Love Like A Delinquent (Remake)

{ Chapter 11 }

* i thought the last chapter was pretty cute, hehe. *

-

"We need to talk," 

Chris looked up at me from the table, setting his newspaper down and nodding at me. He knew full well what it was about and he knew it was only a matter of time before someone confronted him. He gestured for me to sit down and I did.

"Where's Hunter?"

"He's still asleep,"

"Hot water's all gone," he murmured. "I asked you not to use it,"

"He had a nightmare," I explained. "A really bad one. He needed to use it. Listen, are we really gonna talk about the hot water or are we gonna talk about the real problem here?"

"The real one," he said quietly. "Look Kat, things are just difficult with your Mom right now and-"

"Don't you think they're difficult for Hunter? Chris, you're taking your anger out on him and he doesn't know what to do. He's like a little kid with this stuff. He picks up on the bad energy. When you and Mom were fighting, it reminded him of when his parents were fighting. The fight that lead to his Dad bringing out a gun,"

"I talked to him about that," he reminded me. "I told him how sorry I was,"

"But lately you're just ignoring him," I pressed. "You've started treating him differently and it's confusing him. You're not looking after him properly anymore. I'm the one that's been having to comfort him, to hold him, to wake him up from nightmares, to make sure he's ok."

"And I'm sorry for that," he said sincerely. He held his face in his hands for a few moments and sighed. "It's just hard, Kat. It's so hard. And when your Mom's gone, I just don't know what to do. I get angry and try and stay away from Hunter so I don't scare him,"

"You can't do that though,"

"I know. It's just..things are so hard right now. I think I'm gonna have to get someone to stay with you overnight, even when your Mom's back. It's not fair on you or Hunter,"

"No, that's not what I was getting at here. I'm perfectly capable of being there for him. And I think he feels comfortable enough with me now. Getting a stranger wouldn't be good,"

"So what are you getting at?"

"Tell him you're not mad at him. Make him feel better. Just be normal with him,"

"I'll try harder," he said; smiling slightly. He turned the page of his newspaper and looked up at me. "You guys are getting closer?"

"Yeah," I murmured. "I actually think we might be friends,"

 *

I had no idea what Hunter was doing but I didn't want to leave him alone so I watched him. He was sat in the corner of the room with his headphones in, drawing something on a piece of paper. He'd been doing this for about half an hour now and it wasn't the most entertaining thing in the world but just knowing that he was completely carefree was enough.

That was until the door opened and we faced Chris. Hunter immediatley looked up, set down the piece of paper face down so you couldn't see what he'd been drawing, took his headphones out and stared at Chris with wide eyes.

His eyes flickered to me. "Kat, your Mom's come home."

"Oh," I murmured. I wasn't sure what to say or do so I just nodded before Chris continued.

"We're gonna try and sort things out so I was wondering if it would be best for you both to go out somewhere?" He suggested. "I'll give you so money and you can do whatever you want as long as you're back by 7?"