AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Laughter bubbles from me. “Oh my gosh!” I exclaim. “She’s been into him, like, forever.”
Hunter’s brow jumps. “No way! She liked him!?”
I nod. “Yeah! When she broke up with Dallas at the end of eleventh grade, she kept hoping he’d talk to her.”
“Fuck!” he whisper-shouts. “Garrett was smitten with her but was always too nervous to approach her.”
I shake my head in amazement as I laugh. “I guess this is a good night for true love.”
He steps to the side so that my back is pressing against his chest, and he curls his arms around me.
“I’ll say.” He plants a soft kiss to the top of my head that makes me feel like I could melt into a puddle on the floor.
Wait a minute. Am I reading too much into a random comment, or does what Hunter just said imply that he … loves me?
The thought makes me feel like I’m floating on a cloud on the brightest, sunniest day in the middle of May.
At the same time, it makes a tiny ball of anxiety swell in my stomach.
Is that how I feel about him? Am I ready for that?
I’m too drunk to think these thoughts right now, so I distract myself by telling Hunter I want to play a game of pool since the table is free.
Even though I’m pretty sure I know the answer to the first of those two questions: Is that how I feel about him?
Yeah … I’m pretty sure I know the answer.
But I should wait until I’m sober to admit it to myself for the first time.
Hunter and I play a two-on-two game against another couple we know from high school. Hannah and James were always friendly with me, and it’s cool to see them still together. They started dating senior year, and stayed together when they both went to the same college in New York.
We’ve all had so much to drink that by the middle of the game, we’ve forgotten who’s playing the solid balls and who’s playing the striped balls.
So, we just forget about it and keep playing, seeing who can sink the coolest shots, just having fun, laughing with each other and enjoying the night.
Poetically, the black eight ball is the very last one left on the pool table.
Hannah and James both take their shot, but neither sinks it. Hunter grabs the stick and takes his shot. He doesn’t strike the cue ball quite in the center, so it hits the eight-ball weakly. The ball rolls towards one of the corner pockets, but stops an inch away.
That leaves me to carefully strike the cue ball dead center and sink the eight ball to end the game.
“Does that mean I win?” I ask.
Hannah laughs. “I think it means we all lose.”
All of us laugh. “Sounds about right,” Hunter says.
It’s nice to see Hunter relaxing. I know how competitive he is about any game, so to see him be able to unwind, not even care about keeping score or even what the rules are, and just enjoy a friendly game, is nice.
“Last call!” the bartender shouts.
“It’s one already?” I exclaim. The Windmill Tavern’s closing time.
“Wow,” Hunter says, looking at his phone, “guess so.”
We find Casey and pay our tabs. When we walk outside, I gasp—it’s snowing.
It’s a cold night, but it isn’t windy. Snow is coming down in small, white flakes. The snow in the air magnifies the light from the deep, romantic amber hue of the streetlights. It’s an enchanting, picturesque scene as the three of us walk home.
