A/N: Jerm is so cute in that picture.
“Listen, Jenna. I've heard you go on and on about how much of a reason that I am for your relationship insecurities. I get it- I'm his ex, he’s my ex, we’re in a band together, we’re around each other when you're not there, we’ll be across the country for weeks at a time, there’s turmoil in the band, our fans want us back together. But, let me get one thing straight- I will not be the constant blame for your insecurities. I don't have feelings for anybody but my boyfriend, Chad, who you seem to know so well, since you like to bring him up so casually in conversations. Stop making me seem like a bitch. You're not innocent. You’ve been trying to make me feel uncomfortable ever since we stepped foot in that store. You weren’t even supposed to come, but Josh just had to tag you along for the fun. Do you know what the purpose of us being here was for? No? Well, I’ll tell you.” “Hayley, stop.” He said, sounding incredibly serious. “No, Josh. She needs to hear this.” He just huffed out a sigh and let me continue. “The reason we’re here is because we need to get back down to the basics of how our friendships started and it was all because we wanted to have fun making music. But, you are here just ruining every last bit of it. I'm trying to be the glue that holds this band together, but I feel like you're making this really hard for me. I want my boys back and that includes Josh. Don't make me make your life as much of a living hell that you're making it for me.” “Hayley, stop it!” Josh shouted. “Oh, Josh, I was already done when I walked in here. I just thought that maybe she needed my piece of mind maybe.” “Hayley, please…” “Just a little, tiny piece of my mind.” I replied, edging him on. “Stop.” “Okay. Your wish is my command. Just one thing, JOSHY. Don't let THIS ONE ruin our night. Not again, Josh. Not again.”
I walked away from them, walking past Jenna to get to the bathroom. looking up at him. He shook his head at me and walked away. I shrugged my shoulders and walked into the bathroom. I honestly did give not one fuck. Jenna deserved everything that came to her. She is a constant annoyance and a consistent blockage from building a healthy friendship with my friend. Josh and I were great friends before we broke up. But, when your friendship is already on the rocks, it makes it harder to fix when there’s somebody creating more problems than one too many can handle. I'm the one who has to suffer when she makes issues between people. I am. But, the thing is that whenever Josh and I have conflict, it somehow affects the band in the long run, too. And it makes me feel really bad because Zac, Jeremy, and Taylor are all innocent to every situation between Josh and I. I'm just really hoping that my speech to Jenna gets through to her head and makes an impact on how she feels about me and Josh’s relationship because I honestly have no feelings whatsoever for that boy. But, on the other hand, I can't say the same for him. He still asks me about my feelings towards him and that’s obviously because he’s not over his own feelings towards me. I do not feel the same way and that’s the only reason that I was upset that she blamed me, when it was her own boyfriend who wanted me. If she rightfully upset with Josh, then I wouldn’t have been defending. Well, I wasn’t really even defending anyone but myself. But, honestly, I was more worried that Josh was upset with me. He doesn’t even really have any room to be upset with me because I saved him. To Josh, Jenna’s like a princess who gets whatever she wants, so he’s easily persuaded and manipulated by her to do anything she says. So, I jumped in so that he didn’t feel pressured enough to tell what we were talking about in our group conversation. It wasn’t what she might’ve thought it was about. She, most likely, thought it was a text between just Josh and I, and that it was so secretive to the point that he would be ashamed to show her. But, that’s mainly why I had to jump into the conversation. He’s stuck in between two opposing sides and he seems to not know which one is the “right one” to choose. My side would be the “right one” because I don't want to hurt her, but I want for her to let go of her insecurities, especially if their based off of me. I don't even do anything to make her jealous. But, her side would be the “right one” for Josh because that’s his girlfriend and it'd be a lot easier to deal with everything if he just agreed with anything she said.
So, after coming out of the bathroom stall, I made my way over to the sinks. I started washing my hands, looking at myself in the mirror. This was getting to be so stressful. But, then I heard a knock on the bathroom door. I questioned myself, wondering why someone would be knocking on a public restroom. But, I went over to the door and when I opened it, there stood Taylor.
“Oh, hey. Did you…?” “Yeah. They're in the car now. We've gotta go. What exactly happened, Hayley?” “Well…” Then, I was interrupted by Zac saying, “Come on, guys. Let’s go.” So, I sighed and Taylor just said that, if it was okay, we could talk over at my house. I nodded and agreed to it, even though I felt bad about continuously pushing back my private time with Chad.
We walked back over to the door and out to the parking lot in silence. I hoped that Zac wasn’t upset with me and especially Josh. I didn’t do that for my own personal enjoyment; I did it to help him. When we got outside, there was Josh standing there, and I almost was worried to even approach him because I thought he was gonna yell at me about the bathroom scene. But, he didn’t… He just said, “Guys, I'm sorry. But, Jenna is too upset and emotional to be in the same car as Hayley right now. I know that it sounds ridiculous, and I tried to talk her into letting you get in the car, but I also think it's safe that you don't.” “So, how do you expect me to get home, Josh? My car’s still in your driveway.” I asked. He said, “I called Jeremy and he said he’d come pick you up.” “Didn’t he say he had plans?” “Yes, but I really had to tell him what happened for him to understand the importance.” I just rolled my eyes and whispered to Taylor, saying, “He can't be serious. Can he?” Taylor just looked down at me and shrugged his shoulders. “Fine. I hope your girlfriend’s happy.” I said, before turning around and sitting on the outside bench to wait for Jeremy. “C’mon, guys.” Josh said. “Zac, you can go ahead. I'm staying Hayley. I don't wanna leave her here all alone.” He said okay and left with Josh. I watched Taylor walk back over to me and I just hid my face behind my hands.
“So, tell me, Troublemaker. What’d you say to Jenna?” he asked. I just looked up at him and shook my head, then hiding my face again, with a smile on my face. “What? Was it that bad?” he asked. I put my hands down and said, “No. I just told her that she was making it really hard for me to fix my relationship with Josh.” “That’s it, Hayley. I thought I heard something about ‘Don't make me make your life a living hell’. I may be wrong or…” “Oh, no.” I said, realizing how so out-of-character that sounded coming from someone else saying it about me. “I can't imagine you doing that Hayley.” “Well, I can't believe I said that.” “Wait, so you actually said that?” he said, sitting up and leaning forward to get a look at my face that was turned away from him. “Something along those lines.” I said, nonchalantly. “Ooh. Hayley, this is gonna be hard to fix. You know that Josh loves her, right? Like, so, so much.” “Yes, Taylor. Thanks for elaborating.” “Sorry. I didn’t think…” “No, it's fine.” I say, wanting to just stop talking about it. We sat in silence for 30 seconds, before he spoke up again. “Can I ask a question?” “Yeah, sure.” I say, shrugging my shoulders. “Did something happen between you and Josh recently?” “What? No. Why would say that?” “I just… I don't know. Forget it. I don't wanna be nosy.” “We’re best friends, Taylor. You can never be too nosy.” “Well, I don't know. It's like you guys are in this very awkward place. BUT, at the same time, I can't help but notice the way Josh looks at you.” I turned toward him and looked at him confused. “The way he looks at me? Like, what way does Josh ever look at me, besides with annoyance or the regular bored face he has?” “I don't know. It's just… would you tell me if something happened recently?” “Well… actually, before you guys came over, we got into an argument about, you know, the usual disagreements we have and…” “No, no, no. Zac and I could guess that from a mile away. We could feel the tension when we walked in. But, I don't know… I feel like you’d be upset if I just flat out said it.” “Just say it, Taylor. I promise to not get mad.” “Okay. Well, since you promised… when I say ‘did anything happen between you two’, I mean did “anything” happen…” he says, with air quotes. “I don't under… wait, what? You mean like… what? Wait, you mean like recently? Like, since our breakup?” “Yeah… I guess.” “No, Taylor. Not at all. Why would you say that?” “I told you. The way Josh acts around you. It's like he still wants you, even though we all know that no one can have you now because you're with Chad.” “Well… yeah. Duh. We had to for the band.” “Are you really that oblivious, Hayley or…?” “Well, no. He kind of made it obvious that he still had feelings for me, but he never really said it…” “Like how?” “He kept asking me if I still had some sort of feelings for him. And how it was hard for him to not randomly kiss me at times. You know?” “Are you serious?” “Very.” “Wow. I knew I wasn’t hallucinating.” “Yeah. So, that’s that.” “Well, I hate that he’s taking in all your trying energy to fix you guys’ relationship, transferring it into jealousy or something, and then reciprocating with bad energy. I mean, you're trying so hard to do this, and obviously no one’s completely innocent of the band mess-ups, but it's just really difficult between you two. You guys are so different now.” “I know. It's like a love/hate thing. We agree upon and can enjoy each other for a while, until he brings up something controversial. Or, in this case, brings something controversial.” “Yeah… Hopefully, we’ll be better fitted when we get in the studio, like Zac said.” “Something like that…”
Then, we hear a honking horn and look, seeing Jeremy’s truck. We stand up and walk over and get in. I get in the front seat with Jeremy, while Taylor takes the back middle seat. “So, what's up with you, troublemaker?” Jeremy asks.