10/11
🕊 ~WINGLESS AND BEAUTIFUL🕊~
🍁EPISODE TEN🍁
Friday night, Denise shared some news that she hoped
would excite us as much as her.
“It’s a kind of an exchange program,” she said.
“Students from another school will come to our school and a
couple of our students will come to theirs, for two weeks.”
Chaise rolled his eyes, showing us that he didn’t share
Denise’s enthusiasm.
Denise saw this and stuck a ton-gue out at him before
turning to me. “Anyway, you are looking at the chairman of
the first ever Interschool Immersion Program!” she said
cheerfully.
The look that she gave me actually made me nervous. It
was one of those looks that said ‘No’ is not on the options
list.
“Wh-what help would you nee-d from me?”
“Well, you nee-d to help me organize the activities. I’ve
alre-ady got a lot of ideas listed down but I would nee-d your
opinion on them. These kids will be attending our clas-ses
but we nee-d to organize some activities for at least two
weekends. We want to make sure they get to experience the
best of Leighton High.”
I rolled my eyes at her. “Excuse me? I think your spiel
should be delivered to that table over there.” I pointed at
the table where Chelsea and the rest of her squad were.
“Oh plea-se! They’re a disgrace not just to this school
but to the rest of humanity.” This time it was her turn to roll
her eyes. “Anyway, as I was saying, I have been tasked to
organize some activities to make them feel welcome here.”
Chaise sm-irked.
“What, genius?” Denise asked, raising a brow at him.
“Come on, Denise. Who are we kidding? I’ve been here
for months and I still didn’t feel welcome,” he replied.
I smiled at Denise sympathetically. “Sorry to side with
Chaise on that one. I feel exactly the same way.”
Denise sighed. “I guess you’re right. If we didn’t feel
welcome here, how could we make them fit right in?” She
was thoughtful for a while and then as if she decided she
wasn’t gonna let anything dampen her enthusiasm for her
project, she said, “Well, I’m not aiming to impress them. I’m
aiming to impress our principal. I will not fail the first project
she entrusted to me. She expects a grand event on the final
weekend and maybe a bonfire by the beach. Anyway, we’ll
discuss them all later.” Denise beamed. “I can’t wait for next
week!”
“Wait, what? Next week? As in they are going to be here
next week?” I asked, almost in shock.
Denise nodded. “Yep. And you are going to help me tour
them around.”
“Denise… you certainly can’t do that.” I protested
instantly. “I can be a crew member of some dance, I can
help you organize stuff, but plea-se… I’m no usherette
material.”
“Why not?” Denise asked. “You’re gorgeous, you’re
smart, you know your way around and you’re probably the
only one in this school who had re-ad the school history.”
I shook my head. “These kids hate me! Surely, you can’t
make me more vulnerable and visible to scrutiny than I
alre-ady am.”
Denise was about to open her mouth for an argument
when Chaise interrupted, “I can re-ad the school history for
your little game, Denise. Leave Alice out of it.” His voice was
cold and firm and before Denise replied, I thought I saw her
mouth curve a little bit, like she was preventing herself from
smiling.
“O-okay. If… if you insist,” she said to Chaise. “I’ll email
you the names of the kids and the schedules.”
She then gathered her stuff and before she stood up to
leave, she gave me a wi-nk, confirming my suspicions that
she wasn’t really thinking of ma-king me go throu-gh the
worst nightmare of being the school’s tour guide. She
wanted Chaise to volunteer for it, but she was too proud to
ask him.
When she was gone, I turned to Chaise, “I can’t believe
you fell for that too easily.”
I was afraid that he would get mad when he realized
what Denise had just done, but he simply shrugged. “I can’t
believe you didn’t see that coming before I did.”
I grinned at him. “I guess you and Denise are more
compatible than you’d like to admit.”
“Nope. It’s just that most psychopaths think alike.” He
grinned back at me. “Aren’t you scared of the company
you’re keeping?”
I laughed. “I’d take you and Denise any day over the
airhead bimbos on that table.”
“Yeah, I’m worried about what they will do to our visitors
when they get here.”
“I’m worried too. You know how those kids want to show
the rest of the world they were better than everyb©dy else. I
hope they don’t see them as the embodiment of what the
rest of us are really like.”
“Yeah. Some of us have br@ins you know.” Chaise
laughed.
“I hope they don’t try to pu-ll off the usual tricks they
pu-ll on me. They have the tendency to prey on creatures
they thought were weaker than them.”
However, it turned out that we didn’t nee-d to worry that
the popular kids in our school would embarras-s us in front of
the exchange students. One week later, a luxurious bus
bearing the banner “Jacksonville Titans” parked in front of
the school grounds. Almost all the students lined up to get a glimpse of our visitors. And one by one, they got off the bus
looking more like runway models going to a fashion show
than students going on a field trip. I thought they didn’t look
like a bunch of high school students at all.
Oh well, Chelsea and her gang deserved to know they
weren’t the most beautiful people in the universe. At least, I
hoped for the time being, the pres£nce of the new kids
would get them off my back.
The whole school was in awe of our visitors. Everyb©dy
seemed to want a piece of their attention. Denise did not
have trouble finding volunteers for the activities she lined
up. As for me, I almost got what I was asking for since I
stepped into Leighton High. I was invisible. This could
probably be the best two weeks of my high school life.
I ba-rely saw Denise and Chaise. I missed their constant
company. But in return, I got a little reprieve from the insults
and pranks. I thought it was not so bad. Unfortunately,
having more time by myself made me constantly think of
Hunter too. I couldn’t deny the fact that I was always
looking for him. I didn’t see him in the school grounds or
even in the cafeteria. It seemed we were the only two
people in school who didn’t care much about our new
visitors.
One day, as I was eating lunch by myself in our usual
corner, I got to observe the exchange students, sitting in the
tables in the middle of the cafeteria. There were five boys
and five girls, all looking rich, confident and privileged. No
wonder even Chelsea and Don looked like groupies hanging
around them.
There was one girl that caught my attention. She was
tall, with supermodel looks. Perfect curly blond hair and
chocolate brown eyes. She looked like a snob, but with
every right to be. She had a pair of designer glas-ses
perched up her head, and she was slinging a Gucci bag on
her arm. She ba-rely smiled, unlike the rest of her group who
all looked enthusiastic about the amount of attention they were getting. She was looking around, observing or
scrutinizing every corner of the cafeteria.
I was fascinated with the bored expression on her face.
It was obvious she didn’t want to be here. But something in
the way she was eagerly looking around told me that she
was very curious about Leighton High.
Suddenly, she looked over in my direction and her
haughty, oblivious expression changed to something that
looked like shock or awe.
I rolled my eyes. As if I wasn’t used to that reaction
alre-ady! I decided to be br@ve about it and raised my chin to
look at her straight in the eye. But it seemed that she was
not looking at me at all. Instead, her eyes were glued to
something behind me.
I slowly turned around and saw a guy wearing a red
jacket standing a few feet away from me. My heart pounded
in my che-st so loudly, I was afraid he was going to hear it. I
hadn’t seen him in days. And seeing him again now
reminded me just how much I still missed him, and how
desperately I wished he would remember me… remember
our time together when he said he was falling for me.
I found that Hunter was looking at me. His eyes met
mine and right then and there, the world froze. It turned
quiet, like someb©dy just hit the mute bu-tton on the
cafeteria. He was wearing the same arrogant expression on
his face, but somehow, something was different, though I
could not fathom what it was. I wasn’t sure if he wanted to
say something to me.
He moved, like he was starting to walk towards me and
then we heard someb©dy call, “Hunter!” That seemed to
break the spell that momentarily enveloped us, or me at
least.
I turned to the direction of the voice and saw that
beautiful girl, the haughty exchange student, walking
towards Hunter. I thought I heard him curse softly behind
me.
The next thing I saw was the girl jumping into Hunter’s
arms… and the next thing I heard was the sound of my
heart jumping out of my ribcage and breaking into a million
pieces on the cafeteria floor.
As I watched her embr@ce Hunter, I felt reality sink in.
That girl was as beautiful as I was flawed. She looked
perfectly matched for Hunter, the way I knew I would never
be.
I turned away from them, gathered my tray and quic-kly
dashed towards the next exit. Tears blinded my eyes. I tried
to blink them back before I had the misfortune of running
into either Chaise or Denise who would definitely ask what
was going on.
For a moment there, I thought that Hunter was going to
finally speak to me… that he finally remembered that I was
his girlfriend once upon a time in his life when he was not as
perfect as he is now.
I wiped the tears that rolled down my cheeks. Hunter
may seem perfect now that he got his eyesight back, but
damn! He was a much more beautiful person when he was
blind and had nothing to offer me but the goodness of his
heart.
I made it throu-gh the entire day without running into
Hunter again.
Who was the girl?
She seemed to know him very well. Maybe that’s why
she looked uninterested in any of the boys around her circle,
desperately pining for her attention. She was looking around
trying to find her target—Hunter.
Did Hunter go back to Jacksonville after his surgery and
met her? Was she the reason he forgot about me?
Of course… I guess I could not blame him either. He
didn’t know what I looked like when he said he fell in love
with me. Hunter and I existed in our own little world… that
garden by the lake. He had nothing, and had no one….
except maybe for his guitar and me. It was easy to feel affection for me then. He didn’t seem to have a choice. But
now… he’s back to his normal self. He’s got everything
going for him again. His life now was full of choices, some
more wonderful than the others. He could have any girl he
wanted—girls as perfect as she was. Why would he settle for
me?
After school, when I got to the front gates, I saw Hunter
getting into his car with that girl. And just when I thought
my heart was maxed out, I felt it break just a little bit more.
Tears rolled down my cheeks without me knowing. I quic-kly
wiped them with my f!ngersbefore someb©dy could notice.
Hunter didn’t deserve my tears. He made me fall in love
with him, and then he left me. He asked me to wait for
him… only to replace me with someb©dy who was like a sl@p
in the face for me.
I knew I couldn’t score like that in a million years!
“Wait!” I heard someb©dy shout behind me. Then I saw
Denise rushing off to catch Hunter before he drove off. They
spoke briefly while the girl patiently sat on the pas-s£nger
seat, without even a side glance at who Hunter was
speaking to.
Well, if I was that pretty, I wouldn’t have to worry that
my b©yfri£ndwill flir-t with someb©dy else.
When Hunter drove away, Denise approached me.
“Sorry I didn’t see you there,” she said.
I just smiled at her, afraid that I would bur-st into tears
the minute I opened my mouth.
“I just asked Hunter to tell my folks I would be late
tonight.”
“Why? h0t d@t£?”
Denise’s eyes lit up. “Yes, if you must know. And it’s
d@t£s, not d@t£.”
“d@t£s? As in more than one?”
She nodded. “As in Chaise and you.”
“What?”
“Yeah. Chaise and I are hanging out in the bookshop
tonight. He alre-ady promised to drop both of us home.”
“Why?”
“Because you, guys, are going to help me plan next
weekend’s bonfire. And no buts! I know you won’t be too
busy. More than half the population of this town are morons,
who wouldn’t even make it past chapter five of a book. So, I
know you don’t have a line of customers impatiently waiting
for your as-sistance. But I, on the other hand, am in dire
nee-d of help.”
“My boss will not be happy if I brou-ght a friend while I
was supposed to be working,” I argued.
“But ahh! Did you forget that Chaise’s aunt owns the
place? Surely, she wouldn’t mind. And besides, it’s school
work. Not like we’ll be there drooling over boys and plotting
how to lose our vir-ginities.”
“Haha! Sometimes, you can be very funny,” I said,
forcing a grin on my face.
“Is that Hunter Vaughn taking Tania Jameson home?”
Chaise asked, appearing behind us.
Denise nodded. “Hunter used to go to Jacksonville. He
and Tania are sort of an item. On again, off again type of
thing. But for sure, Hunter did not really go out with
anyb©dy else other than her. And all the other guys in
Jacksonville felt it was pointless to even try asking Tania out
when they were up against the ‘King of the World’. And
besides, their parents are business p@rtners. They had been
matching the two of them since they were ten or something.
It would be beneficial to their family’s wealth if they ended
up getting married in the future.”
The problem with keeping your b©yfri£nda secret to
your friends is that you have to endure minutes or hours
hearing about him and another girl. It’s killing you inside,
slowly but surely and yet, you couldn’t even cry and scream
from the heartache.
I bit my l!pto the point of feeling pain. I didn’t want to
believe that one pain less-en-s another, but right at that
moment, I would cling on to anything that would decrease
the shattering pain I felt inside my che-st.
On again, off again, huh!
Funny how he forgot to mention that! He had a girlfriend
alre-ady when he met me. And yet, he still asked me out…
k!$$£d me, made me believe that he could really fall in love
with me.
What a fool I have been!
🕊WINGLESS AND BEAUTIFUL🕊
🍁EPISODE ELEVEN🍁
I didn’t know how I made it throu-gh the rest of the week.
I saw Hunter and Tania in school almost every day. Tania was
no longer inanimate and haughty. Instead, she looked
cheerful and eager. In other words, she looked more
beautiful and inspired. If I had to guess, the reason she
joined the exchange program was because she knew Hunter
was in Leighton High and it was a chance for them to be
together.
I, on the other hand, was now less enthusiastic to help
Denise with her activities. The less of Tania I see, the fas-ter I
would recover from the fact that Hunter has moved on
without me. When he went away to get his eyesight back, it
was not because he wanted to be with me like a normal
b©yfri£nd. It was more because he wanted his old life back…
along with it, his old girlfriend.
Friday night, Denise and Chaise hung out in Alibri,
ma-king sure that everything was set for the Saturday
bonfire and the following week’s activities.
“One of my committee members is trying to get the
local band to pl@yon next Friday’s concert. I could use your
help with that, Alice.”
“Really? Why not Chaise?”
“Yeah, because I’m the music genius here.” Chaise
chuckled. “I will help supervise the venue. I will check up on
you once in a while.”
“If we get the band, I want you to see which songs
they’d be pla-ying.”
“Seriously? Is that a bit too much… dictating?” I asked.
“I want perfection,” Denise replied. “Okay, maybe not
every song. I just want you to sit with them for a few songs,make sure they’re not producing… noise. Or lullabies. I’m
sure you know what I mean.”
I let out a de-ep breath. “Okay. I hope I can fit this with
my after-work schedule.”
“I alre-ady told my aunt to get a temp. At least for these
busy times. She agreed.”
“But Chaise, I was there because I nee-ded the money
too. If I don’t work, I don’t get paid,” I protested.
“I know. And I made arrangements for that too,” he said.
“You can work overtime on weekends to make up for your
abs£nce. My aunt agreed.”
Denise turned to me, smiling proudly. “See? You have no
excuse. You’re the only one here who knew anything about
music.”
“Okay. Since you two planned everything out for me.”
Chaise reached forward and squee-zed my right cheek.
“Come on! St©p pretending that you do not find that
exciting. I know you. I’ve seen you around musical
instruments. In fact, I think you should pl@yand sing during
the concert.”
Denise’s eyes wi-de-ned. “Oh my God, Alice! He’s right!”
She turned to Chaise. “Chaise, if I didn’t know you better, I
would say you’re freaking brilliant!”
Chaise rolled his eyes at Denise’s quasi-compliment.
“No way!” I breathed, violently shaking my head.
“You should show the kids in our school that you’re not
just a pretty face and a brilliant mind! You have kick-as-s
talents too!”
I shook my head. “Nope. Thanks. It’s bad enough you’re
ma-king me babysit the band.”
“Come on, Alice. Think about it!”
I looked at the ceiling thoughtfully for about two
seconds and then I turned to her and firmly said, “No.”
“You’re letting this chance sl!paway,” Denise said.
“Chance for what?”
“Chance for everyb©dy to see what I see,” Chaise
replied. He was looking at me with a wistful expression in
his eyes.
“Here goes Romeo again!” Denise muttered un-der her
breath.
“Although on the other hand, you’re right,” Chaise told
me. “Maybe you shouldn’t show these people what
incredible talents are hidden beneath that beautiful face. I
alre-ady have too much competition as it is.”
“Oh, plea-se!” I rolled my eyes. “Your joke is not even
funny.”
“Ha-ha. I wish I was kidding,” he sm-irked.
“Why would he be kidding, Alice?” Denise asked me.
“You’re a beautiful creature, inside out. But unfortunately for
all those vying for your hand…” She gave a meaningful
glance at Chaise. Then she turned back to me. “Someb©dy
got to your heart first.”
Chaise sighed. “Stupid bastard just won’t leave, huh.”
“Come on, guys, let’s talk about something else,” I said,
changing the t©pic. “I will take care of the band, make sure
they perform up to your standards, D.”
Denise smiled at me brightly. “Great!”
The three of us planned to gr-ab a pizza after I closed up
but when we stepped out of Alibri, Denise’s mom was
waiting for her.
“Oh, I’ll be up early tomorrow. You, kids, have fun
without me. Ta-ta!” she said happily. I was pretty sure it was
a setup.
Was she trying to push Chaise and me together this
time?
I looked at Chaise when Denise went off. He was looking
nervous and uncertain.
“Do you still wanna gr-ab that pizza?” he asked
sheepishly.
I shrugged. “I’m hungry,” I admitted.
He led me to his car and before we drove to the pizza
place, I started saying, “This is not…”
“I know,” he said, cutting me off mids£ntence. “Not a
d@t£. Just two friends gr-abbing something to eat after Hitler
ate up all our br@in cells.”
I smiled at him. “Just ma-king that clear.”
He heaved a sigh and even though I knew he was not
quite happy with that, he smiled at me before starting the
engine.
When we arrived at the pizza place, I realized how bad
the idea was. The first thing I saw was the familiar blue-
eyed devil, who haunted my dreams for more than a year,
and was still haunting my waking hours now. As soon as I
saw Tania sitting next to him, I turned away, tou-ching my
scarred cheek to remind myself that I had been throu-gh
worse in my life and I got throu-gh all of it just fine.
‘Hunter-and-Tania-k!ssing-un-der-a-tree’ was not even a
fifth of the hell my stepfather put me throu-gh when I was
younger. I’m older now. Stronger. Wiser.
“What doesn’t kill you, only makes you stronger,” I
whispered.
“What doesn’t kill you makes you want to kill it in
return,” Chaise suggested, overhearing me. I raised a brow
at him. “Sorry, I’m more of a ‘do-unto-others-what-they- do-
unto-you’ kind of guy.”
I laughed. “No wonder God made you cute. You will not
handle criticisms and insults well.”
“Cute is a hvge un-derstatement, don’t you think?” He
win-ked.
“Cute is actually a very generous compliment,” I said,
teasing him in return.
“I will grow on you. One day, you’ll see.” He smiled,
reaching across the table to pinch my nose.
“Maybe. So let’s order before I starve to death and not
live to see that day, shall we?”
“Come on, man! Where’s your s-en-se of humor these
days?” We heard someb©dy say a few tables away from us.
We turned to see Hunter leaving the group’s table. Tania
stood up from her seat and went running after him.
“Tania, when will you st©p?” another guy asked her.
Tania shook her head and I thought I saw sadness cross
her face. “Never say never, remember?” She smiled at the
guy bitterly and then ran after Hunter.
I didn’t know what was going on between Hunter and
Tania. Whether they were still together or they were
fighting. But whatever it was, I only knew that at this
moment, it was her running after him, trying to calm him
down, easing his pain and ma-king him feel better… not me.
I looked up at Chaise slowly. He was looking at the door
after Tania. Then he turned to me. “I don’t un-derstand how
any girl can keep up with that moron.”
I sighed. “Maybe he wasn’t always like that. Maybe he
was just having a rou-gh day.”
Chaise actually laughed. “I think he was having a bad
year!”
“Well, Denise alre-ady told us what he went throu-gh. It’s
not easy,” I said. “Trust me. I’ve been there. Hi ohene ome on+233544142683 to be added to Story headquarters room for more stories. There are some
wounds you don’t recover from.”
Chaise reached for my hand across the table.
“Whenever you feel like hell, or if your past comes back
haunting you… don’t forget, I’m here for you, Alice. You’re
not alone anymore.”
I squee-zed his hand before pu-lling mine away. “Thank
you.”
The next day, we were at the beach after breakfast. I
was wearing a yellow off-shoulder cropped t©p, purple
swimming shorts and a pair of old beach sli-ppers. The
cropped t©p showed my ba-re shoulders and a bit of my
tummy. The shorts ended a few inches above my knee. It
was shorter than most shorts or Sk-irts I’d usually wear, but it was decent and it highlighted my long legs, which I never
paid attention to before.
I had tucked Hunter’s n£¢klace inside my t©p. I
contemplated on leaving it. After all, it didn’t feel right to
wear it anymore. When Hunter gave it to me, he said he was
in love with me. It was because of my hopes that he would
come back that made me wear it all the time. But now…
that hope was almost gone.
“Wow!” Denise beamed when she looked at me. “You
look h0t!”
“Shut up. These were the only beach wear that Meredith
had that were… decent.” Last night, when I checked her
drawers to borrow some beach outfit, I discovered that she
only owned two-piece swimsuits. Well, she had every right
to wear them. Meredith was pretty and I was sure she had a
h0t b©dy. I felt bad because instead of spending some time
charming guys on the beach, she had to work extra hours to
fend for both of us.
I kept myself busy running errands for Denise, ma-king
sure everything was done the way she wanted. Being
pressured by her was actually heaven compared to the
prospect of running into Hunter, or worse, Hunter with Tania.
Noontime, the sun was high up and the temperature
was at its highest. The monster kids of Leighton High were
still oblivious of my existence as they were too busy
befriending their Jacksonville counterp@rts. I hadn’t run into
Hunter yet and the chances of him showing up were getting
slimmer by the hour.
I checked on the place where the AV systems were
going to be setup at the beach side. I was walking back to
one of the cottages where Denise was when a group of kids
scurried off from behind me, literally running me over,
causing me to almost trip.
Good thing, I was able to hold on to the rail beside me
and broke my fall. I resisted the urge to shout a curse at
them. I looked down, and saw that my sli-ppers did not survive the incident. I reached down to see if I could still fix
it enough to at least wear it until I reached the cottage.
Hopefully, Denise would have a spare.
As I tried to fix my sli-pper, I stood on one foot,
alternating my feet as the cement was too h0t for my soles.
“You should get a new pair,” I heard someb©dy say
behind me. I turned around and found Hunter looking at my
damaged sli-pper.
“You think?” I asked sarcastically. I took a de-ep breath. A
minute ago, I was positive, the day was getting better. Now,
it seemed menace after menace was happening to me in
batches.
“Come, let’s go to the gift shop. I’m sure they would
have plenty there,” he said.
“No. I’m sure Denise would have a spare.”
“The gift shop is over there,” he said pointing at the
small shop in the corner. It’s about a hundred steps away, a
short, easy walk—if you have footwear. Long and painful—if
you are ba-refoot.
“Not necessary,” I said, switching foot again. “The
cottage is not that far.”
“The gift shop is nearer,” he insisted.
I looked up at him sternly. “I’m fine! Can you just… go…
attend to your girlfriend? See if she nee-ds help with
anything!” I shouldn’t have said that, but at that moment, I
couldn’t help it.
He raised a brow at me and then, with a wicked smile,
he said, “Okay. As you wish.”
I thought he would go, but without warning, he bent
down and scooped me up into his arms.
I skrie-ked. “What the hell do you think you’re doing,
Hunter Vaughn?”
He started carrying me towards the gift shop. “You nee-d
to get a new pair of sli-ppers, otherwise, you will burn the
soles of your feet. I’m taking you to the shop, whether you
like it or not.”
“Put me down!” I protested and started struggling in his
arms.
“Sssshhhh!” He ti-ght£ñed his grip on me. “Hush, Allison!
I don’t want to drop you.”
“Just put me down!”
“I will. When we reach the shop—where the floor is
cold.”
Hopeless, I crossed my arms over my ba-re tummy and
allowed him to carry me. The blood beneath my skin began
to heat up and I’m sure that it wasn’t from the sun. I felt
p@rticularly self-conscious because of what I was wearing. I
looked away from him, afraid that he might see the violent
blus-h on my face.
I thought the gift shop was near but it felt like we were
taking forever to get there. If I didn’t know any better, I
would think that Hunter was walking especially slow to
prolong this awkward moment.
“Can’t you walk fas-ter?” I asked him.
“Why? Are you scared that people would see you with
me?” he asked, raising a challenging brow at me.
“No. But you might be embarras-sed to be seen with
me.”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “Now, why would I be
embarras-sed to be seen with you?”
“You’re joking, right?”
He raised a brow at me. “Do you think I am?”
“Yeah, I do!”
“Then you do not know me at all,” he said. And I
thought the annoyance in his voice was laced with a bit of
sadness.
We were a few feet away from the gift shop, much to my
relief. But instead of going inside, Hunter took a turn and
continued walking.
“Wait! What are you doing?”
“The next gift shop is bigger and has better choices.”
“What? No!” I wailed. “Hunter Vaughn, put me down!”
He shook his head. “Nope. I want to prove to you that
I’m not embarras-sed to be seen with you at all.”
We pas-sed by a group of kids who stayed out of our way
as soon as they saw us coming. Some of them were from
our school and some were from Jacksonville. They were all
looking at us with shock and curiosity.
I stared back at Hunter and he looked like he wanted to
laugh or smile like he was enjoying spiting me.
I felt his arms around me ti-ght£ñ, pu-lling me closer to
his b©dy.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked in a low, sober voice.
“Because you told me to,” he replied curtly.
“What? When?”
He raised a brow at me for a moment but didn’t answer.
When have I ever asked him to help me? For the life of
me, I couldn’t remember.
I noticed the white gold chain n£¢klace on his n£¢k,
which he’d been wearing since he c@m£ back. It was only
now that I saw the two rings, which served as the pendant.
The bigger ring had a thicker band that had a pattern on it
that looked like a handle and a diamond in the end of the
design. I couldn’t make out the rest of its design. The
smaller one looked feminine. It had a diamond on the center
and intricate carvings and smaller diamonds on both sides
of the bigger stone. The design of the carvings looked
familiar and I resisted the urge to reach out for it and
inspect it further. I couldn’t make out the designs fully, but I
knew that it was a matching his and hers pair.
It took me a moment to realize that we were alre-ady
inside the gift shop. Hunter still hadn’t put me down. He was
watching me as I stared at the rings on his n£¢klace.
$h!t!
“Umm… you can put me down now,” I said, peeling my
eyes away from him.
He walked over to the couch and gently settled me
there.
“What’s your size?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll manage. You can go now.” Although I
did wonder how I was gonna manage that. I only had about
ten bucks in my back pocket. And this gift shop looked
posher than the thrift shop I originally intended to go to.
But Hunter refused to give up. “What’s your size?”
I sighed. “Seven.”
He went over to the counter to speak to the saleslady
and after a minute, he c@m£ back with a pair of yellow fli-p-
flop sandals.
He bent down, holding a sandal in his hands and
reached out for my foot with his other hand.
“W-wait!” I protested. “I can do that myself.”
I tried to yank my foot away, but he was alre-ady holding
my ankle.
“St©p complaining, Allison,” he scolded me.
He gently placed the sli-pper on my foot. It fit perfectly.
He took my other foot and sli-pped on the other sli-pper.
The wedge fli-p-flop was made of soft ru-bber, with an
ambigram logo of two T’s on the center of the stra-ps. It was
comfortable and my feet looked very nice on them.
Hunter was looking down at them too. Then his glance
crept from my feet, to my legs and up to my b©dy until he
locked eyes with mine. When he realized that I was
watching him, he turned away, looking embarras-sed that I
caught him checking me out. I thought of a similar time
when he caught me checking him out.
Now, we’re even!
He went to the counter and handed the saleslady a
plastic card.
“Hey, wait!” I walked over to him. “You cannot pay for
these!”
“I just did,” he said when the saleslady handed back his
card.
“I’ll pay you back,” I said. “I left my wallet in the locker
room. I have some cash here…”
I reached for my back pocket for some money.
“Leave it, Allison. Consider it a gift.”
“Why would you give me a gift?” I asked, raising a brow
at him. He didn’t acknowledge me before and half the time,
he looked angry at me. And now, he was buying me a
pres£nt. “How much was this anyway?”
I took the receipt from the saleslady so I could look at
the price. I g@sped. It was more than a hundred bucks. “For
a beach sandal?” I asked the saleslady in disbelief.
“Umm… it’s Tory Burch, Ma’am,” the saleslady politely
said.
Hunter snatched the receipt from me. He crumpled it in
his hand and tossed it on the waste bin behind the counter
with perfect precision.
“It looks good on you,” he complimented. “You don’t
have to pay me back.”
“Yes, I do,” I said firmly. “I’m not gonna be a charity
case. I’ve had more than my fair share of people pitying me
and giving me free stuff because they felt bad for me.”
He raised a brow at me. “And you think I’m doing this
because I feel bad for you?”
“Why else would you bother?”
“Because you’re m…” he started saying but then he
st©pped short. “Never mind.” He sighed heavily. “If you
wanna pay me, it’s up to you. But I will only accept payment
in kind.”
“What do you want?”
He shrugged. “I will let you know when I thought of
something.”
I nodded. “But plea-se don’t take too long. I don’t like
owing people.”
“Fine.”
“Anyway, thank you,” I said. “I nee-d to get back to
Denise.”
He nodded again, not saying anything.
“Bye,” I said and turned to leave and look for Denise. I
could only hope that she didn’t notice my new designer
sandals.
I left, without a backward glance, trying my best to walk
a straight line and breathe evenly.
Hunter Vaughn could well be the death of me!
Tbc