Take A Walk (A Hunter Hayes Fanfiction, Book 5 of The Hardships Saga)

Chapter Seven

❝black (pronounced blak), adjective
of the very darkest colour owing to the absence of or complete absorption of light; the opposite of white; ebony.❞

Elle woke up in a papery gown, with a band-aid over her wrist and feeling dazed. She opened her eyes to see a pair of warm, golden brown eyes staring back at her.

"You're awake!" said the voice, and in her disorientation, she didn't recognise it immediately. The owner of the voice squeezed her hand, and she knew who it was. Who else could it possibly have been?

"Hey, Beanbag," she said weakly. "How long was I out?"

"A little while. You passed out in the ambulance on the way here."

"F*ck," she mumbled. "My head hurts."

"Yeah, I imagine it does," he said. "Feeling okay?"

She shrugged slightly. "What happened?"

"You were feeling sick and you collapsed, then you vomited. We called an ambulance."

"I know that much," she said. "I mean what's happened to me? Do you know if I'm back in the hospital for good?"

He shook his head, squeezing her hand again. "Thank God, no. They put it down to exhaustion and not eating enough, so you'll be alright to go home tomorrow."

Elle nodded, then closed her eyes. "You were scared, weren't you?"

"A little," he admitted. "But I believed in you."

She chuckled under her breath, and Drew kissed her cheek, then her lips. "I'm glad you're okay," he said softly. "Your parents just left to grab lunch, and I got here about half an hour ago."

"And I'm not pregnant?"

"You're not pregnant," he confirmed. "We've got time for that when we're older, right?"

"Exactly." She laughed slightly. "I, uh, heard your mom chewing you out for being a bad child of God."

He held back his laughter. "Look at you, trying to recruit me to become a sinner like you."

"The saint and the sinner. Pretty sure Pa wrote a song like that before I was born."

"Shut up," he said, laughing. "I don't think you're a sinner."

"I disagree," she said airily. "But that's neither here nor there, is it, love?"

"Exactly."

Hunter walked in, smiling slightly. "You're awake," he said, sitting down. Ryan followed suite, and sat beside Hunter, taking his hand. This tiny gesture was enough to make Elle smile.

"Yeah. Feeling a bit better."

"You haven't been sleeping?"

"Blame this dork for talking to me all night," she said, and Drew made a face at her, laughing.

Ryan held back a smile. "Well, you put your father into a bit of strife," she said, and Hunter chuckled.

"I was worried, what can I say?" he said, shrugging. "You're my little girl, aren't you?"

Before she could answer him, a redheaded girl walked into the room holding flowers. "Hey, I heard what happened, how are you feeling?" she asked.

Elle found that she couldn't answer either of them, so she stayed silent, playing with Drew's fingers on her bedsheets. Hunter smiled brightly at Cassie, hugging her, and she felt jealousy flare up inside her chest. She hadn't lived with Hunter for nearly eighteen years, and yet she was already a part of the family.