Unscripted

Chapter 13: It's Just Business

Y/N POV

"Are you sure you can't just come with me?" Hailee asks with a pout on her face as she folds a pair of sweatpants and tucks them neatly away into her suitcase.

I chuckle as Brando and Martini chase my hand around on the bed as I scratch it across the comforter. Dogs are so easy to entertain sometimes.

"I'm sure baby. I wish I could but we both know I have to work. If it weren't for my meeting at headquarters I could swing it, but I can't exactly say no to Kevin Feige. He's actually one of two people on earth I can't really say no to." I say.

Hailee arches her brow at me as she continues to fill her suitcase. "Oh really? And who is the second person?" She asks, already knowing the answer.

"You." I reply simply.

Hailee smirks at my reply, no doubt satisfied with my answer. And frankly, what can I say? The power this woman holds over me is astronomical.

"It'll be fine babe." I try to reassure her when her smirk wears off and turns into her pout once more. "It's just four days."

Hailee puts the final article of clothing in her suitcase and looks at me petulantly as she zips it closed. "Four days is a long time! And the last time I went to New York without you, you ended up in the hospital." She deadpans.

I know it's serious, but I can't help but laugh. "Hailee. I swear to you that Griffin and I will abstain from any shenanigans while you're gone, so I don't foresee any hospital visits. And I'm sure the four days will be gone before you know it!" I add with a beaming smile, trying my best to lighten her mood.

Hailee reaches her hand out for me as she sits on the side of our bed. I take it without thinking, but continue waiting for her to speak.

"I know you're probably right. And we both knew it would come to this eventually. I've just got so much running through my head. It's my job to leave, but everything inside of me is screaming for me to stay. I just want to be with you, with our dogs and our friends. It's hard to stay where you stay when you can't go where I go." She says, clearly upset about this situation.

I do the only thing I know to do to comfort her in the moment, I pull her into me. She wraps her arms around my midsection tightly, like she's afraid that if she lets go then I may float away forever.

We sit in silence for a few minutes before I feel her chuckle against me and she begins speaking. "Want to know something I don't think I've ever told you?" She asks softly, raising up so her eyes meet mine.

I nod my head, waiting for her to continue.

"Remember the first night that you, me, and Griffin went to dinner together?" She asks.

"I do. We held hands under the table all through dinner." I say, smiling at the memory. Oh how dumb we both were.

"After we left and parted ways, I was an absolute mess on the ride home. It felt like my guts were being twisted, like leaving you was somehow one of the worse things that could happen. And we'd only spent one weekend together." She continues.

"I felt the same way." I agree easily, remembering my emotional rant to Fletcher on my drive home.

"Well, Griff called me out on it. He told me that in my work, I travel all over the world and meet tons of people every year, but I never get attached, I never cry over them. And the fact that I was damn near crying over you meant something." She says.

I smile brightly at her retelling of that night and her experience. "It never ceases to amaze me how great Griffin is sometimes...." I trail off.

"He's the best. And he was right. It meant something then and it means even more now. I didn't think it could ever be harder to leave than that night, but here I am staring down the barrel of everything I don't want to do. And I know it's just four days, I know that. But I have this nagging feeling that it's always going to be like this...four days here, a week or two there, and hell...who even knows how long I'll be gone whenever I start filming again or go on tour. And that's just my schedule! You're just as busy, and I know you've got travel on your schedule too. I just...I don't want everything to always be so hard. And I'm scared. I'm scared you'll get sick of it and..."