Trigger warning - This Chapter may not be suitable for people who are sensitive towards car accidents.

December 2018

It had been just over a month since my first date with Hayden and things had been perfect. A week after we went to that cute little restaurant, I somewhat moved in with him due to us both wanting to spend as much time with each other before he went away, and we hadn't been apart since. I felt awful at first for leaving Ricky, but he all but pushed me out the door, in the most loving way possible.

We'd gone on over a dozen dates since that ranged from a cosy night in with a movie, driving out into the countryside to watch the stars and we even ended up in an arcade one night.

We were the biggest kids there, and I couldn't help but squeal when he won me a giant stuffed Koala on one of the oversized claw machines.

It had been a perfect month, but there was one thing that neither of us could ignore. It was inevitable that he'd have to leave me to check into rehab, but the more time I'd spent with him the harder I knew it'd be letting him go.

"Sweetheart, please don't be sad," Hayden said as he climbed into bed next to me. I hadn't left 'our' bed all day. He was leaving tomorrow, and I didn't know how I felt about it, I knew it was going to be hard, but this was ridiculous. It felt as if my heart was being torn from my chest. "You know it's for the best. The last thing I want to do is leave you, but I'm doing this so I can get better, okay?"

I rolled over and buried my face in his chest. "What am I going to do without you?" I said, more to myself than him but he must have heard me.

"You won't be on your own, Luce. You've got Ricky and the girls to spend time with. You'll all be staying here anyway, and I'll be home before you know it. It'll be like I never left."

"I just wish you'd reconsider and come home for Christmas." I murmured "you're strong enough to do it without relapsing I know you are, I believe in you. It's our first Christmas together, and I want to spend It together."

"You know it's for the best. Besides we'll have 80 more Christmases to spend together when I'm home, I promise." He was right, but I just couldn't help acting like a child whose toy had been taken away from them. I was the one that had suggested he checked into a rehab clinic in the first place, now here I was begging for him to stay home with me. "I know." I sighed "I'm sorry for acting like a child. I'm just really going to miss you that's all."

"I'll miss you, too. You know I'll call when I have the chance, these next 2 months will fly by I promise you." He placed a kiss on the top of my head as if he was sealing the promise he'd just made to me. "Are you planning on getting out of bed today?" He asked, "I thought we'd go out and do something tonight."

"Can't we just stay here and cuddle?" I replied, "I don't feel like sharing you with the world today."

"I'm taking you out, Luce." He laughed "you've got 45 minutes, I'll meet you downstairs. If you're not down in time, I will come up and pull you out from under the covers." My head shot up from the pillow "you wouldn't dare." I hissed

"Try me, sweetheart. See you in 42 minutes." With that, he walked out of the room.

In those short 42 minutes, I'd managed to shower, blow dry and straighten my hair, so it no longer resembled a rat's nest, and I managed to find a somewhat decent outfit to throw on. Seeing as I had no idea where Hayden was taking me, I decided to go with a charcoal grey cable knit jumper and a pair of skinny white jeans.

"I'm ready!" I shouted as I ran downstairs and burst into the living room. "Where are we going, I'm not overdressed am I?"

No, you look lovely. I thought we'd go ice skating. There's an evening session at the ice rink in the town just over from us, it sounded fun, so I booked it for us."

I couldn't help it, but I burst into a fit of laughter. "But you hate stuff like that." I said through stifled giggles "you almost broke your arm when I tried to teach you how to rollerblade when we were younger." I laughed harder when I remembered an almost 20-year-old Hayden trying to make his way up the street in roller-skates, he gave up when he fell over and nearly broke his arm, he claimed that the skates were broken and that was the reason why he fell.

However, I knew better, he was just awful at rollerblading. I tried to get him to attempt it again a few months later, but he refused.

"Get in the car, Luce." He grumbled as he grabbed his coat and headed towards the door.

"Hayden, wait!" I shouted

"Yes?" He replied and turned to face me, and with the straightest face, I could muster I responded.

"I wouldn't worry about falling over, you can rent one of those big plastic penguins that little kids use to help them get around on the ice."

With that, I sprinted past him and dived into his car and slammed the door. There was nothing I enjoyed more than pushing his buttons.

Thankfully ice skating was uneventful, even after I promised I wouldn't laugh if he rented the penguin, Hayden refused and opted to cling onto my arm as I helped get him around on the ice. I was more than sure to the people spectating he looked like Bambi on ice, but I thought it was hilariously cute.

However, I'll give him some credit he didn't fall once, he made sure to remind me after we stepped off the ice 2 hours later.

"Are you sure it wasn't you who had the issue with rollerblading when we were younger?" He mocked "I'm pretty sure I just pulled you around with me for the past 2 hours." I shot him a warning look "you know full well I just spent the better half of 2 hours pulling your uncoordinated ass around on the ice. Don't flatter yourself, sweetie, not everyone can ice skate." I went up on my tip toes and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Meet me back at the car." He said as he handed me the keys "I just need to use the toilet, I won't be long."

Around 5 minutes later we were on our way home. As usual, the night had gone by way too quickly, and in a few short hours we'd be saying our goodbyes and begin the 70-day countdown until we saw each other again.

The car ride was unusually quiet, and something about the atmosphere in the car didn't seem right. I glanced over at Hayden, and his whole body looked tense, his knuckles were white, and there was a slight sheen of sweat across his forehead.

"Are you okay?" I asked, slightly concerned. "You don't look too good."

"I'm fine." He snapped, it was as if someone had flipped a switch inside his head, moments earlier he was ridged as a statue, and now he was squirming around in his seat. There was a dark thought in the back of my mind that he'd done the one thing he'd promised not to do, but I pushed it to the back of my mind, I needed to have more faith in him.

His fidgeting got worse as the drive progressed, to the point where the car was swerving in and out of the lane we were driving in. "I've had enough now." I said calmly "pull over, and I'll walk the rest of the way home. You're clearly not in any state to drive." He didn't listen, I'm not even sure he heard what I'd said. It was then I knew he must've taken something, probably when he was in the toilets back at the ice-skating rink.

"Hayden, pull the fucking car over now. You're going to get us killed." I shouted "I know what you've done. Please let me get out you're scaring me." I was crying at this point. The tears ran down my face and blurred my vision. I couldn't believe he'd done this, not only had he endangered his life and mine but everyone else who was on the road with us. "Will you stop fucking shouting." He snapped "I'm fine, we'll be home in 15 minutes. Shout all you want then."

"Please just pull over." I sobbed "I'm done. We're finished, Hayden. You broke your promise, you had one chance. Just let me out, and I'll walk to-"

I didn't get the chance to finish my sentence. The car did another gut-churning swerve, and this time he wasn't able to bring it back. There was a blood-curdling crunch as the car hit the central reservation in the middle of the world. The vehicle began to roll, and all I could hear was the sound of metal crunching and sliding across the road.

An ear-splitting scream came from somewhere. I had no Idea whether it came from me or I'd imagined it, but all I could think of was that there was a possibility that I might not wake up from this.

Loving Hayden Williams could have just killed me. I don't know when all the noise faded, but I just hoped that I'd get out of this alive, then everything went black.

A/N

This is part 2 in the 3 part update that I have planned. The next one will be out by the end of the week.

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I'd like to dedicate this Chapter to @StarryskiesT for being one of the funniest people I've ever spoken to. Thank you for making me laugh hysterically for the past 2 days. You're amazing ❤️❤️