Magnolia Musings # 1: Tales from the yacht
A Taylor Swift/Gossip Girl inspired short story + entertainment recs.
Welcome to the first “official” weekly edition of Magnolia Musings. I’m still learning about Substack, but hopefully, it will be smooth sailing going forward. Thank you again for subscribing and sharing this little corner of the internet.
Without further adieu…
Some recommendations
What I’m watching
I am, in no way, an expert on entertainment. You should go follow The Popcast, wherever you listen to podcasts for Jumanji-level recommendations. Truth be told, when I watch the awards shows, I am lucky to know what half the nominees even are. But, if you missed the boat on Ted Lasso, now is the time to head over to Apple TV and binge away. The series finale, allegedly, aired on May 30th and it is well worth your time. If you are not familiar with the show, it is based on the Jason Sudeikis character, Ted Lasso, who is an American football coach hired to coach an English soccer team. It’s a comedy, with a flair for drama. Like any show, some seasons and episodes are better than others, but overall it’s a win in my book. And no, you don’t have to like soccer, or sports, to enjoy the show.
What I’m listening to
Y’all, if I’m being honest, I’m in the middle of a “Swiftassance.” Yes, it’s a word I created on my own. I was never a Taylor Swift fan until the past few months. And now I’m all in. You can count on me rotating between her playlists on Spotify and hitting refresh on my Ticketmaster queue to try and score tickets to the Eras Tour every.single.day. Godspeed to you other Swifties out there selling your left kidney to see her show.
Here are a few of her songs I’m really into right now: “Haunted,” “Clean,” “You All Over Me,” “Breathe,” and I Don’t Wanna Live Forever.” Bonus points if you head over to the forbidden TikTok and catch the videos of her performing these songs during her surprise song/acoustic set on the Eras Tour.
What I’m reading
The list is long of what I’m reading. Truth be told, I can read a novel (if it’s good) in roughly 2-3 hours. But for now, until my new novel comes out, I’ll share a few books that are worth checking out each week.
Here are a few to get you started, if you haven’t already read these:
Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson
Maame by Jessica George
The Celebrants by Steven Rowley
And now, a short story by yours truly
“Make sure no one sees you leave,” Lily said as William was heading out of the cabin on her family’s yacht.
“You know I have to go by and see her tonight Lily. I’ll just say I went for a run and that’s why I’m so flushed,” he responded.
“Not funny Will,” Lily quipped.
Lily Woodsen and William Vanderbilt were playmates in preschool.
Their mothers served on the Junior League board in Biltmore Creek for nearly a decade together. Their fathers were pheasant hunting buddies and spent more time on the golf course together than at family picnics.
Lily’s parents divorced the summer before their freshman year of high school and she missed her father fiercely. She constantly found herself searching for love and it only left her feeling like she’d ruined herself a million little times. She and her mother had far more in common than either ever realized, but their similarities led to frequent heated battles.
Lily had always been the same little girl with the blonde pigtails from preschool in William’s eyes.
William Vanderbilt was the quintessential golden boy.
In Biltmore Creek, it was the norm to come from money, but William’s family on both sides, were the epitome of wealth. Banking and tobacco, are the two pillars of wealth in North Carolina. William’s father had been a Fleet Admiral in the United States Navy and his mother played the role of a dutiful wife until some of Admiral Vanderbilt’s business deals had gone wrong.
Lily, William, and their best friends Cornelia and Jack were thick as thieves. They were the envy of every student at Lotte Country Day School in Biltmore Creek. Lily and Cornelia were as beautiful as William and Jack were handsome. Cornelia was the commander of their elite group of friends and constantly barking orders to their minions. Jack was the manipulative, brooding, bad boy of Lotte always scheming his next plot. As dark as Jack was, William was the light. Always with a smile that lit up the room and never missing when his friends needed him most. The doting boyfriend and the loyal friend.
Their lives were that of wealth and fame, glamorous and extravagant. They lived in large mansions, drove luxurious cars, and traveled the world on private jets together. They dined at fancy restaurants and wore designer clothing all at sixteen years old.
However, their lives were not always perfect, as they faced the constant pressure of maintaining their image and living up to society's expectations. They were often under public scrutiny and had to deal with the paparazzi invading their privacy. Despite these challenges, they continued to live their lavish lifestyles and enjoyed the perks that come with their fame and fortune.
The past school year had been tumultuous for their circle of friends with Lily’s parent’s divorce and William’s father being indicted. William and Cornelia had been dating since middle school and she spent countless nights that sophomore year complaining to Lily that, “William needed to stop letting his father’s illegal doings interfere with their relationship.” From the outside looking in, William and Cornelia had a picturesque relationship. They certainly looked the part. What the watching world didn’t know was that William was riddled with feelings for Lily. At some point during the previous school year, she stopped being the little girl with blonde pigtails to him. She was stunning and he could see it now. Somehow she made the Lotte girl’s uniform look like couture. With legs that went on for days, he was eaten up with a desire to be more than her oldest friend.
Lily and Cornelia were like sisters. They spent more time at each other’s mansions on the coast than their own. Since her parent’s divorce, Lily was spending almost every night at Cornelia’s. Cornelia’s mother was a successful businesswoman who spent much of her time abroad traveling and her father was living in France, unofficially of course. Lily was the object of affection to every boy at Lotte, and quite frankly even the grown men in Biltmore Creek. She was stunning like her mother and everyone knew she had a bit of wild side.
As William left her family’s boat to head to Cornelia’s, Lily lay on the top deck looking at the stars. Southern summer nights were something special. The air was heavy with humidity and the stars twinkled bright in the night sky. Crickets chirped and frogs sang, a steady rhythm in the background. Fireflies danced in the fields, illuminating the darkness with their gentle glow. Porch swings creaked as they swayed back and forth, a soothing sound. On nights like this, time seemed to slow down just a bit, and everything felt a little bit more magical.
On this night Lily could think of nothing but the godforsaken mess she and William had created. Neither Lily nor William could exactly pinpoint when their friendship turned into something more. One minute they were the lifelong best friends they’d always been, and the next they were doing things in beautiful rooms in their mansions telling each other they could always stop whenever they wanted.
But that was the problem.
Born from a single glance that hit differently on a night of drinking with their friends, their relationship had become a drug Lily and William both craved. Both were so desperate to numb themselves to the pain of the previous year and in each other they found a high that worked better than the few hundred nights full of partying.
Tonight Lily was angry though. It was the type of anger that made you feel overwhelmed, frustrated, and even out of control. The type of anger that could cause damage and hurt others. What she couldn’t decide as she lay there was if her anger was with William, or at herself. They both cared so much for Cornelia, how could they do this to her?
They had always said they could stop whenever they wanted to.
But Lily wasn’t so sure anymore.
What she and William shared alone in those private moments was a feeling she couldn’t feel with anyone else. She felt like a fool realizing she was falling for her oldest friend and her best friend’s longtime boyfriend. Cornelia had joked several months back that Lily and William shared a language no one else could understand unless they had walked through similar wealthy dysfunction as well. At that moment under the twinkling stars over the coast of North Carolina, Lily realized that the secret language they shared was actually love.
But William wasn’t hers to love. And she was not his. Their stolen moments together shared in secrecy were marked by no trace left behind. As if they never existed. And that was how it had to stay.
After watching a movie with Cornelia that night, William returned home and while undressing in his closet he grabbed the tie hanging at the back of his tie rack. One night several weeks ago, Lily sprayed some of her perfume on the back of that tie in a very small spot just under the label. He had begged her for some piece of her to keep with him. She figured what better than part of his Lotte uniform that he wore around his neck near his heart every day. But he never wore that tie in public, Cornelia would notice Lily’s signature scent, and the road less traveled would have a crash ending.
The next morning as Jack and William met Lily and Cornelia at the tennis courts of The Metropolitan Country Club in Biltmore Creek, William greeted Lily with their childhood moniker, “What’s up kid?” Lily fumed with anger inside, it was as if their illicit affair wasn’t maiming him the way it was maiming her. After taking her anger out on the small, round, fuzzy, bright tennis ball, Lily texted William as she loaded her gear back into her Range Rover.
“Don’t call me kid,” she was seething by now.
“What should I call you, baby?” William suggested.
“Don’t call me baby,” Lily retorted.
“That’s the thing about illicit affairs Lily, everything seemingly has to stay the same. I’ve always called you that,” William responded.
“Affairs show their truth, at least one single time,” Lily challenged.
“They lie, Lily, a million little times,” William reminded her.
“I just want to scream,” Lily confessed to William.
“You know damn well I would ruin myself and my relationship for you Lily,” William declared.
“Our lives really have become a Taylor Swift song, Vanderbilt,” Lily smiled as she drove away.
…If you want to know how the story ends, make sure you are subscribed and following along here on The Magnolia Musings!