𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚖𝚎; 𝚓𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚗 𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚜𝚕𝚎𝚛

𝐱𝐱𝐱𝐯𝐢𝐢. 𝐲𝐮𝐩, 𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐨𝐭

Narrator

"w-what?" she stutters, staring in disbelief at the boy in front of her. His eyes are wide open in shock, just beginning to register what she said.

"you're in love with me?" is all that comes out of his mouth, a hoarse whisper.

"yes. oh my god Jae, I've fallen so hard for you and I can't help it. Please don't do this," tears prick at the corners of both of their eyes. "please don't leave me..."

"Cora, I love you. I love you so damn much, which is exactly why I have to do this. I can't just sit here and watch everything you've worked for come crashing down because of me," he chokes out.

"no, you're just being a fucking coward Jaden. Missing out on one tour isn't the end of my career, getting a few hate comments won't kill me. Stop running away from your problems for once and face them... please," she spits out, softening slightly at the end.

"Cora, I'm-"

"don't you dare say you're sorry," her voice cracks as she stares at her boyfriend, the fury on her face slowly turning into pain. "what did I do wrong?"

his face instantly morphs into shock as he realizes the broken girl in front of him thinks this is her fault. He opens his mouth, but no words come out as he watches the girl he loves slowly shatter on the inside. She shudders slightly, but forces herself to square her shoulders and take a deep breath.

it doesn't work.

the first sob that erupts from her rips through every fiber in Jaden's being. Just the thought that he was the one that she was crying about, that he was the one to cause those tears when he'd always sworn to protect her from them, made him want to take back everything. The sobs rack through the Cora's frame, each one paired with a deep breath in an effort to stay strong.

"was I too clingy? I thought I gave you enough space, you should've told me you needed more. I swear I didn't mean to-"

"Cora, you didn't nothing wro-"

"was it something I said? oh god I probably said something really stupid or-"

"Cora-"

"or was it Mads?" the question seems to knock the breath out of Jaden, him stepping back in shock. "it was her, wasn't it?"

"No. No, absolutely not. Cora, you're more to me than Mads ever was."

"THEN WHY ARE YOU FUCKING LEAVING ME?" she screams, face contorting as she runs her fingers through her hair. "why does everyone leave me?"

"Cora, I love you too much to be with you"

"that's fucking cap. if you loved me that much, you wouldn't give a shit what people said about us. you would trust me when I say I'm fine and NOT FUCKING LEAVE ME!"

"Cora, I-"

"fuck you, jaden"

and with that, she makes one last effort to steel herself against his gaze, and walks out of the studio.

but not before flipping him off.

•~•~•~•~•

Kio

after Bryce got the message, we gave up on the TeaTok and instead settled on the couch, waiting for Jaden and Cora to walk through those doors.

"my boy is all grown up," Bryce whispers, a small smile on his face. Josh being uncharacteristically quiet, nods along, a huge smile spread across his face.

Jaden's been there for all of us, helping us through breakups, hate comments, and scandals (more precisely, Josh's garlic knot). Cora's been my best friend ever since the second week of tour, and she's come to mean the world to all of us.

they deserve a chance to be happy. and I'm just glad they got that chance with each other.

"are you sure they're not fucking or something?" Blake yawns, him, Quentin, and Noah not being as connected to Cora and Jaden as the rest of us are. His question is met with five glares and a shove from Anthony.

"even if they are, we're waiting her until they come home"

"well I'm not gonna sit around and stare at the door all day. what movie do y'all wanna watch?"

when nobody answers his question, Blake sighs and gives up, nestling his head back onto Noah's lap. I swear the two are secretly in a relationship or something.

two hours of completely silence and us randomly bursting into grins, we finally hear footsteps in front of the door. It opens slowly, revealing a Jaden Hossler.

"JADENNN!" he's instantly tackled by all of us, me having to fight Bryce off so I can give him a hug.

"so when's the wedding?"
"I call best man!"
"why the hell would YOU be best man? he wouldn't want you flashing your dick while waiting at the altar-"
"like you would be any better, Mr.IPeeOffBalconies," Josh snaps back.

"guys, shut up for a few seconds?" my request instantly causes them all to fall silent. Being the quiet one has it's advantages sometimes. People tend to listen to you when you actually talk. "so Jaden, what happened?"

and that's when we saw.

Jaden's eyes are rimmed with red, tears still leaking out of the corners. Sniffling slightly, he wipes his nose with a sleeve that looks like it's been used one too many times for that purpose.

"Jaden?"

"we broke up," he says flatly, but we all hear his voice crack at the end. I watch in shock as he bolts up the stairs, leaving us behind with so many unanswered questions. Before I open my mouth, Blake butts in.

"so uh Bryce... you sure he's not an idiot?"

•~•~•~•~•