Christy's POV
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My phone buzzed.
I really wanted to ignore it but my curiosity got the best of me.
Hunter Hayes - iMessage.
Ugh. Fine.
"If you'll oblige, I really want and need to talk to you."
To respond or to not respond...
Let's not respond. Give him a taste of his own medicine.
Except I'm being passive aggressive now, which he was not... maybe he had a good reason to blow me off?
No. Probably not. He looked too apologetic and guilty. And I really didn't want to know who the girl was.
I should've let my subconscious convince myself that thinking I liked him was indeed a bad idea. My first instincts were correct.
No way was I going to respond.
It's June 1 now. Since we're approaching the end of the second quarter at the shop, I needed to do some budget work and fiscal planning. I figured that'd help get things off my mind. I stumbled into the bedroom to grab the binder and filing box that had the financial info that Dan wanted me to work on for him. Looking at the pile that was almost a foot thick, I decided this was going to take me most of the evening. I went ahead and made a cup of coffee -- I figured the first of many -- and sat at the kitchen counter to get to work. I looked up at the clock. 5:35. I hoped this wasn't going to be a late night.
But I certainly wasn't going to have time to make myself dinner. So I called Pizza Hut and got myself a whole pepperoni pizza. If I didn't finish it tonight, it'd save me time for leftovers later another day.
Half an hour later the doorbell rang. I yelled that I'd be there in a moment and scrambled to find some money. I found a twenty laying in the bottom of my purse, so I snagged it and ran to the door.
I opened it and my mouth fell open.
There stood the pizza guy. Except he wasn't holding my pizza. He was standing a few feet back -- a few feet behind Hunter -- who was holding my food.
"What on earth?"
The pizza guy laughed nervously.
"This guy was kinda walking to your room when I came up and went to your door, and he asked if he could give me the pizza because he knew you... I'm going to get fired for this. I hope you actually know him and he's not a thug."
Hunter turned around. "I'm a five-foot six white guy wearing Converse. Not exactly a thug."
"Can I have my pizza please?"
The pizza guy laughed. "Please tell me you actually know each other."
"Unfortunately, we do." Hunter's head fell when I said that. .
"Wait, so, are you guys, like, exes?"
"No, absolutely not. But I want my pizza."
"It's $6.99."
I handed the pizza guy the twenty and asked for a ten back for his tip.
"Can we please talk, Christy?" he said, handing the pizza to me. I reached back and put it on the counter, facing him once again as the pizza guy hurried away, leaving Hunter and I alone in the doorway.
"What do we need to talk about?"
"Yesterday at the lake.
"What about it? I went with Ally, you were there with someone, I ate my food..."
"I didn't come here to have you play dumb."
"Why are you even here, how did you get here, and how long have you been here?"
"I came about 40 minutes ago. I was sitting in my car in the parking lot for a while."
"That's a bit stalker-ish."
"I'm not seeing Ainsley."
Wait what?
"I'm sorry, who?"
"Ainsley. My best friend. The girl I was with."
"So you came here to tell me you weren't actually holding hands and being all lovey-dovey?"
"Can I please come inside? I feel awkward out here."
I stepped aside and let him in, folding my arms across my chest and leaning against the door.
"So?"
"I was just talking to Ainsley. We've been best friends since middle school. Nothing more."
"Is this the famous Ainsley Britain you're talking about?"
"Uh, yeah. That's the one."
"If I'm not mistaken, you've written more than one song about her and they aren't friend songs..."
"How do you know that?"
"I live in Nashville. I love country music. And I keep relatively up-to-date."
"I see."
"What's your point in coming here? I thought we weren't a thing."
"That's correct. We're not."
"Okay, then. Thank you. I'm glad we agree again. Now please leave."
He hung his head again. Which was weird.
"Okay Hunter. If we aren't a thing then why did you just get this sad look on your face when I affirmed it?"
He didn't respond.
"Hello?" I waved a hand in front of his face.
"I don't know, Christy," he snapped, looking back up at me. I raised my eyebrows.
"What do you not know?"
"Should I just go ahead and tell you what I told Ainsley?"
"I don't see why not," I said, folding my arms again.
He rolled his eyes. "Do you want this to be a productive conversation or not?"
"Well I wasn't really planning on having any conversation to begin with."
He threw his hands up and stepped for the door. "Fine, then. If you don't want to talk then we don't need to. I'm sorry I wasted your time."
Too quickly he stepped out the door and it shut behind him, leaving me alone in the apartment as I listened to his quick footsteps fade down the hallway. Not knowing how to react, I chased.
"Hunter, wait!" I gasped. He stopped at the end of the hallway just before pushing the 'down' button on the elevator and turned to look at me.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have talked to you that way."
He just stared at me, his hand hovering next to the button.
"If you want to talk, I'll talk."
"I don't even know if I want to anymore. But I had for the whole weekend. You were all I thought about. I called Ainsley to ask her for help. She reaffirmed what I already knew: that I needed to go after you. At least explain. So at the very least, I'll explain. Again. Ainsley is my best friend. I was asking her for help. Nothing more; nothing less."
"So what was it you wanted to tell me, now that you're here?"
"That I'm afraid. Scared to death, actually."
"Of what?"
"I'm scared to death that I might love you."
He pushed the button and before I could react, he disappeared into the elevator.
