"Hunter," I said with more eagerness than I had planned to show. "I—I wasn't sure if you would call."
"I told you that I would. I have been looking forward to seeing you again. Do you have plans tonight?"
"No. No plans." Jenny would have been upset with me if she could hear me now. She would have told me to pretend that I was busy and not accept a date on such short notice. I didn't care about any of that. I couldn't wait to see Hunter again.
"Would you like to do something with me? We could go to a movie or whatever you wish. I just want to see you again."
Hunter wasn't playing cool either. He sounded genuinely excited to go out with me. "Come over and we'll figure it out when you get here." I didn't care what we did, as long as I was with him.
There was no time to change, because I had to tell my parents about Hunter. I put on some lipstick and my own perfume this time. Mom and Dad were bewildered when I went downstairs and announced that I had a date.
"I thought you said that you and Josh broke up."
"Yeah, Mom, we did, but this is another boy."
"What? Who?"
I twirled a strand of hair around my finger. "His name is Hunter. I met him at the mall."
"You mean that guy you saw when we were there with Jenny?" Now I was being interrogated by Alex, too.
"Yes," I said quickly, hoping that she wouldn't mention my dream or the painting.
"I thought you didn't know who he is." She was looking at me suspiciously.
"I saw him last night at the ice cream stand, and he asked for my number."
Mom scowled at me. "Are you saying that you broke up with Josh over a stranger?"
"Here we go with all the boyfriends," Dad muttered.
"Allison said that she had a—"
I cut Alex off in a hurry. "He's really nice. He even walked me home."
"You led a stranger straight to your door when no one was home? I thought you had more sense than that!" Mom was almost shouting now.
I looked sheepishly at the floor, remembering how I had gotten into his car. Hunter had even called me on it. "I'm sorry. We were talking, and he was so nice and everything."
"Does he go to school with you?" Dad asked.
I was relieved to change the subject. "He's home-schooled."
Dad raised an eyebrow. "Really? I wonder why his parents chose that route."
"You can ask him yourself. We have to meet him before Allison goes anywhere with him."
"Mom! I was alone with him last night, and I was fine. Don't you think that proves you can trust him?"
"Did you invite him in?" Dad suddenly looked as upset as Mom.
"Of course not. I know the rules."
"Well, at least you don't forget everything when you see a pretty face," Mom said sarcastically.
Dad looked at her. "How do you know he's—"
"She's going out with him the same day she broke up with her boyfriend. What do you think is the reason?"
"It's because she's in love with him."
We all turned to look at Alex.
I tried to laugh. "Well, that's—that's crazy. I only just met him."
"You were already in love with him," Alex said in a way that made her seem older than her ten years.
We were startled out of this odd exchange by knocking on the front door. I had been so distracted by arguing with my family that I had failed to notice Hunter's arrival. I took a deep breath and went to answer the door. After my parents' disapproval, I was worried about how they would react to him.
They were merely polite at first, but he managed to charm them within a short time. My dad asked him what he was studying, and Hunter happened to mention a certain period of history. Dad is a history buff, and he was quickly impressed by Hunter's extensive knowledge on the subject. Mom, I could tell, was pleasantly surprised by his manners. I noted that he had an ease with adults that I had never seen in someone my age.
The only person who didn't warm to Hunter was Alex. She sat watching him in total silence, her expression giving away nothing. I couldn't believe that she wasn't pestering him with a million questions the way she usually bothered my friends until I had to yell at her to stop.
Despite her earlier antagonism, Mom was actually the one who came to my rescue. "Ron, the kids have to get to their movie."
"Oh, right," Dad said regretfully.
Hunter stood and smiled at Dad. "I look forward to continuing this discussion another time."
Alex finally spoke. "You need to put your necklace on, Allison."
"Next time. Right now we're—"
"You promised!"
I sighed. "Okay, okay. Sorry, Hunter. I'll be right back."
Alex followed me up to my room. "I like Josh better."
"Sorry, but who I date has nothing to do with you, so stop trying to creep Hunter out. You were staring at him like he was a bug under a microscope." I hastily picked up the necklace from my nightstand and put it on, taking one last look in the mirror. My blue shorts and top looked alright, but not as pretty as the dress I had worn the evening before.
"He wants to marry you and take you away from us."
I halted on my way toward the hallway. "What?"
"He's in love with you, too."
"Alex, what is wrong with you lately? Where are you getting this stuff?"
She had already shifted gears. "Just don't take the necklace off again."
"Whatever." I rushed back downstairs, eager to go on my date with Hunter.
"It was a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Roth, Mr. Roth."
My parents were actually smiling when we left. Alex's goodbye was curt, however.
"You have a very nice family," Hunter said as we walked toward his car.
"They're okay, I guess. What's your family like?"
He opened the passenger door for me. "My parents are deceased. I live with a guardian."
"Oh, I'm sorry!"
"Thank you. It was a long time ago." He closed my door and went around to the driver side.
I waited until he was seated. "Were they in an accident?"
"They took ill."
"Both of them? How awful." I wanted to ask what kind of illness it had been, but I felt that I had pried enough into his painful past.
Hunter changed the subject. "Where shall we go? Do you want to see a movie?"
"It doesn't really matter to me. We can go to a movie if you feel like it." It was amazing how happy I felt just being in his presence.
"I actually prefer to go somewhere we can talk. I would like to learn more about you." He turned on the car and pulled out of my driveway.
"I want to know more about you, too. I don't even know how old you are."
Hunter took so long to answer that I thought maybe he didn't hear me. "I am seventeen," he finally replied.
"An older man," I joked. "I just turned sixteen last month.
"Yes, you are quite young," he said, but he didn't sound like he was kidding.
"Hey! I'm only a year younger than you."
"Yes, well, be that as it may—"
"You better not be having second thoughts. I just broke up with my boyfriend because of you." I should have been horrified that I had blurted that out. Jenny would have been aghast at my revelation and warned me that it would make me appear desperate. I, however, felt completely comfortable speaking my mind. I had never felt so close to someone so fast.
Hunter was beaming at me. "You did? Because of me?"
"Yeah, so don't think you're going to back out now."
"Allison, now that I have found you, there is no power on earth that can keep me away from you."
He looked at me with those dark eyes of unfathomable depths, and the air between us became charged with unspoken thoughts. Then he turned his attention to the road, and I tried to stop imagining him kissing me. Hunter drove to the same beach where I had been with Josh yesterday. He parked the car, and we got out and held hands as we walked across the sand.
"Would you like to go to a concert tomorrow night?"
I smiled at him. "Sure. Who's playing?"
Hunter told me, and my eyes widened. "Those tickets have been sold out for months."
"You mentioned last night that you liked them, so I found tickets for us."
"They're my favorite band ever! You must have paid a fortune for tickets."
"I wanted to make you happy."
"You already have," I said in total sincerity. "I'm happy just hanging out with you. You don't need to spend a lot of money."
"Oh, my lady, truly I say to you, your wish is my command. I beseech you to tell me what you want, and you shall have it. I would love to show you the world. I would take you to Paris tonight if I could, but I am limited to the vicinity of your home until you are of age."
I was overwhelmed by his impassioned speech. If I understood him correctly, he was talking about two years into the future, when I turned eighteen. I knew that getting emotionally attached too fast was one of the signs of a stalker. It was only our first date, so I should have been scared by what he said, or at least put off by his corny my lady line. Instead, it thrilled me to hear it, because it sounded absolutely right and true. "Have you been to Paris?"
Hunter nodded. "I have seen much of the world."
I listened in awe as he described his travels. "You've been to that many places already? No wonder you're home-schooled."
"Yes, it would have been difficult to attend school."
"It must have been hard to make friends."
He looked off into the distance and smiled. "There have been a few." He was clearly remembering good times.
I was struck by sudden jealousy as I wondered how many of those friends had been girls, and if he had kissed any of them. Then I recalled that I had kissed Josh only yesterday. Already, I couldn't imagine kissing anyone except Hunter. As if our thoughts were in sync, he asked me how many boyfriends I'd had.
"Are you reading my mind?"
Hunter laughed. "I cannot read minds, Allison. Why? Were you thinking about your boyfriends?"
"I was actually wondering about your girlfriends. Anyway, you sent me that telepathic message yesterday, and you said that you have certain abilities, so I thought reading minds was one of them."
All the humor was gone from his expression. "To answer your question, there has only been one girl in the past. I cannot read minds, but I can establish a link that allows me limited communication. That was how I was able to send you that short message."
"When did you make this link with me?"
"When I saw you at the shopping mall. It requires direct eye contact."
I certainly remembered how our gazes had locked across a crowded room. I had been stunned to see that he really existed, that he wasn't just part of a dream. There was something about that encounter in the mall that nagged at me, but I couldn't think of what it was.
"You never answered my question about your boyfriends. You said that you just broke up with one."
"He was the only one before I met you. We haven't been together very long, just since my birthday. I was at the beach with him yesterday when I got your message. It made me think I might be losing it, by the way, so thanks for that. Anyway, I broke up with him today."
"You always were headstrong and impulsive," Hunter said with an amused smile.
"What?"
"Nothing," he said. "I am very glad that you broke up with him."
I wanted to ask him about the girl he had mentioned, but I decided to leave that for another time. Had she broken up with him or had he broken up with her? Did I even want to know the story?
"What is this promise that you made to your sister?" Hunter was looking at my necklace.
"Oh that." I touched the cross with my free hand. "Alex gave me this for my birthday and made me promise to wear it all the time. I don't know what's gotten into her lately."
"She loves you, and she wants you to be safe. Many people believe that crosses offer protection."
"Do you believe that?" An image was in my mind of the Hunter in my dream telling me to remove the necklace.
He regarded me thoughtfully. "I believe that you do not need it. I would never let any harm befall you."
"You're my hero," I said, laughing, but his expression darkened. "Hunter, what's wrong?"
He shook his head. "Nothing." His smile returned. "Are you hungry? Would you like me to take you to a restaurant?"
"I already ate dinner, but you can get something if you want. I could use something to drink, though."
We began to walk back to the car, and we continued to talk about our lives. Hunter asked me about school and my friends, and he listened intently to every word. I knew there was nothing fascinating about my life, but I never once saw his attention wander. I guessed it was because his life had been so different from mine. When I asked what his guardian did that required so much travel, he just answered business. He assured me that he was here for good now, and that he wouldn't be going on anymore trips with his guardian.
At the restaurant, we both ordered colas. I sipped mine while we talked, but Hunter didn't touch his. The waitress looked annoyed until he gave her a tip that was much more than the total of our bill. She smiled at us and told us to come back again.
"You didn't have to come here just because of me," I said as we walked out into the parking lot.
"Did I not tell you that all you have to do is ask, and I will provide you with whatever you desire? Take it as your due, and do not fret about it. I enjoy the pleasure of your company."
"But aren't you thirsty? You didn't touch your drink."
A strange expression flitted over Hunter's face and was gone before I could pinpoint it. "I have many allergies to food—to numerous to name. I adhere to a special diet, but I find it easier to order something at restaurants than to deal with their annoyance. They do not like non-paying customers."
He drove me home and asked if he could pick me up at nine tomorrow night.
"Sure, but will we make it to the concert on time?"
"Yes. I hope you don't mind if we miss the opening act."
"Are you kidding? I wouldn't even be going to the show if it wasn't for you, so that's fine with me."
He walked me to my front door and gave me a kiss on the cheek. "Goodnight, Allison."
I smiled at him. "Goodnight, Hunter. See you tomorrow."
I went upstairs to get ready for bed, but sleep wasn't on my mind. My entire life now seemed like a wonderful dream.