I couldn't escape him. He was everywhere. In my head, in my room, in my face. I sat on the sink after wiping it off with a towel. I had to hand it to Hunter; at least he wasn't a slob. In fact, he was one of the cleanest guys I'd ever met. He didn't leave his clothes on the floor or hair in the sink when he shaved. He showered regularly and cooked. So what was the problem?
I put my head on my knees and let out a sound of frustration. I waited for a knock at the door and a voice to ask me if I was okay, but it didn't come. I took a deep breath and hoped that Hunter and Tawny weren't strangling each other in the living room.
I peeped out the door, and laughter met my ears. What the what?
“No way, she did not do that.”
“I swear, she did,” Hunter said.
I came around the corner and saw that he was sitting down again and Tawny was back on the couch. There wasn't any blood, and no one was missing a limb, which shocked me.
“Hey, guys...” I said hesitantly.
“We were just talking about that night at Blue Lagoon,” Hunter said. “I was filling in your sister on your dance skills.”
“You hussy,” Tawny said. “I didn't think you had it in you.”
“Why not? I went to plenty of dances.”
“There's a difference between high school prom dancing and club dancing and you know it.”
“Is there? Because I saw plenty of girls at prom who should have been attached to a pole.”
They both laughed at me.
“Has she always been like this?” Hunter said.
“Not always. She changed a lot after our parents’ divorce.”
I glared at Tawny. Hunter didn't need to know about Dad.
“So your father isn't in the picture?” Great, thanks a lot Tawny.
“You could say that,” Tawny said.
I struggled to find some way to change the subject.
“Why don't I give you a tour of campus?” I blurted out. It was the first thing that came to mind.
“That would be fun. I've never really seen the whole thing. You want to come?” Tawny directed the last part toward Hunter. “Unless you have somewhere else to be?”
“Not right now,” he said. “You okay with me tagging along, Missy?” His eyes teased me, knowing that my plan had been to get him away from Tawny.
“Fine,” I said, smiling brightly. Suck on that, Hunter.
“Let me just find some shoes,” he said.
I glared at Tawny when he left.
“Oh, Kid, you've got it so bad, but so does he.” She just shook her head. “I'll give it a week before he's tattooing your name on the other side of his chest.”
“I thought you didn't like him. What happened to being pissed at him about the bet?”
Tawny shrugged. “I was overreacting. Typical big sister move. He explained why he did it, and it makes sense, in a slightly twisted way. He's not a bad guy. He's just a jerk. But a nice one.”
“That doesn't make any sense.”
“Men rarely do.”
Nine
After the longest tour of the UMaine campus ever, Tawny decided it was time for her to get back to Belfast.
“Remember what I said. He could be the greatest or the worst thing to happen to you. It's up to you to choose,” she said as she hugged me. “Don't let my past dictate your future, okay? I want you to be happy.”
“You sound like a Hallmark card,” I said when she let go.
“I know what I'm talking about, Kid.” She pressed her thumb in the middle of my forehead, as if to impart her wisdom into my brain. “I'll call you when I get back. When are you coming home next?”
“Not sure, might do a weekend in October, but if I don't, it'll be Thanksgiving.”
“Well, I'll try to get up again before then. Love you, little sister.”
“Love you, big sister,” I said as she put the top of the Volvo down and cranked the radio. She honked as she drove away. I just shook my head.
*****
When I got back home, Hunter was gone, but there was another note on my bed.
Went out to objectify some women. May have sex with some of them. Be back later. By the way, your sister is welcome back anytime. He signed it with just the letter Z.
I crammed that one in my desk with the other. For all I knew, he was hav**g s*x with a bunch of different girls. I hated to admit it, but I'd snagged his phone one night when he was in the shower and scrolled through his contacts. He'd messed with mine, so I had to return the favor.
I recognized a few of his contacts, including his cousin and his guy friends. The others, not so much. He had six contacts named Ashley alone. Ashley B, D, H, F, R, and T. The theme continued for the other common names like Heather, Sarah and Liz. I couldn't even count how many names there were. Really, though, was I surprised? Not so much.
I rarely ever saw him talk on his phone, but he texted a fair amount. Every time he did, I wondered which one of the Ashleys it was.
I didn't see him until I came back that night from Megan's where I’d had my fill of chocolate, girl talk and objectifying Richard Gere and Channing Tatum.
“Did you have a good time talking about your periods?” he said, not glancing up from something in his lap.
“Yeah, we even started discussing pap smears. Hey, is that my e-reader?” It totally was.
“Maybe. You left it on your desk.”
“So you thought you'd just use it? How much of my other things have you used?”
“Just your underwear,” he said, his eyes still on the screen.
“Hand it over,” I said, holding out my hand.
“No way, I have to find out who she ends up with.” He held his arm up, so it was out of my reach.
“Give it back,” I said, hopping on the bed and grabbing at his arm. He kept moving it out of my reach. I grabbed his arm with both of mine and yanked, but he chose that moment to poke his fingers into that ticklish spot right under my ribs.
“Hunter, stop it,” I said, trying not to curl up in the fetal position as he continued to tickle me. I tried reaching for the e-reader, but it was no use. He tossed it on my bed and came at me with both hands, flipping me onto my bag and attacking me. I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. He was laughing at me, but there was nothing I could do about that.
“You want it back? You really want it back?”
“Yes,” I gasped.
“Then tell me if I kissed you right now, you wouldn't kiss me back.”
His hands didn't leave my ribs, but the tickling stopped. I tried to catch my breath and tipped my head so I could look at him. He was serious. His body hovered over mine, and I realized I was lying in his bed. His sheets were soaked in his scent, and I wanted to turn my head so I could inhale it better.
“You have a great laugh, by the way. Low and sexy.”
“I wouldn't kiss you back,” I said slowly, because it took a lot of time to find the words. Most of my brain was distracted by his face and his body and how warm he was and how good he smelled and other thoughts about him.
His face came so close that his breath moved the hair on my forehead.
“Liar,” he said and slowly got off me.
I stayed where I was, unsure if I could actually move.
“Here you go, Missy.” My e-reader came into my line of vision. He had been reading the first book in the series I'd also been reading. “I'm rooting for the vampire,” he said before leaving the room and shutting the door.
It took several minutes for me to peel myself off his bed. Most of the blood seemed to have left my brain and gone to other places. It was a good thing I wasn't a guy, because I would have needed a cold shower and a few minutes alone.
Hunter was right; I was a liar. I would have kissed him back. I would have done a lot more than that. I would have wanted him to do anything and everything and then asked for more. Yeah, I needed a cold shower.
*****
Things cooled off for a few days after that. Hunter backed off. Again. Not from his comments about wanting to sleep with me, or telling me that I looked hot or any of that, but he stopped invading my personal space. Well, he stopped invading it so much.
He started a new routine every night when we went to bed.
“Love me?” I'd answer no. “Hate me?” I'd answer that with sarcastic comments, listing the things that he'd done that day that pissed me off. The list was usually pretty long. I'd end that with saying no again. Then we'd both turn over and go to sleep. It was a strange thing to do, but it turned out we were both strange people.
I stopped caring if he saw me put in my retainer. He started taking more of my stuff and caring less when I got pissed.
Darah came back from her date with Mase with her eyes glowing. Somehow he had completely won her over, and he became a fixture at our place, as did Dev and Sean. They were both a little smitten with Renee, and she flirted back with them, but never took it further than that.
Classes ramped up in intensity, and I spent more and more time reading and writing papers and other busy work. Hunter and I spent our first mediation meeting with the RD trading quips back and forth.
The RD, Chris, tried to steer us back on track, but he wasn't a very good mediator. I just ended the session wanting to punch Hunter, and he ended it with a smile on his face. So, we'd made zero progress. We still had to meet the next week, and I didn't have any hope things were going to change anytime soon. Besides, I'd agreed to the bet, so I couldn't really go and throw him out without backing out, and I wasn't going to do that. I'd given my word and I was going to stick to it.
On Wednesday, I finally got an email about the library job, and they wanted me for an interview the next afternoon. It was short notice, but I agreed to it. The money I'd made at my summer job at a local lobster shack was quickly disappearing.
I found the department in the back of the library, tucked into a corner. There were a lot of pipes and ugly green paint, and it was clear this was a neglected part of the building.
I met with Tom, the head of the department, and he asked me about my work ethic and all those questions about hours and so forth. Standard stuff. I'd practiced before I went and was grateful. I'd thought about asking Hunter to let me practice with him, but he just would have asked me ridiculous questions and would have been no help. So I'd asked Renee to help when Hunter was at class.
All in all, I thought it went well, and when I shook Tom's hand and left, I felt fully confident I had it.
I made a detour to the gym before I went back to the apartment. It had been forever since I'd worked out, and I was really missing my kickboxing class. Luckily, there was a sign-up sheet for a Saturday afternoon class, and I immediately put my name down. I hit the elliptical for a while and then did some weight training, but I wished I had something to punch.
I was still riding the high of my interview and my workout that night when Hunter decided to make another crazy delicious meal and have everyone over. It had somehow turned into a ritual, and we'd even picked up a few more people in our complex that had smelled the food and wandered over.
That night we ended up feeding no less than fourteen people. We'd turned our apartment into a mess hall, of sorts, and had actually started to leave the door open. People would walk by and say hello, and I found that I liked a lot of them.
“What are you making for the crew tonight?” I said. Hunter was surrounded by shopping bags. I had no idea where he got his money, seeing as how he’d never mentioned a job.