You Drive Me Insane (But I Like It)

Chapter 20

Emily's POV

Maddie and I had finished packing and were heading down to reception ready to be taken to the airport. As we stood in the elevator Maddie looked and me and laughed. "What?!" I asked.

"Well you might want to tone down that grin you're wearing. It's a dead giveaway that something is going on." she giggled.

I blushed. I knew she was right but I was finding it really difficult to stop myself. I was so happy I felt like I was floating on air.

The elevator reached the ground floor and Maddie looked over and said "Nope not working." Then both of us started to laugh. Still two people laughing together as they reached the band was slightly less obvious than me grinning to myself.

"What's made you two laugh so much?" Pat asked.

"I couldn't possibly tell you." Maddie giggled.

"Ooookkkaaayy." Pat answered looking confused.

Maddie and I stood around with the others waiting for Dave, Taylor and last few members of the crew to join us. Dave was first, he crossed the foyer and stood next to Maddie. "Hey you two. How are you?" he asked us.

I nodded and Maddie answered "I'm fine thanks." I couldn't help but notice her own grin at this point. She was right grinning really did give things away.

A few minutes later the crew arrived followed quickly afterwards by Taylor. I watched as he walked towards us. I couldn't help but smile at him. He looked at me and for a moment it looked like he hesitated. Then without a smile or a hello he walked right past us and over to where Sandy was stood with Shifty. I watched as he stood between them and lay his arms loosely round their shoulders as he greeted them. At that moment my heart broke. Immediately I could feel tears forming in the corners of my eyes and panic rise in my body. I swallowed hard trying to stop the tears from falling.

I heard Nate call "Cars are here." and the next minute Taylor, Shifty and Sandy were gone with Nate leaving Pat, Dave, Maddie and me to take the second car.

Taylor's POV

I was still fighting with my thoughts as I took the elevator down to the lobby. I felt sick and I really wasn't looking forward to seeing everyone at all. I knew what Dave had said to me was right but I was terrified and I just couldn't bring myself to take that risk. Even as the doors opened on the ground floor I didn't know what I was going to do.

I took a deep breath and walked across the lobby towards the others. I saw Emily chatting with Dave and Maddie, then she looked at me and smiled. I loved her smile but now it just stopped me in my tracks. My breath caught in my throat and it was a struggle to keep moving but as I got to the band I knew I couldn't do this right now so walked right past her over to Shifty and Sandy.

"Hey" I said to them draping my arms around their shoulders. I knew I shouldn't. I knew Emily would be upset but I couldn't stop myself.

It was a relief when I heard Nate call that the cars were here and I hurried out and jumped in the first car with Nate, Shifty and Sandy just to avoid Emily for a little while longer. I knew I had to face this sometime but that time wasn't now. I guess there was a part of me that hoped it would all just go away.

Emily's POV

The journey to the airport was awful.  I tried to keep smiling but all I wanted to do was cry. What was going on? Why had Taylor ignored me and worse why had he gone to Sandy? He knew how I felt about her. My mind was constantly wandering and I couldn't concentrate on the conversation so I gave up and stared out of the window. I felt Maddie squeeze my hand obviously knowing how I was feeling. It helped a little to know she was there for me.

When we got to the airport Taylor and the others were almost through security. I could see him in front of me talking to Sandy and my heart ached a little bit more. She turned, saw me with Maddie and grinned at me putting her arm around Taylor's waist. I wanted to run away. At that moment I wished I'd never come on the tour.

I did everything I could to avoid looking at them and when the plane was ready to board I grabbed my handbag and almost ran to get on and take my seat. I saw Dave and Maddie hang back but Taylor walked straight past me and sat with Sandy. I watched them exchange glances before they took the seats beside me.

I could hear Sandy giggling as Taylor chatted with her and I wasn't sure if I wanted to hit her or cry. Maddie took my hand. "I'm sure there's a logical explanation for this." she said.

Dave leaned over to me "Yeah he's probably just trying to cover up after nearly putting his fucking foot in it yesterday. But as always he takes things too fucking far. You wait 'til I get my hands on him."

I tried to smile "Yeah you're probably right." I muttered but I didn't really believe what they were trying to tell me and I was pretty certain they didn't believe it either.

They were very sweet trying to cheer me up but I really wasn't interesting and I was struggling to listen. In the end I decided pretending to have fallen asleep was the best answer. Luckily, it was only a short flight. I just wanted to get to our new hotel so I could hide away. I leaned my head back against the seat, closed my eyes and tried my best not to listen to Sandy's giggles as she sat with the man I'd thought cared about me.

Taylor's POV

When we landed I saw Dave hurry Emily and Maddie from the plane and I purposefully held back. I saw the look of pain on her face and I knew that was down to me. I never meant to hurt her but the hurt would only be worse for both of us later on I thought, so it was better this way.

We all went to collect our bags but Maddie and Emily weren't there. Shifty looked around and then asked "Where are the girls?"

Dave glared at me before answering "Emily's really not feeling well so I told Maddie to go on ahead with her, get a cab to the hotel and I'd sort their bags out."

I heard Sandy mutter sarcastically "Oh poor Emily's not feeling well. More like she's getting other people to wait on her."

I nearly turned on her but I managed to stop myself and bite my tongue. I did still care about Emily, in fact I cared about her more than I had cared about anyone in a long time but I just couldn't risk being hurt again.

I kept my distance from Dave knowing that if I let him get too close he would try to talk to me again. I knew he meant well and I loved him for it but I just didn't want to talk about it right now. I grabbed my bag from the carousel and quickly headed from the collection area with Nate and Sandy leaving the others to deal with the rest of the luggage while we took the first car to the hotel.