Falling | zaylor ✓

Long Night

Zac could swear he felt his heart break. It seemed quite obvious what was going on. The emoji had really sealed the deal and made him certain that Taylor was with someone else. He knew how anti-emoji the great Taylor York usually was.

He couldn't cry as much as he wanted to. He felt too numb to even do that.

In reality, he knew that being so upset and angry over what was (most likely) taking place was ridiculous. Even though they had fooled around multiple times, they weren't dating. Taylor wasn't his, nor was he Taylor's.

Poor Hayley, always caught in the middle of it.

She was the only person Zac could go to for help in this situation. Nobody else knew of what was privately taking place between him and Taylor.

Instead of settling for calling and/or texting the vocalist, he rushed to her house, which was luckily nearby. As soon as he arrived, he hurried out of his vehicle and rushed to the front door. His finger met the doorbell, which was followed by a brief silence. He hit it again and again and again. Hayley eventually answered with a messy ponytail upon her head.

"What?" she asked with a bit of an attitude, clearly having just woken up.

"Were you sleeping?"

"Yeah, but come on in, it's fine."

"It's not even midnight and you were already fast asleep?" he asked rhetorically, chuckling as he stepped inside. That was something he was good at; using humor in moments where there should be zero humor involved.

"Is Chad here?"

"Nah, the guys are doing a small tour right now. What's up?" she asked, not sounding as irritated as she had been when she greeted her former bandmate.

"It's Taylor," he simply explained, causing Hayley to roll her eyes.

"Let me guess, you want me to help solve the issues in your relationship, as usual?"

"I'm sorry," he spoke softly, bringing his gaze to the floor.

"I'm just teasing ya', Zac. Tell me, what's wrong?" she asked, leading him into the living room. She turned the television on, the cartoon Doug paused from when she'd been watching it earlier.

"He's with someone, Hayley. Someone who isn't me," he spoke, gulping.

"You're not dating him," Hayley reminded him.

"I know. But why's he doing this? It's like he's doing it to mess with me. I do like him, Hayley. I do, I wish I didn't say what I did. It was so stupid. I think I was just in denial. I still sort of am, but I'm trying. It's just...weird. I mean, I always sort of just assumed I was straight. I always assumed I was into girls. That's normal, right? No one in my family is gay. I just assumed...I don't know. I need to make it up to him," he rambled on, kind of thinking out loud. As he went to stand, Hayley raised her arm to stop him.

"Not tonight, stop."

"Why not?" he questioned with a tone of anger.

"Because...well, how do you know that he's with someone else right now?" Yeah, she probably should have started with asking that.

Zac pulled his phone from his pocket, not uttering a word. He unlocked the device, went to the messages shared between the two of them, and handed the phone over. His face dropped into his hands as Hayley read over the message.

"Okay...well...don't go over, because he's busy. Yes, I know it sucks. I know it does, but do you realize how awkward it would be for you to barge into his house to see him going to pound-town on another guy? That doesn't sound like fun to me, but that could just be me."

"It's a guy?" Zac asked, completely forgetting that Taylor York was a homosexual male.

"Zac....he's gay. Yes, it's a guy."

"You knew about all this, didn't you? Wow, thanks for telling me."

"Don't get all sassy, Zachary. But yes, I knew. The guy he's with has been flirting with him for weeks, but he would continue to turn him down whenever asked on a date, all because he liked you. Even after that first time around when you broke his heart a little bit, he persisted. But that last time, that was the last straw for him. He didn't feel like waiting around for someone who didn't feel the same way for him. So yesterday, he had reached out to the guy who had been interested in him. They decided to go on a date tonight. And...well...I guess things went really well."

Zac felt sick to his stomach, just thinking of Taylor doing the things they'd done with someone else. His fingers raked through his dark locks as his breathing habit grew irregular.

"I need him, Hayley. I need him. Right now," he said, feeling a small panic attack coming on. She brought her hand to his shoulder, and then raised it to the back of his neck. She played with the strands of hair that resided there, frowning over witnessing her friend experience such a terrible thing.

"I know. And I know I'm not Taylor, but I'm here for you as well, okay? I'll get you two together tomorrow. Do you wanna sleep over? Ooh, we can watch movies and share secrets and talk about boys," Hayley spoke the final sentence in a high-pitched voice, doing her best to imitate a teenage girl. Zac chuckled and shrugged his shoulders.

"I'll stay over, as long as that's okay with you. I don't really wanna be totally alone tonight. But I think I'm too tired for that other stuff." A genuine smile made its way across his lips.

The female poked her friend's nose and pushed herself to her feet.

"I'll talk to Taylor, okay? I'll tell him to come over for breakfast, and you guys can talk. Is that alright by you?"

Zac nodded.

"Alright, I'm gonna go to bed. I'll see you in the morning. If you get emo again, just wake me up. I'll be like a mom when her child has a nightmare...my son."

She pinched his cheeks just like a mom would do and then ruffled his hair. Both being things he wasn't very fond of.

Hayley retrieved some pillows and blankets for Zac to use on the (rather comfortable) couch he was using overnight.

It was a long night. He was left to wonder how he could fix things.