My Cousin in the Summer

Chapter 5

I enjoyed small kisses on my neck, which is what he was doing right now. He slowly moved towards my mouth, and each kiss felt like fire- a burning passion. It was wonderful. I loved the way he smelled, honey with a dash of the outside, and as he kissed my mouth sweetly yet full of desire, I thought; Hunter.

Wait- what?

My eyes opened suddenly and I felt my heart racing as I almost fell off my bed in shock. No, no, no no. I did not just dream about Hunter Madison kissing me. No, that had to be a mistake. It was just a slip of the mind... Right?

I heaved a few breaths, my hand on my chest as I calmed down. It was just a dream, Leaha, I told myself. Just a stupid dream. There was no way I would kiss Hunter Madison- not even if my life depended on it.

Slowly, I laid back down and turned onto my opposite side, when I felt something right by me on the bed.

To say I screamed bloody murder was an understatement. I screamed ten times worse than that.

I fell backwards onto the floor and scrambled to the nightstand where I turned on the lamp. Light shone around the room instantly just as the lump in my bed moved. From under the covers, Hunter's head rose up and he looked at me in alarm.

"Oh... My.. God," I gasped out. "What the fucking hell is wrong with you, you stupid jackass bastard!"

My bedroom door opened suddenly, just before Hunter could reply. Grammy, Pa and Patrick were standing at the doorway urgently.

"What's the matter," Pa asked, "Why were you screaming Leaha? Is everything okay?"

I was in too much shock to answer. Hunter and I just stared at each other, both of reflecting the same expression of shock and surprise.

"Hunter," Patrick asked, "what are you doing here in Leaha's room anyway?"

"Uh..." Hunter finally tore his gaze away from mine and looked at Patrick. "I'll just go now."

He hurried out of the room, slipping past Grammy and Pa. Patrick turned to watch him leave and Grammy looked at me, concerned.

"Are you alright, Leaha," she asked.

I nodded, still in shock, yet I managed to get out a few words. "I'm sorry if I woke y'all up. I'm just gonna go back to sleep."

Grammy looked at me, as if not believing me. "Okay then... If you say so. If you need anything else, just come down to our bedroom..."

With that, they left, going back to sleep. I laid on my bed and stared at the ceiling, sighing. A question had popped into my mind and it was driving me insane. Why had Hunter gone into my bedroom late at night while I was sleeping?

In the morning, I woke up earlier than usual. In fact, I was up just as my grandpa entered the kitchen to make his cup of coffee. That meant it must be around five-thirty in the morning.

I was unable to go back to sleep, as the event from last night wound its way into my mind. It confused me, of all things. Yes, for the past few nights, Patrick and Jeffrey had kept putting Jaws in and just last evening, Pa had gone to a movie rental store to get Jaws Two. Since the first night that we had watched Jaws, I had kept sneaking glances at Hunter to see if he still was scared.

There still had been signs, but he tried hiding them.

I shivered in spite of myself and got up from my bed, letting out a small yawn before walking into the kitchen. I was greeted by the smell of coffee and my grandpa looked up from his paper as I entered, surprise written on his face.

"Good... Morning," he said, "what has got you up so early?"

I shrugged, "to be honest, I have no idea. But may I have some coffee please?"

My grandpa nodded. "Sure, go right ahead."

I nodded a quick thanks and went over to the Keurig coffee maker, putting in the French Vanilla coffee K-cup. I set a mug down in the center of the Keurig and inhaled deeply the scent of the coffee as it poured itself into the glass. After it was finished and I poured in the cream, I went to the couch, grabbed my book from where I left it on the arm and sat down.

Curled up on the couch and engrossed in my book, I didn't register that somebody was beside me until he said,

"I'm sorry about last night."

I looked up from my book and turned my head sideways to answer him.

"Is that sincere?"

He glanced at me, sighing. "What can I do to make it up to you? I shouldn't have gone into your room in the night and crawled into your bed."

"Hm..." I set my book down, marking the page. "Don't talk to me. That's what you can do."

I had no idea if I could trust him or not. We were always arguing and he was constantly acting stupid-- so why was he trying to be sincere all of a sudden? Things just didn't add up.

"Alright then," he said quietly, "I'll do what you want me to do."

No evil remarks? No glaring or telling me that I was a bitch? Was I in a parallel universe or something?

I looked at him suspiciously, watching him get up from the couch and go where Patrick and Jeffrey were sitting at the table next to the kitchen.

Hunter didn't speak to me for the rest of the week.