Fan Girl | tayley ✓

2

Of course Taylor didn't recognize Hayley. Even though she had tweeted him, and he tweeted her, he tweeted a lot of people. The most he did was glance at their username, and sometimes their profile picture. But even those, he would forget. So Hayley was a stranger to him. Someone he'd never before spoken to.

"It's nice to meet you," he said with a smile. Hayley had to blink a few times, because of how crazy this entire situation happened to be. The guitarist extended his hands towards the petite girl, and she instantly shook his hand.

It felt weird to be shaking his hand. The hand that had played the riffs of all of her favorite songs of her very favorite band. The hand that wrote melodies that she adored. The hand that had been holding the guitar pick at that show, which Hayley had the luck of catching. Not long earlier, she'd been nearly crying over seeing her favorite band, and less than an hour later, she was just having a casual conversation with the guitarist. AKA, her favorite member of said band.

"I like your hair," the musician commented, remembering what he had even walked over to the two girls for. Maybe he wanted to do a bit more than compliment her hair, but he would have to wait.

Hayley was completely speechless for a moment. Just imagine meeting someone that's viewed as an inspiration, and them being the one to initiate conversation. Pretty wild. She knew that she had to figure out something to say, or else she'd look and feel like an even bigger idiot.

"Thanks, I like yours too," she spoke quickly.

Really, Hayley? She almost rolled her eyes at herself. The girl began to sweat a little bit, making her even more embarrassed. She raised her gaze to once again look up at Taylor's face. The face she quite honestly found to be flawless, the face that was included in her phone's lockscreen. But he didn't have to know that.

With that in mind, she pushed her phone further into her back pocket, along with the guitar pick that she had caught during the show.

She expected him to be creeped out, to be walking away and giving her weird looks as he left. Maybe even the other members of the band were with him, she thought. But she was talking to her absolute favorite of the group, so he was her main focus.

But instead of giving her any sort of dirty looks, he was smiling at her. The kind of smile that's awkward and clearly fake, but a smile nonetheless. Very forced, very far from genuine, but still there.

"So...Taylor, you said your name was?" Hayley asked, as if she didn't know his first, middle, and last name. But why not continue with the act of pretending she had no clue who Taylor York was? Why not continue to act like she didn't know just about every detail of his life?

"Yes, that's me. And you're Hayley, right? I'm not too good with names." And in that moment, Hayley's heart just about exploded. Him saying her name was enough to absolutely kill her. But in a good way. Definitely in a good way.

"Mhm, yeah. I'm just, you know, Hayley. That's me." Making matters worse. Just continue to ramble. Going so well.

Hayley was sure that being as awkward around him as she was would be enough to, unfortunately, deter him from continuing the conversation. But she had no idea that Taylor oddly found her awkward behavior to be cute, only further adding to how precious he found her.

The musician always steered clear of hooking up with fans. Because they'd then tell people, brag about it, make a big deal out of one night that Taylor expected nothing from. At least, he assumed that would be the outcome. He didn't want to test his theory to find out.

But he had no clue of Hayley's complete infatuation for Novel American. The lead guitarist of said band, in particular. He assumed Hayley had no idea of who he even was. Especially since Hayley acted like that was the case. So now he had a bit of an interest in hooking up with this girl, breaking his no-fan rule. But it's not like he had any knowledge of the fact that he was breaking said rule.

"Can I get you a drink?" Taylor asked, earning a shrug from Hayley.

"Let me get you a drink," he insisted, and placed his hand on the short girl's back. Hayley glanced back at her friend, not wanting to abandon her. But Sydney simply mouthed the words "go ahead" and waved for her to go on.

"Jason," Taylor spoke the name, and patted the bar a few times. He caught the attention of the other, which was his intention, after all.

"What can I getcha'?" The bartender asked Taylor, who just gestured towards the girl he intended on bringing home. Or back to her own place, rather. Maybe bringing her back home, where his parents were probably fast asleep, wasn't the best of ideas.

"Uh, gin and tonic, I guess," she spoke, and Jason got to work on her beverage.

"You like gin?" The guitarist asked her, earning a nod.

"What about you?" She asked. He shrugged.

"Not a big fan," he expressed. That would surely be something Hayley would remember. The most meaningless, irrelevant facts about Taylor meant so much more than they would to some random people.

For a moment, Taylor just stared at her with a small smile on his lips. And Hayley would totally have been appreciating this, if not so incredibly nervous in the best way possible.

Her cheeks were certainly pink. Luckily, the dim lighting of the bar hid that from Taylor. Both of them were pulled out of their trance when Jason slid a small glass of the requested beverage to her.

And again, Taylor stared. And Hayley looked away.

"Let me take you home," Taylor said simply, breaking the silence. Saying that made no sense, but he wasn't thinking. He couldn't actually take Hayley home, considering that would mean having awkward sex in a small, twin-sized bed. Also, his parents were directly across the hall from his room in that house. And what if Hayley thought he was some nobody who still lived with his parents?

Hayley was thankful she hadn't just taken a sip of her drink, or else she'd have surely spit it out. All over his face.

"Um, yeah. Yeah. You can do that. If you want," Hayley responded quickly, at a loss for words. Taylor just grinned. He wasn't really expecting to receive a no. Once he told people that he was in a band and told people the name of the band, it usually worked out in his favor. Even though he hadn't brought that information up, he really used that to seal the deal if all else failed. But anyway.

Sydney walked over to the two of them and yanked Hayley to the side. Just a little bit, not far from Taylor. He was still just feet away from them.

"Our cab is here, are you ready to go?" She had asked Hayley, who also happened to be her roommate. Hayley hesitated and glanced over to the musician.

"We can go back to your place if you're alright with that," he took a step closer to her, and spoke the words softly. She nodded her head quickly, earning a chuckle from the guitarist.

"Alright, let's go. Can I just make a call, first?" He asked, and both of the girls nodded. The three of them exited the bar. While the girls entered the backseat of the car, Taylor stood outside with his phone. He had to let his parents know he wouldn't be able to be there for the night.

While he talked to his mother, Hayley basically went crazy with Sydney.

"He's coming...to our apartment?" Hayley's brunette roommate asked in utter disbelief. All Hayley could do was nod, just as shocked as her friend. This was a dream come true.

"I can't believe this. Hasn't he said that he usually doesn't date fans? Not that you're dating, but you're doing something that people that date do," Sydney spoke. She was also quite a big fan of the group, which had helped them to bond in the past. Definitely not as big a fan as Hayley, who probably knew things about the band members that their own families didn't know.

"Well, um. He actually doesn't know that I'm a fan. But it's not a big deal. Just don't bring it up, okay?" Never know. It could make Taylor not want her.

She didn't care if the events resulted simply in a one night stand. Even though that wasn't ideal, it was most realistic. Only in her wildest dreams would he ever want her enough to date her.

Just one night would make Hayley's entire life meaningful. That was what it felt like in the moment, at least.