Chapter 77: Chapter 77: A wee bit of trouble.
[Edward POV]
Jay bust out his grill, and Phil was helping him cook some nice steak while Pepper and I had the discussion in the living room.
My Dad was helpless in this matter, therefore he just sat around to provide me emotional support, while my aunt was grinding her teeth at the audacity of the film studio.
"Hmm...So they wanted to include the song as a part of their marketing plan?" I asked, troubled by the sudden change in the schedule.
"Do they know how hard it was? For me to edit the song as Taylor and I recorded our parts in different locations?" I slumped my shoulders, not blaming Pepper at all for the current situation.
While wiping his sweat, Pepper said, "That's their plan, and they are prepared to compensate you for this. But, I still told them I would talk to you about it first. If you feel we should release it now, then I will follow you. "
"Pepper. That is putting too much pressure on him don't you think?" Mitchell interjected as most of the guests inside Jay's house had heard about the current situation.
"Why don't you release 'Put my hands in my pants?' That song is good. (A/N: The Lazy Song)" Luke interrupted while passing by to get away from Manny.
"Cause it doesn't suit the theme." I replied and my mind quickly spun to think about the potential song replacement for "Two is Better than One."
"Go play somewhere else." Cam said as he herded Luke away before returning to his position– standing behind Mitchell.
As the night deepened, I decided to no longer care about it and said, "I'll think about it tomorrow."
Pepper nodded without saying anything else as he understood that I couldn't make the decision wantonly.
As she was in a bad mood, my aunt did something drastic after she caught Elsa and Jacob making out in one of Jay's 5 bathrooms, and had sent them both home– separately of course.
During that time, when I looked at their aggrieved faces, I noticed that they were no longer clingy with each other. In fact, they seemed to abhor each other.
'Did they fight?' I thought as I waved at Jacob while he was driven off.
'Nevermind. I'll call him later.'
The premier was finally over, and my aunt drove me home as my dad needed to head straight to the port. However, she didn't stay over today and left after dropping me off. Apparently she had a 'job' to do, which was a topic that would interest me more if I wasn't in a dilemma right now.
Pepper and the others decided to give me some space to think, therefore no one would try and urge me to come up with an answer.
After taking a quick shower, I changed into my rarely worn pajamas and laid down lazily on my bed. I covered my forehead with the back of my hand as I let out a heavy sigh.
'Now. What should I do? What should I do?' I thought as I racked my brain for the solution.
'I really thought I could finally relax a little tonight. But that was just a pipe dream huh.' I set up an alarm for me to get out of bed after getting some rest on my phone, but...
"I don't think I can sleep again tonight." I mumbled with a heavy tone. "Fuck." I cursed softly as I forcefully closed my eyelids to force myself to sleep. While I was struggling, I heard a metallic sound coming from outside the house, but I just ignored it.
However, I soon heard a knock coming from my window, I was startled by the sound and sat up hurriedly while looking at the closed curtain.
"Wh-Who is it?" I asked with a stutter as I slowly walked to the window.
"It's me." Haley called out from outside.
I opened the curtain, and saw the tiny girl cheekily smiling while looking at me.
"Why are you here?" I asked in confusion as I unlocked the window to let her in.
As she landed inside the room, I saw that she was wearing thick clothing that was covering almost her entire body. I peeked outside and saw that she had carried a ladder to come here. "Smort."
"Thank you." Haley said as she fixed her messy clothes.
"I thought...You'll stay up all night again today. So I come to...offer my service again." Haley said casually while hiding her embarrassment.
"The body pillow service?" I asked and a grin suddenly appeared on my tired face.
"Y-Yes. We can call it that." Haley said while avoiding my eyes. As she was always being teased by me, she wanted to pay back so she said, "But. You need to grab me and throw me to the bed like in the music video-"
Before she could finish her words, I did what she wanted and brought her to the bed. We fall side by side while locking eyes with each other.
"This is a bad idea." I muttered.
"I know."
"We will be in BIG trouble if we keep doing this."
"No need to worry, I have a solid plan this time. I will get back to my house the minute you fall asleep." Haley said as she brushed my hair before tracing my eyebrow with her slender finger. Then, she pulled me closer and cuddled me before closing her eyes. "So. Don't think too much. Just sleep."
[3rd Person POV-Flashback]
Mitchell: "Sooo...."
Haley: "Soooo...."
While Haley hitched a ride with her guncles (Gay uncles), sitting at the back with Lily while the adults were in the front of the car, Mitchell finally spoke up about their earlier topic. He glanced at Cam while hesitating, but Haley said to him, "I don't mind."
"Mind what?" Cam retorted immediately.
Mitchell nodded to Haley and said, "Are you sure about... just being friends?"
"It's not like there's anything else I can do about it." Haley said in self-depreciation.
"Don't say that. You're a beautiful girl. He should be glad you're interested in him." Cam said to reassure Haley before mumbling to himself, "Although...you're not the only one."
"What was that?" Haley said while leaning forward to hear better. Even Mitchell couldn't catch what Cam said.
"Nothing." Cam said smilingly while scratching the top of his head.
"But to be fair Haley. You guys are really different. Maybe not getting together is a good thing?" Mitchell said in a concerned tone.
"We get along well. I mean...Reaaaaaaly well. There's never a dull moment when I am with him." Haley said.
Mitchell smirked and said, "I thought you were moving on. Why are you trying to defend your relationship with him?"
Cam widened his eyes and exclaimed, "OOO....I didn't catch that. Nice one."
"Thank you." Mitchell said with a slight nod before getting back to Haley.
Frustrated, she leaned backward and crossed her arms before pouting.
"I didn't mean to tease you. But, you guys didn't even start, and you just...gave up. When you're so clearly interested in one another."
"Really? You think he likes me?" Haley leaned forward as Mitchell managed to bait her again.
Trying his hardest not to roll his eyes, Mitchell said, "Weren't you the one who told me that before?"
"Oh. right."
"I also think there's more you haven't shared with me yet, but I'm not going to dig into that now. What do you think...Ed will do about the song?"
Mitchell avoided the sensitive topic as the time with his niece was reserved only for him. Cam smiled in understanding and didn't say anything...yet. He'll hold a grudge and slowly retaliate later on.
"I don't think he should agree to it. He worked really hard in order to get everything ready before the singles release. He couldn't even get a little rest, but now, he will not be sleeping again."
Cam got concerned and asked, "What do you mean? Did he have trouble sleeping?"
"CONSTANTLY." Haley said in frustration.
"... Why?" Mitchell asked after a slight pause.
Cam became smug and said, "if you checked the records of the world's geniuses. They'll have a quirk of their own. Van Gogh cut off his own ear. Tesla went crazy and took a pigeon for a bride. There's a lot more examples out there."
"But...you can only remember two of them." Mitchell said, exposing Cam.
He avoided Mitchell's eyes and looked away. Haley fell into a deep thought and mumbled to herself, "Maybe I should go there...just to check up on him...I don't want him to go crazy after all...But first, I need to go change my clothes...to make sure he didn't get tempted to do anything else..."
-Present time-
And you're spending all your time,
In this wrong situation,
And anytime you want it to stop."
Cam gasped with widened eyes.
[Cam's commentary]
He took out the monthly gossip magazine– February edition that showed an article about how Taylor was badly treated by her previous ex-boyfriend, one of the Jonas brothers – Jose Jonah. The article even mentioned that he 'allegedly' broke up with her over text.
"I KNEW IT!" He said in excitement as he took the songs meaning the wrong way. "He likes her. WE STILL HAVE A CHANCE!" exclaimed the Tayward shipper.
[Commentary ends]
"??I know I can treat you better than he can.
And any girl like you deserves a gentleman
Tell me, why are we wasting time
On all your wasted crying
When you should be with me instead???"
"??I know I can treat you better
Better than he can??"
I stopped after the first verse as I wanted to play some other songs too, but the group was looking at me in disbelief.
"Why the hell are you stopping? CONTINUE!" Abby demanded and the others agreed with her. Stunned, I nodded and said, "O-Okay."
??????????
"?? I'll stop time for you
The second you say you'd like me too??"
The girls plus Cam squealed as the song directly touched their teenagers or teenage-like sentiment and they couldn't help but fall deeper into my charms.
"??I just wanna give you the loving that you're missing
Baby, just to wake up with you.??"
Haley gulped her saliva as she looked around guiltily.
"??You would be everything I need, and this could be so different
Tell me what you want to do??"
"Damn. I'm falling for him." Tara said while biting her lips.
""NO!"" Abby and Haley admonished her at the same time.
I laughed as I could hear the girls conversation and continued with the chorus,
"??'Cause I know I can treat you better than he can
And any girl like you deserves a gentleman
Tell me, why are we wasting time
On all your wasted crying
When you should be with me instead???"
"??I know I can treat you better
Better than he can
Better than he can!??"
"This is it. He needs to release this one." Cam said as he sincerely hoped that Taylor would hear this song. He directly called Pepper to notify him about the song.
"??Give me a sign
Take my hand, we'll be fine
Promise I won't let you down
Just know that you don't
Have to do this alone
Promise I'll never let you down??"
Finally, I reached the last chorus verse. At this moment, all 3 girls were propping their chin with their hand as they leaned in to watch me while looking at me with swooned eyes.
"??'Cause I know I can treat you better than he can
And any girl like you deserves a gentleman
Tell me, why are we wasting time
On all your wasted crying
When you should be with me instead???"
"??I know I can treat you better
Better than he can, oh
Better than he can
Better than he can??"
I ended the song and asked them, "So...what do you think?"
Tara said, "It's a THOUSAND times better than the previous one. I mean, I can't even remember the song-"
"Two is Better than one." Abby helped her.
"Yeah. That." Tara nodded slightly to thank Abby.
"Soo...which girls did you write this song for?" Haley asked.
"Umm..No, I just created this one as it suits the theme." I said while avoiding their eyes. "Next song is-"
Cam interrupted before I could continue playing, "Ed. You don't have much time left. We can all agree that this song is great right?"
"Totally!" The girls supported Cam at the same time. Abby and Haley were elated as they didn't like the previous song as it featured another girl, but they didn't share that feeling with the others.
Cam nodded and said, "Now. You have the song replacement, so why don't we move to a studio to record it. It's to see if you can finish the editing before the release. That way, you can think about it clearly, and you won't feel rushed to make a decision."
"You think so?" I asked.
"I know so. I already called Pepper after the chorus."
I laughed a bit and said, "Okay. We'll record it first. Girls, do you want to come with me?"
"YESSS!" They replied at the same time.