Waiting For You

Chapter Four

"The risk of falling in love is knowing gravity doesn't catch us all".                                                                                                                                                 ~Malanda Jean Claude 

Alex

"Hunt?" I called out, covering my face with an ice pack.

"What?" he snapped back. Well, he seemed pissed off.

"How are you?" Dead silence. Shit. "Calla sure can pack a punch," I added, laughing at my own words and trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah, so can Matt".

"What Matt did was awful".

"Oh, you think?" his voice had a dangerous tone. The kind that made me notice him yesterday. What had I said about not getting him angry?

"He shouldn't have hit you," I said, as I climbed on top of the kitchen counter and opened my phone.

"Hit me? I wouldn't have cared if he had broken my face. What he said in front of my sister, though..."

"He was high," I tried explaining.

"And? That doesn't give him, or anyone for that matter, the right to be a dick!" he replied. I sighed feeling defeated. He was right, of course, he was right. "And while we're at it, what kind of person does drugs at a softball game?" At that, I cleared my throat.

"I did... I was... I, eh, got high with Matt today..." I bit my lip, winced as I had forgotten about my face being bruised. Calla had managed to land the punch right under my lower lip, bruising it and my jaw.

"You use drugs..." Hunter dragged, making the statement sound more like a question.

"Rarely... and only weed. I started at some party and once in a while, when I'm stressed out, I smoke," I explained as fast as I could.

"Why were you stressed today?" he asked. He was still angry, that was audible, but he sounded calmer than before.

"I need to film a song and edit it, my brother is coming home today, and that means family dinner, so yeah..." I explained groaning. My brother was the last person I wanted to see today. And my parents followed suit.

"Can't say I understand, but okay," he replied his voice finally softening.

"What do you mean?"

"Family dinners. My father works from home so we always have family dinners. And whenever the whole extended family gets together it's really nice," he went on.

"Your father...? What about your mother?" I felt as if my brain short-circuited because as soon as I asked until I heard his answer everything seemed to move in slow motion.

"She's dead".

A shiver ran down my spine at the sound of his voice. It was so cold and distant. Nothing like the Hunter I had come to know. I guess I didn't know him that much, though.

"Oh... I'm sorry".

He didn't reply and I figured it was time to change the subject. I opened my phone again, since the screen had faded to black as I spoke to him, and saw that I had a message. It was a picture Don had sent me of Beth with a cast around her forearm.

"Beth broke her arm," I told Hunter without thinking it through.

"You think I care?!" He sounded pissed again. Great job, Alex.