Through the course of the next week, Oliver and Hunter had made it a habit to sit with us at lunch. I was a bit surprised, considering that I figured Hunter's time was much better spent with Lena James, a girl who used to be my best friend until she took up the habit of dating guys I liked.
Despite my beliefs, Hunter sat with us. He really began to open up over that time and we all got to learn a lot about him. We had a lot of things in common, even down to things like our personality. He was just as much of a smart-ass as I was, which was kind of hot.
Katie and Juliet still insisted that there was sexual tension beyond what I refused to see. Katie even went on to say that he and I were more sexually frustrated than she and Oliver were when they were first dating.
Which, if you knew Katie and Oliver (who didn't even make out until they were together for two months, when the only reason they didn't was because they were afraid to just go on and rip each others' clothes off), seemed impossible.
It was the second Thursday after Hunter and I had met, eight days before the Manchester game, that Katie suggested a beach day. We had an early release the next day and it would take us twenty minutes to get to the beach from school.
"I'm in," Hunter said almost instantly, smirking. His gaze was set on me, almost as if he was picturing what I'd look like in a bikini.
"Me too," I added, licking my bottom lip and meeting his gaze, secretly picturing what he would look like without a shirt on. The rest of the group seemed to be watching out little exchange for a moment, completely silent.
"I'll go, too," Juliet added awkwardly. Obviously Oliver was going, since it was Katie's idea, so he didn't even need to respond.
Katie laughed and said, "Who's car are we taking? I'd kind of like to do a bonfire at night, so we'll need a five-seater plus a nice sized trunk. Mine's in the shop, the engine died last night."
"That rules my car out," Juliet shrugged, "It's only a two-seater."
"My dad would kill me if I got my car dirty, since it's so expensive," Hunter sighed. Right, expensive. Honestly, I constantly forgot he was rich. He sure didn't act like it.
"I don't drive," I sighed, blushing. Hunter raised an eyebrow at me, surprised. "Legally." Juliet chuckled.
"Well, I guess we can take my car," Oliver suggested.
"I call shotgun," Katie announced. Everyone rolled their eyes, including Oliver.
"We all kind of figured you'd be sitting in front, regardless," I commented, exchanging a smile with Hunter from across the table. At least I knew who he'd be sitting with. Me. The rest of lunch was filled with meaningless chatter and plans for tomorrow. Eventually, the bell rang and we all headed to class.
The rest of Thursday, and all of school on Friday, passed quickly. We were all itching to start our weekend early. When the bell rang, we all met up at Oliver's silver Honda Accord. We threw our stiff in the trunk with the firewood and piled into the car.
Katie sat in the front with Oliver; Juliet, Hunter and I in the back. We convinced Hunter to sit in the middle, and he happily obliged. I liked window seat and so did Juliet. Plus, Hunter really didn't seem to mind. Naturally, I didn't mind either.
We arrived at the beach at around 12:30. The boys unloaded the car and us girls went looking for a good spot to set up our things.
"This is it," Juliet smiled, "The defining moment."
"In?" I asked.
"In whether or not Hunter likes you. The beach is so romantic and fun. If it doesn't happen tonight, it never will. At least, if nothing happens tonight, nothing ever will. I don't mean, like, he'll kiss you or anything, I just mean that he'll probably make some sort of move tonight," Juliet explained. I rolled my eyes, but Katie was nodding her head in approval.
"Look, why can't you guys just accept the fact that maybe I just want to be friends with him?" I defended. My two best friends looked at me like I'm crazy.
"Please, it's so obvious that you guys are into each other," Katie countered as she picked a spot. She called to the boys, who's arms were full with chairs and bags of food (we were taking out the firewood later), "Over here!"
They set the stuff down and us girls began undressing. After applying tanning lotion, Katie and Juliet ran down to the shoreline. Oliver followed them seconds later, his arm wrapping around Katie's waist as he approached them.
"Come on," I said to Hunter as I put my yellow wayfarers- which matched my yellow bikini- on my face. He looked over at me through his aviators from his chair, where he was still putting lotion on his arms. His white tee was still on, much to my dismay. "Come on!" I repeated, walking over to him and pulling him out of his chair by his wrists.
"Give me a minute!" he laughed as I struggled, both of my hands wrapped around one of his wrists and tugging as hard as I could, even though he remained unmoving.
"Let's go, Firth! Come on!" I giggled, pulling so hard that I actually fell over onto the sand. Hunter burst out laughing and removed his baseball cap for a second to shed his shirt before extending a hand to help me up and putting his hat back on his head. It took me a moment to register why his hand was there because I was too busy taking in his bare chest and contoured abs. Eventually, I took his hand and stood up.
"Race you to the water," he smirked, beginning to run. I started after him but couldn't catch up. He got to the water before I did, so I retaliated in the only way I could think of, jumping up and grabbing his hat off of his head and sticking it on mine before he could stop me. "Hey!" he shouted as I pulled my pony tail through the back strap and ran away from him.
He was faster than I was and, after maybe a minute of chasing me, caught me by the hips and turned me around so I was facing him. Our bodies were too close for a normal person's comfort but he wasn't complaining and neither was I. Especially not since he was shirtless. Hunter slowly removed the cap from my head and put it back on his.
"Thank you," he laughed through ragged breaths. I smiled back, still too out of breath to really respond. We headed back to where the others were standing, laughing and bumping into each other. We all got into the water together, swimming deeper and farther from the beach.
Eventually, my toes couldn't touch the sand beneath us and the waves were making it hard for me to stay above water. I was the shortest in my group- a couple of inches shorter than Juliette and Katie, who were around the same height, and almost a foot shorter than Hunter, who seemed to be having no problem standing.
"Here, get on my back," Hunter suggested. I didn't have to be told twice; my eyes were already stinging from the water that kept lapping into them. I swam over and wrapped my legs around his waist. My hands rested on his shoulders so I could look around his neck at the rest of the group. I felt a sort of blip in his skin, maybe a scar, in the shape of an X just above his collarbone.
"What's that?" I asked, peering over his shoulder, absentmindedly resting my chin at the base of his neck.
"Oh, it's a scar. I had this surgery when I was a little kid and that's just the way the incision healed," he explained, "It's no big deal." I humphed in response, my head still resting on his shoulder. Juliet gave me an approving look, like that was it. The defining moment. My arms eventually wrapped around his neck, my hands clasped at his pecs, and my face resting against the side of his neck. I didn't think much of it, but Katie and Juliet couldn't stop staring.
When the sun finally set at around 5, we all got out of the water and the boys retreated to the car to get the firewood. "Oh my god," Katie giggled when they were out of earshot.
"What?" I asked, wrapping myself in a towel.
"You guys are freaking adorable together," she explained, "You're, like, a cuter couple than Olly and I, and you're not even together."
I shook my head, even though I was starting to believe that there really was something there. I glanced over at the car, where I could see Hunter picking up a pile of wood, his muscles flexing as he did so. I bit my lip, trying to hide a smirk.
"You can't even deny it anymore, can you?" Juliet snickered, "Not with the way you're looking at him."
"Shut up," I snapped, still smiling. A moment later, the boys were back and Oliver started the fire. Hunter sat in the chair next to mine and handed me a can of Mountain Dew.
"Your favorite," he smiled.
"I never told you that," I replied, taking the soda from him. Hunter pursed his lips, trying to figure out a logical explanation.
"You drink it every day at lunch, so I just assumed that-"
"It is my favorite," I told him, cutting him off by putting my hand over his mouth, "Thank you." I could feel him smile against my palm. I blushed and my hand fell back to my side. I took a sip of my drink, now silent. Katie smiled at me as she leaned her head on Oliver's shoulder. I smiled back, my lips pursed slightly.
Hunter must have noticed our exchange because I could feel his eyes on me intently. I turned to him, blushing. We looked at each other, completely silent, our faces inches apart and lit by fire for a few seconds before turning away. I covered my face with one of my hands and he looked away, quickly licking his bottom lip and smiling incredulously at Oliver, who was grinning.
All of a sudden, Katie's phone rang. "Shit!" she exclaimed, "I was supposed to be home an hour ago!" With that, we packed up and got back in the car. I was exhausted as soon as I sat down in the back seat. Seven hours at the beach would do that to a person.
Without really thinking about it, I rested my head on Hunter's shoulder and closed my eyes. I drifted off into sleep until my car door opened. One of Hunter's arms was behind my head and the other was reaching across the door, his torso hovering over me, so he could get out and get to his car, which was still in the student parking lot.
"Sorry," I mumbled, sleep thick in my voice.
"It's okay," he replied softly, his voice a whisper, "I didn't want to wake you." I tried to ignore the fact that his face was maybe an inch from mine, but it really was distracting me. I had the sudden urge to kiss him, but refrained. He looked like he wanted to kiss me, too, but didn't.
Since I'd already chickened out of the kiss, I stumbled out of the car so he could get out since Juliet was still on the other side. We dropped him off first because the school was closer to the beach than Katie's house. I vaguely wondered why Juliet didn't just ask him for a ride home, but then remembered that she was staying at Katie's house because her parents were out of town. As soon as he was out of the car, I went to get back into my seat.
"What, no hug?" Hunter exclaimed, opening his arms to me. I laughed and got back up. His arms slinked around my waist, pulling me onto my tip-toes so my arms would wrap around his neck and make his face bury into my neck.
"Night, Hunter," I whispered, reluctantly pulling out of the hug and getting back into the car. He smiled and grabbed his stuff out of the trunk as I closed my car door. I watched him get into the car as Oliver backed out and pulled away.
"Damn, Tess, he needs to ask you out. You guys are so into each other, it's crazy," Oliver said. I could hear the sincerity in his voice, even though he had a joking tone. Katie and Juliet both laughed in agreement.
"Told you," Juliet giggled, poking my shoulder, "I think there were more than enough signs tonight." I scowled at her in the darkness as we pulled up to my house. As soon as I got home, I crawled into my bed and fell straight asleep.