playing god

nineteen || bend it back

"next time you point a finger, i might have to bend it back or break it, break it off..."

—

Though the studio is usually a place for the coming together of friends, musical achievements, and creative expression, life isn't always so bright. Not one of the four people standing in the studio with minds all racing in drastically different directions believe so. Then again, this situation wasn't one that any of them could have seen coming.

Hayley's small footsteps are fueled with pure anger and determination, so much so that Jeremy cannot help but quickly drop his phone and bass guitar and follow the small, fuming girl. He has never seen her consumed by so much emotion in all his life, and he cannot possibly imagine what his friend — and her boyfriend — could have done to warrant this.

In the front room, Josh stands talking to Taylor, but the intensity of his voice and the spit flying from his mouth cause Taylor to hide his head in his shoulders as he tells Josh that he swears he doesn't know where Hayley is.

Josh's hard expression immediately softens upon seeing Hayley practically running towards him, but her furious one stays the same.

"Hayley—" Josh starts, but his uncharacteristically small voice is far overpowered by the named girl's.

"Fuck you, Josh." All the men standing in the room stare at Hayley with wide eyes, but she is unmoved.

"I told you not to come. Can't you get that through your thick skull?" Hayley stands her ground and pushes herself mere inches from Josh as she yells, balancing on the tips of her toes to reach him. Flashes of red decorate both of their faces, inspired by two very different emotions. The taller boy's mouth shuts tightly, though he is certainly not at a loss for words.

The boys standing behind them, however, most definitely are. They watch the scene, shocked, expecting their outspoken, confident friend to start yelling back at the girl whom they've never seen so much as raise her voice to him, but he clams up. He stands, takes a deep breath, and takes it.

"You're a dumbass, Josh. I don't want to talk to you, I don't want to see you—don't you get that? Can't you accept that?" All three boys in the room don't know how to react to the girl's harsh, nearly unimaginable words, so their silence allows her to continue. "Now. . . just get the fuck out of here. I don't care where you go, just don't come here."

Taylor's eyes remain focused on the scene in front of him, but Jeremy can't help but look down. He is certainly in shock at the present event, but he can't help but think about the future. What does this mean for the band? Is Josh really gone? What could he have done to deserve this?

And though Taylor isn't certain either, he can make a very unwelcome guess.

"Hayley, please, can we just talk about this—" Josh's voice is so much quieter than both other boys had expected. It makes it easier for Hayley's furious one to shake them all to the core.

"No, we can't just talk, not after what you did. I stayed quiet about it long enough to save your ass, now fuck off." Even from the back of the room where they are standing, both Taylor and Jeremy have noticed the tears falling from Hayley's eyes and those threatening to spill from Josh's. Only one of the pair, however, notices the regret and guilt alongside it: Taylor, the only one who had known what to look for.

As the girl, genuinely shaking with anger, tries to walk away from the source of it, Josh makes the most regretful, obvious mistake of reaching out to her. His hand makes contact with her arm in the same moment time stops, chills shooting down the tense spines of all four of them. His grasp is desperate and pleading, but not nearly tight enough to cause any physical pain. Hayley feels the breaking in her heart all the same.