Footprints In The Sand

Chapter 9

"He really pissed me off, Brooke"

"He was just being a possessive boyfriend," Brooke said, popping a mini pretzel into her mouth, making a loud crunch.

"Dude, he wouldn't let me turn around to talk to Emmett. It's like he felt threatened by Emmett or something."

"Alright, I agree with you, but it's been a whole week since you talked to him. You need to stop ignoring him. All his texts and calls. He's stopped by the apartment nearly 5 times this week," she said, squeezing my shoulder tenderly.

"Ok I'll meet up with him today, but on one condition," I said, giving Brooke and ultimatum, "You're have to come with me," I pleaded.

"Hun, of course I'll come with you! I was going to come anyway whether you liked it or not," she winked at me with a grin.

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I walked into the small coffee shop and plopped myself down onto the cushioned chair and waited for Hunter to meet me. Brooke and Marc sat in a booth a couple tables away so Hunter wouldn't know they were there. Brooke promised she would come, but decided she needed company just in case she got bored. Or in other words, she needed someone to lock lips with while waiting for me and hunter to hash things out.

I waited patiently, fidgeting with the brown napkin on the table in front of me. I heard the bells jingle on the door, diverting my attention from the now scrunched up napkin to the door of the café. Hunter walked through the door dressed in a black v-neck t-shirt and light jeans. Dang, why does he have to look so good when I'm supposed to be mad at him?

He looked around the café until his eyes locked with mine and he smiled brightly. He walked over to my table and tried hugging me, but I lightly pushed him off of me. As if I said sit down, you're not out of the woods just because you're giving me a hug, he sat down across from me and looked down into his hands. It felt like ages of awkward silence until he quietly spoke up.

"Ellie, I'm really sorry," he said, sounding sincere, "I just -I got jealous and I don't know what came over me. I promise it won't happen again. I only did it because I really like you," he said, gliding his hand across the table and putting it in mine. "I promise I'll try to be better."

His hand was so warm and rigid. His fingertips had calluses from playing guitar and you could see the slight dents in them from pushing on the strings. It was comforting.

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Hunter took my hand in his as we walked around the city, window-shopping.

"Let's go in here," he pulled my hand in the direction of a very expensive-looking shop. I didn't object and let him lead me into the shop.

i looked around the section of tops and saw some really cute ones, until I looked at the price tags. Everything was over 30 dollars. Holy shit, this is frakin expensive why the hell are we in here?! This makes me depressed cuz everything is so fucking nice!

"Pick anything you want, babe. It's on me," Hunter said, pulling me close and kissing my temple before letting me out of his warm grasp.

"What!? No, Hunter! Have you seen the prices on this stuff?!"

"Don't worry about it, Ellie," he said smiling warmly then giving me a wink.

I walked toward the rack of denim and shuffled through the various pants, skirts, and shorts until i found a skirt that caught my eye. It was a thigh-length denim skirt with buttons down the front.

After an hour of shuffling through various clothes and trying multiple items of clothing on, Hunter and I left the store. He got a couple of t-shirts and some jeans. He made me try everything i picked up on and if I liked it, he told me to keep it in the pile of clothes I was getting. I ended up with a maroon pinafore dress, black ripped jeans, a flowy burgundy turtleneck knit sweater, a yellow cropped tank top, a cropped blue checkered shirt, and the denim skirt I was looking at when we first came into the store.

"You didn't have to buy all of this for me, Hunter!"

"I wanted to. Plus its the gentlemanly thing to do," he said, taking the black bag full of clothes from my hand.

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Brooke and I sat on the love seat diagonal from Owen, Marc, and Hunter sitting on the long couch in Owen, Marc and Emmett's shared flat. Hunter had his own flat a couple blocks down, but I'd never been there yet.

"Do you guys want buttered popcorn or caramel popcorn," Hunter called out from wide service window of the kitchen.

"Caramel." "Butter." we all shouted different answers in unison.

"Alright, I'll just make both," Emmett chuckled.

"I'll help you," I said, jumping off the couch and walking toward the kitchen.

I felt Hunter's gaze on me while I walked toward to kitchen, but I ignored it.

"Thanks. Could you grab a couple big bowls from that lower cabinet," Emmett said, pointing to a cabinet across the kitchen.

Just as I was walking to the cabinet, Hunter popped his head into the kitchen.

"Hey Ellie, Brooke needs you in the guest room."

"I'll be right back, Emmett," I said, following Hunter out of the kitchen through the front hall of the house.

I followed him into an open doorway that led from the front hall and into the hall of bedrooms. We walked down the hall to the second to last door. Hunter opened the door for me and followed behind. Brooke wasn't in the room.

The door slammed shut and made me jump. Hunter pushed me hard against the wall and pinned my arms above my head.

"What are you d-" he cut me off by smashing his mouth against mine. I didn't have time to register what was going on, so Hunter shot his tongue into my mouth and his hand began feircly roaming my body.

After a few moments, he pulled away and looked at me. Maybe I should have been turned on, but something in his eyes said it was more than sexual frustration motivating his actions. I guess you could say frightened was an understatement.