SpellShocked (SpellShocked Saga: Book 1)

Chapter 25 - I Really Hate My Own Brain Sometimes

I barely slept the night before, so when Hunter woke up at six, I pretended to be asleep; partly because I was too exhausted to go running, and partly because I didn't know if Hunter would want me to come along or not.

"Charlie?" he whispered, "You awake?" I said nothing and a second later heard him moving around, getting ready. I heard the door close a few minutes later.

"You can stop pretending to be asleep now," Ryo grunted, "He's gone."

I opened a single eye and stared into his glowing orange ones. "Are all Kitsune a-assholes, or is it just the ones I've met?"

"Hey, don't take your teenage melodrama bullshit out on me," he growled, "It's not my fault you signed yourself up for a death battle and upset your friends."

"Thanks for summarising my pain so s-succinctly."

"You're very welcome," he chirped, whipping me in the face with his tail as he stood up and jumped from the bed. Needless to say, I was wide awake now.

I dressed and sat on the bed debating whether I should go down to breakfast by myself or if I should wait for Hunter to come back from his run. Would he want to go down to breakfast with me? Was he still upset with me? Should I just go down now by myself so that he didn't feel guilt tripped into coming with me?

Unfortunately, I spent so much time struggling with my options that he arrived back in the room, sweat running down his face. I tried to smile when he looked at me, but I couldn't bring myself to make it look convincing.

"Oh, you're up," he said. "I let you sleep in earlier cause I thought you could use the rest after yesterday." His tone of voice was neutral again and I couldn't tell if he was still annoyed with me or not. Since he wasn't his usual cheerful self, I guessed that he probably wasn't pleased.

"Th-thanks," I mumbled, "I-I didn't really sleep mu-much." He frowned and sat down across from me.

"Look Charlie," he began, and I felt myself tense up immediately. God this was it, wasn't it? This is where he told he didn't want to be my friend anymore. "I might not agree with what you're doing but I don't want this to affect our friendship, okay? I'm not mad at you and I'm not upset, I promise. I'm just worried for you."

My eyes widened and I felt a few involuntary tears spill forward. I had not been expecting that kind of response. I thought for sure he was done with me. "I-I-I th-thought y-you..." I trailed off.

"You thought I wouldn't want to be friends with you anymore?" he asked sadly. I nodded in response. "Charlie, we don't have to agree on absolutely everything. And even if we don't agree, even if we argue, I'm still gonna want to be your friend."

"I-I ju-just thought...I was sc-scared...I'd lose you all," I managed to stammer out.

"I get it," he said, nodding his head, "You've not had many friends, so us arguing must have worried you. I shouldn't have gone to bed without reassuring you I wasn't angry with you, and I'm sorry I did. I should have thought it through more than that."

"I-It's fine, I-I know you didn't mea-mean to."

"Still, I shouldn't have done it and I really am sorry." He placed a hand on my trembling arm. "Just know that if we fight in the future, I'm not gonna want to abandon you because of it. Well, as long as you haven't done something colossally dickish," he joked. I laughed wetly through my choked-up throat and wiped at my eyes.

"S-So, we're o-o-okay?" I asked, needing a final reassurance that he wasn't mad at me.

"We're better than okay." He smiled brightly and my heart thumped traitorously: I hadn't realised how much I had missed his smile until he dazzled me with it again. But as he left to go and shower before breakfast, my short-lived relief ended, and I was back to worrying about my undeniably growing feeling for Hunter.