Falling | zaylor ✓

Thank You

It was a regular day, really. Nothing out of the ordinary. The band weren't busy with touring, and instead actually had a short break, which they were all very happy about.

Taylor woke up to see several missed calls from Hayley, along with one from Jeremy. One voicemail from Hayley. Many messages from Hayley, along with one from Josh.

He rubbed his tired eyes and checked the time. 10 AM. Later than he usually would sleep until. But he was curious as to what all of this fuss was about, why Hayley had sent so many messages and called so many times. Something must have happened.

The first thing he checked was Hayley's text messages.

Hayley: Taylor, did Jiosh text yiu

Hayley: Please tAylor

Hayley: Im srory that there are si many speling mistakes in these mesaages but ican't stop cryibg

Okay, from that alone, he knew that something had to have gone wrong. Duh. And that something had to do with Josh.

So he went to check the text that Josh had sent him. It was lengthy, and Taylor was expecting there to be something said that would trigger emotions similar to those of Hayley.

Josh: Taylor, hey. This is from Zac and I, and we'll be telling Hayley and Jeremy and everyone else we tour with as well. But we wanted to tell you first. Zac insisted on it. Him and I both have lost a majority of the joy we once felt about touring and being in this band in general. Shortly after releasing brand new eyes, we both began to feel tired of it all. So we're going to leave. We've wanted to tell you all in person, but could never find the right moment to do so. This just felt easiest. We plan on staying for the remainder of the tours scheduled for this year. But towards the end of the year, we plan on announcing to the fans that we'll be leaving. Thank you for helping us make the dreams we had as teenagers in your basement, with Justin, become a reality.

Taylor didn't cry at first. He re-read the message at least three times. He couldn't believe what he was reading. He thought he was dreaming, stuck in the most terrifying nightmare of his life. But it wasn't that. This was real, and it was horrible.

After reading the message for the third time, he began to sob uncontrollably. He buried his face into his pillow as he bawled. He had realized that Josh and Zac hadn't been as happy as they once were, but he never would have expected for this to happen. Josh meant a lot to him. He was one of his best friends, someone he'd toured with for years and had been friends with for even longer.

But Zac was different. He was Taylor's best friend ever. He was the main reason Taylor was in the band at all. There were several reasons and several people that were responsible for him being in the band, but none of it would have ever happened if, at camp when they were younger, Zac hadn't been running away from Taylor, and if Taylor hadn't chased after him. Of course, Justin being Taylor's brother definitely impressed the Farro brothers, too, but overall, none of it would have been possible if not for Zac.

Once Taylor had calmed down a little bit, he picked up his phone and chose to call Hayley. She picked up and spoke before Taylor could even formulate words. He didn't know what to say, though. He just needed someone to make him feel better.

"Taylor, did they text you?" she asked, words followed by a sniffle. She'd definitely been crying just moments before Taylor called.

"Yeah," he said very quietly, his breathing irregular. There was a silence that they then shared, only the sounds of Taylor's heavy breathing filling the call.

"Can you come over? Jeremy is coming over, can you? It's okay if you're busy. I'm gonna try to see if Josh and Zac can come over if you're comfortable with that. But I want to talk to you two first."

The rhythm guitarist agreed to join her and Jeremy. He didn't bother to change his clothes, but instead stayed in the baggy sweatshirt and mesh shorts that he had worn to bed the previous night.

Taylor arrived at the girl's house before Jeremy had. Before he had even knocked on the door, Hayley pulled it open to allow him inside. Right when he stepped inside, Jeremy pulled into the vocalist's driveway. When he stepped out of the car, it was evident that he'd been crying. He typically wore contacts, but was instead wearing his glasses. Most likely chose to keep his glasses on either because he was too lazy to put his contacts in or because of crying. Probably both.

He whispered a hello, keeping his head down all the while. The three of them all sat down in Hayley's living room, none of them speaking. It wasn't really an awkward silence, but they all were speechless. They didn't know how to feel.

"So..." Jeremy spoke, wanting to fill the silence. But he didn't know what else to say, so that only made it worse.

"You guys....aren't gonna leave, right?" Hayley asked the two of them, both of them shaking their heads quickly.

"No way. I did that once, you remember. Never again," Jeremy spoke with a chuckle. (Although, we all know that Jeremy ultimately changed his mind on that matter).

Taylor couldn't imagine leaving. That was partially because he didn't really have anything else to do with his life. He had no backup plan. He had graduated high school, but he paid so little attention. His goal was to graduate, not to succeed. But since his best friend would be leaving the group, he almost felt guilty to continue to call himself a member of the band. To call himself the guitarist of a band that he was only in because of Zac.

"I don't know. I...I don't know. I don't know," he spoke, eyes locked on the floor. He didn't even know how to feel, so how was he to know what he'd be doing in the future?