Hayes Grier fanfic: After All

Chapter 30

Althea's POV:
When dj and I arrived at his and Haley's place it looked exactly like it did the day i first saw it, the same smell and everything. Which was weird to be honest.

Dj opened the door and set his sweater to the side, a part of me thought dj really did change, but the other part of me told me to never let my guard down. "Want anything to drink?" He asked as he started looking through cabinets. "No it's okay." I mumbled quietly, which made it sound more like a whisper.

Dj took a band aid from the cabinet and handed it to me, "thanks" I said. As I removed it from its wrapper and put it on my bleeding finger, my clothes were still covered with little splatters of blood from the finger, but I didn't really care. It was going to wash off anyways. Dj and I took a seat on the couch, and for a moment the whole place went silent. I didn't see Haley or their daughter Heidi around.

"So, how's you and Haley?" I asked, trying to break the awkward tension in the room. "Were okay" he replied, "your daughter's really beautiful" I said. And it was true, I've only seen their daughter once but she was really beautiful, she had the prettiest eyes and such a cute smile. She was still a baby but I could already see this girl's future. And she was going to go far..I just know it.

"Yeah...well, she's precious" dj said,
"How did you and Haley meet?" Now that it occurred to me, I never really found out yet how Haley and dj met, I mean, when we were on that trip haley was with chandler then. "Well, after the trip, that very last day I saw Haley and...I don't know, my heart just-"
"I get it" I said.
Dj looked at me with sadness in his eyes, "but I'm an awful person." He said.
I looked at him for a moment, "what do you mean?"
Dj looked at the floor, then around the room, and then back at me. "I..I just don't know what's wrong with me. I do drugs, I smoke, I drink, I just go crazy... I do such stupid things and I don't know why I do it. I hit Haley sometimes and I don't know why I do it either, and I can't stop myself. That's why she's not here right now, she goes away sometimes when I go crazy and she visits her mom back home and brings baby Heidi with her and she comes back a few days after but... Sometimes I'm afraid of myself ..I don't want to be like this for my daughter" he said, and he started bawling tears as he buried his head in his hands.

I patted his back trying to comfort him. "It'll be okay..." I said. I lied to be honest, I didn't know if it would be okay. If dj can't stop himself anymore, something bad WILL happen and he can't stop that.

He looked up from his hands and his eyes were bloodshot red, but he managed to give me a smile. "Thank you" he said, as he put his hand on my head and started messing up my hair, I didn't bother to fix it, we both laughed.

I checked the time and saw it was getting pretty late, it was 8:30, and my phone was literally 5%.
"I better get going," I said,
"Alright. But be careful, the streets in this area get pretty dangerous at night"

Oh great. Just what I needed to hear.

"Oh really?"
"Yeah. If you see anybody suspicious looking or just plain scary up front take a shortcut through the back alley,"
"Which is safer?"
"The back alley"
"Alright thanks for the tip" I said, as I got up from the couch, still not bothering to fix my mess of a hair because of dj and exited their apartment.

Hayes's POV;

It was 8:30 and Althea wasn't home yet. The guys finished watching the movie hours ago and now they were filming some vines and just doing random stuff. I started pacing around the living room, back and forth.

"Hayes you okay? Or did you turn into a dog because you're pacing back and forth" cam said
"No. I'm not okay, I've sent her 20 texts. she's not home yet and she said she'd be back soon!"
"Look hayes, I'm pretty sure she's fine"

"I hope so" I said.