Bart, Aly, Carter, Bailey, and Daniel stayed, stretching out in their bunks. Well, Aly and Bart were lying in Bart’s bunk, since they were watching a movie together on the little DVD player we have.
I got my phone and turned my music back on and opened Instagram. I looked through the edits and stuff, and liked some. I followed some fan accounts I really liked and commented on some that said “I love you” or asked a question they hoped I would answer.
I then went on my other social media apps and did the same thing. An idea then popped into my head. I turned to Hayes, who was now on my side, looking at his phone as we listened to my music together.
“Do you wanna film a YouTube video?” I asked him.
“Right now?” He put down his phone and looked at me.
“Yeah. I haven’t made a video in a while and thought we could do one together,” I said.
“Okay. That would be fun.” He sat up and pulled me with him.
“Let’s do this.”
“Right after I feel like letting go of you,” he said, pulling me into his chest. I giggled.
This was going to be fun.
Autumn
“Hey, guys, it’s Autumn, and I’m here with this weird child I found on the streets: Hayes Grier!” Hayes and I waved at the camera.
“Hola, viewers of Autumn.” He smiled at the camera. “And you didn’t find me in the streets. We’re on a bus.” He laughed.
“Well, Hayes, just give away the surprise!” I shoved him. “As he said, we are on a tour bus for FAM Tour!” I did a weird face and threw my hands up in the air.
“Where I am joined with my best friends and my boyfriend.” I kissed Hayes’s cheek.
“But yeah, we’re traveling across the country doing all sorts of fun stuff, and the funnest of all is meeting you guys! So if you want to get tickets if we come to your hometown, click the link in the description and get yo’ tickets!”
Hayes laughed at me.
“Today we are going to be doing the boyfriend/girlfriend tag! If you don’t know what that is, it’s when one of us asks the other a question and we have to answer it. If either of us gets more than four answers wrong, the winner gets to hack the other person’s Twitter.” I smirked. “And we all know I’m gonna win.”
“Sure you are.” Hayes rolled his eyes and slung an arm around my shoulder.
“Don’t listen to him, you guys. Well, we tweeted the hashtag #AskHauttie, and it trended worldwide! Y’all are too cool, too cool!” I did the puma face.
“Time to answer questions!” Hayes yelled.
“All righty . . . first question. What’s my favorite color?” I looked over at Hayes.
“Blue,” he stated simply.
“No, it’s pink.” I teased.
“No, it’s not! You barely like pink,” he whined.
“I’m just kidding—yes, it’s blue.” I laughed.
He pouted and asked me a question. “What is my favorite food to eat on a daily basis?” he asked.
“That’s hard—you eat everything!” I whined.
“You have to answer,” he said with a giggle.
“Um, chips?” I said, and it came out more like a question.
“God, you know me so well.” He jutted out his lip.
I did a happy dance and stuck my tongue out at him. “In yo’ face!”
And that’s how our entire YouTube video went. Asking each other questions and being all weird. In the end, we both got all of them right because we are an awesome couple! So we decided to hack each other’s Twitter.
I wrote, “I like fungus toes” on his Twitter. Hayes wrote, “My fish doesn’t like it when I hold him.”
We each died laughing from the other’s message, and I started editing my video. I did the thing where you can see who asked the question on Twitter and other stuff. It was cool.
After about two hours of editing, I sat back, tired as poo. I looked at the time, and it was only nine p.m. I just felt like going to bed.
Hayes was lying down watching some movie. I got up and washed my face before I went to bed. I took my medicine and all that, then climbed into the bunk. I took off my glasses I had put back on and got down next to Hayes.
I laid my head on his chest and he wrapped his arms around my waist. I yawned and closed my eyes, snuggling more into his warmth. Our legs were all jumbled up as we watched some movie. I was so tired that I didn’t even pay attention.
After about three seconds, I was out like a light.
I woke up at three a.m., crying from a nightmare that Jonathan abused me and tried to rape me. But it wasn’t really a nightmare; it was a flashback. Though before Jonathan could do anything, Cameron ran in and saved me. But this time in my nightmare, Cam was nowhere to be found.
I don’t get how someone could do that, especially at thirteen years old. We should be thinking about grades and friends, not sex and abusing your boyfriend or girlfriend. I didn’t even know what that stuff was until I had to take a class for health!
I crawled out of Hayes’s grip and went to the kitchen area. I grabbed some water and walked back to the bunks. Climbing up, I sat in a far corner so Hayes wouldn’t hear me cry.
That was one of the worst nightmares. I can’t even believe I dreamed it. He’s the reason why I have trust issues and anxiety. I used to be a normal person before I dated him. But now I’m an anxious wreck who can’t trust anyone.
After, like, ten minutes of silently bawling my eyes out, I decided to go to the person I trust more than anyone: Cameron.
I climbed out of the bunk, once again, and made my way over to Cam’s. He was fast asleep and looked happy in his own little dreamland. Well, that’s gonna be ruined.
I shook his shoulder, trying to get him to wake up. “Cameron. Cam. Cammy. Please wake up,” I said in my most pleading voice.
He immediately woke up and turned to me. “Autumn-Cakes, what’s wrong?”
I just started to cry harder.
“Aw, Auts, don’t cry.” He pulled me into his bunk and started rocking me back and forth. I put my head on his chest, trying to regulate my breathing.
“I had a nightmare about . . . him,” I choked out.
“What was it about?” he whispered softly.
“When he tried raping me, but you weren’t there.” I started crying more.
“You know I’ll always be there.” He kissed my temple.
I nodded. “But it seemed so real,” I bawled.
“Well, it’s not, I promise. I’ll always be here for you; the girls will be here; the guys will be here, especially Hayes! You have nothing to worry about. We are all here to protect you and everyone else. We’re a family, and nothing will tear us apart. I promise.” He rubbed my back soothingly.
“Thanks, Cammy. I think I’m going to go sit out in the living room for a while. You can go back to sleep.” I kissed his cheek.
“You sure?” he asked.
“Positive.” I gave him a hug and climbed down to the floor.
By the time his head hit his pillow, he was fast asleep again. I walked out of the bunk area and to the living room. I lay down on the couch and just thought. I thought about everything—everything good, of course.
I thought about my awesome fans, the guys, the girls, Maddie, surfing, cheering, softball, everything. And Hayes. Hayes was a big part of my thoughts. He was always on my mind. From the time I wake up to the time I go to sleep, Hayes is up there. I wish every guy was like him—fun, caring, trustworthy. He’s everything a girl could want. That’s how all the guys were, but my number one was Hayes. And Cameron, of course, but he’s my big brother so that doesn’t count.
I felt myself drifting off, and the last thought on my mind was . . . you guessed it: Hayes.
Noises. That’s all I heard. Random noises.
My eyes fluttered op
en, and I could see I was in the living room. Everyone around me doing their own thing, while I took up the entire couch.
I felt a blanket over me, and I knew I didn’t have a blanket when I fell asleep. I sat up, stretching out my arms.
Alyssa saw me and smiled. “Morning, sleepyhead.”
I mumbled back a hello.
“More like good afternoon—it’s noon.” Mason laughed.
I smiled and wrapped the blanket around me. “How did I get the blanket?” I asked tiredly.
“Shaelyn gave it to you. She said you looked cold,” Ella said from the kitchen area.
I looked over at Shaelyn. “Thanks, Shae.”
She smiled warmly at me and walked to the kitchen area where Ella was with, I thought, some of the other girls.
“When did you get out here?” Hayes asked me, walking into the room. “I woke up and you were gone.” He pouted.
“Sorry, I woke up in the middle of the night and came to sit out here. I guess I fell asleep.” I laughed.
“Well, I missed you.” He walked over, sat down next to me, and pulled me over so I was sitting on his lap.
I rested my head on his shoulder and spread the blanket out over him so that I was all covered up and warm in my new position. I started playing with Hayes’s tank top, glancing around at everyone else doing their own thing.
Hayes’s phone vibrated in his pocket, and he got it out. It was a text from Bart. He put it where we could both see it and unlocked his phone. It was a picture of Hayes and me on the couch from a couple seconds ago. It had the picture and under it, it said that he had posted it on Twitter.
Hayes opened his Twitter app and saw the photo of us. The caption was a stupid, cutesy little thing that all the guys do when they post photos of us. Sometimes it’s something like “The young couple” or something stupid. But this time it said “They cuddle 24/7,” which was true, but I didn’t mind. Hayes is warm.
He marked it as a favorite and saved it. I gotta admit, it was a really cute picture. “Send that to me,” I told him.
“Bart most likely already sent it,” he said. I nodded and tried getting up, only to have Hayes’s grip tighten.
“Hayes! I need to get ready! Let’s have a FAM-style dinner when we get to the hotel,” I whined playfully.
“But I want you to stay here with me.” He pouted.
“Okay, fine, but only for a couple more minutes.” I sighed. He cheered and hugged me. I hugged him back, closing my eyes and putting my head on his chest. Don’t judge me, I’m short.
After about ten minutes, I got up to get dressed. We were eating at a semi-casual restaurant, so they wanted the girls to wear skirts or dresses, but to keep it simple. I put on a cute midthigh daisy-print dress, a leather jacket, and a pair of plain black combat boots. After curling my hair slightly to make it look like I had done something to it—which I really hadn’t—I put on my daisy flower crown. Then I added a black tattoo choker and a long necklace that had a little circle with the word WISH in it.
After that I was done and ready to go! I walked out of the bathroom and to the front bunks, where I saw Bailey digging through her stuff. She was probably looking for an outfit.
“Need help?” I snuck up behind her.
She jumped and turned around. “You look amazing! And yes, I need help,” she huffed, blowing a piece of hair away from her face. “Thank you.”
I bent down to help her pick out an outfit.
She went with a simple black dress with triangle cutouts across the stomach. She put on some red lipstick and flats, pairing her outfit with some cute accessories. She was all ready, and she looked stunning.
“You look awesome! I’ll be in the living room if you need me,” I told her, walking toward the front of the bus.
Most everyone was sitting there talking. I walked in and sat down next to Hayes.
“You look beautiful, sweetheart.” He wrapped his arm around my waist.
“Thanks, Grier. You clean up nice, too.” I giggled.
“I try.” He pecked my lips. We all heard footsteps coming from the bunk area, and we turned our heads. Bailey walked in looking beautiful, like always. Several mouths in the group were gaping, while I smirked.
“Wow, Bailey, you look great,” Nash said. Shaelyn and Daniel playfully hit him over the head, and he just shrugged.
She giggled. “Thanks, Nash.”
“You look killer!” Alyssa winked.
“Thanks to Aut.”
Everyone looked at me, and I shrugged, my palms turned upward.
“Hey, she’s the one wearing it. I just helped pick it out.” I smiled.
“Oh, hush up! You made me look like this.” Bailey smiled. I smiled back and looked pointedly at Daniel, indicating that he should say something.
“You look beautiful, Bailey.” He stood up and kissed her cheek.
“Thanks, Daniel.” She blushed. We all awwed, making them both blush even more, and then Ella snapped a picture.
Aly, Shaelyn, Alyssa, Bailey, and I all gathered around to look at it. We girlishly awwed and fangirled over it while Bailey just told us to shut up.
“All you girls look beautiful,” Jonah said.
“Thanks, Jonah,” Shaelyn said. We all looked at her while she shrugged and giggled.
“Hands off our girls,” Cameron sassed. Ella blushed while we all wiggled our eyebrows at her.
“I’m just saying. Oh yeah, I’m gonna go call Abbie,” he said, walking back to the bunks.
“Tell her I said ‘Hi’!” Bailey yelled back to him.
We all sat back down. I picked the spot between Hayes and Nash. Nash really is like an older brother to me. He’s awesome and can always make me laugh, just like the others. But he and I have some type of connection that I don’t have with many of the boys, even though I love them all equally.
“You look dashing, Miss Autumn,” Nash said in a posh accent.
“Why, thank you, Sir Nash,” I replied.
We laughed, and Hayes gripped my hand.
I looked over at him, and he looked kinda mad. I giggled, knowing what he was thinking.
“Hayes, you don’t have to worry about Nash. He’s three years older than me and has a girlfriend. He’s also your brother!” I whispered in his ear.
“I know, but it’s my job to be the best boyfriend I can be. And that means being protective,” he said.
I giggled. “You don’t have to protect me from the guys. They’re all like brothers.”
“Still—” he started.
“It’s okay, Hayes,” I said, cutting him off. “I promise, nothing bad is going to happen. Especially with your older brother.”
“Okay. I love you.” He kissed my cheek.
I put my head on his shoulder, and he wrapped an arm around me, our fingers intertwining once again. “Love you, too, Pooh Bear,” I said.
I told you not to call me tha—”
“We’re here!” Aaron yelled. I kissed Hayes’s jaw and stood, pulling him up with me.
Autumn
We were all standing or sitting, waiting for the bus to go around the back.
Apparently, some fans found out where we were staying and tweeted it to everyone. Now there are a lot of girls outside screaming and probably busting the hotel workers’ eardrums. I feel bad for them. And hopefully no one will get hurt. It seems pretty rough out there.
Hayes and I were standing up, hugging. It was freezing in the bus at the moment, so we were all huddled together, trying to share body heat.
“Why did it get so cold?” I shivered. Hayes pulled me in tighter, trying to keep me warm. How was he so toasty?
“I don’t know, but we better get off of this bus before my fingers fall off.” Ella laughed as she and Cameron shared a blanket.
“It’s not that cold, Ella,” Bart sai
d, giving Aly his sweatshirt.
“Can we just get off of the bus already?” Jonah asked.
“I think we just stopped,” Carter said, running over to the door.
“We stopped! Yay!” Carter swung open the door, and we all trampled out.
“Heat, oh, how I missed you!” I sighed, running out of the tour bus.
“We were only in the cold for thirty minutes.” Nash laughed.
“Thirty minutes, my butt. It was cold,” I sassed.
We saw Steven walk out of the back doors. We walked toward him and he told us to go inside. Tez walked in first with all of us following. When we were all the way in, management was standing there, looking all proper and stuff.
“Hello, boys, girls,” they said. We said hi back, not really knowing what else to say.
“We are going to wait for a bit until the limo gets here,” one of the girls from management said.
All of our mouths gaped. We are going in a limo? A freaking limo! This was awesome.
We all branched out around the lounge, talking to one another. We were all too scared to talk to management. They’re very scary people. Hayes and I sat away from everyone, just talking.
“It’s weird to think that we’re somewhat famous,” I told Hayes, playing with the hem of my dress.
“I know. It seems like we’re just hanging out with a bunch of our friends, doing what we love.” He grabbed my hand, lacing our fingers together.
“What do you think would happen if we weren’t famous?” I asked him, looking up from my dress.
“Well, we wouldn’t know all of our best friends, but I think we would all find a way to meet. It was, like, destined for all of us to meet, and for us to start dating. It’s like it was meant to happen,” he said.
“Sometimes I just want a normal life with no hate for no reason, and millions of people not knowing my name. But at the same time, I’m happy. I’m happy to have fans who support me and whose lives I touch in good ways. I love to travel with my best friends around the country, and hopefully, someday, around the world. It’s a love/hate kind of lifestyle.” I sighed.
“If Vine or YouTube hadn’t ever been invented, our lives would be so different,” he said.
Love Heals All Page 19
