Empathy (TMF FANFIC)

The Music Club (Third Person)

Timeline: 1 week and 2 days after Jake's suicide.

Sean: Hey guys...how are y'all?

Hailey: As good as I can get after last week's events, I guess.

Zander: ...Alright...

Luke: Ok.

Millie: It hurts if I'm being honest. It hurts a lot.

Sean: Yeah, I feel you.

Hailey: It's hard, but I'm sure we can get through it if we stay together.

Millie: But it just won't be the same without Jake. It's just not togetherness between us if it's without him!

Sean had mixed feelings about that message.

Sean: While I think you're right about things not being the same without Jake, didn't you hit him and take part in having him thrown out of the club?

Millie bit her lip as she thought to herself about what she did before and what she had just said.

Millie: Well...Yeah, but...the things he said in that recording warranted that reaction out of me.

Sean: I get that you were angry, all of you were (personally, I was only a bit disappointed and upset at the most). But that gave you no right to put your hands on him.

Millie: Why are we even bringing this up? You didn't say anything about it before.

Sean thought about the advice Maxwell had given him and decided to say what he needed to say, regardless of if the truth hurt them.

Sean: Because I was afraid of being judged by you guys for "taking his side".

Hailey: Why would we do that?

Sean: You guys were hella pissed at him that day, and let's admit, you guys tend to get pretty damn ugly when you're pissed. Rational thoughts are practically thrown out the window with you guys. I had a feeling that if I had suggested that we listened to his side, that you'd likely make me pick sides. Besides, I didn't see any of you try to stop Millie from hurting him, either, so what's your excuse?

Zander: Who the hell are you calling ugly?!

Luke: Well, thinking about it now, Sean kinda has a point. We do tend to cross lines sometimes when we're angry, like that time you used Drew's dad spoiling him against him in an argument.

Hailey: Yeah, that was a little over the top on Zander's part, but that's ridiculous, Sean. I mean, why would we make you pick between us and him?

Upon reading what Hailey sent, Sean felt himself start to lose his temper.

Sean: You're seriously asking me that question? You out of anybody else in this groupchat (besides Zander) that could've asked?! You were practically fighting over him with Drew like two K9s competing over a damn dog toy 24/7!

Zander: Excuse me?! Don't talk to my sister like that!

From behind his screen, Sean rolled his eyes as his temper started to slip further, but he tried to stay somewhat rational.

Sean: What? I'm suddenly not allowed to tell her the truth?

Zander: I mean, can you blame her? Can you blame US?! Jake verbally bullied us with his stupid friends since freshman year, and even after joining us, he was still hanging around with them, they still bullied us, and he enabled them!

Sean: But he had a pretty big reason for staying with them, and I know for a fact that Hailey knows exactly why he couldn't bring himself to leave Drew and his sidekicks, but she still fucking forced him to choose between us and them.

Hailey tensed up as she read Sean's message and remembered that one night with Jake. The night he had asked her to duet with him. She remembered the things they had said to each other. She remembered what Jake had told her about his past...about how he was treated.

When Hailey had nothing to say back, they all knew Sean was telling the truth.
Even though none of the members were in the same room as her, she knew that their eyes would've been on her if they had been.

Zander: Hailey?

Luke: What exactly does she know about him?

Sean: What she knows was a private conversation between them, and since I respect her boundaries enough to not go into detail, you'd have to ask Hailey if you want all of the answers, but whether she tells you or not will solely be up to her. As for how I know about their conversation if it was private, I had visited Jake's house to talk about something important to them, and since I was technically family to them, they told me a few things about him. His little brother let it slip to me that he and Hailey had a conversation that involved his past and why he stayed with Drew since Jake had a tendency to tell his brothers everything.

Millie: Wait, slow down, you and Jake are related?!

Sean: We're step cousins apparently. His stepdad was my uncle that I hadn't seen since my aunt died giving birth to my cousin, who's his stepsister. I only found this out when I had gone to visit them and he recognized me.  As people who had lost their son/brother, they can't forgive me for my part in Jake's death, nor could they ever forget it, but as relatives, they care enough about my well-being to tell me that I need to assert myself and my boundaries more and draw a line somewhere before someone else gets hurt...or killed.  I really didn't want to have to say what I'm about to say next at first, but now I see that it needs to be said.  If you guys can't stop making each other take sides and just agree to disagree on things, then maybe this friendship of ours wasn't as healthy as we had originally thought.  We could either work on it together or we could end up divided even further than we already have been now that one of our ex-members is dead.

For awhile, nobody in the chat knew what to say, and Sean expected that.  So he finally put his phone down so they could process their emotions while he processed his own feelings on the situation so he could calm down.

Some hours later, he got a text back from Hailey.

Hailey: You're right.  I was wrong to treat Jake the way I did under the guise that I was the victim in the situation.  Now your stepcousin is dead and I'm part of the reason, and for that, I'm sorry.  I'm also sorry for making you feel like you'd be judged by me and the rest of us if you had spoken out for Jake.  Thinking about it now, yeah, that's probably what we would've done.  For the sake of not wanting to lose someone close to me like that again, I'm willing to fix what's repairable.

Sean: Well, at least you can admit it when you're wrong. As for Jake's death, it's not just your fault. I had also dealt a hand in it, everyone in this chat has their hands dirty now. I'm sure we can fix what we can as long as we can have each other each step of the way.

Hailey: Thanks, Sean.

Millie: Aren't you graduating before us tho?

Sean: Well yeah, but that doesn't mean I'll lose complete contact with y'all. I'll still call and text when/if you need it.

Luke: Thanks Sean, I think we needed to "hear" that. Sorry if I ever pushed your boundaries.

Sean: It's fine, Luke. Besides, I don't think I remember you crossing any lines with me anyways.

* Zander is offline.

Luke: Hm, wonder what he's doing.

Hailey: Zander says he wants to talk to me. Bye for now.

* Hailey is offline.

Sean: Bye, Hailey!

Millie: Baiii!

Luke: Until next time.

* Sean is offline.

* Luke is offline.

* Millie is offline.