still falling ↠ hunter hayes

chapter twelve //

Chapter Twelve

July 25th, 2014

"

        It was the end of July, a busy week left out on the road. I saw Hunter all the time but it felt like I hardly even saw him. Hotels, buses, fans, shows. Between meet and greet, his daily tour schedule, more meet and greets, sound-checks and his actual show, I was lucky to spend time with him for two or more hours a day.

        I felt stupid for missing someone I saw all day. Seeing someone from afar and holding them up close was so different though. He always looked so tired, falling into bed in his hotel, smiling about the show. He'd usually whisper, "See you tomorrow," before he fell into a deep sleep but sometimes I was convinced he fell asleep the second he hit the pillow.

        I couldn't do it, I knew that. Running around on stage, meeting people all day, all the interviews and radio press in new cities. He couldn't walk down the street without getting stopped. It was exhausting and exhilarating. But, somehow, his love for music and sharing it won over the privacy issue.

        I saw new pictures of us each day. Walking down the street, drinking coffee, eating lunch, kissing, hugging, smiling at each other. I'd started to feel like we were filming a movie.

        I'd sent in a handful of songs to Nick, hearing a response two weeks later. I opened the email it saying:

"

Aspen,

These are great. Absolutely fantastic! I find it odd that you're writing about being alone when surrounded by so many people. My favorite has to be your slow love song, "Gotta Get Back." Brilliant. When you're back in town, I've got meetings lined up other writings. Start teaming up. I've got some other singer/songwriter's like Hunter that would like to meet with you too.

Hope the road is everything you hoped for. See you soon.

-Nick

"

        I smiled, closing out my email.

        I scrolled through Twitter, following people back, and tweeting them.. I followed so many "Hayniacs" that Hunter was always on my feed. I didn't use Twitter enough to care though. I clicked into my mentions, scrolling through all the tweets.

        "Don't break his heart pls"

        "Hunter looks sad lately??? Are you two still good?"

        Some of them were ridiculous, some even made no sense. I mean Hunter was happier than I had ever seen him. I wondered if they just needed something to talk about.

        I scrolled down farther, seeing a tweet with dozens of responses.

        "@AspenAllard is only using Hunter for fame and money. She doesn't even look happy. #fake #shesannoying"

        I sighed, seeing that I had more mentions. I refreshed, finding many as a response to her tweet. To my surprise, many agreed with the girl. One tweet even read, "Someone should tell that to her face."

        For some reason, I kept reading, "She refused to take a picture with me the other day." I combed through my memory, trying to remember when I'd ever done that. * Ah, last week. I'd just woken up and walked out of the bus in sweats and a Hunter Hayes merch tshirt. I had sunglasses on, walking into the arena to grab breakfast.

        I heard a fan call for me, 9am in the morning.

        "Sorry, I just woke up. I'm kind of in a hurry. I'd really really appreciate if we didn't do photos right now. I'm sorry again." *