William Bowery x Nils Sjöberg
"Hhmm hmmm hm hmmm" low humming came out of the study, where Joe was sitting in a rock chair reading a magazine. Taylor heard him from the kitchen were she was making dinner and decided to follow the noise. Not wanting to announce herself quite yet, she hid her body behind the door only lurking in with her face. Joe didn't notice her because of the magazine but now she was finally close enough to hear what he was mumbeling: "What if I just showed up at your party, would you have me, would you want me" Taylor had to cough in that moment accidentally announcing herself. He looked up surprised and blushed a little. Taylor asked: "What were you singing? It sounded so good!" Joe now looked a crimson shade of red and without looking into her eyes answered: "Well, I guess you heard that, hu." Taylor giggled and smirked at him. "I actually just made that up myself, Tay" Joe added making Taylors jaw drop. "Really? And I thought I was the only songwriter around here! That was really good, why don't you sing more often?"
Joe looked away embarrassed and chuckled: "I guess I don't like singing in front of a crowd, Mrs. Popstar"
Taylor laughed and sat down next to him: "Okay, I understand that. But would you be willing to write with me?" Joe smiled at her and nodded: "Yes, that would be lovely! At least we'd be more productive than most people during the pandemic" She nodded but then looked up at him with a smirk that meant she had a crazy idea: "Oh my god, I'm going to write a whole album! I have a few drafts lying around upstairs that I could totally turn into songs and I'll phone Jack, this will be perfect! And nobody will suspect anything!!"
Joe laughed and shook his head: "You're crazy! But in the very best way my darling"
She smiled and then jumped up running and yelled: "Oh shit, I forgot about the food! Joseph, you distractor "
"Okay Joe, can you sing it again? I suppose that wasn't the whole thing cause I interrupted you, right?"
Joe nodded and sang the part again: "What if I just showed up at your party, would you have me, would you want me, would you tell me to go fck myself or leave me to the garden, in the garden would you trust me if I told you it was dududu I'm only seventeen I don't know anything but I know I miss you"
Taylor applauded and whistled grinning wildly. "Wow, you're a genius! That was really good!" She went up to hug him.
"I'm guessing you were missing a line and that's why you sang: "dududu"?"
He nodded while she grabbed a piece of paper and a pen.
They both sat down next to each other on the couch.
After working on the chorus and starting with the verses, they still had to figure out the blank line at the beginning and decide on a name for the character. Taylor remembered that her friend Blake Lively had just had a baby called Betty, which she thought was a beautiful name. So she sent a quick text to Blake and her husband asking if they could use that name in a song. She agreed and so Taylor and Joe used that name. It was clear pretty quickly that that would also be the title of that song.
They put their stuff aside and decided to go to bed since it was late already.
Once they laid under the covers, Taylor lying in his T-shirt with her head on his chest and their hands intertwined, Joe muttered: "Tay"
She nodded and mumbled: "hmmm" being half asleep already.
He said: "I really love that we're writing a song together, but do we really want to use my name there? The fans will go crazy"
She looked confused and asked: "What would the alternative be?"
Joe shrugged: "I don't know. A pseudonym maybe?"
Taylor nodded: "K" and fell asleep.
Taylor woke up the next morning and wondered why Joe wasn't there.
But that mystery was soon solved when she smelled pancakes and realized that Joe was in the kitchen.
She walked downstairs and hugged him from behind wishing him a good morning. He kissed her and they stood intertwined in a hug. That was when she realized the song that was playing through the very loud boom box. It was "This Is What You Came For". Taylor looked at him confused and asked: "Why the hell are you listening to my ex boyfriends song?" He chuckled and said: "Cause my girlfriend wrote it!" as if that would have been self-explanatory.
Taylor shook her head but sang along.
He was finished with the pancakes a few minutes later and then they sat down together to eat. He turned the music off because it was too loud to really talk.
She poured maple syrup over her pancakes and took a bite before Joe asked: "Let's talk about the pseudonym thing again, we were way to tired last night". Taylor nodded and said: "I don't really think that you should do that. Why do you want to do that anyway?"
Joe answered: "Well your fans would go bonkers. We tried to keep this private until now, why should we stop now?
Also, you did a pseudonym now, didn't you Nils Sjöberg?"
She looked at him shocked: "That's why you played that song, didn't you?"
He agreed sheepishly.
She shook her head and asked: "Well, what name would you take anyway?"
He thought for a second before saying: "William Bowery...... doesn't that sound so cool?"
She rolled her eyes and smiled: "Yeah sure, sounds really cool." He held her hand and kissed her before whispering: "William Bowery and Nils Sjöberg. Sounds good together, no?"
