Chapter Twenty Nine – Complications
We sat in silence on the couch watching some afternoon children's cartoons when the oven timer sounded. I hopped up and grabbed some oven mitts before pulling the tray out.
"Okay, I'm good to go," Hunter said, attempting to grab two cupcakes when he dropped them, hissing. "It's hot!" He exclaimed.
"It just came out of the oven, of course it's hot," I muttered. I quickly picked them up and put them on the cooling rack. "My mum will probably be home in half an hour," I said, looking at the clock. "So if we leave them to cool for ten, you can grab some and head home."
"Maybe we can leave it to cool for twenty five," he grinned.
"Very funny. Ten minutes is plenty."
I hadn't said a word since he apparently confessed to me, and I was struggling to work out whether or not he had just been messing with me. Usually, after the joke, you tell the person it was a joke, but Hunter hadn't said anything either.
He headed back to the couch, watching Arthur. "And I say HEY! What a wonderful kind of day. If you can learn to work and play and get along with each other," he laughed while singing. "Do you remember this show?" He asked, turning around to face me while I poked at the cupcakes.
"Yeah. Watched it every afternoon," I laughed.
He turned back around and I looked at his messy blonde head of hair, bobbing up and down slightly as the theme song continued playing. At the start of this year, and for all the years of our highschool lives, we'd been in completely separate orbits, so how was it now that he was sitting on my couch watching cartoons like we'd been friends forever?
"Alright, ten minutes is up," I sang. I glad-wrapped four of the cupcakes and handed them to him.
"Alright. Well, see you tomorrow," he waved before leaving. I waved as he left down the path and shut the door.
Too much had happened in one day, and I just needed to have some leftovers and then head into my room to hopefully throw myself into work and then sleep.
I don't need an answer now, but maybe before I'm fifty.
Well Hunter, you'll probably need to wait until you're seventy, I thought, as I typed out the last few words for my lit essay. My parents had come up to check on me, but were satisfied that I'd had dinner and apparently absorbed in my studies.
The only problem was, in six hours, I'd only typed up four pages of a shoddy essay that I would obviously have to rewrite because it was so crappy. All because of what Hunter had said. What were the odds that he was being sincere? Maybe ignoring it and seeing if it would come up again would help.
I stretched, my back cracking, before crawling into bed and falling asleep swiftly, because after all, it was already twelve.
~*~
The gate was becoming a common meeting point. "Hey," I said to Jenny.
"Hi," she replied.
"Look, Hunter already told me um what happened. I kind of get it," I shrugged.
"Can we start again?" She asked slowly.
"Sure," I replied.
"I've talked to all the others, and I take back what I said, but I really do like Hunter."
I looked at her, the way she looked at her feet and how her eyes seemed to look almost doe-like. After what he'd said to me yesterday, I wasn't sure what I was supposed to say to her now.
"Okay."
We parted ways – I went to my locker and she went to hers. Ella bounced over to my side, grinning from ear to ear as she opened her locker. "Why are you so happy this morning? Something happen, ey, ey, ey?" I teased, nudging her in the ribs.
She giggled, and to my surprise, replied, "Yes."
"Okay, so? Come on, share."
"Dean asked me out," she squealed.
"And?"
"I said yes!" She squealed again.
"Shocking. After years of rejecting guys, Ella finally gets a boyfriend," I commentated. "Are you sure? You know he's got a rep for being a player, right?"
"Yeah, I know. But seriously, I haven't seen him talk to another girl since then."
"Alright. Well, you guys are cute as hell; invite me to your wedding."
"Obviously," she beamed. "You can be my maid of honour."
"Who else would be?" I laughed, shutting my locker.
We went off in different directions when I ran into Dean, probably heading off towards Ella. "Hey, wait a sec," I said.
"What's up?" He grinned. "I assume you've heard."
"Yeah. Try not to break her heart, you heartbreaker."
"I won't. Don't worry," he laughed, "But either way, it looks like you're the bigger heartbreaker. I'll talk to you later," he grinned.
"Alright, alright, go talk to your girlfriend," I teased.
"I will," he waved, walking off.
"Hey," Hunter said, falling in step with me.
"Hi," I replied. "The room is here, I'm off."
He waved, and continued grinning as I walked in, occasionally glancing behind my back to see if he was still there. He was acting so normally about all of this, unless of course, it had been a joke. Deep down, I knew I was hoping that it wasn't.
Fourth period chemistry arrived and it was the first time I could honestly say I was glad Carla had transferred to our school and taken my seat in chemistry. The only exchange I had with Hunter was a simple nod of acknowledgement as I walked past.
"How's life?" I asked Archer as I sat down.
"Excellent," he deadpanned.
"Certainly sounds excellent."
"You betcha. So, the man who contributed sperm for my creation returned yesterday begging for forgiveness. The kitchen was a full waterworks show."
I'd never known Archer to be so bitter, but I couldn't blame him. He was probably resolute in cutting off all ties to his dad who he hardly saw before anyway, but I wasn't so sure about his mum. His mum and dad had been high school sweethearts – married for almost thirty years. They were a model family and the epitome of true love, until everything fell apart.
"So what are you going to do?" I asked.
"I don't know; it depends on my mum. If he moves back in, I'll move out by the end of the year anyway. After all, I have a temporary contract with Downtown Ninety Seven," with the last phrase, he wiggled his eyebrows.
"Isn't that a clothing store?"
"Yeah."
"But you don't even have any knowledge of the fashion industry and I doubt you'd work retail," I pondered. Then I realised. "A modelling contract!?" I exclaimed.
"Yup. Used some of my connections. If he moves back, I don't want to use his money, so I'll just borrow the connections and make my own money," he shrugged. "On a side note, there's a launch party this weekend – they just released this year's line of ball gowns. Be my date?"
~*~
I wasn't sure what I had been thinking when I agreed to be Archer's 'date'. The brand was growing increasingly popular and although the clothing was admittedly high quality and I would love to have half of it in my wardrobe, it was undeniably unaffordable.
All the clothing in my wardrobe was casual; the only formal item was my year six graduation light blue chiffon dress, and that was about two sizes too small. I was going to have to spend Friday night rummaging through my wardrobe or shopping for something new, because the party was Saturday night at six, and he was picking me up at five.
Ella was convinced she had something I could wear, but last time I checked, all her knee length dresses would be mid-calf on me, and that would be very strange looking.
"Well, you can get it fixed – cut off some of it!" She suggested.
"I can't do that. I'd need to get someone to do the alterations, and that would cost money. I might as well go buy myself a dress so you can keep a proper length dress," I replied.
"Hey," Dean grinned at Ella, kissing her on the cheek.
"Hi," she replied.
"Please get a room. I'm going to throw up," I muttered. "I've got the rest of the week to work it out anyway; I'll talk to you tomorrow."
I farewelled the two lovebirds and was on my way out of the gym when I saw Ace. He looked at me and I waved. He walked over. "I hear you've cleared up the Jenny business," he said.
"I don't even know. Whatever."
"Anyway," he paused. "I don't think I've had a chance to say it, but...about the party, when I hugged you –" he began.
"It's okay. You were drunk. I get it. I won't think any more or less about it," I said.
He didn't say anything. He just nodded slowly, staring into the distance.
"Anyway, I'm going," I said. With a weak wave, I headed out of the gym towards the gate. The days were getting warmer and spring was on its way. It would then give way to summer, and soon, I would no longer see these familiar hallways, the gate, the basketball court.
I had always thought there'd be nothing to miss, because after all, Ella would probably still go to uni with me. Yet now, I realised, if anything, I would miss the people most. It was surprising that my final year could have changed in such drastic ways.
As I was about to leave, someone grabbed my arm. It was Hunter.
"I know why you're avoiding me," he said slowly.
I thought he said he could wait for an answer; I hadn't even thought about it properly. Or was he going to tell me now that it was a joke? Or maybe he was going to repeat it just in case I hadn't heard. A flurry of possibilities and scenarios flew through my mind.
I kept my mouth shut; admitting anything would be painstakingly embarrassing. "About the hug –" he probably heard my sharp intake of breath at that point. Why on earth was everyone talking to me about hugs today? "I totally do not take it back," he grinned. "So you're going to have to deal with it."
"Seriously Hunter?" I asked, folding my arms.
"Depending on your answer, I'll let you know if I take it back."
So apparently he was being serious.
"And about what Jenny said, I want to take you to parties just for fun. You're not using me, and I definitely don't think of it like that, so don't worry about it."
"Okay," I replied. "I'm going then," I said, not knowing what to say anymore.
"Can I have a hug?" He grinned, holding his arms out.
"No." I held my hands up as though summoning a force field.
The feeling of his arms wrapped around my shoulders came back in an instant, the familiar feeling of warmth making its way into my mind again. This entire time I'd been thinking the feeling of uneasiness was from his supposed confession, but now I wasn't so sure. What exactly was I feeling?
"Alright nerd-bird."
~*~
Two updates in a week! After my streak of complete lack of inspiration, something finally came through. It certainly wasn't a super exciting chapter, but the next one should be. Hope you guys enjoyed!
Anyway, as per usual, please vote and let me know what you thought! :)