"The sun is shining and it's going to be a hot day here in LA! Keep hydrated, and to kick off the morning we are gonna play you feel good tunes!"

Leia smiled as she turned the radio up slightly, humming along to the pop song that blared through her radio speakers.

She'd crashed over after they'd finished their hike, staying in Taylor's guest room after they'd shared a bottle of wine and Leia had listened to Taylor's deep worries about her relationship with Calvin Harris, and how Tom Hiddleston might be the reason she needed to leave the Scottish DJ.

Leia also had just survived her first encounter with the paparazzi being aware of her completely, and she knew that the candids of her leaving Taylor's house that morning would soon be spread across her twitter feed.

When Leia had been younger she had once been just like those fans on social media. She even went as far as having a shared fan account with her sister, dedicated to Zayn Malik's single strand of hair from the 2014 American Music Awards. It was safe to say that she had since disbanded the account and had promised herself to never re-enter stan twitter now that she actually was beginning to know all of these people on a personal level. She'd take that fact to the grave.

Still, this didn't stop her from being almost excited at the prospect of seeing what Taylor's fans would think of her and Taylor's new-found friendship. She knew she had a small but growing fanbase, but she also was vividly aware of the power that Taylor's fans held. She really hoped that the Swifties accepted her as Taylor's friend or she wasn't sure what she would do.

Noticing that she had almost arrived at her destination, Leia lifted her hand to allow her sunglasses to fall down from the top of her head and sit lightly on her nose. Hitting her indicator in time to the beat on the song she chuckled to herself as she pulled into the small parking lot on the side of the road.

She could already see a swarm of paps surrounding the building that she was going to try and get into, making her wonder if she really should start looking into a security guard soon. Riven and Adrian had told her it was something they'd need to think about if this kept up. After taking a couple of minutes to find a parking space that she actually thought her driving skills were capable of getting into, she sighed in relief as she turned off the ignition. If she hadn't been a singer, there was no way she'd ever have made it as a driver in another life.

Ducking and dodging her way through the flashing crowd outside the small restaurant that Karlie had requested they try, Leia almost fell into the building once she made it out of the huddle. Noticing her flustered look, she was instantly greeted by one of the members of staff from the restaurant. Leia smiled at the young girl especially as she realised that she could only have been like a year younger than herself.

The way her hands shook slightly as she reached out and took Leia's jacket from her hands indicated one thing to Leia: she knew who she was and she was a fan (maybe, or maybe she just got nervous around celebrities). Ignoring the fact that the girl had actually brought a jacket in the heat that was happening outside, the waitress politely lead her to the side of the restaurant where Karlie had already informed her that she was waiting on Leia.

The blonde broke out into a massive grin as she noticed her friend striding across the restaurant to their table. Launching to her feet, she laughed as she pulled her into a welcoming hug. It had only been a week since they had last seen each other but with Karlie's busy schedule it felt like it had been forever.

"I ordered you the usual, hope you don't mind?" Karlie informed her as they both sat back down at the table. Leia smiled warmly at her friend as she nodded contently. Karlie and Leia knew each other like the back of a book; hence why Karlie had always known that her and Taylor would become the perfect friends.

"How was Amsterdam?" Leia asked as they tucked into their food once it had arrived. Her friend had just finished a shoot for a watch company over in Europe and she was excited to hear all about it. She remembered going on a holiday to Amsterdam with her dad after she had visited her grandad in London a while ago - but a lot had changed since then. He'd passed a few years after, her family had moved back to Scotland and she'd been over very rarely since.

"It was incredible," Karlie gushed, halfway through her vegan pie. Reaching for her phone, she pulled up the camera app to show Leia some of the photos that she hadn't either already sent the girl or hadn't posted to her instagram. "You should have came."

Leia laughed at that, not at first realising that Karlie was being serious. Once she noticed the model hadn't laughed along, she furrowed her eyebrows as she looked at her friend.

"Karlie, I'm not a model. I sing. I sing and that's that," Leia reminded her, knowing that her friend had wanted her to drop her singing career and model with her and most of their friends instead. "Besides I don't think I'd be able to do the hours of training and practice walking that you all do - the studio is my comfy safe place."

The blonde accepted this answer, dropping the topic and changing it with a small smirk forming on her lips as she cheekily glinted at the singer. Leia felt herself get slightly nervous as she noticed the way Karlie was looking at her, knowing that this is her michevious look.

"So..." Karlie drawled out, her smirk now in full bloom. "I noticed that you and a certain someone have been spending more time together!"

Leia's nerves faded instantly as a massive grin plastered itself across her mouth. The red on her cheeks stayed the same, but her mouth was moving frantically as she gushed about Taylor to Karlie. Karlie stayed silent as Leia rambled, trying to hide the grin that was on her mouth.

"...but like how does she just know these things?" She finished, realising that she had been rambling. A red blush spread her cheeks as Karlie laughed, knowing that her friend had always been excited to meet Taylor. Thinking back to a conversation that her and Taylor had shared, she turned a little somber as she looked back to the blonde. "Has she said anything about Calvin to you?"

Leia had lowered her voice for the last part, making sure that only Karlie could hear what they were about to discuss. The blonde moved in her seat slightly and the look on her face instantly told Leia that the man had been a conversation topic with the two blondes as well.

"I don't really know what's going on there," Karlie admitted as they continued to talk about the couple and their mood swings the past month. "But as much as I hate to say it, I don't think it'll last much longer."

Leia agreed with this, knowing that Taylor had already expressed to the two that she was having doubts about the relationship now. There wasn't much else they could do except from wait it out and wait they would.

"Hi! Sorry I didn't want to interrupt but I was wondering if we could get a picture?"

Leia jumped slightly as the excited voice appeared to her right, turning in her seat to see two teenagers grinning at them. Leia smiled as Karlie laughed lightly, nodding to show them that that was completely fine.

"Whose phone are you wanting it taken on?" Leia asked as she held her hand out to take the device so that she could snap the photo of the two fans and Karlie. The boy laughed as the girl shook her head quickly, almost as if she had offended Leia.

"We mean with both of you!"

Leia swore her jaw must have dropped in that moment. She had been told by Adrian and Riven that with the rate her music was going she would be stopped for photos but she hadn't really believed them - especially when Karlie was much more well known that she was.

"Well, alrighty then," Leia smiled widely, jumping to her feet as Karlie did the same. "What are we waiting for?"

___

By the time they'd finished their brunch, Leia was excruciatingly aware that she had to head straight to the airport if she wanted to make it over to New York to film her Jimmy Fallon performance that evening. Adrian had informed her that he would pick her up from her apartment, she just needed to leave the restaurant and meet him there.

Pulling her phone out of her pocket as she left the restaurant Leia looked down at it for one moment. Due to her bad timing and horrific luck, Leia crashed straight into a solid body. If it wasn't for the arms that had wrapped around her waist to help steady her, the girl was sure that she would have fallen straight over on the sidewalk.

Looking up, Leia found herself making eye contact with none other than one of her original childhood crushes - the one and only... Nick Jonas? Her heart skipped a beat as she registered who it was, her mind going blank for a moment before she managed to stammer out a weak apology.

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going," she managed to say, feeling a mix of embarrassment and awe wash over her. This was Nick freaking Jonas, standing right in front of her. She tried to ignore the fluttering in her chest and focus on not making a complete fool of herself. She and her younger sister, Georgie, had been obsessed with Camp Rock growing up. She'd even had a poster or two of him and his brothers on her walls.

Nick smiled warmly, his eyes crinkling at the corners. "No worries at all. It was partly my fault too, I should have been paying attention. Are you okay?"

Leia nodded quickly, still finding it hard to believe that she was having this encounter.

"It's Leia right?" He asked, his hands still wrapped around her back as she kept hers on his shoulder. She realised that, and excused herself slightly as she took a step back from him and put some space in between them. Blushing widely, Leia took her other hand away from his shoulder as she tried to avoid eye contact with him.

"Yeah," she breathed, surprised he knew who she was. Leia's phone buzzed in her hand, jolting her back to reality. She glanced down to see a text from Adrian reminding her of their tight schedule.

"I have to go," she blurted out, finally tearing her eyes away from the phone after a moment. "I have a flight to catch."

Nick nodded understandingly, his smile still lingering on his lips. "I won't keep you then. It was nice meeting you, Leia. Safe travels."

He gave her a small wave before turning to walk away, disappearing into the bustling streets of the city. It was as if it had never happened, and Leia almost wondered if she had just hallucinated that interaction. She knew the restaurant was popular with big names, but she hadn't expected to literally bump into one.

Leia stood there for a moment, still in a state of disbelief. Meeting Nick Jonas was certainly not something she had expected to happen today. She quickly snapped out of her daze and hurriedly made her way towards her car so that she could get back before Adrian sent her another string of angry texts at her poor timekeeping.

As she settled into the driver seat, Leia couldn't help but replay the encounter with Nick in her mind. She hooked her phone up to the speaker system, pressing call on the familiar contact name as she drove away from the curb, navigating through the busy streets of the city. She couldn't wait to tell Georgie, her little sister, about her encounter with Nick Jonas. She knew how much the girl loved hearing about unexpected celebrity encounters, especially with people they both admired.

Almost as soon as Georgia picked up, the younger sister had began blabbering on the phone about how she was so excited to almost have finished high school, and that she was wanting to look into going to University in the USA. As she finished moaning about her options, she suddenly turned her attention back to Leia and asked what she had been doing when she called.

"Georgie, you'll never believe who I just met..."

_____

Taylor couldn't stop thinking about her newest friend. Leia was unlike anyone she had met before, and she had been surprised when she'd found herself confiding in the girl about her feelings towards Calvin recently.

Leia had been incredibly understanding, offering sympathetic advice and a listening ear. It was refreshing, since all her other friends had grown bored of hearing about the man. They'd never been his biggest fan anyway, and it had always been clear to everyone that the couple both weren't in love, no matter what they'd tried to convince themselves.

With a sigh, Taylor decided to send Leia a text message. She hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to say, but finally settled on a simple, "Hey! I hope you're having a good flight, and good luck on Fallon tonight! Let's grab coffee when you're back?".

She pressed send before she could overthink it.

Minutes turned into what felt like hours as Taylor anxiously waited for Leia's response. Her heart raced with excitement and nervousness. Would Leia want to hang out with her again? Had she overshared too much? Had the paparazzi that morning scared her off? Was she too much for Leia?

"Which one of your friends is this?" Calvin asked Taylor from the couch in his studio as he took a break from working on This Is What You Came For. The blonde looked up from where she had been biting her nails as she stared at her phone, not having been paying any attention to Calvin's production since she'd already finished her adlibs.

Taylor felt slightly frustrated with him asking her who the girl was, having already shown him photos of them when they had gone on their hike just a day prior. Taking a deep breath before she answered him, noticing that he had already gone back to scrolling through his twitter feed, she calmed herself slightly.

"That's Leia, Leia Hudson," Taylor said fondly, a smile on her face as she thought about her friend. "She's the one who sings Be The One."

Calvin looked up from his phone, a hint of recognition in his eyes. He seemed more interested now, and Taylor wondered what had peaked his attention.

"Oh, her. She's got a great voice. You guys seem to be getting pretty close."

"Yeah, we've been hanging out a lot lately. She's really cool."

Calvin leaned back in his chair, studying Taylor with a curious expression. Taylor shrugged, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

"I mean, she just gets me, you know? We have this connection."

Almost like he didn't care about the specifics of their friendship, he brought the conversation back to himself.

"Do you reckon you could put me in touch with her?"

Taylor wasn't sure if it was anger or jealously that she felt when she heard his sudden interest in her new friend. Sure, she knew Calvin loved to collaborate with people but why did it have to be the overly gorgeous Leia Hudson? Leia was her friend, not just someone that Calvin used to get another song out.

She looked at Calvin, a sense of protectiveness washing over her. She had seen him do this before - using people at the start of their careers for his own gain without regard for their feelings or aspirations, only to dump and blame them if the song flopped (which they seemed to be doing a lot recently).

"No," Taylor said firmly, the determination in her voice surprising even herself. "Leia is not just someone for you to collaborate with. She's my friend, Calvin. I won't let you exploit her for some streams already."

"Come on, Taylor," he protested, his tone tinged with frustration. He didn't understand why she was being so uptight about him meeting Leia and writing on a song with her. "I thought you understood how the industry works. It's all about connections and collaborations."

Calvin sighed, reaching out to grab Taylor's hand. His touch used to bring her comfort, but now it made her feel suffocated. But Taylor pulled her hand away, distancing herself from him both physically and emotionally.

"Taylor, I didn't mean to upset you," he said softly, trying to sound apologetic. "I just think she's got a great voice and would help her career out, that's all. You'd want to give her that opportunity, right? Come on, Taylor. It's just a collaboration. I thought you said she was cool."

Before she could say anything, the studio door opened and a familiar man walked in. Laughing at something that someone was telling him over the phone, he noticed Taylor and Calvin and realised instantly that he had walked into the wrong recording room. He could feel the tension between them, and it only took one look at Taylor's stone cold expression to realise that they'd been arguing before he entered.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt," the man said with a nervous chuckle, trying to diffuse the tension in the room. "I'll just, uh...find the right studio."

Calvin shot him an annoyed glance but Taylor's expression softened at the sight of their unexpected guest.

"No worries, Nick," she said, offering him a warm smile. "You're always welcome here."

"Is everything alright here?"

Taylor's face softened as she turned to face Nick. She appreciated his presence, his ability to diffuse the tension in the room with just a few words. It was like he had a sixth sense for these situations.

"We're just having a little disagreement, that's all," Taylor replied, her voice steady now. "But it's nothing we can't handle ourselves."

Nick nodded understandingly, his eyes flickering between Taylor and Calvin. He could sense that there was more to this disagreement than met the eye, but he didn't want to pry into their personal lives. Instead, he shifted the focus of the conversation to a lighter topic.

"You'll never believe who I ran into today! Leia Hudson, she's your friend right?"

Calvin shifted uncomfortably in his seat, feeling somewhat left out of the conversation now that Nick had entered the picture. He realised that he had overstepped with Taylor earlier, not fully appreciating the bond she had formed with Leia. If others had picked up on their newfound friendship, maybe it was more important than he thought.

"You saw Leia? Where?" she asked eagerly, her curiosity piqued. She couldn't help but wonder what Leia was up to while she was away, since she was supposed to have been on a plane to New York.

"Well, I bumped into her at leaving a restaurant downtown. She said she was off to catch a flight, so we didn't really say much. Cool girl, though. Great voice."

Calvin watched their exchange, feeling a mix of guilt and jealousy creeping in. Why was everyone getting to meet this girl except him? Why was Taylor trying to prevent him from collaborating with her? If she was being pegged as the next up-and-coming star, surely it was only right that she do a few collabs?

He'd need a different approach. Clearing his throat, Calvin spoke up tentatively.

"You know what? I... I think you're right, Taylor. I shouldn't have tried to use Leia for my own gain. That was selfish of me. I just think... I think it would be good fun to have her on a song."

Taylor turned to look at Calvin, surprised by his admission. She saw a glimmer of sincerity in his eyes that she hadn't seen in a while. She hummed as Calvin turned back to Nick, the topic changing to a recent venue they had both played. Her fingers drummed against her thigh as she thought about the brunette.

Taylor was glad that Leia was getting more recognition but a fear had started to form in her chest. What if Leia didn't want all the attention that came with being associated with her? What if all of this was just too much for the brunette? While Taylor hadn't known her for very long, their friendship seemed like it was just what she needed. What if this was just another good thing her reputation ruined for her?

.

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originally published: august 2018

rewritten: february 2024