There's a Thin Line Between Love and Hate

There's a Thin Line Between Love and Hate (45)

I was smothered by hugs and kisses when I saw my family again after I was questioned. They wanted to know everything, so I found myself telling the story all over again to them. My dad couldn't believe what they were hearing, and my mom turned pale and had to sit down so she wouldn't faint. I hated doing this to them, but at least it was over and no one else got seriously hurt.

But out of my entire family, I knew my brother felt the worst. He found out that not only did his best friend killed his grandmother, but he was also harassing his little sister as well. I would have felt horrible if I was Austin, too.

"So every time I saw you two together..." Austin began to say, but didn't let himself finish as he rubbed his hands over his face. "I'm a horrible brother. I can't believe I couldn't see how scared you were. I can't believe I didn't see how crazy he was."

"Everything's okay," I told him soothingly, rubbing his shoulder as I sat down next to him. "He tricked a lot of people. I don't blame you for not seeing it, Austin. Hunter's a good actor and he's used to fooling people."

Austin smiled at me sadly. "I'm so sorry, Jordan."

But that had been weeks ago, and we were now technically into our summer vacation. We didn't have any classes, but we were finally having the make-up graduation, so we were back at the camp, but it wasn't like I was complaining. I loved that place and I never wanted to leave it, but I was supposed to go to Yale in only a few more days.

"Could you stop sucking face for one second and practice your speech?" Alex asked, smacking the back of my head with the paper that had the speech written on it. "I swear, it's like you guys plan on just making out on stage!"

I scowled, snatching the speech from him as I continued to sit on Jesse's lap. "We don't need to practice," I told him, slapping the speech down on the table next to us before wrapping my arms around Jesse's neck again. "We know who's saying what and if we forget what we have to say, we can just look down at the speech."

Alex rolled his eyes at the two of us. I stuck my tongue out at him, but went back to kissing Jesse only a second after. He had just gotten out of the hospital the day before, and we had been working on our speech for only five minutes before we starting making out. Now that our relationship could be out in the open, I didn't really care about practicing some stupid speech.

"We're leaving in fifteen minutes!" Alex warned after who knew how long. "I'm surprised you two haven't died from lack of oxygen yet! Get up and put your gowns and caps on! You're going to make us late!"

I grumbled, scooting off of Jesse's lap. Graduation was going to be at the camp, right outside on the huge grass field. There was no way we were going to be late since we were already ready, except for the caps and gowns. I knew Alex just wanted us to stop making out in his cabin.

"Okay, okay, we're going," I sighed, grabbing my gown and swiftly slipping it on. Jesse did the same as I grabbed my cap. I then grumbled, "I'm not really surprised that you interrupted us..."

"Well, someone's gotta be the cock block."

My face reddened. "Oh, my gosh!"

Alex burst out laughing, and I scowled when Jesse did as well. How could guys just joke around like that? My face was practically on fire... There was no way I'd ever be able to say that to anyone, not even my closest friends!

"Ah, sorry about that," Alex apologized after he had finally stopped laughing. He wiped a tear from his eye, and I couldn't help but stare at him flatly. "I just couldn't resist. Your reaction was priceless..."

I scowled once again. "Do you want to leave or what?"

"Just make sure to not let your crazy stalker crash the graduation this time," Alex wagged his finger at me, and my scowl only turned harsher. I didn't want to think about Hunter then. Actually, I never wanted to think about Hunter ever again. Jesse, Alex, and I had to go to his trial a few days before, and the entire time he wouldn't stop looking at me. Even when Jesse and Alex went up to speak, Hunter's eyes never left me. I still felt my skin crawl just thinking about it.