The Road Ahead (A Hunter Hayes Fanfiction, Book 4 of The Hardships Saga)

Chapter Forty-Nine

❝cookie (pronounced ˈkʊki or kuk-ee), noun
a sweet biscuit.❞

"Ellie, this isn't a good idea."

Elle, who was having another bad day, was lying in bed with Drew, who had come over to look after her while Ryan marked papers and ran errands. He had been stroking her hair for the past hour, humming quietly, when Elle had brought it up.

"It's almost the end of September," she said. "I need to find her, Drew. I need to find her, and we need to find my family-"

"But you're still sick," he said quietly, playing with her hair. It was a relaxing sensation, and she closed her eyes tiredly and nuzzled against him. His warmth soothed the pain in her bones.

"I know. I won't be leaving the bus. Kinda like... quarantine."

"Is Nick going with you?"

"No, he's going to stay behind. He's f*cking furious, because he swears on his life that he's got a lead, but-"

"But it's just a name. I know, darling."

Elle sighed. "I know it's like, the worst possible thing to do right now. But I need to go. This tour isn't going to start up again if I die."

"Will you be okay without me?"

"I'd like to think so. It's just if something happens..."

"It's nearly your birthday," he reminded her. "You're still here."

This fact alone, honestly, was the only thing that kept him going anymore. The fact that the doctors had been wrong when they predicted that Elle would be even sicker now, that even if the pills weren't curing the cancer, they were slowing it down immensely.

"Yeah. I am." She smiled, leaning up and kissing him.

He smiled gently once she pulled away, and kept massaging her head. "Hey, Drew?"

"Mmm?"

"Ma and Pa... they're acting weird."

"How so?"

"They're like... I dunno. They barely talk, or hug, or anything. I haven't walked in on them kissing in months. I'm pretty sure something's up, but neither of them will tell me."

"You think they're gonna split up?"

"Worse. I think they want to, but won't, because of us."

"Like, the kids?"

"Exactly. Ma would never do that to them, and I can't see Pa wanting them to grow up without a mother."

Drew sighed, his fingers tangling themselves in her hair. "Cookie, I mean, it's up to you. But are you ready?"

She shook her head. "I don't know."

<><><><><><><><>

Ryan opened her eyes, and saw that Hunter was already gone, that she was alone once more. They rarely touched anymore- she found that whenever he touched her, she would flinch. He didn't make any effort to speak to her either.

She rolled out of bed with the slow, forced effort that she had done for the past few weeks, and looked at the date on her calendar. The 24th. It had been four weeks, to the day, since Hunter had realised that he no longer loved her.

No, that wasn't the phrase, was it? It was that 'she deserved better'. Right. How silly of her.

Her mind ran over some of the events that had conspired since then. She had tried to ask him about his day once, to no avail. She got little to no texts from him, and had been talking to Lucky, Mel and Jessie more and more often. She had no one else.