“He isn’t a diehard fan.” Asa grinned. “He does hate the rival school though so he wanted to watch ours kick their ass.”
“And did we?”
“Yeah.” Asa nodded, then paused as his lips twisted into a small frown. “Our team captain was completely off his game today, though.”
“Team captain,” Carmen repeated, her tone guarded. “That’s Hunter.”
Asa nodded, averting his eyes and looking around her room instead. “Yeah, he seemed super distracted today.”
There were a million questions flying through Carmen’s mind, so many worried remarks sitting on the very tip of her tongue. But she kept her mouth shut, knowing it was pointless to ask Asa about Hunter’s mental state. Asa wouldn’t know, and neither would he appreciate her concern over someone that he loathed with every single cell in his body.
“Never mind that now.” He waved it off, smiling at her reassuringly. “He’s not your problem. You’ve got enough on your mind for tonight.” He leant forward and placed a quick kiss on her temple. “Good luck with everything at the dinner,” he told her. “I really hope things go okay for you.”
Carmen offered him a grateful smile. “Thank you, Asa. Now go on and get some sleep. You look like shit.”
He rolled his eyes, but shot a smile in her direction anyway before leaving her room and closing the door with a soft click.
•••
Carmen pressed her lips tightly together as her father parked the car in the driveway of the large house, right behind a dark blue Land Rover. There were few other luxurious cars parked in front of them, making Carmen’s stomach coil into knots at the fact that there would be at least three other families in there already. Both Carmen and her dad sat there in the car for what felt like hours but were actually a couple of minutes. Painstakingly long minutes.
“All right,” her father breathed out loudly, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel while his knee bounced anxiously. “Let’s go. Come on.”
Carmen clutched the door handle like it was her lifeline—as if it was Asa’s hand—and breathed in slowly.
Inhale. Exhale.
I love you, Asa had told her today just before she left the house to come here.
Inhale. Exhale.
She could get through tonight. Carmen could do this. And if she ever felt her breathing falter, all she needed to do was think of him. She’d think of Asa or recall something he’d said to her and then she would be able to breathe again.
“Yeah.” She exhaled slowly, turning to her dad and smiling tightly. “Yeah, let’s just go in.”
Her father led the way to the front steps of the house, and Carmen trailed behind him, both of them too much of a bundle of nerves to be saying anything to each other.
She watched as the large oak doors were opened by someone from the help (most probably the housekeeper) and Carmen stopped in her tracks, the reality of the situation hitting her a little too hard, like a swift kick to her chest.
“Carmen?” her dad called out tentatively, watching her with cautious eyes while she stood at the foot of the steps, not making a move to climb it.
“Um.” She swallowed. “Why don’t you go ahead, Dad?” She rubbed her palms together, the chilly air seeping into her bones despite the cardigan she wore over her dress. “I’ll be there in a minute.”
He opened his mouth, as if to say something but then closed it, offered her a strained smile and allowed the housekeeper to usher him in.
As soon as the door closed and Carmen was left by herself, she let her shoulders drop and started pacing around, frantic words and phrases spilling out of her mouth in her frenzied state. She felt a presence behind her just as a hand touched her elbow, causing her to jump away and whip her head around, pulling a muscle in her neck as she did so.
Her breathing came to an abrupt stop as her eyes landed on a dishevelled Hunter; his breathing was ragged as if he’d run all the way from his home. Carmen decided it was possible because she couldn’t find a car that just arrived, and neither did she hear the sound of any vehicle before he approached her.
His dark brown hair, which sported highlights of a lighter shade of brown, was a mess—another reason to believe he’d run all the way here.
“Um.” Hunter shifted on his feet awkwardly as Carmen continued to gape at him. “I’d really appreciate it if you quit with the gawking and just say something instead.”
“What—what are you doing here?” she asked incredulously, looking around him as if the answer would materialise out of the thin November air.
“Apparently there’s a thanksgiving dinner being held here,” he responded, the sarcasm heavy in his tone. “Shocking, huh?”
Carmen shot him a disapproving look, feeling that spark of irrational annoyance flare up in her whenever she was in Hunter’s presence.
“You told me you weren’t coming,” she reminded him.
“I did.”
“You said your dad didn’t allow it once he learnt about me being invited.”
“Yup.”
Carmen frowned deeply, knitting her eyebrows together in extreme perplexity. “But you’re here?”
“I am.”
Carmen let out a frustrated sound from the back of her throat, wondering how one person could effortlessly get under her nerves the way Hunter did.
“You know,” he said, slipping his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. “You’re always so calm and relaxed but whenever it’s me you’re talking to, all your patience seems to just run out.”
“That’s because it does run out,” she told him flatly, noticing at the same time that her breathing was still not back to its natural pace. She didn't know if it was a trick of the lighting around the exterior of the house, but Hunter’s usually guarded
