Before You

Chapter Ten.

"What are you doing here?" He asked and my vision blurred out in front of me. The last time I'd seen Seth was the day he was walking away from me in the most popular mall in town, holding hands with his new girlfriend that he had left me for in front of everyone.

He used to be a little thinner, but now he'd gained a little weight, it was spread out though, making him look more adult like, not the teenager I knew him as. His dark auburn hair that used to hang down into his dark green eyes, that always reminded me of the moss that grows up the bottom of tree trunks, was now cut short and styled to the side, leaving his eyes burning into mine.

"I-I..." I stuttered as he leaned in closer, taking away all of my personal space and making me unable to breathe.

"Are you drunk?" He asked loudly as the next song began to blast and the crowd went wild. "You sure have changed." He muttered, his eyes dropping and roaming over my body. "Who are you here with?"

"My friends." I managed to gasp out.

He nodded, the smell of his cologne wrapping me in nostalgia. It started out as good memories. The smell of it on the hoodie I used to wear to school, the smell of it filling the backseat of his car where we used to make out...but then I remembered the last time I'd been close enough to smell his cologne. The night the only thing I could smell was the deafening smell of his cologne as the weight of his body pushed me back on the bed and the smell surrounded me, suffocating me. My stomach turned and I tried to slide away from him, but he grabbed the top of my arm roughly and pulled me back, pinning me to the wall and putting his hands on the wall on either side of my head, looking like he was enjoying how uncomfortable he was making me.

"You've really changed." He said again, putting one of his hands on the side of my neck.

"Stop it." I spat, jerking away from his touch but he just grabbed me back. "You're drunk!"

He laughed as he grabbed my face and I pushed back against his chest. "Déjà vu." He whispered into my ear as I pushed and struggled. He was right. It was nearly the exact same thing I'd said to him when we were together last. "Come on, Tay." He said sickly, running one hand down my side. "Show me how much you've changed."

"Get off!" I screamed, but it was muffled by his hand.

Suddenly there was a low guttural snarl snapping into my ears and filling the small hallway as Seth's body was yanked away from mine. I gasped as I saw Hunter grab Seth by the front of his black sweater and slam him into the opposite wall before he got into his face as he held him in place with his forearm shoved into his neck. I could tell he was yelling something, and I saw the terror in Seth's eyes as they bulged slightly, but I couldn't hear them. All I could hear was a buzzing in my ears as the hallway felt like it was tilting hard to the left, but my stomach seemed to sweep to the right.

Hunter pushed away from the wall, letting Seth fall to the ground, holding his neck before he scrambled to his feet and ran back out into the chaos of the busy club.

"Are you ok?" Hunter asked, but my knees refused to hold me up anymore. Before I could hit the ground though Hunter's hands were under my arms, keeping me steady. "Hey, Kit, come on and look at me."

I wanted to, but everything was swirling around. "Gonna...be...sick." I choked out and the sound of my own voice was foreign to me. I felt my stomach begin to heave and Hunter pulled me quickly out of the hallway and into the men's bathroom that was at the end of the little hall just past the women's.

The bright florescent lights spotted my vision and I barely made it into the single stall before my stomach began lurching up everything I'd been drinking or had eaten that day. Over and over my back arched painfully as I threw up until all that was left was dry heaves, the whole time Hunter standing right behind me, one hand on my hip keeping me steady and the other hand holding back my hair.