𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐞: 𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐤
"EVERYONE, LISTEN UP!" Trent yelled through the bus filled with teenagers, a clipboard gripped tightly in his hand as he tried to quiet everyone down. Kennedy looked towards the front, along with everyone else, and listened to what he had to say about their new hotel. "Since Kennedy has recently joined us, some rearrangements for rooms have been made." Trent hesitated skimming through the list, finally his eyes landed on the final room with the last space. "I know the girls normally room together, but there's simply no room. There is one room with enough space."
Griffins eyes widened slightly as he murmured a small, "Shit." under his breath. Making the curly-haired teen beside him furrow her eyebrows at him before swinging her attention back to the manager at the front of the bus.
"Chase and Anthony's room is the one available one." A silence seemed to ripple through out the bus as most of the teenagers within knew how awkward the relationship between Anthony and Kennedy was. Although, Trent seemed fairly clueless as he continued on. "Everyone grab your room keys, and head on up! We have a meet and greet tomorrow night!"
Everything started setting into motion as everyone seemingly got up at the same time, already into the usual schedule of going to hotels and settling down in a sense. "Wha- Griffin!" Kennedy grabbed his forearm to keep him from getting up. "What do I do? He hates me. I know he does," her voice cracked at the last part, her heart beating out of her chest at the idea of staying with Anthony in a room.
The older boy grimaced, putting his large hand over her tiny one. "Everything will be fine. You have Chase with you, nothings going to happen."
She could only wish it was true.
✧ ✧ ✧
Walking into the hotel room behind Chase, her breath caught in her throat as she saw Anthony putting his things on the bed closest to the door. She tried not to stare, not to completely observe how similar and yet different he looks from two months ago. He tensed as soon as he realized she'd come into the room, putting her own things on the only other bed.
An awkward silence enveloped the room, causing Chase to shift foot from foot before placing his stuff on Anthony's bed. "Guess we'll be sharing!" He attempting to make his voice light, and make the atmosphere of the room less... tense. Anthony just nodded at what he said, trying to keep his eyes from wandering to where Kennedy stood, beginning to unpack her things.
An alarm went off, making all three teenagers jump before Kennedy realized it had just been her phone. Checking the screen, in bold letters, it read: PILL TIME. She reigned in a groan at the message and turned off the alarm. Rummaging through her purse, the curly-haired girl pulled out the orange bottle of pills; not noticing how both Chase and Anthony were staring at her curiously. She turned, about to grab a water bottle when Kennedy noticed their stares. "Uh, what?"
"I didn't know you took pills," Anthony spoke quietly, barely meeting her eyes as he stared at the bottle, trying to read what the prescription was. They'd been together for a long time beforehand, and he knew for a fact she'd never taken any other pill than birth control; so, what had changed?
"They're nothing," she murmured, gripping them harder as she grabbed a water bottle. Feeling too pressured with their stares, she made her way into the bathroom and shut the door. After all this time, it hurt to hear his voice that clearly and so close. Screwing the cap off, she easily took out a singular pill and popped it into her mouth before taking a swig of water to wash it down. Kennedy sighed, running a shaky hand through her hair as she stared at herself in the mirror, wondering what was going to happen. Rubbing a hand over her eyes, she realized she hadn't slept at all for a while and a nap seemed to be calling for her. Exiting the bathroom, she noticed Chase was gone. "Um, where did Chase go?"
"He's just going to get snacks." His voice was still quiet, almost a whisper. Anthony felt his throat tighten, not even sure himself how he'd been able to say anything to her at the moment. She nodded at his words, ruffling through her suitcase for a pair of sweats and a hoodie. Grabbing out her clothes, Kennedy was about to go into the bathroom to change when he spoke up again. "I have to go to the bathroom, I can just go and you change in here."
"Okay," she whispered, letting him pass her and felt the smallest brush of his chest against hers as he went in. As the door shut, she let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding in. Heading to her side of the room, she slipped off her leggings and pulled up her sweats. Just as she'd taken off her shirt and was about to thrown on her hoodie, Anthony came out of the bathroom.
"Oh! Sorry, I-" he paused, noting a long scar on Kennedy's stomach that he hadn't seen before. "What's that?" He couldn't help himself when he strode to her, before stopping barely a foot in front of her. His hand hovered above the scar, staring at in question. Anthony Reeves could say for a fact that he knew Kennedy Walsh's body as though it were his own; he knew each curve and birthmark like the back of his hand. This scar hadn't been there two months ago. Laying a finger on it, Kennedy shivered feeling his fingertip tracing the mark. In that moment, everything else seemingly faded away into nothing but dust. All they could feel was each other. It had been like the past two months hadn't happened. "What happened?"
She looked down, watching his hand rest over the scar. "Nothing." A lie.
"I know you're lying," he whispered, the space between them lessening. "I could always tell when you were lying. We dated for years, I know you better than that." His voice was tight, wanting her to just look him in the eyes.
"Anthony," even muttering his name made her heart hurt. Everything about this, made her hurt. "It- it isn't any of your concern." She took a step away from him, trying to ignore the flash of sadness that passed over Anthony's features. "A lot has happened since we- we broke up." His hand dropped from her stomach, and went back to his side. "I'm sorry, but I don't want to talk about it."
Anthony scoffed, his emotions going haywire for seemingly the tenth time since he laid his eyes on her that morning. "You don't want to talk about anything, do you? You don't want to talk about what happened these past few months; you don't want to talk about why you even broke up with me. You don't want to talk about why you broke my heart for no reason," his voice dripped with both anger and hurt. Tears glossing over his eyes. "Or, why you're taking depression pills, or-"
"How do you know about those?" She questioned, interrupting his small rant with her hands balling into fists.
"You left them on the counter!" He yelled, not noticing the way she shrank back from him when he did so. "Why won't you tell me what's going on? I used to know everything! It's like I don't know you anymore!"
"That's not true!" Kennedy interjected, hating that this is how her first night on the tour was going.
"But it is!" He retorted, tears escaping his eyes at this point. "I thought you loved me!"
"I do!" She yelled out, tears of her own beginning to stream down her face. The situation was starting to slowly go out of control.
"Then why did you end us? Huh? Why did you do it? Was there someone else?" His face was red, and his hand ran through his hair shakily as he attempted to keep his cool. "What was it, Kennedy?"
"I can't tell you!" She cried, a sob escaping her lips as she couldn't control it anymore. Her emotions were getting the best of her, and there was no way she could stay cool. At this point, they were both crying. Both attempting to reign in their emotions but to no prevail. "I love you, Anthony! I had to! I had to do it," her breaths came in shorter as she sobbed harder. "I just-"
"You just what?" Anthony's eyes were already red, progressingly becoming puffy from his endless tears.
"I just can't tell you yet. Please, please understand that." She sniffled, putting a hand through her hair as she tried to figure out what to say next. "Something happened. To me, okay? Is that what you want to hear? Our breakup had nothing to do with you! It was my fault! Everything was!" Her voice finally broke entirely, as a prickly sensation ran through her. She could already tell a panic attack was oncoming.
Anthony cried harder, not able to say more about anything. "I-I can't stay here with you. I cant-" He sniffled, backing away from her. "I just can't." The brunette grabbed his suitcase, opening the hotel door just in time for Chase to come in.
"What happe-"
"I can't stay here anymore. I'll see you later, Chase." Anthony's voice still came out in a sob as he rushed past Chase and down the hall to where he knew Griffin was roomed.
The raven-haired boy looked into the room, just in time to see Kennedy sink to her knees; letting her panic attack take over her. He didn't care that she was just in a bra, and easily rushed into the room and shut the door carelessly. Wrapping his arms around his friend, Kennedy let her head fall into his chest as she cried harder, no longer able to breathe entirely. "Hey, hey. I've got you."
"I messed up," she cried, taking a fistful of Chase's lower shirt as she tried to calm down. "God, I'm such a mess."
And so, for as long as she needed him to, Chase Hudson held onto Kennedy Walsh for dear life. Still not entirely sure about what happened, but knew he would try to protect her for as long as he could. And be there for her when she needed him. As he pulled her in closer for the hug, he whispered sweet nothings into her ear; trying to calm her down.
𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲: 𝗂𝖿 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝖽𝗂𝖽𝗇𝗍 𝗆𝖺𝗄𝖾 𝗒𝖺𝗅𝗅 𝖼𝗋𝗒, 𝗂 𝖽𝗈𝗇𝗍 𝗄𝗇𝗈𝗐 𝗐𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗐𝗂𝗅𝗅 𝗌𝗄𝗌𝗄𝗌𝗄𝗌𝗄𝗄𝖽