The Only Exception.

FOUR.

"Well, she's definitely home." said Taylor, hearing The Format playing out loud.

Her living room was pretty normal, its still very neat. There was no clutter, well, except her coat that was lying on the floor near the stairs, but besides that, everything was spotless.

"Elle!!" Hayley called out as she makes her way to up the stairs.

Jeremey and Taylor followed her up.

Hayley looked around, but the hallway was empty. Tay and Jeremy passed by her, and entered the first room with open doors. She was about to follow them in, when she saw a figure moving inside the room across the hall.

She slowly walked towards that room, "Elle." she called out.

She then saw Marvelle leaning out. She heard her gasped, and she looked very surprised. Hayley smiled.

"Hayley." Marvelle chanted, before running towards Hayley and giving her a tight hug.

+++

Marvelle was still very busy trying to clean her arms when.

"Elle." she heard a familiar voice called out.

She peeked outside the bathroom, and a gasp escaped her mouth. There she was, her best friend. Standing just a few steps away from her. She was smiling.

"Hayley" she said, before running towards her and hugging her tightly. God knows how much she missed her. And how much she needed her right now.

"How did you get here?" she asked after letting Hayley go.

"We heard what happened. So we flew here." she replied smiling.

"We?"

Hayley grinned before pulling her by the hand and leading her to her "studio". They entered the room and there stood two tall guys. Two guys she cares for so much. Her brother and one of her closest friends stood there. They smiled when they saw her enter the room. She smiled.

"Jeremy!!" she yelled as she ran towards him to give a hug.

Jeremy held her tightly. He sighed in relief, finally being able to breath peacefully, glad to know his baby sister is alright.

"Hi Elle." he said, breaking away from the hug. He saw tears slowly falling down Marvelle's eyes. He wiped them off with his thumb.

"Shhhh. Don't cry sis. Everything will be fine" he said trying to comfort her. She smiled and nodded, before hugging him again.

"I miss you so much." she said, her voice muffled as she rested her face on her brother's chest. She felt his laughter vibrating on his chest.

"I miss you too Elle" said Jeremy, with tears threatning to spill out if his eyes. God knows how much she loves her baby sister. And how he never wants anything bad to happen to her.

"Uh. So, I can see you've been painting." said Jeremy, changing the topic. Marvelle broke away from the hug and nodded.

"And drinking too. A lot. You finished a bottle and a half of vodka and a bottle of whiskey. That's a lot." Taylor butted in.

Marvelle rolled her eyes, but eventually smiled.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually missed your jerkiness." she teased. every one chuckled.

"Me too. I missed your occassional bitchyness." he teased back. She rolled her eyes and went to him and gave him a hug.

They might not seem to be the best of friends, and it might seem hard to believe, but Taylor and Marvelle used to date each other back in 2010. They lasted for quite sometime, but they eventually broke up after a year. Taylor loved her. But she was too scared to love him back. She was afraid that he might break her heart just like what Kenneth did. But she did try, she did try to love him back like the way he loved her. But she just simply can't, and Taylor knew that too. And it kills Marvelle to know that Taylor is dying a little inside, knowing she'll never love him back. That's why she broke up with him. And they agreed to just remain friends.

"Well you look horrible." said Taylor. Marvelle rolled her eyes.

"Its becuse of all the crying and the vodkas and the whisky and the staying up all night and the depression and mostly the crying" she playfully replied. He chuckled.

"Well. Enough with the crying. I have something that will absolutely make you smile..... Peperoni Pizza for breakfast!!" Hayley cheerfully butted in. We all smiled.

+++

The four friends sat on the floor in the studio, eating pizza.

"Your paintings are great Elle. You should put those in a gallery and sell them. They're really good" said Hayley, noticing the several paintings arount the room.

"Thanks." Marvelle replied still chewing some pizza.

"Hey Elle, don't you have a meeting with Mr. Janick at the Fuel by Ramen office today?" asked Jeremy. She nodded.

"Yeah. Around 2 pm. It was supposed to be a meeting between Fuel by Ramen and the band. But since the BAND is no more, I'm not coming." she replied.

"What!! and just waste an opportunity of signing under a great record label." Exclaimed Taylor.

"What do you want me to do? Just march in there as a solo artist?!" she jokingly asked.

"That's actually not a bad idea." said Jeremy.

"What! No!" she protested, "I'm a band vocalist, not a solo artist."

"You don't have a band anymore, remember? You are as good as a solo artist." added Hayley.

Marvelle looked at Hayley with disbelief, she's actually agreeing with this two lunatics.

"Not helping Hayley!"

"Cmon Elle,what are you so afraid of?" asked Taylor, she sighed in frustration.

"Its just that I... I, I've never really performed without a band yet."

"What are you talking about?! We'll be there. Just.... Outside. Waiting for you." said Hayley, she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah. you can do it Elle." encouraged Jeremy.

"And besides, what more can you lose? you already lost your band. Its time to move on and be you're own artist." said Taylor.

She looked at them, and she's gotta admit, they do have a point. She shook her head.

"No! no, I am not doing."