Chapter 5, The Line
The next time I saw him, a few weeks later, because of him being unconscious, my eyes were near brimming with tears and the doctor explained the situation.
"Things in the operating room didn't o as smoothly as what we would have hoped forâ.." and the doctors had explained that Hunter would be paralyzed from the hip joints down.
He looked uber-shocked and angry and scared all at the same time.
After the doctor left, Hunter had not said a word.
"I tried to warn you, "I began, but stopped and sat on his bed by his side. "I'm sorry this happened.
He just looked at me in utter shock and confusion, speechless.
"And there's something else I want to tell you, "I told him; then gulped. "I just don't know if now's the right time and all, bu—"
And at that exact moment, he cut me off with a gentle kiss.
I tried to pull away, but I couldn't.
When he broke it, he said, "I like you."
My heart fluttered with joy.
"Good," I replied, smiling as I leaned up on him and put my head on his shoulder.
"How do you know just the right spot to put your head against?"
"Intuition," I replied, sorta snuggling against him.
Then we heard, "Ew; I think I'm going to toss cookies."
We looked over and saw Tru holding her stomach with her good arm.
"You sure know how to spoil a moment!" I shouted mock angrily at her; then laughed.
She grinned.
A few days later, Hunter bought a motorized wheelchair.
Later that day, I was at his place when he confessed something I never thought possible."
"You know the power rangers, right?"
"Yeahâ." I said slowly, trying to process where this would go.
"Well," he told me, "I am, err, was one of them."
I stared at him blankly.
"Freed?" he asked as he pulled me into his lap. "Say something."
"What's there to say?" I replied.
"You don't--"
"No, I do believe you; it's justâ..that's a bit of a bomb to drop on someone." I laid my head on his shoulder.
I know; I'm sorry,' he replied stroking my now light brown hair; then added, "I liked your hair better this way."
I smiled; then said, "We should take Cam on a blind date."
"And you know just who to call?"
I nodded.
"Excuse me real quick, and he wheeled himself to his bathroom.
We resumed our places when he came back and I said, "Yeah, I still owe Candy."
It felt as though he nodded, and I got up to use his phone.
"May I?" I asked.
He nodded, wheeling himself over and literally pulled me back into his lap. I shrieked a bit, because he surprised me; the giggled and dialed up Candy.
"Hello? Candace Frank speaking. If this is Freedra Kyes, she owes me big time."
"Hey, Candy. Yeah, I know, but I've been a bit busy myself for a while. But I have a casual blind date scheduled for you and myself and my new boyfriend forâ.tonight at around seven."
"No way," she said, "Who is he?"
"Hu--" I began, but was abruptly cut off by Hunter accidentally pulling my hair, "Ow!"
"Huh?"
"Sorry, just a sec," and I turned to Hunter, "Could you just hold still for a minute?"
"Sorry, I'll try."
"Ok," I said to Candy, "I'mâ."
"With Hunter Bradley?" she squealed, obviously hearing his voice.
I smiled and laughed a bit, "Yeah; I've got to call your blind date, ok?"
"With Cam, right?"
"You'll see; bye," and I hung up without hearing another work.
Then I called up her blind date and scheduled it with him.
After that, I called up Tru.
"Hey, you still want that date with Dustin?"
"Yes," she said.
"Ok," and I gave her his number. "I'll talk to you later," I told her and I hung up.
Later that night, I drove Hunter and myself to pick up Candace's date, then drove to her place.
I pulled up to the curb and parked. "I'll be right back, get ready for screaming," I told them and ran up to her dorm. She came out waiting to see who her date was.
"Not so fast," I told her, "Just for the heck of it, I'm going to blindfold you; then once you're in the car, your date will take it off, ok?"
"Freedra, what sort of an idiot do you take me for?"
"Well, I could just cancel the whole thing, but"
"No! No, I'll do it."
I smile and blindfolded her and led her to my car.
As soon as her ate had the blindfold off of her, she shrieked.
Hunter and I, along with her blind date, covered out ears.
"Cam?" she gasped, "Oh my gosh! Freedra, youâ."
"And we're out of here," I said, tearing away from the campus, "So, where do you guys wanna go first?"
We heard a growl of someone's stomach. I giggled cause I knew that sound all too well.
"Restaurant then," I concluded, giving Hunter a sideways glance. "Where do you want to eat? Cause otherwise, we'll stop by someplace cheap and gross."
"Why don't we stop by a store and pick up some stuff for an outdoor meal?" Cam suggested, sliding an arm around Candace.
I noticed her blush a little and said, "To the store, then."
When I parked, I gut out and went to the trunk to get Hunter's collapsible wheelchair and put it together.
I wheeled it to the passenger's side door. "Special delivery," I said as he opened the door.
He just looked at me.
"Hey, if you don't want itâ." I began to wheel it away.
"Don't you dare, Freed," he said.
I winked, brought it back and held it in place as he got himself out and in the chair.
"24-hour Super Wal-Marts," Cam said, "There's got to be something better."
I looked at him like he were serious, but he saw and added, "How long ago were you blonde? You still might have the effects."
"Hey!" Hunter interjected.
"Sarcasm," I replied, "Great"
We went in and got what we thought we might need, sandwich stuff, soda, candy, chips.
"ok," I asked, "are we good to go?"
"Think so," Candy said after being so quiet that it was near shocking that she could be that quiet.
As Cam and Candy went up to check out, Hunter asked, "Hey, Freed, do me a favor?"
"Sure" I replied uncertainly.
"You wouldn't mind helping me wheel to the front, would you?"
"If you mean push you, forget it," I replied. "I'm not strong enough."
"No, just help," he assured me, taking my hand and putting it onto a handle in the back, then started wheeling himself forward with myself being pulled along in the back for a second, but then I helped push him.
"Just like that," he told me. "See? I told you 'just help'."
I shook my head as Cam and Candace where waiting up front.
"Oh," I said; then asked, "Who paid?"
"I did," Cam replied.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there sooner. I'll pay you"
"Don't bother," he replied, "I actually owed you."
"You're so sweet," I told him, and we headed to my car and headed out.
"So," I asked, "Where do you want to go?"
"The park?" Candace suggested.
Everyone else agreed and I found myself driving to the park.
As Cam helped Hunter, Candy and I got he stuff and a blanket I always keep in the trunk, and went to find a good spot.
"We should find some light," I told Candy before shrieking and falling into someone's lap. "See? I knew this would happen," I turned to the one person who would ever do that and said, "You're evil, Hunter Bradley."
"Yeah," he admitted, "But you know you like it."
"Cam," I said. "In the driver's side door thingy, there's a couple of flashlights and a pack of extra batteries."
He nodded, or at least I think he did, and went to get them, and was then followed by Candace for some odd reason.
After she did leave, Hunter pulled me into a kiss and at first, I agreed for a slight make-out session, but stopped, regrettably, knowing Tru would find out one way or another.
Hunter looked at me concerned. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"I can't do this right now," I told him. "Tru's going to find out some how, and she's chew me out."
"Should it matter what she says?"
"Wellââ.."
"And besides," he added, "She's not here right now, is she?"
"I suppose not, but"
"No 'but's. C'mon, you've gotta not let her control you life or your writing."
I looked at him confused.
"Dustin snuck into your place and 'borrowed' a story you were working on."
"Yeah?" I asked, making a mental note to "kill" Dustin.
"Yeah, a lot of people were right. You are pretty good."
I blushed a bit. "Um, wow, thanks," I replied, and gave him a small kiss.
But, I guess, that wasn't what his plan, and what I expected to be a small harmless kiss, turned into a full blow, not so PG 13 lip lock.
I would have stopped, but he had his hand on the back of my neck to make the attempt pointless.
Before I knew it, we had a bright light careening on us, so he moved his hand to block his eyes.
I couldn't say anything; I jumped up.
We heard laughing, and Candy said, "You two, I swear."
The rest of the night went particularly smoothly. We ate; we were merry, and when it was over, we went back to the campus.
Ok, that's the end of chapter 5. Come back later to see what else happens!Yeah, I know I've thrown myself into a particularly embarrassing moment. So sue me. It was for the sake of the story. I couldn't see anyway around it, I knew it had to be there for some sort of laugh. True, don't give me that look! I knew what I was doing. Sort of.
And don't say what ur gonna say about the whole mushy love stuff, cause that's how I write. Now that that's out of my system, please review. Much appreciation to all readers. Thank you.