Hunter's POV
"Someone's happy."
I look up and see half the team staring at me. I look around confused, seeing no one behind me.
"Who? Me?" I point to myself.
"No the cubby behind you Hunter." Carter jokes. "Yes you."
"Oh."
"So...who's the special lady?" Jason asks.
"Woah...what are you talking about?" I lean forward and lace up my skates.
"Oh c'mon Hunter it's not everyday you walk in with a grin like that." Carter mentions.
"What-"
"So we'll ask you again," They all sit around me, "Who's the special girl?"
"And do we know her?" Cal adds.
I pause and look at their faces, "Why are guys so sure it's because of a girl? I mean...can't I just be happy one day?" I defend.
"Well you can..." Briggs starts.
"We just don't believe that." Carter finishes.
I sit up and look at them in sarcastic shock, "Wow."
"Just tell us who she is and we'll leave you alone." Jason pushes.
I roll my eyes, "Fine. If I tell you she's just a friend will you leave me alone."
"Maybe." they say.
"I'm serious."
"Yes, we'll leave you alone." Cal smiles.
"For now." Carter mumbles.
Oh my god.
"Then she's just a friend. Alright?" I stood up and adjusted my padding.
"I knew it was Dani." Carter blurts out.
I stop and turn around at the mention of her name. "What?"
"Yeah what?" Cal adds.
The rest of them just laugh. "Oh c'mon Hunter. I see the way you look at her." Carter explains.
"We all do." Marty pitches in.
"Nope I'm still confused." Cal points out and turns to me, "You like Dani?"
I stay silent. Looking around at their curious faces I couldn't form words. I mean what was I supposed to say?
That I think about her for one moment and I can't realize how hard I'm smiling. That someone can point it out and I wouldn't even know.
And that the last time I slept well was when she happened to be next to me.
I mean, to myself I could admit that I liked her more than a friend, but to the others...it seemed weird. Almost too personal.
I was about to make up an answer when an all too familiar voice filled the room. "We're talking about Dani?"
I look over and roll my eyes, "What's it to you?"
Great. Just the torture I needed this early in the morning.
"Hey, I just want to know what you're talking about," he crossed his arms.
I look back at everyone and they all have the same annoyed expression.
"Why do you even care Ryan?" Cal asks, sounding a little mad.
"Yeah it's not like she likes you." I add.
"You sure about that?" he challenges.
"Very." I scrunch up my face in frustration, "You literally called her a slut."
Well I did too, but they don't know that. And I didn't actually mean it. I was too-shut up you still said it.
"You what?" Carter blurts out.
"Ryan that's fucked up." Jason said.
"What is wrong with you?" Marty stands up.
Ryan walks up to me with a smirk on his face, "What makes you so sure I can't swoon her back to me?"
Something about his words hit a nerve with me. "I swear to god Ryan if you fucking touch her I-"
"You'll what? It's not like you're her boyfriend?" he counters.
"I don't need to be her boyfriend to know she wants nothing to do with you." I get in his face and he just laughs.
"We'll see how much she doesn't want me." he smiles, "See you on the ice Hunter." he says before walking out of the locker room.
I watch him go and roll my eyes. He can't be serious can he? About swooning her over again?
"Can someone please remind me why such a douche happens to be our captain?" Jason groans.
"Well that douche's father happens to fund part of our team." Briggs rolls his eyes.
"Yeah and as a perk, Ryan gets to be our captain." Carter mentions.
"Much to our disapproval." Cal complains.
Selly nods at us and walks towards the door. "Well at least we only have the rest of this season until he's gone." he shrugs.
"Easy for you to say. I've had to deal with his shit for three years." Cal shakes his head and stands up.
"Same with me." Carter adds.
"Alright let's just go play. It's not like we can do anything about it." I sigh.
"But maybe we could." Briggs says.
This gets my attention. "What do you mean?"
"Well if we have such a problem with him, maybe the others do too. It wouldn't take much for us to just re-elect another captain if we tried." he explained.
"That's true but what about the funding?" Carter asks.
"I mean if it's a team vote what can his daddy do for him?" he jokes.
"He's got a point."
Yeah. He does have a point. And a very good one at that.
~~~~~
"Did you mean what you said back there?" Cal asks catching up to me.
I look up from my phone as we walk, "When?" I asked.
"Before practice. When you swore if Ryan touched Dani."
"Oh that. Yeah..." I trailed off not knowing how to explain my answer.
He looked at me confused and I figured I should probably just tell him why. But vaguely. Very vaguely.
"Alright so Dani and I used to be friends back in highschool. Like how you and her are close now." I start, "But things began changing when I started to like her as more than a friend. I never told her that but when I found out I was moving I didn't know what to do."
"Is this where it ends on bad terms?" he asked.
I nodded, "Yeah. Before I left I said some not so nice things about her and fucked everything up. We didn't speak for 6 years and when I showed up here, obviously she didn't take it very well. That's why she never showed up at the apartment,"
"I was wondering why she wasn't around." he shakes his head. "So it was because of you?"
"Yeah and I'm sorry. But recently we've decided to try being friends again so what Ryan said back there didn't sit right with me." I explained.
"He's really an idiot. At least you care, he only thinks about himself." Cal rolls his eyes and gets in the car.
I nod in agreement and get in the driver's seat. Starting the car I backed out of the parking spot, "So now might be a bad time to tell you she's stopping by later."
I pressed my foot on the brake and harshly stopped the car, "What?" I say in disbelief. "And you waited until now?"
"I just didn't think the whole story would be so sappy." he shrugged. "My bad."
I sigh and shake my head, "What for? Just to hang out or..."
"Well her text said she just needed to pick some things up. I don't know."
"Oh ok. You had me worried for a second." I laughed.
"What? Scared you needed to look nice, fix the hair, put on some cologne?" He lists off and punches me on the shoulder.
"Shut up." I started driving back to the apartment. We had been on the road for a few minutes when my phone rang.
I checked to see who was calling but it was just a random number. I declined the call and continued driving.
Everything was going fine when my phone rang again. I tapped the screen and it was another random number. Again, I ignored it and kept driving.
Not even a few seconds after I declined the call, my phone rang again. "Oh my fucking god." I groaned, accepting the call. "Hello." I said putting them on speaker.
"Why did you decline my calls?!" they sounded angry.
"I'm sorry, who is this?" I asked.
"Oh c'mon Hunter. Don't act like you forgot me."
Not knowing what to say, I stayed silent for a moment. "Sorry I don't know who this is."
"Hun It's me, Kelsey."
Kelsey?
"Well, Kelsey...I'm sorry I don't know-"
"Oh save it Hunter. You thought you could get away from me."
Cal gave me a confused look but I was just as weirded out as he was.
"Umm, I'm sorry what?" I asked.
"Kelsey Harter ring a bell?"
What? Kelsey Harter-oh no.
"Who is that?" Cal whispers.
I roll my eyes, "What do you want Kels?" I asked, now annoyed, "And how did you get this number?"
"Don't worry about that Hun. I'm just telling you I'll be visiting you real soon. Happy holidays!" she said overjoyed before hanging up.
What the fuck.
"Who the hell was that?" Cal asks again.
"It's a girl I got with once last year. She's absolutely insane. Like psychotic."
"How bad?"
"I thought she knew after I got with her that it was a one time thing but she became obsessed. Like watching me, calling me constantly, sending me letters and shit." I explained. "One day it just stopped so I thought she was over it, but I guess not." I pointed to my phone.
"Weird." he turned his head back to his phone.
"I know." I focused back on the road and rolled up to a light. "I'm just concerned by what she said about visiting me."
Like I need her in my life again.
"Looks like pretty boy has a stalker." Cal laughed.
I gave him a nervous laugh trying to play it off. "Yeah...stalker...."
This cannot be happening again.
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Hunter has a stalker....interesting. Wonder what drama she'll stir up.
Don't worry, more Hunter and Dani content coming soon!!
Thoughts???