Hunter

Chapter Fifty - Back to the Start

When I woke up next, it was nighttime and I was alone. I was also in my bedroom. My door was ajar, and the hallway light was on. I could hear everyone talking downstairs, and I knew that they were in my dining room. The congregation room, as it was becoming. I wanted to go down and see them, but my disability was an obstacle. There was no way I was going to call for help though. So using what little upper body strength that I had, I pulled myself into a sitting position. My legs were able to move slightly, and I urged them to swing them over the edge of the bed. From something that I used to do every single day, I was panting heavily, a sweat breaking on my forehead. I used some of my wind power to lift the upper half of my body, reducing the strain on my legs.

I hobbled out my door and down the stairs. When someone caught attention of my heavy footsteps, all talking halted, and everyone watched. I struggled into the room, my hand on the wall for support. Jasper stood immediately to help me.

"No! Let me do this for myself." He sank back into his chair, dejected, as I forged on. I forced every limb in my body to move, pushing forward with whatever wind power I could summon. I reached the closest chair to me and collapsed into it. I leaned back into my seat, exhausted from all that exertion. I wiped the sweat from my upper lip and reached over the table to grab Dee's lemonade. I chugged it down heartily and slammed the cup onto the table, exhaling loudly as though I was in a Coca Cola commercial.

"Thanks Dee." She looked at me in disbelief before chuckling heartily. Aiden, who was sitting next to her and holding her hand. After noticing, I winked at her, and she immediately released her hand from his. She blushed, as did Aiden, and I giggled at the both of them. Jasper chuckled next to me as his hand draped over the back of my chair.

"So where's my mom? And Andrea?"

"Sarah is back at Arcadia taking care of some supply shortages," Dee responded.

"And Andrea is having a reunion of sorts with her parents," Jasper finished. "So it's just the four of us."

"Great! What day is it today?" Aiden gave me weird look, but told me that it was Friday.

"I've managed to keep Mrs. Avis off of your back for the couple of weeks." He smirked at me, expecting me to understand some inside joke, but I was lost.

"Who?" Amused shock masked his visage.

"Mrs. Avis? Our math teacher?" I considered the information that he gave me.

"I feel like we've had this conversation before."

"That's because we have, but I wouldn't expect you to remember. You never pay attention in that class anyway." Aiden sat back in his seat, his arms crossed and a stupid smug look on his face. I rolled my eyes at him dramatically, feigning a yawn.

"You tend to be doing that a lot," he observed. "Is it because you have nothing to say?"

"It must be an occupational hazard of being around you," I responded sweetly, a fake smile plastered on my face.

"Hayley!" Dee chided, and I rolled my eyes at her too.

"I'm sorry: I didn't mean to offend your boyfriend, Dee."

"He's not my boyfriend!" She yelled, almost too forcefully.

"Not yet," Aiden muttered under his breath. Dee didn't hear him because she was too busy being embarrassed, but my eyes snapped to him. When he realized that I had heard what he said, he subtly shook his head at me, his eyes pleading. I sat back in my seat and crossed my arms, just as he had, and I smirked at him.

"I have you right where I want you, Steele," I whispered.

"Not for long."

"What about you and Jasper!" Dee sputtered that sentence out of nowhere, clearly still stuck on what I had said. I looked back at Jasper, who had refrained from saying anything. He was casual, as always, the picture of relaxation.

"What about us?" He asked, as if he was already bored with the conversation.

"You should've seen him while you were asleep, Hayle! Every single day he was moping around--"

"I did not mope!" he defended.

"You totally moped! You were all like, 'I never got to tell Hayley--" Jasper threw a pillow at her at the perfect time. It hit her square in the face before she could continue her mimicking.

"Not cool, Jasper," Aiden chastised, his face unamused. Jasper shrugged, repositioning his hand on the back of my chair.

"So what did you never get to tell Halyey?" I asked, my hand on my chin. I was genuinely interested in what he had to say. He looked like he was going to tell me what he wanted to. Tell me something sincere, from the bottom of his heart, but then he remembered something. I wished he didn't remember because I immediately felt the disconnect afterwards.

"I wanted to tell Hayley that she's my favorite person." He grabbed my wrist and pressed a kiss to the palm of my hand. He looked me in the eye as he spoke. "There's no one's side that I would rather fight by than yours." I blushed as he said those words, and I ended up looking away. Dee was excited, and Aiden looked bored.

"Well, there you have it, Dee." She squealed in excitement, her eyes glowing.

"I could've done better than that." Aiden was easily the most competitive person I had ever encountered. So was Dee. Their relationship would be an interesting one.

"Oh yeah, Steele?" Let's see you do better." Jasper was quickly rising to the top of that list. Aiden grinned as if he was expecting, and hoping, that a challenge like that would arise. He stood from his seat, holding his hand out to Dee.

"If you would, please." She placed her hand in his, and he wasted no time in leading her out onto the deck. Jasper helped me up, and we followed them to my back yard. Once there, I noticed that there was an X marked right in the middle of the deck.

"Please stand right no the X, and don't move until the end of the show. Thank you." He bowed dramatically before his hands lit up in flames. He set a single rope on fire that sparked, lighting three other ropes up. Aiden walked down the garden, igniting lanterns and candles with his dancing flames. The four ropes continually sparked as his hands swung around with intense precision and beauty. The flames jumped into the air and into the sky, illuminating five candles at once. He set one last lantern ablaze before the flame on the ropes died. Fireworks exploded into the sky, and settled into the word: Girlfriend?

Dee's hands covered her mouth as Aiden stood at the end of the garden, breathing heavily and waiting for her response. She ran all the way up to him and jumped, giving him one of her signature bear hugs. I didn't have to hear what she was saying to know that she was saying yes.

"Yeah, it was great, but now he has to clean all of this up."

"Shut up, Jasper, and enjoy the moment."

All four of us stood in my lit up backyard, watching the fireworks display that Aiden had created. It was truly magical.

That, was my happiest moment.

fin.