly, she wasn't all that tired.

Maybe she could watch just another video or two...

The first video that had appeared on her screen when she had refreshed the page was one of a girl playing the acoustic guitar. She raised her eyebrows, noticing that the video had just been posted a mere ten minutes ago.

When the girl started singing, Taylor once again was surprised by how good her voice sounded. It was actually quite deep and had a nice rasp to it, but it reminded her of drinking sweet tea on her mother's front porch on hot days, and she smiled.

It wasn't quite like anything she had heard before. The lyrics were about a love story, and it made her smile a little and the notes she played on the guitar were sweet and actually pretty catchy. It was just a simple strum of a few chords. Her fingers moved intricately, plucking string and sliding from one fret to another with ease, adding a few slaps of her palm against the strings to mute them occasionally and add a few percussive beats.

She wasn't sure if it could have been considered a folk song or indie, but she was sure she had never even written anything like it before.

The video had started playing again. It wasn't that long anyway, just a 30 seconds snippet of a verse and a chorus.

But it was too good, and too catchy, and the lyrics were added right there on the screen, and she found herself mumbling them along. And then when it looped again, she couldn't stop herself from harmonising, singing just a little higher. And it sounded amazing...

Before she knew what she was doing, Taylor had clicked on the share button on the bottom right and then the 'duet' option. She started recording, singing along to the lyrics with a small amused smirk on her face, harmonising perfectly to the song.

you see, I'm not the kinda girl to fall so fast
but when I first saw you, I knew that wouldn't last
it was just a matter of time before i fell in love with you
oh, Phoebe, darling you're my best friend, oh, Phoebe, you're my greatest love yet

I don't really mind cause I know that I've got you, and you know that you've got me,
Phoebe, my love for you will never die,
oh my love for you will never die

With a final grin, the recording ended and she typed out a quick caption before posting it. It really did sound great.

Right before finally closing the app, she made sure to follow the artist, who apparently was called August, and placed her phone and earphones on her nightstand next, before finally laying down to get some sleep.

Meredith had jumped onto her bed and she was too tired to shoo her to her own small cat bed. Instead, she cuddled her cat closer and was snoring within minutes.

When she woke up, she wasn't surprised to find that the video had gone viral. It didn't matter that she was actually famous. The song alone was really that great. It had the potential to become a hit song without her help. 

It wasn't until late in the afternoon when her phone buzzed and she had received a notification that user @augustjames had followed her back and commented on her duet.

augustjames: omg thank you so much! I'm glad you liked this sleep deprived banger!

She actually let out a soft laugh and liked the comment.

Out of curiosity, Taylor clicked on the girl's user. The video she had seen yesterday hadn't featured the girl's face but other videos on her page did and she couldn't help but appreciate how pretty she looked.

August!
@augustjames

she/her , 25, i make music sometimes?
your local dog mom
this is like 90% ironic

Taylor let out a very loud snort at the profile picture which she hadn't taken notice to the previous night. It was a frog wearing a cowboy hat, and it was the cutest thing she had ever seen.

She was just glad no one was around to hear her laugh like that.

Most of the videos were snippets of songs that were pretty amazing just as the one she had heard last night, and criminally underrated with barely more than a few thousand views each. The rest were videos of a small, curly haired black dog.

She couldn't help but like a few of the videos. She had scrolled to the very first video August had ever posted which was a cover of a Bon Iver song. Even when it was recorded through the horrible camera phone, it still sounded amazing.

Taylor was about to close the app when a particular video caught her eye. It was just a pair of hands playing the piano, but the riff wasn't like anything she had heard before. It was truly beautiful.

Grabbing her phone, she made her way downstairs to the music room and sat down in front of the piano. It didn't take her long to find the chords that August was playing. She attempted to add a few notes to the simple progression, but she found that no matter what she played, it seemed to ruin the beauty of how bare and simple the original track is.

How did she even do it?

With a little laugh, Taylor scrolled all the way back up and tapped on the bio on August's page that led to her instagram page. As opposed to her tiktok account, her instagram barely had any pictures, most of which were of her dog. With another chuckle, she went to DM her.

August James
@augustgram

taylorswift ✔️
Hey August! This is gonna sound really weird...

Taylor rolled her eyes at herself and deleted the words. She started again.

taylorswift ✔️
Hey! Taylor here... I'm not sure if you know me but

What the fuck was that? Not to sound conceited, but she was sure someone involved in the music industry had probably heard of her.

taylorswift ✔️
Hey August!

Instead of backspacing again, she accidentally sent the message.

Shit...

Shit, shit, shit!

She had no choice but to send something else, quick.

taylorswift ✔️
I'm not sure if you use this app but it was connected to your TikTok account and it just felt more formal on here for some reason... this is really weird, I'm so sorry! What I meant to say was I think you are incredibly talented and that love song you wrote has been stuck in my head all day... That Phoebe must be a lucky girl! Anyway x The piano song that you titled eternal, how did you come up with it? It's truly ethereal!
Sorry if this was really awkward! Have a nice night :)

The smiley face felt too forced so she deleted it and sent the message without another thought.

God, she was so embarrassing, even to herself. Why did she have to do that?

She was about to bury herself in a billion blankets in hopes that she would never have to face another human being when her phone buzzed.

To her surprise, August had already responded. Actually, she had simply liked the message on instagram and was currently typing a response but Taylor couldn't help but chew on her bottom lip in anticipation, watching the bubble with the three dots wobble on the screen.

And when the message came, she chewed on her nail as she read it.

augustgram
oh my god

That was it.

That was the response.

Taylor was pretty sure she had watched the three bubbles move for a good minute or two.

And that was the only response she got.

She actually burst out laughing at the irony. Honestly, this was probably the best reaction she had ever gotten. She had dm'ed fans before, and their responses were always lengthy and full of appreciation and love for her art and sometimes even her as a person. But she had never received a response that was just three words that absolutely, completely ignored everything she had just rambled about in one message.

She was the nervous wreck this time, and not the fan.

Well, she couldn't be sure that August was fan. For all she knew, August probably hated her music.

Taylor waited ten whole minutes. She never got another response.

So, she sent another one, a much shorter one this time.

taylorswift ✔️
I'm really sorry for creeping you out like that...

August's response this time came much quicker, to her surprise.

augustgram
LAJDJSJSJSJSJSJSKS

Taylor felt slightly relieved and she let out another laugh when she saw the bubbles again.

augustgram
not creeped out. Freaking out!!!!!!!

augustgram
omg niko's gonna freak out what the fuck

augustgram
omg i just cursed in taylor swift's dms

augustgram
OH MY GOD I AM IN TAYLOR SWIFT'S DMS

augustgram
Hi 😭

Taylor was beaming, double tapping each and every single one of August's messages.

taylorswift ✔️
Hi!

augustgram
oh my fucking god