Arabella blushed when Hunter said that the asparagus was perfect. It was the first time that she had cooked anything that didn't taste like total crap. Arabella took a small bite of her asparagus and smiled at him "I had a good teacher" she teased him. Hunter rolled his eyes slightly, in a light hearted sort of way.
"I knew you could do it" Hunter said simply and took a bite of his chicken. Arabella took a small bite of hers and she looked at him with wide eyes
"Hunter...this chicken is heaven. The gods will be jealous tonight" Arabella said and placed her hand on his arm for a second, with a smile on her face. There was no way she was going to go back to take out food after this. Hunter made everything perfect for her. She ate some more, enjoying every bite.
"You haven't really told me much about your company..what's it like?" Hunter asked her, his cheeks still a little pink. Arabella knew that he was a pretty humble guy, he always was. He was probably blushing from the compliment. Arabella took a sip of her wine as she thought about her answer for him.
"It's pretty amazing. It's everything that I wanted, really" Arabella said "I still can't believe that it's all happening to me. It feels like a dream. I'll see these famous women on the red carpet for some event and they're telling people they they're wearing my dress. My dress! I used to sit up at night in the Aphrodite cabin and imagine someone saying that. And now it's actually happening" Arabella let out a little sigh and took a sip of her wine. She looked at Hunter, who was actually smiling at her. It wasn't much of a smile, just a faint one. But it was still something. "What's the smile for?" she asked him, raising an eyebrow
"I'm just...proud of you, that's all" Hunter said to her quietly, looking down at his plate. Arabella blushed and looked down at her, quickly shoveling the rest of her food into her mouth. She finished her glass of wine and once Hunter was done, she took all of the dishes to the sink.
"Let's go sit by the fire" Arabella said to Hunter. He nodded at her, looking like he was lost in thought. For about the billionth time, Arabella wished that she could read his mind and figure out what he was thinking. They walked into the large living room where Arabella had started to build a fire in the fire place. She knelt down in front of the fireplace and quickly finished what she was doing. When she stood up, there was a roaring fire. Hunter sat down on a big lazy boy chair that was in front of the fire and Arabella stretched out on the couch, looking out the window. They sat in silence for a little while. The only sound was the crackling fire and the rain pounding on the window.
"Ellie?" Hunter asked her. His voice sounded nervous, like he was worried about what he was going to say to her. Arabella turned her head to look at him, a small bit of worry in her eyes.
"What is it?" Arabella asked him cautiously. She was worried that he was going to tell her that he wasn't going to be staying after this weekend..that he was going to leave her. Hunter looked down at his lap before continuing.
"Are you okay? I mean..after seeing....Chad in the hospital" Hunter started, having a bit of trouble saying Chad's name without raging "I was a little worried about how you would be dealing with that. I just wanted to ask you if you're okay" he finished, looking up at her again. Arabella was a little taken aback. She didn't really know what to say to him about that. The truth was that she was trying to forget about it. Chad seemed to have this hold over her and he terrified her. But when she was near him, she could remember some of the good moments and the good feelings, it made her miss him in a way. Arabella shrugged and looked into the fire place. She thought about her dream and it gave her shivers.
"I don't really know" Arabella said softly "He...he scares me Hunter. More than anything else. I've never been so afraid of something or someone before. And I just...oh, I don't know" Arabella confessed in a soft voice. She remembered when she had first told Hunter about Chad. How she told him about the way that Chad would hit her and force her to do things with him. It was the first time that she ever talked about it. The second and last time that she had talked about it was when she was visiting her mother, Aphrodite. "When I see him, I can remember everything that he did to me. I can feel it all like it had only happened yesterday, you know what I mean?" Arabella said, looking over at Hunter. He nodded, his eyes filled with concern. Arabella looked down at her lap, feeling tears sting the corners of her eyes. She rolled her eyes and stubbornly wiped her face, trying to get rid of the tears "I hate him so much and seeing him again is just..." she said but her voice broke off and she shuddered, tears falling down her cheeks.
"Ellie..." Hunter said softly and he moved to walk over to her but before he could get out of the chair, Arabella had walked over to him. She needed a hug from Hunter. She needed him to be there for her. She needed him to stay with her. She just..needed him. Arabella crawled onto the chair, wrapping her arms around his neck and putting her head down. She felt his arms tighten around her and Arabella took a deep breath, feeling some of her fears melt away in his arms.
"I'm sorry for crying like this" Arabella whispered, laughing a sad little laugh. Hunter hushed her though and he rubbed her back. It was so wonderful to sit with him like this. All of her worries and fears and doubts all left her. Hunter made her feel safe. Safer than she had ever felt in her entire life. This moment could go on forever and she would be perfectly happy with that. It wasn't long thought before she felt her whole body getting heavy and it get more and more difficult to open her eyes. Arabella let out a soft little sigh before she drifted off into a peaceful sleep.
*****
The sun was beating in her window, heating everything up. Arabella was lying in her bed, her golden hair was spread out on the pillow behind her and her chest rose and fell gently with each breath. Tap, tap, tap. Arabella let out a low moan, hearing some faint noise in the house. Tap, tap, tap. Arabella slowly opened her eyes. The clock on her bedside table said that it was 11:34 in the morning. With another little moan, Arabella pushed herself out of bed. Hunter must of carried her up last night. She blushed when she remembered the night before. Arabella felt bad about falling asleep on Hunter, again. Quickly, she changed into a pair of black yoga shorts that stopped at the top of her thigh and a grey sweater. She pulled her hair up into a messy bun and slipped on her head band as she walked out of her room and towards the stairs.
Her eyes landed on Hunter and she understood where the tapping noise was coming from. He was working on the stairs already. Arabella smiled and sat down at the top, pulling her knees up to her chest "Good morning" she said softly.