1 (jaylor) wisteria hearts and caged folk songs

chapter twenty seven.

Today was the day. He'd left Taylor without even saying goodbye. It hurt too much when he watched her sleep. He'd meant to, he really had. But when he saw her lying there, he couldn't. She didn't even know what was happening. He had simply kissed her and left.
He'd fucked up and he knew that, but he wanted Taylor to be free of Adam. She didn't deserve any of it.

He'd hoped like hell that Adam would keep his mouth shut about all this - he would be done for if anyone found out. Perhaps William Bowery would still have a career, but any career in acting would be disintegrated. Adam would be ruined too, his career would be over more than it already was. Joe desperately hoped that this would keep him from telling the press, or other people. He was sure that Taylor knew things that would ruin Adam's career and whole life too. There were certainly ways to keep him quiet about this.

The car was far too quiet without Taylor. He was brought back to their holiday, to singing in the car with her on their way to find their next great big adventure together. When he thought of her, he knew why he was doing this.

"Taylor, honey," Andrea called from outside her bedroom door, "I've got breakfast for you!" Taylor groaned as she woke up. The felt awful. For a brief moment, she was confused as to where Joe was and felt sad when she remembered.
"Thanks, mom," Taylor answered. Her mom came in and set her breakfast down on the bed beside her, before going and opening up the curtains. "Thanks for coming yesterday... I don't think I ever thanked you."
"Oh, honey. You don't need to thank me." Andrea smiled, giving Taylor that look that moms always give when they feel sorry for them. "You'll take it easy today, okay? I've got some groceries coming in about half an hour, so if there is a knock on the door, it is just the security dropping it off, okay?" Her mom warned her. Taylor was grateful for that warning. Even the slightest noise made her jump.
She was so excited that Joe had been given a callback - and she hoped that it went well. Taylor felt guilty that she hadn't even asked about that at all yesterday. She had a feeling that he wasn't only worried about the callbacks because she'd never seen him that stressed before. She wished that he'd told her what was bothering him.

She wasn't the sort of person to take it easy, and she put on a sweater before going to find her mom. It was mid-afternoon, and Taylor hadn't slept in this late in months. She couldn't even remember the last time she had. She loved the morning and felt like it was the best part of the day. She hated missing out on it, especially when she was at her Rhode Island home.
She was playing scrabble with her mom, the only person who had managed to beat her so far when her phone rang. The sharp sound of it made her jump. She pulled it out of her pocket and saw Patrick's name on the screen. Her eyebrows knitted together. What was he doing phoning her now? A voice told her that something was wrong. Maybe Joe had got tired of the drama and left her? That wouldn't have surprised her because if she had the chance to escape herself, she'd do it without a second thought.
"Sorry, mom. I'll just quickly take this."
Her mom smiled. "Take your time."

She went to the hallway, picking up the call.
"Hey, Patrick... how are you?" She was terrified of why he was calling.
"Oh, hey... Do you know where Joe is right now? Is he with you?" He asked her. He spoke far too quickly and that reinforced Taylor's fear that something had happened.
"No... he's gone to New York for a callback," Taylor told him, and she heard Patrick softly curse under his breath.
"I'm not supposed to be telling you this... Taylor..." He paused. 
"What's happened? Is Joe okay?"
She heard Patrick sigh. "I mean, yeah. He is now. And I'm really not supposed to be telling you all of this because he made me promise not to tell you. Or anyone else for that matter - but I'm worried about him, Taylor."
Taylor's heart plummeted. "What's happened?"
"He was mad after the events of... well... and he does this sometimes - I mean one time he got so mad at one of the boys in his year that he - that's not important. He was mad and so he might have maybe called Adam and... organised something." Patrick gushed. Taylor felt worried, concern and panic flood into her chest.
"What do you mean? Where is he?" She couldn't believe this, couldn't believe that Joe had let his anger get the better of him like this.
"I mean that he maybe... might have gotten in a phone argument with Adam and arranged that they'd... you know... pull some historical sort of duel event - that's not important either. What I'm trying to say, is that he didn't go to New York for callbacks."
Fuck. Taylor raced up the stairs, unable to think of anything other than the fact that Adam and Joe were planning something. Something dangerous.