the only exception

Phoebe woke up to her phone ringing and groaned into her pillow before bringing the phone to her ear, her voice groggy. "Hello?"

    "Hey, do you wanna come over around lunchtime? We were thinking about swimming, maybe watching some movies, stuff like that." Emily asked into the phone.

    Phoebe groaned in response, glancing over at the clock, "And you thought you had to call me at 8AM to ask?"

    Emily giggled, "Sorry about that! But do you want to?"

    "Who's we?" Phoebe asked reluctantly.

    "Just me, James, and Hayden. I think my sister and Hayden's brother are gonna hang out here too, but they'll probably just hang out in my sisters room anyway." Emily told her easily.

    "I'll ask and let you know, okay?" Phoebe agreed after a second of pondering on the idea.

    "Sweet! Just let me know if we need to pick you up or anything."

    "Will do," Phoebe hummed, followed by them saying their goodbyes. She looked over to see her roommate still sleeping and decided to get out of bed and head downstairs. One of the caretakers, Lydia, was sitting at the counter alone. On weekends they were allowed to sleep in until 9, something Phoebe really wished she'd taken advantage of today.

Lydia smiled, "Goodmorning! How'd you sleep?"

    "Decent enough." She shrugged in response, "Would it be okay if I hung out with some friends in a few hours?"
    "Sure, as long as you're home before dinner at seven." Lydia agreed easily. Phoebe thanked her and headed upstairs to take a shower without everyone else banging on the doors waiting their turn. Four kids and two teenagers sharing a single bathroom has probably been the biggest downside of this whole situation.

    After she got out, Phoebe checked her phone to see she had a message from Emily and one from Hayley.

    emily
    8:37am
    are you allowed to come?
    and do you need a ride?

    phoebe
    8:48am
    yes i can come and yes i need a ride

    She then checked her message from Hayley. They hadn't talked last night after parting ways, but Phoebe was still in a bit of shock over the whole situation.

    hayley
8:42am
    Goodmorning! Call me when you get a chance?

    Instead of texting back, Phoebe just went straight for calling her, putting the phone on speaker as she began braiding her hair.

    "Hey! Good morning!" Hayley greeted cheerfully.

    Phoebe smiled, focusing most of her attention on the braids, "Morning."

    "Did you have fun last night?"

    "Oh, it was a blast," Phoebe agreed easily, "It's still crazy to me, though."

    "That's understandable." Hayley laughed a little, "If you have any questions, just let me know."

    "You know I googled you on the car ride home last night," Phoebe admitted sheepishly.

    "Oh?"

    "Yeah," Phoebe nodded, tying off the half of her hair she'd just finished, "Not a lot or anything, it felt weird reading about you online... Like, yeah, it's you, but I don't know."

    "Find out any hot gos?" Hayley laughed a little, but Phoebe couldn't help but to notice some nerves in her voice.

    "No," Phoebe shook her head, getting a little quiet. "I was gonna ask though..."

    "What's up?" Hayley asked, easily sensing the teens' nerves.

    "Are you still gonna- I mean, you're like on tour and a rockstar or whatever, but are you gonna..?" Phoebe trailed off, feeling silly and embarrassed having to ask.

    Hayley hummed, encouraging her to go on.

    Phoebe sighed, moving on to start on braiding the other half of her hair, "Are you still gonna try to foster me? I mean, you're obviously busy with touring and all that, and just life in general I'm guessing."

    "I still want to, if you want it." Hayley assured her quickly, "We only have like two more shows this tour anyway and they're all in Nashville, anyway."

    Phoebe felt her shoulders relax, "Okay."

    "Any other questions? I'm sure this is a lot so don't be scared to ask."

    "Only one, actually," Phoebe scrunched her face, remembering something Hayley had said the night before, "You said not to mention you and Taylor. That it's private...?"
"Yeah." Hayley agreed softly, "Me and Taylor decided very early on in our relationship that it wasn't something we were comfortable sharing with the whole world. It's something for just us, you know? People can be mean, you know, and we don't want opinions from people who don't even really know us."

    "That makes sense," Phoebe nodded. She's sure if she was put under a microscope at all times, she'd want to keep her personal life private too.

    Hayley hummed, "But you had fun last night?"

    "Definitely. It was my first concert." Phoebe grinned, remembering how happy she was the previous night.

    "That's awesome!" Hayley replied, her smile evident in her voice, "Well, I gotta go, but talk to you later?"

    "Yeah, I got to start my chores anyway." Phoebe agreed, "Bye!"

    "Bye, Pheebs!"

    The line went dead and Phoebe instantly moved to get started on her chores, wanting to get everything done before she left to hang out with her friends. There wasn't much to do, but it felt easier to get it all done while a majority of the house was sleeping and quiet.

    After finishing everything she ended up doing her homework before it was time to be picked up, however, when the car pulled up she realized it wasn't Emily and her sister, but rather Hayden and his brother.

    "Hey!" Hayden called excitedly out the window. Phoebe plastered a smile on her face, climbing into the backseat.

    "Hey, how are you guys?" Phoebe asked, trying to hide her discomfort. Really, she knew Hayden and Henry were good guys, but she still was reluctant to be around men. When she thinks about it, the only man she felt fully comfortable around was Taylor, and he was always with Hayley anyway.

    They fell into an easy conversation, mostly talking about the concert last night and Phoebe feeling awkward as Hayden gawked over the band and the fact that she knew them. Eventually, however, she seemed to calm her nerves. They felt silly to have when she knew nothing was going to happen.

    By the time she walked into Emily's house, they had mostly dissipated, but she still sent her friend a knowing glare.

    Emily just ducked her head for a moment before offering that they head out to the pool to join James.