Taylor Swift and Jake Gyllenhaal were introduced by mutual friend Gwyneth Paltrow

Kim Truong is a writer focusing on news, entertainment, and culture. She is a graduate of Fordham University. Her work has appeared on The Cut, Self, Refinery29, and BBC America.

Jake Gyllenhaal may have inspired one of Taylor Swift’s most iconic breakup songs, but it wasn’t all bad blood between the two when they started dating in 2010.

Although not quite a love story, their short-lived romance was full of grand gestures. According to News Corp Australia, the Oscar-nominated actor once shelled out a reported $165,000 to fly the cat fashion aficionado to London, where he was promoting his movie Love and Other Drugs, just so they could spend 24 hours together. (If that isn’t a romantic date, we don’t know what is.)

What about the Hollywood Life exclusive report that he rented out a whole movie theater so they could watch Tangled together in privacy? Nevertheless, by the end of 2010, a mere two months after they were first spotted together, the pair’s relationship had run its course.

Here’s a look back at Taylor Swift and Jake Gyllenhaal’s relationship.

2010: Taylor Swift and Jake Gyllenhaal first meet.

Swift and Gyllenhaal’s romantic history dates back to when they were set up by actress and mutual friend Gwyneth Paltrow. In December 2010, Paltrow reluctantly told USA Today that she played matchmaker after a report surfaced indicating that Swift, just 20 years old at the time, and a 29-year-old Gyllenhaal, met at a dinner party at the London home Paltrow shared with then-husband Chris Martin.

“I’ve just known Jake for a long time, and he’s a great guy,” she said, “and Chris has a friendship with Taylor.” She added, “It’s so weird. I wonder how people find out these things. It was a while ago, so I don’t know why it would come out today.”

Admitting she was “scared to say,” the only timeline Paltrow gave for the dinner party was “a while ago.” However, it was clear by October of that year that something was brewing between Swift and Gyllenhaal.

October 2010: Taylor Swift and Jake Gyllenhaal are first spotted together.

The folklore singer-songwriter and Prisoners actor were first seen together backstage at a taping of Saturday Night Live in October 2010. A source told People they had shown up to the SNL taping together and “they walked around together backstage, but they were careful not to be seen too close. It was hard to tell if they were together, but everyone was shocked that she brought him.”

The weekend of the SNL sighting, Gyllen-Swift (Swift-Haal?) were also seen having brunch in Brooklyn. Given that the short-lived relationship only existed within the confines of the fall season, the Gyllen-Swift fall agenda was in full force, with appropriately-themed maple latte coffee dates on deck, according to People and TMZ. Throw in Swift’s reference to “autumn leaves falling” in a song purportedly written about Gyllenhaal (more on that later).

Now, when we think of fall, we think of them. It may have been a brief romance, but for a fleeting moment, Swift and Gyllenhaal encapsulated the cuffing season aesthetic, and for that, we loved them.

December 2010: Taylor Swift and Jake Gyllenhaal break up.

By 2011, the autumnal coffee dates and strolls were officially done after the pair reportedly spent the holiday apart. The Grammy Award-winning musician rang in the new year solo in Nashville, while the Ambulance star was in New York City, where he attended a closing party for Broadway’s Fela! on January 2. A source confirmed the breakup to People in early January with an aptly succinct quote, telling the outlet, “They’re over. It ended last month.”

Though the source didn’t give a reason for the split, the relationship (and, presumably, the breakup) appeared to provide fodder for one of Swift’s most popular hits. It’s now widely accepted that “All Too Well” from Swift’s 2012 Red album was penned about her relationship with Gyllenhaal, with all of its references to the subject having once been “a little kid with glasses” and a scarf left at his sister’s house (hi, Maggie Gyllenhaal).

The rumor that the song was written about the actor was so widespread that Maggie was forced to publicly answer for the scarf’s whereabouts in an interview on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen in 2017. “I am in the dark about this scarf. It’s totally possible [it’s at my house],” she told the WWHL host. “I don’t know. I have been asked this before, and I am like, ‘What are you talking about?'”

The Donnie Darko star, meanwhile, has never been able to shake the association with the song. Swifties flooded his Instagram with red scarf emojis after he shared a photo of himself as, you guessed it, “a little kid with glasses.” Not that he’ll talk about it, of course.

In 2017, when asked if he thought dating Swift was “playing with fire” for someone so intensely private, the Brokeback Mountain actor told The Guardian, “I think when you’re in a relationship, you are constantly scrutinized, your friends are scrutinized …” After trailing off, he added, “I would love to not talk about my personal life.”

Fair enough.