The Road Ahead (A Hunter Hayes Fanfiction, Book 4 of The Hardships Saga)

Chapter Thirty-Six

❝story (pronounced ˈstɔːri or stohr-ee), noun
an account of real or imaginary people, told for entertainment.❞

"What... what story do you want to hear?"

"The sappiest one you have. I know you write romance, you don't fool me." She smirked. "Any smut?"

"Oh God," he muttered. "No way. I hate smut. There's a lot of it in the books I read though. God."

She laughed at his awkwardness. "Go on, then."

"It's your cliche. Boy meets girl, falls in love."

"Well, I want to hear the cliche story." She smiled. "What does the girl look like?"

He looked down, turning red. "Y-You."

She tried to stop the slow smile spreading across her face, but was unsuccessful. "And what does the boy look like?"

"More attractive than me, anyway," he said with a light laugh. "Aquamarine eyes and light brown hair."

"Blue eyes are overrated," she said. "I like brown better. They're... warm. Maybe they're common, but they all have a different quality, y'know? Yours are warm. They remind me of sitting near a fireplace."

He smiled slightly, and Elle admired the bronze flecks in his eyes, before clearing her throat. "I'm waiting, good sir."

"Well... the guy washes up on an island. There's an accident, Castaway style."

"And?"

"And she's there. She's been there her whole life, she doesn't speak a lot of English. She eats berries and drinks water from a little reserve she's made from the rain. She's super thin, but... she's beautiful. And he notices it, too. He's entranced by her."

"How much English can she speak?"

"She knows enough to say some words like 'help' and 'red', but because she hasn't spoken to anyone in so long, it's almost entirely gone. He teaches her his name."

"What is his name?"

"Alex."

"Right. And her name?"

"She doesn't know. And neither does he. So he just calls her Red, because of how much she says it."

"And they fall in love?"

"She's scared of him at first. But he teaches her things. How to make fire, how to hunt and cook fish, and she slowly warms up to him, before trying to speak to him in the same language he speaks to her in."

"And do they get found?"

"No. He eventually uses trial and error to build a boat, and he sails them away. They travel on the ocean for ages together, catching and eating fish and... yeah. Haven't figured out how they'd cook fish or anything yet. I don't know if I'll finish it."

"You should! I think that would be amazing!"

He shrugged shyly. "It's... not much, really. I need a way for it to not sound so damn cliche. It's like that Barbie movie you made me watch and Castaway had a baby."

"The Island Princess?"

"That's the one."

"Well... I've got a lot of spare time now, huh?" She smiled slightly. "We could work on it together."

"I'd like that," he said. He stood up, kissing her forehead. "You should rest. Shaun'll be here soon with my clothes. Sleep, okay?"

She nodded. "Okay. I love you."