the only exception

 Phoebe felt her heart pounding in her chest as she opened her eyes. She was no stranger to nightmares, but it wasn't exactly a pleasant experience to dream of your boyfriend hitting you. She knew it was just her mind being irrational and trying to mess with her, but she couldn't help but to feel shaky from it. It didn't help that she wasn't feeling too well either.

Her muscles all felt sore and achy, and if she wasn't sure she didn't drink the night before she'd think she was hungover.

When she checked her phone and saw it was a little past noon, she knew she had to get out of bed soon. She gave herself a few minutes to calm down, listening to the muffled talking downstairs before deciding she felt well enough to go down. Plus, she wanted to see Hayley anyway, knowing that her presence was always calming.

In the midst of the panic from the nightmare, she'd almost forgotten about the previous night's events, but was quickly reminded as she heard the muffled voices come to an abrupt halt as she rounded the corner. While she still felt half asleep, she still didn't miss the sudden suspicious silence.

Hayley was sitting on the couch, feet tucked under herself as Taylor and Zac sat on the ground, Taylor with a guitar and Zac with a discarded notepad in front of him.

Phoebe avoided their eyes as she made her way into the room, the three adults looking at her doing nothing to calm her anxiety. However, lately there's only been one person who can comfort her like no other and she was still determined to get that comfort.

Zac was the first to break the silence, a teasing tone to his voice, "Oh, there's the troublemaker."

"You told him?" Phoebe asked slowly, eyes narrowing a little as she stopped short just in front of the couch.

"He was here last night, left a little before you got home." Hayley informed her, eyeing the teen suspiciously. Phoebe wasn't sure if she could tell something was wrong or if she was still just upset from last night, but decided to just ignore it as she got onto the couch right beside the singer.

"Well aren't you too just so sweet." Taylor teased as Phoebe shuffled around trying to get comfortable, eventually deciding on just scooting away a little before laying her upper body across Hayleys lap and resting her head on the arm of the couch.

Phoebe curled herself more into Hayley, closing her eyes as the singer instinctively wrapped an arm around her, "you don't have to be jealous she loves me and Alf more than you."

"You hear this Zac? I gotta deal with this constantly." Taylor sighed dramatically.

"You'll be alright," Hayley grinned, running her hand comfortingly through the teens locks.

"So inconsiderate," Zac shook his head.

Phoebe just groaned in response, wondering if she could get away with taking a quick nap. Even if she got a good amount of sleep, she still felt beyond exhausted.

"You feeling alright, kid?" Taylor asked, his voice a little bit less playful.

"I feel like shit." Phoebe mumbled in response.

"Phoebe-" Hayley scolded softly.

"You look like shit," Taylor said matter-of-factly.

"Taylor." Hayley scolded once again, narrowing her eyes at the man.

"I'm just saying," Taylor grinned, degrading the guitar before leaning back on a chair.

"And you say I'm mean." Phoebe muttered, closing her eyes once again.

"Be nice, she doesn't feel good." Hayley told Taylor, leaning down to rest her cheek against Phoebe's head before mumbling to the teen, "You're still in trouble though."