Invisible

Chapter 45 Broken At Last?

My eyes droop with exhaustion, it's so late and the hospital just gives off a clinical and lonely chill. We've been here for over 11 hours and I really don't want to pull anyone away.

I knew Gordi wouldn't be normal right out of surgery but I was hoping for some kind of reassurance, so far he hasn't said a word. Just drifts in and out of a medically induced sleep from the anesthetic.

My feet took me out of the room before my mind could protest and I'm glad of that. It took a while but finally I found an empty waiting room and I waste no time falling into the biggest chair and curling up into a ball.

When my phone rings I figure it's Tiffany or Sam calling to see where I am, hopefully they are ready to get going. "Hi." I let my voice mumble the greeting, maybe it will get them to leave faster.

"Did I wake you?"

"Hunter!" I sit up and then glance around. "I thought you were on stage!" I say quieter but can barely mask my surprise.

Hunter chuckles, "just got off, how are you?"

"Loaded question... Are you alone?"

"Yeah, for a bit anyway. I'm restringing my guitars."

"Oh..."

"I'm sorry about earlier, with Matt and Justin holding me back Andy had free range of my contact list."

"It's okay. It actually makes sense."

"Come again?" The confusion in his tone makes me laugh a little.

"I mean, you spend so much time with those guys... A lot more than me and they've known you for years. I figured you told them and they were keeping it a secret."

"Leah, I would have asked first."

"Oh." I swallow.

"Have you told anyone?"

"No... Well, Tiffany knows and I'm sure she told Sam... Which means it's only a matter of time before Al hears and tells Maggie..." I wince as I connect the dots.

"You do know, eventually, it's going to come out. It always does, and believe me, it's better to have them hear it from your mouth than from the tabloids."

His statement brigs tears to my eyes, and my breathing becomes uneven. Tabloids... Press... No, not again. They will destroy not only me but Hunter. Slamming him around for dating a crazy girl. The world seems to tilt on one end and waves of reality come crashing into my brain like a tsunami. What am I doing? I let out a strangled sob from the back of my throat. I'm drowning, I can't breathe.

"Leah, what's wrong?"

"Hunter, I can't do this."

"Stop it."

"I can't. Think about it, what do I know about your world? I can never fit in."

"Leah," he tries to interject but I talk right over him, raising my voice.

"Things between us will never be right, I don't know who I thought we were fooling. I'm ending this now, I'm sorry Hunter, goodbye."

He calls back immediately after I hang up and I hit ignore. What did I just do? Nothing good stays in my life, I needed to let him go before we got too attached. Blake's words come back to my mind, the question she asked yesterday about me being alone forever.

"Leah, are you ready to go... What's wrong?" Tiffany appears from the left hallway and comes to wrap an arm around me.

"I ended it." A single sob bursts from my body and Tiffany looks down at my phone to see Hunter's name light up the screen. "It's over."