Go

“Is the weather always this beautiful?”

“Well, not always. You just happened to be lucky to come here at the right time.”

With spring well on its way, the weather was getting warmer and it was nice enough to spend the day being outside. The sky was clear, not a single cloud in sight, and the trees were beginning to blossom, making it clear that winter wasn’t going to be around for long. A lot of people were aware of this, which explained why so many of them were out, having made the decision not to stay cooped up inside. Instead, they took the time to get out of their houses and enjoy the warm air.

Hayley and I were laying down on a blanket in the park underneath a tree, thankful that it was providing us shade. I was flat on my back and she lay against me, resting her head on my chest while I had an arm around her. I pressed my lips to the top of her head and smiled as I closed my eyes, feeling her shift her body a little so she could be closer. She began humming a little tune to herself and I smiled even wider as I listened, feeling so relaxed that I wouldn’t be surprised if I fell asleep right then and there.

It was her idea to come here and since I was never able to explore Los Angeles, I thought it would be great to finally see what I’ve been missing. Not to mention, it was best for the both of us to get out of the house, especially after all that’s happened.

Needless to say, a lot had happened in the last two days. Two days ago, when Hayley called me up in the middle of the night and told me that she needed me, I couldn’t stand to hear her so upset, so I got to California as soon as I could. That’s when she told me what happened; how she lost him. The mere thought of him disgusted me and I didn’t even dare say his name because he was a fucking awful human being. What he did to Hayley had defined what kind of person he really was and he never deserved her. She was too much of an amazing person to be with someone like that.

I had sat with her on the couch, holding her hand and reminding her why she was such a wonderful person. As she cried to me, all I could think about was how much I hated how she got hurt like that. Then I began thinking about how much I cared for her and how I would never make her feel like she wasn’t good enough. That’s when it hit me that I loved her more than anything and the next thing I knew, I was telling her my real feelings, which resulted in us kissing each other and falling asleep on the couch.

”It’s always been you.”

And here we were, laying together in the park, all the while enjoying how happy we were and how great our day was going so far. I looked down at her and couldn’t help but notice how beautiful she looked. As if she wasn’t already pretty, the way the light hit her added to that. It made her striking orange hair glow and her green eyes were shining, especially when she laughed. Her laughter was one of my favorite sounds along with her voice because it never failed to brighten my mood, no matter how shitty I felt. As she looked up at me, beginning another one of her stories, I didn’t want to take my eyes off her. Hell, I didn’t even want to blink because I still couldn’t get over the fact that she was mine and I was hers.

“The guys and I like to go here whenever we’re on break,” she told me. “At least when it’s nice out like this.”

“Let me guess,” I smirked. “They were always at the basketball court.”

She nodded and rolled her eyes. “I swear, those two are the biggest show-offs. Especially Jeremy since he likes to remind us that he can score a basket without even looking. He really likes showing off his basketball skills when Kat’s with us.”

“Well, isn’t Kat a lucky one.”

I chuckled when I began to picture Jeremy being overly-confident in a game of one on one with Taylor while his wife and Hayley watched them. It was also interesting to hear what she and her band liked to do when they weren’t touring. Apparently, Hayley told me that Jeremy was currently visiting relatives with Kat because they hadn’t seen their baby yet. Taylor flew over to Tennessee to visit his parents since it’s been a while since he saw them.

That’s when something else came to mind. Thinking about why Jeremy and Taylor weren’t around reminded me that the two of them being gone was the reason why I had come all the way over here in the first place. While it was okay for them to be gone, I couldn’t quite say the same. It was perfectly fine for them to be off somewhere else because they weren’t on tour and neither was Hayley. They weren’t going to be on tour for a few weeks while I was going to be on the road again in three days.

“What about you?” she asked as she lightly traced circles on my chest with her index finger. “Are you any good at basketball?”

“My skills are average,” I scoffed, but smiled shortly after. “But to be honest, I’d also show-off in front of you if I were that good.”

She giggled and lifted her head off my chest to look at me directly. “Josh the All-Star. I wouldn’t mind that.”

“Oh, good, then I know what else I can do besides be in a band,” I joked. “I’ll be a part-time basketball player.”

“With average skills,” she pointed out. “Yeah, that’s a good plan there, buddy.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I like how the flaw you pointed out was my skills and not the fact that I wanted to be a basketball player only part-time.”

“Oh, don’t get me started on that,” she said, the smile still on her face. “But really, there’s no need for you to be some cocky basketball player. I love you just the way you are.”

At her words, I felt my heart pound against my chest. I was still trying to get used to her saying things like that to me. This was all still so new.

“I love you, too.”

Her response was to close the space between us and meet my lips with hers. Both my arms encircled her and I deepened the kiss, wanting it to last longer. Actually, I wanted this whole day to last longer.

I knew it was only a matter of time until I had to go back. The day before I had gotten a call from Dan asking me where the hell I was and after telling him my whereabouts, he asked for an explanation on why I was halfway around the world. I hadn’t gone into details, only telling him that I was needed and I had to be here. It wasn’t like I was lying to him because I was needed and I did have to be here for her since she had nobody else at the time. Dan didn’t question any further than that. Instead, he told me that I should head back home soon because our first show for the tour was getting closer.

I didn’t tell any of the band about Hayley yet. She didn’t say anything about me to Jeremy and Taylor either. So far, the only thing she had done was announce on Twitter that she was no longer with him. It wasn’t because we were trying to keep our relationship a secret from them. We figured that if we were going to tell them, then we had to do it in person. This was face to face news.

She was well aware that I couldn’t stay here for long, which was another reason why we were here. We both wanted to make the most of our time together before I had to go back to Weybridge. This was the last day I was going to be with her until next time and I hated that I had absolutely no idea when the next time would be.

Hayley pulled away from the kiss and sat up. “Thank you for coming here. I can’t believe I forgot to say this, but I’m so glad you came.”

“You needed me,” I said. “I promised you I’d always be there if you needed me.”

“You were always that kind of person,” she held my hands and our fingers interlocked. “You really are the best person I could ever ask for, Josh.”

I squeezed her hands. “You’re my best friend, Hayles. If anything, I’m lucky to have you.”

As much as I didn’t want to leave, I was thankful that any of this had even happened. We were finally together. As long as I knew that we both loved each other, then I think I was okay with being away from her for a while. This was something we’ve always had to deal with. We knew for sure that we were going to last, no matter what.

Kissing my hand, she grinned at me. “Come on, how about we head back to my house?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “Let’s go.”

We both got up, folded the blanket, and brushed the grass off. Then after I offered and she finally accepted, she hopped on my back and I carried her all the way to the car.


There were two cars outside Hayley’s house by the time we got there. One was parked in her driveway next to the empty space where her own car usually parked. The other vehicle was parked on the sidewalk right in front of her home. We got out of the car and exchanged looks before we walked hand in hand to the door.

She gave me a slight smile and held my hand tighter. “It’s them.”

Nothing else had to be said for me to understand what she meant. It was obvious who was there and I took a deep breath while she got her keys out of her purse. Finally, she unlocked the door and just as we expected, somebody was waiting in the living room.

The person waiting and sitting on the couch was Taylor.

Hayley still hadn’t let go of my hand, but walked a few steps ahead so she could be in front of me. Taylor got up from the couch and walked over to us. Though he was the only one in the living room with us, I heard some voices coming from one of the rooms down the hall. Jeremy and Kat were here, too.

“There you are,” he said. “We just got here and were just about to call you.”

“Is Kat here with you guys?” she tilted her head.

“Yeah, she is,” Taylor said. That’s when he noticed me and he looked puzzled. “Josh? What are you doing here?”

“What are you doing here?” Hayley asked. “I thought you guys were in Nashville.”

“We were, at least until Jeremy found out what you put on Twitter,” Taylor replied. “Are you okay? What happened between you and Chad?”

I frowned at the mention of the name and so did Hayley. She knew she couldn’t just make that whole event disappear and of course she had been waiting for when she had to tell them. Still, we couldn’t stand hearing that name. Her more so than me.

“He...cheated on me,” Hayley muttered. “We’re over. He left.”

She said the words so flatly, trying not to sound upset. She had no desire to be with him anymore, but it still hurt her that he did what he did. I looked at her face, which remained blank, not wanting to show any emotion. Taylor, on the other hand, immediately pulled her into a hug and I let go of her hand so she could hug him back.

“I’m so sorry,” he said. “That’s why me and Jerm flew back here. We wanted to check on you to see if you’re alright.”

“Yeah, I’m okay,” she assured him. “I’m better now. A lot better now thanks to Josh.”

Taylor loosened his hold and then looked at me. “Oh yeah, that’s something I still don’t understand. Um, what are you doing here again? I mean, not that it’s not great to see you again, because it is. Just...what are you doing here?”

“She called me the other day,” I answered. “And she told me she needed me, so I came here to see if she was alright. That’s when I found out what happened and I didn’t want her to be alone, so that’s why I’m here.”

While I was talking, she stood beside me and her hand slipped into mine again. After she did so, Taylor’s eyes were now focused on our hands and it took a total of two seconds for his eyes to widen, finally understanding what was going on.

“Whoa, wait a minute,” he pointed at us. “You two...? Are you really...?”

Hayley laughed and looked at me. “I know it’s kind of surprising to you, but yeah. Josh and I finally realized how much we mean to each other.”

“So, you guys are really together?” a wide smile then crossed Taylor’s features. He then went over to me and gave me a one-armed hug. “That’s great! Welcome, to the Parafamily, Josh.”

“Parafamily?” I repeated, glancing at Hayley to clarify.

“It’s a name we thought of for our friends and family,” she explained. “Looks like you’re apart of it now.”

“There’s no turning back, is there?”

“Once you’re in, you can’t get out.”

“Good. ‘Cause I don’t want out.”

At that moment, we heard footsteps and looked to see that Jeremy had entered the living room. He looked a little tired, but he still had a smile on his face and the first thing he did when he saw that we were here was give Hayley a hug. Of course, he also had questions for us.

“Mind telling us what we’ve missed?” Jeremy inquired. “And why Josh Franceschi is here?”

Hayley went on to telling what she had told Taylor. This time, she didn’t have much of a problem talking about it. She was more touched that her two best friends had cut their trips short to make sure she wasn’t alone. I was just as glad as she was because if there’s one thing we all could agree on was that nobody ever wanted Hayley to be alone or upset.

“It’s for the best that we aren’t together anymore,” she continued. “Because now I have Josh.”

“Huh, so you guys are a couple now,” Jeremy smirked and put his arms around us. “I’m really happy for you two! Also, I’d like to take the opportunity to say that I called it. Totally called it.”

“You were expecting this to happen?” Hayley sighed. “For how long?”

Jeremy shrugged. “For years now. I see the way you guys act around each other. It wasn’t very hard for me to realize that you two hooking up was inevitable to happen.”

Hayley and I just looked at each other, dumbfounded. Then again, it was Jeremy Davis and we both should’ve known that he wouldn’t be surprised by the news. He wasn’t an idiot.

“Oh, you know how Jeremy loves to call these things out,” said a voice.

Everyone turned to see Kat, Jeremy’s wife, walk into the room. She was wearing a floral sundress and had long, wavy brown hair that fell over her shoulders. Kat was beaming at all of us, her big brown eyes full of joy and Jeremy’s first instinct was to walk over to her and kiss her cheek. But besides Kat, I noticed that she was holding something. Something wrapped in a pink blanket.

“I also wanted to see if Hayley was okay,” she faced me. “Nice to see you make her so happy, Josh.”

“Oh, it’s nothing, really,” I scratched my head.

“I’ve heard everything you guys said just now,” Kat mused. “It’s way more than something. Like Jeremy said, I’m very happy for you guys. We all are. Even Bliss is happy.”

That was when Hayley linked arms with me and walked me over to Kat and Jeremy as well. Once we were close enough, I looked down at the bundle within the pink blanket that Kat tenderly cradled in her arms and found myself meeting the face of a small baby girl, cooing softly and looking up at me.

“I’ve missed her,” Hayley whispered. Kat then handed her over to Hayley and I couldn’t help but grin at seeing Hayley hold the baby close, unable to hide her glee.

“She’s beautiful,” I said.

Hayley turned toward me. “This is Bliss Belle Buttercup Davis. She’s also known as our little fairy princess.”

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Bliss,” I chuckled.

“You wanna hold her?”

Shit.

“M-Me?” I stammered. “Hold her? I-I can’t. No, I can’t-”

But she ignored my protests and before I knew it, she had transferred Bliss to me. Her head was placed in the crook of my right arm and my other arm was wrapped around her. Once I was holding the baby, I had practically become a statue. I was afraid to move while Hayley gently put a hand on my shoulder, telling me to relax because I was way too tense.

I looked at Jeremy for help, but he just nodded at me and smiled. Kat didn’t seem to say anything either, meaning they were both fine with having me hold their child. I, on the other hand, was silently freaking out because the thought of holding a baby was terrifying.

Okay, maybe it wasn’t terrifying, but I definitely wasn’t used to it. Babies were cute, but I never really held them because on the rare occasions that I did hold them, they’d start crying, the parents would wonder what I did to make their baby cry, and I’d panic. Except, Bliss wasn’t crying. All she did was look at me with those round eyes much like her mother’s. It was actually kind of a shocker that I had lasted this long, but I did and I looked down at her in wonder. She was so small, so fragile and for a moment she even appeared to smile at me.

Eventually, I finally relaxed my shoulders and was able to breathe easy once I got the hang of things. Bliss was beginning to fall asleep and Hayley leaned her head on my shoulder, the both of us admiring her as she closed her eyes.

“See? You’re a natural,” Hayley kept her voice low, making sure not to wake Bliss. “You even put her to sleep.”

“I hope it’s not because she got bored of me,” I laughed quietly.

“Psh, whatever,” Hayley scoffed. “Just face it. The fairy princess loves you.”

“Fine, fine,” I shook my head. “But really, I’m surprised at how calm she was. I guess I was scared for nothing, huh?”

“Yeah, but it’s pretty entertaining seeing you freak out,” Jeremy said as Kat took Bliss from me to take her to the room. “Taylor was worried to hold her, too. Though in his case, he ended up getting spit on.”

Taylor groaned. “That was one of my favorite shirts, too.”

Hayley stifled a laugh. “At least you managed to get the stain out.”

“Barely,” he muttered. “And you using my toothbrush to scrub off the stain did not make it any better.”

While their banter went on, I walked over to the couch and Jeremy sat down next to me. Kat returned and sat down next to him, holding his hand and planting a kiss on his temple.

“You really love her, don’t you?” Jeremy said to me.

I heard him, but didn’t face him. Instead, I was too busy gazing over at Hayley as she laughed with Taylor. “Yeah, I do.”

“And she really loves you,” he told me. “I've noticed the way she’s always acted around you and she’s so happy. Like, even when she was with him, I’ve never seen her look at him the way she looks at you."

“Really?” I asked.

He nodded. “Really. Just...take good care of her, Josh.”

“I will,” I promised.

When Hayley and Taylor were done talking about the amusing story of how Bliss spit up all over Taylor, we all spent the afternoon enjoying each other’s company. Already, I was comfortable being with them and I kept smiling at the thought of this being a regular thing. Like Taylor said, I was now apart of their family.

Now that I was in, I didn’t ever want to get out.


That night, after everyone had left, Hayley and I were laying on the couch again. She still wasn’t quite ready to sleep in her bed yet and I couldn’t blame her for not wanting to. Neither of us were tired, however. Our minds were too preoccupied with the reminder that this was going to be our last night together.

I’m leaving tomorrow.

“Maybe I should call them to push the tour back for a week,” I suggested.

“No, you don’t have to do that,” she frowned. “You shouldn’t disappoint all your fans because of me.”

“I know, but after all that’s happened to you, I don’t want to leave you,” I said.

She lifted a hand to cup my cheek. “I’ll be fine. Look, I know it sucks that you have to leave here so soon after what we’ve been through, but you should go. Jeremy and Taylor are back, so at least you know I won’t be alone anymore.”

“You’re right,” I agreed. “I have to go back.”

There sadly wasn’t really any reason for me to stay in Los Angeles any longer. Hayley was such a strong person that it was obvious she was already capable of handling herself and the only problem was that I didn’t want to be off somewhere without her. But I couldn’t be selfish because people had been waiting for this tour. It would be awful for me to do that to both the fans and the band. As soon as this tour was done, then I could see her again. If we were able to spend months apart before, then this should be no different.

“I’m just thankful you were even here at all,” she kissed my forehead. “And it was nice that the guys know about us now.”

“Now all I gotta do is tell the mates back at home,” I murmured. “I can only imagine what they’ll have to say about all this. Too bad you won’t be there to see ‘em.”

She let out a few giggles and sighed. “I’m gonna miss you.”

“I’m gonna miss you, too,” I admitted.

We both fell silent after that exchange; the only sounds being a vehicle or two passing by the house every few minutes. Just when I assumed she had fallen asleep, she sat up and faced me.

“I could go with you,” she said. “I don’t know why I didn’t say it before, but we could go back to the UK together.”

I sat up as well. “You’re really willing to go with me?”

“You were willing to come all the way here for me,” she retorted. “Now you said you were going to tell your band about us. We told my band together. If I go with you, then we can also tell your band together.”

She did have a point. It also wasn’t like anything was actually stopping her from going with me and though I didn’t want to say it out loud, I would be more at ease if she was by my side when I told the guys. And another thing that didn’t need to be said was that in the back of my head, I was about to ask her to come with me anyway.

“Okay, let’s do it.”

Hayley looked up at me. “You mean it?”

“Yeah,” I smiled. “I mean it.”

So we were really doing this.

We were both going to leave first thing tomorrow morning.