Cowboys and Angels

Chapter 13

Shit. I woke up with such a migraine on Saturday morning...well afternoon. Hunter was passed out on the floor. I threw a pillow at his head to wake him up. 

"Hunter...wake up." I groaned and fell backwards onto my bed but hitting my head. "Oh god!" I yelled in pain.

Hunter sat up against the wall, "Ugh...do you even remember last night?" 

I thought. Oh my god, did I remember. I rubbed my head at the source of the pain. "Um, yeah."

"Can I say something..." he started. I nodded for him to continue. "Um, about last night-"

"I know what you're gunna say. We were both pretty hammered, things happened. We were drunk. Hunter, nothing happened." He stood up and walked up to my bed and sat down at the end. He grabbed my hand and kissed the back of it.

"Exactly what I was goin' to say. We cool? Forget about our drunk mistake?"

I laughed, "Definitely."

I reminisced to last night. My thoughts were crazy because of the high level of alcohol in my system. How could I be so stupid? We both realized that what we said to each other was purely because of the alcohol. The 'I love you's were merely about our strong friendship. The fact both of us were realizing this was indescribable. Neither of us wanted to ruin a perfectly good friendship. I was somewhat relieved that we got that off our chests. But I'd feel like everything would be so awkward between us now. 

"It was honestly my fault though, " he stated.

I shook my head and smiled, "It was both of ours. I gave in and you brought it. Nobody has to know, okay?"

"Yeah. Our little secret," he said smirking. I giggled and laid my head in his lap. 

I whispered, "Our little secret." I glanced up and stared into his eyes. He leaned in an pecked my forehead. 

This was the best kinda friendship.

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Waterfights. The whole crew was in my backyard dodging each other with waterballons Hunter and I created. I thought this would really help the tension all of us had. Brett was even here. 

The sound of each other's laughter put a huge smile on my face. This was where home was at. I appreciated every single one of them. 

Kacey, for always being there for me even when I didn't know she was. 

Avery, for showing me the brighter side of life.

Brett, for his manlier of side of him and owning up to what he had done.

And Hunter, for being my older brother, best friend, lover, cuddler, and everything in between.

We all eventually collapsed into the grass after a long afternoon of running around and by this point, we were soaked. 

"This is what life is. Being free, sober, and with the four greatest friends you could ever have."

I glanced at Brett, who had sweat dripping down his face from so much running. I smiled and closed my eyes, breathing in all the air around me; taking in every bit of this weekend. He was right. I was here, sober, and with my best friends. I couldn't have asked for more. I really believed that each us had grown closer to each other. I think if they could, Brett and Hunter would separate me from their lives and grow back that botherhood they had. I would still, of course, be in their lives, but when they are around and talking and having a great time in each other's presence, I would leave them to their friendship. 

I stared in the sky for awhile; not a cloud appeared. Tired eyes turned to sleepy ones and I was so close to falling asleep in the sun, right then and there. Until someone had to laugh, causing me to become paranoid that they were laughing at me.

I sat up on my elbows and turned in Brett and Avery, who had seemed to be having a bro-to-bro moment. So it clearly wasn't about me. 

"Em, you wanna head inside? It's getting really sticky out here!" Kacey pronounced. I nodded. We both stood up, quite unbalanced and focused our eyes on the house while the boys laid outside. 

As we walked in, a rush of cold air almost swept me off my feet. I looked at Kacey who was starring at me like I was some lunitic chick. We both laughed until our stomachs hurt. We settled down on the couch and turned on Reba, one of my favorite shows. We sat there for a while, just captivated by the TV show. Giggles came out of both of us when something funny came up. 

"So," Kacey said turning to me, "how's everything with you, Hunter, and Brett?" she asked politely.

"Fairly okay. Brett and I just started talking again, barely, but we're trying to get our friendship back on the right side of the road. While Hunter and I...we're still the same as before. Such a crazy friendship we have."

She giggled and 'corrected', "You mean intimate, darlin'?" My cheeks heated up. I turned away and she just laughed. "I'm joking! I'm just kiddin' around!" 

A rush of relief flew over me as I thought she heard about what happened the night before. But hopefully, she was being honest and joking. She always did have a sense of humor. 

"Ha! Yeah," I said uncomfortable with continuing the conversation. "So, has Avery said anything about me?"

"Here we go," she exaggerated letting out a dry laugh. I was always talking about one boy or another. So she caught my drift. "Honey, I don't think Aves wants a relationship at the moment, buuutttt. He is willing to consider." I was stunned. He was actually considering me or us being something. I had to admit, I had quite a crush on Avery the first time we met. But I was more than happy at this point.

Brett and I, I didn't think anything bigger would happen between us. I didn't think I was ever going to be ready to have an actual relationship with Brett. Hunter, as we all knew, was my bestest friend in the world and we both knew nothing would ever happen with us. And we laughed about it. Completely okay with it. 

I looked at Kacey and smiled, "Are you serious right now?" My overexcitement seemed to had been showing. She nodded and laughed. 

"You are too full of yourself, Em!"

"Isn't everyone?"

Within twenty minutes, Kacey and I were passed out of the sofa from how tired we were after running around the whole day. I couldn't dream. It was too much. Who to dream about? Quite frankly, I wanted a peaceful sleep. I was so exhausted from a long day with the greatest friends. My friends. I prayed to God in my dreams that everything would work out perfectly with all of us. I wanted friendships like ours to last forever. Nothing or no one could separate my feelings from anyone of them. 

Saturday, hm. Who would think teenagers like us would run around like ten year olds on a hot spring day? 

I did. Because our originality with us was more perfect than ever. We grew onto each together. We loved. We cried. We hated. We forgave. We were one.