still falling ↠ hunter hayes

chapter seventeen //

Chapter Seventeen

May 12th, 2015

“

        I had three missed calls from Kadence but, I didn’t have time to talk. Tonight was about me and Tanner. After eight months of dating, I was free from everything from the last year.

        I wanted tonight to be perfect. Tanner was cooking dinner in my kitchen, I was thumbing through my CD’s. I couldn’t find my favorite mix cd. I thumbed through the rack again, still not seeing it. I walked to my room, opening my junk drawer, digging through it.

        There it was, the Ed Sheeran record, a loud reminder of the past on a night I didn’t want it anywhere near me.

        I screamed, throwing it with all my force toward the wall. It bashed against the beige wall, chipping the paint and breaking the case, knocking the CD to the floor.

        I never talked about him. I had refused to. Tanner had asked me about that period of my life too many times to count. I’d dismissed it each time with the shake of my head. It was as if I dreamed him up and we never truly existed.

——

Hunter’s POV

        I pulled down a small street. Did she really live here? There was nothing to it. Had Kadence given me the first town she could think of in her head? I sighed, pulling up to the house she had directed me too.

        Sure enough, there was her small black car, parked in the driveway.

        I wondered if she was even home. Maybe she was with a guy, her guy. Maybe she was sleeping. Maybe she was eating dinner. Maybe she didn’t feel like company. Maybe she didn’t feel like MY company. Maybe she didn’t want to see me. Maybe she really had moved on.

        I turned the keys in the ignition, the car falling silent. I meant what I told her ages ago. I would chase her for the rest of my life. The reminder of my words pushed me out of my car, taking slow steps to her door.

——-

Aspen’s POV

        "I wanted to wait a little longer but, I can’t."

        Tanner took my hand, dropping to one knee in my living room. I stared at him in shock. I felt sick. It’d been eight months with him. I didn’t even know him that well. Was he crazy? Or, had I been using him as a rebound? I wasn’t sure which was worse. I tried not to yell at him, my mind reminding me that the first few months of our relationship, I was mourning over my loss of someone else.

        "Aspen Allard, will you marry me?"

        Before I could even think, someone was banging on the door. I turned, thankful for the distraction.”I-let me grab that.” I’d just left him in the middle of his proposal. Shit, I was a terrible person.

        I turned back to Tanner, who was holding a huge diamond ring, pulling the door open as I gave him my best smile.

        I turned toward my front door, my mouth falling open, my eyes widening, my body stiffening.

        Hunter stared back at me with the same alarm.

——

Hunter’s POV

        A guy was on one knee and she was staring at me. Why would she answer her door during a proposal?? Why was she getting proposed to? I knew the answer to my second question, knowing I’d marry her on the spot. She hadn’t changed, not really. She looked thinner, her expression matching her appearance from the first day we met. She looked alarmed to see me in her space, just like she had last year.