Hunter's POV
Do you ever just have that feeling? That someone's watching you. When the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and you're not sure why.
Well that's how I've been feeling for the past week. Ever since Christmas there's been this eerie tension in the air. Specifically around me. I was becoming quite paranoid about it.
Although every time I look around, no one's there. I had a slight urge to who it was and the alarming sound of my phone ringing validated my theory.
As the random number flashed across my screen my stomach dropped. I accepted the call out of spite. "What do you want Kelsey?" I slightly yelled.
Walking down the snow covered streets I cringed at her unsettling laugh. "Oh Hun. She's a pretty one isn't she."
"What are you talking about?" I ask, concerned about who she was playing at.
"Christmas looked fun." she said, ignoring my question. "But it would've been better spent with me."
I took in a breath. How did she know where I was? I mean she did tell me that she was coming to visit me. But the only way she would've known where I was that day was if–
"Kelsey, where the hell are you?" I asked, frantically searching around myself.
Her laugh filled my ear and I had to pull away my phone out of discomfort. I stopped in my tracks, whipping my head back and forth. I couldn't see anyone. I mean there were people on the street but none of them were her.
It's only been a few months since I've seen her and the last time we talked, it didn't go so well. Not that I was scared of her, but she was just a straight up psycho. So much so that I've had to distance myself from the group. For their safety and mine.
Weaving past the people in front of me I kept walking in case she had been following me. Lord only knows that she is. "Kelsey just leave me alone." I plead.
"You don't mean that," she sounds cheery. "I know you miss me."
"You don't know a damn thing." I snap. "Look, stop calling me. I don't–"
"And here come Ms. Precious." she cuts me off.
"What are you talking–" I'm taken aback when I ram into someone. I turn off my phone, ending the call before looking at the person I've just knocked down.
"Ow." a certain voice mutters in front of me. When her eyes flick to mine I immediately bend down to help her up.
"What're you doing here?" I asked wholeheartedly, pulling her up by her hands.
When she got to her feet she threw me an unnerving glare. "What do you mean what am I doing here? It's the middle of town." she gave me a snarky reply.
I scratched the back of my head in a bit of embarrassment. That was kind of stupid of me to ask. When I get back to my senses I can't help but feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up again. This wasn't good.
I feel a vibration in my hand signaling that I had received a text. Unfortunate that she had to cut our call short. I can't wait for your next game. I've already bought my ticket. What the actual hell. I turned around, a familiar sense of paranoia coming back.
"What is going on with you Hunter?" I swing my head back and meet her eyes, daring and full of concern.
"It's nothing Dani." I rush out and she looks somewhat offended. I didn't mean for it to sound harsh, but every second I spent talking to her was another second I knew that creep was watching us. "Seriously, Dani, I'm fine."
My plea seems to go unnoticed by her as her glare at me continues. "Don't give me an I'm fine Hunter. It seems like you're far from it." she crosses her arms over her stomach as her eyes shift behind me.
I take a step towards her, closing the gap in between us. Her eyes lock onto mine and I barely notice the way her knuckles tightened around her jacket.
I almost forgot we were in the middle of winter. The constant reminder came in soft blankets of snow that fell almost daily now.
If it wasn't for the blatant cough she let out, I wouldn't have even noticed she was still there. My mind was running a marathon and I could barely focus on her.
I was more worried about every other person who passed by us. It was only a matter of time before that lunatic showed up, and I did not want me or her to be around for that.
"Listen, I can't talk right now so can we please talk about this later?" I hardly let her get an answer out before I tried to walk by her.
Only that doesn't even come close to working. "No." she says, sternly standing her ground. The grip she had on my forearm was strong enough to keep me back.
"Please, just go home Dani." I let out an exasperated sigh and removed her hand from my arm.
"You can't just walk off like that!" her voice raises and the glint in her eye sharpens.
I let out a silent groan. "Look, I'll explain later at Bev's house, but for now–"
"But for now you'll what? Distance yourself like you have been for the past week?" she blurts out of frustration.
I stay silent. She was right. I was going to distance myself, but for good reason. All I was going to do was head to practice and then head home. I didn't have the will to mingle knowing a certain someone was on my back. Nor could I.
If it's not me she's sending a direct taunt to, it's anyone else I talk to. Particularly the opposite gender. If I even stepped foot near another girl, Kelsey would know within the hour.
By the time I would head to bed I would get a text from them asking me why they received a letter, telling them to never speak to me again.
I felt this sort of pressure on my shoulders that ran up to my head. Even thinking about it gave me a headache.
"So I guess I'll see you at the apartment. If you decided to check your phone once in a while you would've known I moved back into my dorm." she spat out, grimly looking at the ground.
That was all I heard before she turned on her heel and walked away, her feet trudging in the snow. I felt bad, honestly I did. I didn't like shoving her away like that but I had to.
Stuffing my hands in my pockets I let out a breath and walked to my car. When I reached my vehicle I noticed a piece of paper stuck on my windshield. There's no way I got a ticket.
I checked the meter and realized I still had over ten minutes left. I went around the side and realized that it wasn't a ticket at all. It was an envelope.
When I looked at the handwriting I already knew who it came from. I had received too many of her letters to know it was Kelsey.
She needs to leave me alone for Christ's sake.
Getting back to the apartment I head upstairs and drop my stuff in my room. I threw the envelope on my desk without a care but a few tense minutes later I decided to open it. Reluctantly doing so I pull out a mass of papers.
It was a bunch of letters. What was odd about them was that they were written years before I even met her. Many, many years prior. What the actual fuck.
The papers spewed out onto my desk as I checked the dates, not giving a care about what the letters actually read. They just kept getting older and older.
In one of the last letters I opened, a small piece of paper fell out of it. When I flipped it around it was a small polaroid of me.
My mouth dropped in horror when I realized it was me playing in a game. My freshman year of college. I could tell because the number on my jersey was fifteen.
I wore five after that season and it's still my number now. So had she been stalking me since then? I assumed so.
If that's the case, then I have a way bigger problem on my hands than I initially thought.
~~~~~
A few hours later Cal and I returned to the apartment. Practice had been brutal and I was totally worn out. All I wanted to do was eat and go to sleep. It seemed the same for Cal as he yawned and slumped into his room.
After a quick shower I threw on a pair of flannel pants unlocking the door. I put my sweatshirt over my head and I walked out of the bathroom.
I walked blind for a moment before I pulled the hood over my head. When I pushed my hair back I almost yelled.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, pulling my strings so they were the same length. I wasn't given an answer and when I realized why I was less than amused.
Marching towards her I snatched the paper out of her hands. "You shouldn't be reading that...and you shouldn't be in here at all really."
I hear a snort of a laugh come from her as I scrounge up all the papers. "You really didn't have a problem bringing me in here when I told you not to." she fires back as I throw the letters into the small bin beside my desk.
I just rolled my eyes at her. She got me with that one.
"I mean seriously. I'll love you forever and always. Love, Kelsey." she says in a mocking tone.
I shift uncomfortably at the mention of her name. "Why do you even care?" I ask in a sigh.
"Why do I even care?!" she sits up in her chair and gives me an 'are you serious right now' type of stare. "Because I have a good feeling whatever is drawing you away from everyone has to do with this girl."
I turn my head away from her. "And how would you know that?"
"Because everytime I mention Kelsey," she puts an emphasis on her name and I frown. "You tense up like I'm talking about death."
I shove my hands in my pockets as I hear the chair scoot back. She stood up and I heard her walking towards me but my eyes were locked on the door. Not that I wanted to leave, but part of me wanted her to.
I don't need her getting mixed up in this. Scratch that. I don't want her to get mixed up with this. Even if she already is unknowingly.
I can't have Kelsey come barging into her life and make it absolute hell. Because unlike every other girl who listened to the crude warning and left, I know damn well she wasn't about to.
But I had to try. "Leave." I deadpanned at her.
The look on her face said it all. "What?'
I weaved around her and pushed her towards the door. "I told you to leave." I repeated.
"No way Hunter. You said you'd explain everything later." she reasoned as we reached the wooden doorway.
"Can we just do this tomorrow?" I plead, reaching around her and pulling the handle. She turns to me, her face written in defiance.
"I'm not leaving." she crossed her arms.
I opened the door just slightly. "Yes, you–" I was cut off as she backed into the door, slamming it shut.
"No." she leaned against the door like it was her job to protect it with her life. I could easily move her out of the way but I restrained myself from doing so.
I bring a hand to my face. "Dani–"
"Not until you tell me what's going on." she uttered sternly, again, cutting me off. She has got to stop doing that.
"It's nothing." I say nonchalantly.
"It's nothing? It sure seems like something." she stood up straight, her back still against the door.
Exhausted I let this slip by. "It's complicated."
"How so? I mean, so complicated that you have to stray away from your friends, refuse to go out, not even have the time to check your phone?!" she lists off. "Hunter–"
Hearing her go on and on about what I was doing was starting to frustrate me. "God, will you just stop talking?" I lean forward, placing my hands on the door, at the sides of her head.
She goes quiet and I can finally have some peace of mind about my rash decisions. If she's this adamant about knowing what's going on there's no other way I can keep her out of this, unless she knows.
I will admit this might be a stupid idea, but I really don't have another choice. "You really want to know that bad?" I ask, prying her for more.
Her lips purse into a tight line as her head cranes up to mine. Her eyes say it all. She's not going away until I at least tell her something.
"Fine. That Kelsey girl is a total stalker. Writing me letters, texting me from random numbers, calling me too, and leaving the stupidest voicemails I've ever heard. She's absolutely insane and won't leave me alone." I said in one breath.
"And in case you haven't noticed I don't want you or the rest of the group getting into it." I add to make myself clear.
She kept her eyes glued to mine as I hovered over her in silence. Her lips had fallen into a frown as I pushed my hair out of my face. "I want to help you." she said, her arms dropping from over her stomach.
You're joking right? I turn my head and almost laugh. "What part of I don't want you involved did you not understand?" I asked unamused.
"I could care less about that." she said sternly. "What I do understand is that this girl is obviously causing some real problems and I'm not just going to sit around and watch it happen." she put a finger to my chest.
I looked at her pointed finger and frowned. "I don't need your help." I repeated, blinking my eyes to keep them open.
"Well you're gonna get it." she fired back immediately.
"No I'm not. I don't want your help Dani." I countered.
"But I want to help you. I'm not just gonna let her tortue you."
"Can you just leave this alone?" I sigh out of exhaustion.
"I'm not doing that either." another comment leaves her mouth.
"God, for the last time, I don't–"
Again, I'm cut off. This woman is pulling my strings. No, literally. She's pulling my strings. I was quite shocked by the grip she had on the small cords that came from my sweatshirt. Pulling me down I was now a few inches away from her face.
"I am going to help you Hunter, whether you like it or not. Got it?" she snaps.
The glint I saw in her eyes told me that she was determined with her answer. She was not letting this go like the strings of my sweatshirt.
Exhausted and totally worn out from today, I lazily agree with her on a few conditions. "Fine." I almost yawn.
Her eyes light up and I can't even make a face at the smile she gave me. "But you don't help me until I tell you to. Understand?"
Her smile falters for a moment before her face completely goes blank. I didn't really understand why until I saw her cheeks turn the slightest shade of red. Her grip loosened on my sweatshirt but our close proximity remained for another second.
I don't know why I stayed there. I just did. Somehow looking at her made me feel things that I shouldn't be feeling. Not right now at least. I knew I could feel it but I was way too tired to show it.
Pushing off the door I clear my throat and stand straight. She walks away from the door and I open it. I went into the kitchen and saw that it was only eight.
I could really use a nap right about now. And that's just what I was going to do.
Grabbing a bag of opened cereal I walked back into my room and laid down on my bed. I didn't really care that she was still in here.
She could do what she wanted to. Read the letters for all I care. Now that she knows I guess I didn't see the point but I wasn't going to read them anyways.
With my head on the pillow and the bag in front of me, I took a handful and grabbed my phone off the nightstand. Feeling the bed sink next to me I instinctively rolled over and saw that she had laid down with me.
"What are you doing?" I ask, my voice already sounding like I was half asleep.
"Taking a nap. My bed sucks." was all she said before I rolled back over.
Scrolling through whatever feed I had on my phone it didn't take long for me to doze off. That took surprisingly less time than usual.
But it always did when she was here. It's kind of what she does to me.
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Well there's a little insight into the situation I guess.
These almost kissing scenes are actually putting me through panic attacks so :)))
Thoughts about this chapter???
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