Two Steps Back (Hunter Hayes fanfic Bk.3)

Ba dum da da

Hunter tugged on the cord connecting his guitar to the amplifier and wrapped it around his arm, setting it aside and putting his guitar away next. It took him a few more minutes to get everything he was working on put back in its place, but he didn't try too hard. He was going over to Amanda's in a minute or two, and it didn't seem to matter too much if his home studio was a little messy for a few hours.

He hadn't been able to write anything really decent for what seemed like forever, and it was driving him crazy. It used to be that he was cranking out songs left and right, thinking of new tag lines and hooks every second almost. Now, he was dry as a sand dune, and he couldn't figure out why!

Hunter stood and stretched his arms over his head, knocking his hat askew in the process. He righted it, grabbed his keys and wallet off the counter, and headed toward the door. Amanda lived in the same complex as he did now that he had moved out of the place he'd shared with Bethany, and it only took him about three minutes to make it to her door. He greeted her with a warm hug and she smiled widely at him.

They moved into Amanda's kitchen, where she began brewing a pot of coffee for them to sip on. Hunter jumped up on her counter and grabbed an apple from a bowl beside her toaster. He held it up, asking her permission silently, and she nodded. He took a hearty bite and swallowed as quickly as he could.

"So how's life, Mandy? How's Markob?"

Amanda beamed, and Hunter laughed at her. But then Amanda held out her left hand and squealed. Hunter caught sight of the diamond wrapped around her ring finger and he jumped off the counter to grab her hand and hold it in front of his face.

"No way!" he exclaimed looking up at her ecstatic expression for confirmation. "No way! You're engaged?"

Amanda couldn't keep still, she was so excited. "Yeah! Markob asked last night!"

He snatched her up in another hug, this one much tighter and more congratulatory.

"Wow, Mandy, that's awesome! I can't believe it!"

"I was going to wait to tell you, but you asked and I just couldn't!" Amanda stared down at the ring for a moment, seeming in awe of the fact that it was on her finger.

Hunter considered asking for details, but the whole situation was much too familiar for him. He didn't want to know how Markob had asked, how she'd reacted, when or where the weddings would be, what flowers they would get, or anything else, really. It would only remind him that he'd almost had that very thing himself.

So they moved on to less dangerous topics, until Amanda's phone rang. She answered it chirpily and mouthed that it was her mom on the other line. She excused herself from the living room, leaving Hunter alone with his thoughts and about six pieces of furniture that all seemed to be staring at him.

He threw the rest of his luke warm coffee down and leaned his head on the back of the sofa.

He wondered if Stephanie ever thought about marrying him. They'd only been dating a few months, but girls were much quicker on the uptake when it came to marriage, or so he'd been told. The thought made his throat close up, and he coughed to try to right it. He was definitely not ready for that kind of step with Stephanie. It was way too soon for them.

Or, at least, for him.

Again his attention flitted to Bethany, and the way they'd left things the last time they'd spoken. Of course he hadn't meant what he'd said, at least not all of it. It was the easy thing to say. "I don't love you" is the quickest way to make a person move on. And that's what he wanted for Bethany. He wanted her to be happy, and since he wasn't sure he could bring her that himself, he had to give her every opportunity to get him out of her head.