Ruined By You

13: kaitlyn | now

There's a knock at the front door and I jump up excitedly to open the door. I've missed Javi and Bailey. I got out all kinds of toppings for Javi to decorate the brownies with after seeing how he wanted to decorate the pancakes.

But when I open the door, it's the wrong twin standing there. Hunter's standing there with his hands shoved in his pockets and dark circles under his eyes. My smile fades, but doesn't disappear completely. What is he doing here? I thought he was still planning on ignoring me for a couple more days?

"Can I come in?" He asks hesitantly and I nod, inviting him in. "Are your parents here?"

"No, they left a little bit ago for some party for my Dad's construction business."

Hunter drags a hand through his hair, messing it up. "Can we talk?" He asks, shifting nervously.

"Of course," I say softly,

Hunter moves to sit on the couch and I follow feeling just as nervous as he does. Is he going to break up with me because I didn't tell him about this?

I sit next to him, resting my hand on top of his instinctively. He looks at where our hands touch before focusing on my face. "I'm sorry for how I reacted. I was speaking at you and not listening to what you had to say which wasn't fair. You were right. There has been a lot going on and I can see why you waited to tell me."

"This is not all on you. I could have said something, but I was afraid of how you might react because I don't want you to be mad at me."

"Babe, this one is on me. I-I haven't been myself since Bailey came back. He's going to leave again and I'm trying to prepare myself this time so I'm not blindsided again. Hearing that you're not coming with me to college..." Hunter shakes his head, trailing off and the dots connect in my brain.

"You were blindsided."

Hunter looks up at me, hurt showing clear as day on his handsome features. "I was, but it's not an excuse for ignoring you. It was my own way of trying to come to terms with everything. I needed space to think and I should have communicated that with you. I'm not proud of it, but I'm jealous of Bailey because you told him before you told me." He pauses to rub his face. "I know that you guys were friends before everything went down, but I think I am feeling a little insecure if that makes sense? I hate that I'm feeling this way, especially because it's about Bailey."

That...was a lot of information in one go. Hunter is jealous of Bailey? That doesn't make sense because I never told him—oh my god. Does he know?

I crawl into Hunter's lap, wrapping my arms around him tightly. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too."

I breathe in his calming scent of cedar and tangerine, a million thoughts racing through my brain. When I pull away to look at his face, I gently brush a sun streaked lock of hair back into place as his pale green eyes watch me carefully. "I love you Hunter. You don't need to be jealous of Bailey and I'm aware that's easier said than done. But I love you. You're my calm gentle giant in our crazy lives," I tease, happy to see his lips quirk upwards in a smile. I've always called him that because it's the truth. He is the calm in the storm. "We don't know what Bailey is going to do, but I've missed my friend and I want to be there for him while he's here. I've also missed my boyfriend too the last couple of days. Just because I'm not going to Duke this year, it doesn't mean it's never going to happen."

"I've missed you," Hunter says. "I love you so much Kaitlyn. If being friends with Bailey makes you happy, then I can try to live with it."

"Thank you," I kiss him eagerly, happy to be back in his arms with everything right again. Hunter responds by quickly taking control and I relinquish it easily. Right now, he needs to feel like he's in control and it's not as if I'm suffering from that need. His lips move roughly against mine as he lays us to where his body is covering mine completely.