Touring With the McDonoughs (sequel to MIWTM)

Chapter 13

Toby's POV:

D-did I hear that right?? I sure hoped the door made us hear wrong. I glanced at my older brothers and upon seeing their sad faces, I knew I had heard correctly. I felt my heart sink to the floor beneath us.

"You guys can come inside, you know! I know you're outside," we jumped at Braiden's muffled voice and scrambled to our feet as the door of the piano room opened. Before Braiden could say anything, Connor wrapped his arms around his best friend, hugging him as if his life depended upon it. Braiden stumbled backwards a little bit but hugged Connor back with the same amount of strength. Riley sniffed and hugged Braiden from the other side. As he moved, I caught a glimpse of a teary eyed Haley and rushed over to her, hugging her and burying my head in the nook of her neck. She hugged me back tightly, stroking my hair.

Braiden's POV:

Even though I didn't want to, I lightly pushed both Connor and Riley to stand in front of me. I couldn't look at them but I knew I had to. I caught Connor's eye and felt my vision go blurry.

"W-why, Braiden?" Riley whispered, his voice laced with raw emotion and... Pain.

"Did w-we do some... Something wr-wrong because I swear, if... If we did, we can f-fix it!" Connor cried out, his voice breaking. A lump formed in my throat and I fought back a sob as I placed my hand on Connor's shoulder and gave it a squeeze. I looked down and slightly shook my head. Connor grabbed my forearm and squeezed it in return.

"Its not... Its n-not... You guys. You didn't... You did nothing... W-wrong," I managed to say, looking up slowly.

"Then you can't leave!" I heard Toby cry out from behind me. I turned to look at him and stumbled back as he crashed into me, hugging me tightly. I wrapped my arms around him.

"I won't let you leave!" Toby's muffled voice said as he buried his face into my shirt. I smiled ever so slightly. After giving me one hard squeeze, Toby let me go and looking at his tear stained face made me want to cry even harder. When I made the decision of leaving Before You Exit, I knew that telling the guys and saying goodbye to them would be hard but I had NO idea it would be THIS... Hard...

"Toby..." I whispered, trying to get my mind to work so I could explain my reason for doing what I was doing to these guys... To my best friends but my mind refused to work.

"So, its true then. You are leaving..." I heard Thomas say from the door, his voice firm and calm. My eyes widened slightly. Thomas one my best friend along with Connor and whenever I felt down, he was ALWAYS there to pick me up. I closed my eyes and slowly turned to face the door. Thomas stood there with a shocked Lindsey, his face expressionless.

"Y-you K-KNEW??" Riley choked out. Thomas broke eye contact with me to glance at Riley.

"No... But I had my suspicions. I mean, Braiden had been really distant from stuff related to the band when he was ALWAYS the MOST interested in all activities related to BYE," Thomas replied, glancing at me as I felt guilt pile up inside me. At that point, I really felt like shouting 'April Fools!' and telling everyone that this all was a joke but I knew it wasn't. No matter how much it hurt, it was what I had decided and there was no going back... Especially not then... Not when the secret was disclosed to everyone.

"You always could read me like an open book, Thomas," I mumbled. Thomas's face soften slightly as he furrowed his eyebrows, let out a sigh and shook his head.

"Just come here" Thomas mumbled, pulling me to him and squeezing me in a hug. I hugged him back tightly. The tears that I held inside till that point started flowing out.

"I hate you for making me regret my decision," I mumbled through the tears. Thomas grabbed me from the shoulders and made me look him in the face.

"Don't you dare say that! This is YOUR life and what you do with it is YOUR choice and don't EVER let anything or anyone make you regret your choice, you hear me?" he said, his voice firm but vulnerable at the same time. I looked him in the eye, took in a deep breath and nodded.

"He's right..." I heard Connor's voice. I turned to look at my other best friend, who was looking at the floor.

"H-he is?" Toby said in disbelief. Connor nodded at his little brother and took Toby's head in his hands, planting a kiss on it.

"Yeah..." Riley mumbled. I was speechless. I could not believe what I was hearing. I thought that I would have to convince these guys till the end of the day and then MAYBE, they'd understand but boy! Had a underestimated them. I let out a huff, gaining everyone's attention.

"You guys... How... You understood so... Quickly... What..." I mumbled, the words not making any sense. The boys looked at each other and smiled through the tears.

"You really underestimated us, man..." Riley said, causing everyone to chuckle. Toby let out a sigh and crashed into me again, enveloping me in a hug. I hugged him back and felt Connor, Riley and Thomas join in. We stood like that for a while when I opened my eyes and they met Haley's...

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An earlier update!!! :D A sad one, this chappy. :P Anyways, I hope you like it!!! :)

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