the only exception

chapter 38

Phoebe let her body slack at the words, even if she knew that was probably going to be the case. She opened her eyes to see Taylor mouthing something to Hayley before quickly stopping as he noticed her watching. She narrowed her eyes at him before he looked away, turning to Zac.

"We good here?"

Zac nodded, beginning to gather his things, "Yeah, I need to go take care of some things anyway."

Phoebe closed her eyes and listened as they all said their goodbyes, wondering if she could at least pretend to be asleep so she wouldn't have to deal with the talk just yet. However that quickly proved to not be the case as a few minutes after the front door closed, Hayley was lifting her head on Phoebe's and lightly nudging the teen to sit up.

She reluctantly moved, mirroring Hayley as she tucked her legs under herself and sat up on the couch.

"So, we need to talk about last night." Hayley told her slowly, glancing at Taylor who was moving to sit on the arm of the couch by the singer.

Phoebe nodded in response, not really wanting to talk about it, but knowing she really had no choice but to.

"Okay, so," Hayley sighed, eyes sad, "We don't really think it's a good idea for you to be hanging around those kids."

"What?" Phoebe snapped, eyes widening as Taylor and Hayley grimaced.

Taylor sighed, "We just don't want you around those kinds of things. We're trying to look out for you."

"You can't do that?" Phoebe shook her head in disbelief, "You can't just tell me who I can and can't be friends with."
"Actually, we can." Hayley told her matter-of-factly, "You live under our roof and we just want what's best for you."

Phoebe stared at her in disbelief, there was no way she was going to stop being friends with them, they were some of the only people she talked to in school. "They're my friends! They're nice and fun!"

"I'm sure they are nice and fun, but they're a bad influence on you!" Hayley replied, matching her volume. "Me and Taylor had a long talk about this. We truly think it's what's best for you."

"You can't be serious? You guys are being so unfair!" Phoebe glared at them, shaking her head.

"We're not being unfair-" Taylor started before Hayley cut him off.

"It's actually very, very reasonable that we wouldn't want you hanging out with people who are getting you high and drunk every weekend." She explained, calming her voice a little so as to not yell.

"So what? I just don't get to have friends anymore?" She asked, standing up and crossing her arms.

Hayley sighed, shaking her head, "Honey, look-"

"No, I'm not just gonna..." Phoebe shook her head, before turning away as she felt tears in her eyes.

"Don't just walk away from us while we're talking, kid. This is a conversation that needs to be had." Taylor called after her, but the teen was already walking up the stairs. He didn't sound angry, just a little sad and conflicted.

Phoebe just continued to her roof, careful not to slam the door in her anger so she wouldn't make things worse. She slumped down on the bed, tears falling out of her eyes. It was her first fight with Hayley and Taylor and she wasn't sure how to feel about it.

She really liked her friends and boyfriend and she couldn't just lose more people, she refused to. So, she did what every other teenager in her situation would've done. She called Hayden and he said she could come over if she wanted.

She quietly left her room, hearing muffled voices from the living room as she sneaked out the back door, slipping Alf a treat as to keep him quiet.

***

Hayley rested her head in her hands as Taylor rubbed her back comfortingly, the two sitting in silence for a few minutes after Phoebe had left to go upstairs.

"I hate that she's mad at us," Hayley whispered after a while, lifting her head to meet Taylor's eyes.

"I think it's almost inevitable, Hayles. She's a teenager." Taylor tried to reassure her.

"Were we being unreasonable?"

"I don't think so," Taylor shook his head, moving from the arm of the couch to sit beside her and wrap an arm around her waist. He shifted a little behind her and rested his head on her shoulder, "She's fourteen. She doesn't need to be around that shit. Plus, we told her we didn't want her smoking anymore and she still did it. There has to be consequences to her actions."

"Maybe instead of telling her she couldn't hang out with them we should've done something else. I don't know, like, just made her watch informational videos on the downsides of drug use. Her brain isn't fully developed yet!" Hayley shook her head.

Taylor smiled softly, "I know it's not." He told her, "Maybe we can talk to her about it. Let her be part of the decision on what the consequences should be?"

Hayley nodded, "Yeah. They're sweet kids. I mean, Emily is at least, I don't know about James, and Hayden is questionable to me, but... I don't know."

Taylor laughed, lifting his head before giving her shoulder a quick kiss, "We'll give her some space and talk to her about it later."

"No," Hayley decided, standing up, "We'll talk to her now. I don't want her sitting in the shitty aftermath of a fight. I don't wanna be sitting in the shitty aftermath of a fight."

"Hayles-" Taylor sighed, really believing a little bit of space was for the best.

Hayley shook her head, "Already decided." She told him as she started walking towards the stairs. She loved Phoebe and didn't want there to be this rift between them. It felt better make up as soon as possible.

Taylor followed silently behind, leaning against the door as Hayley knocked on the teens door, "Pheebs, can we come in? We don't wanna fight. We just wanna apologize."

There was a moment of silence before Hayley knocked again, "Phoebe?"

"She's probably just wants some space," Taylor spoke quietly, a sad look on his face.

When there was still no response, Hayley started to get worried, "Phoebe, I'm coming in."

She opened the door thinking the teen would be sitting on the bed, but she wasn't there. "Phoebe?" Hayley called out, glancing at the bathroom door to see it open and the light off.

"Where is she?" Taylor asked, peaking into the closet to see it also empty.

"I don't know," Hayley mumbled, quickly leaving the room and searching the rest of the house as Taylor followed suit, calling out for the girl.

"Fuck," Hayley whispered, covering her eyes with the bottoms of her hands as she realized the teen had left. She moved over back to the living room to find her phone and called her. Phoebe declined the call, so Hayley tried again, and again, and again, until it started going straight to voicemail and she realized the phone had probably been turned off.

***

a/n

hi! soryr it took so long to update life is just a lil bit crazy right now. shout out to the person who messaged my insta because it actually motivated me to update again and not get too caught up in life & forget. hoping to get back on a (at least semi-) regular updating schedule soon. 

hope you all enjoy this chapter! shit is getting a bit messy oop

(also will be updating liar and miracle at some point tonight too)