"What are you doing here?" He asked and my vision blurred out in front of me. The last time I'd seen Seth was the day he was walking away from me in the most popular mall in town, holding hands with his new girlfriend that he had left me for in front of everyone.

He used to be a little thinner, but now he'd gained a little weight, it was spread out though, making him look more adult like, not the teenager I knew him as. His dark auburn hair that used to hang down into his dark green eyes, that always reminded me of the moss that grows up the bottom of tree trunks, was now cut short and styled to the side, leaving his eyes burning into mine.

"I-I..." I stuttered as he leaned in closer, taking away all of my personal space and making me unable to breathe.

"Are you drunk?" He asked loudly as the next song began to blast and the crowd went wild. "You sure have changed." He muttered, his eyes dropping and roaming over my body. "Who are you here with?"

"My friends." I managed to gasp out.

He nodded, the smell of his cologne wrapping me in nostalgia. It started out as good memories. The smell of it on the hoodie I used to wear to school, the smell of it filling the backseat of his car where we used to make out...but then I remembered the last time I'd been close enough to smell his cologne. The night the only thing I could smell was the deafening smell of his cologne as the weight of his body pushed me back on the bed and the smell surrounded me, suffocating me. My stomach turned and I tried to slide away from him, but he grabbed the top of my arm roughly and pulled me back, pinning me to the wall and putting his hands on the wall on either side of my head, looking like he was enjoying how uncomfortable he was making me.

"You've really changed." He said again, putting one of his hands on the side of my neck.

"Stop it." I spat, jerking away from his touch but he just grabbed me back. "You're drunk!"

He laughed as he grabbed my face and I pushed back against his chest. "Déjà vu." He whispered into my ear as I pushed and struggled. He was right. It was nearly the exact same thing I'd said to him when we were together last. "Come on, Tay." He said sickly, running one hand down my side. "Show me how much you've changed."

"Get off!" I screamed, but it was muffled by his hand.

Suddenly there was a low guttural snarl snapping into my ears and filling the small hallway as Seth's body was yanked away from mine. I gasped as I saw Hunter grab Seth by the front of his black sweater and slam him into the opposite wall before he got into his face as he held him in place with his forearm shoved into his neck. I could tell he was yelling something, and I saw the terror in Seth's eyes as they bulged slightly, but I couldn't hear them. All I could hear was a buzzing in my ears as the hallway felt like it was tilting hard to the left, but my stomach seemed to sweep to the right.

Hunter pushed away from the wall, letting Seth fall to the ground, holding his neck before he scrambled to his feet and ran back out into the chaos of the busy club.

"Are you ok?" Hunter asked, but my knees refused to hold me up anymore. Before I could hit the ground though Hunter's hands were under my arms, keeping me steady. "Hey, Kit, come on and look at me."

I wanted to, but everything was swirling around. "Gonna...be...sick." I choked out and the sound of my own voice was foreign to me. I felt my stomach begin to heave and Hunter pulled me quickly out of the hallway and into the men's bathroom that was at the end of the little hall just past the women's.

The bright florescent lights spotted my vision and I barely made it into the single stall before my stomach began lurching up everything I'd been drinking or had eaten that day. Over and over my back arched painfully as I threw up until all that was left was dry heaves, the whole time Hunter standing right behind me, one hand on my hip keeping me steady and the other hand holding back my hair.

As the vomiting stopped, Hunter pulled my hair back behind my shoulder, letting me continue to lean over the toilet, and he used his now free hand to rub slow circles on my back between my shoulder blades. The motion soothed me and I slowly straightened up, the mortification of what had just happened sinking in on me. I was prepared to just leave the bathroom and pretend nothing had happened, but Hunter turned me around slowly, then without looking at my face, he pulled me into him, wrapping his long arms securely around me and brushing his hand through my hair while the water works broke free from my eyes and I bawled my eyes out into his chest.

I don't know how long went by, and every now and then the bathroom door would open, but Hunter would just turn his head, muttering. "Get lost." Gruffly and I'd hear the person quick step it right back out.

"Jessica is probably looking for you." I whispered into his shirt, my finger absently running the rim of the button that was at my eye level.

He held me a little tighter, resting his head down on mine and he leaned back against the bathroom stall wall to readjust his weight. "I don't care about that right now." He said seriously, his voice free from strain or worry. "We can stay right here for as long as you want."

I knew he meant it, but now that I'd thought about our friends all outside that door somewhere, I couldn't stop. "I believe you," I told him. "but you should go."

"I'm not going anywhere without you."

"I just want to go home."

His hand stilled in my hair. "You don't want to be alone, do you?"

"Kind of." I admitted and I felt him nod over me.

"Ok, well let's get you cleaned up." He said and I leaned back from him only to find that my body still didn't want to be alone, even if my mind wanted the space. I nearly fell as I tried to step away from him but he kept a hold on me, leading me out of the stall and to the little white and black checkered counter and sink. I didn't dare look into the mirror, afraid of the train wreck I might see. "Here." Hunter muttered, grabbing my hips gently and lifting me up to sit me on the counter, then he grabbed some paper towels and wet them under the facet before turning back to me.

My breathing hitched as his deep indigo eyes looked at me and he reached out slowly to cup one side of my face before bringing the wet paper towel up and wiping my face in little circles. I tried to keep my breathing normal, but it was already still a little erratic from all of the crying I'd just done. I held on to the edge of the counter with a death grip, the skin over my knuckles looking strained by the pressure, but I let him do his work. He was careful about the way he touched me, limiting the pressure his skin put on mine and I was thankful for his thoughtfulness. When he turned away to wet another paper towel, the old one covered in my dark eye makeup, he sighed as he looked in the sink. "Do you want to talk about it?" He asked softly. "If you don't, I understand, but if you do...I'm a pretty good listener."

"I know you are." I nodded.

"Who was that guy?" He asked as he brought his hands back up to my face.

I kept my eyes trained down at his shirt, counting the buttons again. "My ex." I said after a moment.

"You dated that guy?" He asked, a little more surprise in his voice than I think he meant to let out.

I wanted to cry all over again as I thought about it. "We were just kids." I dismissed it. "Barely even high schoolers, but yeah. For two years."

"Two years that young is a long time." He replied thoughtfully. "Was he always...like that?"

I shook my head quicker than I'd meant to. "No." I whispered, a break evident in my voice even on such a small word. "He was nothing like that. He used to be...god, I was sure I was going to marry him and we'd get old together. I know how stupid it sounds, trust me, I do-."

"It doesn't sound stupid." He said quickly. "What happened?"

I had never really told anyone the truth before, and I wasn't positive I was ready to do it now, but the words just flew from my lips without any real consent from my head or my heart.

"We were perfect together, everyone used to say so. We were never apart, always the package deal couple, but then a few months before the end of our ninth grade year, he started to hang out with some older boys. They got him into drinking and...well, he started doing drugs." The little secret of his I'd always kept. "He started blowing me off to hang out with them to get high all the time and I threatened to leave him. He invited me over on the first night of that summer and said he wanted to make everything up to me, but when I got there, he had all of his new buddies with him. They were all waiting on me..." My voice was shaking and the volume was coming in and out, but Hunter pried my hands from the counter and held them in his, rubbing circles with his thumbs. "He...We'd never gone...We'd never slept together. When I got there he told me if I loved him and wanted to be with him, that I would. He said that in front of all of his friends, then he...he pushed me down on his bed and..."

"I'll kill him." Hunter's voice was full of rage, but he kept his glare trained down at the floor, sparing it from me.

"Nothing happened." I told him. "His friends were telling him to, but he stopped, and I ran out of there." I took a deep breath, reliving it hurting less than I'd thought it would with Hunter here to support me. "A few days later, I stupidly texted him, hoping that maybe he'd come to his senses after everything that had happened, and he agreed to meet me at the mall. I was too afraid to be somewhere private with him, but when he showed up, he came in holding this older girl's hand and he announced to everyone that I was a prude who didn't put out and then he and his new girlfriend walked off and left me there. That was the last time I saw him."

One fresh tear fought out from my eye and rolled slowly down my cheek until Hunter reached out and wiped it away, holding my face in his hands, and bringing his eyes back up to meet mine, zero judgment there. "I'm really sorry." He said softly.

"You didn't do it." I said quickly, trying to lock all of those feelings back into the little box where they belong in the back of my head untouched.

"I know." He whispered. "That doesn't mean I'm not sorry it happened to you."

I had to let my eyes wander back down to his shirt to keep from the intensity of his eyes.

"Why are you so nice to me?" I asked finally, then I jumped as the bathroom door swung open and Aaron walked in, shutting the door behind him.

"Here you two are." He said annoyed. "Your girl has had me looking every damn where for you." He rolled his eyes and then looked up to me before furrowing his eyebrows and looking back and forth between Hunter and me. "What the hell happened?" He asked, confirming to me that I must look a mess like I'd assumed.

"I just-."

"She had too-." Hunter and I both tried to talk at the same time, then he smiled, that one sided grin. "She got a little too heavy with the drinks tonight." He explained to Aaron.

"I just want to go home." I sighed, wiping my eyes and trying to slide down from the counter, Hunter and Aaron both reaching out to help me.

"Come on, I'll take you." Aaron said, holding out his hand. "You guys can take a cab, right?" He asked Hunter.

"It's cool, I can take her home in a cab and you can keep your car here." Hunter counter offered.

Aaron gave him a look, scrunching his face up and reminding me a little of Macy. "Shouldn't you stay here with you date?" He asked like he must be missing something.

"Yes, he should." I answered for him, letting Aaron slide an arm around my waist to steady me on my weak legs, then I turned my head to look at Hunter. "Honestly, I just want to go home and go to sleep." I told him truthfully. "You should both stay here and just let me take the cab."

"No." Hunter said firmly. "I'd rather you let someone take you there."

"Ok," Aaron said nodding. "then it's settled. I'll take her home and then I will probably just come back here. It's still early, if you don't mind." He said to me now.

"That's fine." I told him. "I just need to go home."

When I turned to look at Hunter I caught sight of my face in the mirror. I had no makeup left on and my eyes were red and swollen. "Jessica is going to be pissed that you messed up her masterpiece." I sighed, bringing a hand to my face.

"She can get over it." Aaron said quickly. "Besides, you're hot with or without all that makeup." He shrugged.

Hunter smiled at me, not his cocky grin, but a friendly kind smile that almost did more to twist my insides than the sideways smile. "Let me know you made it home." He said softly to me, then he looked at Aaron. "Sure you're good to drive?"

"I'm sure, man." He replied and started to go towards the door.

"Hey," Hunter called, stopping us. "What do you want me to tell Jessica?"

I sighed, closing my eyes tight for a moment, then I opened them. "The truth I guess." I told him. "I had a run in with Seth, and I wanted to go home. Tell her I want her to stay and have a good time, Macy too. I'm fine."

"Who the heck is Seth?" Aaron asked.

"I don't want to talk about it." I said softly, trying not to sound snippy with him.

He shrugged again then he replaced his arm around me and led me towards the door. When he reached out to pull the handle I think I surprised all of us by spinning around and putting my arms up around Hunter's neck, hugging him quickly before I pulled away again. "Thank you for everything." I told him, then I went back to meet Aaron, letting him help me maneuver through the dancing people and out of the club.

Once I was home alone in my Kiss t-shirt and cuddled up in my bed I pulled out my phone.

T: I'm home.

I sent the message separately to Jessica, Macy, Sarah (who I knew would be pissed that I bailed before she even got there), and Hunter.

Less than a minute went by before I got my first response.

Nice Ass: I'm glad. Drink plenty of water and try to get some rest.

I shook my head at the stupid name he'd put his number in my phone under.

T: Yes, mom ;)

Nice Ass: U want to hang out tomorrow if u r feeling up to it?

I let the message sit for a minute, trying to sort through my feelings.

Nice Ass: As friends, of course.

I bit my lip, staring blankly at the show that was playing on the TV without really paying it any attention. Am I even capable of being friends with a guy like him?

Nice Ass: Say yes or I will have to keep txting u

I laughed at his persistence, surprising myself that after everything tonight that I was actually able to laugh at all. That was what made me decide that maybe I do need a friend like him in my life.

T: Strictly as friends?

Nice Ass: Duh

T: ok