Say You'll Remember Me

Chapter Eight

I was happy. I had never been this happy in a long time, and a lot of that was due to the green eyed boy sitting across from me. Two days had come and gone and neither one of us said a word about me leaving. No instead we found time to hold hands and laugh at each other’s stupid jokes, and I forgot all about the things Brooke and his mother said. I was falling in love with him, and it was the best feeling in the entire world. I felt like I was flying, like I could soar through the air and know that he would end up catching me if I fell.

He felt like home, and that was a feeling I never thought I would find.

After our first date it was like we were one person. I couldn’t stop thinking about him and I wondered how I had gotten this far in my life without him in it. He was my safety net, even if he didn’t know it. It was crazy to think we had only known each other for a few days, because I was sure it was longer.

But every time I got too happy, I thought about all the happiness I felt whenever Hunter was there, my mind had to remind me that I was being completely honest. He still didn’t know about my past, he still didn’t know about the money and the event. I knew I needed to tell him, but I was too happy with the way things were going. I couldn’t find the words whenever we were together.

This house was huge and I had a hard time getting around. I was glad it was so big though, then I didn’t have to see Linda as much. I knew she hated me, even if she tried to be nice to me whenever Hunter was around. I was used to peopled hating me, so it was nothing new. But I wasn’t used to someone being nice to me the way Hunter was being. I could handle his mother and her hostility, it was his warmth and friendliness I was having trouble understanding. 

I sighed as I pushed my growing hair out of my face and turned the corner. I wasn’t really sure what I was looking for, I mean I was pretty sure Hunter wasn’t here. I could hangout with Emma, she was so adorable, but I wanted to talk to someone. For what seemed like the first time since I was little, I wanted to talk to someone about myself. Hunter was the first person who made me want to share my story, who made me want to open up and be myself. After that first nightmare, when he stayed with me, I realized he wasn’t just being nice. This was real, whatever this was, and I didn’t want to mess it up.
Hunter was different than all the people I’ve ever met. He didn’t let me run away from him whenever he asked the hard questions. He didn’t let me turn away whenever I was embarrassed or the tears were going to fall and I didn’t want him to stay. When he asked me a question, he really wanted to know the answer. He listened and he never interrupted me, turning the conversation towards him. He might have been born into a life of privilege, but I could see it in his eyes, he was dying to find a way out of it.
I wondered if that’s why he was holding onto me so tightly, I wondered if I was going to be his way out. We both knew if we kept up what we were doing, his mother would force him to choose. I wasn’t sure who he was choose, his family or me. But I knew I wouldn’t be the one to make him make that choice. I wasn’t that kind of girl, I didn’t need him to take care of me. But that didn’t mean I didn’t want him to take care of me. Need and want are two strongly different things.
I never thought I would want to be in someone’s life. I never thought my future would hold all the normal things little girls dream of. I never dreamt of a family because I never had one, I never thought I would find a friend because I didn’t know what a friend was. But that night with the rain pouring down, when I ran into Hunter something changed. Maybe it was his green eyes, or that warm smile he gave me. Maybe it was because he didn’t yell at me, or ignore me like everyone else.
Whatever it was, the moment his eyes locked on mine I knew I wanted to get to know him. For the first time I wanted to be in someone else’s life. I didn’t want to just be on my own, I wanted to find a reason to talk to him again.
I was about to go down the stairs when I heard a door open to my right. Before I could look and see what was there, a hand pulled me into the darkness and then a hand was placed over my mouth before I could scream. There were a bunch of scenarios going off in my head, this was Linda’s way of getting rid of me, but when I looked up to see who the hand belonged to, Hunter was standing there giving me that sexy smile I had been slowly opening up to since we first met a few weeks ago.
He was laughing as I let out an annoyed huff, “you scared the bejesus out of me,” I said hitting his chest as he kept laughing, “don’t do that again, I thought you were going to murder me.”
He kept laughing as he looked at me, “sorry sweetheart,” that was his new nickname for me. I was totally in love with it, but I wasn’t going to let him know how much his words affected me, “I just wanted to talk to you without anyone else around.”