The Hunter's Angel

The Past Is In The Past

Hey, Layla. Make sure to send over the content calendar for 'Bubbles' by tonight. 

I let loose a rather unpleasant groan, followed by a string of curse words as my boss's email pinged on my computer screen. 

We had just signed this new soda company at my internship, and my boss decided to leave the project to me as if I didn't have enough shit to do already. 

I'd been back home for quite some time now, with Hunter and I arriving in LA about a week ago. I had spent most of the week swamped with work, both from my internship and school. 

Turned out that being gone for half a week could make things pile up pretty quickly. 

On top of the Bubbles project I had just been assigned, I was behind on two more projects for work, on top of the Statistics quiz I had apparently missed. Leave it to me to skip class on the one day I had to be there. 

To say that I had a busy start to the week was an understatement. 

Despite the chaos of work I had experienced upon returning to LA, I had managed to squeeze in a coffee date with Kat and Liam to catch them up on everything the day after I got back. I definitely owed them one, after forcing them to wait in anticipation for quite some time. 

And boy did they soak up every detail.

The two of them went from eagerness, to shock, to pure exhilaration as I broke down the trip with Hunter, leaving out all of the criminal events for obvious reasons. 

Judging from the way they sat on the edge of their seats as I rehashed the day Hunter and I became official, I had a feeling that even if I mentioned that we were shot at, this would have topped that story. 

By the end of it, Liam had a proud smile on his face, and Kat looked to be suffering an odd combination of joy and wistfulness.

Apparently, she couldn't believe that "her Layla had grown up so fast."

She genuinely was the queen of dramatics.

After a rather hefty eye-roll at said dramatics, Liam tossed some celebratory words, followed with some relationship advice that was strangely good for a guy who ran away from commitment.

We agreed to hang out later in the week, once all my work was taken care of, possibly heading out to Ace's for a night out. 

By the time our little meetup was over, I couldn't keep the beaming smile off of my face. I had forgotten how good it felt to spend time with them, how much I had missed my friends.

I certainly hadn't appreciated returning to my pile of catch-up work.

My days had mostly been spent with my head buried behind my computer or a textbook, and I had been counting down the minutes until all my assignments were completed. 

My nights, however, I certainly had no complaints about.

Ever since we got back from San Fransisco, Hunter and I had spent practically every night together, seeing as it was the only moment I had time to spare. 

We shared long evenings out in the town - going to restaurants, sightseeing, roaming around the city - all the while having Bruce follow us around to keep watch. 

I seriously couldn't understand his need to still have Bruce follow us, especially when I was in Hunter's company, but I wasn't going to push him on it. I would be lying if I said that something about the car we had seen on our way back to LA hadn't unsettled me, despite Hunter's sure dismissal. So, if having Bruce around made Hunter feel more at ease, and it definitely helped with my nerves, there was really no harm done.