When Arabella woke up, the sun was pretty high in the sky. She figured that it must have been pretty late but she didn't bother looking at the clock. She closed her eyes again, thinking about the events of the previous night. Arabella felt herself blush when she thought of Hunter. When she remembered his arms around her, her skin tingled again and she felt a rush of excitement. This all felt so new and exciting to her. There had hardly been a time in her life when she wasn't sure that the guy she was interested in liked her back. There was never any doubt. But now, things were different. Did Hunter feel the same way? Would Hunter ever feel the same way? With a sigh, Arabella swung her legs off of her bed and she stood up, pulling a cardigan on over top of her pajamas. She wondered if Hunter had been awake for very long or if he was still asleep.
She tip toed out of her room. The house was pretty quiet. All she could hear were the cicadas in the woods and the faint sound of sanding. Arabella smiled slightly to herself and she walked down the stairs. She found Hunter busy at work, lost in his thoughts. Arabella bit her lip nervously before talking to him "Good morning" Arabella said lightly, leaning against the wall. Hunter jumped a little and looked away from his work to look at her.
"Morning" Hunter said quietly and stood up quickly "I'll go make some..." he started but looked at the clock on the wall before finishing "Lunch for you. How did you sleep?" he asked her. Arabella was a little upset to hear the quiet tone back in his voice but she thought that she could hear a bit of nerves in his voice too. Arabella waved him off.
"Don't bother with lunch, I'm just going to get some Fruit Loops" Arabella said with a shrug "I slept okay" she answered him, trying to keep herself from looking nervous or start blushing "How about you?" she asked him. Hunter looked down from her, back to his work. She wondered if he was avoiding her eyes or if he was just really focused on his work.
"Um, I slept okay" Hunter said and he stood up, leaving his work on the ground "I'm going to make you lunch, Ellie" he insisted and he walked towards the kitchen.
"Hunter..." Arabella whined like a little kid and she followed him into the kitchen "You don't have to do that..I'm fine with Fruit Loops and coffee. Well..not Fruit Loops in coffee, ew. But you get the point. Please? You don't have to fuss over me" she said and she sat down at the table, putting her hands in her lap. Hunter, however, ignored her. She watched him as he pulled out the left over pasta and a bunch of other things for Zeus knows what he was planning on making for her. Arabella let out a sigh and got up to get herself a big mug of coffee. She knew that there was no way that she was going to get him to stop making her food, so she just watched him as she started putting the ingredients into the food processor.
"I'm going to be chaining myself to the table outside today, okay?" Arabella said to Hunter and he looked up at her with a slightly confused look on his face "I need to get some work done for my actual job before we go back. I still have a collection to finish sketching up" she said simply with a shrug "So..don't let me go swimming or anything until I'm done!" she said and Hunter nodded.
"I can do that" Hunter said and he put the pasta on the plate then mixed the pesto in with it. Arabella looked at it when a smile on her face.
"This is so much better than Fruit Loops" Arabella teased and took her plate over to the table. She sat down and took a bite. She looked up at Hunter with dreamy eyes "You are seriously amazing" she said with a smile. Hunter shrugged, a faint smile on his lips. Arabella smiled at him and quickly finished off her food. She had just realized how hungry she was once she started eating. She took the plates to the sink and she pulled on a pair of rubber gloves. Arabella washed the dishes quickly then looked at the time. "Damn..." she muttered. Arabella gave Hunter a quick hug, thanked him for lunch then ran up the stairs. She found her work bag that was filled with her binders and sketches and files. Before leaving her room, she grabbed her cell phone and walked down stairs. Arabella saw that Hunter was already working on the floors.
"I'll be outside if you need me!" Arabella called, grabbed a bottle of water and walked outside to the picnic table. She pushed the umbrella up and flopped down, taking out her sketch pad and getting to work. Arabella sat there for quiet a while, consumed in her work. She had only seen Hunter a couple of times. Once, when she went inside for a snack and then when Hunter walked outside to work on the painting. But she didn't really have much time to talk to him. The emails she got on her phone were enough to keep her busy on top of everything else that she had to do. She looked at her phone for the time after a couple hours. 5:13 PM. Arabella let out a sigh and she stretched her arms, looking out at the water. She wanted to go swimming so bad. Thankfully, she was almost done her work. If she could just crank out another dress, Arabella could finish everything off.
'Don't go for second best baby, put your love to the test' Arabella nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard her Madonna ring tone. She never really got too many phone calls, not to her cell phone anyway. All calls for work went through her office and the only people who ever really called her cell phone were her father and her assistant. Arabella grabbed her phone off the table and pressed the answer button "Hello?" she said, going to organize her papers. Then she heard a voice that made her freeze.
"Hey Bells! What are you up to?" Brian asked her. His words sounded slurred and he was talking loudly to her. Arabella took a little breath. Getting a call from Brian was not what she had expected. Arabella looked around, not seeing Hunter. She let out a little sigh, glad that he wasn't going to see this.
"I'm with..Hunter" Arabella admitted pulling her cardigan around herself. She knew that saying she was with Hunter was a bad move as soon as she said it. Brian took a sharp breath.
"Of course you're with Hunter! You probably ran into his arms the moment you left me. You know that he's a hunter, right?! He made an oath to be a virgin forever but you just couldn't let that be, could you?! There couldn't be ONE GUY at Camp that you HAVEN'T slept with!" He yelled at her. Arabella closed her eyes, telling herself not to take his words personally.
"Brian..you've been drinking too much. Get a glass of water and go to bed" Arabella said in a small voice.
"WHY?! When I wake up, I'll still be the one in California and you'll still be a slut" Brian hissed at her. Arabella flinched when he said that to her, but she didn't respond. She didn't know how "I can't believe how big of a whore you turned out to be" Brian continued. In the background, Arabella could hear him throw a can into a pile of other cans.
"I can't believe I ever loved you" She whispered, tears welling up in her eyes. Arabella hung up on him and with shaking hands, she put her phone down on the table.