Needless to say, the crowd didn't like Haley. In fact, they practically booed her off the stage after the first five minutes of her singing. It wasn't that she did badly, it was the fact that she was a girl opening act on tour with Hanson and the girls in the crowd were very jealous of this brown-haired, blue-eyed singing/dancing beauty. After she was done her two songs, she ran off the stage in tears. Once backstage, she sat down in a chair and burst out crying. Hanson and their band were in there grabbing some food before they went on stage, and the guys looked at each other uncomfortably. Haley grabbed a soda and ran out of the room. Taylor sighed and then got up and followed her.
"Haley?" he called quietly. He heard sniffling coming from a corner of the hallway and he found her sitting in a corner with her head on her knees.
"What?" she asked shortly.
"Um, are you okay?"
She glanced up at him and flung herself into his arms.
"Oh Taylor, they hated me! What did I do wrong? I did everything perfectly... I wanted everything to go perfectly and the crowd hated me!" she sobbed in his shoulder.
"No, they didn't," Taylor said, trying to sound comforting. "You did great- you're a great singer. Forget about it."
"How can I forget about it? This is what I've worked for my entire life! And it's all going to come crashing down. I never even got a chance..." she started crying again.
"I'm sure it will go better next time. The crowd was just surprised... they were expecting Admiral Twin and instead they got a girl their age, singing and dancing. It's not your fault, okay?"
Haley looked at him with her eyes full of tears. "Okay. Thanks Taylor," she said giving him a hug. By accident his hands slid down to her bare waist and his heart started beating again. She looked up at him and slowly wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself closer to him.
"Haley, I..."
"Shhh, don't say anything," she whispered. Her lips brushed across his neck and she backed him against the wall. She leaned against him and started kissing his neck and working her way up. Taylor stood there motionless for a few seconds and touched her hair with his fingers. She made her way to his mouth and she pressed her lips against hers. He returned the kiss with a passion he had never felt before-not with Sierra and not with Tamara. He let all thoughts of guilt fly out of his head as he eagerly kissed Haley. He pulled away from her after a few moments and let go of her.
"Don't go," she murmered, pulling him back to her. He kissed her quickly and then broke away.
"I have to go do the show."
She sighed. "Fine, but let's do something after."
Taylor raised his eyebrows. "Okay, sure, whatever." He backed away from her and went back to the room, where Zac and Isaac were getting ready to go on.
"Well, what happened?" asked Ike.
"Oh, nothing," said Taylor nonchalontly. "I gave her a tissue and then she went to her bus. I was actually in the bathroom that whole time."
"Oh," Zac. "Well, let's do the show!"
Later that night, Ike, Tay and Zac were all watching t.v when someone knocked on the door. It was Haley.
"Oh, hi," said Taylor a little uncomfortably.
"Hey. Um, Taylor, can I talk to you? Alone?" Haley said. Ike and Zac shot looks at each other.
"Uh, sure. I'll be right back guys," he said to his brothers. "What's up?" he asked her once they stepped outside the bus.
"Let's go for a walk, just the two of us," Haley said as she grabbed his hand. Taylor blushed a little. No girl had ever been this pushy before and they had never had this affect on him. His thoughts rushed to Tamara, who was innocently sitting at home in Tulsa, waiting for him to return. He looked at Haley, who was glowing in the moonlight. She was so beautiful and wanted him so bad.
"My single airs tommorrow for the very first time, Taylor," she said, interrupting his thoughts.
"Yeah, that's very cool. What is it called?" he asked as they walked to a bench a couple yards away from the buses and sat down.
"It's the song I was singing when I first saw you, "Every Beat of My Heart."
"Oh yeah. That's a good song, it'll go straight to number one."
"You think? I hope so. When I was writing it, I didn't know who I was writing it for, but now I know that it was meant for you," she said quietly.
"Oh, wow, um, thanks," said Taylor. She played with a strand of his hair.
"You know Taylor, I think this tour is going to be very fun, don't you?" she said, pushing him down on his back.
"Uh, yeah," he said. She crawled on top of him and kissed him.
"Do you know what would make it even more fun?" she asked. He shook his head. "If you would just ask me out already." She kissed him again.
"Well, I..." they were interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming their way.
"Taylor! Phone for you! It's..." Zac stopped short when he saw Taylor and Haley lying on top of each other on the bench. "Uh, uh, it's for you, Tay," he said, backing away. Taylor grabbed the phone and sat up.
"Hello?" he said a little annoyed.
"Taylor? Hi, it's Tamara."