“That’s just his way of showing affection,” Liam said.
“No, it’s not!” we heard Adam shout before the door slammed shut behind him.
***
It was about eleven in the morning when Hunter and I found ourselves in the supermarket in town. Tom, a student from the upper classes who had volunteered to be our supervisor while we were here, had taken us down here with his car but quickly took off to see his girlfriend in town instead of joining us.
That meant that Hunter and I were now left to our own devices. I had never been here before, but Hunter looked like he knew his way around and led us through the aisles in the supermarket.
At first, everything went according to the teachers’ orders. We were collecting everything that was written on the list they had given us until our shopping cart was filled to the brim. I expected us to now go to the cash register and pay, but Hunter suddenly took a left into another aisle.
“What are you doing?” I asked, tugging at his sleeve. “You do know that this is the alcohol section, right? We’re not supposed to be here.”
“Oh, this is exactly where we’re supposed to be,” Hunter said with a grin and began to look at the different bottles and cans.
I glanced around nervously as if I was expecting a teacher to come running and tell us to get out of here at any moment. Hunter, on the other hand, didn’t seem worried in the slightest.
“Hunter, can we go now?” I whined. “What are we even doing here?”
“Nervous, sugarpie?” he asked, turning around to me with his hands braced on the shelf. “Do you want to pick or shall I?”
“Pick what?”
He rolled his eyes, grinning, and traced a finger along the edge of one of the shelves. “Pick what we’ll be drinking later. There’ll be a little party at the beach tonight with a bunch of other people from our class, you know? They told me to buy everything.”
I stared at him wide-eyed. “And you agreed?”
“Yeah, why not? It’s not a big deal. We’ll choose some stuff, find an adult to buy it for us, get everything to the car, and we’re done. Tom doesn’t care whether or not we buy alcohol.”
“You can’t be serious.” I groaned and looked around once more.
“What? Have you never…Of course, you’ve never drunk alcohol before.” He laughed. “I would be surprised if you had.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Hunter only bit his lip, suppressing a grin, and began to pull out some bottles, putting them into our cart. I was standing next to him, feeling completely out of place and becoming increasingly stressed out the more bottles he placed.
After about five minutes, Hunter finally seemed satisfied and turned around. “Come on!” he called over his shoulder. “Tom will be back to pick us up in a moment.”
I sighed in defeat and followed him towards the cash registers. “How are you gonna get the alcohol through?” I asked him quietly.
“Don’t worry.” He smirked. “I’ve done this a couple times already.”
He then looked around, observing the few other customers around us. “What do you think? Which one of them would help us?”
“She looks nice,” I said weakly, pointing at a brunette girl with glasses and a cart full of vegetable and fruits.
Hunter shook his head disapprovingly. “Nah, she’s too nice. I don’t think she would agree with doing something illegal.”
I frowned but didn’t object.
“Perfect,” Hunter suddenly muttered next to me. “I found the right one. Watch and learn.”
He quickly ran his hand through his hair and unzipped his leather jacket, before walking towards a petite blonde girl who was listening to music with her earphones. I could tell that she was barely an adult.
Hunter put on the most seductive smile he had to offer and tapped her shoulder.
She spun around immediately and pressed one hand against her heart. “You scared me!” She laughed and looked Hunter up and down for a second.
“Oh, I’m sorry, love,” Hunter said. “I didn’t mean to.”
The girl laughed again, blushing a little as he called her that.
I rolled my eyes and rested my chin on my hand while I was leaning on our cart.
“So…Is there anything I can help you with?”
Even I could sense the double meaning.
“There is, actually. You see, my friends and I are having a party tonight, and I kind of forgot my ID at home…And the cashiers never think I’m old enough to buy alcohol. The struggle of having a baby face…” He laughed.
The girl caught the drift. “Sure, I can buy it for you.” She beamed. “And what babyface? You could model for Calvin Klein!”
Hunter smiled, somewhat flattered. “Great,” he said and started putting all the bottles and cans into her cart. “Is it possible for you to meet me in the parking lot?”
“Sure!” She immediately strutted towards the cash register, like a proud little lap dog.
Unbelievable how fast Hunter wrapped her around his finger.
Hunter now turned around to me with a smug look. “See. Easy.”
“Sure, when you’re looking like a Calvin Klein model.” I mimicked the girl.
Hunter’s only reply was a grin as he watched the girl pay the drinks and walk towards the exit. We then quickly paid for our groceries and followed her outside.
She was standing on the parking lot, awaiting us—well, Hunter—with an eager smile.
“Thanks, love,” Hunter said, lightly touching her arm and began to transfer everything back to our cart. “It was nice to meet you.”
The smile on the girl’s face looked almost painful right now.
Is it possible to get cramps in your cheeks after smiling for too long?
“So, are you going to give me your number now, or what?” she asked, trying her best to sound seductive and ending up sounding like Ursula from The Little Mermaid.
The smile on Hunter’s face faltered for barely a second before he accepted the phone that she offered him and created a new contact, typing in a number. “Here you go, beautiful. See you then!”
With these words, he turned around, and we quickly made our way to Tom’s car, where he was already waiting.
“Did you really give her your number?” I asked.
“Of course not. It’s Liam’s. He’ll be excited about that,” Hunter said and added as we were getting into the car, “Looks like you’re going to your first party tonight, huh?”
Chapter 11
“Knock, knock!” Emily whispered from outside before sticking her head into our tent. Her eyes widened as she saw Hunter, who was currently getting dressed and hadn’t put on a shirt yet.
“Sweetheart, you usually wait for a reply before you come in,” he said, one eyebrow raised as he pulled a white V-neck shirt over his head slowly, so we could see his muscles straining in the process.
I shook my head and looked at my girlfriend instead.
A slight blush crept onto her cheeks as she tore her gaze away from Hunter’s body. “Er…sorry.” She stammered. “I didn’t know you were still getting dressed…If I had, I wouldn’t have entered yet.”
“Sure you wouldn’t.” Hunter commented.
Emily’s cheeks turned an even deeper shade of pink.
“Okay, can you stop flirting with my girlfriend?” I asked and could barely hold back a scowl.
“What? Do you want me to flirt with you instead?” Hunter suddenly turned his head towards me and watched me like a predator would watch its prey.
“You know exactly that that’s not what I meant.”
“Are you sure?”
I could sense that he was still staring at me, but I didn’t dare to look at him.
“Do you guys want me to leave you alone for a moment?” Emily laughed, but her voice sounded strained.
“No,” I firmly replied just as Hunter said, “If you don’t mind.”
I sent him a glare that only made the smirk o
n his face grow even wider.
“Anyway,” Emily said slowly. “Are you guys coming? The teachers all went to bed. We can go to the beach now.”
“I don’t know if this really is such a good idea…” I suddenly became nervous.
I had never been to a party before, nor had I ever had a beer in my life. Doing both for the first time on a field trip with teachers around seemed like an incredibly stupid thing to do. But Hunter was already pushing me towards the exit of the tent.
“You are coming with us. Even if I have to drag you there.”
“You can’t be serious,” I muttered under my breath.
“Oh, I am, sugarpie. Move.”
I glared up at him as he got up and dusted off his pants but eventually followed his lead with Emily right behind me. Hunter walked towards the woods that were bordering the camping site, Emily and I right at his heels.
A few more students were making their way towards the forest too, but in the dark, I couldn’t make out who they were. The full moon, partly hidden behind some clouds, was the only source of light, and it tinted our surroundings silver. It was slightly warmer than last night on the cemetery, yet our breaths formed clouds in the air.
Emily saw me looking around nervously and reached for my hand, squeezing it gently.
“Hey,” she whispered. “It’s okay. No need to get anxious. I’m here with you, and if it gets too much, we can leave, alright? Nothing bad will happen.”
I nodded and smiled weakly at her. This was exactly the reason why it was sometimes pretty awesome that I was dating my best friend. She knew me so damn well that she could recognize even the smallest sign of uneasiness on my part.
We were silent for the rest of the walk until we eventually reached the beach. People were standing around with red plastic cups in their hands while others were sitting in the sand in groups. Laughter echoed over the dunes, mixing with the soft whispering of the waves.
I took a deep breath before I approached the group. Next to some beer crates, I could see Hunter already making out with Sean, his hands buried in Sean’s dark hair while he was sucking the skin below his neck. Neither of them seemed to mind that there were tons of people around, a few of them pretty interested in what was going on between them.
“Jules!” someone called me, and I spun around to see a smiling Alexis skipping towards Emily and me. “You came!”
“I did!” I laughed.
“Here, have a drink.” She handed me a plastic cup and offered one to Em, too.
I took it hesitantly, while Emily declined politely.
“Oh, don’t worry,” Alexis said as she saw my expression. “I poured it myself just a minute ago. It’s not spiked or anything.”
“It’s just…I’ve never had alcohol before,” I said, uncertain whether this was a good idea.
But Alexis smiled reassuringly. “Nothing to worry about. Just take it slow. Don’t drink too much and too fast and it’ll be fine. Of course, you don’t have to, though,” she added. “I’m not a fan of peer pressure, so you do what you want.”
“Okay. Thanks, Alexis.”
She just nodded and walked off towards Liam and Adam who were talking to some girls.
“She’s nice, isn’t she?” I asked, turning to Emily.
“Hm…” she said. “Do you really wanna drink that?” She looked pointedly at the cup in my hand.
I shrugged and lifted it to my lips. “It’s just one cup.”
Emily watched as I drank the entire content in one go. I grimaced at the bitter taste it left in my mouth. Just as I put the cup down, Hunter suddenly approached from behind. I heard him clapping and spun around.
“Would you look at that.” He grinned. “Baby had its first drink. How was it?”
“Disgusting,” I muttered. “Why would anyone drink that?”
Hunter sent me an amused look. “Well, knowing you, you’re probably not really the beer kinda guy. I think you’d like this better.”
He handed me the bottle he’d been drinking from.
“What’s that?” I asked skeptically.
“A pre-mixed cocktail. Contains a bit of vodka, so be careful.”
“Jules, I don’t think you should—” Emily started, but I was already taking a sip.
And another one, and another one, until Hunter snatched it from me and drank the rest. It tasted good, like oranges and grenadine, but it burned my throat.
“Easy, sugarpie. If I were you, I’d wait a bit. It’s your first time drinking. Don’t overdo it.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “Oh, please. Who are you, my mom?”
A smirk tugged at his lips, which were still red and kind of swollen from making out with Sean. “Watch out for him, will you?” Hunter asked, looking at Emily.
“Yeah, sure.”
“I don’t need anyone to take care of me.” I objected.
Emily didn’t reply and only pulled me away from Hunter and towards Nate, who was sitting with Liam and Adam now. I flopped into the sand next to him with a loud sigh and stretched my legs out in front of me. For a few minutes, we were just sitting there, chatting about this and that, until I got distracted by the sky that was spinning. I flopped onto my back, gazing up at the stars.
Had they always been dancing like that? I smiled, realizing how pretty they were.
Next to me, I noticed Nate staring at me with a weird look. “Did he drink anything?” he asked incredulously.
“Yeah,” Emily, who was seated next to Liam, said. “It wasn’t even that much.”
Someone turned on some music, and even though I didn’t particularly like that band, I quietly hummed to it.
“Wow, he sure is a lightweight.” Liam snickered.
“Shh, guys. Don’t get on my nerves, okay? I’m feeling awesome right now,” I said, shutting my eyes and drinking in the unfamiliar feeling spreading through my body.
“Looks like someone is enjoying himself.”
My eyes snapped open as I heard Hunter’s voice.
I turned my head a bit so I could look up at him. “Hey, there.” I grinned lazily. “Could you get me more of that happy juice? It’s making everything spin funnily.”
Hunter chuckled quietly and looked over at Sean who was standing next to him. “You heard him. Get him one of these cocktails.”
“What? Why?” Sean asked defiantly. “I’m not your servant. Especially not for that five-year-old!” He waved a hand at me.
“Hey, I’m not five! I’m…” I paused for a second to count the years on my fingers. “I’m seventeen!”
“Get him a cocktail.” Hunter repeated, slowly and firmly. “I’m not going to ask you again.”
There clearly was some kind of tension between the two of them, only now it was charged with aggression.
“Oh, what are you going to do, Hunter?” Sean asked angrily. “Break up with me?”
A thin smile appeared on Hunter’s face as he said, “Sean, why should I break up with you? We’ve never even been together.”
Everyone went dead silent, so Sean’s gasp was clearly audible. “Are you serious right now?”
“Do I seem like I’m not? Sean, you really have to work on that attitude of yours,” Hunter said in a friendly tone and patted Sean’s arm. “It tends to annoy the fuck out of people. Me included.”
Sean’s expression slowly darkened. “Get lost,” he growled before he stomped off, his walk only swaying slightly.
I sat up so abruptly that my head was spinning even more. “That was not nice, Hunter,” I said with a frown and sent him a disapproving look.
“For real.” Liam agreed. “Do you always have to act like a complete asshole when you dump someone?”
“Hey, did I miss out on something?” Alexis appeared out of nowhere and asked, sitting down next to me.
“Hunter dumped Sean.”
“Oh, thank God.”
“Thank you, honeybee. At least someone understands me.” Hunter laughed and ruffled her hair.
“Hey, can
I have a sip?” I asked and pointed at Alexis’s drink.
“Sure.”
She handed it to me, and I immediately emptied the rest of the bottle, before getting up and walking towards the other beer crates stacked near the jetty. At least that was what I was trying to do, but I kind of tumbled, and if it hadn’t been for Hunter who caught my arm just in time, I would’ve fallen.
“Careful,” he said and let go of me. “Where are you going?”
I just pointed at the beer crates and grabbed his arm for support as I started walking again. Hunter laughed and helped me get there, even opening the bottle for me. As soon as he handed me the beer, I gulped down half of it. But as I went for a second sip, Hunter took it out of my hand.
“Hey, what are you doing?” I complained.
“Jules, I don’t think you should drink more than that. You’re already slurring.”
“What do you mean?” I asked but somehow stumbled over the words in the process, so they came out sounding jumbled. I slapped a hand over my mouth, giggling. “Did you hear that?”
“Yeah.” Hunter laughed and took my hand, pulling them away from my face.
For a second, he stared at my lips, but then his eyes landed on my face again, and he let go of my hand.
I began fanning myself with one hand. “Why is it so hot here?” I whined.
“That’s probably the alcohol.”
“Stupid, stupid alcohol.” I huffed and started walking towards the sea.
“Jules, what are you doing?”
“Time for a bath,” I yelled and broke into a sprint.
I just wanted to cool myself off in the water, but Hunter gripped my wrist and pulled me back.
“Jules, it’s freezing!” he said and tried to drag me away from the water. “You’re going to catch a cold!”
But I wasn’t listening. Instead, I wrestled my wrist out of his grip and fled from him, almost tripping a few times. Seconds later, I threw myself into the waves, which swallowed me immediately. I tried getting back to the surface, but everything was spinning, and I suddenly couldn’t distinguish between up and down. Before I could even panic, I got yanked back up as two strong arms circled my waist and pulled me back.
Hunter was helping me get to my feet in the shallow water, still wearing all of his clothes along with an annoyed expression. “I’m going to yell at you for being this stupid tomorrow.” He promised.
Why You Shouldn't Lend A Bad Boy Your Clothes Page 8