All I Wanted: A Joshayley Fanfic

Chapter 6 - Distance In-Between Us

*JOSH'S POV*

"Are you going to eat that?"

Jenna poked her fork playfully into my food and snagged a mouthful of the green curry. I smiled impassively, not paying attention.

"Ew. You've let it go cold," She pretended to be disgusted, trying to make me laugh. I remained silent. "What's wrong, Joshie? You love Thai."

I couldn't find the right words to tell Jenna how I was feeling. It had been almost two weeks since Hayley and I had seen each other. Was it ludicrous to be dejected because she hadn't called me again? Yes, you moron. She's probably just busy. Their new album is coming out tomorrow, isn't it? She hasn't got time for you.

"And this is your favourite restaurant. So cheer up."

Jenna's voice snapped me back into the present. We were at a Thai curry-house in west Nashville, not too far from where we lived. It was expensive, but I liked to take us here every so often for a treat. I would usually be enjoying myself, but I wasn't today.

There were lots of other couples seated around us, laughing and sharing food. The room was dimly lit with candles; the walls were hung with Thai tapestries and the place had a warm atmosphere to match the temperature. Jenna had dressed up, appropriately doing her hair up in a bun impaled with two chopsticks. She wasn't wearing makeup, but she didn't need to. She was beautiful. You have a beautiful wife. So why aren't you happy?

Because it's not Jenna I want to see right now.

Jenna leaned across the table and pressed her lips softly against mine. I endured it for several seconds - just long enough for her not to be offended by my lack of reciprocation - and pulled away.

*HAYLEY'S POV*

The day dawned bright and crisp; I awoke to the sound of birdsong outside the open window of my hotel bedroom. It was toasty inside the cocoon of the duvet I was encased in, although my exposed shoulders were chilly with the early morning air. I sat up, feeling groggy, and recalled the date.

April 5th. Paramore had been released seven hours ago across the entirety of the United States of America.

I climbed lazily out of bed (catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror - my hair resembled a fiery haystack) and picked up my phone from the dresser. Opening up Twitter, I noticed I had around a thousand notifications - which was even more than usual - and the app closed itself several times before it decided to cooperate. Wow. The fans blew up my Twitter. This either means they really love the album... or they really hate it.

I scrolled through my feed, reading the Tweets quickly. Many of them concerned Zac Farro, with the fans who had been around a little longer expressing their sadness for the former-bandmate's death. Thinking about Zac still put a lump in my throat. Despite our less-than-amicable split, we had once more become good friends with Zac, and Jeremy, Taylor and I had felt it was appropriate to put a post on paramore.net (our official website) to acknowledge Zac's passing and put our condolences across. Zac had been my favourite drummer - and one of my favourite people - ever since I was thirteen years old, and it was really going to suck not being able to see him anymore.

However, most of the Tweets regarded the new album, the reception to which seemed to be overwhelmingly positive: people remarking on the fresh sound; the wide range of genres we'd pursued; the way we had tried something new and exciting and, apparently, created some mighty fine songs in the process. Of course, there was the occasional disgruntled comment that Paramore wasn't the same band we used to be, or that they wanted the 'Old Paramore' back, but I didn't bother responding to them.