Love Heals All (17 page)

Autumn

After a long
day in the hospital, we found out that the piece of plate had ripped through some muscle tissue, and I had to get twenty-five stitches. Oh, what a joyride . . . And now I'm on crutches again. Whoopie! So. Much. Fun.

“Well, to make everyone happier, who wants to go to a movie?” Elizabeth asked as we got home. It was about nine p.m.

“Yes! That would be so much fun! I call sitting with Autumn!”
Skylynn screamed.

“Okay, Sky, I guess you can sit with me, if you want to,” I joked.

“We have to go to the airport,” Aaron and Alyssa said sadly, standing next to Alyssa's stuff.

“And I'm tagging along.” Gabby walked over to join them.

“Okay. Well, I guess it's just us, then?” Elizabeth looked at the rest of the group. We nodded and started saying our good-byes to Alyssa.

“Love you, girl. Call us or we will hunt you down and kill you.” I glared playfully at her.

“Yes, ma'am!” She giggled and saluted. I laughed and gave her one last hug.

After they left, it was kinda depressing. Alyssa was the head mom of the house, along with the rest of the girls (except for Aly and me), and she kept us in order when Johnnie and Elizabeth were gone, but she was also sarcastic and funny. She could've been a thirty-year-old or a five-year-old. Whichever one, we all loved her. She was like a big sister to all of us, even though she was younger than some. I really hoped she'd visit us at FAM Tour.

“What movie do you want to see?” Johnnie asked us later as we were standing at the ticket counter.

“Earth to Echo!”
Skylynn and I yelled. Everyone else groaned.

“What? I really wanna see it! Pleeeeease! I've been at the hospital all day!” I begged.

“So have we!” they all replied.

“But you didn't have to get your foot worked on by stupid doctors,” I said.

They all
finally
agreed, and we bought the tickets and went to the concession stand. Hayes carried our stuff as I crutched to theater 6. When we got there, we sat in the middle, taking up an entire row.

We talked until the lights dimmed.
“Hush up, it's starting!”
I whisper-yelled to everyone.

Skylynn was sitting on my lap with her legs curled up and her head on my shoulder. Hayes had his arm wrapped around me, and our fingers were fit together like puzzle pieces.

After the Movie

“Oh
my God,
Teo Halm is so hot, like, ahhh!”
I gushed to Bailey, Aly, Shaelyn, and Ella as we walked out of the theater.

“Oh girl, yasss!” Aly said, acting like a snobby teenage girl.

We laughed and hopped into the car. We girls sat together in the back and just gushed our feelings about the
amazingly hot
Teo Halm.

“You know, we can hear you back there,” Nash said through gritted teeth after five minutes of driving.

“Yeah, your
boyfriends
are sitting right in front of you.” Daniel pouted, clearly annoyed.

“We have ears, too, ya know!” Hayes remarked.

“Oh, calm your tits—we're teenage girls gossiping about an actor. We keep our mouths shut when y'all talk about Ariana Grande, don't we?” I said, making the girls giggle.

That seemed to shut them up because we didn't hear from them for the rest of the car ride.

At the House

After I got
my pajamas on, I hopped on the bed, curling into Hayes's side. He looked at me and then turned away. God, is he on his man period or something?

“Hayesie, what's wrong?” I whined, lying on top of him.

He completely ignored me, so time for plan B. I started poking him, playing with the little strings on his hoodie and purposely wagging it in his face.

“Autumn, stop!” he whined, smacking my hand away and shoving his face in the pillow.

“I just want to know what's wrong, Hayes!” I groaned, rolling off of his back and flopping down next to him.

I laid my head on his pillow and started playing with his hair until he finally looked at me. Annoyance was evident in his eyes, and he asked one of the worst questions you ever want to hear from your boyfriend.

“Do you think that guy is hotter than me?” he asked, and I could hear the vulnerability in his voice. I realized with surprise that all the talk about Teo had actually hurt his feelings.

“Babe, you are perfect in my eyes. He's just one of those celebrity crushes who'll never happen. I love you and only you, and no one can change that,” I said sincerely, pecking his lips.

“Okay, good. I don't want you to leave me,” he mumbled, pulling me into his chest.

“I couldn't if I tried.” I yawned.

“Good night, sweetheart. I love you. Forever and always.” He kissed my forehead.

“I love you, too, Hayes. Just as much as I love Sour Patch Kids.” I giggled.

He laughed. “You must
really
love me.”

I nodded against his bare skin. “Oh, I love you. Way past the moon and the stars.” I yawned again.

“Good. 'Cause I love you more than you will ever know,” he whispered, and with those words echoing in my ear, I drifted off into a peaceful slumber.

No one could replace this boy's place in my heart—not anyone at all.

One Month Later

Autumn

It's been a
month since the broken-plate incident, and I'm back to normal! My stitches are out, no more crutches . . . just a five-inch scar on the bottom of my foot.

We were now at our first FAM Tour event. I was freaking out. My hands were sweaty, I was shaking, I didn't know what was going to happen. Would I have an anxiety attack? Would I freeze up? I just didn't know.

I was wearing a red tribal-print sweater (because it was really cold in the venue), ankle-length black Boohoo leggings, and ankle-high combat boots from Charlotte Russe. My hair was in cute but messy spiral curls, and I wore a fedora on top of my head. Bailey and Shaelyn had helped me pick out my outfit, and Ella had done my hair since I was too freaked out to think.

It was almost time to go onstage, and I was sitting in a corner just imagining all the bad things that could happen. I had my knees up to my chest, with my head resting on my arms, which were crossed over my knees. I felt an arm wrap around my shoulder and pull me close. I looked up and saw Cam.

“What's wrong, Auts?” he asked sweetly.

“I don't know if I can do this. There are so many people out there,” I whispered, still preoccupied with my thoughts.

“You can do this, Autumn. You're the funniest, strongest girl I know. You can get through this. I believe in you.” He smiled. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath, resting my head on his shoulder.

I can do this.
I chanted in my head. “Okay, I got this. Let's go line up.” I smiled. He grinned and pulled me up, and we walked over to the group. I stopped next to Hayes, and Cam walked over to Justin.

“Did I tell you how beautiful you look today?” Hayes whispered in my ear.

Everyone was lined up in the right order, all chattering to one another.

I giggled. “Yeah, about ten times in the past hour.”

“Well, I'll make it eleven—you look absolutely beautiful. Stunning.” He kissed my forehead.

“I love you, Hayes.” I hugged him, resting my head on his chest.

“I love you, too, Autumn.” He kissed the top of my head, his arms wrapped around my waist tightly.

“All right, lovebirds, we need you over here.” Justin smirked.

We glared at him and walked over to the group. We did our little chant and then we were off. They started calling our names, and we went up onto the stage, one by one.

“Cameron Dallas!” Cam ran down the line, high-fiving the front row. When he got up on stage, he smiled and winked at the crowd, making every girl swoon over him.

“Nash Grier!” Nash ran out and did the same thing as Cameron, except when he got on stage, he hopped onto Cameron's back and pulled a funny face. The girls all started screaming “Cash.”

That's how it went. As each of the boys got called up, they all ran down the line of girls, waving and giving high fives, each doing his own thing when he got onstage.

“Autumn Brown!”

And that's when the butterflies kicked in. It felt like more than a million butterflies as I ran down the line, high-fiving, a big smile on my face—even though I just wanted to run right out the venue door and keep going. When I got onstage, I smiled and waved at all the fans. Hayes came over and wrapped his arm around my waist and kissed my cheek. All the girls freaked and started yelling, “Hauttie.” I guess that was our ship name.

“How's everybody doing?” Bart screamed into his microphone. The girls in the audience screamed back.

“Well, we're going to start off with Daniel Skye singing a little song for all of us. Y'all excited?” I yelled into the microphone. They all screamed high-pitched screams. I just wanted to go somewhere quiet and more spacious. I think I was getting claustrophobic, but I'd be okay.

That was pretty much how our first day of FAM Tour went. It was crazy and we all did random things. For me it was very fun, but claustrophobic, and afterward, I went straight to my room and took a nap instead of going out like we were planning. I couldn't wait for tomorrow, though. Hopefully it won't be as hectic.

I woke up at nine a.m., refreshed and ready to get the day started. It took me about five minutes to wriggle out of Hayes's tight grip, then I went into the bathroom, jumped into the shower, and did all that shower stuff. After I got out, I brushed my teeth and washed my face.

I tiptoed out of the bathroom, quickly picking out my outfit so Hayes wouldn't wake up and see me in just a towel.

I ran back to the bathroom with a blue tank top with deep cuts on the side for armholes, a black bandeau, black-and-white-striped shorts, red Dr. Martens, red lipstick, and sparkly cat ears that I stole from Bailey.

I put on my clothes and straightened my hair. Then I slipped on the cat ears and walked out of the bathroom. Hayes was still sleeping, so I decided to give him a nice surprise. I jumped on the bed, landing right on his back. He groaned and opened his eyes.

“Was that necessary?” he asked, annoyance evident in his voice.

“Mm-hm.” I grinned, kissing his nose. I got up, only to be pulled back down on the little devil's chest when he rolled over.

“Hayes, you're gonna wrinkle my tank top!” I giggled.

“Well, you shouldn't have jumped on me,” he said with a laugh.

“Come on, get up so we can go get some food! I want waffles and tea. I know—weird combination.” I got up, pulling him with me.

“Let me grab a quick shower and we can go.” He kissed my forehead and grabbed some clothes, then walked into the bathroom.

Five minutes later, he walked out shirtless. I giggled and decided to tease him.

“Did you forget a shirt, or are you just gonna go shirtless all day?”

He rolled his eyes. “Fine, I'll just go shirtless all day,” he said with a smirk.

My eyes widened. “No, don't! Then girls will be all over you, and I'll lose you.” I pouted.

“You'll never lose me,” he whispered, walking over and wrapping his arms around me. He kissed me on the lips.

I sighed in contentment then pulled away. “Good, I don't want it to happen again,” I mumbled under my breath as Hayes walked to his suitcase, picked out a shirt, and pulled it over his toned torso.

“What?” he asked, confused.

“Oh, nothing. Let's just go.
I'm starving!
” I said, rubbing my stomach and rushing to the door.

Hopefully, he doesn't find out.

Autumn

Hayes and I
were at breakfast with Alec, Tez, and Gabby. We were all talking and laughing, and soon everyone else came in to eat with us. We were all just having fun, occupied with our individual conversations, without a care in the world.

“Please tell me you're coming onstage tomorrow!” I begged Bailey.

“But backstage is so much fun, and there's a lot of food,” she said.

“
Nooooo, Bails!
I want my best friend onstage.” I pouted. I begged her with my eyes and she finally gave in.

“Fine, only for you,” she huffed. I cheered and wrapped her in a hug.

“Okay, okay, I get it, you're excited.” She laughed.

I giggled and sat back down. I picked up my Peace Tea and started drinking until the doors of the dining room burst open. I swallowed my drink and looked back to see a slutty-looking Ashley. We all rolled our eyes and looked away from her.

“Carter! Babe!”
she screeched.

He rolled his eyes and abruptly rose. “One, don't call me babe. Two, you need to get the heck out of here before we call security.”

“Baby, what are you talking about?” she asked in that overly high-pitched voice.

“Bish, you know exactly what he's talking about. Now get the heck out!” Gabby yelled as she stood up. Bailey stood up, too, and put an arm around Gabby's shoulder, trying to calm her down, and that seemed to help a little.

“Whatever. You just don't know what you're missing,” she sneered, trying to strut out of the room. The key word in that sentence was
trying
.

“That was easier than one might have expected.” Cameron sighed.

“Yeah. How did she even get in here?” I asked.

“I don't know, but we need better security.” Nash laughed, trying to lighten the tense mood.

“Who was she?” Justin asked.

“Carter's ex, who cheated on him and abused Autumn,” Bart stated.

“Oh . . .” she trailed off.

“Yeah,” we all finished for her.

Soon, it was time for the meet-and-greet part of the day, and we all got into pairs. “All right, everyone from one to two hundred on the left and from two oh one to four hundred on the right,” one of the announcers said into a microphone. Stupid, Autumn, of course he announced it.

Anyway, this was crazy! There were so many people here just to see us. And we were just regular people, nobody special.

“Oh my gosh! Hayes, I love you so much! You're so hot! Ahhhh!” a girl screamed in Hayes's face.

“Thank you. I love you, too.” He smiled. We all took a picture, the girl not even acknowledging me, and went on to the next.

This happened with each of the next thirty girls—they didn't even talk to me! I mean, I was a part of FAM Tour, too. Not to be self-centered or anything, but it would've been nice for even
one
girl to say she loved me or wanted an individual picture with me. I guess I was just Hayes's girlfriend . . .

The next girl came up, and I just stayed behind Hayes, thinking it was yet another one of his fans, but she ran up and hugged me, completely ignoring him.

“Autumn! I love you and your videos so much! You saved my life, and I cannot thank you enough. I just wanted to tell you that before watching your videos, I was very depressed. I cut every single day, sometimes even twice. I tried committing suicide three times and was put into a hospital each time. But now I'm eight months clean, and I haven't cut since. I also don't have depression anymore. You saved me, and I'm thankful that you and your videos showed up in my life.” She started crying, and I cried with her. I gave her a huge hug.

“That's awesome. You have achieved what so many others haven't been able to do. I'm happy to have been a part of it, but it was your hard work. You were the one who stopped. You were the one who didn't give up. I may have given you a tiny push, and if so, I'm glad I did. You seem like such a great person! I love you, too!” I smiled at her.

“Can you follow me on Twitter?” she asked.

“Psh, girl, I will follow you on
all
your social media!” I said excitedly. She squealed and handed me a piece of paper with the list. We took a picture and, sadly, she had to go.

“I hope I see you again someday,” I whispered in her ear, giving her one last hug.

“That would be great,” she said, walking away.

I smiled, stunned to have heard that I'd been a part of saving her life. Then I felt someone's arms wrap around my waist and a head against my shoulder. His fluffy hair was touching my cheek, and I knew exactly who it was: Hayes.

“You saved her life, babe.” He kissed my cheek.

“No, she saved her own life. I was just there to give her some motivation.” I smiled at him.

“Well, you're one heck of a girl. Giving motivation to save lives one step at a time.” He gave me a quick peck, and then we were back to taking pictures. Girls were now paying attention to me, too, because of what had just happened, but I just couldn't get that girl off of my mind.

I didn't even get her name . . .

We were all back at the hotel, and I was going through the girl's social media. I wasn't stalking, just gradually looking through her pictures and stuff.

I found out that her name was Maddie, and she lived in Burke, Virginia. Wow, she came all the way to Cali for FAM Tour.

I liked her pictures that she posted of the two of us, but the comments baffled me. There were things like:

“You're fat.” But she was a stick.

“You're ugly.” But she was beautiful.

“Why did your mom give birth to you?” Why would anyone be so hurtful?

“Do you even have friends?” Anyone who would make these comments doesn't deserve friends!

I continued reading through the hurtful comments until I stopped at one that really made me mad.

Go die in a whole. You're a slut with no friends and your parents probably hate you. You didn't deserve to go to FAM Tour, I did.

And she didn't even spell
hole
right. I replied to that comment instantly.

She totally deserved to come to FAM Tour and you didn't. She doesn't deserve to die, no one does. She's not a slut, she's most likely still a virgin. Her parents don't hate her, they were the ones who brought her here to California to come meet us, so please, stop hating on Maddie. She's my friend and she doesn't deserve all of this. She's beautiful and funny and nice and anyone would be lucky to have her as a friend. It's your loss for not being one of her friends.

I sent the comment and smirked proudly.

“Whatcha smirking at over there, little Miss Priss?” Aly asked slyly.

“Just standing up for a friend.” I smiled. I screenshot the picture, cropped it, and posted it on my Instagram. My caption was, “Go follow @Maddielane! If you give her hate, you'll be blocked! Love you, Mads!”

“What did you say?” Cameron asked, a warning in his voice.

“Oh, nothing bad, stop being so rigid.” I showed everyone the comment.

“Autumn, you're so nice.” Aly smiled at me.

“Why, thank you, dearest Aly.” I wiggled my eyebrows at her. She laughed and rolled her eyes.

You see, we kinda got Aly's foster mom to let us bring her! We all persuaded her and she finally said yes! I treated her like my little sister and always watched out for her. Well, it's not like I didn't already treat her like my little sister, but you get the gist. Some of us had a suspicion that she and Bart were related—we just hadn't told them. They looked and acted exactly alike, and they always picked on each other. They literally acted like brother and sister.

“That was sweet of you to stand up for her, babe.” Hayes kissed my cheek. I snuggled into him, his arms already wrapped around me.

“Why, thank you. I'm going to DM her to see how she's doing. I hope she's okay,” I said.

I DM'ed her a weird selfie that Hayes and I took, with him kissing my cheek and me pulling a double chin and smirking. I laughed at the picture and started to write a caption.

First off, if you send or show this to anyone, I will personally be there with my unicorn and he will fly you to a volcano of hot melted marshmallows and you will be thrown in and drowned to death by marshmallows. No jk lolz I trust yewww! Anyway, I wanted to see how you were doing, after reading all of those stupid comments. I was reading them and was like “Why is they hatin' on my new bestayy?” Yes, you are my new bestayy. I wanted to give you my number so you can text me since we are now friends! I trust you with this, and if you tell anyone, I will be very disappointed 'cause I really like you. My number is 555-243-8978.

I sent it, and she replied about fifteen minutes later saying she was okay and that I could trust her with my number and blah blah blah. She also said she about died laughing because of the picture and my first two sentences! So we texted for a while and then she had to go. Sad face.

•   •   •

I looked at
the TV and saw the others were watching
Orange Is the New Black.
I rolled my eyes and smirked over at Bailey. She winked at me and returned her gaze to the TV, her head resting on Daniel's shoulder. Of course she'd made them watch it.

“I'm gonna go get into my pajamas.” I yawned, stretching as I got up. Everyone mumbled an okay as I walked over to our room. I grabbed Nash's Florida Gators shirt and a pair of Hayes's sweatpants and changed. I really didn't care if any of the guys minded if I wore their clothes or not, I was gonna keep wearing them! I literally had at least three pieces of each of the guys' clothing. Not joking.

I walked back over to Brandon, Alec, Tez, and Gabby's room with my glasses, a messy bun, and my pajamas. I used the spare key that could unlock anyone's room to get in and sat down on the floor between Hayes's legs. He wrapped his arms around my waist and laced our fingers together almost immediately.

“Is that my shirt?” Nash asked.

“Maybe,” I giggled. He threw a Starburst at me. I caught it in my mouth and threw my hands into the air in victory.

“That was cool. Where'd you learn to do that?” Tez whispered so Bailey wouldn't yell at him.

“I don't know, it just happened,” I whispered back, smiling.

“You guys need to be quiet!” Bailey yelled. Apparently, everyone whispering wasn't quiet enough.

We all rolled our eyes and looked back at the screen. To be honest, I didn't really like
Orange Is the New Black.
It was really graphic and weird. But, eh, whatever made my best friend happy.

I leaned back into Hayes's chest and he kissed my temple. I played with his fingers, which was hard considering his hands were intertwined with mine, and just waited until everyone had had enough of the weird show.

“Okay, I'm sending you that picture 'cause it was cute, and let's watch something else,” Jonah whined. I laughed and agreed.

“I agree!”
Nash and Shaelyn chorused, checking out Jonah's phone. We looked at them, confused.

“Oh, we agree that it's a cute picture
and
that we should watch something else,” Shaelyn said, handing Jonah his phone.

“But, but, but.” Bailey pouted.

“No buts. Aly shouldn't be watching this anyway,” Bart said in a serious tone.

“Dawww! S'cute. But Bart, Aly's asleep,” I cooed.

He looked over his shoulder and smiled at the eleven-year-old girl lying on his back, sleeping. “I'm gonna go put her to bed. Be right back,” he whispered. When he left, we all burst out into conversation about Bart and Aly, forgetting about which TV show we should watch next.

“Who thinks they're brother and sister?” Carter asked, raising his hand. All of our hands shot up.

“Totally related,” Gabby said.

“It would be unbelievable if they weren't,” Aaron stated.

“Okay, we need to figure out whether they're brother and sister,” Jonah schemed. Pretty much what he does the best.

“Autumn, you're the problem solver—what do we do?” Daniel asked, looking at me. Everyone started staring and I looked at them, confused.

“What are you talking abo— Wait, I have the perfect plan.” I sat up, only to be pulled right back down by Hayes.

“We toooold youuuuu!” Justin sang.

“Whatever,” I mumbled.

“Well,
what's the plan
?” Brandon urged.

“Calm your tits. Okay, well, we're gonna—” But just then Bart walked back into the room.

“Okay. What're we watching?” he asked, rubbing his hands together while sitting down.

“We decided on
Beauty and the Beast
!” I said quickly.

“WE ARE ALL SO EXCITED!” The rest of the girls clapped while the guys groaned.

“I can see it wasn't y'all's choice.” Bart laughed. “But it's fine. Aly made me watch it with her over a million times. It's her favorite princess movie.” He smiled.