Hunter was sitting on the couch in their hotel room. He was done packing and he was just waiting for Arabella to finish getting packed up again. He could see into Arabella's room from his spot and could see her looking through her clothes, folding them neatly and placing them on the bed. She was holding a brown leather jacket that he had never seen her wear before, but it looked a little familiar. He thought that she looked beautiful, just looking through clothes and getting packed up. All of the memories he had with her burned in his head and made his heart ache. How had their relationship gone out so quickly? He hated not being able to hold her and he was sick of it. He was done doing what she wanted. He was getting her back. Now. Hunter stood up from the couch and walked into her room. She looked up at him with confused eyes as he grabbed the jacket out of her hand and threw it onto her bag on the ground. He wrapped his arms around her and pressed his lips tightly to hers, feeling so glad that he could hold her again and kiss her again. Everything would be okay again.
That's when he woke up. His eyes blinked open, but the feeling of dried tears made it very uncomfortable. The sun was shining into the room and Hunter was immediately confused, considering there wasn't a window in his room. He rubbed his eyes and looked toward the source of the light and found the connecting doors standing open. He put his hand up, shielding the light from his eyes. He had tried to sleep in the bed last night, but after an hour or two of tossing and turning he moved to the floor.
It genuinely upset him a little that he could only sleep in a bed with her by his side. How would he sleep in a bed from now on? He looked up at the door and sighed, a little curious why she had opened the door. He slowly stood up, stretching slightly and walked carefully to the entrance of her room. She was curled into a ball, holding her knees to her chest. Asleep, but only sort of. It wasn't peaceful sleep. He tiptoed closer and found her teddy bear on the ground near her bed. It broke his heart that she had slept with her teddy bear last night. He had always been the thing she held onto while she slept. He had been the thing that kept her safe. Now, she used her teddy bear. She needed someone else. He bent down and grabbed the teddy bear, picking it up and brushing it off. He gently put it in her arms again and watched as she immediately adjusted to it, pulling it closer and holding it tight. Hunter had to close his eyes and he clenched his teeth, wishing that he were that teddy bear.
Hunter walked quietly back to his room and sat on the bed, feeling empty inside. He closed his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair, cursing himself for letting Tiffany into their room. What if Arabella hadn't taken a shower that morning? What if they hadn't stayed at that hotel? What if they hadn't stopped in St. Louis? Hunter would be happy right now. He would have his arms around Arabella and he would kiss her face until she woke up and then they would talk about what they wanted to do today. Then they would go down for breakfast and they would have a wonderful day. Instead they were dealing with this.
Hunter stood by the door and got dressed, so that she couldn't see him. He slipped on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He pulled on the jacket he bought yesterday. The one that Arabella had picked out. He checked his appearance in the mirror and then laid down on his bed waiting for Arabella to wake up. He looked at her from his room and watched as her shoulders moved with every breath and he closed his eyes, imagining the face he had woken up to so many times. The way she pursed her lips with every inhale and flared her nostrils with every exhale. The way that she would smile as she woke up. The way that her ears perked up as she smiled. She smiled with her entire face. He shook his head and tried to rid his head of the image. Her face. The face that he loved. He rubbed his face for a moment before finally reaching into his pocket.
Ever since he had made it at Kyle and Marina's, he carried the ring around. This ring was the ring he's going to propose to her with. Was going to propose to her with. He was waiting for the ideal moment. He had things set up already, but if he could find an ideal spot on the trip. Now he didn't know what to do with it. He pulled the ring out of his pocket and looked at it. Looking at the heart shaped diamond that he had purchased and put it in the ring once he had made it. The bronze ring that glowed slightly and seemed to hum with energy. He ran his finger over the vine pattern that waved its way around the band and he looked inside at the inscription. "I'll always love you, honey bunch. Always." He read quietly, his voice catching a little as the words escaped his mouth. He closed his eyes as tears started to blur his vision and he wiped the tears away, trying to stay held together. He looked at the ring again, but heard motion from Arabella's room. Hunter turned, quickly slipping the ring back into his pocket and wiping the tears away with his shirt.
"Good morning." Hunter said quietly, standing up and walking over to the connecting doors. She stretched in her bed and looked up at him.
"Good morning, Hunter." She said in a small voice. Hunter wanted to ask why she opened the connector doors, but that might be too touchy. Maybe she walked in her sleep or something. Or maybe she had a bad dream. Did she seem him sleeping on the floor? Now she is going to see how bothered I am by all of this. She isn't going to be able to find a new guy if she sees me unable to sleep in a bed. I don't want her to find a new guy though. No. Yes I do. I want her to be happy. That's all I want. That's all I've ever wanted. Apparently her being happy doesn't include me. That's fine. I'm fine with that. He lied to himself.
He opened his mouth to ask how she slept, but he second guessed himself. This was the first night without me. What if she slept terribly and it's all my fault? It is all my fault. I don't want to ask her how she slept. I shouldn't. It might be too touchy. Hunter finally rubbed his eyes a little and sighed. He wasn't sure what to say. "There's complimentary breakfast downstairs. I was going to head down in a little bit if you wanted to umm...come with me." He said finally, looking away to try and hide his anxiousness.
"Sure. Let me just get changed." She said quietly, offering Hunter a small smile. Hunter nodded and looked at her for a moment before forcing a smile in return and closing the door behind him as he walked back into his room. He turned and leaned up against the door, taking deep breaths and trying not to cry some more. He felt so stupid. Not just because of that. Just because of everything. Arabella seemed to be handling this much better than he was. She was sleeping on a bed and smiling and not sounding like an idiot when she spoke. He stood like that for a few minutes before hearing a light knock on the door. Hunter wiped his eyes and took a deep breath before grabbing the knob. I need to be okay with this. I need to be okay with this. I'm just her friend. I'm just her friend. Nothing else. She doesn't want anything else. He thought to himself before putting a smile on his face. He opened it and sighed.
"Ready to go?" He asked with his fake smile. She looked a little surprised at his smile, but she smiled back after a second.
"Yeah. Let's go." She said softly as she headed out the door to her room and door to the hotel room. Hunter followed and closed the door behind him before walking down the hall and to the elevator. He stood next to her and waited for the elevator. With a ding, the doors opened and they stepped into the elevator, pressing the button for the lobby. Hunter tried to look pleasant, but it was difficult especially when his hand accidentally brushed Arabella's hand, causing Hunter to look down and blush, feeling embarrassed and apologetic. He missed the feeling of her hand in his and that little contact made him miss it even more. He sighed and stepped away, leaning against the wall of the elevator. He glanced over at Arabella and saw that she seemed to be a little distracted herself. Hunter furrowed his brow and took a deep breath as the doors opened again.
They walked to the lobby and found a lot people eating breakfast already. A man reading a newspaper, a family of four, and a few kids watching cartoons on the TV nearby. Hunter looked at the line and sighed. It was really crowded. "Hey, E--" He looked at her and stopped himself. He probably looked at her for a few minutes before finally responding. "Hey, Arabella? Why don't you get the drinks and I'll get the food? The line is kind of crowded." He said, feeling a little nervous. She looked at the line and thought for a second before nodding.
"Yeah. That makes sense." She said with a nod. "Get me a waffle would you?" She said with a small smile. Hunter smiled and nodded, clenching his fist a moment to stop himself from kissing her cheek as they went their separate ways. Hunter got in line and carefully loaded plates with eggs and bacon and yogurt cups and fresh fruit and a waffle made fresh from the waffle maker. With the food in hand he looked to see Arabella sitting at a table in the corner, quietly sipping coffee. Hunter sighed and walked over, setting her plate down in front of her.
"Hope everything's okay." He said quietly, taking a spot at the table. He took a sip of the cup of orange juice that was waiting him.
"Thanks." They said in unison. Hunter looked up at her into her bright blue eyes, her looking back at him. They shared a look for a moment before laughing a little at the coincidence.
"Yeah. It's perfect." She said, looking at the food in front of her. Hunter smiled faintly, staring at the table. He sighed and felt so glad that they could talk casually like this. He didn't care if it was just a way of distracting them from what had happened or if it was just a thing that happened because of lack of better things to do. "Did you sleep okay?" She asked quietly. Hunter swallowed down his food and nodded.
"Um...Yeah. I guess I slept okay." He lied. To be honest he slept like crap. He didn't feel awake and he wasn't exactly confident in his ability to drive at the moment. He looked up at her and was about to ask the same, but didn't think it was appropriate.
"Hey, uh...so it's about 3 hours to Omaha." He said, awkwardly changing subjects. "Did you want to hang around Kansas City a little or did you want to get back on the road?" He said with a yawn. He took a sip of orange juice and cleared his throat. She thought for a little while before sitting back and taking a sip of coffee.
"Let's just get back on the road. We can just take our time packing up." She said softly. Hunter nodded and went back to eating. They ate in relative silence until they both finished and they were ready to go back up. They walked back to the room and separated to their rooms again, closing the connecting door as they packed back up. Hunter packed up easily and set his bag on the kitchen counter before peeking into Arabella's room. She wasn't ready yet, of course. She had a lot of bags, so it took a lot of time to get them packed up. Hunter sighed, a sad smile on his face. He missed being able to tease her. Now everything was just too sensitive. It was too painful.
He scratched his wrist, feeling a sense of longing. He shook it away and took a seat on the couch. He could see into Arabella's room just like in his dream. It was actually a little spooky how similar it was to his dream. He was skeptical until he saw it. The brown leather jacket. This was the moment. This was when he would walk in and kiss her and hold her and she would take him back and everything would be perfect. Hunter's hands started shaking as he stood up and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. He stepped toward the door and felt his anxiety build. He needed her and he wanted her to be with him. He couldn't live without her. A moment later, he was standing in her room, looking at her.
"What is it, Hunter?" She said a mix of emotions in her eyes, sitting down on the bed and placing the jacket in her bag. This isn't how the dream happened. That's all it was. It was just a dream. His heart shattered and his stomach clenched feeling completely lied to. He didn't know why. He should have known it was a dream. He gasped a little unintentionally as his breathing became shallow.
"Oh, nothing." He said, his voice catching a little. He looked away and tried to choke back the quickly coming tears. "Just seeing if you were ready." He said, his lip quivering slightly. He shrugged and walked back to his room, flopping down and burying his face in the mattress. Why did this have to happen? He sobbed into the bedspread as everything flowed out of him. All of the memories. All of the emotion. She no longer wanted him. He just wanted her to be happy. He needed to let her do that. He wanted to be her friend and he needed to get used to her not being with him. She was going to see other guys. There was nothing stopping her. He thought when he cried last night was bad, but right then he cried harder than he ever had. He reached into his pocket and retrieved the ring from his pocket. It meant nothing. Just an empty dream. He was alone all over again.
"So, here we are again." Hunter looked up to see Imaginary Hunter standing there, looking at him with a slightly amused look on his face. Hunter sighed, hating seeing him again. "What are you going to do with that ring?" IH asked, raising an eyebrow. Hunter ran his finger around it and wiped a few tears away.
"I don't know. It seems kind of pointless, now." Hunter mumbled, his voice shaky. It was already engraved, so he couldn't give it to someone else. It was made of celestial bronze, so he couldn't sell it. There didn't seem like much of a point now. He looked at the connecting doors and sighed. His breathing was shallow and each breath seemed to sting a little coming up. He heard a knock on the door. Hunter cursed under his breath and quickly wiped his eyes, reflexively slipped the ring in his pocket, and rubbed his eyes, trying to make him look less sad. He stood and walked over to the door, opening it a little.
"Are you ready?" Arabella asked quietly, her bags in hand. Hunter nodded and felt a tear slide down his cheek, ridding him of the last of his feelings.
"I was born ready." He said with a chuckle as he grabbed his bag and followed her out the door. They checked out of the hotel and put their bags in the back of the car and in moments were back on the road, headed for Omaha. Hunter drove North toward Nebraska in silence. "I think Omaha has a really cool zoo, so we should probably hit that up." Hunter said with a nod. "It's up to you. I'm sure there will be brochures in the hotel or something."
"Yeah. Definitely." She said quietly, looking at him a little strangely. "We can go to the zoo after lunch."
Hunter nodded. "Great. Sounds like a good day." He said with a smile. He looked over at her and smiled, pretending that none of the past few months had never happened.