Chapter 12
"Do not mention the drugs, the gun or the girls. Do not mention my father and please, I beg of you, be polite," I recited. Hunter smirked, rubbing the nape of his neck.
"Andy, calm down. You've told me this about a million times, chill," he groaned out. I narrowed my eyes, jabbing my finger into his firm chest.
"It is your fault that I am in this mess so stop being snarky!" I hissed through the stress. He chuckled softly, gently grasping my wrist and returning it to my side. My mum coming around was just about the biggest problem I had ever faced in my life. Well, asides from trying to get Hunter's stoned friend of our apartment the night before, that was far from easy.
"I'm not being, snarky, you need to calm down." His voice had taken a softer tone to it as he looked at me with gentler eyes. It wasn't until I'd snapped out of my stressed filled haze that I felt Hunter's warm, large hands on my bare shoulders. I sighed, letting the air get to my lungs. My dad knew about me living with Hunter, hell, he even gave me some money towards rent but my mum didn't know about him, she thought that I was living with Kenzi.
"Remember, you are this geek from uni that didn't have anywhere to go when your flat flooded so you ended up here. You've never been arrested, tasted alcohol or even heard of the word pot," I breathed out and Hunter sighed.
"I'm only doing this because I owe you but I am not being a walking advertisement for the perfect student so you'll have to deal with what I come up with," he replied with a wink. He didn't even seem to notice my glare when he strolled to the sofa and dropped down onto the cushions, giving me an unappreciative check over.
"Do you normally dress like the virgin Mary?" Hunter asked and I scowled, looking down at my outfit. I didn't look like the Virgin Mary, he was exaggerating. I just wasn't wearing my usual ripped jeans, just black ones with a black long sleeve shirt.
"No! Shut up. She's annoyed at me as it is, if she finds me living here with a guy and my usual clothing, she'll decapitate me and then drag me home in a body baf." Hunter laughed, patting the stop next to him. Reluctantly, I walked over and sat down next to him. "Oh, if she uses my full name, I'm in deep shit," I added and he grinned, looping his arm over my shoulder. He didn't make any attempt to pull me closer which was fine, I didn't exactly want him molly coddling me.
"She'll love me." He winked, causing me to roll my eyes. I'd warned Kenzi the night before and she'd brought some of her things up to our apartment so it looked like she lived with us. I'd just tell my mum that she was in classes.
When the doorbell buzzed, I had a mini heart attack. Walking to the door was like walking to my death and even though I hadn't done anything wrong, my heart was hammering so hard that I thought it was going to jump out of my chest and run away. It had the right idea.
Opening the door, I took a deep breath, waiting for the sight of my mother, shooting me a glare.
"Andrea," she replied. Looking at me and then peering into the flat behind me. I stood aside, allowing her in. Both Hunter and I had spent the morning cleaning up and had planned to cook dinner as well, just to convince her to let me stay. My mum letting me go to university was a massive deal; she was far too overprotective for her own good, so staying was going to be difficult. If we managed to convince her that I was fine there, she would probably leave me alone for a few months.
"Mum," I answered, shutting the door behind her as she stepped gingerly inside. She didn't say another word as she inspected the first room on the left. Hunter's room.
"Are those a guy's clothes?" she asked incredulously and I sighed, nodding with a fake smile plastered on my face.
"Yeah, I forgot to tell you. Hunter is a guy that is in my lit class, his flat flooded so Kenzi and I agreed to let him stay here for a while." She turned around, giving me a look to tell me that she wasn't convinced.
I heard shuffling from the front room so I took my first opportunity and led her through to the living room where Hunter was sitting. He got up and offered her his hand with a smile.
"Hi, I'm Hunter, nice to meet you."I felt my jaw hit the floor. I didn't realise he knew the meaning of the word 'manners'. My mum looked him up and down, a small smile appearing on her face as she shook his hand and introduced herself. I watched as her eyes moved over him. He noticed as he smirked in my direction before smiling politely at my mum again.
Whilst my mum went for a poke around in my bedroom, Hunter frowned.
"She's not that bad." I raised an eyebrow.
"Give her about an hour; she's not happy with me at the minute." Hunter laughed, strolling into the kitchen so that he could sort out our food.
"Andrea!" I groaned and cursed under my breath before walking calmly into my bedroom, only to find my mum holding up a small bottle of vodka. I'd hidden it under my underwear so she had obviously been going through my drawers to find it.
"That must be Kenzi's," I replied and immediately regretted it. Her parents were worse than mine and if my mum went home and gossiped, I couldn't imagine the amount of trouble that Kenzi would be in. My mum sighed, putting it back in the drawer and sitting down on the bed, tapping the space next to her. In the end, I joined her and glanced over in her direction until she spoke.
"You may think that I am being overprotective," she started. I resisted the urge to reply and kept my trap shut, silently listening. "But I know what student life gets like, it's difficult and you have worked so hard to just throw it all away," she finished, rubbing my back. Instead of giving her a sarcastic comment, I leaned against her and gave her a small hug.
"Mum, I'm not going out and partying or getting drunk, I'm doing my revision!" She shook her head, clearly irritated with my talking back. Not what I would call talking back but she had a different idea of it than I did.
"I just don't want to be called up here in nine months time to find out that I have a granddaughter!" I bit back my snort and took a deep breath to calm my angry pulse.
"You never know, could be grandson," I tried to joke but her eyes narrowed into slits. Gulping, I tried again. "Look, I am not going to get pregnant! What type of tart do you take me for? I don't do it in nightclubs, Mum."
"I didn't even suggest that you did! I should hope that you still have your innocence!" she exclaimed, standing up. I was chuckling on the inside, she was completely oblivious. She had known that I'd had a boyfriend a while back but we didn't spend much time at his house, mostly at mine and she made me keep my door open so I guessed that her assumption made sense.
"I do still have my innocence!" She shook her head again, sighing and running her hand down her irritated face.
"I didn't come here to argue with you, I came here to make sure that you're not throwing your life away with drugs and alcohol," she muttered.
"I'm not throwing it away, I'm trying, honestly," I soothed but she sighed, shaking her head again.
"You'd better be." After she'd checked out the bathroom, we walked into the kitchen to see that Hunter had set the table and was putting the food there for us to eat. It wasn't exactly a feast, just lasagne that we'd found frozen in Iceland.
"This looks lovely, thank you, Hunter," my mother replied. I moved to sit down on the seat next to Hunter whilst my mum took the seat opposite us.
"No problem." I pushed the food around with my fork before my mum started to speak, grilling Hunter about the pot, rather than me.
"So, have you ever taken drugs?" she asked and Hunter shook his head, swallowing his mouthful.
"Definitely not." I was just about to put the fork in my mouth when a warm hand landed on my thigh, making me squeak and drop the food onto my lap. I grumbled, shooting the asshole a glare as I stood up, making a horrible sound on the floor with the chair.
"Andrea Deeks! Honestly, please remember your manners," my mum muttered. I frowned, grabbing the roll of kitchen towel to wipe my trousers.
"Sorry," I breathed out, returning to the table to find my mum and Hunter speaking like old friends. If I didn't know any better, my mum was flirting with him! The thought made me sick in my mouth.
"So, what are you studying?" my mum asked and I glanced at Hunter curiously. This was a trap. She knew what Hunter was studying, well, what I told her he was studying and she was just prying.
"English Lit," he answered. I almost let out a breath of relief but to avoid being obvious, I just stuffed my mouth with lasagne.
"Where do you normally live then?" she pushed.
"The flat downstairs but the pipe burst, I should be moving back in next week." I still couldn't quite believe how polite he was being, he'd never said anything remotely polite to me and here he was, being the poster child for 'geek club' for my mum. He was never going to live it down.
"So, are you two an item?" my mum asked. Hunter made a small choking sound and I nearly spat my lasagne in her face.
"No, just friends, in fact, Hunter came out of the closet last week," I announced. Hunter glared at me out of the corner of his eye, nodding slightly.
"Uh, yeah, still not fully comfortable with telling people yet," he hissed, narrowing his eyes at me.
"Andy, don't embarrass the poor lad," my mother cooed. Great, I tell my mum that he's gay and she still seems to be flirting with him. I didn't overly blame her, he was very easy on the eye, but his ego was so big that I was often surprised he could fit through the doors to our flat.
"Yeah, don't embarrass me," Hunter added, sounding like a five year old. I rolled my eyes, taking another large bite of lasagne.
"I could easily embarrass you," my mum added and I glared at her, shaking my head in warning.
"Really? This sounds interesting," Hunter replied, resting his chin on the top of his hand. I shot my mum another warning look but she ignored me completely.
"Oh, I have plenty of stories and pictures of baby Andy." I put my face into my hands, cursing my mum under my breath. I knew that if I said anything it would only provoke her and Hunter further so I just stayed quiet, watching the risky exchange.
"Pictures?" Hunter perked up, grinning as he got up. My mum beckoned him over and I knew exactly what she was showing him. Because she was a complete idiot when it came to phones, she had the same wallpaper since she first purchased the phone, which just so happened to be one of my baby pictures. And not an attractive one at that. They need to employ someone in the hospital to teach the babies how to pose; we were so unsuspecting at that age. Once Hunter had moved back to our side of the table with nothing more than a mysterious smirk, I calmed down, begging that my mum wouldn't say anything else.
I listened to the pointless chatter between my mum and my roommate before washing the plates up.
Hunter joined me in the kitchen, bumping my hip with his, wearing a smile.
"She's not so bad," he replied again, handing me his and my mum's plate.
"Only because she fancies you," I teased, bumping his hip back. He smirked, running his hand through his hair.
"Can you really blame her?"
"Could your head get any bigger?" He winked before retreating back into the front room with my mum.
Apparently, when my mum left, she was completely and totally happy with me staying where I was. She had taken me into the bedroom and told me that she was fine with Hunter and liked the house. After further inspection of my room and finding nothing else of 'danger' to my studies, she left with a smile on her face. Immediately after she'd gone, I'd changed back into my denim shorts and tank top; going into the front room to finally relax after the stressful evening.
"Hello?" Kenzi answered the phone lazily as I pulled my one of my legs to my chest.
"She's gone," I breathed out and Kenzi whooped, making me laugh.
"Thank god! Is everything okay or is she taking you home?"
"Nope, I'm still here and my mum is slowly turning into a cougar." Kenzi laughed, turning down the music in the background.
"I'm not even going to ask."
"I wouldn't." Kenzi started to tell me about her evening with Seb and how she was considering never leaving his side again. I grimaced. Getting closer to Seb meant getting in between Seb and Kenzi, there was always a possibility of getting close to him as friends.
"Oh! We have a show tomorrow night!" Kenzi exclaimed, breaking me out of my day dream.
"At a club?" I asked, twiddling with one of my curls.
"Yep! Kyle will give you all of the details tomorrow!" she squealed. I grinned; it had been far too long since my last gig.
"Okay, I'll ring him later." After saying goodbye to Kenzi, I figured that I should probably thank Hunter for what he did.
When Hunter strolled into the front room, he was wearing his usual jogger bottoms and wife beater. Ignoring the strong, flexing muscles in his arms, I shot him a warm smile.
"Thanks for that, by the way." He shrugged as if it was nothing and dropped onto the sofa next to me, making it dip with his weight.
"I owed you, it was fine. Just don't tell anybody else about my venture out of the closet, please?" I laughed, nodding.
"I won't. Well, I could use it as a threat, I suppose," he gently nudged me with his elbow and grabbed the remote to the TV.
"I went out with your brother again yesterday," I replied and Hunter stiffened slightly, glancing at me with interest.
"What happened?"
"I saw the lair, it was like the bat cave," I answered. He shot me another one of his sour looks before adding a small smirk. "Well, it was massive, your dad's house?" I said it as if it was a question and I couldn't help but notice Hunter's eyes darken a little.
"My guess is that he's showing off," Hunter tried to shrug it off but I could tell that it was bothering him.
"I was kind of impressed. After that we just went for coffee and chatted." Hunter nodded, hanging onto my every word.
"Did he say anything much about my dad?" I shook my head, trying to remember our conversation.
"Not much, only that he used to take you and Seb for a cappuccino and that you have a sister." Hunter smiled slightly, nodding and keeping his eyes trained on the TV.
"Yeah, she's only twelve." I smiled.
"Cute." He nodded in agreement.
"You'll probably meet her one day," he added, smiling slightly in my direction.
A/N Sorry for the hold up! I had a massive problem with the rating and three exams so far this week so have been a busy bee!
Question: So.... Are we liking the friendship that is forming?:P
IMPORTANT: Everyone has been asking about extra POV and I have decided that I only want this story in Andy's. On the other hand, I am going to be writing extra POV chapters that don't overly matter to the story in another book on my page, some of you may've seen it. So far, it has Seb's POV and I'm planning a Hunter's one next, so please check it out if you want the other POVs. :)