Whatever It Takes

Taylor put the phone down and sat beside Chloe on the couch.
"Who was that?", she asked nervously.
"Just Zac. They're having a DVD night. He wanted to know if we were coming", he said.
"And? Are we?", she asked.
"I told him that you were feeling ill", he replied, cuddling up to her.
"We can't hide away forever", she stated.
"Everything is going to be okay", he reassured her.
"One day you'll get sick of saying that everything's alright. And by then I'm sure I'll be pretending, just like I am tonight", he sobbed.
"You've got to let this go", he pleaded.
"I'll never let this go. I don't think it's even possible. I could have killed someone Taylor. And your telling me to let it go?", she sat up.
"I'm trying to keep us safe. If we go to jail, we will both be alone", he explained.
"I don't want to be alone. But I feel like I don't know you anymore", she looked down at the ground, her gaze fixed on a stain in the carpet.
"What do you mean? Of course you know me", he stared at her, confused.
"I don't know this Taylor. The one that's making me lie. You know I don't like lying. I'm not good at it. And the Taylor that I know would never lie", Chloe told him, finally making eye contact with him.
"Sometimes you have to adjust yourself to fit into certain situations. So this is me, trying to adjust how I act so I can keep us both safe", Taylor answered quietly.

Hayley was putting their take-away onto plates for herself and Josh. Josh sat on the couch, staring to space. She was shaking, getting flash-backs of the day. She was about to place the plates onto the table when she dropped them on the ground. As they banged against the ground, pieces splashed like water around the counter. Josh immediatly ran into the kitchen to see what happened.
"I can't stop thinking about him. I know I shouldn't care. But I do", she cried as Josh craddled her in his arms.
"It's natural for you to be upset. What we saw was horrific", Josh explained.
"But I don't like being this emotional wreck the whole time. Why I can't I be like you?", she sobbed.
"I'm far from coping with this. I'm just alot better at covering it up. We'll get over this together", he promised.
There was a knock on the door. At first, they both ignored it, but as the person banged and banged on the door, Josh finally let go of Hayley and walked to the door. Hayley wiped her eyes and began to clean up the mess on the floor. Josh opened the door.
"Hello", the man asked. He was dressed in a police uniform. Another man stood beside him.
"Can I help you?", Josh asked nervously, already knowing the answer.
"Can we come in please?", the man asked.
Josh let the two men in, and closed the door after them. Once Hayley saw the two police men, she froze. Josh knew how she was going to feel, so he walked quickly over to her and out his arm around her waist, squeezing it a little to reassure her.
"What's all this about?", Josh asked.
"I'm sure you've heard that a young man was knocked down by a car 2 miles from here. We are just asking everyone near if they saw anything", the police man asked.
"Well we were here the whole time. We didn't see or hear anything. Do you mind me asking was the man injured much", Josh asked, trying to keep cool.
"He was badly injured. He's critical in hospital at the moment. As you can imagine, I can't say much more", the man explained.
"Yeah, of course", Josh agreed.
"Did ye have an accident?", the other policeman spoke for the first time, looking at the broken plates on the ground.
"Oh, that was me. I have butter fingers", Josh joked lightly.
The man nodded, accepting Josh's answer.
"Well I think that's all for now. If you do remember anything, please contact us immediatly", he said as they both left the house.
As soon as the door closed, Hayley crumbled to the floor. Josh bent down to craddle her.
"Your acting so suspious. We have nothing to worry about. We did nothing wrong", Josh reassured her.
"That's not what the other people that were there are going to think. That woman said she saw us push him", she sobbed.
"That woman is old. She just must of got confused. And as for that other one, she saw nothing. Just is running. That's not a crime", Josh ressured her.
"We are digging ourselves into a bigger hole. It's only going to get worse", she stated as she wiped away her tears and began to clean up.

Chloe and Taylor sat on the couch, watching tv, trying to forget about what happened for a few hours. There was a knock on the door and they both jumped. Taylor slowly walked to the window and peered out through the curtains.
"It's just Zac", he sighed as he went to open to door.
"About time you opened the door. It's freezing out here", Zac complained as he walked into the sitting.
"Hey Chloe", he smiled. Chloe returned his smile and then continued to stare at the ground.
"Was there a reason you came?", Taylor asked politely.
"Not really", he laughed. "Oh wait. There was. Did you hear the news?", he remembered.
"No, what?", Taylor asked.
"Andy got hit by a car. He's in hospital now. Hayley and Josh saw it all happen. Some scary shit, right?", Zac told them.
"Woah. Really? Yea, scary", Taylor tried to act surprised.
"Anyways, we're all going to Starbucks now. Wanna come?", Zac asked.
"Em...I dunno. Chloe isn't feeling too well", Taylor lied.
"Come on. She'll be fine. Won't you? Just for an hour", Zac tried to persuade them.
"Okay", Taylor finally gave in, ignoring all the looks from Chloe.
"Great. Lets go", Zac said excitedly.

"I think we're okay now. I mean, it's not like we did anything wrong. Why were we so worried", Hayley rambled on and on all night. She was trying to convince herself more then Josh.
Josh continued to caress her arm as she talked, not interrupting her, just nodding as she talked.

Frankie was walking along Josh's street. She was on her way to ask if they wanted to go to Starbucks. That was what she had planned to, until she saw the police car pull up outside their house. At first she thought it was a routine check, with the whole Andy business, but they looked way too official. She waited outside a house 4 doors away and watched as two men banged on the door.

The bang on the door made them both jump. Hayley looked at the door with wide-eyes. Josh slowly got up and answered the door. The police didn't even ask if they could come in. Two of them just went straight to the sitting room. Josh went and joined a frightened Hayley, who was standing up beside the couch.
"What's all this about?", Josh demanded.
"Josh Farro and Hayley Williams?", One of the men asked.
They both nodded timidly. The police pulled Josh away from Hayley and cuffed his hands behind his back. They did the same to Hayley.
"I'm arresting you on suspision of assalt. You do not have to say anything..", they rambled on to Josh and Hayley, who looked at each other. Josh nodded to her in reasurence, but Hayley knew better.
The men escourted them outside.
"We haven't done anything", Josh struggled.
"Save it until we get to the station", the man said as he put them into the car and sped off.

Frankie watched in silence as her two best friends drove away in the police car.