Fan Girl | tayley ✓

17

Hayley didn't want to hear another word after discovering what Taylor had done. What he had done to her.

She threw some of her clothing into a duffel bag and refused to listen to anything Taylor had to say for himself.

"Hayley, stop it. It was a mistake. It didn't mean anything. The only reason it even happened at all was because of how drunk I was. You think that girl meant anything to me?"

"Wow, excuse me, then. Because I'm so sure that the first night we fucked, I meant so much to you. What if our situation happens again, with this girl, huh?" Hayley spoke angrily.

"That's not the same," Taylor argued. But Hayley just shook her head in response. Because to her, it was the same. Taylor knew that, too, but he didn't want to lose her. He didn't want to lose this girl that he had felt so strongly for, a feeling that was generally new to him.

"How am I supposed to trust you? This isn't okay. This isn't okay. We have a goddamn child together, Taylor. I've been committed to you and only you since the second we made things official. I haven't even considered being with anyone that isn't you. Because I love you."

A silence filled the room. The only thing going on was Taylor staring at Hayley while she packed a bag and forced it shut.

"Please don't take Nathan. Please," Taylor spoke up after a moment of silence. She laughed in return and shook her head.

"You're lucky that it wouldn't be safe over at Sydney's place right now. But you better fucking take care of him for the next few days, understand me? You're ridiculous. You think that you can cheat on me, and then tell me what to do? No. Fuck you."

The guitarist chewed on his bottom lip, blinking back tears.

"Hayley, she didn't mean anything to me. I was too drunk to stop myself. That's one of the reasons it was so different than the first night you and I shared together. I knew what I was doing when you and I met, when you brought me home. I didn't have any doubts that I wanted it, I wasn't drunk out of my mind. If I could go back in time, I swear, I would and I would stop myself from drinking that night. I would stop myself from sleeping with that girl. I would stop myself from hurting you. I know that I fucked up. I fucked up so bad. I just want you to know that I love you."

Hayley gulped and refused to look him in the eyes. She couldn't do it. Because she knew that if she were to, she'd surely end up being in tears. She didn't want to appear weak to him, or else she would be showing that she didn't want to leave. But she had to go.

"I'm gonna go for a few days. I mean it, you better take care of him."

"He needs you. He's still a fucking newborn, Hayley. I need you," he spoke, raising his voice.

"There's enough bottled breast milk in the refrigerator to last a few days. You can take care of him, he'll be alright, but don't think that I'm not gonna be back. For him. And you and I, we can talk it out some other time. I'm really not in the mood for talking right now."

"Do you not care that I fucking need you?" He said, his voice loud enough to disrupt their child's slumber. His crying could be heard throughout the apartment, regardless of the help from the baby monitor. Taylor took a small step, only for Hayley to put her hands up as a gesture for him to stop where he was.

"Stay in here."

Hayley went to the nursery and shushed the child. Just being in his mother's embrace calmed him down.

Taylor decided against going to see what was going on. He instead took a seat on the edge of the bed, face buried in his hands as he listened closely to everything that could be heard through the baby monitor.

"Mommy might be away for a few days. But don't worry, daddy will take care of you. I'm sorry if things between him and I don't work out, because God knows how much I want us to work. Maybe we'll get through it, especially since we have you. I grew up with my parents being divorced, and I would never want for you to go through the same thing."

Along with her words, which were spoken in a sad tone, the soft babbling of the infant could be heard. He stopped crying almost immediately after being lifted out of the crib. Hayley just had that power.

"I love you, Nate. We both do. I'm going to try to make things work, for you, mostly. And because I really do love him, and he seems sorry. But I want him to know that there's nothing okay about what he did. So I sort of have to punish him for what he did to me. Just so he realizes, if this hurts, how much it'll hurt him if I were to leave for good. I hope it works out like I plan. I hope I'm important enough."

With his face buried in his hands, Taylor allowed the tears that had formed in his eyes to fall, his eyes puffy and cheeks red. The final thing he heard, before really sobbing, was the slamming of the front door.