Take A Walk (A Hunter Hayes Fanfiction, Book 5 of The Hardships Saga)

Chapter Forty-Seven

❝ignore (pronounced ɪɡˈnɔː or ig-nor), verb
to disregard intentionally.❞

She expected a text.

Maybe a phone call.

To be honest, she'd have accepted a messenger pigeon. If he'd just try and contact her somehow.

But he didn't. No, if anything, he was avoiding her. He would read her messages and not respond, he would answer his phone, and the moment he heard her voice, he hung up. It got to the point, a week later, the day before he left for college, when she walked up to his front door and knocked.

He opened the door and froze, seeing her. He stared at her for a moment, then went to close the door, and she put her foot in the door. "Oh, no you don't. We need to talk."

He sighed, sounding incredibly annoyed, and opened the door for her. She gulped, walking in. Despite her fierce words, she didn't feel welcome, and it terrified her. "Well," she said, trying to sound cool and collected. "You've been ignoring me. Why?"

He wouldn't look at her. "Robin, I think you should leave."

"Since when was I 'Robin' to you?"

"This isn't a good time-"

"So when is? Are we just going to ignore what happened last week? Is it that unimportant to you?"

He sighed, then looked at her. "If people find out I slept with a sixteen year old-"

"I'm almost seventeen-"

"That's not the f*cking point, would you just listen to me?" he snapped. "People would judge me. I don't need that in my life. You're a child, you don't know what you want and I took advantage of you. Please leave, Robin. We can't be here."

"You're... embarrassed?"

He turned away, looking at his dining table and tracing the pattern of the grain. "Robin, please leave."

"What?" she whispered. "So you just 'take advantage' of me, you take something that was special away from me, and now you're just leaving without giving me any closure? What kind of person does that?"

"I do."

"Clearly," she snapped, her voice breaking, before she stood. He glanced at her, looking ashamed. "I hope you're proud of yourself, Jordan. I hope you're proud of what you did to a stupid little kid."

"That's not what I meant-"

"I don't care. See, I'm obeying adults, because I'm a good kid. I'm going home."

"Robbie, wait," he tried to say, reaching out to grab her arm, and she ripped it away from his grasp with a quiet growl. "It's not that I'm embarrassed, it's because I wanted-"

"Rebound sex? Because someone your age wasn't doing it for you, so you seduced me instead? Is it because the idea of having sex with me would be so damn embarrassing to Diana that you wanted revenge?!"

"Robin!"

"I don't care what you wanted. Have a good rest of the week, Jordan." She wiped her eyes, and walked out, slamming the door behind her.

She wasn't sure exactly where it was that she was walking, but she ended up not at home, but at a tiny flat. She knocked on the door, hoping someone would respond.

Drew opened the door with a smile. "Robbie!" His smile instantly faded as he saw her sniffling. "Honey? What's wrong?"

"N-Nothing," she mumbled. "Can I come in?"