Why You Shouldn't Lend A Bad Boy Your Clothes

by Philline Harms

  “Hunter?” I asked carefully.

  Hunter looked up at me and grinned. “Hey, sugarpie.” Then he nearly shoved Victoria off his lap, who cried out in surprise or disappointment, to give me a once-over.

  “Yeah, hi,” I said, kind of nervous because Victoria was still kneeling next to Hunter, listening to our conversation.

  When Hunter and I talked, we were usually alone. So now, I had trouble finding the right words in his girlfriend’s company.

  “Uhm…I was wondering if you’d like to go swimming?”

  He thought about it for a moment, head tilted and not taking his eyes off me, and then asked, “With you?”

  Victoria snorted quietly and sent me another dirty look.

  “I mean, if you don’t want to, that’s okay. It was just a stupid idea anyway and—”

  “Shut up, idiot. I’m coming with you.” He laughed and got up.

  “Seriously?” Victoria snapped and rose to her feet herself.

  The look on Hunter’s face turned into an annoyed one as he turned his head to her. “What?”

  She flicked a manicured finger at me. “Sean warned me about this. You honestly have a thing for him?” Her cold blue eyes lingered on my face. “Why? I really can’t see the appeal.”

  For a second, it seemed like Hunter was going to get mad at her, but then he just grabbed her chin and pulled her face closer to his. “Victoria, sweetheart. Is it possible that you’re jealous?” he asked sweetly.

  She looked like she was going to object. Instead, she just shrugged.

  A thin smile played around Hunter’s lips as he pulled her even closer. “We talked about this,” he muttered calmly, but there was an edge in his voice that showed his impatience. “You are not my girlfriend. In fact, you aren’t even a friend. I told you that I’m not into that stuff. This is only temporary. You know that, right?”

  I was certain Victoria would break out in tears. I knew that I would have, but then she straightened, raised her chin to look him in the eye, and nodded. Hunter smiled sardonically down at her before pulling her into a hard kiss that only lasted a few seconds.

  Leaving Victoria standing in shock, he walked up to me and laid a hand flat onto my naked chest, pushing me back and closer to the lake. My eyes widened slightly as I saw the dark look in his eyes, but it was gone in a heartbeat.

  “Can we go?” he asked impatiently but in a friendly way.

  I nodded, but before he could go, I caught his wrist and pulled him closer.

  “You need to stop acting like that,” I said sternly and looked up at him.

  He raised an eyebrow and looked down at my fingers that were holding onto his arm, but I refused to let go. “Like what?”

  “Like you don’t care!”

  “But I don’t,” he retorted. “I don’t care about her. Or Sean, or anyone else before. None of them are interesting.”

  “Then who is?” I asked, confused by his words.

  Sean and Victoria were two of the school’s most popular students, and from what I heard, that applied to anyone else he had ever dated. Who could even compete with that? Who could be interesting enough for him if even they weren’t?

  “You are,” he said.

  I opened my mouth, but no words came out. My mind was completely blank, trying to process what he was saying.

  “What are you trying to say?”

  He looked at me once more before he eventually twisted his wrist out of my grip and turned around. I rolled my eyes at his back and quickly caught up with him. I didn’t try to inquire further. He already ended the conversation and obviously didn’t feel like picking it up again.

  “Where are you going?” I asked instead.

  “You’ll see,” he said with a half-smile and continued walking.

  Sighing quietly, I followed him.

  We walked in silence until we reached one of the high rocks that surrounded the lake. It wasn’t huge but still high enough to probably get a major injury if you fell from it. Hunter resolutely strode towards it before reaching for a small ledge in the stone and pulling himself up. As soon as he found something to place his feet on, he climbed even higher.

  “Hunter, what are you doing?” I asked and watched with growing concern as he went higher and higher.

  “What does it look like? Follow me if you want,” he said, and I could practically hear the grin in his voice.

  I watched for a while, uncertain, but then I took a deep breath and followed his lead.

  The rock was cold and sharp beneath my fingers, but I focused on my goal instead of the pain and climbed higher. It felt like ages until I reached the top, and by the time I got there, my arms were aching, and my hands were scratched up. Gathering all my strength one last time, I pulled myself over the edge.

  For a moment, I was just lying there, panting and gasping for air. I shook my arms to get rid of the tension. Then I finally looked up and glanced around for the first time. The rock was definitely higher than it looked from down there. The ground appeared miles away from up here, and I could see the road where my car was parked.

  Hunter was sitting on the very edge of the rock, feet dangling over the abyss. He turned around to look at me as he heard me approaching and flashed me an approving smile.

  “That’s why,” he said as I carefully sat down next to him, but I crossed my legs instead of dangling them over the edge. When I stayed quiet, he said, “That’s the reason why you’re not like the others.”

  “Because I’m stupid enough to tag along when you’re doing dumb things?”

  Hunter laughed quietly and lifted his hand to my face to make me look at him. I shivered lightly as his hand cupped my cheek and gently turned my face to him.

  “Jules, you’re so oblivious sometimes.”

  “So, what are we doing up here?” I asked when he didn’t explain what that was supposed to mean, and I tried not to focus on how fast my heart was suddenly beating.

  Hunter dropped his hand to rest in the small space between us and said, as if it was the most obvious thing, “We’re going to jump.”

  “You can’t be serious.”

  Hunter rolled his eyes at me. “I’m completely serious. It’s not even that high.”

  “Yeah, it is!” I said and couldn’t keep my voice from jumping an octave higher as I stared down onto the lake beneath us.

  It looked high.

  “It’s not as scary as it seems. I promise. Don’t you trust me?”

  I sent him a blank stare. “No, I don’t if I’m completely honest.”

  “Then be less honest and get over it,” Hunter said, stubborn as ever, and tugged my hand. “We can jump together, okay?”

  Silently counting to ten before I looked at him, I inhaled deeply. Then I muttered, “Alright. But only because I don’t think I can climb back down without breaking my neck.”

  Hunter shrugged, grinning triumphantly. “Good enough for me. You know, sometimes you just have to take risks. Sometimes it’s a good thing to stop questioning it and just letting yourself fall.”

  “Hunter, your metaphors are getting worse each time.”

  Hunter turned around to face me, with his whole body this time, and he sat cross-legged in front of me. “That doesn’t mean that they’re not true. Jules, I know you know that I’m right. I’m not trying to pressure you to do something you don’t want or you’re not ready for. But I see the way you react when I’m doing things like this…” He leaned closer and cupped my cheek again, lightly drawing circles onto my skin with his thumb, and watched as goosebumps traveled up my arms. “And I…I want to help you find out more about this.”

  There’s no this, I wanted to say, but the words got stuck in my throat. Instead of speaking them out loud, I hung my head to escape the burning look in his eyes.

  “It’s alright,” Hunter said lowly, his breath brushing my neck. “There’s no hurry for you to do anything. And if you want me to back off, all you need to do is say so.”

  “No,” I said q
uietly and finally looked him in the eye. “I don’t want you to back off.”

  A look of barely concealed relief washed over his face. “So…Are we gonna jump together?”

  “Yeah.” I smiled nervously at him and got up.

  “Wait, was that a yes to jumping off this stupid rock or to the metaphor?” Hunter asked and scrambled to his feet.

  I just laughed and stepped closer to the edge. “If you don’t hurry up, I’ll take that back.”

  Hunter was standing next to me in a heartbeat and held his hand out for me to take, not without sending me a gaze that seemed like he was asking for permission. I pondered for a moment, then looked down and made my decision. Hunter seemed surprised, almost incredulous when I slid my hand into his and carefully intertwined our fingers.

  I gulped, partly in fear of the jump, partly because of the guilty feeling burning in my stomach, and partly because Hunter’s mere touch sent a tingling feeling up my arm.

  “Ready?”

  “No,” I said and unconsciously held even tighter onto his hand.

  “On the count of three.” Hunter continued like I hadn’t even said anything. “One…two…three.”

  My heart skipped a beat as he said the last number and we stepped over the edge.

  The fall seemed to last a lifetime. My eyes were shut as the air rushed past me and I waited for my feet to hit the water. Somewhere along the way, my hand slipped out of Hunter’s, but I didn’t even notice as the adrenaline of the fall rushed through my veins.

  I came to the surface gasping for air and laughing hysterically.

  The water was definitely too cold to go swimming, but I couldn’t care less. Next to me, Hunter appeared, a wide grin on his face as he swam towards me.

  “That was awesome. Can we do that again?” I asked in delight.

  “No.” Hunter laughed and splashed some water on me. “Last time I let you swim, you couldn’t go to school for a week. I’d prefer to get you out of the water as soon as possible.”

  “Since when are you so worried about me?”

  “Since you nearly got a lung inflammation because I didn’t hold you back. Besides, the others are waiting for us.”

  I nodded and swam towards the jetty with him.

  Alexis and Nate came running towards us with towels as soon as we got out of the water.

  “What took you guys so long?” Alex asked and draped the towel around Hunter’s shoulders.

  He thanked her with a broad smile, while Nate threw the towel at me.

  I caught it before it could hit my face and grimaced at him. “We were just talking.” I explained.

  “Emily just arrived,” Nate said, sending me a pointed look. “You should say hello.”

  I tried not to let them see that I had forgotten all about her and that I invited her here and walked to where she was sitting.

  “Put on some dry clothes first!” Hunter shouted after me.

  “I’m not stupid!” I answered and ran into the woods to change into my clothes.

  Five minutes later, I was already feeling way warmer and sat down on a blanket with the group. Emily was chatting with Liam, while Adam was lying next to them, pretending he didn’t care about any of us. Even further away was Victoria, still lazing around in her bikini and glaring at me as I sat down next to Emily.

  “Hey!” Em said and tried to kiss me, but I quickly turned my face into the other direction and pretended I had to cough.

  She didn’t try it again afterward. Instead, she picked up the conversation with Liam again, and after a minute, I joined in. Shortly after, Hunter came back, fully dressed and carrying his bag and his towel and sat down next to me.

  “I heard the next day there’s a party at Dave’s,” Alexis said. “Are any of you planning on going?”

  I was about to say no when Nate suddenly said, “Sure, that sounds fun! When does it start?”

  “Around eight.”

  “We’re going. Right, Jules?” He nudged me with his elbow.

  “Sure,” I said slowly.

  After I agreed, Hunter was quick to confirm too, so all of his friends followed. Emily was the only one to decline.

  About half an hour later, we all gathered our stuff and walked back to our cars. Before she walked over to Hunter’s car, Alex came up to me and pressed a crinkled five-dollar bill into my palm, an unreadable look in her eyes, somewhere between worry and approval. Then she turned around and walked off.

  “Hey, Jules!” Hunter shouted as I was about to get into Froggy. “Today was nice.”

  I just smiled timidly and waved one last time before getting into the car and driving home. For all of the ride, I could still feel the weight of Hunter’s fingers against my cheek and his hand holding onto mine.

  Chapter 17

  The next day at school passed by in a blur. It was all a mix of sitting in class, listening to the sleep-inducing ramblings of the teachers, talking to Emily and Nate in the hallways during the breaks, and quickly going through my notes for the English exam in the last period before the class. The exam itself was rather easy. English was my best subject at school, and I usually didn’t even have to study for it.

  The only interesting part of the day was meeting Hunter and his friends for lunch. I hadn’t even planned on doing so, but as soon as Nate, Emily, and I entered the cafeteria, Alexis called us over to their table. Even though Emily protested quietly at first, she eventually sat down next to me, and I was trapped between her and Hunter.

  Kind of ironic, I know.

  Nate sat on the opposite side of the table, between Alexis and Liam. Adam was nowhere to be seen, and when I asked where he was, they all just shrugged vaguely.

  The whole table quickly got involved in a more or less exciting conversation about prom that was going to take place in a few months. I didn’t really care about such events, especially since I couldn’t shake off the feeling that Emily and I wouldn’t be going to that prom together, so I didn’t bother contributing to the discussion.

  Unfortunately, my silence got noticed soon.

  “Hey, Jules. Do you know if you’ll come?” Liam asked with his mouth still full of spaghetti.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “Probably not. I’m not really into that kind of stuff.”

  “Oh come on. Of course, you’ll go,” Hunter said. “Who else is going to vote for me as prom king if you don’t?”

  “You think I’d vote for you?”

  Hunter smirked smugly. “Obviously. Who could resist this?” He pointed at his face and laughed in amusement as Alex flicked a grape at him.

  “I’m quite positive I can,” I said and grinned.

  I immediately regretted my words when I saw his eyes darken. “I’m quite positive I could change your mind about that,” he said low enough for only me to hear and sent me a suggestive look from underneath his long lashes.

  Next to me, Emily cleared her throat and directed my attention back to her.

  “Of course, we’re going, Jules! We can’t miss this year’s prom. Do you know what the motto is?”

  I shook my head.

  “The motto is Once Upon A Time…so anything that has to do with fairy tales, really.” Alexis explained.

  A smile tugged at my lips as I saw the excited glimmer in her eyes. When I looked at Nate, I could see that he noticed it too. He was looking intently at her, a soft smile on his lips as he watched her like a love-struck puppy.

  I lightly kicked his shin under the table. Fortunately, he got the hint and quickly looked somewhere else.

  “So everything will be decorated like a ballroom in a castle. We’re even planning on setting up a little fountain in the middle of the gym, just for the evening of course…”

  “Are you on the committee?” I asked.

  Before she could even open her mouth to answer, Hunter said, “Oh, she’s doing pretty much every voluntary activity you can do at this school. She’s in the festive committee, the school magazine. She tutors and she is in the jury for the sch
ool awards…” His voice was mocking but also sort of admiring and, if I wasn’t mistaken, a little proud.

  “You forgot the student council.” Alex chuckled and absently toyed around with her bracelets.

  “That’s amazing,” Emily said, clearly impressed.

  I looked at Alexis with a horrified expression. “How do you even have time for anything else besides school?”

  She just shrugged. “Good time management, I guess.”

  “How are you friends with him?” I asked incredulously and pointed at Hunter, who made an offended little sound.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked and glared at me.

  “I mean…She’s so dedicated and nice, and you’re…” I gestured at Hunter, who was slouching in his seat wearing his leather jacket, hair messy and overall looking like the stereotypical bad boy in cliché movies.

  “I’ve known her since elementary school. And she’s not that much of a good girl as it might seem.”

  They exchanged a knowing grin, leaving the rest of us wondering what that was about.

  “So…Did the two of you ever, you know…” Emily pried, asking what I had wanted to know for weeks.

  Alexis seemed puzzled for a second before she understood and burst out laughing. “Oh my God. No. He’s not…No, that wouldn’t have worked out.”

  Hunter nodded but added, “We kissed once, though. Two years ago, I believed?”

  “Yeah, you were sixteen, and I was fifteen. It wasn’t that good. In fact, it was pretty weird, like kissing my brother or something.” After a moment, she hastily added, “Not because he’s not a good kisser, of course. I heard he’s amazing at kissing and stuff…”

  For some reason, I couldn’t help but think that the last part was directed at me, so I felt obliged to mutter, “I wouldn’t know.”

  I immediately cursed myself for saying that as everyone around me cracked up laughing, except for Emily, whose face had gone deadpan.

  Hunter turned around to me and smirked. He could’ve just held up a sign saying Hey, we can change that and it would’ve been just as obvious as the look he gave me.

  I swallowed hard and stared down at my fingers, which I was nervously fiddling around in my lap until I was sure that Hunter had looked away. Unfortunately, when I looked up again, he was still staring at my face with an expression I couldn’t quite read.