Hunt Me Down {boyxboy} ✓

Chapter 10

A/N: A Halloween special with the characters from Hunt Me Down. What do you think: yay or nay?

 

*****

 

Nathaniel’s POV

“I’ve talked to my parents about the party on Friday,” Irene beamed as she sat down next to me a few minutes before Biology started.

“I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that,” I said, clearing my throat. I had decided that the sooner we spoke, the better.

“Oh?” She moved her braid to the side. This hairstyle really suited her as it showed more of her pretty face. And that was the correct term for it – pretty, not beautiful – as it had a charming simplicity to it. No refined features or anything exotic, yet I found it very attractive.

“Nat?”

“Sorry, I was just thinking about… Never mind!” I cleared my throat again. “I wanted to ask you something. It’s silly, actually,” I let out a high-pitched bark of laughter. “It’s something Hunt and Val said and I wanted to make sure there weren’t any misunderstandings.”

“What did they say?” She asked, straightening up in her seat.

“Val said that by the way I asked if you were going to the party, I made it sound as if I was inviting you so that…” I couldn’t put it like my sister and say ‘so that you could be my spare hookup’ so I opted for another version. “So that I would talk to you if there was nothing better to do.” I paused to see her reaction but all Irene did was to wrap her knitted green vest around her torso. “I didn’t do it because of that; I just thought it would be nice to have one of my own friends there,” I summed up, slightly emphasizing the word ‘friends’.

“Yes, having a friend with you would be nice.” She looked away and started rummaging through her bag. “I can’t make it though; that’s what I was about to tell you earlier.”

I nodded even though she was now skipping through the pages of her notebook. The bell rang and the teacher began the lesson, ending it in the middle of class by giving us another group assignment for the remaining twenty minutes. Irene no longer displayed her bright smile and barely glanced my way or talked to me as we worked together. I began to realize that Val and Hunt had probably been right and I wondered if she really couldn’t make it to the party or was it my fault that she no longer wanted to go. If it was the later and she’d assumed I’d asked her out, how were things going to go back to normal between us?

*****

I opened the door to my room and froze. My heart sped up as I heard the familiar words – my words – being said by a voice that was not my own.

“There is a sense of vulnerability whenever one dares to venture out of one's comfort zone and share their work. It's very similar to the feeling of being naked in front of a crowd of strangers and, what is even more frightening, in front of people you are acquainted with, and it is absolutely dreadful facing those who are dear to one's heart. Once you have presented your creation, all of your secrets are out; every wishful dream, every wretched nightmare. Nothing is hidden any more, nothing is private. It takes courage to disclose one's most inner thoughts and we rarely posses the strength of character to do so.” Hunter tilted his head to the side. “Is this for homework?”

I rushed towards him and tried to snatch the black leather-bound notebook from his hand. He raised it up and I almost fell over his body as I made another attempt to retrieve it.