Amazingly Hunter kept me on his back through the entire concert. He was incredibly strong and didn't seem to mind a bit. I had started out hanging on tightly, trying my best not to put all of the pressure on him, but after a while, I was singing the songs at the top of my lungs and waving my arms over my head, totally into everything and not even thinking about how this should be awkward. It felt natural instead. Like Hunter and I, even Dave, had all been friends for years and this was just another one of our fun nights out.

When the concert ended, and I breathlessly hopped down off of Hunter's back, the buzz of excitement was still swirling in the air around us.

Dave, who had managed to woo the girl sitting on the other side of him, pulled Hunter aside. "I'm going to need you to catch a cab." Dave told him, winking in the direction of the brunette girl who looked to be telling her group of friends bye too.

Hunter leaned around Dave to check out the girl too, and he smiled in approval. "Aight man." Hunter smiled at Dave and the exchanged a first bump.

"Have fun." I called to him as he walked away and he winked, clapping his hand on my shoulder like I was one of the guys.

I turned back to Hunter and caught him staring down at me with a strange expression on his face, his brows furrowed and a little crease in his forehead. He shook his head and just like that the look was gone and his confident smile took its place. "We better hurry before all the cabs are gone." He told me, turning to weed our way into the crowd of people filing out of the auditorium.

"Actually," I called out over the loud chatter surrounding us. "I drove."

"Really?" He called over his shoulder, then he turned to pull me by my shoulders to position me in front of him in the line of people instead of behind. "Did you have to walk far?"

"No." I tried to reply but a big guy came pounding into the line from one of the side aisles and slammed his shoulder into me, nearly missing my face. I gave the guy a look and looked back over at Hunter. "I got a spot just around the corner." I explained.

"Nice." He replied but I could tell he wasn't listening to me anymore. He was too busy glaring at the guy who knocked into me.

We walked a little further in silence until we finally made it into the lobby and the air didn't feel so compacted and hot. I didn't realize how uncomfortable I'd been feeling until I was in the open space and relief rushed over me. I started to turn around to tell Hunter goodbye, but the same guy from earlier decided to turn around too, his thick shoulder connecting with the back of my head this time.

Hunter's face flashed red and he grabbed the guy, who easily had fifty or more pounds on him, by the shirt sleeve and yanked him back. "That's it, buddy." He snapped and the man's face was shocked, but also pissed.

"What the fuck do you want?" The man spat through his crooked teeth.

Hunter got into the guy's face, showing no fear that the other man was a few inches taller than him too. "You've run into my friend twice now without apologizing." Hunter snapped, pointing his other hand over at me.

"Hunter, really its fin-."

"No," He snapped at me too. "It's not fine, this asshole needs to apologize."

The man laughed, belly shaking and ugly, and looked from me back to Hunter. "Maybe you should listen to your girl before you mess up and I have to make a fool out of you in front of her."

I reached for Hunter's arm, trying to pull him away from the man but he wouldn't budge, the muscle in his arm rippling.

"Apologize, now." He sneered, inching closer to his face.

"Maybe your bitch shouldn't have been in my way." The man smiled.

I backed up a couple of steps, feeling what was coming.

Hunter's face twisted with anger and he swiftly brought back one hand, keeping the other tangled in the neck of the guy's shirt, and he brought his fist forward with so much strength that with one shot, Hunter floored the man, blood splattering out from his nose.

"You need to learn some respect." Hunter yelled at the blubbering man on the floor then he looked up in time to see two security guards rushing towards him. "Run!" He called to me and I turned to hightail it out of the double doors, Hunter's hand catching mine as we ran.

It was pouring rain, and I was practically soaked to the bone the second we made it outside. We stalled for a second when there were no available cabs on the curb, then we looked behind us to see the security guards pushing out the doors.

"This way!" I yelled, pulling on Hunter's hand to run around the corner. We weaved in and out of crowds, everyone turning to watch us go, running like fools in the rain, and laughing like children. I saw my car in the distance and I let go of Hunter's hand to get my keys out of my purse and I beeped the doors to unlock them. "Get in!" I laughed loudly as I flung open my door and jammed the key in the ignition. The security guards were right on us, but Hunter got the car door closed and locked it before they could yank it back open. Then he smiled and waved at them as we pulled away from the curb and I pulled an illegal U-turn to make sure they wouldn't be able to get my tag number.

My adrenaline was pumping through me, making me feel like a live wire as I sped out of downtown and got onto the interstate. "Damn." Hunter shook his head, smiling and breathing heavily still.

"I can't believe we just did that." I laughed.

Hunter was nodding in the passenger seat. "I can't believe you just did that." He laughed again. "Wouldn't have taken you for the getaway driver type."

"Well, I guess you don't know me too well." I pointed out, turning to smile at him and regretting the eye contact a little bit afterward because of how intimate it felt. "I have to do things like that for my friends all the time."

"Does that make me a friend then?" He asked suddenly.

I tried not to smile because I could feel his eyes burning into the side of my face as I carefully used my blinker to get over into the next lane. "I guess so." I told him, liking the sound of it.

"Thanks for rescuing me." He said sounding genuine.

I glanced over at him for a second. "Thanks for sticking up for me first."

"That's what friends do, right?" He laughed, then his phone chirped and he pulled it out of his pocket, opening his texts and smiling as he read it. I tried to be careful about watching the road, but I was also really interested in who he was talking to right now. He typed out a quick response and whoever was on the other end replied just as quickly. It was quiet in the car for a while, nothing but the sounds of Hunter's message alerts and his fingers typing on the keyboard.

I reached out to turn on the radio and smiled when an Ed Sheeran song was on the radio. I quietly sang along, losing myself in the lyrics and drowning out the sound of Hunter's busy phone.

"Is that a secret?" He asked softly and I almost jumped I'd been so relaxed and his voice echoed into my solemn space.

"Is what a secret?" I asked confused, and I reached to turn down the radio.

Hunter shot out his hand and covered the volume dial before I could get to it. "Don't." He said simply. "I like this song, and you have a beautiful voice."

I felt my face go hot and I was glad it was dark in the car so hopefully he wouldn't be able to see the effect his compliment had on me. "I only ever sing in the car or the shower." I shrugged.

"So then it is a secret." He smiled smugly. "One down, countless more to go."

I rolled my eyes. "Is this like your thing?" I asked. "Finding out people's secrets?"

He shrugged. "Not always, but I really like people, and I like to get to know everyone for who they really are, not so much just the person they put on display, you know?" He said and I was a little more surprised by his answer than I should have been. Of course Hunter is just a kind person who genuinely enjoys people, but something in his voice also made him sound wiser than I'd noticed at first. "Most people put up a wall, or a front that they show the world, while on the underneath there is this entirely different person that no one else knows about." He sighed. "I like to get to know the real person, so I guess you could say it's sort of my thing." He laughed using my phrase.

"Does that mean you think I have walls up?" I asked curiously.

"I think your walls might just be as thick as mine." He said lowly and for s split second a hint of insecurity was evident in his voice. I didn't like hearing it from him, he was too outgoing and awesome to be just as messed up as me. I wanted to see him smiling again so I smiled at him too, trying to rid the car of the seriousness that had ensued.

"Were you a psychology major or something?" I joked and he smiled back.

"No," he laughed. "I never went to school." He explained. "I enlisted right after high school graduation and I spent the next summer in boot camp in Georgia." He told me. "But I'd like to think if I'd gone to school I might have studied it. It is something I've always been interested in but then at the same time I almost don't want to know how fucked up I am either."

"I totally know what you mean." I nodded truthfully.

"What about you?" He asked. "You in school?"

I shook my head. "No," I sighed. "I was, but I've kind of dropped out."

"Dropped out?" He asked raising his eyebrows. "How old are you?"

I rolled my eyes at him and took his exit. "Almost twenty." I sighed. "I got into Texas A&M early and I thought I was going to be this amazing nursing student." I tried to explain. "It was the only plan I'd ever had and then I got into the classes and I realized I actually kind of hated everything that was involved in nursing. I couldn't pass the classes and I wasn't feeling inspired so I told everyone I was taking a semester off to gain my focus back, but that was two semesters ago."

"Oh." He nodded.

"Actually, don't tell anyone about that, ok?" I asked shaking my head at myself for actually telling him. "Everyone thinks I'm back in classes."

"Where do you go when everyone thinks you're in school?" He asked.

I bit my lip. Regretting that I'd been so honest. "I go to the bookstore." I admitted. "They know me by name there."

He laughed a little, not at me, but more like he understood. "Do you think you'll ever go back to school?"

I shrugged. "I want to, I just don't know."

"You should." He said firmly. "You're too young to have no idea what you're going to do with your life."

"You sound like my dad." I narrowed my eyes at him.

"I don't mean to, but you want to be able to support yourself, and to do that, you need an education." He smiled. "Do you have a job?"

I shook my head, feeling small. "My parents still pay for my half of my apartment and they give me money for anything else I need because they think I'm still in University." I told him, deciding there was no point in lying now. "What about you?" I demanded. "You turned down a full scholarship to college and a chance to play college football. Why did you decide to enlist instead of going to school that you think is so important?"

He narrowed his eyes. "See, you have me at a disadvantage." He pointed out. "You know more about me than I do about you."

"That's called evading the question, Mr." I smirked.

"Fine." He huffed. "I had some family reasons why I didn't want to hang around too long at home, and I felt pressured to go to school, so, if I'm being honest, I enlisted as a screw you to my family, but now I do love what I do." He said proudly. "I've gotten to see the world, and how other people live. I have a group of friends that I know have my back just as much as I have theirs's, and I've got a sense of pride from protecting my country. I may have joined being a stupid kid and not realizing what I was doing, but it has turned me into a man I am proud of."

"Wow." I muttered as I pulled into the entrance of his apartment complex. "You're only a few years older than me, but you sound so much more...I don't even know how to put it."

"You just need to figure out what's going to make you happy, then you need to go for it." He told me. "Life's too short to sit around overthinking every aspect of it. Sometimes you've just got to suck it up and take the plunge." He laughed. "You might feel lost right now, but you'll find your way eventually, you've just got to be open to it."

I smiled to myself. A guy I've known for one whole day can see through me and tell me exactly what I need to hear more than my friends or family that have known me forever. It was like he was looking right through the walls I have up. Like he didn't even notice that they were really there.

"I'll keep that in mind." I told him as I parked in front of his building, unsure what else I should say to him.

"You wanna come in?" He asked, turning to look at me with the full power of his stare when I turned off the car.

"I don't know about that." I shook my head, my heartbeat racing again.

Hunter rolled his eyes at me reached over to muss my wet hair, making it fall into my face. "Come on," He laughed, turning to open the car door. "You're soaking wet. I'll give you some dry clothes."

I looked down at myself and realized my skin was covered in chill bumps and my shirt was clinging to my body. I didn't even remember that I'd been rained on once I got lost in talking to him. He was like a time warp. Every time I've been around him I lose track of everything but him and me. Thinking something like that should have made me decide to keep my butt in the car and drive home before I made things even more complicated, but I found myself tucking my keys into my purse and stepping out into the light drizzle and following him to his door instead.

**(A/N)** Hey, guys! So we are five chapters and 14,000 words in! Only 60,000 more to go! So what do you guys think so far?? How do you like the characters we've met so far? What do you expect to happen next? I'd love to hear from you guys! Don't forget to vote if you like this story, and make sure you share it with your friends! Y'all's support means the world to me!