Even After All This Time (Tayley)

Chapter 22: And fall asleep on the couch

*Hayley's POV*

One more week. One week till the Final Riot tour started. One week of practice left. One week till Taylor's first performance with the band. One week to come up with an intro. One week till we were all crammed into a bus together. 

I never wanted this week to come. Perhaps that made me selfish, but anymore I didn't care what the boys wanted, sometimes not even what the fans wanted. I missed the majority of band practices, due to 'illness'. The label released a statement that I was sick to explain why I was absent from practice for the past two weeks. I was really a no show at practice because of all the fighting between Josh and I since he found out about my relationship with Taylor. 

I had to go to practice the week before the tour started. The label forced me to show up otherwise they would drop us. We couldn't afford to give up our dreams because of some lousy fighting. 

"Hey babe" Taylor said as he walked out of the bedroom and into the kitchen where I sat sipping coffee. Taylor came over yesterday for a movie night and wound up sleeping over.

"Hey, there's some coffee left in the pot for you. It's a little cold though." I said, not looking up from my mug.

 "You've been awake long?" Taylor asked concerned, as he poured coffee into a mug.

"I guess..." I mumbled.

"Why? What's wrong?" Taylor asked as he sat down across the table from me.

"Just...thinking." I whispered, stirring the spoon in my coffee.

"About what?" Taylor asked. 

"I don't want to be in the band, but I feel like it's the only thing I can do. I didn't even finish high school, no job would ever want me. I'm just stuck being in a band with someone who hates me. Taylor, I don't know how much more I can take." I said, sniffling.

Taylor walked over to me and pulled me up from where I was sitting. 

"Babe, no matter how much you hate it right now, you can't quit. It's exactly what he wants to happen. I know it's really bad, I can tell. But you love this, everyone knows how much you love being in Paramore. It would kill you much more to leave the band, than fighting with Josh is. We can get through this together." Taylor said into my hair. He kissed my forehead and pulled away from me.

"Ugh...I don't know Taylor. Dealing with Josh is really bad. I can't just sit back and let him say and do whatever he wants. That's not who I am, and you know that!" I said, my voice raising the angrier I got.

"We'll figure something out. Maybe Jeremy can help us, but please don't worry about Josh right now." Taylor said, walking into the living room.

I followed him. "Then what am I supposed to do?"

"Spend time with me, your boyfriend." He said, smiling as he patted space on the couch next to him.

I quickly sat down next to him, as he turned on the tv. Boyfriend. I liked the sound of that. I also liked the fact that I was officially his girlfriend now. 

"What're we gonna watch?" I asked, curling up into him.

"Hmm," Taylor said as he scrolled through channels on the cable. "Oooh, look what's on MTV!" Taylor said, getting excited.

Wayne's World. "What are you waiting for? Turn it on!!" I practically screamed. 

Taylor turned it on, chuckling. "You're adorable." He said as he turned to me and kissed me.

"I know." I said, after the kiss was over. He pulled me in for another kiss, this time it was more intimate and lasted much longer than the last. It was amazing. 

We didn't pay attention much to the movie, mostly just enjoying the company of each other. Taylor fell asleep about halfway through the movie. 

I got up after I knew he was sound asleep and headed to my bedroom. I dug through the pile of papers on my desk, looking for my notebook. I finally found it, and grabbed a pencil out of the mug sitting on a window sill. I turned to a clean page, put the pencil on the paper and wrote what was in my heart. The lyrics flowed out of me so easily that I was oblivious to what they even said. 

I think I'll pace my apartment a few times

And fall asleep on the couch

Wake up early, the black and white re-runs

That escape from my mouth, oh

I could follow you to the beginning

Just to relive the start

Maybe then we'd remember to slow down

At all of our favorite parts

 Two verses but no chorus. I tapped my pencil on the notebook for a few minutes before I gave up. I carried the notebook with me as I walked into the kitchen to get something to eat. There was a tv dinner sitting lonely in the freezer so I took it out and threw it into the microwave. As soon as it started, I heard Taylor wake up on the couch. 

"Hey" He said as he made his way into the room. "What's this?" He asked, picking up the notebook.

"Just something I was working on while you were sleeping. I have two verses down, but I can't come up with a chorus." I said, just as the microwave beeped.

"All I wanted was you" Taylor whispered, putting the notebook down.

"Huh?"

"All I wanted was you. That's the title. What about singing that as your chorus?" He asked, looking across the room towards me.

"That's it? Just sing that? That makes no sense." I said, getting defensive. 

"Yeah, sing it like this. All I wanted was youuuuuu. All I wanted was youuuuuu. All I wanted was youuuuuu" He sang, changing the pitch every time in that horrible voice of his.

"I dig it, not your singing but the idea." I smiled. 

"Wow, that's cold." Taylor said, snobby after I dissed his singing capabilities.

"But true." I said, sticking my tongue out.

"I don't know about that. I'm pretty sure you're lying just so you can secure your spot in the band. Afraid my cuteness and I are gonna steal your limelight." He said with a wink.

"Shut up"

"Harsh much?" He said before pulling me into an extremely passionate kiss. We continued kissing, while Taylor pulled me towards the bedroom.

Authors note

so sorry for updating so late, teachers have been throwing a lot of hw at me and I have ap testing coming up in the next few weeks. It might be awhile for the next chapter to come up, oh and it didn't help that I had severe writers block :'( love you guys sooo much