Hunting Cheaters | ✓

3 | Almost

"Dry your eyes 'cause it won't work this time. I already dried mine and I'm not drying yours. Go wash your hands, but you can't change the past. Those stories ain't cheap now. You don't mean it, I'm sure"

~ Rainberry (Icarus Falls)

OLIVIA

We made it to Hunter's house not many minutes later.

When he didn't move to park in his garage, I gave him a questioning look.

He parked in his driveway and turned to meet my eyes. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You're not gonna park inside?"

He raised his eyebrow. "Is that a problem?"

"It's not a problem as much as it is odd. I mean, aren't garages meant for parking cars?"

He contemplated my words before giving an acknowledging shrug. "I guess you can say that, but I have other uses for my garage that are more important than parking my car."

My interest piked. "Hmm. For what?"

He chuckled. "That's a bit personal, no?"

"You already know a secret of mine. Don't you think its fair I know one of yours?"

He looked at me like he was ready to laugh me out the door. "No, but we agreed to a truce so I'll be nice and tell you."

"Gee, thanks. You're so generous."

"I know. I try."

I shook my head at him as a low laugh escaped me. "Do you keep personal belongings there? Like old pictures and your toolbox?"

"Not really. I do have my toolbox in there, but for the most part, I do some of my most personal work in my garage."

My eyebrows furrowed. "Your work? What do you do?"

"I'm a carpenter."

"Oh."

He laughed. "Bet I'm not as interesting now, huh?"

"Don't put words in my mouth. I just didn't expect you to say that. I wasn't passing judgment on your job."

"Hmm. Okay."

I let out a soft mutter and leaned in closer to him. "I mean it. I wasn't thinking negatively about your job. I promise."

He grinned. "Olivia."

"Yeah?"

"You need to breathe. Even if you were passing judgment, it's totally fine. We're humans and we judge and not all of our judgments are pretty. What I do isn't respected by a lot of people. But I respect it, I love it. And no judgment you could've made is going to change it," he talked so smoothly, his voice like music to my ears. "It's okay to be judgy. You just shouldn't voice your judgments a lot of times. But you can voice them with me."

"Did you just tell me it's okay to be judgemental?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I have a brain for a reason. If I think you're being stupid, then that's my judgment. I'm not gonna not think because it may hurt your feelings. Grow some thick skin."

I felt like the wind had been knocked out of my lungs, for the thousandth time today. "You really are one of a kind."

His grin widened. "Let's go inside."

I just agreed and moved accordingly to his movements.

As soon as we stepped out of the car, my eyes caught sight of the neighborhood and his house. Confusion settled deep when I realized there was no way he could afford this house in this neighborhood on a carpenter salary. Did he have another job he didn't tell me about? Or maybe he had a trust fund. But then again, he was making it seem as if he didn't bring in a lot of money.