Raging Hearts-Jaylor

footnotes

"Tom, what should I do about it?" Joe asked his brother helplessly.

Tom touched his chin, thinking of something while Patrick interrupted, "Why do you even care? Didn't you hate her and all?"

Joe gave him a death stare which shut Patrick down. Tom said, "Well he's right. You both kissed, that I know, but are you just friends or dating or what?"

Leaving out a huge sigh, Joe replied, "See, I don't know about that. Its just very complex. But if you don't know how to fix this mess, then please shut up" He got furious by every word he said.

Hearing Joe's outburst, Tom didn't exactly know what was gong on with them, but he knew one thing. What they had, was certainly different and it'll take time for them to admit it, but there were definitely some sparks flying.

Joe didn't know what it was between them. He found her pretty, and amazing, but something was holding him back for feeling anything further than this. They weren't friends, and not enemies for sure, because enemies don't go to an amusement park. But he did know one thing. He had messed up, pretty bad. And he knew he can't repeat the same mistake he did years ago. With the same person, and the same situation.

Meanwhile, Taylor was blankly moving the spatula in the circular direction inside the empty pan. After her conversation with her dad earlier, he convinced her to eat something. However, she looked herself into the mirror of her bathroom and all the motivational words of Scott went to vain. The ingredients for the pasta were lying right on the kitchen island, but she couldn't make up her mind to prepare it.

Physically, she was in her kitchen, but mentally, her mind was still behind that dive bar a week ago, where she messed things up with Joe again. The thought of him leaving again crushed her heart. She hated him, with all her heart. All this time, they had been threatening to kill each other, and now that he was just going to another country, she wanted to punch him for this decision.

The ringtone of her mobile reached her ears and brought her out of her reverie. She looked at the phone and found out that the caller was none other than Tree, her publicist.

Her hand trembled as it reached the phone and she declined it. Since the day the media started talking rubbish about her, she had been declining Tree's phone calls constantly. Her life was getting too complicated with every second and she wasn't able to deal with.

She took a step back, the spatula still in her hands. She heard the door bell ring which startled her. It was in the middle of the day and she wondered who it could be. One part of her thought it was Joe. She wanted it to be him. But another part of her refrained to even think about him.

Grabbing the pan and keeping it in front of her face, she slowly and cautiously looked through the peephole on the door. She immediately dropped the pan down and opened the door.

Clearing her throat, she said, "Oh Tree, what are you doing here?"

With a firm expression, Tree responded, "Why the fuck haven't you been answering my calls?"

Taylor stood there for a mere moment, analysing the situation. Deciding if she could trust Tree Or not. With a blank expression, she just moved forward and holding her forearms, she hugged her.

"Let's talk inside, shall we?" Tree softly asked her.

Taylor nodded. She took Tree into the living room and closed the door behind.
As both of them sat on the sofa, Tree started the conversation.

"See, let me cut to the chase. I'm sorry about everything. I'm trying to do everything I can. But it'll only make the things worse"

"I know. Everybody hates me before they even liked me. Till now I was known as the 'all too well person' but now suddenly everybody knows who the fuck I am. I've hung out with celebrities earlier. But none of this ever happened. And now, Joe told me he doesn't live here? What's happening?" Taylor said, trying to brief out her pathetic life.