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

Chapter Thirteen

She fell onto her bed, listening to Adrian and Cassie walk into the room, talking and laughing, before Cassie said quietly, "Gimme a minute to get changed into something a bit more comfortable?"

"Yeah, sure."

When Adrian closed the door, Elle (who was still facing the wall, tears running down the bridge of her nose) heard footsteps behind her. "Elle?"

"What the f*ck do you want, then?" she asked, trying to sound harsh and angry but only sounding frail and sad.

Cassie pursed her lips, then said, "I'm... I'm so sorry. I promise, Elle, I'm gonna get us back to Nashville with Adrian and so that you can be with Drew."

"He's got someone else," she mumbled. "Someone better than me."

"That's not true," she said. "I saw how he looked at you. He cared about you."

"Past tense," said Elle.

"And he still cares about you," she said hastily. Then, she sighed. "I... I could ask Adrian to keep in contact with him somehow. Make sure that he's okay."

Elle lay silently for a moment, then said, "W-What?"

"I could tell him to message him on his Instagram? And, like, make friends with him and just chat and stuff, make sure he's doing okay on his own?"

Adrian knocked on the door. "Cass?"

"Just a minute!" she called, before talking softly again to Elle. "I know Da's strictly forbidden talking to him yourself, but talking to him through Adrian isn't the same thing. He can't get mad."

Elle rubbed her eyes, sitting up. "Why the f*ck are you being so nice to me?" she asked suspiciously. "I have a lot of reasons not to trust you."

"And one very good reason that you should." Cassie looked down. "I've told you already. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I got us into this mess, but I'm gonna try make up for it however I can without breaking the rules until we can find a way out of here."

"How will you explain the situation?" asked Elle. There was no way to mask Cassie asking Adrian to message someone for her, without telling him why it had to be kept a secret.

Cassie sighed, then said, "We tell him."

"But... but you said-"

"I know what I said," she mumbled. "But I've not been myself lately. I've hurt you and been selfish. And honestly, I can read people really well. Everything I've seen about Lilly tells me that she was selfish, too. I can't be like her. I need to be like Hunter. So I'm gonna try not to be selfish."

Elle wasn't sure what to say. She wasn't even sure what to think. She just stared at Cassie. "Just... think about it. Maybe it'll work."

"Yes."

"What?"

"Y-Yes. Please, I need to know that he's okay," whispered Elle. "God, I miss him so damn much."

Cassie smiled slightly. "I'll tell him. Get some rest, okay?"

Elle looked up. "This doesn't mean we're friends, got it?"

"Got it," she responded hastily. "But... maybe soon?"

"We'll see. For now, I need to know that he's okay. And when I find that out, I'll be a lot happier."

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

Phoenix was silently eating the cake that Ryan had made for him, while Hunter and Ryan were cleaning up after the little family dinner they'd had for his birthday. Ryan was silent, tears in her eyes, and Hunter was holding Red while loading the dishwasher. Red tapped his shoulder, signing, "Mama's sad," and he nodded.