Learning to Live

Chapter 11

"I smell your sandwich, Sapph!"

Hunter and I jumped apart. 

Scott barreled through the kitchen door. His eyes, wide and hungry, zeroed in on the sandwich on the island. He beelined toward us and snatched the sandwich from my plate.

My heart hammered in my chest. I was so out of it, I didn't even react when Scott fled out of the kitchen with my sandwich.

More people came into the house. Stefan and Jason no doubt. I could hear them trying to wrestle the sandwich from Scott. Cheddar jumped on the free stool next to me and licked his paws.

Clearing my throat, I glanced at Hunter. He was rubbing the back of his head, his face turned away. The tips of his ears were pink. The sight made me melt more than the almost kiss did. It was endearing.

I touched my cheeks. They were flaming hot. "Um, I'll go grab my laptop," I said and escaped the kitchen.

Ignoring the three idiots in the living room, I took the stairs two at a time and slipped into my room. I closed the door and leaned against it. My heart was a drumroll. I blew out a shaky breath, still feeling the warmth of Hunter's breath on my face. Oh my God.

Focus!

I slapped myself, giving myself two minutes to get my crap together. I checked my hair in the mirror, grabbed my laptop and returned to the kitchen.

Jason and Scott were in the living room. Crumbs of my sandwich decorated both Scott and Jason's faces. I pointed at them. "You'll pay for that later."

Their grins were unrepentant.

Stefan was in the kitchen, making his own weird grilled cheese with squished Pringles and pickles. Hunter observed the odd mix with a pained expression.

"It's disgustingly weird, I know," I said, dropping on the stool next to him.

"You lack complex taste buds," Stefan said over his shoulder, flipping the cheese in the pan.

"You lack taste buds, period," I replied, opening my laptop. Hunter pulled out his notebook. It was easier to ignore our earlier moment with someone else in the kitchen.

"That's a direct insult to your best friend, you know," Stefan said, turning off the stove. "Lia loves this shit as much as I do."

"Don't I know it," I mumbled.

Stefan lingered in the kitchen even after eating his sandwich. I wanted to roll my eyes at his protectiveness. He didn't like Hunter, that much was clear.

In a way, I was grateful for his presence. It made focusing my attention on the homework actually easier.

Hunter and I divided tasks for the history project, then he worked on Calculus with me.

"I didn't expect you to be good at Calculus," Stefan said, looking over my work. I shot him a chiding look.

"Why? Because I should be an asshole who only knows how to fight?" Hunter said.

Stefan blinked. Then nodded. "Yeah, pretty much."

"Stefan!"

"What?" my brother crossed his arms, his eyes locked on Hunter's. "You're pretty famous for fighting and screwing around. I didn't think you'd have the time to study."

I sucked in a sharp breath. Hurtling my laptop at my brother's head would achieve nothing except breaking my laptop. That was the only reason I didn't do it. But I was very tempted to.

Hunter's face snapped into the familiar expression he reserved for people he'd like to punch. Oh, no. If he got into it with Stefan here...

I put my hand on his wrist. "Hunter..."