Twenty Four Hours ✿ Hayes Grier

v // 6:38 pm

three blankets and four cups of hot chocolate later, the trio made their way back into the car.

"the seats are wet." ava pressed her finger into the leather interior.

nash groaned. "not my seats!"

"it's because your butt is wet from melted ice." hayes laughed and helped nash wipe the seats with blankets.

"it's not my fault i fell asleep!"

hayes laughed again. he had been laughing quite a lot the past few hours, he noticed.

"we still have about three hours to spare." nash checked his phone. "unless you want to meet cam early at the meet and greet tonight."

"shit." hayes cursed, scrambling for his phone. "i forgot about the meet and greet. it completely slipped my mind."

"meet and greet?" ava said, puzzled. her glance wavered from nash to hayes for an explanation.

"we have these things where we meet our fans for a couple of hours. we went on a tour for it and now were just going to do one in la because we were gonna be there for a week or so." nash started the car as he explained, dialing a number into his phone.

"i completely forgot we were doing that. what are we gonna do with ava?" hayes tapped furiously at his iphone.

"you can just drop me off before the meet and greet." ava said, hayes noticing her tone of voice. it was a bit sad, maybe disappointed. "i don't want you to have to worry about finding something to do with me."

"hey." hayes scooted closer to ava, dropping his phone into his lap. he hated that ava acted like this, like she wasn't important. "that's not it at all. we just don't want you to get bored." he took her hand in his and smiled.

"hayes, really, i don't think your fans would want me to-"

"ave, seriously, i don't give a fuck. you're staying. we want you here. i want you here." he grinned. ava smiled lightly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"alright." she agreed. "call cal."

nash and hayes laughed. "it's cam." nash said, dialing the number and putting it on speaker.

"yo, i thought you were gonna be here at five, man. we all went out for dinner and you guys missed it." a boy who sounded about nash's age spoke, background noise almost drowning out his voice.

"ah, shit, i forgot about the dinner too! we're about an hour away, we'll be there soon. i swear." nash spoke, hitting his head on the steering wheel.

"i really hope you mean that. there are already fans lined up outside." cam sighed.

"were coming. we'll be there before eight, i promise."

"it starts at seven-thirty, nash!"

"fuck!" nash stepped on the gas. "just, wait, okay? we will be there." cam hung up, clearly annoyed.

"shit, hayes, how could you forget?" nash scolded.

"what? me?" hayes spluttered.

"yes you! you're supposed to be the brother who remembers stuff!"

ava laughed.

nash looked back at her. "this is not funny!"

"it kind of is. why are you freaking out? your fans are clearly dedicated to you. do you really think that they would be angry if they had to wait fifteen more minutes?"

hayes sighed. "she's right, nash. you can slow down. i don't wanna get pulled over. then i would freak out."

"stop being so smart." nash shook his head jokingly at ava.

+

"finally!" a boy with dark hair and olive skin ran out to greet the three. "it starts in ten minutes!" ava assumed this must be cameron.

"who's this?" cameron suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"this is ava. she-"

hayes had a feeling nash would say we were giving her a ride. or that she was a random girl they picked up in a minuscule town in the middle of nowhere.

so hayes cut nash off. "she's our friend. she's just gonna chill backstage. right, ave?"

"uh. yeah. i am." ava said unsurely. hayes nodded, the movement so small, only she could see. ava nodded, biting her lip.

"hi ava. i'm cameron." ava smiled and stuck out her hand, but cam went in for a hug. ava laughed and hugged him back.

"sorry to rush you but these two have to be meeting and greeting fans in-" cam checked his phone. "-eight minutes. c'mon!"

hayes grabbed ava's hand once again. he couldn't seem to shake the feeling of wanting to hold the girls hand, and since she didn't shy away, he was determined to keep doing it. he guided her backstage and showed her to a couch.

"alright. so the meet and greet should take about two hours? there's a tv around the corner, and there's food in those cupboards. i'm sorry again, ava, i know you probably didn't want to do this." hayes apologized.

ava wrapped her arms around hayes' neck, enclosing him in a warm embrace. hayes was a bit taken aback, but automatically snaked his arms around her lower back.

"thank you." ava whispered.

"for what?" hayes said into ava's neck.

"letting me hitchhike with you. and being nice to me." she laughed softly.

"ava, please don't thank me. i was a dick to you, and i shouldn't have been. you've been through way to much for me to have been so awful to you." hayes ment every word he said to the girl. his head was still nuzzled into her neck; he didn't want to stop hugging her, but of course, he had to.

ava pulled away first. "you have to go." she widened her eyes. "go! i'll be okay."

"okay, okay, i promise i'll make nash buy us food when the meet and greet ends okay?" hayes said, already halfway out the door.

"okay, now go! don't be late! have fun." she smiled and settled into the couch. hayes smiled and took off running.

just as ava had turned on the tv, she heard footsteps getting louder down the hall. hayes appeared back in the room, and before ava could scold him, he took ava
back into his arms.

"i'm sorry again." he whispered. "i really am." he didn't want to let go, partly because ava's hair smelled like coconuts.

"hayes. it's okay. please stop apologizing."

"okay. i'm gone." he shot her a lopsided grin and raced back down the hall again.

ava peered through a curtain, watching cam, nash, hayes, and a couple other boys she hasn't met hugging teenage girls who looked about her age. so this was a meet and greet. she watched as a girl with curly dark hair ran to hayes and hugged him, wrapping her legs around his waist. he hugged her back, just like he had ava. ava felt her stomach knot.

all these girls were beautiful, confident. ava felt her heart sink as she realized how broken she felt. these girls probably had everything, and here she was, alone, hitch hiking with two teenage boys she didn't know. what was she doing? this was a bad idea.

ava knew the right thing to do. she searched the cupboards for a pen and paper. as soon as she found one, she scrawled a short note and left it on the coffee table.