A Place To Call Home

4.four

4.

It had been three days since Rachel's panic attack and she had done everything to avoid Hayley and her eventual questions. On the other side, the singer didn't know what to do. She hadn't talked about what had happened with anybody, not even with Taylor, Brian and Zac. She hoped that Rachel would have opened up with her somehow, but at that point it was clear that the girl didn't even contemplate the idea of telling her the truth about her episode. They both knew it hadn't been just claustrophobia. When Hayley had found Rachel on the floor she was looking around muttering indistinguishable words as she was scared of that place, as she wasn't there in that moment, but somewhere else, somewhere terribly dangerous.

"Earth to Hayley. Hello?" Taylor called her, bringing the singer back from her thoughts .

"Uh?"

"I just wanted to know if it's still okay for you to go to rehearsal a bit earlier today." the man told her. Hayley didn't answer. Her attention was on Rachel, who was trying to clean some stains on the floor.

"Hayley?" Taylor insisted.

"Sorry, I... Rehearsal?". The man looked at her, dazed.

"We talked about it yesterday. You wanted to go to rehearsal a bit earlier today, to start working on the tour.". Hayley rubbed her neck and mentally scolded herself. How could she have forgotten that?

"Are you sure you're alright?" Taylor asked her, concerned.

"Yes, I... Absolutely." Hayley lied. "I'm just tired. You know, with the salon and then the tour to organize..."

"You're the worst liar ever, you know that, don't you?" Taylor cut her off. "What's the problem?". Hayley shrugged her shoulders and put her hands into the pocket of her jeans. She raised her gaze and looked at Rachel, who was still desperately trying to clean the floor. The image of that horrible woman talking in such a rude way to the girl was stuck in her head and she couldn't stop thinking about it.

"Hayley, you're scaring me." Taylor said, grabbing her hand. Hayley leaned against him, her eyes still fixed on Rachel.

"She had a horrible panic attack three days ago, at my mom's place. It wasn't just a panic attack, it was like she was reliving something terrible she went through." she finally told him. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I wanted to talk to her before jumping to the wrong conclusions.". Taylor held her close to him and sweetly caressed her shoulder. Hayley laid her hand on his and sighed.

"Give her some time. She must have felt so vulnerable and fragile, I can't even imagine. Maybe we should talk to her foster parents though.". Hayley shook her head.

"Speaking of them, I don't like those two at all. When I drove her at her place, I wanted to tell Mrs Carson what had happened, but Rachel didn't allow me to do so. She looked scared. I don't know, I don't like this whole situation at all.". Taylor was about to reply, but a sudden noise prevented from doing so.

"Fuck!" they heard Rachel cussing, while kicking the mop. The bucket had been accidentally turned over and soapy water had spilled everywhere. The girl punched the wall and ran away, ignoring Hayley calling her. She didn't need her pity. She didn't want to be her charity case. She felt tears rolling down her cheeks and wiped them away with the back of her hand. She breathed in and out, trying to calm herself down as much as she could.

"Oh, you're here.". Rachel raised her gaze. In front of her there was Taylor, slightly smiling at her.

"You can tell Hayley that I'm fine and she doesn't need to send a fucking babysitter checking on me." the girl blurted out, rude.