He rolls Danielle’s over to me, pulling his duffel off the top and holding it securely at his side.
“You and her can go do something else. I’m not sure what she expects to happen this weekend, but it’s usually pretty boring.”
“I figured it would be, but I know how Danielle is.” I hear his sharp intake of breath and realized I’ve fucked up. He’s not boring, nothing about him could be boring. I don’t even know the guy, but he consumes my every thought.
Right down to the scrunch of his nose when he’s thinking hard, especially when he’s in the library hunched over his laptop. It pulls his top lip up higher, showing off the small scar that I want to know the backstory of. Was it an accident as a kid running in the park to get to a swing set? Tripping and falling because he thought it would be fun to wear his dad’s dress shoes when they were too big?
Not that I’ve been watching him or anything, but everyone goes to the library to study. Even if he hasn’t been there much the past week, now I know why.
“I didn’t mean,” I start to apologize, but Danielle chooses that moment to come strutting up like she’s on a catwalk.
“Is the car still not packed? We need to get on the road! We’re burning daylight. Hunter, I have to ride shotgun. I get carsick if I sit in the back.” She doesn't see the sad look on his face, or maybe she does and is choosing to ignore it.
“That’s fine,” he murmurs, and Danielle claps her hands loudly.
“Adam, be a doll and put the last bag in the car, yeah? I have the snacks and the drinks, and I have a playlist already queued up for the drive.” She shoulder-checks Hunter while she walks by, and then wraps her arm around his shoulders, pulling him inclose and pressing a kiss on the crown of his head. The jealousy in my veins is welcome. It’s a reprieve from the miserable feeling bubbling inside of me. I’m jealous because Hunter is getting attention from my girlfriend. Not because she’s giving attention I want to give him.
Danielle gets in the front seat, shutting the door loudly. Hunter glances at me out of the corner of his eyes, the brown lighting up gold in the fading sunlight.
He’s… gorgeous. Like the bluest sky on a cloudy day, it’s not the in-your-face beauty that most people come to expect. It’s the subtle beauty in the dainty structure of his face.
Stop. Stop thinking about that.
Getting in the car, I take a deep breath to clear my head, waiting as Danielle hooks her phone up to my car so she can do the playlist and GPS.
It’s just a three-hour car drive, according to the screen. I can make it. Lesser men than I have stayed strong in the face of temptation.
We’re thirty minutes into the drive before Danielle is begging to stop. She does this all the time, so I find the nearest and nicest gas station to stop at off the highway. “In and out,” I tell her, parking the car in front of the door. “We still have two and a half hours to go.” She blows a raspberry and gets out, shutting me and Hunter inside together.
The silence is stifling.
“So,” I say, looking into the rearview mirror, trying to catch Hunter’s eyes. His head is turned, and he’s staring out the window. His arm is propped up, with his head resting securely in the palm of his hand.
I tap my fingers on my steering wheel to an imaginary beat, wishing that my phone was connected so at least there would be something to distract me.
“Why are you going home? Brit said they normally don’t want freshmen going home.”
No response.
“Okayyyy,” I draw out. “I guess I’ll just keep talking to my fucking self.” I don’t even know why I’m trying to make conversation with him. After this weekend, I’m not going to see him again. I’ll let him and Danielle hang out whenever they want. I’ll avoid the café. I’ll do whatever it takes to put distance between the two of us.
Danielle comes out of the gas station, and I stare at her. I’m trying to force feelings that aren’t there, and I do love her. But we have always been friends with an understanding. Her mom and my parents came to an agreement when we were too young to understand what was going on. As long as we play the game, she can keep this cushy lifestyle she’s used to. And that’s the least I can do for her when she has always been here for me.
When I get my inheritance, and she gets out from her mother’s claws, we’ll both be free.
Danielle opens the back door, and I watch as Hunter slumps and starts to fall out of the seat. “Dani—” I’m cut off by Hunter jerking and catching himself on the doorframe.
“What?” he says, his voice drowsy. A red crease across his cheek from where he’s been resting it. His eyes are bleary when they catch on mine, and I feel the panic subside a small amount. My worry for him overshadows the feelings I’m trying to avoid.
“You were asleep?” I demand.
He nods sheepishly, turning his head away from me and looking at Danielle, standing in a parking lot in her cut-off Hello Kitty T-shirt and booty shorts.
His eyes should be on me, not on her.
“Oh! My bad, Hunt! I was going to ask if you wanted to switch seats. I took some Dramamine, so I should be okay to ride in the back.” My mouth gapes widely because, in all the time I’vebeen going places with Danielle, she’s never ridden in the back. She’s never even offered. And all of a sudden, she takes some medicine and she’s fine? I call bullshit.
“No, Danielle. Get in the front seat, I’m not stopping again.” She huffs in annoyance, tucking her red hair behind her ears and glaring at me between the gap in the seats.
