Chapter 5

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Entering Crusty's with a furry cat in his arms was Theodore.

He was cuddling her close to him, scared she'd run away again.

"Say hello to Hazel." he gushed and waved with her paw. She was a fluffy light brown Persian cat. "also sorry about leaving you abruptly."

"Oh no, no it's fine." I interrupted. "I'm really glad you found her."

"Yeah, me too." he smiled from all his heart. He looked so much more radiant now that he wasn't worried, which made him look downright attractive.

"Who knows, you might be a lucky charm." he said with a short giggle, obviously too joyful to care.

We ended our short outing with a goodbye, good luck, and exchanged phone numbers and promised to meet again.

It was good to have something new once in a while.

--

Life never goes the way we want it to, no matter how strongly we think it's in our favour.

It didn't take long for my whole life to become shattered up, down, and sideways.

One day I was a normal foreign student pursuing a business degree and struggling with a long distance relationship and friends and roommates, trying to keep my life all together, along with pleasing who I wanted to please, neglecting who I needed to neglect, and giving myself my own time.

But then the very next day, I was turned upside down with trauma.

What I thought was a casual phone call from Jessy to bring her something on my way back to our dorm turned out to be a devastating call informing me that my best friend Ryder was in a car accident and that he's not that far from death.

Fast forward a little bit to learn that Spencer left college and work and even town to somewhere no one knows, which lead to being pursued by Ryder, which lead to a nearly dead Ryder, a probably guilty Spencer, a freaked out Jessy, and a devastated me.

Not only was my best friend stripped out of my life, but also my other best friend and the last link to my boyfriend left unannounced.

I paced around the dorm, frantically looking for my keys and wallet then took off to the hospital Ryder was in.

--

Situated in the town up north was Rivertown Hospital where Ryder lay unconscious.

After being gone and out of reach for a few days, Spencer was at the hospital waiting just like everyone else. Worried and guilty knowing Ryder got injured in his pursuit. However, no one knew where Spencer was, nor anyone asked.

They all looked wary of it. Asking him, that is.

The psychiatrist whom I took Spencer to her office before Christmas break was here too. She worked in the hospital and her husband was in the operation room with Ryder.

Ryder's parents never showed up. No family of his showed up, so we were all he had.

Standing there in the white hall, I decided to call Theodore and check up on him since I couldn't do anything but wait.

I searched my phone more than four times. The number just wasn't there, which baffled me because I was sure I saved his number.

I felt like my mind was having a small fight inside my head and then it stopped all of a sudden. Somehow, I forgot about Theodore for a bit.

Because when the waiting room doors opened and I saw who entered, my legs felt weak.

Instantly, I ran and jumped up Hunter's sturdy body. I tried not to cry because crying at every instance just wasn't me.

Though squeezing his neck bones was.

I hugged him hard enough that I felt his blood pumping through his body.

"Fuck you," I groaned into his neck. "Fuck you so much."

"I missed you too, Jack." he smiled into my neck and tightened his grip around me so I don't slip. Not that I could slip since my long legs were around his waist.

I felt terrible. Amidst all the things going wrong right now, I was so hung up on Hunter. Literally.

"How could you do this to me?" my grip didn't change not one bit, which got me wondering what others who could see us were thinking. Not that it was only what others thought.

It was what I thought too: How I ended up so infatuated with someone I didn't have much time with. Merely days.

"I fucked up." he whispered with a few cracks in his voice. It only made me wanna cling more to him. Eventually I let him go and started sobbing.

"Ryder's between life and death." I informed him. He seemed shocked for someone visiting him at the hospital.

"What?! What happened to him?"

"You don't know?" I asked, totally confused.

"No!" his eyes flared wide. "How was I supposed to know?"

"Then why are you here?" not that I minded.

"You don't know?!" it was his turn to ask a scared me.

"Don't know what?" I was tired of this game.

"Spencer attempted suicide."

"WHAT?!" I screamed in which Hunter put his hand across my mouth and shut me up.

"No one's supposed to know." he whispered.

"I'm his best friend, Hunter. How could I not know about this."

"Well I'm his brother," he lead us to the nearby seats. "And even I only knew from his psychiatrist. And even she knew by accident because she works in this very hospital. I'm so worried about him, Jack. With my own problems and now his, I don't know what to do."

It hurt. It really hurt to see a tough looking guy break down, and the fact that it was Hunter made it all worse.

I wanted to help him but how do I help when I'm helpless.

"How did we get here? How is all this happenin to us all of a sudden?"

He rested his head against the cold hard hospital wall. "I don't know, Jack. I don't know," he squeezed his eyes shut attempting to hold back some tears of burden. "I had everything planned out. Everything. Finish medical school. Have a nice job as a doctor. Save lives. Get a cool house with a pool and a wife and ki-" he realised what he said too late.

His eyes looked at me in shock, while mine looked at him in hurt.

He wanted a wife and kids.

My life was an undeveloped mess of random choices and random people while his was all planned out, with one thing left out of the equation.

I wasn't in his plans.

A/N: don't forget to vote, comment, and follow me on Instagram @ rivertownaiden  thank you!

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