It Won't Be Soon Before Long (A Hayley Williams Fanfiction)

Can't Stop

I made the mistake of waking up at 10am today because as soon as I did, I stared at my phone blankly waiting for the time to come where it rings. 

"What the hell are you doing?" asked Ross as he passed my bunk, I had left the curtain open to let some light in.

"Nothing." I wasn't lying, technically. 

"I've passed this bunk like 5 times in the past 2 hours and, every time I have, you've been staring at your phone in a trance." Ross explained.

"It doesn't matter." I say, grabbing my phone and hopping out the bunk. I'll feel it in my pocket if it goes off.

"Whatever." Ross responds, letting it go. 

I walk out to the main area at the front and see our bus is moving, as I expected. Although I may not see Hayley again for a long time, I'll get to hear her voice in just a few hours. 

"He emerges!" Alex exclaims when he sees me, obviously Ross had told him that I was awake, James was still nowhere to be seen though.

"Good, uh" I glance at my phone for the time, "afternoon, I guess." I sit next to him on the couch.

"What were you doing in there anyway?" Alex brings up. 

"I was just thinking, y'know?" I say.

"About?" Alex inquires. 

"Just life and people." I say again, trying to end this conversation before I admit I'm in love with Hayley. The teasing would never end.

"People?" Will Alex stop being nosy anytime soon? 

"Yes, people." I tell him, standing up.

"Any chance that Hayley is one of those people?" Alex springs on me.

"Uh, no. Why, um, would I e-ever?" That was very convincing, Paul. 

"Also, what was with your clumsy stumbling last night?" Aw fuck, he heard me leaving. 

"I'm not sure what you mean by that." I reply, opening the fridge in the kitchen and pulling out a Pepsi.

"Midnight, I wake up to you fumbling around in here, then you left the bus. What did you do?" 

I sigh, "I went to see Hayley." 

"At 12 in the morning?" he comprehends. 

"I wasn't thinking, it was a mistake." 

"What happened exactly?" he asks. I sigh again and head over to sit back next to him.

I end up telling him the whole story. About Hayley's breakdown, about Hayley's sister, Erica, and our little confrontation, and about my conversation with Christi. Lastly, I get to the phone call I'm expecting. 

"So, I'm waiting till 3, because she's gonna call me and I have to answer it." I emphasise. 

"That's why you were sitting in your bunk, wasn't it?" 

"Yeah, I know it's stupid but" I take a deep breath, "I think I'm in love with her." I tell him. I honestly don't know why I was scared of telling Alex, he was my best friend after all. It was Alex who used to write music with me to take my mind off George, all those years ago. 

"Well, I hope for your sanity that you answer that call." he smiles. 

"Don't tell the other guys about this right now, okay? James might take it to an extreme, y'know?" 

"Take what to an extreme?" James asks as he appears behind me.

"Uh, nothing James. It doesn't matter." I assure him.

"Tell me what?" he asks again. He was desperate to find out, I could tell. 

"It really doesn't matter." Alex joins in. 

A few hours later, at 2:55, I found myself back in my bunk, sitting watching my phone again for that long awaited call. 

"Tell me what?" I hear behind me, I look in that direction and there's James standing at my bunk side.

"Go away, James." I tell him. He just wanders off and I hear him repeat the same words to Alex in the next room. I smile to myself at James, he was honestly like two different people. 

"Come on." I say to myself, glancing at the time, 2:56. I hate time, it passes so quickly when you don't want it to and then goes at a snail's pace when you're either bored or expecting something. 

What will we say during this call anyway? Will it be awkward? Ugh, of course it'll be awkward, last time I saw her, she broke down and then had me tuck her into bed like a little girl. Wait, what if she's so embarrassed, she doesn't call me? What if she forgets? Oh god, why do I overthink ever-

You'll never know how much I really love you, you'll never know how much I really care.

The word "Hayley" appears on my phone screen. Without hesitation, I answer and put it to my ear.

"Hello?" I say. 

"Hey Paul." I hear from the other end of the line, it was her. 

"How are you?" I ask her, making some form of conversation to avoid an awkward silence. 

"I'm fine." she responds simply, "You answered pretty quickly." she pointed out.

"Yeah, uh, I just picked up the phone." I say slowly, trying to think of something to say and all that came out was that. 

"Yeah, great. Um, sorry about the other night." she said, clearly embarrassed about bringing it up.

"No, I'm sorry Hayley, I don't know what I was thinking turning up at your Mum's house at 12:30 in the morning." 

"Listen, uh, when are you off tour?" she asks, out of the blue, "It's just, I would rather talk about this in person rather than over the phone." she answers my question almost telepathically. 

"Next week, we're playing our last show in 2 days." 

"Well, I get off in like 3 weeks or something, we could meet up maybe?" she suggests. 

"Sure, Hayley." I say, smiling at her voice, just her voice was all it took to get me all giddy. 

"Great, I'll, uh, I'll talk to you later?" she says.

"Absolutely." I say, enthusiastically. I hear her laugh at what I said, "What?" I ask her. 

"Absolutely." she responds in that deep voice she does that's meant to be me. 

"Oh God, I forgot about that." I say, now remembering Warped Tour and when I ogled her when she was talking to me in front of the crowd. 

"Anyway, I'll speak to you later. Bye Paul!" she says before hanging up. 

Just speaking to that girl made me feel like the luckiest man on Earth...