All We Know Is Falling - A Tayley Fanfiction

Chapter 10: Last Hope

When I finish telling my tale, Josh and Jenna are looking at me with a curious mix of pity and distrust. It's clear to me that they're not sure whether to take me in or cast me out. But in the end, after a second of shared glances, they choose the former, and turn to me.

"Hayley...you're welcome to stay here for a while...if you want. It's clear to us that you're struggling right now, and we don't think that's right. So..."

I smile weakly, gratefully. They take this to mean that I accept their offer, and usher me into a clean, pretty spare room with a cot in the corner. It must be the nursery for their unborn child. They leave, and I pull off my shoes and climb into bed.

The next few days pass like a blur. Waking, eating, crying, sleeping.

But most of all, missing Taylor.

Every waking second my heart longs to be with him, for that one day we spent together alone, wrapped together in our feelings for each other. He means so much to me - I realise that now - and it hurts to be separated from him.

Yet I can't stop myself from thinking that...he can't possibly miss me in return. After all that I've done to him, to everyone around me, there's no way that he could ever want me back. I've said it before - second chances, they don't ever matter, because people never change. And I don't see how I could ever change what anyone thinks of me after what I did.

These thoughts haunt me as I climb into bed the next night, wrapped in covers. I'm lying awake, unable to sleep, tormented, when I hear a voice.

It's deep, and gruff, and with a tender quality. Quiet strumming of a guitar accompanies it, and eventually, I begin to pick out the lyrics.

There is not a single word in the whole world
That could describe the hurt
The dullest knife just sawing back and forth
And ripping through the softest skin there ever was

How were you to know?
Oh, how were you to know?

And I, I hate to see your heart break
I hate to see your eyes get darker as they close
But I've been there before
And I, I hate to see your heart break
I hate to see your eyes get darker as they close
But I've been there before

Love happens all the time
To people who aren't kind
And heroes who are blind
Expecting perfect scripted movie scenes
Who wants an awkward silent mystery?

How were you to know?
Well, how were you to know-oh-oh?

And I, I hate to see your heart break
I hate to see your eyes get darker as they close
But I've been there before
And I, I hate to see your heart break
I hate to see your eyes get darker as they close
But I've been there before

For all the air that's in your lungs
For all the joy that is to come
For all the things that you're alive to feel
Just let the pain remind you hearts can heal

Oh, how were you to know?
Oh, how were you to know?

And I, I hate to see your heart break
I hate to see your eyes get darker as they close
But I've been there before
And I, I hate to see your heart break
I hate to see your eyes get darker as they close
But I've been there before...

I step outside to see Taylor, standing, looking up at my window.

He came to serenade me, with the song that I wrote to save him.

When I'm just a couple of metres away from him, he turns to me and smiles.

"Thought I'd return the favour...", he says, smiling.

"I...how...how could you ever forgive me for what I did to Chad?" I manage to stutter.

"Because I love you, Hayley, with all my heart and all my soul, and it doesn't matter how hard you fall, because I'll always be there to pick you up."

Unable to muster another word, I collapse into him, tears soaking his adorable button-up shirt.

"Why do I always end up like this...sobbing into you?"

"Because I'm your knight in shining armour, aren't I? I'm the one who's meant to save the day. And...

...I will always be there to save the day."