Chapter Sixteen
November 1st, 2014
"
About four months had passed. I hadn't heard from him of seen his face. Sometimes I would hear his name, a cruel reminder but, one harder to avoid. He hadn't called me in a long time, making forgetting him easier.
Kadence kept asking me for my address but I refused to tell her. I knew eventually, he'd ask her where I had disappeared too. Yesterday, I had cracked down and told her but, I made her swear to not tell him. She had promised before she hung up with a sigh.
I'd been living in a small town in named Dunlap, about two hours from Nashville. I was staying in this small white house, for the time being. I don't know what I'm going to do, I'm still so confused.
I sent in new songs twice a month, opting to write alone. Scott said it was dark, sad and tragic but, fantastic, none the less. I'd found a new guy and he made me happy...happy enough at least.
I turned off my light, hearing my phone ringing in the kitchen. I didn't want to crawl out of bed to answer it but, I knew I should. I dragged myself to the kitchen, hearing it ring once more before it went to voicemail.
"Aspen, I know this is you, I finally found someone in a phonebook with your name. Aspen-"
My feet were running, carrying me to the kitchen faster than ever. I grabbed the phone from the hook, throwing it at the wall as I broke down in sobs. He hadn't left a voicemail in months. The phone slammed against the wall, a loud crack filling my ears. I fell to the floor, wailing. His voice was shaky, it didn't sound like him. He hadn't sounded like himself or maybe I had a distorted memory. Maybe my memory hadn't remembered his voice correctly. It was possible. I began shaking, wailing on my kitchen floor, the clock ticking away the hours of the night.
I changed my phone number the next morning. I continued to pretend he didn't exist, trying to focus on the guy who liked and cared about me and had no idea I had once dated the superstar Hunter Hayes.
——-
( note: lots of time passes here, so just pay attention..)
Hunter's POV
May 12, 2015
I woke up in a sweat, thrashing around in my bed. She was always in my dreams, running her hands down my back, up my chest, her lips on mine. She never truly left.
It'd been nearly a year with her absence. I had googled her twice, never finding anything except pictures of me and her. I pulled up my shirt, running my hand across the scar on my side. People told me months ago to not look up the headlines from that night. I had done it anyway.
I remembered the night I clicked on a video, me on the pavement clutching my side, her screaming her head off, kicking and thrashing, trying to reach me. It didn't really look like her but it didn't look like me either.
I refused to say her name. I didn't talk about her. I cut the love songs about her from sets. Most of the last year had been spent in Nashville on break. She'd torn me apart. I wrote too many sad love songs to count, my label voicing their opinion on which they liked best. I'd cut a few for the next record, wondering if she would buy it when it came out.
I'd called the number I'd found in an address book months back. I had called her drunk that night, the phone disconnecting me from her before I could say the things I wanted to. The number was now disconnected, an empty dial tone replacing her old voicemail message. I just wanted to hear the sound of her voice on the message tone.
Today was filled with memories, all memories of us. I remembered coming home to Nashville after being in the hospital for days, hoping that I'd open the door and find her sleeping in my bed.
She wasn't there. I knew she had been, she'd left my T-shirts scattered across the floor. I wondered if her hair was still long and a dark brown. I wondered if she was still as pale as before. Her skin had always been so smooth and flawless. Were her eyes still speckled with gold? I wondered if my memory had failed me. Was I remembering her correctly?
My days were useless. I rarely left the house. I wrote angry songs and screamed out my frustration with her in them. I decided that watching basketball would be my new hobby.
But, I didn't even like basketball. I kept watching it anyway.
I clicked my tv off, answering my phone, "Hello."
"I got her number, Kadence's number."
I took a deep breath, holding it for a reason I was not sure of. Something in me changed, a spark. A hope of seeing her again. I hadn't been able to find her old friend having never been told her last name. Finally, my new publicist had.
I dialed the number, "Hello."
"Um, it's Hunter." I heard the phone click off, the dial tone buzzing in my ear. It took seven more calls to get her to answer.
"STOP CALLING ME HUNTER! SHE'S MOVED ON."
My heart sunk. Maybe she was lying. Maybe I was filled with false hope. Had Aspen moved on from me, found someone new? I wanted to believe she was it, that she loved me as much as I loved her. My mind reminded me that she had left, leaving me bandaged up in the hospital. I sighed, "Don't lie to me, Kadence." I hoped I sounded convincing because I sure didn't feel like I was.
I could here her breath in the phone, "I'm not gonna tell you where she is. But, she does have a boyfriend."
I felt sick, my head already swirling, creating imagines of her kissing another man, loving another man.
"I need to see her. Kadence, please," I begged. She sighed, uttering a 'no,' forcing me to threaten a visit.
"You can tell me now or I'll drive up to Pittsburg and ask you in person."
"You wouldn't do that."
"You don't know how much I love her, Kadence."
I heard her draw in a breath, "She's in Dunlap, TN. 4325 Maple St. Don't tell her I told you. Tell her you're a fucking stalker or something, I don't care! But, you better not rat me out."
Her tone was harsh, serious. She meant business but, so did I.
"I won't. I promise."
She hung up and I grabbed my keys.
"
YES HE'S GOING TO GO FIND HER
YOU ARE READING
still falling ↠ hunter hayes
Fanfictionwhen you're young and in love, everybody's gonna try to talk you out of it.
