thick skull | tayley ✓

misguided ghost

"Full speed ahead,
oh, you are not useless.
We are just misguided ghosts,
traveling endlessly."
paramore

"Don't," Hayley grunted, not even bothering to look at Taylor as she shrugs his hands off her shoulders.

She was gripping the marble counters with her hands, her knuckles white while Taylor exhaled softly.

"Hayles, come on. Just look at me." Taylor asked, but her eyes stayed shut.

Taylor slowly ran his fingers through her hair, removing the hair off her shoulder and instead placing a soft kiss there. He hesitantly placed his hand on her hip, and to his surprise she didn't shake him off this time, just let another conflicted breath escape her lips.

"Please," he asked, letting his hand slide across her skin as he wrapped an arm around her from behind. He dropped a sweet kiss to the back of her head, and seconds later she was hastily turning back around to face him. As he looks in her eyes, he's reminded once again that she's not herself anymore. More so just a shell of the girl he knew and loved, even if he didn't know why.

Her eyes traveled across his blue shirt, the one he wore just because he knew it was her favorite. Taylor let his hand sneak more around her waist, pulling her up against him as she brought her hand to his chest, smoothing down the fabric with her fingers. They traveled all the way up until her hand was placed on the back of his neck, leaving it there to rest.

"What did I do?" He asked, noting how hesitant she was to look him in the eye, "Did I say something wrong?"

He knew she'd heard him, they were so close, but instead of showing any signs of listening to him, she instead started playing with the ends of his hair behind his neck, seemingly staring at her own arm.

"Can we please talk about this?"

Slowly, her eyes finally looked up at him, her fingers stilling against his neck. Then, all at once, she let it fall back down beside her body. With one step back, Taylors hand left her body as well. He frowned at her distant reaction, instantly wishing he'd just kept his mouth shut and held her.

He wanted her close again. Wanted to touch her skin, wanted her to look in the eye, wanted to kiss all her worries away. So, out of pure desperation, he put his hand back out again, palm up as an invitation.

She stared at it silently, her face blank. She seemed tangled, as if something was physically holding her back from reaching out to him. To just let her body fall down against him, to let him take care of her.

So instead of placing her hand in Taylors, she turned around, ending up at the fridge to take some vegetables out. She completely ignored his presence from then on, even as she walked by him to sit at the kitchen table. Taylor didn't move as if to not ruin it, because even if she was upset with him over something, at least she was showing interest in food. Another thing that had been stressing him out to no end lately.

Hayley sat still, and Taylor swore minutes had passed before she looked at him again. They locked eyes for a moment before she closed her own, taking a few deep breaths in and out. Then, just like that she was opening them again and casually reaching for a tomato to chop.

"Don't do that! Don't just pretend I'm not here!" Taylor cried out desperately while moving to one of the closets to take out a cutting board and knife for himself. He stubbornly sat down in the chair right across from her.

"Jesus fucking christ." She mumbled underneath her breath, before snapping at him, "I don't need your help."

Taylor just rolled his eyes, reaching for an onion, knowing she hated cutting those, and started cutting it into tiny pieces.