Page 25 of Falling With a Spin

“No need to. You had it handled, but I couldn’t just stand here and let him talk to a woman like that.” He continues to clench and unclench his fist as if he is trying to calm down, but I can feel the anger radiating off of his body. I stay quiet, unsure of what to say or do. He chose to stay and defend me. Most guys, at least the ones I know, would have walked away, avoiding the whole scene and wanting nothing to do with what was going on.

“I’m Hunter, by the way. We met the day after the party. I was in the room with Justin, Cole, Garrett, and Matt.” He runs his fingers through his tousled hair.

“Yeah, I remember seeing you there. However, I couldn’t remember your name, which now saying out loud; it’s kind of embarrassing. I thought it was Henry or Harry.” Shuffling my feet, I stuff my hands in my back pockets, looking anywhere but at him. “I'm a complete moron,” I mumble.

“You’re not a moron, and it’s okay that you didn’t remember my name.” He shrugs, and I look up at him. A small smile is on his face, causing those dimples to peak out again. “A lot happened that night, and the next morning, so I don’t blame you if your mind was a little jumbled.”

The look on his face is a mixture of sadness and pitty. Instantly, anger bubbles in me.

Sighing, I straighten my back and narrow my eyes at him. “I appreciate your help, but I can take care of myself, like you said, and I don’t need your pettiness, which shows clear as a day on your face. That makes everything worse because you feel sorry for what I’ve gone through.” I snap and turn on my heel, not letting him get another word in, and walk towards the coffee shop, hoping I won’t be late.

I can say with full confidence that it has been a royally fucked up day, and it’s only noon. What else can happen today?

Chapter 11

Hunter

What the fuck did I miss?

I stand there, watching her sprint away with more sass in her then I’ve ever seen in someone. I shake my head and a small chuckle leaves me as I bend down to pick up my bag, walking towards my car.

Getting in my car, I throw my backpack in the back seat and clench my fists around the steering wheel, wincing at the pain it brought on. I look down at my hand remembering what I had done and cursing at myself for letting my anger get the best of me.

Emma is right she doesn’t need anyone's pettiness, even though that isn’t what I was giving her, but she also doesn’t need someone coming to save her. I really couldn’t tell you what came over me, I saw him and how he was handling her. It was like a switched flip inside me and all I saw was red. My sister, Aubrey, would call it turning my emotions off or some weird shit she got from The Vampire Diaries.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath before pulling out of the school parking lot and making my way back to the house where my best friends and I currently live. Justin, Garrett, Matt, Cole and I have been together since Senior year of highschool. I’ve known Justin the longest, going all the way back to fifth grade when he signed up for the school's talent show. At the time, I was just getting into music and figuring out what I liked and didn’t like. When I saw his name on the list to play the keyboard, this small inspiration of hope spruced inside me. The next day I went up to him on the playground and asked if we could do it together. He was quiet at first, and the small seed of hope I had started to swindle, but he broke out in a toothy grin and since then we’ve been playing together. During our Junior and Senior year of high school, that is when we brought the rest of the guys. Banding together to create music and perform it in front of everyone.

As I drive down the street, I see Emma run into LaLa’s Coffee and Sweets. I quickly turn left into the parking lot and find a spot. But instead of getting out, I sit there contemplating on what I will say to her. To say sorry for coming to her defense? To tell her that I don’t pity her?

“What is going on with you?” I ask myself as if someone could answer that for me.

Let’s be real though, if someone did answer that question for me right now, how accurate would they be?

I look in my rearview mirror, seeing Emma perfectly, as she stands behind the counter. A smile on her face as she takes the order of a customer. The smile causes my heart to skip a beat, it's the first one I’ve seen her make. I wonder what it would truly look like to have her give a genuine smile.

Looking away, I put the car in reverse and head home.

I walk inside the house, to see Justin and Garrett playing video games. By the sound of it, Garrett is winning and Justin is yelling at his character as if it’s their fault instead of his. After our first year on campus, we all agreed that we wouldn’t be returning to the dorms and found this house just right off campus. It’s big enough for all of us and has enough space for us to practice in the basement.

“Hey guys,” I plop down on the couch across from the twins.

“Can’t talk right now,” Justin’s eyes are grilled to the screen with full concentration, “gotta beat this asshole.”

“You’ve lost three times in a row,” Garrett shakes head, laughter spilling from him. “Just give up already.”

The game goes on for ten more minutes before Justin throws the control down, taking his fourth loss.

“Sorry brother, I’m just that great.” Garrtett gives a smug look and Justin sits back glowering at the screen.

My mind wanders back to the coffee shop, wondering how Emma is doing after today's events. I know she walked away mad at me, but what about what happened with her and Chad? If I sit here for the rest of the day that is all I will be thinking about. I need something to distract myself.

“Hey, do you guys want to get out of here?” I ask them. They look at eachother, doing their weird twin thing.

“Yeah, actually, that is what I need right now anyways.” Garrett says, pushing his hair back with his hands. “Taylor and I got into it earlier today and it got pretty bad.”

“Shit,” I say, “what happened?”

“Just something stupid. We’ll be okay, just need to let her cool off.”

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