Trying Not To Love You

When Hailey and I made it downstairs, I noticed in the corner of my eye that Dominic was walking towards us. I yanked on Hailey's hand and practically ran to Hunter's truck.

"In a hurry?" Hunter asked, with a sly grin on his face.

"Yeah, hurry up, Dominic's on his way over." I told him, still making a point not to look out the window in Dominic's direction.

Hunter looked in his rear view mirror at Hailey. "Where are we headed?"

"Anywhere away from the asshat." Hailey told him, pointing her thumb in Dominic's direction. I tensed a little, thinking about what Dominic would see when he made it to his room.

Hunter put the truck in drive and pulled away from the curb. "Then we're going back to my place. I don't really feel like going out anywhere."

The rest of the drive was fairly quiet, with just the sound of Hailey humming to the songs from the back seat. I heard my phone buzzing from my purse on the floor, and I knew it was Dominic. I sat there pondering what he would say when I finally did talk to him. They belonged to his roommate's girlfriend. That was not going to fly this time. Why would they be on his side of the room?

Hunter pulled me from my thoughts by placing his hand on my bare leg. This caused an electric shock to run through my body and I could not hold back the shiver. "You ok?"

I looked around, and noticed we were in his driveway. I gave him a tight smile, and climbed out of the truck.

"Movie and popcorn?" Hunter asked. He walked beside me into the house.

"And ice cream," I whispered back.

"And shots, lots of shots," Hailey said from behind me.

When we walked into his kitchen, Hunter went over to the cabinet and grabbed a bag of popcorn. Hailey went over to the bar in the living room to grab shot glasses and vodka. I went to the freezer to get the ice cream. When I opened the freezer door, a small smile formed when I noticed he had my favorite kind, Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey.

I put the ice cream down on the counter, and noticed Hunter staring at me. I smiled at him and mouthed, "Thank you." He winked at me.

"So, I say a shot every 10 minutes for the next hour, and then we should be good to go home, right Kenzie?" Hailey asked, while pouring the vodka in our shot glasses.

"Um, I don't think you two are going anywhere tonight." Hunter said, taking the popcorn out of the microwave.

"I don't have any clothes here, and we have class in the morning." I said to Hunter and then to Hailey. "Remind me again, whose idea it was to have a Monday morning class?"

"You picked the classes, not me, sweetheart." She picked up her shot glass, downed it, poured another one and then said, "Well come on, let's get this party started."

Hunter and I picked up our shots and downed them with her. After wiping my mouth with the back on my hand, I dished my ice cream into the bowl. Hailey grabbed the bottle of vodka, Hunter grabbed the popcorn and we went to the living room to watch Super Troopers. We needed a good laugh after the last hour.

Halfway through the movie, Hailey had fallen asleep in the recliner, cuddled up with the bottle of vodka. Hunter was on one end of the couch, and I was comfortably lying across the rest of the couch with my head on Hunters lap. He had grabbed a blanket from his bed for me, and I wrapped up tightly in it. I was starting to doze in and out when his phone started vibrating in his pocket.

Hunter shifted slightly, and reached into his pocket to get his phone. I started to sit up so he could reach it, but he held my head lightly in place, and pulled his phone out. Groaning, he hit the reject call button and put it on the arm of the couch.

He was just about to say something, when his phone started going off again. He exhaled loudly, and showed me that it was Dominic who had called. I shook my head, and he rejected the call again. I laid my head back down on his lap, and snuggled a little tighter in the blanket.

About ten minutes later, his phone buzzed again. He picked it up, and answered it this time. "What's up, Coop?"

I lifted my head from his lap, and sat up. I mouthed, "I'll be right back." He nodded his head.

I went into the kitchen, grabbed my purse from the counter and searched for my phone. I saw that I had 26 missed calls, 2 voicemails and 6 text messages, all of them from Dominic.

I read through a couple of the texts where he was saying they weren't his, it's not what it looked like, he was sorry and just to call him, he could explain everything.

I dialed Dominic's number, ready to get this over with.

He answered right away. "Baby, it's not what it looked like. Those were Brittany's. You can talk to her. I told her she can't do shit like this." He was rambling. He rambled a lot when he was hiding something.

"Dominic, I need a break. This isn't working. I feel like you're hiding shit from me."

"Ok, a break. I can do a break. I just can't lose you." He sounded defeated.

"No calling, no texting, no nothing. I need time." Then I hung up, and turned off my phone. I put it back in my purse, and started walking back to the living room when Hunter came around the corner, still on the phone.

"Mase wants to talk to you." He handed me the phone.

"Hey Mase, what's up?" I tried to sound cheery. I did not want him to think that I was upset about my fight with Dominic.

"I'm coming down there in a few weeks. Make sure you don't have any plans," he told me.

"You know, it wouldn't hurt to ask me nicely." I huffed.

"Kenzie, you're lucky I'm not down there now." He said through his teeth.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I asked, and looked up at Hunter, who was leaning against the fridge.

"You think he wouldn't tell me what that asshat is putting your through?" Mase was pissed. He never did like Dominic, and this was just enforcing the reasons behind his hatred.

"I'm a big girl Mase. I can handle myself. Look, I have to go. Hunter's phone is about to die. Love you." I hung up before he could even respond.

"Nice." Hunter said, catching his phone as I threw it at him.

I opened the sliding glass doors, and walked down the stairs towards the beach. I needed to clear my head.

Could I believe what Dominic was saying? Maybe. Maybe not. I knew he was busy with football, and that it took up a lot of his time. If he had no time to hang out with me, did he have time for someone else? Maybe. Maybe not.

I realized that he was not the same guy that I started dating a year ago. He was changing a lot. I was changing. We were growing apart.

"Hey." Hunter said, putting his hands on my shoulders from behind me.

"Hey." I tilted my head to look up at him.

"You ok? You know, I didn't have a choice in telling Mason. I was avoiding his calls. He knew something was up, that's why he got Coop to call." He was trying to defend himself but there was no need. This was my family, and nothing was ever going to change.

"I know." I looked out over the ocean. "I told Dominic I needed a break."

"I kind of heard. I was coming to give you the phone, but figured you needed a minute." He started massaging my shoulders. God that felt good. "You're so tense CC. Relax."

I tried to relax, and enjoy the feel of his hands on me. As soon as I did, I felt the tears in my eyes. Trying hard not to think about either him or Dominic, I put my hands on his hands and brushed them off. He did not know that he was making this harder on me. I wanted to run into his arms. I wanted him take all the shit Dominic was causing away, but he could not, because he would not.

I walked down to the ocean. The waves crashed around my legs. It was freezing, but I did not care. I was already numb. I kept walking until I could not reach the bottom anymore. Hunter came up behind me and grabbed me, pulling me to him. I wanted this, and I just did not have the energy to push him away anymore tonight. I let him hold me, as the current pushed us around. After a while, I started shivering, and we made our way back to the house. Hailey was still sound asleep in the recliner when we walked into the living room.

"I think we should leave her here. I'll grab a blanket from my room," Hunter said, and walked off towards the stairs.

I decided to follow him up so I could borrow some of his clothes, and get out of these wet ones.

I pushed his door open and walked in. "Can I borrow some of your clothes again?"

"Yeah, help yourself. T-shirts are in the second drawer, boxers are in the first." He said from inside his walk in closet. "I'll be back, so you can change in here." He walked out with a blanket for Hailey.

I grabbed one of his t-shirts and a pair of boxers and quickly changed. I walked over to his closet, and grabbed another pillow and blanket for myself. When I opened the closet door, there were pictures of the two of us together from a few summers taped to the door. As I was standing there staring at them, he walked in.

"Um," He took a deep breath, and then continued, "Do you want to sleep in here, or downstairs with Hailey?"

I turned to look at him, but did not say anything for a long moment. "Why do you have these in here?"

"It's just pictures CC." He said, as walked back towards his dresser.

I did not say anything else. I just shut the closet door.

He reached in one of the drawers, grabbed a pair of boxers and walked into the bathroom. A second later, he came out wearing just boxers and walked to his bed.

"You staying here, or downstairs?" He asked me again.

I didn't answer him. I just walked over to the bed, pulled the covers down and climbed in. Hunter reached over to the side table and turned off the lamp, then climbed into bed. I knew he was uncomfortable because he could not stop moving.

"Am I making you uncomfortable?" I asked him, after he started shaking his foot, making the whole bed move.

"No, why?" He asked.

"Because, you are shaking the whole bed with your foot. I don't mind sleeping down stairs."

"No, you are fine." He turned on his side facing me.

I was never going to be able to sleep with him watching me. I turned away from him, but that was not making me any more comfortable. I knew what I wanted, but I only wished he would do it. He must have read my mind because he reached for my hip, and pulled me towards him.

"Is this ok?" He whispered in my ear.

I nodded, and snuggled a little closer. That was exactly what I needed, and within minutes, I was fast asleep.