slow burn; sapnap

twenty one

hadden had been home for a week but nick had only heard from her once.

once she exited her plane she was sure to call him and let him know, then sent him a text once she got into her parents car to head home, but that was it.

he was understanding the first day, knowing she probably fell asleep or was busy unpacking and trying to get back into the schedule of being home.

things didn't make sense though when she had been home for three days and had yet to reply to any of nick's messages or answer any of his calls. he was starting to get worried.

he wondered if he had done something wrong. he regretted not kissing her in the airport initially, but then wondered if she was offended that they almost had. he wasn't able to conjure up anything that he could one hundred percent blame her disappearance on.

corpse
accept | decline

"corpse? hey man, i was just about to call and asked if august has talked to you recently." nick quickly answered.

"that's what i was calling you for. i haven't heard from her since she got back home and i didn't know if you guys had talked."

the two sat in silence, not too sure how to move on from this point.

"well," nick started. "i'm gonna keep trying and if i don't hear something by tonight i'm gonna fly in."

"alright. i can too if you need me to. let me know."

the two hung up and nick was quickly filled with anxiety. he was worried something may have happened to her. he didn't know how to get in contact with any family and no one really lived close enough to drive and check on her.

nicky
hey i'm getting really worried about you. i need something to let me know youre okay please

as nick sat his phone on his desk and leaned back with eyes shut in an attempt to relax, hadden was sat in her room a thousand miles away with the lights out.

as soon as her phone buzzed, she knew she needed to check it, but the guilt of ignoring so many people over the last week was so heavy she couldn't bear to check any notifications.

she landed back in dallas a week ago to the day. she was so devastated to be leaving the comfort of her time spent with nick and dream, but also knew she would find relief in her parents picking her up from the airport. it had been quite sometime since she saw her mother, since her cousin's wedding, and even longer since she saw her father, who wasn't at the wedding for reasons she hadn't learned at the time.

hadden was confused when she walked out to her parents car and only her mother was inside.

"where's dad? i thought he was coming to pick me up too?" hadden placed her suitcase in the trunk before taking her spot in the passengers seat.

"we need to talk about that. we can once we're home. tell me about your trip, baby." her mom said, fixated on the road ahead of her as they left the airport.

"what do you mean? did something happen? is dad okay?"

"no, its not like that. your father is fine. its just some stuff with us."

hadden noticed how tight her mom's anxious grip of the wheel was because her knuckles were turning white.

"what does that mean?" hadden didn't realize that her worried pursuit was causing frustration for her mother.

"your father and i are getting a divorce."

her mom didn't dare take her eyes off of the road and hadden didn't dare ask anything else. at least not yet. she didn't know what she wanted to ask, or more importantly what she wanted to know. she glued her eyes on the same road that had her mom's complete attention. each dashed white line that flew by the sides of their car meant she was getting closer and closer to being home.

after getting home and her mother explaining a bit more of the details, she revealed that she was taking the family home and that her father needed to leave. hadden felt so much hurt for her dad.

he never hesitated to take care of her with every resource he had, and she wanted to be able to say she did the same for him. so that evening she called her dad and told him he was welcome to come and stay with her as long as he needed. while he didn't want to take handouts from his daughter, he didn't have much of a choice at the moment.

a now she was sat in her room, after a week of this new reality, and she was sad. she found herself carrying the complete weight of her parents situation.

growing up, she always wanted to find a man that would love her the way she watched her dad love her mom. she knew she wanted to be a supportive wife like her mom who found a supportive husband like her dad. her parents defined love for her.

but that was now broken. this foundational piece of her life was all of a sudden no more, and the toll it was taking on her was overbearing. she felt like she no longer knew what love was or what it meant to be in love.

she was ignoring the people she thought she loved.

if her parents, who had the perfect relationship, could all of a sudden just no longer love each other, then how long would it take for that to happen in her relationships. she began feeling the need to protect herself from being hurt any further.

hadden hadn't left her room that day. she also hadn't unpacked her bag since getting home. this hadn't become pressing until at this moment when she realized her favorite hair tie was not in any of her other belongings.

she reluctantly made herself open the suitcase. she wouldn't unpack it today, because that would be symbolic of her accepting her situation.

as she peaked into the front zipper of the suitcase she found both the hair tie and a small piece of folded paper. confused she opened the paper to reveal a note that nick must have stuffed in there before they departed ways.

"i'll see you soon. don't forget about your nicky." hadden whispered as she read the note.

haddy
hey, i'm okay