No one knows what love is (#1)

11. It gets better - Jordan

Hunter came over at around 7pm. The first thing we did was to eat dinner. We finished our meals as quickly as we could and we ran upstairs to my bedroom.

“Okay, Mom, I see that both Hunter and I have finished our meals, and you guys haven’t, so… we are going to make our way up the room!” I told Mom as I placed my utensils on the plate. Mom looked at me as if stunned by what I just said. “What? We are just going to go up!” Hunter’s face went red, as I stood up, careful not to blush.

“Sure, I will come get you later.” Hunter’s Mom, faced Hunter, and he nodded his head. Ah… he’s so innocent. I swiftly finished my drink while Hunter finished his, I unexpectedly reached for forearm and pulled him away from his chair. As I was doing that, I am sure I caught Hunter’s Mom giving Hunter a wink, right then, my face went red hot.

“Okay Mom, we get it!” Hunter’s face is still blushing, as he replied his Mom, while being pulled away by me. I looked back and saw Hunter trying to catch up. I let go off his arm and we started dashing up the stairs. We entered my bedroom and closed the door. “Lol, what’s the rush?” Hunter looked a little confused, probably because of my over-enthusiasm.

“I’ve got to show you something!” I started rummaging my bookshelf, while Hunter just stood there. I emerged with a game of Life and a box of DVDs. “Hold on before you say anything, would you rather choose Life or a movie. I have this really good movie, it’s an anime technically, but it’s my favourite.” I turned my head to face Hunter.

“Umm…”

“Kids, you have 1 hour!”

“Aww… I guess the movie can wait. Is life fine with you?” I asked Hunter as I put the box of DVDs away. My room’s a mess, my blanket isn’t folded, the floor is covered with clothes. Funny thing is, I only realise it now. Am I actually being more self-conscious?

“Yea, Life is good, I love that game!” Hunter smiled at me, he then started scanning the floor, and my face went red again.

“Umm… so sorry my room’s a mess. Hold on.” I replied Hunter, and I started grabbing all the clothes on the floor, and throwing them on my bed, eventually there was a huge pile on my bed but at least there’s room for us to sit. Hunter started laughing. “Why what’s wrong?” I could feel myself blushing.

“Nothing, it’s just that my room is just as messy as yours!” He told me as we sat down in front of each other. I smiled at him and we started setting the board up. Hunter decided to go with the blue car and I went with the green. “Is your favourite colour green?” Hunter asked me as we placed our pieces at the starting line.

“No, I prefer blue.” I told him as I took out the dice. “You like blue too huh?” He nodded his head. “So who goes first?”

“You, since you didn’t get the colour piece of your choice.” He replied.

“Why thank you!” I rolled the dice, and the game of Life began. In case, you don’t know what the board game Life is about, the game simulates a person's travels through his or her life, from college to retirement, with jobs, marriage, and possible children along the way. It’s usually played by 4 or more people, as the atmosphere will be more upbeat and enjoyable, but somehow I am blown away by how much fun I am having just playing with Hunter. I just feel like the game wouldn’t be the same with anyone else, and I smiled at the thought of that.

As we got closer to the last few boxes, the race to accomplish or gain as many… I guess landmarks, became an exciting competition. Hunter has more babies, while I am leading in terms of wealth… I think. Our Moms can hear our laughter from downstairs, which means there is a possibility that our neighbours will get confused over what is happening, but I don’t care.

As we both stepped on the last box, we started counting our “accomplishments”. “Hmm… looks like I won by quite a bit!” I proudly hold my head up as Hunter admitted his defeat.

“Yea, good job! Gratz on the win!” He lifted his head, wanting a hand shake, and I took his offer, shaking his hands vigorously. “Looks like someone’s going to have a good night’s dream!” We both laughed.

I started to pack the board and its pieces into the box, Hunter followed suit. “Mind if I ask you a question?” Hunter looked at me.

“Mmhmm.”

“Is this the first time you played Life with anyone else besides your Mom?” Hunter asked. I stared blankly at him and he stared right through. “Never mind tha…”

“No, it’s okay.” I replied and then proceeded to tell him of how Dad left Mom. “Well she used to have the time to play with me, but now that she is busy, it’s has been a long time since I touched this box.”

He looked down at his toes, and then looked at up at me, smiling, “I hope you had a fun time then!”

“Yea I did.” I replied, sounding a little more solemn than I should be. Talking to Hunter about my past made me realise that I should just let all of the bad memories go. And that’s what I did, at that very moment.

The night ended soon enough, Hunter eventually went home. The special thing about his house that it’s right opposite mine, so that means I can see his room light up the moment he entered. I saw him waving at me, and I waved back. “Goodnight!” He shouted at me.

“Night!” I shouted back. Our shouts echoed through the dark and starry sky. It’s close to 11 already, but we both weren’t tired. I pushed all the clothes on my bed back on the floor just when Mom entered the room.

“You know I heard you say that!” Mom is giving me a look I have never seen before.

I blushed. “Just go to sleep!” I heard her laugh as she closed the door behind her.

“Goodnight Jordan!” Mom said.

“Jordan, you do know that Hunter’s leaving the day after tomorrow right?” Mom said. There was a moment of silence. I did not reply.