Hunt Me Down - Chapter 20: Chapter 20

Nathaniel’s POV
I closed my diary and placed it in the sliding drawler of my desk. I’d tried to write but my thoughts seemed too jumbled to pen down. With a deep sigh, I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my temples.
It was October 31 and my sister had gone to a party. Not the Halloween party the school had organized yesterday evening; this one was her type – lots of alcohol, loud music and no adult supervision. I would have tagged along to babysit but I was too tired. I had not slept two nights in a row, the lovely affects of which were fatigue, grumpiness and a splitting headache. I’d looked for something to ease the last but my search had left me empty-handed; maybe mom had taken whatever medicine we’d had to ease her migraines.
Perhaps the worst thing about my situation was that I had no idea what had caused. I’d been restless all night before October 30 and had not been the best of company; I’d had to actually force myself to dance with Irene.
She’d been wonderful, of course. Understanding, attentive… The perfect date. She’d been on the committee which organized the dance – picking the 30th so that people would be free on the actual holiday; besides, it had been Friday – so a lot of teachers and some students came to congratulate her for a job well done. She’d given each a polite but brief reply before turning her attention back to me, sympathy clear in those dark eyes. She’d even suggested we’d go home early but I’d refused; I didn’t want her to miss the party because of me, especially after she’d invested so much time and effort into it.
I vaguely remembered the uniform black and orange present in the decorations – pumpkins, balloons, banners and fake candles so that nothing would be lit on fire; I vaguely remembered that the non-alcoholic punch had been sweet, cherry-flavored; I clearly remembered that at some point I wanted to shout to everyone to just shut up but instead I’d smiled – or at least had tried to – and asked my date for another dance, silently pleading that the event would be over soon and I could go home to the peace and quiet comfort of my room.
Perhaps I could go over to the Harris’s and see if they had anything for my headache. The only reason I had not done so by now was that I was afraid to see Hunter; he had not reacted well to Irene inviting me on a date or maybe it had been my positive reply which had caused him to leave us without a word and slam the door. I didn’t think Irene had noticed; she had been too surprised and giddy that I’d said yes. Vallery definitely had noticed though and had even followed Hunt inside; once she’d come back to our house, I’d asked her what had happened but she had just shaken her head and gone to her bedroom.
So now I was scared if not terrified that Hunter might be angry at me, that he might be disappointed. One of my biggest fears had always been letting down the people I cared about…
Cared.
As a friend, of course; I cared for him as a friend. We could never be more than that. He was a guy and so was I. He didn’t like relationships and I’d never had time for a long and stable one. Maybe if…
Two quiet knocks on my window had me turning my head in its direction.
Speak of the devil…
I got up and opened the window for him. He landed almost silently on the soft white carpet. He wasn’t grinning or smirking… That’s what he usually did when he came over using the tree between our houses. He would jump in, light the left corner of his lips – always the left – then he would sprawl himself on my bed, his eyes sparkling mischievously. What had he come here for tonight if not to tease me?
*****
Hunter’s POV
Nathaniel looked terrible. The pale skin and red eyes with dark circles underneath them made me understand why Vallery had not seemed in a mood for a party. She’d told me her twin was not sick but that he’d had trouble sleeping; she’d even offered to stay at home with him tonight but he’d replied there was nothing she could do so she might as well go out and have fun. At first I thought she was overreacting but seeing him like this…
“I brought you something,” I said, reaching into the pocket of my black sweatshirt. “Two somethings, actually. You are going to need water for the first.” I pulled a blister of painkillers and placed it on his desk, next to a bottle. “One will be enough.”
“Thanks,” he murmured, taking the cap off so he can gulp down a pill. “I was just thinking about coming over and asking if you had any. How did you know I needed them?”
“Your sister told me,” I replied leaning on his desk.
“She called you?” He asked, drawing circles around the bottle cap with his finger.
“No, I saw her at the party,” I quickly clarified. “Why are you avoiding looking at me?”
“I…” He left the bottle cap alone, his hand falling next to his body. “I thought you might be angry with me,” he whispered.
“Angry with you?”
“About Irene,” he said in a low tone, lifting his gaze to meet mine. His head was still turned down so he was looking at me mostly through his lashes. He seemed nervous… guilty… maybe even ashamed.
“Why would I be angry about her?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. Yes, I had been angry and yes, I still was, but I had also forgiven him so he didn’t need to know that.
“Don’t you… care? About the date, I mean.”
“It’s your life,” I shrugged.
“And you are not upset?” He tried again, his whole face turned towards me now.
Upset?
I wanted to shake my head; upset didn’t even begin to cover it. But I was not going to go there; I was not going to show him how much of a hold he had on me.
“Why would I be upset about that?” I asked and inwardly cringed as that backstabbing hope made me wish to hear ‘because of what we have’ as a reply. But we didn’t really have anything; just me crushing on a child who in his innocent ignorance had led me on.
“Because… Because you flirt with me,” he answered after a minute, his eyes aimed at the wooden surface of his desk.
“I told you; I was just messing around,” I commented evenly.
“Oh.”
Oh.
That was what he had to say. Oh. I silently cussed at his disappointed inflection. It was little signs like this which made it impossible for me to move on. It was also little signs like this – signals that he didn’t even realize he was giving – that made me call him a kid; he was so inexperienced.
This time I really did shake my head. I should’ve known better than to deal with someone like him.
“So how did it go?” I asked to break the silence. Or was it for that? No. I wanted to hear that he’d had the worst time in his life and he was never seeing her again.
“The party was okay,” he shrugged. His hand began to play with the bottle cap again.
“And your date? Do you like her?”
Say no.
“Oh, yeah, she’s a great person.”
“I meant, are you attracted to her,” I pushed for more details.
“Sure, she’s nice.”
“Nice.” I snorted. “Is that how you’d describe her? Not hot, not sexy… nice.”
He didn’t seem all that enthusiastic about the girl. She provided safety yes, but he didn’t seem to lust for her. No matter what relationship you were in, you had to be attracted at least a bit to your partner, otherwise it would not work out.
“Did you kiss her?” I asked and his head shot my way.
“On the first date?”
I let out a chuckle.
“You are such an innocent looser!”
He blushed and looked down again. I still affected him; the thought made me happy, proud even. And he hadn’t kissed that girl; even if they were to go out, it wouldn’t last long without passion.
“So why weren’t you there?” He inquired.
“Not my thing,” I shrugged even though he couldn’t see it. Should I tell him what I was doing that night? Yes, why not? Let’s see if we can spark some jealousy into the boy; it was only fair after what he’d done to me. “I was catching up with Cam. What’s wrong? Don’t you like Cam?” I asked, holding back a grin as he frowned.
“I haven’t really met Cameron,” he deflect, his tone cool. “All I know about him is that you enjoy sticking your tongue into his mouth.”
“That’s not the only thing I enjoy sticking into his mouth,” I kept pushing and he clenched his jaw. Yes, that was the result that I wanted. Get angry, get wild.
“So what else have you brought me?” He questioned, turning around to lean on his desk. “You said ‘two somethings’.”
“Oh, that…” I pushed myself off the desk and stepped in front of him. “I brought you something to put into your mouth.”
He gasped and his body tensed. I saw his chest heave and he held his breath as I leaned in closer. He could not see that I had slipped my hand into my pocked, nor what I pulled out of it. His lips looked dry, chapped, but I still craved to cover them with mine. But he wasn’t ready yet; I’d have to wait. Even though I now had some semblance of a competition, I had to take my time. I rolled the lollypop, still in its wrapper, over my objects of desire, imagining slipping my tongue between them. The boy’s eyes narrowed pleasantly and I smirked.
“I promised you a lollypop for Halloween, didn’t I?” I purred then placed the treat on his desk. “I always keep my promises, Nathaniel,” I added, tilting my head to the side as if to kiss him. A spark of fear shone in his brown eyes and that’s how I knew: it was enough for now. I took a few steps away and turned to climb out the window.
“Get better soon,” I ordered – yes, ordered – before stepping on the tree branch.
Get better soon, because I have plans for you, I thought as I opened my own window and jumped inside my bedroom.