=Normal POV=
(Friday, 10/27/2017-8:00 pm)
(Archian Island, Berk)
(Berkian Academy)
The friends who saw the scene of Hunter dancing with Nicole to a very old song, and then share a kiss that was initiated by Nicole, were completely floored by what they had seen. None of them had said anything; it was more widened eyes and mouths hanging open in shock because they were led to believe not too long ago by both Hunter and Nicole, that nothing was going on between them and they were just friends. Obviously, that had changed. The kiss between the two ended after what seemed like an eternity when it had actually only been a few seconds; Hunter and Nicole stared at one another, and both ended up just smiling lightly while their hands were connected in front of them.
"What do you say we just ditch the dance and get out of here?" Nicole asked him.
"I'm thinking that's the best idea I've heard all night," Hunter replied calmly. In agreement, they left the space on the dance floor they'd been occupying and moved to gather whatever few things they'd brought into the dance with them, which had been their backpacks since they'd been at the school since the day began at 7:30 am.
"Wait, you're leaving?" Heather asked, finding her voice.
"Yeah, we got some things to talk about," Nicole told her. "I'm not really having all that much fun here anyway," she shrugged.
"I've never liked these things," Hunter stated. "See you Monday for school," he informed. With that said, Nicole and Hunter both exited the gymnasium after telling Devon they were leaving the dance and that Hunter was Nicole's ride home. Devon nodded, calling it in on the walkie-talkie and getting the A-OK for them to leave through the front of the building. However, first before leaving; they both stopped at the bathrooms to change out of their costumes and then meet in the hall to depart together. Hunter and Nicole walked through campus to reach the student lot and then finally get into Hunter's jeep. "So…Where do you wanna go?"
"How about some place to eat? Since neither of us have since lunch," Nicole suggested. "I figure we can have dinner and…Talk about what just happened in there?"
"Sounds like a plan. Any preferences on food?" Hunter started the jeep up once their seat belts were on.
"Surprise me," Nicole replied. Hunter nodded as he shifted the gear to reverse, backed out, and then to drive so they could leave school grounds.
. . .
(8:15 pm)
(Berkbees Restaurant)
Arriving at the place that Hunter chose for them to eat dinner at and talk about the kiss they shared; Hunter parked the jeep in a space as the two of them got out and entered the building, instantly greeted by a smiling hostess's face. "Welcome to Berkbees! Two this evening?" the woman inquired.
"Yes, please?" Hunter nodded. The woman grabbed two menus, paper mats, and sets of utensils.
"Right this way," the woman invited. Nicole and Hunter followed the woman to a booth towards the back where the bathrooms and kitchen were. "Is this alright?"
"It's perfect, thank you," Nicole replied as the two of them slid into the seats across from one another while the hostess set the placemats down, then the utensils, and finally, the menus.
"Your server will be right with you," the woman bowed her head lightly, clasping her hands together in front of her, and then walking off.
"So…I feel like I should start off by apologizing for just…Throwing that kiss on you back in the gym," Nicole stated.
"It's fine, don't worry…You don't have to apologize for that," Hunter said. "I assume it was…A heat of the moment type thing?" he asked.
"Well…Little more than that," Nicole admitted.
"Let's…Pick what we want to eat, and then we can talk while we're waiting on it?" Hunter suggested. Nicole nodded, lifting the menu to glance over the choices. "Did you want to split an appetizer?"
"That sounds okay. The sampler option let's you choose four things," Nicole informed.
"What are two of your favorites?" Hunter smiled.
"Uh…Mozzarella Sticks, and…Chicken Wings, with Honey Barbeque sauce," Nicole told him.
"I'm with you on the Mozzarella Sticks, and then for me, the second would probably have to be the Nachos," Hunter responded.
"Well, I guess we have our four, don't we?" Nicole laughed a little. "Do you know what you're having for a meal?"
"I usually toss it up between a burger or fish. On the rare occasion, chicken," Hunter remarked gently.
"I can't say I'm a huge seafood fan; I'll eat lobster, clam chowder, but only if it's the creamy kind, and don't laugh…But fishsticks…" Nicole muttered bashfully.
"Hey, it's cool," Hunter replied. "I'm not gonna judge you over it," he added. "I honestly think I might do burger tonight,"
"I'll probably do grilled chicken," Nicole decided as she closed her menu and Hunter did the same; they moved them off to the side just as the waiter was coming over.
"Hello," the man greeted cheerfully while setting down napkins to act as coasters for drinks. "My name is Ander and I'll be your waiter this evening. Can I start you two with some drinks?"
"Pepsi, please?" Nicole requested.
"I'll do the same, please," Hunter said.
"Excellent, and do we know what we're having for dinner?" Ander questioned.
"We're going to split an appetizer sampler with two Mozzarella Sticks, Chicken Wings with honey barbeque, and Nachos," Hunter informed lightly. "Ladies first for dinner?"
"Um, Grilled Chicken sandwich; no tomato, onion, or pickle, please?" Nicole ordered gently.
"Bacon burger; only ketchup, mayo, and lettuce, please?" Hunter answered with a smile.
"Wonderful choices. I'll go get your drinks and put in your order with the appetizer first," Ander nodded, taking the menus off the edge of the table and headed off to check other tables, and then get to the computer to put in the order.
"With that out of the way…" Nicole laughed a little. "I guess we should get to the serious part of this agreement to ditch the dance and come to dinner…" she added.
"Right, yes," Hunter agreed. "So, uh…You-," he began to mention that she kissed him first, but had no idea how that would go. Hunter didn't want to make her feel like he didn't reciprocate the feelings. Hunter had to assume she felt something for him if she initiated the kiss between them, and suggested the get out of the dance to talk over dinner. And Nicole had said that it was more than heat of the moment. Hunter wasn't sure how to start this conversation, and his nerves were showing.
Nicole picked up on Hunter being a little nervous, so she decided to do what she did best and just say it outright. "I like you," Nicole confessed. "I like you a lot. I don't know when or where it started, but I kind'a think it might have been during our first movie night when we touched hands in the popcorn bowl, or maybe the hug in the jeep while we were in my driveway…I don't know. I just know that I like you and after we danced tonight; I knew I should tell you…But the moment was just right, so I kissed you,"
Hunter sat in his seat across from her, a bit stunned that she was so forward with him. Hunter could only think about how long it took him to tell Ashley he liked her; he botched all his perfect chances by being nervous. And before Nicole had spoken up; Hunter felt like he was going to mess this chance up too. Hunter knew he needed to man up and stop being nervous; he knew he liked her and now he knew that she liked him, so what worry was there in this situation? None, because their feelings were mutual. "I like you too, Nicole. And I…Agree with you on those instances of where it might have started…" Hunter finally got out.
Nicole smiled now. "Well, the hard part is out of the way," she said. "Well, perhaps it was for you…I've always been a straightforward person. I don't…Typically get nervous about anything. If there's something that needs to be said whether it's admitting feelings, or telling someone how it is…You can always look to me to be the person who doesn't care. I'm always going to say how I feel,"
"I do remember you mentioning that on the first day of school when we met," Hunter replied. "I can admire it. You don't meet a lot of people who do that because most are afraid to hurt someone's feelings,"
"I've had that thought cross my mind before; what if I make this person mad or upset. I ended up settling on the fact that it may hurt but the truth often hurts. And if you take what is said to you and realize that; you can fix whatever mistake you make and use that as life experience. Or you can ignore it and stay a shitty person, I suppose…But one thing about me is that I will never approach you tell you how it is unless I absolutely know that I am right about the matter," Nicole mentioned.
"That's totally understandable. Kind of like a don't attack or accuse without proof situation?" Hunter asked.
"Yes, exactly that," Nicole nodded.
"I definitely admire and respect that," Hunter remarked to her with a smile. "So…Where do we go from here, being that there are…Mutual feelings?"
"I think we should use this time to…Get to know one another better. More personal things perhaps; we know things as friends, but I guess not as much as we would being a couple, if that's where we decide to go with this," Nicole suggested.
"I guess we can do that…Uh, nothing too personal, right?" Hunter questioned.
"How about we leave it at, if it crossed a boundary or don't want to answer; we say pass? Tabling it to possibly another time and conversation?" Nicole offered.
"Sounds fair. Uh, ladies first?" Hunter invited.
"Okay, um…I guess we'll go with the obvious one…Past girlfriends? And…I only ask because…I sense a lot of tension between you and Ashley, specifically," Hunter blinked a few times. "Kind'a like you had a falling out but tolerate one another for the sake of having mutual friends?"
"Wow, you are ridiculously observant," Hunter said, surprised that she put all that together based on Audrey and himself nitpicking at one another. "Uh, yeah. Ashley is actually my most recent ex…" he admitted.
"What happened? If you don't mind me asking?" Nicole wondered.
"I don't. The others know, so it's fair that you do as well. I'm surprised none of them had said anything yet," Hunter responded. "So…I have known Ashley forever. Like, Shane, Raelyn, Travis, Fisher, Ashley and I grew up together in the same general neighborhood. We roughly live about ten to fifteen minutes apart, but anyway…I developed a crush on Ashley when I was like, fourteen, end of the eighth grade. It took me to beginning of tenth grade to get up the courage to ask her out and I did that at homecoming. We dated until just after Christmas Break of eleventh grade, and broke up right before school started again."
"Oh my…What was the cause?" Nicole asked.
"Well, the official reasoning is that we were just better friends…But there had been a lot of other little issues piling up finally starting to fall apart by the time we hit a year together. To this day, and she'd never admit to it, but I still believe that it's because we had sex and she just didn't want to hurt me by leaving me immediately after," Hunter stated.
"Why do you think it's because of the sex? Was it only the one time?" Nicole pushed, knowing that if any questions went too far or Hunter didn't want to answer; he could say so.
"All the problems started after we had sex for the first time, it wasn't a planned event, but the night of the eleventh grade homecoming was held it at my house. Our friends all ended up having to leave for some reason or another. My dad was working late, and Glenn was out with some buddies. Ashley and I had the house to ourselves; we started watching a movie, making out, and obviously that leads to more when you get into it. She'd pulled me down onto her and told me she wanted me. We stopped and talked about it first, obviously. She…Assured me she was ready to take that step, so we did it. I took her home for 9 pm, and then everything just started after that," Hunter explained.
"What started?" Nicole inquired.
"Ashley began to have other plans, breaking dates, wouldn't come to my games, always saying she was sick; I actually thought she was pregnant at first, but when I asked her; she said no. We started getting into arguments, not talking for a couple days, then making up. Became more and more frequent to fight over the smallest and stupidest things; it was like she was looking for fights or seeing if she could push me to end things so she wouldn't have to. But it hit a point where she started to avoid my calls, messages, and then me altogether. We saw each other for Christmas, and a couple days after before school began again, I want to say the 30th, it was a Friday. I went to her house and I thought we were just going to hang out and watch a movie or something, but she said we had to talk and told me that she felt after doing a lot of thinking, that we'd be better off as friends. I was confused and didn't understand why; it turned into a fight where she threw me out of her house, figuratively, of course. I was just so upset and confused, but she refused to talk, so I left her house and went home," Hunter revealed.
"Has she ever given you any answers?" Nicole stared curiously.
"No, not really. She always says it was just better this way. I have a feeling that Heather, Raelyn, and Mindy know the truth because girl talks or whatever…But Ashley has probably asked that they don't say anything to me. Ashley completely shuts down on the subject of us, telling me to leave it alone because there's no changing it. After the breakup, probably around New Year's Eve, she finally messaged me and asked if we were going to be cool to be around one another for the sake of having mutual friends…At that point, I think I just felt mad, so I told her whatever. But I guess as the time has gone by since then, almost a year now in two months…I've just said screw it; it wasn't worth it to make our friends choose between us, or take sides. That wouldn't be fair to them, so I've left it alone and got over things when she got with Bryan," Hunter shrugged.
"Very mature of you," Nicole complimented. "When she get with him?"
"I want to say June this past year; I'm pretty sure that Bryan asked her to his senior prom, and she took him to her junior one; then he graduated. I'm not entirely sure when they got interested in one another," Hunter said.
"Wow. I'm so sorry," Nicole frowned. "You're right, it doesn't make sense. If something happened for her feelings to change after you two banged, why wait to leave until three months later? And…Were you two having sex in that three months?"
"Yeah. Two or three times a month," Hunter nodded. "I'm glad you're as confused as me about it all. Like I said; I just think it's because she didn't want to hurt me by ending things right after the first time, but at some point realized that it was wrong to lead me on? I don't know. As I mentioned; I said screw it to wanting to know because she's never gonna tell me," he shrugged.
"But deep down you still really want to know, don't you?" Nicole said gently.
Slightly ashamed, and bowing his head down a bit; he nodded. "It's like…Not getting any closure, if that makes sense. Like…If it was something I did, I want to know so I don't…Screw up again. It's why I've been single, despite a couple people liking me and not returning their feelings, Bryan's little sister being one of them…"
"Oh my Gods…No way. The boyfriend of your ex-girlfriend's little sister has a thing for you?" Nicole asked quickly.
"Yeah…Her name is Katie Grimborn. She and Bryan are actually half-siblings. Different moms," Hunter clarified. "Anyway…She did have a thing for me, but I told her I was still getting over my ex and not really ready for another relationship,"
"Completely understandable. And can you imagine the awkwardness of dating her while your ex is dating her brother? I can just imagine a family dinner now," Nicole chuckled a little.
"It would have been pretty awkward," Hunter nodded. "But anyway…Yeah, that's it for me. Ashley is the only real crush I had and pursued. No one else was really into me that way, I guess. Shane used to say it's because I'm a walking-talking fishbone," he muttered.
"Oh Gods, that's awful…" Nicole frowned. "And he's your cousin, right?" Hunter nodded again to her. "Oh, your poor thing." She added gently, reaching her hand over to set it on top of Hunter's. "So, if there is hesitation in dating again, why allow yourself to like me, or did it just happen?"
"Just happened, honestly." Hunter admitted softly. "Ever since we've met; you've been real with me and a genuine pleasure to be around. I guess…I figured if you happened to like me back and we got together, but something made you uncomfortable or I did something wrong; you'd actually tell me and not do what Ashley did," his green eyes met hers across the table.
"Well, Hunter…I can assure you without a doubt that I wouldn't do that to you. As I said before; I have no issues telling someone what's up. It doesn't matter if you're a stranger, friend, or even my boyfriend. As far as I'm concerned, if you don't bring the issues to the table and have them out in the open; how can anything actually be remedied?" Nicole remarked.
"I can't even begin to tell you how ecstatic I am that you feel that way and believe in the same thing I do regarding that subject." Hunter smiled. "I felt a lot of times that the fixes Ashley and I had in our relationship weren't actually fixes-,"
"More like swept under the rug?" inquired Nicole.
Hunter nodded to her. "Yes, exactly that."
Nicole lifted a Mozzarella Stick, dipping it in the marinara sauce before giving Hunter a wink and smile. "Like I said; you don't have to worry about that with me."
Hunter could only smile back. Already he felt like this could be a really good thing between him and Nicole; her best traits was being honest and forward. Hunter understood that it could mean if they got into arguments, whatever she said could hurt. But Hunter rather things hurt and be in the open and then find solutions than to just apologize and say; let's put it behind us or it won't happen again. Hunter reached for on of the Mozzarella sticks too, dipping it in the sauce as they sort of connected the two before eaten them.
"I believe it's your turn," Hunter said.
"Ask away," Nicole invited.
"Might as well stay on the same subject. How about past boyfriends for you?" laughed Hunter. Nicole giggled a bit, but nodded; they had agreed to talk about more personal matters. And these topics were sort of reserved for new couples, or two people who might get together. So, to both Hunter and Nicole; this idea to escape the dance and come to dinner so they could talk before anything was made official was a fantastic idea.
