Even After All This Time (Tayley)

Chapter 4: Cause I've Seen Love Die Way Too Many Times

*Zac's POV*

It was the last day of the tour. Everyone was excited for the show, and also to get home. Josh and Hayley were distant for the past few days. Jeremy and I were confused as to if they were still together, because we would hear Josh crawl into her bunk late every night when he thought everyone was asleep. 

Even though Josh and Hayley weren't talking as much as before, the depressing tone on the bus didn't exist anymore. We were all too excited to get home and start working with Taylor to be mad at one another. Me especially. Playing with my best friend after so many years apart was something I was looking forward to. 

"Come on bro!" Josh said to me, dragging me out of my stupor. I pulled one of my headphones out of my ear. 

"Wut?" I asked, clueless to what was going on around me.  Jeremy stood up from his seat next to me back stage, shaking his head. "What's going on?" I asked Jeremy, hoping someone would answer me.

"Sound check" Jeremy said over his shoulder, following Josh onto the stage. I jumped up and grabbed my sticks from the floor in front of my feet, running to catch up with them.

After Hayley was done singing the last strains of Misery Business, I got up from my seat and stretched. Since it was the last show of the tour, everything had to be perfect, which meant playing every single song till it was perfect during soundcheck, something we usually didn't do. 

I checked my phone, to see how much time I had before we were expected back at the venue for the beginning of the show. It was only 4:30, so I got my sweatshirt from the dressing room, planning to go for a walk and maybe get a coffee. Opening the door to exit the room, I bumped into Jeremy. 

"Yo, sorry bro." I mumbled. 

"Nah, it's cool. Listen, you wanna get out of here?" Jeremy said, anxiousness radiating off of him. 

"I was actually planning on finding somewhere to get a coffee, so yea sure." I replied casually. 

We walked out of the venue, heading towards the coffee shop we passed on the ride early.

*Hayley's POV* 

Sound check was finally over, the excitement for tonight becoming more surreal. I grabbed my water bottle off the drum platform, and walked off stage. Zac and Jeremy had rushed to leave to god knows where, so that left Josh and I with some of the techs to make sure everything was situated for the show. 

"Hey, can you put this on the stand over there Hayles?" Josh called to me, handing me his beloved guitar. I grabbed it from him, using the only hand I had available, since I had my water bottle in my other hand. Right when I went to put it on the stand, it slipped out of my hand and fell to the ground. I heard a snap, and saw two strings break off the guitar. 

"What was that? Are you alright?" Josh came rushing over, concern in his voice. 

I got worried, it took him a long time to get situated with new strings, since he would have to retune the guitar. He was gonna get mad at me for not being uber careful with his equipment. 

I stood up, making eye contact with him. "I'm so sorry, it slipped out of my hand. I didn't mean to drop it." I said, scared to death about his reaction. Josh bent down to pick up the guitar, the sound of splitting wood following. The neck started to separate from the rest of the guitar, something that couldn't be fixed. 

"Oh my god Josh, I'm so sorry." I whispered, my voice quivering. I couldn't find any other words to say. My heart was racing in my chest, my body turning hot with nervousness. 

Josh stood up with the guitar in his hand, gave me a death glare, and threw the guitar towards the stage. I didn't even dare to look at the guitar, but the crash when the guitar met the ground made me jump out of my own skin. He stormed towards the guitar and jumped repeatedly on it, no words escaping from his mouth.

I started crying, knowing how much the guitar meant to him. It was the first guitar that he bought himself. He saved up all the money from our first gigs to pay for it. It was his favorite guitar to play with. 

He stopped jumping on the guitar, and walked towards me. My heart racing in my chest, I swallowed and made eye contact with him. Tears were streaming down his otherwise calm face. My heart broke to see him this way. He rarely cried, always showing a tough guy attitude compared to the rest of the band. He grabbed my arm, and dragged me into the dressing room so that no one else would hear us. I saw all the techs staring at us while we hurried by, too shocked to speak. 

"How could you be so stupid?!" Josh screamed as he closed the door. 

I was speechless, no words able to escape my mouth out of fear.

He shook his head. "Come on Hayley! You're so pathetic. How would you like it if I broke your guitar?" He said, making eye contact with my acoustic sitting on its stand in the corner.

"Please Josh" I begged. My guitar was given to me by my parents for my fifth birthday. It was the guitar that I learned how to play on. It was also the one that I wrote many songs with, and I couldn't dare to part with it.

Josh walked over to it and stood staring at it for what felt like forever. I was petrified that he would actually damage it. He sat down in front of it, and started violently crying. His sobbing killed me, I wanted to comfort him, but I didn't know how. I hesitated, and slowly walked over towards him. 

"I....I can't...I can't do this." He breathed. I knew what he was talking about. It wasn't about the guitar. It was about our relationship. 

"Neither can I" I whispered, awkwardly standing behind him. It broke my heart for us to actually make an official end to our relationship. We had been together for three years, and now it was just ending. 

Josh sighed, then stood up and walked out of the room.

"Josh wait!" I called, hurrying up to him.

He turned towards me, stopping about five feet away from me. 

"No Hayles. I can't tonight. I'm sorry. I gotta get away." He said, sadness floating into the air with every word he said. He grabbed his jacket off the back of one of the couches and walked out, leaving me alone to deal with the silence. 

I headed back into the dressing room so that nobody would see me. I flopped onto one of the leather couches head first, the tears already streaming down my face. I pulled my phone out of my pocket, calling one person I never thought I would talk to about this situation. The phone was answered on the second ring.

A ruff voice answered on the other end. "Hello?"

"Taylor..." I breathed.