Why You Shouldn't Lend A Bad Boy Your Clothes

Chapter 20

I didn't go to school on Tuesday, simply because it would've been to no avail. All of my thoughts were either about Emily and the break up or about Hunter and our upcoming date, so I basically was a useless wreck.

Certainly I wouldn't have been able to concentrate at school, and the thought of meeting Emily there was making my skin crawl. She wanted me to give her space, but as soon as I would've met her in the hallways, I probably would've talked to her and asked how she was doing. She was still my best friend, so naturally I was worried about her and wanted to help her to get over it. But how was I supposed to do that when I was the one who caused the pain?

So I had stayed at home all day, trying to distract myself by watching stupid reality TV shows, reading and drawing a bit. I had quickly caught myself drawing what looked a lot like Hunter's side profile, but since the sketch was actually pretty good, I had continued working on it until I ended up with a detailed portrait of him looking over his shoulder, a faint smirk playing around his lips and one brow raised, an expression that he often wore.

I had looked at it for a few minutes before I had hid it underneath some papers on my desk.

Afterwards, I had gone back to thinking about the date with Hunter and panicked slightly; he had talked about going clubbing, which was something I had never done before. Embarrassingly, one of my biggest worries was what I was going to wear. His advice to wear something "sexy" had only contributed to my insecurity. So I had spent at least half an hour in front of my closet, trying to pick an outfit that wouldn't make me look completely ridiculous.

I had just finished doing my hair (well, you couldn't really style my hair- all I could do was to try and somehow brush it with my fingers since nothing else worked with my curls), which I had quickly given up on, when the door bell rang.

I cursed quietly under my breath as I nearly tripped down the stairs in an attempt to get to the door before either of my parents could. Before I opened it, I only grabbed my wallet and my keys and shouted a quick goodbye. Since I couldn't exactly tell my parents what I'd be doing tonight, I had settled for telling them I'd be hanging out with Nate.

Being the clumsy idiot I was, I obviously opened the front door with way too much force in my eagerness to leave, and stumbled face forward into Hunter.

He caught my shoulders and grinned at me with an amused glint in his eyes. "What was that? Were you actually just falling for me?"

I rolled my eyes at him but didn't try to shake his hands off. "Hunter, you're such a cliché."

He just shrugged casually and let go of me. "You like it." He then took a step back and looked at my outfit with a stare that could've made pretty much anyone blush. "So you actually listened to me for once, huh?" When I didn't respond right away he stepped closer again and tugged at my shirt. "Why don't you wear this more often?"

I looked down at myself, a little self-conscious. In lack of anything better to wear, I had put on a washed-out blue shirt which, according to Emily, was exactly the color of my eyes, ripped jeans and white vans. "I just feel more comfortable in loose clothes."

Hunter's lips formed into what almost looked like a pout, but then he shrugged. "Okay. So, why weren't you at school today?"

For a second I was surprised he noticed, then I said: "I didn't feel well."

"You weren't sick," Hunter said, rolling his eyes at me. "If you were, you would've sent Nate at least five self pitying text messages. Which you didn't, I asked him. So, this is what I think: You didn't come to school because you were scared of running into Emily."

I was silent for a moment, taken aback by his accusation and how precise it was. Eventually, I nodded.

"So you told her?"