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

Chapter Thirty-One

❝hurt (pronounced həːt or hert), verb
cause pain or injury to.❞  

A month and a half passed. Elle was slowly getting better, but started going back to the hospital for her chemo treatments. Everything was slowly returning to normal. Without ever really confirming it verbally, Phoenix and Ebony started calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend. Ryan was closer with Hunter than ever, and it was one cold April night that Ryan rolled into their bed, past midnight. Hunter was fast asleep, his mouth slightly open, and she moved closer to him, absorbing his warmth as best she could. He stirred. "My love?"

"Hey."

"You're here late. What took you so long?"

"Amber walked into the kitchen while I was cleaning, and I made some tea, sat down with her, really spoke to her. It was the first time she's been so open with me."

"She was talking to you?"

"I realised she doesn't talk if you or Drew are around. Nothing personal, obviously, but the stuff that happened to her was nothing easy. She's been through a lot. She went into detail today, and..." Ryan shuddered against Hunter, and his arms tightened around her. "Not pretty, I can tell you that."

"Was it as bad as what happened to you?"

"Worse. So much worse. Frank... I can't believe that someone has the ability to be that cruel. I can't believe someone has the... audacity... to hurt someone that way."

"Did you have your cup of tea either way?"

"I felt a bit nauseous, so no. After I got Amber to bed, I went out with Polka. She's getting old now. I think they'll both be... you know."

Hunter sighed. He loved Blaze as much as he had loved Cole, but knew that the time was coming. "I know. What now?"

"I don't know. Drew is... understandably quite bitter. She seems to speak well of him. Says he's really nice and 'good-looking'."

"He's a good kid."

"Yeah. Poor Elle. Poor Drew."

"Poor everyone."

"Have you met Ebony yet?"

"Who, Nick's girlfriend? Not yet. But she makes him happy, and that's all we've ever really wanted for him."

"She's a sweetheart. I went to drop him off at school and she was waiting for him. I think it's good he's got someone to talk to, if he won't talk to us, you know?"

"I wish he'd talk to us more."

"Me too. But I guess it's just not that easy. I mean, you remember how we were when we were kids."

"I used to tell Lilly everything."

"I didn't really have a best friend until I met you and Mina, so I'd write everything into a diary. I never wrote much."

"George read through Lexi's diary."

"Oh?"

"After Lilly died, she went into a deep depression- we all did, but it was worse for her, somehow. She stopped emoting, stopped talking to any of us, started writing in a diary. George found it, and since she wouldn't talk to him herself, he found out how she felt through the diary. She caught him. Very nearly left him over it. It was a huge deal for her."

"Of course it was."

"It's an invasion of privacy."

"Yeah."

They were silent for a little while, and Ryan sighed. "Oh, Hunt, I don't know anymore. It's all falling apart again. Elle isn't herself anymore, she's changed so much."