I groaned, capping the nail polish and setting it aside, satisfied with my pretty toes. “I have no idea what you’re both talking about.”
“Bullshit!” Layla said. “Now put us out of our misery and tell us what happened.”
It was foolish of me to assume I could actually keep this tidbit a secret from my best friends, who were basically like my sisters. Though I was still trying to make sense of what happened last night…they weren’t completely wrong.
Hunter’s kiss deeply affected me.
My whole world tilted on its axis.
I’d kissed a lot of guys in my life, but no one had ever kissed me like him.
Passionately, with his hand wrapped around my throat possessively. Eagerly, like one kiss wasn’t enough and he needed so much more. And hungrily, as though devouring my lips was the only thing that could satiate him.
Just remembering that hot revenge make-out session and the way Hunter called megood girlandsweetheartheated my blood. No doubt, I had heart eyes and drool at the corner of my mouth too.
Knowing Anna and Layla wouldn’t rest until I told them everything, I relayed my story, beginning with seeing Tom and Morgan on the dance floor. By the time I finished explaining how Hunter and I wound up putting on a show for Tom, their jaws were slack, mouths hanging open.
Seconds later, I was subjected to more surprised squeals.
“I can’t believe he said ‘Kiss me.’” Layla chuckled. “Clearly, he saw his shot and took it!”
“One hundred percent,” Anna agreed, grinning.
Confused, I said, “What are you talking about?”
Anna twirled a lock of her waist-length blond hair around her finger. “I mean, I’ve noticed he stares at you whenever we’re in the same room. It’s like he can’t help himself.”
“I’ve noticed that, too,” Layla added.
Excuse me, what? Why am I only learning this now?
“And none of you thought to, I don’t know, maybe tell me that?” I deadpanned.
“Honestly, at first I thought he had a staring problem.” Layla winced. “Then I figured he found you so pretty that he simply couldn’t look away. But after hearing what you just told us, I’m convinced he’s been harbouring a crush on you the entire time.”
“I concur,” Anna said. “Why else would he jump at the first opportunity to kiss you, Gabby?”
I stayed mum, digesting this new piece of information and seeing our exchange from last night in a different light. Maybe Anna and Layla were right. Or maybe they were delusional, including myself, for even entertaining this possibility. Nonetheless, it didn’t matter.
It was just one kiss, one night, one encounter.
Nothing would come of it.
I was a fling or one-night stand kind of girl. Hunter wasn’t about to be another notch in my belt. Not only because it may ruin the dynamics of our friend group when things inevitably ended, but I had an inkling he was a long-term kind of guy.
The complete opposite of me.
Even though at one point, I’d been exactly like that. A long-term kind of girl. Someone who hoped to find her perfect match and settle down, with the whole white picket fence and two point five babies dream.
But perfection was a myth and most men frankly sucked.
“I don’t think he has a crush on me,” I concluded, shaking my head. “He barely knows me. And hypothetically speaking, if he does, why wait until now to approach me? The way I see it, yesterday was a one-off. We were just two people in the right place at the right time.”
“Some people are shier by nature.” Anna smoothed her hands down her baby pink, high-waisted miniskirt. “Maybe Hunter just didn’t know how to talk to you before, and last night was the first time he found the courage to actually do so?”
When I pondered over our moment from the terrace, Hunter didn’t appear shy. Only playful. But he did mention that he was a homebody. Perhaps he was more introverted than I suspected and that halted him from previously approaching me.
Still, I was choosing to treat the kiss between us as a successful business transaction. Nothing more, nothing less. But the next time I saw Hunter at a party, I’d go out of my way to hang out with him for the sole reason that I didn’t like knowing he hid in the corner. Big crowds made him anxious and that, for some inexplicable reason, tugged at my heartstrings.
