Even Heroes Have Scars

[36] Despondent

A/N
Sorry if there are errors. I'm too tired to fix them tonight, as it is already past 1AM. This chapter is also over 5,700 words so... Mope y'all like it!

Ansley's P.O.V.

I couldn't stand to watch Demi leave. I wasn't mad anymore, except for at myself, which was no surprise. She leaned in and hugged me. I had hoped it would be more than a hug, but at least she hugged me.

"Demi!"

Three people - two men and a woman - dressed in black ran across the street with big flashing cameras. Demi sat straight up and gripped my hand, pulling me back into the diner. We ducked into a booth and kept our heads low as the people jogged in through the front door.

"Where'd she go?" the woman asked.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Hayden, stood from his seat. "What's going on here?"

"Stay out of this, pretty boy," the woman chuckled. "We've got some business to do. Where's Demi Lovato?"

"We don't know," Cody shrugged from behind the counter. "And even if we did, we sure wouldn't tell you."

"We don't have time for small talk," one of the men growled.

"Who are they?" I whispered to Demi.

"Paparazzi," she mouthed and I nodded in understanding. She was still holding my hand.

"We saw her run in here - there she is!" the other man pointed over to us and we slid out of the booth in shame. We'd been found.

All of them lifted their cameras, balancing them on their shoulders with the lights on.

"Who is this?" the first man asked.

Demi gulped and gripped my hand tighter as she held her head high. "This is Ansley Brooks. She's a very close friend of mine," she explained to the airheads.

"We saw this man," the woman pointed to Hayden, "in a photo on Twitter. Who is he?"

The picture Becca tweeted. Of course, it didn't go unnoticed.

"I'm Hayden Blake, a friend of Ansley and an acquaintance of Demi," Hayden answered.

"Hey!" Cody stepped out from behind the counter, an angry expression playing across his face. "This is a restaurant! If you are just here to interview or yell at customers, take it outside!" His eyes showed fire. They all just stood there. "Leave!"

He took a step forward and they all ran out, leaving Demi, Hayden, and I in shock, along with the rest of the customers. Demi seemed weak beside me, her fingers cutting off the circulation of my own.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "You probably didn't want me to release your name. I'm sorry!"

"No, Demi, it's okay. Really. I don't care, okay?" I turned to her and hugged her. "Right now, I'm nothing but happy that we're friends again."

"Y'all are friends again now?" Hayden asked. Y'all?

I pulled away from Demi and smiled over at him, still holding Demi's hand.

"Yes," I let go of her hand and walked over to him, giggling. "I see my southernness is rubbing off on you, huh?"

"I didn't even realize I said y'all," he chuckled and looped his strong arms around my waist, lifting me up in a hug before whispering, "Told you it'd be worth it."

After Demi ran out of the diner, I didn't know if I wanted to run after her or not, but Hayden told me to. He said it would be worth it to save our friendship, and so I did. And he was right, it was worth it.