it's a morning surprise! [hunter]

[ava rae higgins]

There was nothing Ava hated more than waking up early for school. It made no sense to her that high school started earlier than elementary school or even middle school. Little kids usually woke up really early, the older a person usually means that they sleep in later. Maybe she should protest, get a bunch of people to sign a petition. That would mean getting out of school later, though. It was just a lose-lose situation.

Ava hated that school started so early even more when she woke up late. Today was one of those days. Hitting the snooze button just sounded so much better than getting out of bed to curl her hair and pick out an awesome outfit. Since she was attempting to make a new image of herself, she had been dressing up a bit more for school. It was annoying, but it did seem to be paying off a little bit. Today though, she was back to the way she looked last year. Her hair was thrown up in a ponytail, curls from the day before kept falling out and she was constantly having to sweep them back away from her face. The outfit she threw on was pretty simple, too. Just a pair of skinny jeans and an old band tee shirt. Surprisingly, she didn't care too much about the way she looked. She was too tired to care.

Wait. Scratch that. As Ava took in her surroundings, she realized that she should be caring about the way she looked. Unless her eyes were playing tricks on her, Hunter Bing was at school. The same Hunter Bing who was a total 'ladies man' and who Ava had turned down just before he moved away. She had liked him a lot, despite his bad reputation. And she could flirt with him as if she got paid for it. But when boys tried to get serious, she got really shy and scared. When he moved away, Ava thought she would never have to worry about her little crush on him again. But he was here now, he looked just as good as ever, and she looked like crap. Awesome. She loved her life.

To make matters worse, the only way to get to her locker was to pass him. If there was one thing she really cared about, it was her grades. Without going to her locker she wouldn't have her book for her first class. Without her book for her first class, she would get marked down some points in the class. She was passing Hunter in five... four... three... two... and one. Just as she passed, she pulled her folder up to block her face. Because for some reason, she thought that a folder in front of her face would be less obvious. Oh man. Why did she have to hit the snooze button?

[hunter amos bing]

Hunter woke up that morning with mixed feelings. He was excited to be getting back to school. Okay, I know that sounds weird. A teenager who wants to go to school? But, Hunter wasn’t just some regular teenager. He had lived in Arkansas with other family for the past three years and this was his first day back. He was excited to see his old buddies again and find out what hall they’d been up to. He hadn’t been able to get the all-famous Facebook until recently, so he hadn’t really been able to keep in touch with anyone. Plus, he’d been too angry to care when his parents had first shipped him off, and he’d felt it was too late by the time he did care. So, here he was, ready to catch up with his old friends.

But, Hunter was also really nervous. Before he’d left, he’d been kind of a ladies’ man. Okay, that’s an understatement. He’d been a total flirt; a new girlfriend practically every week or every month. He’d cheated on girls, he’d flirted with anything that moved and was a girl. He lived to be a player; playing the field day and night; 24/7. He was pretty nervous about what might happen now that he’d returned. Would any of the girls give him a second chance? Would he get a diet coke thrown on him every day at lunch by a different girl? He wasn’t really sure he wanted to think about it.

He got ready for the day, trying to push the bad out of his mind, and pull in the good. He headed downstairs, clad in a pair of dark wash jeans, his white v-neck tee shirt and a pair of red high-top Chuck Taylor’s. He kissed his mom on the cheek and waved to his dad as he headed out the door, grabbing a large blueberry muffin before he stepped outside, closing the door behind him. He hopped into his truck and drove it to school. As soon as he pulled up, he could already see people looking. Or, at least, it felt like everyone was watching him. He knew it wasn’t true, but that’s just what he was feeling.

As he made his way to the front doors, Hunter got a mixture of looks. Some people didn’t seem to even notice him. Others took long, deliberate stares. Maybe they were trying to see if it was someone they used to know? Maybe they were planning an act of revenge? Hunter continued to head inside, anyway. He passed by a couple of old friends and stopped to say hi. They recognized him, but were surprised to see him. Hunter continued to his locker, passing by a girl he used to date. She didn’t seem to notice him, though, as she flirted with some guy Hunter didn’t recognize. Man, it felt weird to be back.

Hunter was putting his stuff up and starting to get out his things for his first class, when someone passed him. He wouldn’t have noticed her except that something had moved quickly, and he looked to see a folder being held deliberately in front of someone’s head. Hunter chuckled to himself and finished up getting his things out before turning his attention back to the girl. He followed her with his eyes for a moment before closing his locker and heading after her. He tapped her shoulder. “Um, excuse me? Could you help me out?”

[ava rae higgins]

The minute she lifted her arm to block her face with the folder, Ava regretted it. But taking it down now would be too obvious, if being any more obvious was even possible in this situation. He probably wouldn't have even noticed her if she hadn't gone with the folder plan. Maybe he still hadn't noticed though, it had been at least thirty seconds and she hadn't heard her name called or anything like that. Did her plan work? Just as she started to feel relief, there was a tap on her shoulder. Crap.

Ava could just keep on walking. Sure it would be rude, but he couldn't tell who she was by the back of her head. If he knew, he probably would have said her name and not acted so politely. So she could just keep on walking and he would never know. Then tomorrow morning, she just had to wake up on time. She could get dressed up then, wear a nice shirt and maybe even a skirt. Tomorrow morning at school she could threaten herself until she finally worked up the courage to go up and talk to him.

Or she could just threaten herself now. It really wouldn't be that bad. Besides, she had read before that boys didn't even notice the way a girl really dressed. Girls dressed up for other girls, really. But maybe that magazine she'd read it in had lied and turning around right now would be a total disaster. Ava couldn't even understand why she cared so much. Hunter had been gone for awhile. The crush she had had on him should have worn off by now, right? And if he was still anything like he was back then, he probably had a few girlfriends right now. Ava wouldn't matter. Maybe if people saw her talking to him, it would even help out the new image she was going for.

All these thoughts jumbled through Ava's mind as she decided what to do. The minute he had touched her shoulder she had stopped walking. Now that her mind was made up, she took a deep breath and turned around. As she turned, the folder fell back in her arm, where she was loosely holding her books against her chest. "Uh, hey there." She gave him a soft smile and then quickly wiped it off her face. New image. Ava had to act like this wasn't affecting her at all. Like the fact that she'd liked him so much before he left but had turned him down didn't even matter. Because it didn't matter, right?

This act didn't going on long though, because then she thought about how weird this probably was for him. Probably even weirder for him than it was for her. These halls had been home to her for three years now and she was to the point where she was actually kind of comfortable. New, edgy Ava could take a break for just this one situation. It was time for shy, sweetheart Ava to make a quick reappearance. She wasn't that shy around Hunter though, not really. "Yeah, of course I can help you," she said, giving a small nod of her head. Her smile reappeared. "This is surprising. Wow. How have you been? Oh, that folder weird thing I just did. Yeah, there was a fly and I had to knock it away..." Flies weren't out in March but whatever, hopefully he would just go with it. It would make things much less awkward for her.

[hunter amos bing]

Hunter put on the sweetest and most innocent face he could muster up as he waited for the girl to turn around. He wasn’t even sure if the girl had been holding up the folder to block her face. Then again, it seemed kind of obvious. But, as far as Hunter knew, it might not have been for him. She could have been trying to avoid someone else; someone else who might not have noticed a bunch of blonde hair behind not a face, but a folder. Oh, well, Hunter thought, too late to go back now.

Hunter waited for the girl to turn around; if she turned around at all. Hunter could tell who it was; the folder had done it’s job by keeping the girl’s face hidden from him, and now she had her back to him and so he still didn’t know who it was. He tried to think of all the blond headed girls he knew here in Serenade before he left. But with the way today’s girls were, it could truly be anybody. Any of the brunettes, red heads, or raven haired beauties could have easily transformed into blonde bombshells overnight, or in Hunter’s case the past three years, for just 14.99 and a trip to the local Target.

Hunter awkwardly looked around at the people wandering down the hall, standing at lockers, headed into classrooms. He saw familiar faces and faces he didn’t recognize. He saw people talking, whispering, laughing, staring; he saw plenty of people, but none of them seemed to be paying any attention to him. At least, he didn’t think they were; he hoped they weren’t. Hunter looked at the girl in front of him again, trying to figure out who it might be. Maybe it was that one girl he used to flirt with in English back in seventh? Or maybe that perky honors class girl who was in seventh when he was in eighth. Maybe it was someone new. Hunter looked at what she was wearing, trying to get a clue. There wasn’t any landmarks, though; nothing to really make someone stand out. Hunter just decided to give up trying to guess.

Hunter‘s jaw dropped just a little when the girl turned around. It was Ava Higgins. She was girl in his grade that he used to flirt with. She was quite the looker back in junior high, and now was no different. She was still just as gorgeous. He could tell it was her; she still had the same magnetic smile. Hunter had flirted with Ava constantly, as he did with any other girl. But Ava was different in one way from almost any other girl; when he’d asked her out, she’d declined; just flat out declined. He’d felt dumbstruck at the time. After all, no one had rejected him before. Almost any other girl he asked out seemed to say yes. Except of course, you know, his babysitters he’d tried to hit on, but they didn’t count.

Seeing her now, Hunter was a little dumbstruck again, but he wanted to prove himself. He needed to prove himself. He always had such fun when he flirted with her, and he wanted to bring that back again. Ava was talking and he couldn’t help but bring out his pearly whites and chuckle at what she was saying. “Yeah, okay, whatever you say, Ave,” Hunter said, deliberately leaving off the “a” at the end of her name. “I’m doing good, thanks for asking. What about you? What have you been up to these past three years, huh?” Hunter smiled at her mischievously. “Breaking any more hearts, Ave?”

[ava rae higgins]

Ava bit her lip to hide her smile as she watched Hunter's mouth drop. Well, at least she knew the folder had worked. It seemed like he had had no idea who she had been until she had just turned around. Please don't be awkward. Please don't be awkward. Please don't be awkward. The same three words continued to repeat through her head. She was waiting patiently for him to say something. Anything! Yeah, she was probably making a bigger deal out of this then she needed to. But she couldn't get her mind to accept that fact right now.

Three years ago, Ava used to love the attention she got from Hunter. It was true that he basically flirted with anything that had boobs, but hey, she felt special whenever he talked to her. Ava was really comfortable around him too, she was more awkward back then. Whenever Hunter teased her though, she immediately thought of something to say back to him. She was always confident in flirting back to him, too. Always felt so comfortable around him... until he asked her out.

Ever since that, talking with boys had always been a pattern with her. She could flirt with them for hours but the second they tried to get close to her, she backed away quickly. Then she'd meet another boy and the cycle would continue. None of them had felt as special as with Hunter though, but she had blocked him out of her mind until now. The little tingles came back the second she saw his face. But she couldn't like him again. Nope, she was getting these tingles for another reason. Right?

Hunter's old reputation couldn't be gone. Everybody knew about his ways back then, even new students heard about him. Hanging out with Hunter would help Ava win the reputation she was going for. Flirting with him for old times sake would probably help her out a little bit too. One of these days she had to have a relationship and a first kiss! It was getting to be a bit pathetic. Talking to him might help out with the confidence thing, it had worked before.

"That really is what happened, Hunt," Ava said, leaving off the last syllable in his name like he had for her. It hadn't been what happened, but he didn't need to know that. She placed her free hand on her hip at the next comment. Yeah, she was really bad at giving attitude but did it anyways. "Oh shut up. I didn't break your heart." Crap. She needed to think of a something to defend herself, quick! Oh wait. She knew just what to say. "You broke mine. Weren't you flirting with... what was it ten? Yeah, ten other girls at the time, Hunt?" Honestly, she doubted that was even an over exaggeration. He probably had been. "You left anyways after that. A whole sea of girls for you, doubt you even thought about me."

[hunter amos bing]

Hunter had always seemed to find Ava just plain cute and adorable. She had that sweet, flirty, girly, innocent baby girl image going for her, and Adam had found that so attractive. Part of him had just thought it was cute and adorable and something for him to like and flirt with and be attracted to. But part of it was, and he was ashamed to admit it; but part of his attraction to Ava was that he was the guy, who dated all the ladies and flirted with all the girls, and Ava wasn’t just some random hookup, she was like fresh meat on a platter, and who could resist that? However, there were always other things, too. Like the fact that Ava was some delicate flower, like an orchid. At the time, he had probably figured he could get around that and still be able to hook up with other girls, but it would be like a mini game to him; a little challenge and Hunter wasn’t one to back down from any challenge. Of course, that had all gone downhill when Ava had said “No” to his request of courtship (or, in Hunter’s mind, either a one night stand type of relationship or a I’m about to play you relationship).

Hunter had loved flirting with Ava. Plenty of girls had flirted with him (many times, he was of course the instigator of the flirtation) but Ava was different. Even before she rejected him she was different. But, now that Hunter thought about it, maybe that was why she was different. Most girls would have accepted to go out with him; many even would have jumped head first into a pool with sharks for the chance, but Ava had probably only been flirting for the fun of it. In his mind, she had probably had it all figured out from the beginning. She had probably never had any intention of taking it beyond flirting. But what did Hunter know, right?

Of course, Ava’s rejection had taken at least some hold on Hunter. Sure, most people wouldn’t have known that afterwards because he hadn’t told anyone he was going to ask her out, so there wasn’t anyone to answer to and he ended up at a party that same night, and was seen making out with three different girls that night at the party. Yep, that’s just how he used to handle things like that. Don’t show regret, don’t show remorse, don’t rewind, instead, do a silent rebound.

But now Hunter was trying to change. He’d really felt a change when he’d been in Arkansas. He’d been forced to work if he wanted anything. Sure, he’d been given a bed to sleep in and room of his own, and three meals a day were never refused. His aunt had always made sure he was kept clean and healthy, and never went tired or hungry. But if Hunter wanted to decorate his room, he wasn’t given a couple of hundred dollars to do with whatever he wanted. No, his uncle had told him to get a job. He couldn’t go to activities unless his aunt or uncle were free. He had no longer been on Hunter’s time, but on his uncle and aunt’s time instead. It was different, but just what the doctor had ordered for him. Now, he just had to prove to everyone at Serenade that he was really different.

Back before Hunter had left, Ava had been almost like “America’s Sweetheart” just Serenade style, instead. Hunter had decided he wasn’t going to date anyone for a while, but surely just hanging out with a sweet girl like Ava couldn’t hurt, could it? And everyone would know that Ava wouldn’t just simply hang out with him if he was still in hid old bad boy ways, right? Well, it was worth a shot, so long as it was just hanging out, wasn’t it?

“Oh, I broke yours? Really now, Ava is that what happened? I’m the one who asked you out, and you flat out rejected me!” Hunter was smiling with a gleam in his eye the whole time. “And, chances were, I was flirting with way more than that. Flirting is just flirting, there’s no harm in it,” Hunter stated matter-of-factly. Hunter slipped on another mischievous smile and looked at Ava, “ ‘Course I didn’t think about you, Ava; not for one single second.” Hunter laughed and took two slow steps backwards, waiting for a response.

[ava rae higgins]

Well jeez. Ava had thought that she was being so clever with her comebacks. She should have expected that he would say something back right away though, that's the way that it always went. He was always three steps ahead and she really needed to catch up! "Of course I rejected you, Hunter. You were just really fun to be around. It was stupid that you asked me out, actually." The smile on her face practically matched his, it was full of mischief. "I wasn't dumb. I knew all about you. Date a girl for about a day and then cheat on her? No thanks. I've had much better since you." A total lie. But once again, he didn't need to know that. Little lies couldn't kill you, right? She sure hoped not!

Hearing that the number of girls he had been flirting with was really a blow to Ava. She bit her lip hard again, so that she wouldn't make any sound. Showing that she was weaker than him was not okay. That was something she had learned with years of practice. If you wanted to stay on top you always had to look like you had it under control. Rule number one in her book. But she had always felt like she had meant a little bit more to him than that. It was dumb of her though, she just now realized that. He probably treated every single girl that way. How dumb was she? God. Today sucked. She wished that she could go back to bed and start over.

It didn't help that the little grin on his face was so cute. His three years in Arkansas or Tennessee or wherever he had been sure had done some good to him. Of course she had been really attracted to him before, but he was more grown up now. A lot more grown up. "And that's why you were always such an ass hole," she hoped that surprised him, she never swore before. It was something she recently picked up. Ava doubted he even noticed, though. "Flirting is not just flirting. Not when you're trying to take it to the next level. And don't think I didn't hear about the night after you asked me out, either! So no, Hunter, I did not break your heart." Luckily, she was good at not making her voice louder. She kept on acting like this was a little play fight, like it really hadn't hurt her when her friend called her the next day to let her know what had happened.

Once again, she would have felt so much better about this if she was a bit more dressed up. It was dumb, yeah. But looking good was something that mattered to her a lot more lately. Maybe it would have made her feel a little bit better when he admitted that he really hadn't thought about her. Jeez, why was this affecting her so much. Ava knew that she needed to chill out. They were only teasing each other. No harm done. Right? When he took two steps back, she laughed and nodded her head. "That's right. Good idea taking two steps back. I was about to smack you!" Not really. Now that she thought about it though, she probably could have. It would have been very easy. "I'm honestly surprised that you even remembered my name."

Just then, a bell sounded. Announcing that the students had five minutes left until classes started. She wanted to stay here, talking to Hunter. "What's your homeroom?" Ava questioned, hoping that he had the same one as her. Actually, she hoped he had the same schedule as her. She doubted she would get that lucky though. Talking to him had made her feel like her preteen self again, except with a little bit more attitude. A better version of her old self. A few curls had fallen from her hair tie then and she tucked them back up as she waited for an answer to her question.

[hunter amos bing]

Hunter was briefly taken aback but then couldn’t help but let out a quick laugh. “Is that so?” Hunter wasn’t sure he was hearing her right. This did not seem like the sweet Ava he had left here in Serenade when he went to Arkansas. “So you were just pulling my chain, then, huh?” Hunter tried to scrutinize her expression. “In my defense, I didn’t cheat on every girl, and I doubt your last remark.” Hunter looked at her, a gleam in his eye. “You never had me in the first place – you lost that chance, little miss sassy, so you couldn’t have had better than me.” Hunter was tempted to just turn around and leave but he didn’t want to stop the conversation now, just when it was getting good.

Hunter wouldn’t admit it if someone asked, but it had felt like someone had punched him right smack dab in the middle of his stomach. Sure, he had thought that maybe she had planned it all and pretty much played him, but he had never really thought it could be true. After all, Ava had always been what he thought was the sweetest girl in school. She was always nice and wasn’t meant to people. Hunter hadn’t thought Ava was capable of something like that, and hearing it now was just hitting him really hard. It couldn’t be true, could it? Ava just wasn’t that type of girl, was she? Hunter had never thought she was, but now he was so sure.

But then again, he had been gone for the last three years, so she might have changed in this time. In fact, he was pretty sure she had, especially with that next comment about him being, well, you know. When she’d said it, his breathe had gotten caught in his throat and he had a tiny coughing fit. Nothing to attract attention, but it was still there, and definitely noticeable. “Well, now, that’s quite the language little lady.” Hunter felt that maybe he didn’t have the right to call her “little lady” but he couldn’t get the fact that she used to be all sweet and innocent seeming; whether it was true or just a phase or just an act didn’t matter; what matter was that he had thought it was totally real. But now here she was, calling him words he hardly said himself. “Oh, so, wait, you were expecting me to take it to the next level, then? And let me tell you something, that night was such an amazing night for me back then. But now, I barely remember it. It had nothing to do with you, I can tell you that.”

Ava still looked like the old Ava, only, you know, three years older, and of course, three years hotter. She was still just adorable in her tee and jeans, but then again, she was seventeen now and her whole body had grown right along with her, making her ten times even hotter, if that was even possible with her. He laughed at her remark and then pretended to look hurt. “Smack me? Why in the world would you smack me?” He asked in his sweetest, most innocent child-like voice he could summon with the biggest puppy dog eyes he could muster up for the moment. But then he was back to normal. “Of course I remembered your name. You were always so much,” Hunter thought for a second and then got a sinister look on his face, “ ‘fun’, remember?” Hunter was almost starting to get a little mad, but he didn’t show it, instead using his fingers to put quotations around the word “fun.”

Hunter groaned as the bell rang and looked at her. “Umm, I don’t know. I think it’s like a Smith or a Davis or something.” Hunter pulled out his schedule to check it. He had barely looked at it and hadn’t taken the time to memorize anything. He held it up and took a step towards Ava so she could look at it, too. If Ava had the same homeroom, then at least they wouldn’t have to stop this “conversation” they were having. It would be nice, and then maybe people would see them walking together. Surely Ava wasn’t totally changed, was she? Surely being around her would help people understand that he really had changed while he was away. He watched as Ava fixed her hair, thinking about just how gorgeous she was. He didn’t think he would be able to just “hang out” like he’d had planned. But, she rejected him before, and chances were, if he asked, she’d still reject him, but whatever, he just had to figure out his homeroom at the moment.

[ava rae higgins]

Ouch. That hurt. Ava should have been expecting that though, she was being such a brat towards him. Being his second or third or tenth choice had always crushed her though. She felt like she was allowed to be just a little bit sassy. "Well. Maybe I've never actually had anybody." Crap. That wasn't supposed to come out. It was a secret that she had intended to keep from everybody. Not ever having a boyfriend was really lame, especially at seventeen years old. Crap. She needed to cover this up. "Or maybe I did. But what I'm meaning to say is that flirting with other boys these past three years have been much better than flirting with you ever was. Okay?" God. Why did he have to get so technical. Now she was freaking out about letting one of her secrets slip. "Name one girl that you haven't cheated on? I'm pretty sure that list is non existent."

Ava thought it was quite ironic that the one time she was ever really rude towards another person backfired on here. She always knew that she would never be good at it. Yes, she could act sassy. But the second somebody asked her a question, her act faltered and the high-pitched, nice voice came back on. The voice wasn't there now, because she was comfortable around Hunter. Well, she used to be. Now it was just leaving her with a stomach ache and feelings like she needed to cry. Why didn't she walk away then? Yeah, Ava couldn't even answer that question. Something was keeping her feet glued to the ground, pulling her closer to wanting to talk with him. It had been way too long.

The little coughing fit after she swore had been the exact type of reaction that Ava had wanted. But she didn't feel good about it now. What the heck? She took a deep breathe that was supposed to be unnoticeable, but she wasn't sure if it was. Not that she cared much if he saw it, she needed to relax before she freaked out. This change of emotions was sort of scary. "Yeah. I'm sure you did love that night. I'm really trying to remember why I had such a thing for you and you're really making it hard." She decided to not comment on whether or not she thought he would take it to the next level. Because honestly, she did. Thought that maybe she could be the girl that changed his ways. Obviously that wasn't the case. Thank god she'd chickened out of a relationship with him.

This would be so much easier if Hunter had come back just a little bit uglier, not so much hotter. Sometimes life was so unfair. She couldn't stop looking at his smile or his hair, god she loved the way his hair looked now. He should have shaved it all off or gained fifty pounds, something that didn't make her want to start up their flirting again. Which she guessed she was sort of already doing. Oh well. Old habits die hard, right? "I would smack you because you're being such a butt." Yeah, they definitely do die hard. There was the old Ava, with such great vocabulary terms to describe people. The way he said fun could be interpreted in so many different ways. Fun could mean that she was really boring, which she hoped wasn't true. Or fun could mean a promiscuous thing, which she knew she wasn't true. It could also mean something else all together. "Uh. What do you mean by 'fun'?" She copied the little quotations he made with her fingers.

As he looked over his schedule, she wanted to do a little happy dance right in the middle of the hallway. They had the same homeroom and a few other classes from the looks of it. Of course she didn't show how excited she was, that would be totally lame. "Oh hey, same homeroom. Walk me to class?" She teased, the edginess from her voice was pretty much gone now. Walking with him would start helping her with her new reputation. It would probably be fun, too. She was really enjoying talking with him again, no matter how mad it made her sometimes. This wasn't really part of the plan, developing a little crush on him again. Or maybe it wasn't developing, maybe it had never really gone away. There never really was a closure on whatever the heck they had, he just sort of left. Thinking about it made her nervous.

[hunter amos bing]

Hunter chuckled a little at her response. “I knew it!” He shouted, maybe a little bit too loudly, as a huge grin began to spread across his face, and he jumped up and down like a little kid in a candy store. Hunter goofily pretended to quickly straighten out his “suit” as if it were some Armani smooth suit he’d just gotten back from the cleaners. “I mean, you know.” Hunter smiled wickedly at her. He raised his eyebrows at her next comment and listened while she talked. “So, wait, let me get this right, you flirted, but you never actually had anybody?” Hunter was pretending to suppress the smile that was creeping up onto his face. “And ouch, Ave!” Hunter placed a hand over his heart. “How could you say such a thing? I thought our flirtationship meant more to you than that?” Hunter was about to make some smart remark, but when she’d finished, he’d gotten a little quiet, and felt bad about all the girls he had cheated on. But, not wanting to ruin the fun he jumped back into it. “I don’t kiss and tell…”

Hunter was trying to figure out just what had gotten into little miss Ava Rae Higgins. She seemed a lot sweeter and way more innocent the last time he’d talked to her. He’d missed their flirting, though. A smirk slowly began to come across his face at her comment. “Yeah, at the time, I had thought it was the best night of my life. There were no girls expecting me to ‘take it to the next level.’ At least, they weren’t expecting that, emotionally; physically, maybe.” Hunter’s smirk was full-on beaming by now. “You realize you’ve just admitted you had ‘such a thing’ for me, don’t you? I find that very interesting. In fact, I don’t think you’ve stopped having ‘such a thing’ for me just yet; am I right, Ave?” Hunter was in such a mood, he was even starting to hate himself for being such a jerk. Why was he being such a jerk, anyway? Maybe it was because Ava had turned him down before he’d left, and he hadn’t been so proud of what he’d done that night, too. But why was it still getting to him? He’d thought he’d been over this, that this was just something in his past he could forget and leave behind in the dust. But now that he was back in Serenade, he should have guessed that wouldn’t be the case. Here he was, back to his old ways, flirting shamelessly with Ava Higgins. Well, I guess it’s not totally shameless. After all, Hunter was beginning to feel a tad bit guilty, but the guilt was just a seed for now, nothing was really blooming just yet. Still, it was there.

Hunter couldn’t help but let out a full blown laugh at Ava’s next comment. It wasn’t like a horn honking type of laugh, in fact, it was the guy’s equivalent to a girl’s giggle, I suppose. He just thought Ava was so cute the way she said “butt.” To him, it was an entirely different world from “ass hole” to “butt”. When Ava said the a word, he just didn’t think it fit her at all. But when Ava’s lips let out the word “butt” Hunter couldn’t help but chuckle a little. He almost thought it seemed like the old Ava. Like he was back to junior high, and he was flirting with Ava, and she was trying so hard not to be the sweet girl she was, that she that just by using that word, she was being “bad.” Hunter stopped laughing, though, and gave her a genuine sweet smile, remembering what it was like three years ago. “You said it first, not me, honey,” Hunter responded to her question about his use of the word “fun,” wondering if she would understand what he meant; if she would remember what she had said.

Hunter smiled at that. He was glad they had their first class together; he definitely didn’t want to stop talking with her. She was someone he hoped to become good friends with now that he was back. Before, he’d thought of her as a flirty, sweet girl that he could get with, but now he thought they might have a chance of being friends. “Well, I would be honored to walk you to class, milady,” Hunter joked and even gave a slight bow. When he was back up, he even reached out his left arm in faux anticipation for her to take it. He had a huge goofy grin on his face.