Unlocking Desire (18+ only)

Chapter 3: Hushed moments and autumn breeze

The muffled sound of a vacuum downstairs pulled Mia out of her sleep, met closely by a slight headache that could have been a whole lot worse.

She also mentally patted herself on the back for remembering to close the blinds last night so her semi hungover self didn't have to face the irritation of sunlight the moment she woke up.

She suddenly realized the warm presence that was snuggled up behind her, and the heavy arm draped sloppily over her waist, practically chaining her to the bed.

She turned her head behind her in confusion and immediately stilled.

Her nose was now a hush away from Hunter's nose, and she was close enough to count every freckle under his lashes and feel his warm breath tickle her face.

In her frozen state she registered that this was one of the rare moments in their lifelong friendship when she had been this close to his face, aside from the few awkward misconducted hugs that had resulted in one too many nose brushes that left Mia feeling extremely sweaty, and of course that one time in Freshman year during a childish game of truth or dare when they almost kissed but Mia chickened out last minute.

But right now as she stared at him, he suddenly looked older, like a man. In one sickening moment she almost felt like she was seeing him for the first time, like taking stock of all the changes she had overlooked in the past year, and it made her heart squeeze so uncomfortably that she felt the urge to rub her chest to dull the unexpected ache.

At that moment she saw his eyes flutter slightly and she quickly sat up, knocking his arm off her so it flopped on the bed.

"Mary deserves a raise," Mia chuckled, dispelling the weird moment she had shared with herself from her mind.

"Huh?" Hunter rubbed his eyes, his voice sporting the extra raspiness of a good nights sleep. He registered the sound of the vacuum downstairs and his sleepy mind caught up, "Oh," he chuckled. "I should probably go help her out before my Mum gets back." He said, reaching for his phone beside him and switching it on before it came alive with pings and buzzes of new messages and calls.

"Hmm I should get back for lunch. Lizzy's fiancé is coming over again." Mia rolled her eyes and Hunter chuckled, they both knew how annoying Mia found her older sister's husband-to-be, that Lizzy had picked up from some snobby society in college.

Mia rolled out of bed in nothing but Hunter's t-shirt, comfortably leaving her legs on display thanks to their friend group's regular road trips to the waterfalls up north where they had all become pretty comfortable with their semi-nudity as a clan.

Point is, he'd seen more of her body than this and she's seen more of his for that matter, which explained why it was so normal that Hunter himself was currently sprawled on her bed in his boxers and a black t-shirt identical to the one she was wearing.

She bent to pull out the bottom drawer where she fished out a pair of her own sweatpants that she kept there, before standing and shimmying into them. She turned while pulling the drawstrings closed and noticed Hunter's eyes flash back to his phone screen, his frown deepening.

"You okay?" She asked, confused by the look of annoyance on his face.
"Fine," he ground out, quickly clearing his throat and sitting up,

"I'll see you out." He grabbed her bag for her and they headed downstairs.

••••••••••••••••

"Mia I'm doing eggs do you want one?" Mia's mum screamed from downstairs as Mia gave her voluminous curls one final fluff in the mirror and pulled her school skirt higher up her waist, showing off her thighs that were toned from all her volley ball practice.

She counted herself lucky that despite the stuck up nature of the private school she went to, only the red tartan skirts and white shirts were compulsory uniform, which meant the students, boys and girls, didn't hold back in accessorizing and adjusting their looks till they were borderline unacceptable.

Mia stuck to one usual look, short skirt, loosely buttoned shirt and of course her long grey socks and black pumps.

Paired with her mane of raven curls she inherited from her Italian roots, and defined, piercing grey eyes she was an undeniable head turner. She was somewhat aware of that fact based on the attention she got but certainly didn't dwell on it too much.

With one final glance in the mirror she threw her mascara into her tote and bounded downstairs in a cloud of summery citrus perfume.

"Morning mum," she planted a kiss on her mother's soft cheek, who was busy frying herself an egg in her usual power suit that she wore to work as one of the airport directors at the JFK airport.

"Hi sweetheart." She tossed her daughter a warm smile over her shoulder, "enjoy your day at school," she said as Mia grabbed an apple off the sleek marble counter of their New York town house and groaned dramatically in response before slipping out the front door and into the crisp autumn air.

After a minute of fishing for her keys in her bag she hopped into her Mini Cooper and over-speeded the whole ten minute drive to school.

•••••••••••••

"Aww there she is," Mac straightened when Mia parked her mini between Hunter's Jeep and Minnie's Cadillac and got out of her car gracefully.

The rest of the group all positioned lazily around the front of Minnie's ride turned to face Mia and she was greeted with smiles.

"Don't you look absolutely radiant this morning," Mac slipped off the front of his sisters car and wrapped Mia up in a hug once she had joined the circle of friends.

Mia whelped in surprise at the sudden affection since she'd been focused on getting her phone out of her bag when he crushed her smaller frame into his well built chest.

When Mac released her and continued to smile down at her with his easy Colgate-worthy smile she squinted,

"What did you do?" She asked suspiciously,

"Nothing damn, can't I compliment my friend for looking nice?" He raised his arms in surrender still sporting his shit-eating smile.

"Guys what did he do," Mia turned to the rest, giving Minnie a kiss on the cheek as a greeting. Mac rolled his eyes and Minnie just laughed her soft tinker bell laugh,

"He didn't do anything Mia don't worry." She responded, tucking a strand of her wavy blonde hair behind her ear. "He's just high up on the happy Mac scale today," she rolled her eyes, causing Mac to send her a wink.

Mia gave a greeting hug to Ryan then finally reached the end of the circle where Hunter stood leaning against the Cadillac with one AirPod in his ear, no doubt listening to another nineties rapper that none of them had heard about.

He was dressed similarly to Ryan and Mac, all three boys effortlessly pulling off the slightly unbuttoned shirts over their school trousers under their oversized jumpers and hoodies.

Though the other boys stuck to sneakers, Hunter always opted for his heavy black boots and barely visible dog tag his grandfather gave him as a kid before he died.

It was subtle but it was undeniably the signature Hunter look that many a girl drooled over in school. She squeezed his side in greeting, and he smoothly leaned over and planted a kiss on her forehead, before leaning his arm back on the bonnet and tuning back into the conversation that they were having before she arrived.

Mia sent a quick nod to Hunter and Ryan's other friends Michael and Nate, who were amongst their basketball team and who all liked to hang around their captains a lot of the time.

Minnie and Mia made it a point to tease the two of them about their respective groupies, but truthfully nobody really minded their presence because they were nice enough guys.

They fell into their usual lull as students continued to file into the parking lot and idle along to their class blocks before the bell rung with a shrill urgency and they all dispersed into the school day.