March seventeenth is a day he will never forget. The frantic call came in at midnight. Derek was changing into more comfortable attire when his phone started ringing. Thinking it was nothing and he could get back to Jenna in the morning, he continued putting on his muscle tee shirt. However, Jenna continued calling him persistently, causing the blonde to roll his eyes. She was very dramatic, so Derek just went on with getting rid of his black eyeliner that he is forced to wear for a routine on tour. That was, until Alan called him. He and Alan were only acquaintances, at this point he knew it had to be something more serious going on back home in Los Angeles. He pressed the accept button, confused beyond belief about what could possibly be happening.
"Hey Alan?" Derek spoke in a curious manner, still trying to figure why his notifications were blowing off the hook.
"Thank goodness! We've been trying to contact you for two hours?" Alan rambled off, making Derek a little worried. If they were this panicked about whatever, clearly something was extremely wrong.
"Explain please?" Derek snapped slightly. Why, if they'd been trying to get ahold of him for so long, had Hayley not called?
"It's about your girlfriend, man. You may want to sit down to take on this news." Alan said and heard Derek inhale sharply.
"What happened?" Derek replied, taking a seat on his dressing room couch.
"Hayley was in rehearsal when suddenly she became limp and fell to the ground. She was as white as a sheet."
Derek's heart dropped as he heard the younger male dancer explain what was going on, "Is she okay?"
"Uh... maybe you should come back to California?" Alan avoided answering the question at hand.
"I'm in the middle of a tour! I can't just come back to L.A. Please tell me she's alright." Derek begged.
"She's not!" Alan shouted, "She's not alright and you need to get here as soon as you have an off day."
Derek sighed while shaking his head in disbelief. He knew that visiting Hayley and checking on her overall health was important, but the tour does not get a spare day to relax for another week.
"Hello?" Alan asked, causing Derek to realize he hadn't responded.
"Oh, um yeah, there's a tiny dilemma for me. I really do wanna see her, but I cannot let hundreds of people down." Derek muttered, running a hand through his hair in frustration.
"I'm sure they'll understand if you miss one or two shows. It's a lot, I know, but this is much more important, Derek." Alan pleaded.
"Alan, goddamnit I understand!" Derek angrily spat into the device, causing Julianne to peek through his door.
"What's going on?" Julianne mouthed to her older brother, tilting her head when she did not receive a response.
Derek pretended that his sister was not there, anxiously tapping his feet to a fast pace beat. "I realize that I should, but I can't."
"What happens when she wakes up in a few days and you're not here? What happens if she doesn't wake up at all and you didn't get a chance to be here when she was at least breathing and alive?" Alan snapped.
Derek sighed and shook his head, "I can't disappoint this many people."
Alan bitterly laughed, "Wow, what a great boyfriend you are. How about getting this through your thick skull? Hayley is in the Intensive Care Unit and isn't waking up. Jenna is freaking out and I'm about damn ready to punch a wall. That's a real problem. If your fans have hearts or compassionate souls, they would understand that you have important matters to attend to. Then again, maybe you're the one without the compassion."
Derek gritted his teeth together, realizing that Julianne was glaring holes into his body. His little sister and Hayley became close friends in the past year they'd been dating, "You know what? Fine. Assume what you wish, Alan. I love her and I'm petrified as all hell, but I have to complete this leg of Move."
"What the hell is going on?" Julianne yelled, walking fully into Derek's dressing room, "What are you petrified about?"
As soon as his younger sister started questioning him, he hung up on Alan and broke down crying. Julianne rushed to give Derek a hug, consoling him even though she had absolutely no clue as to why he was getting worked up, "C'mon, you can talk to me."
Derek looked at Julianne, his azure eyes puffy and red from weeping, "Hayley's sick. I didn't have time to ask Alan because we argued about the topic on whether I should go or stay here."
"Are you seriously debating this? Travel back to California," Julianne demanded.
"I can't, Jules. I can't disappoint anyone," Derek lowered his head down, covering his head with his palms.
"But you can disappoint your girlfriend?" Julianne shouted.
Paul poked his head inside the room. "I can hear you two screaming from across the frigging hall."
"Hayley's sick." Jules broke the news to Paul that a former dance partner and close friend of his was sick.
"Sick as in...coughing sick? Puking sick? Pregnant because we all know that those two can't keep their hands to themselves?" He asked, smirking like a sly dog when Derek blushed.
"Okay, maybe not that type of sick, but ill."
"I'm not catching on?" The twenty-five year old said in a confused tone.
"I don't know what she's sick with! She's in the hospital and she's not awake!" Derek shouted, getting impatient.
"Sheesh, alright." Paul commented without thinking. After a quick moment though, his eyes doubled in size, "Wait, what? She's in the hospital... and we're here? You're here?"
Derek groaned, recognizing that he was not getting anywhere with Paul. "Yeah, just found out from Alan."
"And you're still sitting here and not taking action? Hough, you need to get back to California immediately!" Paul shouted, getting a bit defensive in Hayley's honor, who was like a little sister to him.
"For once, I agree with Paul." Julianne shrugged her shoulders.
"Thank you!"
"Dude, I literally got the call a minute ago?" Derek exaggerated.
"I'd be out of the state within two seconds of knowing my girlfriend was in critical condition. And I'm about to be off of this tour for as long as my friend and almost little sister is in the hospital!" Paul yelled, now one hundred percent protective over Hayley.
"We have planned this for months. You know that I would drop everything in a heartbeat for her, but we can't. Our managers won't allow that."
"Well you just lost a dancer. I quit," Paul said and walked to the male company dancer dressing room.
"Paul!" Derek yelled for his friend, but his feeble attempts were useless. Paul had already left the building.
"He's right, D. We can cancel a few shows. Selena did and she had many more fans to disappoint," Julianne said. "Go be with her!"
"Do you really want to?" The blonde male questioned.
"Of course! Hayley is family, Derek. At least that's what I thought. That's what you said," Jules said softly.
"I guess I will." Derek urgently grabbed his duffle bag, searching for his wallet and other necessities that he may need.
Within three hours, the siblings and a few of their company dancers were on a first class flight back to Los Angeles.
