Just A Fan (Book 1 of JAF series)

Chapter 28 New Beginnings

Morning finds Hunter and I sleeping in the waiting room, propped up on each other.

"Morning." He greets me in a sleepy voice.

"Good morning." I reply, stretching. I'm so stiff.

We find our way to the hospital eatery and sit at a table. We both look a little flustered but still pretty out of place in our fancy clothes.

"Hey." A thought pops into my head. "Is this our first official date?"

Hunter raises his eyebrows. "I think we can have a do-over when things calm down a bit... if you want."

I shake my head. "No, this is perfect."

"Oh, one more thing I need to tell you." Hunter reaches inside his jacket and pulls out an envelope. He sets it, flap up, on the table.

"Hunter, what?" I pick it up and gasp.

I rip it open. The handwriting is easy to recognize. It's in Hunter's hand.

'Dear Andi, I'm sorry for all of the anxiety I caused you with these letters. I just wanted you to believe in yourself like I believe in you. I just want you to be great. -A Fan'

I lower the piece of paper and stare at him over it. He looks quite sheepish. "I'm sorry, I was going to tell you sooner, but I wasn't sure how. Especially after I freaked you out so bad."

"But how... the writing doesn't match, and the first one was clearly written by a girl."

"Kelsey, or... I think one of her friends wrote that one. She offered when I told her I didn't think you were going to listen to my advice... Matt wrote the others." He looks down at his hands. "I never meant for them to scare you."

I laugh in disbelief. "I did take your advice! I was going to, even before the note. Even though I didn't like you I was still going to listen to you. You know what you're talking about when it comes to music, I've never disputed that. I may not like asking for help but I'm not stupid!" I am touched by his good intentions. Even when I was mean to him he still believed in me. "You should have said something sooner."

"I wanted to... but then... I fell for you and I didn't want you to be upset with me. Our relationship seemed so fragile. One second you were laughing and confiding in me and the next you would snap or storm off."

"Hunter, I have loved you since you let me write on your hand!" Oh wow, so that's when. "You became my mentor and best friend faster than you could finish a song. Nothing you did made me stop loving you, finding out you wrote the notes wouldn't have ended anything." I'm laughing by the end of my little speech.

His eyes go wide when I use the word love. He opens his mouth to respond.

Tim comes running up to us. "She's awake!"

I don't wait for Hunter, I jump up and run to the elevator. My heart drums in my ears, I need to see her.

The ride up to her floor takes forever. I fly out of the lift and straight into her room. I ignore the fact that both mom and dad are hovering over her.

"Kelsey!"

She holds out her arms and I run to enclose her in mine.

"I'm so sorry Kels." I sob into her hair.

"No, I'm so stupid. You didn't do anything, I'm so stupid." She's crying harder than me.
"I heard you sing for me. I wanted to die until I heard you sing. I'd forgotten about how much you'd love me no matter what dumb thing I did. I was too proud to ask for help, I just wanted to go away. I couldn't live with myself if I killed the baby so in a emotional decision I decided to end both lives. I have no clue why I decided to do that." She is talking so fast I can barely understand her. But I laugh, my smart little sister shines through the emotional mess, beautiful, alive, and still a nerd.

"Apparently pride and high emotions run in the family."

I glance up at my father. My eyes dare him to try to throw me out. But for once he yields.

Hunter enters the room as I finally step back from holding Kelsey. He puts his arm around my waist.

"So you two are finally a thing right?" Kelsey waves her hand at us, sounding more like her own self.

I nod and smile from ear to ear.

"Took you long enough!"

I giggle.

"Hey, have you seen this?" Hunter holds up his phone. "Some nurse stopped me in the hall and showed me."

It's a video of my performance, someone uploaded it onto YouTube. I look the same as I do now, it feels like such a long time ago.

"Apparently, you're going viral."

"No way!" I gasp.

"Already close to 1 million views and it keeps climbing."

I can't believe it. April will be ecstatic. I think of all of the people who will be watching it, it has to make a difference. This is more than I ever could have hoped for.

"I guess you really are 'changing the world one heart at a time.'" Kelsey chuckles

Hunter and I join in.

...

I hang up the phone as Hunter walks up to me.

"How's she doing?" He asks.

"Good, she's got morning sickness again, but she'll pull through." I miss Kelsey to the point of pain. But she's better off back home with mom and dad, they can handle her pregnancy better than I ever could. I'm too busy. Mom and I are on speaking terms, it remains yet to be seen if things will ever smooth over with dad and I but we get along for Kelsey's sake.

"Did you tell her?" He rests his hands on my hips, keeping me as close to him as possible.

"Yes, she went crazy, she's already planning the whole wedding. I told you we should keep it a secret just a while longer, she can't handle any stress until after the baby."

"Well, you know she'd find out from the tabloids if we didn't tell her soon. Besides, who knows, a year from now we might have our own little baby to tell her about. Then it will be you who won't be able to stress." He leans in and kisses my neck in a very distracting manner.

"Not on your life, I'm not going out of the music industry like that! I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I'm marrying that dude... you know the guy... Oh, Hunter Hayes! Hey, how did that happen?"

"I'm still trying to figure that out for myself." He trails his kisses from my neck up to my mouth, giving me a deep, sweet kiss. It really is sickening when he gets all lovey in public.

I laugh against his mouth and he pulls away slightly.

"Don't you have somewhere to be?" I remind him, knowing how busy his schedule is today.

"Yeah, but I wish I could just be with you."

"You always are." I tell him, pushing him away. "I'll come find you later." I promise.

April comes walking up to us, completely ignoring our intimate moment. "Good, here you are. Now, I had a thought on your stage design, I was thinking we could..." She keeps walking and talking and I leave Hunter's embrace and walk along side. I turn and grin at Hunter who grins back 'I love you.' He mouths.

'I love you too." I reply before we disappear around the corner.

April continues to talk and I continue to ignore her. There are very few moments in life where everything feels right, where everything fits.

The first time I felt that way was up on stage at my first piano recital. I try to count up the moments since then. In the last year they have come more often and stayed longer.

This is where I belong. This is my life. I think it turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself.