Archive of Our Own ^beta

December 2015

Hayley will always answer Taylor’s phone calls. This one is no exception. 

It’s late at night, nearing midnight, but the tiny redhead is up late these nights for some reason. She always feels bad about answering his texts in the morning since she’s fallen asleep. It’s good that he’s calling her right now though, because she was just on the verge of falling asleep. 

She picks it up and holds it to her ear. “Hi you.” 

“Hey.” 

“Can’t sleep?” 

Taylor shuffles around and then stop, his voice laced with that tiredness that cuts through the bone. “Can’t sleep. As always. Wanted to talk to you.” 

She frowns, sitting up in bed. “Everything okay?” 

“Yeah. Yeah. I, uh, got my invitation today so I wanted to call you. Say thanks for the invite.” 

Hayley rubs her eye with her palm. “Oh. Yeah, of course. Think you were one of the first few people I wrote on my list of invites.” 

“Yes. Thank you. And congratulations. You’ve finally set a date.” 

“I wanted a summer wedding but he said it was better to do it soon, you know, so I was like yeah that’s fine. At least we won’t be sweating” she breaks off with a laugh, “winter in Franklin is not too bad.” 

“Mmm” 

There’s a long stretch of an awkward silence. Hayley waits for him to say something more, but she decides to fill the silence herself. “How are you? Haven’t heard from you in a while.” 

“I’m okay,” He says. 

“Yeah? How’s the time off?” 

“It’s fine.” 

“Just fine?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Anything exciting?” 

“Might do some production gigs later this month.” 

“That’s wonderful, T! It will be very well deserved.” She tilts her head back against the headboard. “I’m glad to hear that. Oh, we were telling people that you should take off for the wedding early on just to avoid last minute troubles at work.” 

“That’s nice of you.” 

“And you’ve gotta RSVP by the date, but you can just tell me you’re coming now and I’ll make a notice in the morning.” 

Another pause comes between them. Hayley pulls the phone away from her ear to check if he’s still on. He is. She tucks her phone back against her ear and waits patiently for several more seconds before saying quietly, “You’re going to come, right?” 

The tiny redhead hears him take a breath and her heart drops. “Do you think it’s a good idea?” 

Hayley stills, dread spreading through her chest. “What do you mean?” 

“Just asking if it’s a good idea.” 

“To invite you?” 

“To come.” 

She swallows. “T, you won’t come? It’s my wedding.” 

The longest silence yet. Her skin pricks with impatience. 

“That’s the problem, Hayles.” She stops breathing when she finally notices how nasally his voice is. The dread turns to pain and then guilt. “I’m not so sure you’ve…thought this through.” 

“It’s not a problem,” she says. “He’s fine with inviting you. Really. We had a whole talk about it.” 

“That’s not what I mean,” he says quietly. 

“Don’t try to let me down gently, Taylor "She tries to awkwardly laugh it off. "I swear I know all your polite tricks. I won’t let you back out of coming to my wedding.” 

He doesn’t laugh with her.  

"T?” 

“If it were any other wedding…” 

He doesn’t need to finish his sentence. She already knows what he’s saying. She did consider the possibility of it being too wrong or painful for either of them, but when Hayley thinks of her people, she thinks of Taylor first and foremost. Every time she imagines her friend group, he’s in the center. He’s supposed to be there after all. 

Hayley opens her mouth to try to offer him some words of consolidation or understanding, but the tiny redhead freezes, suddenly very awake when she hears him take a shaky breath. 

“T. No. Don’t do that.” 

“I’m happy you thought of me,” he whispers, his voice uneven. “I am. But this is… this is your wedding...and with someone that doesn’t like me one bit, so I shouldn’t–  I couldn’t–” 

“Taylor "She sits up some more. "Let’s talk about this. Listen to me.” 

“Do you see the problem? Did you not consider it? Why didn’t you think this through?” 

She’s out of words for a moment. Wants to tell him that she did consider it and the thought of being married without her best friend present is far more painful than the idea of marrying with him there, knowing he doesn’t approve. It’s weeks, yet the ache in her chest and shame is still as sharp as she remembers, recalling her sniffles and cries when she was leaving his house, after they’d gotten bad news, yet again. and even then, getting the ball rolling once more was hesitant, communicating was painful these days. 

Eventually it seemed like things tapered off well: she was able to talk to him normally, ask him to hangout when possible, and texting him became easier again. 

Hayley listens to him try to gather himself through the phone. 

“T” she tells him quietly. “Maybe this would be better if we did this face to face so I could really understand–” 

“If you don’t understand now, how would looking at my face make a difference?” The curly haired man sounds frustrated now. Angrier. 

“Maybe… maybe it would be easier to talk about this. I want you to come to my wedding. I can’t imagine it without you there.” 

“You are always being so unfair to me.” 

“What?” Why is he yelling? Taylor’s rarely every raised his voice, much less at her. 

“Why would I be okay with this? You think you can just dump this on me and pretend it’s fine to decide I have to go? You make me so angry sometimes I swear!” 

"Hold on. Don’t yell at m–” 

“You’re just being so–” 

“Taylor! Stop. You’re not making sense.” 

“So come over then,” Taylor suddenly says. “Come see me and get some sense into me.” 

Hayley glances at the clock. It’s now midnight. She has work with the hair company in the morning, and a large meeting they’ve spent weeks preparing for. She needs to be awake tomorrow morning and ready for the audience. 

“Leave the door open,” Hayley says, sliding out of her bed. “I’m on my way.” 

February 2016

"Taylor, will you stop bouncing your fucking leg?' Justin groans. The curly haired man rolls his eyes at his older brother’s theatrics. To be perfectly honest, he couldn't care less if he was getting on Justin's nerves. His mind was preoccupied with other things. This had to be one of the worst days of his life - correction, the worst day of his life. 

One would usually be overjoyed that one of their best friends was getting married today, but not Taylor. And not when he had been in love with said best friend, for the best part of his teenage years and adult life. 

“I can't just fucking sit here.”He huffs, slouching in his chair. The boys had originally been on their way to Hayley’s wedding ceremony when Taylor demanded to stop the car, declaring he couldn't go on to watch Hayley marry someone else. After giving him some cigarettes to try and calm him down and numerous attempts to coax him back into the car, it was decided that Joey and John would continue onto the wedding while Justin and Janna stayed with Taylor for moral support. So here they sat, dressed fully in a suit and tie, in a dingey Bar. 

“Either get your arse up and go to the wedding, or stop your moaning!” Justin snaps out of character, but so done with his little brother, as he finishes the rest of his drink. It was now Taylor’s turn to be dramatic as he groans and throws his head back. 

“You know I can't go to the wedding, Justin!” 

*Look at him. Dark curls, warm honey eyes, broad shoulders. All fit and handsome with that dirty teasing smirk aimed in Hayley’s direction. It’d been like that all night. When no one was looking his eyes were on her. 

Taylor York. The object of desire for so many women. But the problem for the tiny redhead was that he was her best friend and she had a boyfriend. He should have been off-limits. He shouldn’t have even been taking part in her daydreams. 

She rolled her eyes at him as Jeremy knocked his beer over. 

Everyone had a couple too many drinks at that point. They’re bandmate, the worst off. 

“Here,” she leaned down and righted the spilled can to halt the beer from pouring out. 

Jeremy fell back into the couch and laughed as Hayley got up to take the nearly empty can to the trash. 

“Hey! I wasn’t done with that!” 

“I actually think it’s time for a little water,” she countered. 

Walking into the kitchen of their tour bus, she takes a breath and grabs two cups for water. Hayley needs some as well. She’s been hitting the strawberry lime mocktails kind of hard and she was already feeling the sugar rush. 

“Need help?” 

Hayley turns to look over her shoulder as she shut off the faucet. 

“I’m pretty sure I can handle this” the tiny redhead laughs as she raises her hands, a cup of water in each. 

Taylor reaches into the fridge to grab himself another beer, “All right. Was just being nice. You done for the night?” 

“Probably. Jeremy is for sure done. Gonna have to carry him to his bunk I think.” 

“I’ll help you. I can tell he’s well past his limit. There’s no way you’re going to have an easy go of it with him. He’s like jelly when he gets drunk.” 

Hayley laughs and Taylor subconsciously licks his lips as he watches her. She hated (but she loved it) when he licked his lips while he was looking at her. It elicited bad thought that she could never act on. 

>>> 

She’d arrived to the green room a little early but knew Taylor would probably already be there when she arrived, that he’d keep her company until Brian arrived. 

He gets her a soda from the mini fridge and they both settle into the living room are where he snoops around the record player and vinyls on the shelf. 

“It’s got great sound and check this out” he pulls out an album and places it over the turntable showing Hayley how the tone arm lowers automatically and cycles the vinyl around to the perfect spot to begin at the first song. 

“Oh, that’s cool!” the tiny redhead watches as he clicks a button and sound starts playing through the speakers. It’s an old popular 70s rock song, “The sound quality really is good.” 

He snaps his fingers and begins to move his hips as he grins at Hayley so she places her soda down and mimics him, swaying and laughing as she snaps her fingers. 

Behind Taylor’s grin, not for the first time, she sees something else. The way he licks his lips, his eyes travel over her frame, and he moves in closer as sways to the music- it holds some kind of intensity that she isn’t sure how to work out. One thing’s for sure; Taylor was a flirt and her boyfriend was nowhere to be found. 

“You’re cute” Taylor says it so flippantly as he juts his chin up and keeps his eyes on her, it makes her dizzy. 

Hayley scoffs and rolls her eyes, “Yeah right…” 

But he does this thing that has the tiny redhead feeling a slurry of scorching lava under her fingertips as he bites into his bottom lip with his eyelids drooped gently, pupils winding over her hips while Hayley continues to move and he pulls her hand into his, redirecting her flow until she is practically dancing in his arms. 

“You know you’re cute. What are you doing still dating Chad anyway?” 

His hand wound over Hayley's hip as he kept his eyes on hers. 

“I…” she laughs and shakes her head. She wasn’t sure what he was doing but it had her reeling. His heavy presence and deep voice, the music lulling her into surrender, his pretty bright eyes, that evil grin… It definitely wasn’t the first time he’d flirted with her in private. 

“You’re too good for him, Hayles,” he spoke smoothly, his face nearing hers and his voice dripping with lusty deception. 

“I doubt that, T,” She says just above a whisper as he slithers around her until his hands are holding her hips and her back is against his chest. Hayley knows it’s wrong. They both do. Know they should probably stop but don’t want to. 

And when she feels his breath on the back of her ear and he presses his hips against her back, she softly gasps but makes no move to stop him. He was too close and his lips were practically brushing against the shell of her ear as he kept swaying her in step with his movements, hips glued to her backside, and then he moans. The sound vibrating off her neck and making goosebumps rise up on her skin. 

Hayley closes her eyes and settles her hands over his when he lets out another unmistakable graveled moan into her ear, “You like this don’t you? Need more attention from Chad than he can give you…” 

It was true. She was a bit needy while Chad could be cold and a bit of a dickhead. But it’d always been that way with the two of them and Hayley had settled and gotten used to the way he was. However, that didn’t mean she didn’t miss attention. And Taylor was always, perfectly filling in the small gaps left behind from Chad’s apathy with tender words and longing stares. 

But the moment they heard Brian at the door, the curly haired man moves away from her just as deftly as he’d pulled her against his chest and acts like nothing had happened, though inside the guilt of his careless actions is bitter.  *

“Yeah. He's only been in love with her for ten years; watching her walk down the aisle to someone else probably isn't on his bucket list, so be more kind with your brother J” Janna scolds, making Taylor groan again and drop his head onto the bar table before him. 

“What the fuck do I do?” He mumbles. 

Janna shrugs nonchalantly after a minute's silence. “Could crash the wedding.”  

Taylor’s head shoots up, and Justin’s eyes widen. 'What did you just say?' 

“I said you could crash the wedding. You know, barge in and-” 

“Yes, I know what wedding crashing is, Janna!” 

“Oh, no, you don't! Don't you dare be considering this!” Justin hisses at his little brother and wife before him. “You cannot ruin her big day!” 

“No, no—think about it, J. This marriage has been doomed from the start! We all know her heart’s not really in it!, Hayley doesn’t want a life with him, all he’s ever done is make her miserable” His siter in law concludes with hopeful eyes turning to Justin as he now sits up straight. 

“I know...” Justin grits out. 

“So Hayley didn't really want to go along with this, did she?” 

“Absolutely not. No one ever wants to comply to a marriage that is built off a failing relationship!” Janna nods along as Justin glares at her. 

“Why are you encouraging this?! You can't ruin her day; she's your friend too!” 

“Which is exactly why I want her to be truly happy! Both of them!' She retorts. The trio were now getting strange looks from the other occupants of the pub, but they couldn't care less. 

“Am I insane to be seriously considering this?” Taylor mumbles. 

“Yes!” 

“T, you've been in love with the girl since, what, the first time you met at that football game? Pretty sure she's been in love with you for a while now, too. Neither one of you has ever made a move—why? Not a fucking clue. But if you seriously want a chance with her, this is quite literally the last chance you're ever going to get.” Janna speaks, probably the most serious either Taylor or Justin have ever seen the short haired girl. 

“She's right.” Both Taylor’s and Janna’s eyes snap towards Justin. 

“Oh, caved now, have we?” His wife asks sarcastically, raising an eyebrow. 

“Piss off, I'm already second guessing my words” Justin huffs before turning back to his little brother. “But she is right. This is your final chance to admit it to her. You don't have to barge into the place, ready for combat and all, but once those words are spoken, you've lost her,T.” 

Taylor's eyes dart between the two of them as he nervously chews his fingertip. He stands abruptly, knocking his previously occupied chair to the ground. “I'm going to fucking do it.” 

Xxxx 

“Oh Hayley! you look absolutely stunning!” Christi gushes as she stands behind her daughter, lightly fixing her hair. 

“Thanks mom.” Christi quirks an eyebrow as Hayley gives her a small smile through the mirror. 

“Everything alright?” 

“Y-yeah, no, I'm fine. Just nervous.” 

“And you're sure you want to go through with this?” She asks carefully, making Hayley frown at her. 

"Mom” She warns, making the older woman throw her hands up in surrender. 

“I'm just checking, baby! It's my job to make sure you're all good!” Hayley turns and lets out a sight as she sends her mom a pointed look before both women begin nervously giggling. 

“I can't believe I'm getting married.” 

“Me too. Come on, it's your time to shine.” 

It was a relatively small wedding, with only a handful of guests. Hayley had to practically beg her fiancé to let five of her friends attend. 

Her sister Erica makes her way down the aisle first, arm linked with one of Chad's groomsmen. Smiling at her guests as she makes eye contact, Hayley begins her descent to the altar. Catching Brian’s eye, she laughs softly as he gives her a gentle grin. Her smile fades completely once she notices the three seats next to Joey and John are empty, where is Justin, Janna, and most importantly, Taylor? Could her best friend not even bother to show up for her wedding? Reaching the altar, she rapidly blinks the tears away before they can fall.  

“Are you alright?” Erica whispers as Hayley hands her the bouquet of flowers she carried down the aisle, causing the bride-to-be to nod curtly and turn to the altar. 

The officiant begins his speech as Erica’s eyes search around the room, narrowing when she spots only Joey and John in the empty row of where her friends should be. They had better be dead, or she would kill them. 

“If anyone wishes to object to this marriage, please speak now or-” 

The poor officiant is cut off mid-sentence as the door swings open, causing Hayley to flinch and their guests to gasp. Whipping her head around, she sees the cause of the interruption and her breath gets caught in her throat. Taylor Benjamin York stands slightly out of breath in the doorway she had not long come through herself, looking like a deer caught in headlights, with Janna and Justin York behind him. 

“Holy shit.” He breaths, staring at the beautiful redhead girl before him.  

“Hayley, you... you look breath-taking...” The officiant awkwardly clears his throat, snapping Taylor out of his trance as he looks around the room confused. 

“Sorry! Sorry, uh, Hayles, can I borrow you for a second?” Hayley’s green eyes widen at the question. 

“I'm kind of in the middle of something here, T!” She hisses at the curly haired man before her. Whirling around, she grabs her soon-to-be-husband's hand and gestures for the officiant to continue. 

“Oh, uh, yes! Yes. As I was saying, if anyone wishes to object to this marriage, please speak now or forever hold your peace.” 

“'I object!” The room fills with gasps and whispers as Taylor shouts from the bottom of the aisle. Erica's hand flights to her mouth, joey's eyes almost pop out of his head, and Brians jaw dropped. Janna stands grinning proudly behind Taylor, while Justin's lips purse in pained grimace. 

“Taylor” Hayley hisses again, whirling around to face her best friend with a thunderous look on her face. 

“Please! Please, just hear me out, Hayles...” He begs, taking a step towards the altar, where she stands. 

“I'm in love with you. So deeply, tragically, in love with you. You're all I ever think about, ever since that spring day on that high school football game when you hugged me hello and traded my awkward shy hand shake for something warmer and I thought to myself, how you were the most beautiful girl to ever roam those flower fields and that still stands true to this day.” 

“You're the most beautiful girl to ever roam the entire earth. And not even just beauty; you are the smartest, funniest, and most caring person I have ever met in my entire life. And I'm sure anyone who has ever met you will one hundred percent agree with me when I say that you honestly light up any room you enter, even with just your smile.” 

“And, quite frankly, I am the biggest fucking idiot on the planet because I have loved you, constantly, for years , and I've never done a thing about it. I have so much to say, and I'm so fucking sorry that it's on your wedding day. I just had to tell you; I love you, Hayles” 

The entire room was silent as Taylor finished his heartfelt speech. He now stood a few steps below her, looking up into her green eyes as she stared back at him with tears in her eyes, mouth opening and closing like a fish. 

“T, I-I..” 

“Fuck this.” Her groom mumbles, descending the few stairs and making his way back up the aisle. This seems to snap Hayley out of her trance as she looks up from Taylor's gaze after her groom. 

“Chad - where are you going?” 

“Come on; neither of us wanted this wedding; we were just doing it to try and saved something that’s already dead. And I'm certainly not going to make a fool of myself marring you now” He explains bitterly as Taylor nods, shooting her a wink, when Chad turns and leaves the room, his family beginning to apparate out of the building after him. 

The tiny redhead blinks a few times before looking back to Taylor, who she finds is already staring up at her. 

“I, I don't know what to say, T.” She whispers shyly. He smiles as he takes her hands, giving a light kiss to her knuckles. 

"My love, you don't have to say anything.” Hayley takes a couple of steps down, becoming level with Taylor as she places her palms on either of his cheeks. 

“It's taken me a moment to fully comprehend all of those lovely things you just said about me. I guess I'm just overwhelmed, and that's why I can't find the words right now, but I just want to tell you that I love you too. So, so much, T. I love you so much.” 

“Oh, thank God!” He mutters before pulling her towards him and crashing his lips against hers. Hayley’s arms move around his neck as Taylor's snake around her waist, pulling her as close as he possibly can. The whooping and cheering of their friends break the two apart as they press their foreheads together and grin. 

“Long time coming, eh,” Joey says with a soft smile

“Justin, you owe me a hundred dollars” Brian says with a goofy smile and a glint in his blue eyes, “Told you they'd get together!”