Love Heals All (8 page)

Autumn

I woke up
in Hayes's room, where it was really dark. I looked at the clock on the table, and it was eight p.m. I decided to get up and try walking downstairs, and it didn't hurt as bad as I thought it would.

While I was going downstairs, I redid my hair in a messy braid and heard the TV blaring “Let It Go.” I giggled, thinking that Sky made them watch
Frozen
, but when I got to the bottom step, there was no Skylynn in sight, just the boys. I started laughing like a dying whale at the bottom of the stairs and they all looked over at me. Hayes shot out of his seat, picked me up, and set me on the couch. I was still laughing.

“Babe, you're not supposed to be walking!” he said in concern.

“I'm fine, it doesn't hurt as much! Why are you guys watching
Frozen
by yourself?” I asked, giggling like a little schoolgirl.

“Uh, 'cause we wanted to?” Nash said, while scratching the back of his neck. I continued laughing uncontrollably.

“It's not funny! Can't guys watch
Frozen
, too?” Daniel asked, crossing his arms as if he were five.

“It's kind of odd . . .” I replied, trailing off.

“But we are odd people!” Cameron said in a funny accent.

“Yes, you are.” I giggled. “Where are the girls?”

“They went out to spy on Ashley at her work,” Daniel replied. He's so talkative today, and it's nice—he needs to talk more.

“Why?”

“To see what she does at work, duhh,” Nash said, in his usual sassy tone.

“Where does she work?” I am just full of questions tonight.

“She told me she was a waitress at Applebee's, but the girls didn't see her there. So they went over to the Hooters next to it, and that's where they found her,” Carter said, looking down at the floor.

“I'm sorry, C,” I said, reaching out and squeezing his hand.

“It's fine, Autumn, really. I don't even know what I saw in her.” He smiled weakly at me. I felt so bad for him.

“Oh, and Daniel?” I said, looking at him.

“Yeah?” he said, looking up from his guitar.

“You should talk more. I like it like when you do.” I smiled. He smiled back then looked down at his guitar again.

I can see how they say opposites attract. Daniel is so laid-back and quiet, while Bailey is loud and always talking to someone. But it's as if they were meant to be or something. They're perfect for each other.

Hayes put his arm around me, and we watched the rest of the movie. I laughed at the parts with Olaf—he was so adorable! I want a talking snowman.

Then Carter's phone started to ring. He answered it.

“Okay. Yeah. Why? Fine, we'll be right there. Yes, Autumn's awake. I'll tell her you said hi, Bailey! All right, bye.” He hung up.

“Well, the girls want us to go over to Hooters, and Autumn, Bailey says hi with a smiley face.”

I laughed, and we all got up to go out to the car when Hayes just had to speak up.

“AUTUMN NEEDS HER WHEELCHAIR!” he yelled so the whole world could hear.

“No, I don't want my wheelchair, just get my crutches!” I said in a quiet voice.

“I got 'em,” Daniel yelled back.

“Thanks, and can y'all shut up? You're going to bust my eardrums!” I said.

“Sorry,” they whispered. I laughed, and hopped out to the car.

We drove to Hooters, with Hayes on my right and Nash on my left. I held Hayes's hand and leaned my head on Nash's shoulder.

When we got there, we jumped out and walked, or crutched, across the parking lot. We went inside, and immediately the girls waved us to the back. We joined them, and they pointed out which section Ashley was working.

“Okay, she's working in the section over by the bar, but Carter, you're not gonna like what you see,” Jordan said, patting Carter's shoulder.

“What do you mean?” He looked over, and you could see in his eyes that he was disappointed.

We all looked over and saw the skank all over another guy, her caked face kissing him and her slutty butt sitting on his lap, and he was, like, fifty years old. Wasn't she supposed to be working?

“I'm going over there and beating her with my crutch!” I said angrily.

“No! We can't blow our cover!” Abbie said, holding me back.

“But she needs to learn a lesson! She's all over a guy from the freaking dinosaur age and she has a boyfriend!” I said.

“Still, we can confront her about it when she gets out of work and comes back to the house,” Bart said.

“Whatever,” I said. I sat down and shook my head, annoyed.

“Don't worry about it, sweetheart; they'll work everything out,” Hayes said, putting his arm around my shoulder.

“There's nothing to work out! She's straight-up trash with no feelings!” I said, putting my head down onto my arms on the table.

“We all know that, but hitting her with a crutch isn't the way to fix it,” Cameron said.

“Okay,” I sighed.

We all walked out and went home. When we got to the house, I went upstairs with the girls to change into my pajamas. We all decided to have a onesie night, so I put on my plain, light blue onesie and kept my hair in its braid.

When we all went downstairs and I saw I was matching with Hayes! He had on a plain, dark blue onesie.

“OK, we have to take a picture!” I said, going over to Hayes and pulling him up off the couch.

I handed my phone over to Gabby, who was closest to us, and posed. He wrapped both arms around my waist and I wrapped mine around his and kissed his cheek while he smiled.

“Aww, that's so cute!” Abbie yelled, looking over Gabby's shoulder.

I blushed and took the phone out of her hand. The picture was perfect. Hayes was perfect.

“I love it. Send it to me,” Hayes said, looking over my shoulder.

“I got that one!” Nash said, holding up his phone.

“Do y'all have, like, a whole gallery in your phones of photos of us? I mean, y'all take a thousand pictures a day!” I groan.

“Yash,” Nash said, doing the puma face. I laughed at him and started to post the picture on Instagram.

My caption was “twinning with my favorite.” After I posted it, it immediately got over a thousand likes. It got so annoying sometimes being famous. I mean, there's no privacy, and girls hated me for knowing Cameron. They'll probably hate me more for dating Hayes. Oh well, I loved him with all my heart.

We were all seated on the couch watching
Stick It
when the front door opened. We all looked toward the door and saw Ashley walking through the door in a tank top so small you could see her entire bra and pajama shorts that would fit a four-year-old.

“I didn't get the memo to wear a onesie,” she said in her usual snobby tone.

“Well, you probably wouldn't have worn one anyway, since all your clothes are so revealing,” Alyssa spat back.

“Excuse me, brat. I don't need your attitude,” Ashley said, getting all up in Alyssa's face.

“Yeah, you can excuse yourself right out the front door,” I retorted.

“Shut up. I had a long day at work. I don't need your stupid remarks.”

“You didn't have a long day at work, you had a long day sucking a fifty-year-old's face off!” Carter yelled, standing up.

“What do you mean, babe? I wouldn't do such a thing,” she said in fake shock.

“Oh, shut the heck up. I don't need your crap! I saw you, and you lied to me. Get out of here, and get out of my life! We're done!” Carter screamed.

“THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!” she yelled, walking over to me and punching me in the face.

“GET OUT! YOU DON'T PUNCH MY LITTLE SISTER IN THE FACE, YOU TRAMP!” Ella yelled, practically pulling Ashley's extensions out of her head as she grabbed her by the hair and rushed her out the front door.

“AND DON'T COME BACK AGAIN, YOU WITCH!” Bailey called, throwing a spoon at her.

“Autumn, are you okay?” Hayes asked, examining my face while settling me on the couch with a pillow under my head.

“I don't know. Does my eye look okay? Tell the truth,” I said drowsily.

“It's getting a bit swollen. Abbie, go get an ice pack, please,” Gabby instructed, switching into nurse mode.

She issues orders to everyone to get things, while she and Hayes sat with me, Hayes holding my hand and Abbie trying to nurse me back to health.

Everything started to go fuzzy, and I was really getting drowsy.

“NO, AUTUMN, STAY WITH ME! YOU GOTTA STAY AWAKE! PLEASE, SWEETHEART, KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN!” Hayes started to yell. I blinked; everything was moving in slow motion.

“Aut, come on, stay with me,” Hayes said shakily. I was drifting off.

I looked at him again. “I love you,” he whispered.

And that's when I slipped into darkness.

Autumn

I woke up
in Hayes's room with him next to me in his desk chair, holding my hand. His head was resting on his arms, which were stretched across the bed. I think he was sleeping. How did I get here?

“Hayes, what happened?” I asked groggily, sitting up and rubbing my eyes.

“Autumn? You're okay!” he said, jumping up and hugging me.

“What do you mean ‘I'm okay'? What happened to me?” I asked, confused.

“Well, Carter and Ashley got into this huge fight and broke up, and she blamed you. She punched you in the face, and you blacked out,” he said nervously, while scratching the back of his neck.

“Why the heck did she blame me?” I said.

“You kinda mouthed off at her before they got into a fight, so I guess she went straight to target you, which was stupid and not right,” he said angrily.

I love him—he's so caring! “Yeah, that sounds like something I would do,” I said, putting my hand on my chin and nodding. He laughed and turned serious again.

“Is your eye okay? What about your lip? And does your back hurt, sweetheart?” he questioned.

“Well, my back hurts a little bit, but not as much as it's been hurting. Wait, what do you mean, my eye and my lip?” I asked him, panicking. Oh lord, what did she do?

“Um, see for yourself,” he said, handing me his phone, which was open to the front-facing camera.

When I looked at the phone screen, all I could do was scream. She had given me a black eye and a busted lip! I looked awful! Holy crap.

“How could she do this to me with one punch?!” I yelled, shocked.

“Don't ask me,” Hayes said, putting his hands up.

“I look worse than the witch,” I screeched in horror.

“Sweetheart, you look beautiful, as always. You'll always be perfect to me, no matter what!” Hayes said, coming over to me and pecking my forehead.

“Thanks, Pooh Bear,” I said, kissing his nose.

“I swear, you're the only one I would let call me that,” he mumbled.

I giggled and a question popped up in my head. “Where is everyone else? We're being so loud, no one has come in to check on us.”

“They're asleep.”

I looked at him, confused, and glanced at the clock.

It was four in the morning! “Oh gosh, Hayes, I'm so sorry for waking you up! Come on, let's go back to sleep!” I said, pulling him off the chair and onto the bed.

“It's fine, sweetheart. I'd do anything for you. Good night, I love you,” he said, kissing the top of my head.

“Good night. I love you, too.” I yawned and kissed his jaw. Then I snuggled up against his chest and fell back asleep.

In the Dreadful Morning

I woke up
to the sun shining on my face. That was unpleasant. I shoved my face deeper into Hayes's shoulder and tried to go back to sleep, but thirty minutes later I gave up.

I got up and looked at the clock, it was eight thirty in the morning! I never get up at eight thirty; the earliest I get up in the summer is nine thirty, on a regular day. This is so weird . . .

I groaned and flopped back onto the bed, shoving my head into the pillow. I wouldn't be surprised if I woke up Hayes.

“Autumn, go back to sleep! It's too early to function!” Hayes groaned, and pulled me into his chest. I couldn't help but giggle.

“But I can't go back to sleep!” I whined.

“I can!” he whined back, pressing his face into my hair. “Your hair smells really good,” he mumbled into it.

“That's really weird.” I laughed.

“Whatever. Okay, I'm tired. I'm going back to sleep!” he said.

“Fine. I'm going downstairs to make breakfast!” I said, getting up.

“Don't forget your crutches, and don't burn down the house!” he said sternly.

“I won't, Mother,” I said, kissing his forehead.

I had turned to the door when he grabbed my hand, spun me around, and kissed my cheek. “I love you.”

I giggled and kissed his nose. “I love you, too, Hayes.”

I went downstairs and heard TV sounds. I wondered who was up. I got to the bottom of the stairs and saw Skylynn sitting on the couch in front of the TV.

“Hey, Sky. What are you doing up so early?” I asked, crutching over to her and sitting down.

“I couldn't sleep. I wanted to watch horsies!” she said, climbing into my lap and laying her head on my shoulder.

I looked at the TV and saw
My Little Pony
playing. I guess that's what she meant when she said she wanted to watch horsies.

“Are your mom and dad at work?”

“Yep! They said they would be home later today.”

“Okay. Well, do you want some food?”

“Autumn, we all know you can't cook,” she said sassily. I started to laugh, and she giggled.

“I know. Well, let's rephrase that, do you want a Pop-Tart or some cereal?”

“Can you please get me some Cinnamon Toast Crunch, like the best big sissy you are?” she asked, giving me the puppy eyes.

“Of course! Only for my little sister!” I said, getting up.

I went to the kitchen and got out two bowls, the box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and a bottle of milk. I poured the cereal into the bowl, then the milk, and finally grabbed two spoons.

I limped back into the living room and gave Sky her bowl. We ate our cereal and watched a couple more
My Little Pony
shows, until about ten. Then we decided to go upstairs and change for the day, and wake everyone up.

First, we got Skylynn changed in a cute floral dress with white sandals and a pink bow in her curly blond hair. Then I got dressed in a navy-blue, polka-dot crop top with a cutout bow back and white high-waisted shorts, Aztec-looking Sanuks, and my glasses. I did my hair with my natural beach waves, then braided two strands and pulled them back with a rubber band. Next we went downstairs and got some pots and pans . . .

“Everyone get up now!” I screamed, standing in the middle of the hallway and banging my pans together as hard as I could.

“Wakey, wakey!” Skylynn screamed, running into the rooms one by one, banging her pots, and jumping on everyone's bed.

I heard lots of groans and went into Nash's room, since he was the heaviest sleeper, and started banging the pans together right by his ears. He jumped up and fell out of his bed, jumbled up in the sheets with a scared look on his face. I practically died laughing, and I heard laughing behind me, too. I turned around to see all the guys and girls videotaping the entire thing.

“And that, boys and girls, is how you wake up Nash Grier,” I said, giggling. They all ended their videos and put their phones down.

“Time to get up! We have to take the girls to the airport this morning,” I said sulkily.

“But it's ten o'clock in the morning!” all the guys groaned.

“You guys are so lazy,” I mumbled, limping out of the room and going downstairs.

Everyone followed me, and we all went downstairs and sat at the dining room table. There were only ten seats, so the girls sat on their boyfriends' laps. I sat next to Hayes, and he had his arm around Sky and me.

Everyone was on their phone and Nash was texting someone.

“Hey, guys, my mom and Johnnie are going out of town for business, so we have the house to ourselves,” Nash said, smirking.

“We know what that means,” we all chorused. “SLEEPOVER!” we cried in girly voices, as we threw up our hands and laughed.