𝗜'𝗺 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘅 𝗵𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝘆𝗹𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿

15.

"You deserve a better best friend." Hunter admits, kicking rocks on the ground leaning on the car next to Kevin as we all wait outside of Emily's house.

"Yeah, probably. But you're the one I've got, so..." Kevin shrugs, and Hunter looks up with a small smile on his face.

I watch on with my arms crossed defensively, still mad at Hunter for being a dick.

Finally, after a long while of waiting in awkward silence, Emily comes out of the house and me and Kevin hug her in greeting.

Hunter stays by the car, looking down at his shoes guiltily until I clear my throat and he looks up at me.

I raise my eyebrow and he starts to try to find the words to apologize to Emily.

"You nearly cracked my fucking scull dude. And you put a really large dent in my guitar." Hunter tells the girl a bit harshly and I can already see Emily starting to feel bad about herself again for her uncontrollable condition.

"Your behavior has been violent and unpredictable..." Hunter continues and I roll my eyes at his stupid dramatics.

"Watch it..." I warn quietly and he looks over at me as I frown and looks immediately sorry.

"You are Metal beyond reproach. So, will you please, please, please accept my apology and come crack some fucking sculls with us at the battle of the bands?"   Hunter admits, putting his pride aside and holding out the devil horns to Emily in a truce.

I'm taken aback by Hunter's proposal, and look over at Emily who also gapes at the offer.

"I-I can't..." Emily finally says after a moment of contemplation, crossing her arms over her cardigan and leaving us to rush back into her house.

"Emily..." Kevin calls after her concernedly but she just waved him off.

"I'm not ready." She says, then disappears into her house leaving us all a bit sad at her rejection.

"I should go see if she's alright." I tell the two boys, finding away from them to follow after Emily but a hand grabs my arm softly to pull me back.

"Hey..." I turn around to look up at hunter annoyedly as he looks down at me longingly.

"What?" I snap, pulling my arm away from his grasp and looking up into his gorgeous grey eyes in challenge.

"We're not done yet." He tells me and I run my hand through my hair anxiously.

"Hunter-" I try to explain that I need to talk to Emily right now, but he doesn't let me talk and instead puts his hands on my arms again to keep me facing him.

"No, please just let me say it." He pleads and I sigh in defeat, letting him speak his peace.

"Fine." I motion for him to keep talking and he flusters slightly.

"I didn't mean what I said before. I was just mad and needed to take my anger out on something."  Hunter admits softly, tucking a piece of hair behind his ear. He doesn't have his rings on anymore, it looks weird.

"That doesn't mean you can take it out on me." I butt in irritatedly and he nods in agreement.

"I know, and I'm sorry. I've been a dick recently and I feel like shit for treating you like that. I promise that it won't happen again." He squeezes my arm and I want to give in so bad.

"I'm not accepting your apology yet." I tell him stubbornly, and he nods in understanding.

"Of course. I'll be here until you're ready." He tells me, putting one hand on my face and rubbing my cheek with his thumb.

Ok that was kinda sweet... I think as I look down at his chest tiredly.

I lean into his touch slightly, tired of being so pissed at him all the time.

"You guys should get going, or you're gunna miss the competition." I pull away, looking down at the ground as my cheeks heat against my will.

"You're not coming?" Hunter asks, his voice just a bit disappointed as Kevin heads to the car.

"I'll catch up to you guys in a bit, I've gotta talk to Emily first." I tell him, waving with a reassuring smile as I head towards Emily's front porch.

"Okay, see you later then?" He asks, walking backwards toward the car and cocking a brow.

"Sure. Later." I tell him simply. Turning away, I head up to Emily's front door as I hear the passenger door slam.

Fuck. Why am I such an idiot?

"Hey!" I turn back around, jogging back towards the car as Hunter rolls down his window to talk to me.

"Yeah?" He asks, and I bite back a smile at the deja vu as I lean into the window and plant a chaste kiss on his surprised lips.

"Break a leg, losers." I tell them both playfully, walking away back up to Emily's house and feeling butterflies in my stomach at the look on Hunter's face when I pulled away.

𖤐

"Hey, you alright?" I walk into Emily's room to find her biting her nails distractedly and sitting cross legged on her bed.

"Yeah, I just needed a minute to calm down." She tells me as I sit down next to her.

"Why didn't you want to play with them? I thought that was what you wanted?"  I ask softly, careful not to trigger her again.

"That was what Kevin wanted. I can't be like you guys, I'm just not meant to be Metal. I play the Cello. I listen to classical music. I'm not badass like you." She tells me sadly, eyes soft as she looks over at me when she explains.

"Are you fucking with me right now? Did you not hear what Hunter just said? You are the most badass girl I've ever met. You should've seen when you picked up that desk and threw it at Hunter's head, you looked so cool!"  I tell her, waving my hands in the air for dramatic affect.

"I wasn't even thinking about it like that. I was just angry like always." She holds back a smile, scratching the back of her neck as she shakes her head in denial.

"Then use that anger. You are literally perfect for skullfucker. You're going to crush it, I promise. Just try it out."  I plead with her, giving her a supportive look.

She takes a moment, looking down at her fiddling hands, then sighs in defeat.

"Okay fine... but I don't even have anything metal to wear, I only own cardigans if you could tell." She jokes, gesturing down at the fuzzy grey cardigan she has on currently and I chuckle in agreement.

"I have an idea, but we need to use your car."

𖤐

A/n: Bon appetit, another chapter. It was going to be longer but I've been procrastinating writing the next scene so it'll be in the next chapter.