Oh, gosh. This is probably the most I've worked on this story in one day. It may seem quick, but i worked pretty hard on this. Josh and Hayley action at the end. The performance on the Today show is in here but will be continued in the next chapter. I'm leaving to go see family for Thanksgiving Break, so i wanted to put something up before i left. And i did it! Aren't you proud? Lop-sided writing once again-but ya'll don't seem to care, so Enjoy :)
New York City, out of all of the other audiences they had performed in front of, had THE most energy Paramore ever saw. The band exchanged looks as they walked onto stage the crowd shrieked like dogs being whipped. Hayley laid eyes on a few teenage girls in the front. She smiled at them. They screamed louder, hands waving in the air wanting more attention. As Meredith Vieira came into view Hayley quickly reminded herself that this was a televised event. She told her butterflies to calm themselves, tried not to focus on the fact that her head was beginning to throb, and cleared her throat as well as possible. After the band was announced they began to perform. They broke into Here We Go Again, one of their favorite songs to perform live. There weren't any hoarse notes so far; everything seemed to be running smoothly.
Josh eyed Hayley from his spot on the stage. He adored the way she felt the beat of the music. Propping her foot up on the speakers. Shaking her hair during the instrumental parts. Josh didn't know, but he thought her small stature made her actions, well…cute. Hayley seemed to back down a little bit during the bridge of the song. He also liked the fact that she acknowledged his guitar playing.
"And I'll write you, to let you know, that I'm alright. Can't say I'm sad to see you—"
Hayley held her microphone out to the crowd of rowdy New Yorkers as they belted the words: "GO! Cause I'm not."
"Well, I'm not." Hayley finished up.
Josh found it funny that she got the crowd to sing the highest note in the song. Clever.
After they finished the song, the crowd cheered so loud, they sounded as big as the beat of the bass. Hayley almost wanted to request stronger ear plugs.
"How are you today New York City!" She yelled to the crowd, while the rest of the band tuned their instruments for the next song. The TODAY Show was on a commercial break, therefore, like she did in most concerts, she could connect with the crowd.
"Sorry my voice is doing weird things today. I apologize for that."
The crowd cheered again. Fans were the most supportive people.
"Put your hand in the air…if this is your first live concert!" Hayley belted into her orange microphone. About a quarter of the audience held their hands high and all the while cheered louder. Hayley spotted a woman of middle age holding a baby, probably two or three years old. She held the baby's hand up for her. Hayley couldn't imagine how this baby could be in the crowd listening to the extremely loud music without even making a fuss. But then she got the image again. And forced herself not to think about it. Not here. Not in front of the fans.
"Put your hand in the air if this is your first Paramore concert!"
The crowd applauded again, fewer people putting their arms in the air.
Hayley proceeded to introduce the band. Describing Josh Farro as an amazing guitar player and friend for life, Zac Farro as the awesome, hilarious, brother of Josh and the awesomest drummer ever. She described Jeremy Davis as tough, humorous, awe-inspiring bassist, and Taylor York as the curly headed freak that's just as good guitar as Josh. Josh cut in to introduce Hayley, describing her as red-headed, small, with vocal chords you could only dream of. Hayley blushed and smiled, and held the microphone to her mouth once again.
"And in case you still haven't figured it out. We. Are. PARAMOOOOOOORE!"
The crowd went extremely wild; they might as well have been throwing themselves on the stage. The camera cut back on and they broke in Misery Business, then shortly after, CrushCrushCrush, and then Ignorance.
They played on with their songs, the whole band starting to feel at home on the stage. Starting to feel ownage. Hayley had almost completely forgotten about her frequent 'images' as she got into the music she sang.
On the next commercial break, Paramore took a break to let themselves, and the crowd wind down. They drank ice cold bottled water while sitting on the couch backstage.
"Okay, so we'll do The Only Exception, and then Playing God and then My Heart at the end, right?" Josh asked his friends.
"Switch the first two songs." Taylor suggested, "We need to have two slower songs at the end."
"Yeah," Hayley verbalized; her voice still hoarse "I agree."
The rest of the band nodded as well, and Josh accepted. As that same burly, African American dude told them it was time to get back on stage, the band stood up.
They huddled together, said a small prayer and went onto the stage feeling like champions.
That feeling didn't last for long. For Hayley stomach began to bubble like a frying pan. She eyed the crowd that began to cheer as she took her place behind the microphone. The cameras were rolling, and there would be no procrastination.
"Alright guys. This next song is about…"
Hayley eyed the crowd, her head began to spin slowly, and her stomach seemed to scream at her "GET OFF THE STAGE!"
"It's about…self-righteous people…who…"
The rest of the band exchanged looks. Zac held his drums sticks as if to say "I don't know?" when Jeremy sent him a question look. All eyes were on Hayley, and she had drawn that attention because of her stupid procrastination. Her stomach hurt like hell, and her mouth felt dry. The need to puke overcame her. Her face turned a light shade of green.
"Hayley are you o—"
"Sorry." Hayley spat into the microphone as she ran off the stage. "Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry." She continued to say. She made her way behind the building and found garbage cans, just in time too.
She hurled, what seemed like her entire soul into the trash can. Her throat throbbed and hurt and more and more puke spilled out of her tiny body. She sat her head up and began to sob. She wiped her mouth with her shirt sleeve. She was angry with herself, for running off stage like that. Such a cowardly thing to do. I have no backbone she thought I'm weak. And weak she was.
Her body gave out as she sat down on the gravel ground next to the garbage can. She didn't even care about the smell that now permeated around her. She was done. Fed up. Angry. Upset. Her stomach settled itself, but her throat still screamed painful songs. Her headache was so terrible she felt like dying, right there, behind Rockefeller Center. Next to a garbage can. She was thankful for the sun that decided to come out today, melting away most of the snow. Her bottom began to feel very wet as she realized she was sitting in a puddle of melted snow.
She drew her knees up to her chest, took the earplugs out from her ears, buried her face into her knees and cried.
It wasn't long before the guys came to find her, extremely worried.
"Oh, my God. Hayley! Are You Okay?" "What happened?" "What's going on?" the words seemed to all whir together as the guys questioned her.
She stood from her place on the ground. Her face smeared with tears, eyeliner running down her cheeks.
"I…I…guys I'm…so…sorry." She managed. "I just…I'm…"
Sorrowful looks filled their faces, seeing Hayley cry was the last thing any of them wanted to witness.
"I'm so fucking sick." She said, her voice wavering.
Josh sighed and led the group to envelope her in a hug. They huddled around her, Josh stroking her back, as she proceeded to cry.
"What can we do about this?" Zac asked, pulling himself from the group hug. "Hayley obviously can't sing now."
"Zac!" Josh scolded his brother.
"What? I'm just statin' the facts."
"He's right." Hayley said, through tears. "I feel like a piece of shit, guys. I can't get back on stage."
Josh soothed her again, trying to get her to stop speaking. She just needed to rest. Give it all a break.
"We could get the crowd to sing." Jeremy suggested, "Like we did last time something like this happened."
"Yeah." Taylor agreed.
"Is that okay, Hayles?" Josh asked their lead singer. "We'll handle it."
She exchanged looks with each and every one of them before nodding. "Okay." She said, tears continued to leak from her eyes.
"Good." Zac said. "Let's go do our thang!" He said, making Hayley smile, but only for a split-second.
The band minus Hayley began to depart from the smelly trash can area, telling Hayley to feel better and get well soon. As they walked off, Hayley caught Josh by the arm.
"What?" he asked. She waited for the rest of the guys to leave before speaking. When they were out of site and earshot she said:
"You remember that one night…that we…"
And Josh knew exactly what she meant. He looked around to make sure no one else was watching, took a step closer to Hayley and whispered "Yeah. What about it?"
"I think I know why all of this is happening." She said
Josh shook his head and shrugged his broad shoulders in bemusement.
"I think maybe you might have gotten me p—"
"Oh hell, no!" Josh yelled, finally catching on. Hayley held a finger to her lips, telling him to shut up. He resumed his whisper tone.
"We don't even know if we slept together! How could you jump to conclusions like that?" Hayley could see the worry and angst in Josh's face and instantly regretted telling him this. Especially since he was just about to get back on stage to face the crowd.
"I just thought it could be a possibility. Besides, I'm like, a month late."
Josh let out an uneasy sigh. "You're sure?"
"I think."
"You're sure?"
"I said I think Joshua!" She said, raising her voice. He told her to shut up.
"Do you think it might just be because you're stressed out?"
"I don't know." Hayley rubbed her fingers to her temples. "It would explain a lot though."
Josh crossed his arm and began slowly, pacing. "I can't deal with this right now. We're on, in like, five minutes, Hayles."
"I know." She said.
They stood in silence for a few minutes. Hayley waited for Josh to say something. She realized how angry he looked. She didn't understand why he was so mad. She expected him to much more supportive.
"Okay," Josh finally spoke. "We'll go to a doctor once we get home from New York."
"Should we tell the others?" she asked.
"No." Josh said abruptly. "Not yet."
"Okay."
Josh began to walk off, without saying anything more, but turned around at last minute.
"You picked the worst possible time to tell me all of this." He said, walking backwards.
"I know. I'm sorry."
Josh could sense the apology in Hayley's voice. He realized how down she was, the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes.
"You scared?" he asked.
"Yeah." she said.
"Worried?"
"A little."
Josh smirked. "Well, I'm here for you. If you need me."
Hayley smiled. That's all she needed to hear.
Review! Think Hayley's just overreacting? Or are she and Josh gonna be parents? Find out in my next chapter!
lol. i feel like I'm doing some kind of soap opera commercial. Happy Thanksgiving, guys!