Nine

After the longest tour of the UMaine campus ever, Tawny decided it was time for her to get back to Belfast. 

“Remember what I said. He could be the greatest or the worst thing to happen to you. It's up to you to choose,” she said as she hugged me. “Don't let my past dictate your future, okay? I want you to be happy.”

“You sound like a Hallmark card,” I said when she let go.

“I know what I'm talking about, Kid.” She pressed her thumb in the middle of my forehead, as if to impart her wisdom into my brain. “I'll call you when I get back. When are you coming home next?”

“Not sure, might do a weekend in October, but if I don't, it'll be Thanksgiving.”

“Well, I'll try to get up again before then. Love you, little sister.”

“Love you, big sister,” I said as she put the top of the Volvo down and cranked the radio. She honked as she drove away. I just shook my head.

When I got back home, Hunter was gone, but there was another note on my bed.

Went out to objectify some women. May have sex with some of them. Be back later. By the way, your sister is welcome back anytime. He signed it with just the letter Z.

I crammed that one in my desk with the other. For all I knew, he was having sex with a bunch of different girls. I hated to admit it, but I'd snagged his phone one night when he was in the shower and scrolled through his contacts. He'd messed with mine, so I had to return the favor.

I recognized a few of his contacts, including his cousin and his guy friends. The others, not so much. He had six contacts named Ashley alone. Ashley B, D, H, F, R, and T. The theme continued for the other common names like Heather, Sarah and Liz. I couldn't even count how many names there were. Really, though, was I surprised? Not so much.

I rarely ever saw him talk on his phone, but he texted a fair amount. Every time he did, I wondered which one of the Ashleys it was.

I didn't see him until I came back that night from Megan's where I’d had my fill of chocolate, girl talk and objectifying Richard Gere and Channing Tatum.

“Did you have a good time talking about your periods?” he said, not glancing up from something in his lap.

“Yeah, we even started discussing pap smears. Hey, is that my e-reader?” It totally was.

“Maybe. You left it on your desk.”

“So you thought you'd just use it? How much of my other things have you used?”

“Just your underwear,” he said, his eyes still on the screen.

“Hand it over,” I said, holding out my hand.

“No way, I have to find out who she ends up with.” He held his arm up, so it was out of my reach.

“Give it back,” I said, hopping on the bed and grabbing at his arm. He kept moving it out of my reach. I grabbed his arm with both of mine and yanked, but he chose that moment to poke his fingers into that ticklish spot right under my ribs.

“Hunter, stop it,” I said, trying not to curl up in the fetal position as he continued to tickle me. I tried reaching for the e-reader, but it was no use. He tossed it on my bed and came at me with both hands, flipping me onto my bag and attacking me. I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. He was laughing at me, but there was nothing I could do about that.

“You want it back? You really want it back?”

“Yes,” I gasped.

“Then tell me if I kissed you right now, you wouldn't kiss me back.”

His hands didn't leave my ribs, but the tickling stopped. I tried to catch my breath and tipped my head so I could look at him. He was serious. His body hovered over mine, and I realized I was lying in his bed. His sheets were soaked in his scent, and I wanted to turn my head so I could inhale it better.

“You have a great laugh, by the way. Low and sexy.”

“I wouldn't kiss you back,” I said slowly, because it took a lot of time to find the words. Most of my brain was distracted by his face and his body and how warm he was and how good he smelled and other thoughts about him. 

His face came so close that his breath moved the hair on my forehead. 

“Liar,” he said and slowly got off me.

I stayed where I was, unsure if I could actually move. 

“Here you go, Missy.” My e-reader came into my line of vision. He had been reading the first book in the series I'd also been reading. “I'm rooting for the vampire,” he said before leaving the room and shutting the door.

It took several minutes for me to peel myself off his bed. Most of the blood seemed to have left my brain and gone to other places. It was a good thing I wasn't a guy, because I would have needed a cold shower and a few minutes alone.

Hunter was right; I was a liar. I would have kissed him back. I would have done a lot more than that. I would have wanted him to do anything and everything and then asked for more. Yeah, I needed a cold shower. 

Things cooled off for a few days after that. Hunter backed off. Again. Not from his comments about wanting to sleep with me, or telling me that I looked hot or any of that, but he stopped invading my personal space. Well, he stopped invading it so much. 

He started a new routine every night when we went to bed. 

“Love me?” I'd answer no. “Hate me?” I'd answer that with sarcastic comments, listing the things that he'd done that day that pissed me off. The list was usually pretty long. I'd end that with saying no again. Then we'd both turn over and go to sleep. It was a strange thing to do, but it turned out we were both strange people.

I stopped caring if he saw me put in my retainer. He started taking more of my stuff and caring less when I got pissed.

Darah came back from her date with Mase with her eyes glowing. Somehow he had completely won her over, and he became a fixture at our place, as did Dev and Sean. They were both a little smitten with Renee, and she flirted back with them, but never took it further than that.

Classes ramped up in intensity, and I spent more and more time reading and writing papers and other busy work. Hunter and I spent our first mediation meeting with the RD trading quips back and forth. 

The RD, Chris, tried to steer us back on track, but he wasn't a very good mediator. I just ended the session wanting to punch Hunter, and he ended it with a smile on his face. So, we'd made zero progress. We still had to meet the next week, and I didn't have any hope things were going to change anytime soon. Besides, I'd agreed to the bet, so I couldn't really go and throw him out without backing out, and I wasn't going to do that. I'd given my word and I was going to stick to it.

On Wednesday, I finally got an email about the library job, and they wanted me for an interview the next afternoon. It was short notice, but I agreed to it. The money I'd made at my summer job at a local lobster shack was quickly disappearing. 

I found the department in the back of the library, tucked into a corner. There were a lot of pipes and ugly green paint, and it was clear this was a neglected part of the building. 

I met with Tom, the head of the department, and he asked me about my work ethic and all those questions about hours and so forth. Standard stuff. I'd practiced before I went and was grateful. I'd thought about asking Hunter to let me practice with him, but he just would have asked me ridiculous questions and would have been no help. So I'd asked Renee to help when Hunter was at class.

All in all, I thought it went well, and when I shook Tom's hand and left, I felt fully confident I had it. 

I made a detour to the gym before I went back to the apartment. It had been forever since I'd worked out, and I was really missing my kickboxing class. Luckily, there was a sign-up sheet for a Saturday afternoon class, and I immediately put my name down. I hit the elliptical for a while and then did some weight training, but I wished I had something to punch. 

I was still riding the high of my interview and my workout that night when Hunter decided to make another crazy delicious meal and have everyone over. It had somehow turned into a ritual, and we'd even picked up a few more people in our complex that had smelled the food and wandered over.

That night we ended up feeding no less than fourteen people. We'd turned our apartment into a mess hall, of sorts, and had actually started to leave the door open. People would walk by and say hello, and I found that I liked a lot of them.

“What are you making for the crew tonight?” I said. Hunter was surrounded by shopping bags. I had no idea where he got his money, seeing as how he’d never mentioned a job. 

“Well, since we're feeding about half of campus, I thought we'd go with pizza. Then everyone can do their own and bake them in their own ovens.”

“Sounds like a plan. You need any help?”

“Yeah, if you could start chopping those peppers, that would be great.”

I pulled out a cutting board and started chopping. Renee came and helped me when she got home, and Darah arrived shortly with Mase, her fingers entwined with his. They were an odd couple, but somehow they worked. Mase was so laid back and chill, and Darah as so uptight and orderly. Maybe they'd even each other out. Time would tell. God, if they broke up, it was going to be really awkward.

Everyone pitched in and we got an assembly line going. Greg and Todd, two of the guys who lived next door, offered their oven, and started putting in pies as soon as we could finish them. It was complete chaos, but somehow out of that emerged a group of people all intent on one goal: delicious pizza. I refused to go near the pepperonis so Hunter dealt with that, washing his hands after and helping me assemble my veggie pizza and shoving it in the oven with the plain cheese pizza. 

Our pizza party spilled out into the hallway as people either stood or brought chairs from their own rooms. We put on some music, and it was loud and crazy and fun. Sophie, Heather and Gabby also offered the use of their oven, putting in the done pizzas so they could stay warm.

We broke out the Solo cups and everyone pitched in with what alcohol they had. Hunter found some spiced rum somewhere and made me a rum and Coke. The alcohol flowed and everyone told stories and laughed. 

“Thirsty Thursday!” someone yelled every now and then, and we were all required to drink. I hoped that no one would call any of the resident assistants to come check IDs. We would definitely be screwed. 

At some point Hunter pulled out his guitar and started playing.

“Free Bird!” someone yelled. Hunter rolled his eyes and played it, and we all sung along. Then someone yelled another song, and another. We turned our pizza night into an impromptu sing-a-long. I joined in and caught Hunter watching me. He played, but didn't sing. We ended with a rousing rendition of Billie Jean.

Everyone shuffled back to their rooms after disposing of their plates and cups and napkins. We all agreed to do it again next Thursday, and everyone started voting for taco night. I was fine with that, as long as I could make my own in a separate pan. 

Dev and Sean wanted Hunter to come over and play video games, but he declined. Renee said she had to head to the library, and I decided to go with her. I had a paper to write for my Medieval History class that was going to take a lot of concentration. I'd taken to escaping to the library frequently. Trying to do work with Hunter around was too distracting.

It started drizzling as we walked down, so by the time we got there, we were both damp and irritated. Luckily our bags were waterproof, so our books and my laptop were not harmed. 

Renee got right to work, pulling out one of her anatomy textbooks — the kind with graphic pictures of nasty diseases. Yuck. I booted up my laptop and tried to resist the urge to click on the internet icon. I opened a blank word doc and got out the research I'd done the other day. Ugh, this was going to be horrible.

Two hours later, I had ten pages, aching wrists and burning eyes. Renee had gotten through twenty-five pages of reading, which was a lot considering the print was absolutely microscopic and she had to take copious notes. We both stretched and blinked our eyes multiple times to make sure they still worked. 

“I'm beat. You ready?” Renee said, shoving her book back in her bag as I packed up my laptop.

“Wonder what Hunter's gotten up to while we were gone.”

“Who knows? I really wonder what he does when we're not around.”

“Probably jacking off. He can't really do that when you're sleeping in the same room.”

“Oh, God, I don't even want to think about that.”

“You know he does it,” Renee said, pushing open the library door. It was fully dark, the security lamps fully illuminated.

“I really, really don't want to know.” Yes, I knew that guys had to do that, but that didn't mean I wanted to think about it, especially thinking about Hunter doing it. 

“Oh, grow up,” Renee said, shoving my shoulder. I changed the subject and that carried us up the horrendous hill and up the stairs.

I was still trying to get the image of Hunter jacking off out of my head when we walked into the apartment. 

“What is that?” Renee said, sniffing the air. It smelled like someone had lit about a million chocolate-scented candles. 

“Surprise,” Hunter said, pointing to an absolutely gorgeous-looking cake with peanut butter frosting and chocolate dripping off the sides. 

“You made that?” It looked professional, like he'd gone out and bought it. 

“I did.” If I hadn't seen demonstrations of his cooking skills before, I would have thought he was full of shit. 

“What for?”

“Just because,” he said, shrugging. His face was serious, and I could tell something was on his mind. 

“I don't trust you,” I said, eyeing the cake.

He chuckled. 

“You shouldn't.” 

“Can we eat it now?” Renee said, tapping her foot.

Hunter handed her a cake cutter I'd never seen before. 

“Be my guest.”

Renee grabbed it and sliced into the beautiful cake. We should have taken a picture of it beforehand. I wasn't sure how often we were going to be seeing things like that. 

She pulled the piece out with her hands and then seemed to realize that she didn't have a plate. Hunter handed her one from a stack he had waiting. He'd thought of everything.

“I wanted to make this, but I didn't want the masses devouring it. Nothing sinister, I swear,” he said, holding up his hands. 

I still didn't trust him, but cut myself a piece anyway. It had three layers, with a thick layer of frosting in between. I knew before I tasted a bite it would be heaven. 

It was.

“I'm not going to sleep with you in exchange for this cake,” I said.

“I don't need to use cake to get you to sleep with me,” he said, handing Renee a fork so she’d stop using her fingers. 

“Can we stop with the sexy talk? I'm eating over here,” Renee said, her mouth full.

I crossed my eyes at her, finished my slice of cake and licked my fingers. Hunter swiped some frosting from his cake and smeared it on my cheek.

“Hey!” 

“That's it,” Renee said, taking her plate and going into the living room, “when the frosting starts to fly, I get out of the way. If you two want to have sex on the counter, can you just clean it up after? Oh, and please don't screw each other on the cake? I'd like to have another piece.”

I really, really wanted to retaliate, but instead I swiped the frosting off my face and stuck my finger in my mouth. 

“Tease,” he said. 

“Takes one to know one. What kind of guy makes a girl an amazing cake without expecting something in return?”

“A guy who doesn't exist!” Renee yells from the couch, her mouth still full of cake. I hoped she didn't choke.

“Me,” he says. 

“Whatever. You do owe me for the e-reader incident.”

“You enjoyed that as much as I did.”

“Whatever.”

“Like I said, Missy, I wouldn't need cake to get you into bed.” He looked at me in a way that made me go bright red. Ugh. I looked away as quickly as I could and grabbed the cake cutter.

“I will stab you with this, don't think I won't.” 

“Threatening violence, interesting. You know you do that when you're uncomfortable.” His voice lowered until only I could hear it. Renee was licking her plate to get the last of the cake crumbs. 

“Bite me,” I said.

“You also say that when you're uncomfortable. Why, Missy? Are you sexually frustrated?” That was none of his damn business. 

“You're not ever lying in bed, thinking of me in the next one, sleeping naked right across the room and my hands and —”

I turned and snapped my elbow toward his stomach. His flinch was satisfying.

“Nope,” I said, flipping the cake cutter in my hand and catching the handle again. I'd taken baton for like a month when I was five and my wrists were still good at flipping and catching things like that.

“Liar.”

I ignored him and went to sit with Renee. I needed her as a buffer. Darah came in a few minutes later, so I had at least two people. Not that it made Hunter have any more of a filter. I was pretty sure he was born without one. Well, I didn't have an anger filter. When those two things combined, it was anyone's guess.