After Hunter made lunch for Arabella, he washed the dishes. He lingered on the job. Maybe if he took long finishing the dishes, then he would take long finishing the floors and then they wouldn't get done. Maybe they could stay out here. Out here it was...simple. They woke up separately. They both did their own things throughout the day. Then they made dinner together and ate together and it was...peaceful. Calm. Simple. He regretfully finished the dishes and went to finish sanding the floors. Unfortunately, he was almost done with that too. He finished it in about 30 minutes. Finally, he went out to paint. He passed Arabella and didn't look at her. Purely out of nerves. He finished the painting in a few hours and checked his watch. "5:30. Time to start dinner." He said quietly before wiping the sweat from his forehead, a streak of paint on his face. He set the paint stuff down and walked over to her. Why was he excited to see her? Why was he nervous about what to say to her? He shook his head as he turned the corner to see her. "Hey, Ellie. Do you want--Are you okay?" He asked walking over and sitting across from her.
Arabella looked up when Hunter sat down. Crap... She quickly put all of her things in her bag and she nodded slightly. She was so upset about the phone call from Brian, but she wasn't going to let it show "Yeah, every thing's fine" she lied with a shrug and looked up at him. Was Brian right? She found out that Hunter had renounced his oath and she went off for the weekend with him. Did a part of her only want him because he was 'the only guy from camp that she hadn't slept with'? Arabella put a small smile on her face and she reached out and touched the streak of paint on Hunter's face "I see that you've been busy" she teased. Hunter nodded. Arabella didn't think that he actually bought her lie but he didn't push it.
"The outside of the house is finished" Hunter told her, his voice hesitant. Arabella stood up, grabbing her bag and the rest of her things and walked towards the house with Hunter.
"That's awesome Hunter, thanks so much" Arabella said then took a breath. Honestly, the only thing she was really thinking about was how nice it would be to must out her bottle of Goldschlager "What's for dinner tonight?" she asked him. She had already forgotten what he had written on the menu.
"Chinese. And you're doing the rice" Hunter said, looking at her. Arabella raised an eyebrow at him then forced herself to let out a laugh.
"Yeah, sure. You just want me to burn the house down" Arabella said and sat down at the table when they walked inside. Hunter started getting all of the things ready. She didn't know what he was doing, or how he was doing it, but it wasn't long before the kitchen started to smell amazing.
"Come here" Hunter said and looked back at Arabella. She pushed herself up and walked over to him, looking down at everything he had laid out for her "The rice is simple..just cook it then put it in the pan with everything else" he explained, pointing at the other things to go in the rice.
"You must really trust me.." Arabella said but she started to work on the rice, following Hunter's instructions exactly. He had to help her out a few times and fix a few mistakes. Soon enough, the rice was done and Hunter was putting all of the food onto plates. As he did that, Arabella looked into the cupboard where she had stashed her alcohol. She picked out her rum and grabbed a glass. She put ice into the glass and almost filled it up with the rum, but she put a splash of Pepsi in it. Arabella sat down at the table and took a sip of her drink before taking a bite of her egg roll. They ate in silence, Arabella didn't really feel like talking much. She kept looking up at Hunter for a few seconds then looking down at her plate. After talking to Brian, she felt so insecure and unsure of herself. She was starting to believe what Brian had said to her. Arabella finished off her drink pretty quickly and went to get another glass. This time, she hardly put any Pepsi in it at all. It pretty much just rum. Arabella sat back down and took a long drink from her glass. She was starting to feel the alcohol now, but she could still feel the sting from Brian's words. Hunter was looking at Arabella with a slightly worried look on his face, but he didn't say anything. Arabella knew that she was being horrible to Hunter, but she felt so terrible about herself and whenever she looked at Hunter, she remembered what Brian said to her and the pain came back.
"I'm going to sit in the sand on the beach and enjoy whatever is left of the sun" Arabella told him and she grabbed her sunglasses and the bottle of rum "You're welcome to join me" she added and she took off towards the beach, plopping herself down on the sand.
Hunter stared at her leave. His heart sank. "Did I do something?" He said to himself with a sigh before gathering the plates and putting them in the sink. "I don't think I...I thought that we..." He took a deep breath and swallowed his anxiety as he started the dishes. As soon as he finished them he walked up to his room and changed into a pair of swim trunks. He grabbed a towel and walked out to the beach to find her and a bottle of rum about 3/4ths empty. "Are you sure you're okay, Ellie?" He asked sitting down next to her. "I've never seen you tie one on like this." He said in his usual quiet tone.
Arabella turned to look at Hunter when he sat down next to her. She took a swig from the bottle, looking out at the water "Oh yeah, I'm totally fine" she said, her words slurring. Hunter was a little blurry in her eyes, but she could still see him fine "You clearly don't know me as well as you thought you did" she said with a little giggle "I've had more than this before!" she added and looked at his swim trunks then at his bare chest. Her cheeks flushed and she drank from the bottle, nearly finishing it. Arabella wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling herself close to him. "I missed you" she whispered
Hunter blushed at her closeness. "I uh...missed you too, Ellie." He said quietly. Hunter could smell the alcohol on her breath. He could tell that she was very drunk. "What's wrong, Ellie? You can tell me." He said quietly. She shook her head and looked up at him. He looked down into her eyes. He reached for the bottle. "Maybe we've had enough. How about I just take this?"
"No!" Arabella said, grabbing the bottle away from him "And I can't tell you because I don't want to tell you. Everything is fine with me Hunter..everything is peachy" she said before taking a big gulp from the bottle, finishing it off. She didn't know what she was doing. She didn't feel like she was really all there. She didn't really feel the pain. Arabella looked into Hunter's eyes and she blushed. Arabella wanted everything with Hunter and because of the alcohol, she couldn't stop herself. She leaned into him and planted a kiss on the side of his neck "Let's go skinny dipping" she whispered.
Hunter froze. Was this actually happening? He felt himself blush. Hard. "I...um...Ellie we..." He said, lightly pushing her away. She moved his hand and leaned into him again. He could feel her lips on his neck. "Ellie, I....We...this is..." He stammered before pushing her away again. She renewed her efforts and this time sucked on his neck. He jumped and rolled away from her and to his feet. "I prefer regular swimming actually. Fully clothed. not naked. or close to each other. Or anything. Just a couple of people swimming. fully clothed." He said frantically turning his back to her.
"Oh, come on, Hunter" Arabella slurred, moving so that she was standing in front of him. She placed her hands on his chest and felt him stiffen under her hands, like he was nervous "Fine. Why don't we just skip swimming and go up to my room?" she breathed, raising an eyebrow suggestively. Arabella figured that the first time he had turned her down, it was because of nerves. She didn't expect him to do it a second time. So her heart sank a little when he pushed her hands away. "Hunter..it's okay. Most guys only want sex from me and I've gotten used to it. It's fine" she told him, putting her arms around his neck "And according to Brian, I'm just a slut. And a whore. So having meaningless sex with you is kind of in the job description"
Hunter was losing his mind. Part of him wanted to give in and take her back into the house and up into her room. Another part of him wanted to just walk away completely. He grabbed her arms and took a step back. He held her at an arms length. "Ellie, don't listen to Brian. He's an idiot who missed out on the best thing to ever happen to him." Hunter said quietly. "You're not a slut. You're not a whore. You're a beautiful, smart, kind, and wonderful young woman who deserves to be happy and to be with a guy who will treat her the way she deserves to be treated." He said looking into her groggy and drunken eyes. He hoped that she was drunk enough to not remember any of this. "One of these days you're going to find that guy..." He said looking down at the ground.
"I already did" Arabella whispered. Her heart ached, hearing Brian say everything that he did to her was bad enough. But now Hunter was turning her down. Was is something wrong with her? Was she just not good enough? Not smart enough? Not pretty enough? She felt tears trickle down her cheeks and she folded her arms across her chest "I already found him, but he clearly doesn't want anything from me" she said in a sad voice before turning and running up to the house.
Hunter stood there, feeling like the biggest idiot on the planet. "Ellie! Wait! Not like this! I don't...Not like this!" He shouted after her, but to no avail, she was gone. He fell back into the sand. He didn't care. Maybe the tide will come in and sweep him away. He's not that lucky. "I wanted to. Believe me, I wanted to, but..." He said a tear falling down into the sand. "Not drunk you. I don't..." He laid there, quietly crying. "She doesn't want me. She had an itch. I was the scratch. That's why she has to get drunk to do anything!" He said sadly. He wasn't mad, but he felt mad. He wasn't sure why. He stood up and picked up his towel and the empty bottle. "Damn the gods! The gods have given me nothing, but trouble! Damn them!" He shouted before throwing the bottle into the water. He buried his face into his towel and breathed deep. It smelled like her detergent. It smelled like her. He dropped it on the sand and walked back to the house. When he entered he walked up to his room and closed the door behind him. He climbed into his bed on the floor and buried his face in his pillow. "Maybe, I'll just die here. If the gods care at all, they'll kill me right here."
Arabella ran up to the house and into her room, stummbling slightly. She was crying the whole time. Arabella felt so alone. She desperatley needed someone. Someone to hold her and kiss her and tell her that she's beautiful. Arabella flopped down on her bed and looked over at her purse. Arabella bit her lip then grabbed it, digging though it for a piece of paper. Finally she found what she was looking for and called the phone number scribbled on it. She got the answering machine. "Hi Chad, it's Arabella. I was thinking about what you said to me and I'd like to give you another chance" she said twisting a piece of hair in her fingers "I'm up at the beach house now and I'll be back home tomorrow afternoon, you should stop by. I was thinking about that time that we snuck off in the middle of the night to the beach at Camp and we spent 3 hours under the moon together..anyway..I live in the big apartments building across from The Met. I hope I'll see you tomorrow night" she finished and hung up the phone. Arabella sat on her bed for a moment. It wasn't long before she felt a horrible tug in her stomach. She bolted to the bathroom and knelt over the toilet. pulling her hair out of her face. Being sick was the worst part about drinking, in her opinion. It was just painful. Arabella stood up on shaky legs, flushing the toilet. She brushed her teeth and looked in the mirror at her reflection. Arabella let out a dry little sob before curling up on the floor of the bathroom and passing out.