The Huntress and Her Undead Lover

Chapter 15

I sat down anxious to hear Leo's story. "Carmen was the most popular girl for a reason. She was beautiful, top of her class, best in sports, and the nicest girl you could ever meet," he started.

I couldn't help but feel a little jealous already of this "dream" girl Leo spoke of but I let him continue, "Yeah you could say every guy in the school drooled over her.... Including Hunter and myself."

Suddenly it hit me: Was this Hunter's girlfriend he missed so much? I leaned in closer eager to know more, "Ever since middle school, Hunter and I were the best of friends. We were practically inseparable, always had each other's backs when one did something wrong, knew everything about each other..." Leo began to drift off leaving me wanting to know more.

I picked up a small pebble and flicked it at his forehead, "Keep going!" I urged him.

He snapped out of his trance and kept going, "Sorry. As I was saying, we thought nothing could tear us apart ... until Hunter admitted his feelings to me about Carmen."

Instantly, my heart sank. The more I thought about it, the more discouraged I became. How was I going to compete with an amazing girl Hunter had a crush on?

"The problem with that was I had feelings for her too, but as a friend, I put Hunter's feelings before my own and became his wing man. As his wing man, I would have to spend a lot of time with Carmen to convince her into dating Hunter. Unfortunately, it completely backfired. The more time I spent with her, the more I wanted her for myself so.... I ended up asking her out and she said yes."

I stared at Leo in disbelief. How desperate had he been risking his friendship like that?

"When Hunter found out, he was furious with me. He hated and cursed me so much that it hurt for a long time and still does to this day. Due to my greed however, I continued going out with Carmen... little did I know she had been watching Hunter the entire time. One day she broke up with me for Hunter and since Hunter was already in a gang, she joined too. Although Hunter threatened to kill me if I came near Carmen, I still kept a close watch on her just in case and it was a good thing too. One night she had gotten completely drunk and some thug tried to rape her. Fortunately I was there and prevented it from happening."

Once again, I was shocked. Carmen didn't even seem to be the same person anymore. Not only that, I couldn't help but wonder where Hunter was at that time so I asked, "Where was Hunter?"

Leo looked at me with a mixture of hatred and disappointment, "Apparently Hunter got drunk as well and ended up losing his virginity that night," he told me with a disgusted tone.

My eyes were wide with fear. How could he have been so careless? His girlfriend was almost killed while he was "busy" with another girl?! I became furious with him yet again, but I contained my anger so Leo could move on, "When Carmen found out she immediately dumped him and came back to me, but she wasn't the Carmen I knew anymore. I ended up refusing to take her back which ended up being a terrible mistake."

Leo hung his head and muttered, "She died from OD the next week..."

All I could manage to say was, "I'm so sorry Leo..." and pulled him into a hug.

Instantly he hugged me back and started crying on my shoulder, "I shouldn't have let her go!" he sobbed.

I felt terrible for the poor guy so I hugged him tighter, "its okay. It's not your fault," I said trying to comfort him.

"It's all my fault!" he exclaimed burying his face deeper into my shoulder.

"No it's not. It was her choice, not yours. After all she would've died even sooner if it wasn't for you," I argued.

Still he continued pouring his heart out, "B-but she would still be alive i-if I had just been a good friend a-and not have asked her out!"

I sighed, "You don't know that...” I said more gently patting his back.

He had nothing more to say, but continued to cry for a couple more minutes. When he was done, he slowly pulled away, "Thanks," he muttered. I patted his head and smiled, "No problem," I replied.

He took a deep breath and mentioned, "That’s not the end though."

I tilted my head to the side, "It's not?"

Leo shook his head, "I'm afraid not. When Hunter heard I had rejected her, causing her to OD, he actually tried to murder me."

I stared in disbelief. I could understand the pain he had been going through must've been difficult, but murdering someone? That's something different...... How much did he care for her?

I struggled not to show my feelings and it worked so Leo continued, "He broke into my house in the middle of the night, but when the alarm went off cops were at my house within seconds. Hunter was arrested and sent to jail for 2 years. When he was released, we never spoke to each other again."

He leaned back against the wall and exhaled, "And that's the end of our story," he said.

There was only one thought going through my head that entire time: Will Hunter ever care for me like he did for Carmen?