As soon as Hunter closed the door behind himself and he was standing in the hall, everything started to slow down. His mind was going out of control in that hotel room and he just needed to get out. The 8 hour drive was horrible and he needed to be moving or he needed to be somewhere else. He took a deep breath and started the walk around the hotel. It was a nice place, but the halls seemed to be a little worse for wear. Places where the carpet was stained and a few sections where the wallpaper was peeling, but it was nice enough. It helped that it was so close, but it wasn't exactly the nicest place. I had a room and that was all they needed at the moment.
Hunter took a self-tour of the hotel. There was a pool filled with kids and their siblings. It didn't look like a great place to relax, to be honest. There was a small dining area, but it looked more like a bar than an actual restaurant. It had plenty of people hanging around and unfortunately for a few people there were a few teenagers being kicked out as well. Hunter scoffed as he walked by. He was glad that he had gone on this walk. Not that he was doing a lot of thinking, but he was presented with enough distractions. There were so many things that were going all in this one small hotel. As his tour ended he knew that he was going to have to think about Arabella. It was all that was on his mind unless he was thinking about what was going on in front of him.
He pulled his room key out and walked into their hotel room. He was about to open his mouth to speak, but he saw Arabella visibly shaking and he immediately started to worry. What happened while he was gone? She turned around and the look on her face made him really start to freak out. "Arabella, wha--" was all he could get out before she quickly moved across the room and wrapped her arms around him. He stiffened, mostly out of surprise, but soon relaxed. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly.
"Hunter..." Her breathing was labored and Hunter could feel that her heart was pounding. Hunter wasn't sure what had happened that had caused her to hug him like this, but he didn't mind it at the moment.
"Arabella," He started. He pulled away and looked her in the eye. "Arabella, what's wrong? Are you okay?" She buried her face in his neck and tried to take deep breaths, but Hunter could tell she couldn't. "Come on. Sit down." He walked her to the couch and sat down, keeping his arms around her. She leaned into him and started to take deep breaths again.
"There--There was--" She swallowed and pointed toward the window. Hunter furrowed his brow and looked at the window then the bag on the ground. That's how he made the connection. Hunter looked at Arabella and sighed.
"Oh, Arabella. I'm so sorry." He said, holding her tighter. Hunter didn't think, but he kissed her head. He didn't care about what they had been through. She needed to be comforted. "Ellie, come on. I've got you. Calm down." Hunter said quietly, rubbing her arm. "I've got you. I'll never let anyone hurt you." He whispered. She sobbed into his shoulder and after a minute, she calmed down enough to speak.
He...He came in through the window. And he...He was stealing stuff and then he looked at me and I was freaking out." Arabella explained. Hunter held her tighter and kissed her head.
"What happened?" He asked quietly. "What did you do? Are you okay?" She took a deep breath and cleared her throat.
"I used my charmspeak and I told him to leave and never come back." She said quietly. Hunter looked at her and was a little speechless. He squeezed her tight and kissed her on the head. He looked at her and smiled a little.
"Ellie, I am so proud of you." He said with a small smile. He shook her a little and kissed her head. "I am so so so proud of you, Ellie. I mean that." She looked at him and their eyes locked. There wasn't a thing in the world that mattered to him at the moment. He could hold her in his arms again. He could kiss her again. Everything was perfect for that split moment. She finally looked away and put her head on his shoulder. There was a moment of silence that seemed to last for a while. She finally nudged him a little.
"Thanks." She said quietly. Hunter smiled softly and turned a little, so they were more comfortable on the couch. It was nothing too intimate. It was just comforting. Hunter talked to her quietly as she fell asleep in his arms. It took a while for her to finally fall asleep. She would manage to doze off, but soon wake up again, thinking of the man that had broken in.
"Shh...I've got you, Ellie." Hunter said quietly as she put her head back down and managed to fall asleep again. "You're okay, Ellie. I've got you. I am so proud of you." He repeated until she fell asleep again. It wasn't until about 4 in the morning when she stopped waking up again. She was soundly asleep. Hunter stayed up for another hour just to make sure, but finally he fell asleep with his arms around her.
Hunter woke up to the feeling of slight movement on top of him. He opened his eyes and was met with the sight of blonde hair in a tangled mess and Arabella waking up on top of him. He smiled and was so glad he was holding her. He was waking up with her. He could kiss her and he could finally be with her again. She had fallen asleep in his arms and she had hugged him. She did care about him. She did want to be with him. He kissed her head and she looked up at him.
"Good morning." He said with a smile. She looked at him for a minute before clearing her throat and standing up off of him.
"Morning." She said with a sigh. Hunter looked at her for a second before moving to a sitting position on the couch. "I uh...I was upset last night and I just wanted to thank you for calming me down." She said quietly. Hunter smiled and stood up off the couch, taking a step toward her.
"No problem." He said with a smile as he put a hand on her hip. He kissed the tip of her nose and smiled at her. "I love you." He said with a grin as he leaned down to kiss her on the lips. She pulled away and moved out of his arms. Hunter felt his heart shatter. "Ellie, wha--"
She moved away from him and cleared her throat. "We uh...It's about 6 hours to San Fransisco. We should get on the road soon." Arabella said as she went to her room and closed the door. Hunter froze. He was completely broken inside. There was nothing left for him. Every glimmer of hope that he had of them getting back together was obliterated in one second.
Hunter was shaking and he clenched his teeth for a moment before shuffling to his room. Hunter couldn't hear. He couldn't think. He was incredibly embarrassed. He was broken and his entire body ached. He sat down on the bed and didn't know what to do. They would be in San Fransisco soon and they would be at the wedding and people asked them how they ended up together and he would see her in her dress and then the wedding would be over and they would be at the reception and he would see guys hit on her and she would dance and she would look so incredibly beautiful and then the day would be over and Hunter would have to drive all the way back to New York and he would have to go to his house and be like she had never been there. Like she had never been a part of his life. Like the months that they had spent together where Hunter's life had changed so drastically and where he had loved someone so much and had given so much of himself to one person and he had never made himself so vulnerable in his entire life was all gone. That time was all gone. The days at the beach house. The days in her apartment. The time that they spent with Will and Penny. All the days where they had almost had sex. All of the days in the new house. Both of the times meeting her dad. Their dogs. Tyler. Gwen. Danny. Tom. All of these things just never happened. They didn't matter.
Hunter covered his eyes with his hands. Of all the ways to describe crying, the only one appropriate in this situation is weeping. Hunter wept. He knew that there was nothing that he could do now. He would go to the wedding. He would ruin the best man's speech. He would be alone at the reception. He would be alone on the drive home. He would be alone at his home. He would eat alone and sleep alone and live alone. He would spend nights, wallowing in his sorrow and wishing death upon himself, cursing the world and the gods. He would wish to feel her touch one more time. Just one more time. To look at her to see her. To kiss her. To hold her. He would go the rest of his life without her. He was running out of options.
"Ellie, everything I've ever said to you was true." Hunter said quietly, more reminding himself than letting anyone know. "I do love you. I will love you. I will always love you. I will never let anything hurt you. I will never leave you." He took a deep breath and looked at her room. "Unless you leave me first." Hunter could feel the tears fall, but he just didn't know what to do. He gave up sleep. He gave up money. He gave up a car. He gave up energy. He gave up so much and he was willing to give up so much more if he could be with her.
Hunter took a deep breath and managed to calm himself down enough to get all packed up again. It was late in the morning and the bright sun from the previous day was replaced with a cloudy day with a chance of rain. When they were ready, they left their hotel. They walke through the halls, but Hunter couldn't handle I anymore. He wanted to be with her. He had to be with her. But right then he didn't want to be near her. He walked faster and got to the car before her. Hunter was done. He had only slept about 4 hours of decent sleep. He was tired. He was aching. He was a mess. Hunter felt like he was dying. Hunter just couldn't handle it. He had gotten his hopes so high that it made the fall even more difficult to recover from. He was just so sick and tired of how he felt about this. He would push his feelings down and down and down and then he would Put a lid on it. He would be as okay as he could be. Then Arabella would come along and do something that rips the lid off. Takes the whole thing and jumbles it up. And from that Hunter would be hopeful. Hopeful that he would be with her. Hopeful that she woul be with him. Hopeful that he wouldn't be alone forever.
But she wouldn't want him. She would reject him. Remind him that he accidentally let a girl kiss him an how wrong that is. She even had him feeling guilty about it. He did nothing wrong but he feels like garbage because she made him feel that way. Hunter shoved his bags in the back of the car and slid into the drivers seat. Was it tue best idea for him to be driving at the time? Probably not but Hunter didn't care. He needed to drive. Driving is consistent. Drivng doesn't take emotion. Driving won't make you feel like crap for doing nothing wrong. Driving didn't toy with him after breaking his heart. Hunter needed to drive.
After a moment, Arabella got into the car. Hunter started the car and the drive to San Fransisco. Hunter was so mad and so bitter but so sad and the more he thought about how they were two weeks ago...it made him sick. He wanted to cry. He just didn't want to be there. They drove for about 4 hours before Hunter actually said something. He had to say something. To make himself feel better and to change how everything felt. He looked down at the fuel gauge and cursed under his breath. They needed gas. He exite and found a gas station.
"How'd you sleep?" hunter asked quietly. Arabella looked over at him a little hesitantly. Like she was trying to find the way to navigate the phrasing of the sentence as carefully as possible.
"When I calmed down I slept fine, I suppose." she said quietly, her voice thick with emotion. Hunter parked at a gas pump and looked at her.
"That's the difference." he said with a sigh before getting out of the car.