I'll Be The One

Chapter 9:

=Normal POV=
[Saturday, 11/10/2018-5:30 pm]
[Archipelago; Arc Isle]
[Underground; Odin's Dragon's Hideout]

Tomorrow marked a full week since Hunter broke up with Cassandra, and it was such an event that Hunter wished he'd gone right back to his job of seven years and told them that there was a change in plans and he could work again. When Hunter quit, he was respectful about it and explained to corporate that this was his final year of school and very busy between that and events with his dad, so it was time for him to turn in his keys and uniform. Of course, Hunter was offered to come back anytime he wanted and get his position as general manager back. Hunter appreciated it because despite the crazy hours; he did love McViking. And the hours were only nuts because of college, so he had to work around school and the job.

However, Hunter only wanted to go back to work because he now had the free time he wanted. Hunter quit to spend time with Cassandra more, and the day he did everything and was going to surprise her; she found him kissing Tallon. The problem wasn't that he caught her kissing someone else either; it's that she tried to make it seem like Tallon was the guilty one. Cassandra cheated and lied to Hunter; that was unacceptable, and Hunter was done with things. Did he still love her? Yes, but that would fade with time, and he'd never forget her. You don't forget your first love, and perhaps one day he'd meet someone who he came to love more than he loved Cassandra.

Hunter hadn't told anyone he broke up with Cassandra yet; he needed the last week to collect his thoughts; focus on school and himself. Finals were two months away in February; he needed to be prepared for such. Election day passed; the votes were in, but it hadn't been announced yet because of some reason Hunter didn't know. Of course, Hunter knew that it was his dad; there was a strong feeling about. The majority of the Archipelago loved him. For Hunter; he was tired of sitting around. At this time on a Saturday; he'd be at work. But Hunter didn't work anymore, so what did he do? Flynn and the others were at the hangout; he'd been invited earlier that morning by Flynn before Hunter left for his one morning Saturday class.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt," Hunter said as he grabbed a few things and headed out of the apartment. Grabbing his car; he drove to the transportation center and parked in the back where he saw the vehicles his friends drove. Hunter locked up the car and headed for the entrance that he remembered the others said they always used because it was the shortest way into the central area. Hunter got it carefully and began making his way through.

. . .

[Hideout; Central Room]

"You invited him this morning, didn't you?" Trevor asked Flynn, referring to Hunter because they were going to the hideout to get a little work done and then relax. The group thought to invite Hunter, see if he wanted to come out and have some fun with them; get his mind off the breakup.

Flynn nodded. "I did," he replied.

"What did he say?" Avery inquired.

"Not much of anything," Flynn admitted. "It was about 6:45 am when I mentioned something to him; he was heading for his Saturday class, which was at 7 am, I think. I told him we were going to be hanging out here, that he was invited to join. All he said was okay, and he'd see or maybe," he shrugged.

"Well, text him. Maybe he forgot?" Seth offered. Flynn got his phone and prepared to text Hunter when he saw a message from Hunter come through.

Hunter's Cell, 6:00 pm
I am taking you up on the offer to hang out from this morning because I'm bored and it's too quiet at the apartment. In the tunnel now, used the Meade Hall entrance.

"Huh…I guess he didn't forget and is in Meade Hall entrance tunnel. His message just came through," Flynn informed.

"What did he say?" Tallon asked.

"Taking up your offer to hang because bored and too quiet," Flynn replied calmly.

"Understandable," Harper smiled.

"Guess we better make sure it's fun then," TJ chuckled.

"Hey, we always have fun together," Drew stated.

"He's got a point," Elijah added in, smiling. No sooner than he said it; Hunter walked into view.

"Hunter!" Flynn smiled wide.

"Hey," Hunter waved, approaching them.

"Glad you decided to join us," Tallon informed.

"Probably better a time with friends than by myself," Hunter shrugged.

"That's debatable. Sometimes alone time is nice too," Seth shrugged.

"Who wants to be by themselves?" Avery said.

"Not talking about the same thing," Trevor snickered a little.

"I don't understand," Madison tilted her head.

"Some guys like being alone for more personal feelings," Tallon said. The girls blinked again as Hunter laughed.

"That statement can be taken in different contexts. The first, on what Avery said is that if someone is feeling alone, sad, or something; no, who wants to be alone. However, the other context is that people enjoy being alone to masturbate. That's why Seth said my comment was debatable because there are times where people prefer to be alone, and it's usually to get off and go to sleep," Hunter explained.

"OH!" the girls said together understanding.

"I can't believe I had to explain that to you," Hunter rolled his eyes.

"Hey, we don't do it as often as all of you," Harper huffed.

"But the fact is that you still do it now and then because you admitted just now to doing it," Hunter countered as Harper's eyes widened. "The amount of times you do it doesn't matter; the point is that you do it and you prefer to be alone, do you not?"

"Yes…" Madison trailed off slowly.

"You girls tend only to do it when you're extremely horny. Guys masturbate when they are horny, stressed, or bored," Elijah said.

"Alright, enough on this. Let's go hang out," Tallon shook his head as the group moved to the side room. "Hunter? You up for drinking, or no?"

"Well, I don't work anymore, and I don't have class tomorrow, so sure. I drove, but I can get picked up by Kris if I end up not being able to drive," Hunter replied.

"Good because we always start with one shot and branch out to mixed drinks and beer," Drew stated.

"You could always stay the night here too. We do it if we end up not being able to drive," Roxanne informed.

"Which of you brought the music this time?" Seth inquired. No one replied. "We planned to hang out, and no one thought to bring music?" he asked now.

"Oops," a few of them said, the rest shrugged and shook their heads. Hunter opened his backpack and pulled out a portable speaker; then set his phone and the speaker on the center table.

"Not sure what kind of music you're all into, but I've got thousands of songs on my phone and brought my speaker that connects via Bluetooth," Hunter stated.

"We listen to anything; it's mainly for background noise," Trevor said.

"Well, we can use my phone then," Hunter smiled as he turned the speaker on, then tapped a few things on his phone as the music started. "It's on random, but if you have requests; I can see if I have them,"

"Awesome, thanks Hunter," Tallon handed him a shot. "You've had Crowne Royal before, right?"

"Once…And it was not a fun night with Dad and Uncle Greg," Hunter chuckled, taking it from Tallon.

"Cool, so since you are new to the group; you get to tell us stories since we all know everything about each other," Seth laughed.

"My life isn't all the interesting," Hunter said.

"Maybe to you because you've been living it, but to us…It's probably pretty adventurous," Tallon informed.

"Pretty sheltered," Hunter corrected. "But alright, fair is fair; I'll attempt to entertain you with a couple of stories," he gave in. The friends tapped glasses and took their first shot. Afterward, the glasses were set on the table, and everyone grabbed their next drink to enjoy. Tallon and Hunter were both having Southern Comfort and Cola, sitting on the same couch.

"Alright, so tell us about you, Hunter," Harper invited.

"What do you wanna know?" Hunter asked.

"Whatever you want to tell us," Tallon offered.

"Okay, uh…My name is Hunter Haddock the Third, twenty-one years old, born February 29th, 1996. My parents are Salvatore and Vanessa Haddock; Gregory Forger is my Godfather and unofficial uncle. I lived on the island of Berk almost all my life in Raven Point; dad was the mayor; then moved here to the mainland when the eighth grade was over, and dad had become president. I attended Berkian Preparatory until eighth grade, then transferred to Archian Prep for High School. I did my first three years of university at Archian Community College," Hunter started to tell them.

"But you said you left there because of paparazzi, right?" Trevor inquired.

"Yeah. I was living in a single dorm, but there were always news crews hanging on the grounds, trying to get into the building. I finally got fed up and decided to do the last year at AIU; letting them believe I'm residing there instead of at the Archian House or in some other location," Hunter shrugged.

"And you're majoring in Computer and Mechanical Engineering?" Flynn smiled.

"That's right. I have my Bachelors in Computer and Mechanical, but I'm going for my Masters in Computer this year," Hunter said, feeling like he'd mentioned this once already, but whatever.

"Are you minoring in anything?" Avery wondered.

"Art and Music. I finished Art last year, but then some stuff happened, and I had to put Music off until this year. I finished two years of Music at Archian Community College, but the last one had to be done with my Master's Degree to finish it since you can't minor in something without a major," Hunter informed.

"What happened? Well, if you want to tell us?" Madison offered. Hunter looked down at his drink a bit, the smile on his face faltering a bit.

"Death in the family," Hunter responded gently.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Madison frowned.

"It's okay. Time heals all wounds, right? I'm just glad they aren't suffering anymore. I think it was harder to watch them get closer to death every day, and being powerless to stop it," Hunter said. "Anyway…Uh, I've always been a straight A student, I have my license, car, and motorcycle; even though it needs repairing. Had two crushes; the only person I ever loved and dated was Cassandra, for five years until last week, of course,"

"Hey, don't get all down about last week," Drew told him.

"Wasn't about just last week; it was the last three years," Hunter informed. "She changed, and I tried to overlook it for the longest time, but I hit a point where I just couldn't anymore,"

"Happens to everyone, Hunt. We're only built to be able to handle so much on the same thing before, as you said, it becomes emotionally exhausting. At that point, you break the cycle because you know if you don't; you'll continue to repeat the same thing over and over again with the same outcome every time," Tallon stated.

"I know that. My dad told me many times, but I guess I was blinded and stupid," Hunter shrugged.

"Was she really cheating on you and stuff?" TJ inquired.

"I had my suspicions, never confirmed them. However, considering she hasn't bothered trying to contact me or beg for me back after last week; I assume she's already replaced me with someone who apparently has more time and will fuck her whenever she wants," Hunter laughed a little taking another drink.

"Is that what she was always complaining about?" Avery blinked.

"That you were busy?" Roxanne stared.

"And wouldn't have sex with her all the time, yes," Hunter nodded. "That's what it's been about since my first year of college ended, around the time we had sex for the first time; eighteen months of dating or so,"

"Yeesh. Did she get addicted to it or something?" Trevor wondered.

"Guess so," Hunter shrugged. "Hell, I don't even think I can call it five years together…She was always putting us on breaks, or straight up leaving for a week or more. The last two breakups were my doing, but the rest were all here,"

"Well, forget her. You'll recover and find someone else who might end up being the one," Elijah smiled. "In the meantime, you have us to keep you company,"

"I appreciate it," Hunter stated.

"So, you minored in Art and Music?" Tallon asked.

"Finished Art and two years of Music with my Bachelors for Computer and Mechanical. Working on finishing Music with my Masters for Computer," Hunter responded.

"And the art stuff, just drawing or whatever?" Seth inquired.

"Drawing, painting, sculpting," Hunter nodded.

"And the music? Is that like, playing instruments and what not?" Flynn questioned.

"Little bit of everything," Hunter said.

"But what does that entail?" Harper smiled.

"Playing instruments, writing notes, lyrics, singing, understanding pitches; the list goes on and on," Hunter informed.

"So you sing?" Madison sat forward.

"And write music?" Avery pushed.

"Now and then," Hunter replied, nodding a bit and taking another drink.

"Have you…Ever written your own songs? Like from scratch with making the music, lyrics, and recording it all?" Tallon inquired.

"Yeah, couple times; it takes forever," Hunter glanced at him.

"Dude, you should sing one for us!" TJ and Seth said together.

"Nani?" Hunter blinked.

"Huh?" the friends asked.

"It means what in Japanese," Hunter chuckled. "Why do you want me to sing?"

"Because you said you could, and have written songs. Come on…Share one with us? Please?" Avery inquired.

"I normally don't unless it's something for school or an event with dad," Hunter informed.

"Pretend it's something for school, performance or whatever?" Drew offered.

"Sorry, can't. I just gotta be in the mood for it mostly. Also, I didn't bring any of them with me. All my songs are home on the desktop," Hunter chuckled.

"Aww…" the girls said.

"Maybe some other time," Hunter suggested as they nodded.

"You know other languages?" Flynn beamed, directing the conversation to something else.

"Spanish, French, Japanese, Norse, Italian, Chinese, Arabic, Danish, English…" Hunter listed off. "Well the basics of them. I go into more advanced learning of it during the second semester this year,"

"How did you have time to learn all that?" Tallon questioned.

"Well…I've done them at different years through high school. Spanish was ninth-grade; French was tenth, Italian was eleventh, and Japanese was twelfth. The rest I got into over the last three years of college, and then this year during the second semester I take Advanced Languages," Hunter explained.

"What are you taking right now?" Drew questioned.

"Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays is Artificial Intelligence from 9 am to 12 pm then Algorithms and Computer Graphics from 1 pm to 4 pm. Tuesdays and Thursdays are Advanced System Design from 8 am to 11 am, then Advanced Graphics from 2 pm to 4 pm. I also have Music on Wednesdays from 2 pm to 4 pm, and again on Saturday morning from 7 am to 10 am," Hunter said.

"And before you quit; you were working around all that?" TJ and Roxanne blinked a few times.

"Mostly closing shifts from 5 or 6 pm to 1 am. Except for Saturday and Sundays, the place was open till 1 am, so home around 2 am," Hunter shrugged. "I did a few opens if they needed it,"

"You said you were a GM?" Trevor mentioned.

"General Manager at McViking," Hunter nodded.

"And you'd been working there since you were fourteen?" Avery smiled.

"Yep, the basic allowed hours for a minor. I started working the legally allowed limit and worked my way up to when I quit last week. Started at crew member, jumped the ranks to general manager," Hunter stated. "I think I skipped shift supervisor and manager…" he thought about it for a second. "Yeah, that sounds right. Crew member until I was seventeen, became a crew trainer until eighteen and then trained to become a general manager. I was only to do regular manager, but our GM left on short notice and they needed a replacement, so I took the job. Better pay and hours," he chuckled.

"Good for you," Tallon smiled.

"I can always go back there if I need a second job," Hunter said.

"You think they miss you?" Harper asked.

"It's possible; they begged me not to leave and hoped I'd come to visit. They even threw me a party that morning before we opened," Hunter stated.

"Safe to say you made an impression on them," Tallon chuckled.

"Haven't had to hire anyone in years. We had the perfect crew for the day, mid-shift, and night. I trained all of them when I was a crew trainer, so we worked well together," Hunter finished his drink.

"That's good. Would you like another?" Tallon asked, offering to take his glass.

"Oh, yes, please?" Hunter smiled wide. Tallon got up to make Hunter another drink, noticing that the Southern Comfort was gone.

"Is Rum and Coke okay? We're out of Soco," Tallon inquired.

"That's fine," Hunter replied. Tallon nodded, making the drink and then returning to hand Hunter the cup before sitting beside him again. "Thanks,"

"We're glad you're enjoying yourself and decided to come out tonight," Tallon smiled.

"It's nice. Change of pace," Hunter replied.

"Oh, where's that bad time story about drinking with your dad and uncle?" Elijah asked, hopeful.

"Oh, that! It was my twenty-first. I didn't want to go out with my guards, and I didn't have friends, so I stayed home. It worked out that Uncle Greg came home from Iraq to surprise the family too, so the three of us got wasted at the house. Well, Dad not so much but Greg and I were gone. I still don't remember much of it, and Greg refuses to tell me," Hunter laughed.

"Bad hangover the next morning?" Drew inquired.

"Oh, Gods…I don't even want to remember that. My mom laid into both of them for letting me get so drunk; she was scared I got alcohol poisoning because I was miserable and didn't want to leave my room. I was fine, of course," Hunter said.

"What did you have? Did your ex know?" TJ wondered.

"Again, Greg won't tell me…But pretty sure Cassandra raped me that night. I mean I was drunk, so I couldn't exactly consent to have sex. I knew we did because I typically don't just wake up wearing nothing at all. Greg laughs every time I ask him what I did; he tells me it was hilarious and that's about it," Hunter replied.

"That's rough, man," Trevor stated. "Ever been that drunk since?"

"Nope. I never want that hangover again as long as I live…" Hunter responded firmly. "I still get drunk, let loose and have fun, but I'll never go past drunk, you know what I mean? I don't like the feeling of being hammered, smashed, shit-faced, or gone. Pretty sure the night of my twenty-first was considered…I think Blackout Drunk,"

"Well, at least it wasn't Trainwreck," Seth laughed.

"I think that's because my mom stopped it when she came to see how things were and I hit the floor when I got up to say goodnight to her. I woke up a few seconds later to Bryant and Andrew carrying me to my room and Cassandra telling them that she had it from there. That's…Honestly the last thing I remember before everything went black again. Woke up naked in bed, hungover, and instantly puking. Spent the majority of that next day in the bathroom," Hunter mumbled. "Nope, never again…"

"Well, if you hang with us…Expect more than a few drunken nights. You know your limit?" Tallon asked.

"Depends on the drinks had that night, but I can typically recognize when to stop," Hunter informed.

"Good to know. Now, let's kick back and relax," Tallon smiled. Hunter nodded, agreeing with him. The friends continued to sit around, talk, and drink casually. Hunter was glad he decided to do this; he needed it badly.