When a 14-day dating challenge erupts between skeptical Blossom and her secretly smitten best friend Hunter in the waning days of 1999, their easy friendship is plunged into a maelstrom of teenage angst, unrequited affection, and the terrifying poss...
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~ ~ ~ 1999
Hunter Roxton's first and latest relationship was in middle school, the girl was Aisha Ghannam.
She wasn't always this mean high school popular-wannabe. When they were together their first year she was sweet and considerate. But maybe that was all a front in the end.
It didn't matter who she had used to be. That girl was most certainly gone and what was replaced was a greedy self centered woman who only wanted him back so she could have control over him once again.
The year was 1996, and for Hunter Roxton, it felt like the world revolved around a single point: Aisha. He was fourteen, with a mop of brown hair that perpetually fell into his eyes, and a heart that had, within the last year, decided to beat solely for the girl with a smile that could make the sun seem dull. They were the quintessential high school couple, or at least, that's what Hunter thought. He walked through the halls of Westmount High with a lightness in his step, knowing that sometime between the chime of the third and fourth period bells, he would see Aisha.
He convinced himself that their bond was something special. Aisha, with her sharp wit and effortless cool, had seemed like a completely different species when they first met at the local skating rink last year. She'd been laughing with her friends, her eyes bright and full of life, and Hunter had suddenly found himself wanting to be the reason behind that laughter. And for a while, he had been.
He worked hard at his chores on his family's small farm, the work was bearable knowing that every Friday he could afford to take her to the diner and share a plate of fries. He wrote cheesy poems in the back of his history notebook, each one dedicated to her. He even braved the awkwardness of dial-up internet to find her favorite songs and make her mix tapes. These are the things that love looked like to Hunter.
Hunter would spend his nights on the phone with Aisha, their voices weaving through the static and crackles of the landline, talking about everything and nothing until the early hours of the morning. Often, she would be distracted, multi-tasking, telling Hunter she was applying nail polish, or helping her sister with homework. Hunter didn't mind that much; he was just happy to hear her voice. He even chalked up the occasional silences to her being wrapped up in what she was doing.
One such night, they were on the phone when Aisha said, "You know, you're really sweet, Hunter."
Hunter's heart fluttered. He held the phone tighter to his ear and said, "Thanks, Aisha, you're...you're incredible. Like, you're the most amazing person I've ever met."
Aisha giggled, a sound that always made his chest ache in a nice way. "Don't be silly. But, seriously, you're so loyal and thoughtful, that's rare these days."
He basked in the compliment. Loyalty and thoughtfulness, those were two things he prided himself on; those were things he always strove to show her. "And you are everything to me," he thought, but he kept the words to himself. He didn't want to be too overwhelming.
