What You Don't Know (Sequel to "Secret Love")(Hunter Hayes/James Marsden)

Cigarettes and Favors

"Hush."

"What is it?"

"Shh!"

The tiny peephole afforded only the tiniest of glances into the hotel lobby, but Amanda had her pupil straining against the miniscule pane of glass. Hunter stood beside her, his ear pressed firmly against the wood of the closet door. All around them were pillows and sheets and towels in the pristine hotel white.

Hunter had to force himself not to laugh as he heard Amanda breathing heavily. She closed her eyes suddenly and leaned her forehead against the wall, letting out a sigh that turned into a quiet chuckle. She sank down to sit on the floor. Hunter breathed a laugh and dropped into a squat.

"Amanda, why don't you just admit you like him?"

He heard her hair swoosh against the wood and imagined her shaking her head. It was dark as pitch, save for the strip of light coming from the half-inch crack at the bottom.

"I don't like him, Hunter."

He rolled his eyes. He definitely did not believe that.

"Amanda, come on. You freak out every time you see him! You definitely have a thing for him!"

They had been leaving the hotel after returning a puppy they had found in front of the Atlantic Records building in Nashville when Amanda had spotted her friend, Markob Jakobie, coming in the front door with his ever-present sunglasses turning his world into a shadow. Amanda had pulled him into the closet before he could even finish poking fun at her for the way she had initially reacted. He doubted he would ever forget the way she had trailed off in the middle of her sentence and let her mouth hang agape.

"Fine," she groaned. "I like him."

"Ha! I knew it!"

She grunted again. "Oh, shut up. It's not like I can do anything about it."

He lifted an eyebrow quizzically, though he knew she could not see him. "What do you mean? Why not?"

A moment passed in silence, and then Hunter heard her getting up, so he rose, too.

"Come on, Hunt. Let's get out of this closet."

They walked out, squinting against the sudden, harsh light and acting like they had every right to have been in there.

When they had finally made it out of doors, Amanda linked her arm with Hunter's and pulled her sunglasses off her head and pushed them onto the bridge of her nose.

"Markob is...well, I think he's pretty much perfect for me. He's tall and handsome and he's intelligent and...well, he makes me feel like a girl again." She laughed, and Hunter grinned at her.

"So why don't you go for him?"

Amanda shrugged. "I don't know, Hunt. It's just complicated, I guess. If you want to know the truth, I'm a little nervous to start anything with him because...well, before Matt was thrown in jail...Markob was one of his best friends."

She winced and peeked at her companion's face as he stopped and searched her face. His mouth gaped open and she could feel his heart hammering in his chest beneath his smooth black shirt. Her own heart accelerated.

Hunter's heart clenched in fear for her. He had met Markob Jakobie three times now, and he had never given him any impression that he was a bad guy, but he knew better now than to trust his first instinct. Amanda, too, had fooled him thoroughly not but a little over a year before. To find out now that Amanda's new love interest was a close friend of her last? Matt had been a horrendous influence on her; what if he had the same influence on his friends?