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35.

Hunter's Point Of View

I wake up to Nate saying my name. That must've been a dream. Shit. It felt real alright.

"You okay?" He says.

"Yeah," I say breathing a little heavily.

"I assume you're not gonna go back to sleep," he states.

"Yeah," I say.

"Wanna drive?" He asks.

"Actually, yeah," I say.

A car zooms by. Whoa.

"That's the second time," Nate says and pulls over to the side of the road.

"Really?" I ask.

Phew. That's a good sign that my nightmare isn't coming true. I get out of the car he does too.

"Yeah," he says.

We switch sides and get back in the car.

"Shit," Nate complains.

"What?" I ask.

"I just lost a huge bet," he sighs.

"With who?" I ask as I pull back on the road. Traffic is moving. Good.

"Reid," he says.

"What's the forfeit?" I ask.

"I have no idea. He gets to choose. It's a blind forfeit," he says.

"Good luck to you," I say.

"Yeah, thanks," he says and leans his head on his hand against the window.

*****

Nate's been asleep for a good half hour. Which is good. He usually doesn't sleep well. He has to use medication most nights.

We're almost at his house. I'm sleeping over because my parents are getting work done on the house and they're away on a vacation.

My parents aren't even married. My mom was married to my dad Mateus Xander Matthews. He was a marine and died in an explosion. I took his last name. My mum is in the UK right now. Where I'm from. So I have a UK accent. My mum's "friend" helps her out here in California with the house. His name is Lloyd. I think they're dating but I'm not sure.

Long story short I'm staying at Nate's for the next few nights. I don't know if his dad's home. He scares me sometimes.

I pull into his neighborhood. Then into his driveway. Nate wakes up.

"You're staying over right?" He asks.

"Yeah," I say parking and turning the car off.

"What room do you want to stay in?" he says.

"Any is fine," I say.

"Totally your choice. It's pretty much me and Aris for the next week or so. Justine stops in here and there but my dad's away this week," he says.

"Okay," I shrug getting out of the car.

"Shit," Nate says taking the brace for his wrist off.

"What?" I ask.

"Nothing much," he says.

I walk around the car and look at him. His wrist is bruised a bit. I thought he sprained it.

"What happened?" I ask, "I feel like I should know, but honestly I don't."

"I must've leaned on it and caused more bruising to happen with the metal and stuff," he explains.

"What metal?" I ask.

"This," he says taking a strip of metal from the brace.

Oh. I see. It's for support so the person doesn't bend their wrist.

"Oh," I say.

He puts it back on and opens the trunk of his car to get his backpack and stuff. I do the same and close the trunk.

He walks to the front door and unlocks it sighing.

"Huh?" I ask.

"Aris always forgets to lock the door. Even when he's home," he says.

"My stepsister does that all the time," I say.

"It's annoying," he says walking in and holding the door for me as I walk in.

"Yeah," I say.

"Aris!" He yells.

"Yeah!" Aristotle yells back from upstairs.

"I'm back!" Nate yells. Then he says, "Let's get your stuff into Jackson's room."

"Okay," I say.