* / 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙨

𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐘: Long blonde locks of hair cascaded down and over the model's shoulders, the air from the open driver's window whipping through Range Rover. Her fingertips tapped on the driver's wheel while she sped down the interstate, singing along to the rap song blasting over her speakers. The last few weeks was packed with photoshoots for Levi's, BareMinerals, and a new magazine issue with Vogue and although she loved working with all of those companies, she wanted some days off. Hailey cleared her schedule for the last remaining weeks in October and with that, she began to clear her mind off of Justin. When they called off the engagement and the wedding, Hailey couldn't wrap her mind around it, she swore this would take months or even years for her to recover from. She spiraled into a never-ending self-sabotage battle with alcohol and manipulating her support circle around her into thinking she was perfectly okay, just a little heartbroken. Demi kept her company during the days when she felt like she couldn't be alone, when her thoughts and darkest hours became too heavy on her chest. But sometimes, it wasn't enough. She needed to forget her pain and her vice quickly became a dangerous game, but Hailey couldn't bring herself to care. 

Until he came along... again. Shawn. Ugh, why was her stomach doing flips at the thought of his name? Knock it off. This was so school-girl like of her, yuck! He bought her to her senses, bought Hailey back to her carefree self when she was absolutely adamant that side was gone to the point of no return. The blonde caught herself checking her phone for his messages several times within an hour or less, craving the positive aura and light he bought back to her. She had a lighter skip in her step, smiled easier, and radiated the energy she lost when she was with Justin. Pulling up to the parking lot of the condo where Demi's studio was, Hailey wanted to surprise Demi with her favorite lunch and spend some time with her best friend. Quickly unlocking the door with the key she had, she heard a gorgeous instrumental and peered up. She had been writing poems for the last few weeks, and for some reason.. Hailey felt super inspired.

𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐈:  demi needed her outlet, music; she was being drowed by the PR between her and max and it was becoming unbarable now with him in her life. it made her want to drink more than she should because of the stress of having to carry his dead weight around. with all eyes looking in, she needed to escape which is where she found herself at her studio more than usual. jessie was back or well he was around and it made demi on her toes, he was someone she always wanted but lost touch with her husband after she over dosed. she had wrote so many songs during that two year period, about him about them, about being lonely and finding herself again. her fingers knew what she wanted to play, pressing into the white wood and ivory. demi had her foot on the peddle as she was messing around and had at least the first verse down, but she was having trouble coming up with the rest of the song. her eyes trained back and forth on the keys before closing them slowly and letting her hands do the talking for once, letting herself go.

"I'm a mess and i'm still broken..." she sang slowly as she played. "but i'm finding my way back....." her voice wavered off slowly. her foot and her fingers playing at the same time. "and it feels like someone's stolen..." pausing again with a few chords. "all the light i ever had..." it's the same lyrics she was singing the whole three hours trying to to do more than that. opening her eyes she started the chords over as she pressed into them with her note book splayed up on top of the piano, her scribbles of notes filling it with empty lyrics under it.

𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐘: The blonde could hear Demi's melodious voice break through the silence of the instrumental, pausing to peer into the small room and was greeted by the sight of Demi losing herself to her music. Leaning her head against the doorframe, Hailey watched her brunette powerhouse of a best friend sing, the lyrics hitting her hard. Hailey felt like it was bringing her back to her darkest times, wanting to shed it off but she had no idea how to. She refrained from taking another step, letting Demi fall into her music but as soon as the lyrics flowed, they stopped. 

Watching as Demi replayed the chords, the blonde mustered a small smile and knocked slightly. "Need some help...?" she wondered, walking over and setting the bag down on the small coffee table. Hugging her best friend by wrapping her arms over her shoulders while she remained seated, the model nodded over to the notebook. "What are you writing about?" she asked before finding a seat next to her on the bench.

𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐈:  replaying them it almost was repetitive for the third hour but she couldn't help it honestly, she wanted to write but all that was coming out was the piano right now. hearing the knocking she looked back to see the blonde and a smile spread across her lips. "very much so..how much did you hear?" asking the woman before she still sat there and placed her hands on the womans arms as she hugged her back. she loved having her best friend around and right now she could definately use her help with all of this. "oh god...my overdose...the PR...how i feel in it.." shaking her head gently as she looked over at the woman. "it's making me want to drink more than i do..max...i just want to make a song that says that at the end of the day i'm here, i'm still me...that those things wont consume me.." saying to the blonde. 

her head looked towards her notebook before she placed her hands on the piano and started to play the chords all over again. "and all i got is the first verse..which i'm sure you heard" demi laughed lightly as she kept playing. looking over to her best friend she bumped her a bit with her arm as she continued to play. "got anything you wanna say?? write it in the book..i'll keep playing if you wanna..help me write the song??"

𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐘: The lyrics resonated with Hailey, her teeth digging into her bottom lip in concentration. She wondered if the poem she wrote a few months ago after finding Justin with Sofie would match to Demi's overall message, but held back from searching in her notes on her phone. A light chuckle fell from her lips, shaking her head while she sat beside Demi and glanced down at the piano keys before peering up at her again. Resting her chin in the palm of her hand, she listened intently because she couldn't imagine how Demi felt with the stress she had on her shoulders from the PR stunt to dealing with conquering her own demons. If anything, Hailey admired her strength and how she continued to share her truth without being afraid to fight through them. "And you shouldn't let them consume you.." the blonde confirmed, a proud smile spreading over her lips. 

Tilting her head as she remembered the lyrics again, she closed her eyes and nodded when Demi asked for her to help and write the song. "Yeah.. keep playing.. I'm gonna just look through.." she mumbled, picking up her phone to unlock it and scroll through the notes. Tapping on the one she was hunting for, Hailey's fingertips ran over her chin thoughtfully. While the melody played, she hummed along in between the notes. Her eyes looked up at Demi as if to see if she was vibing along and then glanced to the poem on her phone again. "Like the world disappeared... And... I'm laying right here while the silence is piercing," she sang. "And it hurts to breathe..." Pausing, she tilted her head to her best friend as if she had an idea. "I don't have much.. but at least I still... have me?" 

𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐈: demi smiled at her best friend and nodded to her. "i don't plan on it.." she knew hailey was having a hard time with justin still coming into her life, she wished the man would just leave the woman alone, she deserved to be left alone and left to deal with everything without him trying to come in and trying to fuck her up again, she hated it when she saw hailey broken, it broke her heart because the blonde was so pure and loving and that some monster would do this to her. leaning over she kissed her best friends cheek cutily. nodding as hailey said to keep playing, and she did just that.

her head moved slowly as she hummed along with the chords and hailey combined. hearing hailey singing she smiled listening to the lyrics, they were flowing perfect as she needed hailey in on this song writing and lyrically. her fingers kept playing as she was trying to find the words to match to go right after. humming along slowly. "and that's all i need.." thinking quick she came up with the next. "so take my faith but at least i still believe" she sang hard, feeling it. "i still believe! and that's all i need" demi could feel herself getting emotional because honestly all these lyrics and the poem was hitting her. reaching her high notes just by sitting there and playing. repeating the next lyrics from hailey's poem. "i don't have much.. but at least i have me" her fingers kept playing slowly.

𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐘: The blonde couldn't help but feel insecure about her words, furrowing her brows. She was only writing her thoughts on paper to get her emotions out, she was nowhere close to a songwriter. Now that she was next to Demi, she anxiously peered from her best friend's facial expressions to the piano keys and then back. She was expecting rejection, until... Demi completely ran with it. Hailey smiled shyly, but then admired the strong lyrics that flowed so beautifully. They were both dealing with struggles, but they were overcoming them together even with writing this song. "Wow.." she chuckled, shaking her head in amusement. "I love this.. we need this out there..." she sighed. 

Peering over at the studio equipment, she reached for Demi's Mac and fiddled around Garage Band.. nodding her head in encouragement to Demi as to tell her to continue to play. "Hold on.. let's add this drum beat.." she murmured, knowing a few tricks from Justin's studio sessions. Matching the speed to Demi's piano notes, she couldn't help but smile to herself while repeating the chorus they created. Tapping her best friend's shoulder excitedly, she kept it playing so they could find the perfect verse to add the drum beat. "Everything around me shattered, all the highs are now just low..." If there was anything she despised about Justin, Hailey couldn't break free from him. He wouldn't leave her alone, first he consumed her texts and now, she had to work hard to keep him out of her mind. "But it doesn't even matter, 'cause I'd rather be alone.." she sang.

𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐈: demi laughed gently as she looked over at her best friend, she needed this. she NEEDED this with hailey. "start writing this all down..oh it's gonna be out there, and you're gonna be on this record with me, god dammit i didn't know you wrote poems.." she was shocked, impressed all about it when all that emotion came out of the phone she had it written in. the brunette knew she needed this song, this is what she was going through, and seeing hailey letting go and singing, she musician knew the model needed this too. "i want you on this, you need to be on this song with me hails, we can get you a writing alias or put your name i just...i need you on this with me, it's our song" saying to her, being completely serious with her. 

seeing the mac being picked up she tilted her head as her hands stilled on the piano. demi watched as hailey nodded to keep going so she started back up again, watching how the blonde knew her way around garage band somewhat, her head nodded saying that she liked the beat along with the piano. "oh yes..okay perfect, i love that" musing. demi hadn't felt this excited about writing with someone else right now and it was thrilling because this was going to be something to them, and she was releasing it no matter what anyone said. not taking no for an answer. listening to the next lyrics hailey was writing now with her voice she was playing and trying to think of the next. the sadness was dripping from hailey's voice as her eyes peered over at her best friend. "all my love disappeared, and i'm laying right here..." taking the part hailey wrote and rewriting the first line of it. "while the silence is piercing and it hurts to breathe" demi kept playing as she looked to the model. "this is fucking me up already" saying with a laugh as she placed her hands over her eyes to clear her head a bit.  pulling her book down she wrote the rest of the chords as she leaned her head onto hailey's shoulder as she did this. they were stronger together.

𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐘: Looking over at the chords and Demi's lyrics, Hailey began piecing together the song in her notes, smiling as it all came together so quickly. Writing was an outlet for her, but it always took the form of being done in a poem. Maybe they weren't so broken. Maybe Hailey didn't need saving, but she could save herself. She could save herself from traveling down a dark path again if she finally accepted that she needed to close her chapter with Justin. He had no significance to her anymore, much like it was crystal clear that the blonde had no significance or importance to Justin. He could no longer steal the light within her to inflict loneliness and darkness. Hailey owed it to herself to finally say goodbye to him, but now.. it will be on her terms. Singing this song with Demi and writing felt so freeing, which is why she nodded eagerly when her best friend mentioned she needed to be on this. "It's our song.." she repeated, confidently. 

 Watching as Demi sang the next verse, Hailey shot her a playful look as she re-wrote her lyrics but it sounded perfect. Typing it into her phone, she added the chorus afterwards and then peered up with  a chuckle when Demi said it was fucking her up already. Nodding in agreement, Hailey turned to look down at the chords Demi wrote into her notebook. "The notes are beautiful..." she admitted, leaning her head on her best friend's. "Hmm.. do we want the drums? I'm thinking the second verse is too early..." she mused, singing the lyrics to herself. "I do love how the hums sound though.."

𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐈: at the end of the day, demi had herself and that was the only person who was going to be able to repair herself from the damage of her OD still left, the damage max was doing to her, and she needed to repair what she really wanted was with back with her husband for real this time, not sneaking around anymore, she was tired of that. demi needed to heal before she got into all of it and this song was putting it all out. demi was seeing something new in hailey, seeing a confidence in the woman that she hadn't seen in a while. it was radiant, it was strong too. "this is our anthem and we're not letting anyone bring us down" 

demi just kept playing her piano as she watched hailey write everything into her phone and she laughed with a nod. "yeah?? i've had the chords, but not much after the first verse..i say the drums yet but maybe once the second chorus comes in, like the piano and the hums build it up and then we bring in the drums" saying as she mused to how this track should be mixed. "i can definitely do some runs too for back vocals..so that will go with the drums and the piano.." she let her hands just dance hovering over the keys. "i would like you to sing back on the chorus if you're up for it?"

𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐘: Demi’s struggles were not ones to be taken lightly, Hailey learned that through the nights they spent confiding and having heart to hearts whenever they couldn’t sleep or their minds kept one half of the best friends up. She knew the overdose and recovering from it was a difficult journey but then add the PR? Hailey had no idea how Demi powered through, her strength and perseverance was immaculate. Hailey didn’t back down either, even though she needed time to come back around... she was ready to put more work in to make sure she got whatever she deserved when she worked hard enough. She pondered the idea of adding drums later on, as Demi suggested and agreed. It would build up the song, just like they built themselves up to fight again. 

“I think that’ll work... we can start mixing today.. I don’t have anywhere to be,” Hailey suggested, shrugging her shoulders. Playing a few random keys while they shot ideas back and forth, Hailey was taken aback when Demi asked for her to sing on the backing vocals. “Me...?” she stammered, furrowing her brows in confusion. Was she sure?? “I can... don’t use too much auto tune on me,” she joked.

𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐈: "yeah no lets get this whole track done, lets work on it all night babes..we can get postmates, i'm not leaving till we're done" demi was serious as she rubbed her best friends back slightly as she nodded, it was set, the two were gonna work on this track together. "yes you, there's no one else here.." demi was positive on all of this as she raised an eyebrow at her. "oh my god, i won't use anything.." she laughed as she told hailey to finish the song and repeat the pre chorus and the chorus to finish off the song. the two ordered postmates and coffee as demi and her started fully mixing to lay down the track first before demi could get into the booth and start singing, then she'd layer hailey in.