Hunter
“96…97…98…99…100.”
Hunter counted as he finished his push ups. With sweat dripping down his face, he grunted, sitting up on his knees while the rest of his teammates finished up. At the end of practice the coach always made them do 100 burpees, 100 crunches, and 100 sit ups before calling it a night. It was his way of making sure they were all in shape for the season.
He knew these kids ate like shit and drank every weekend, but football was huge in this area. The boys were trained and trained hard, especially the varsity players. Scouts would regularly show up games to recruits players for college ball.
“Alright ladies, hit the showers!” He yelled through his gravelly tone.
Feeling a nudge on his side, Hunter turned to see Sammy, wiping the sweat off of his forehead with his t-shirt.
“You’re still coming tonight right?”
“Yeah man, but you’re positive your parents aren’t going to be home? My mom ripped me a new asshole last time.” Hunter said, recalling the last party Sam had thrown.
His parents were supposed to be gone for the weekend and came back early. Ended up calling everyone’s parents. Hunter’s mom was pissed, took away his car for almost a month.
“Yeah bro. They won’t be back for another week.” He assured.
“Alright, good.”
“Sammyyyyyy!”
They heard his name being called from the bleachers and turned towards the fence to see Amanda waving at them, Callie sitting on the bench, in her volleyball jersey and a pair or burgundy spandex shorts that made her legs look like they went on for days, talking on the phone.
“God she’s gotten so fucking annoying.” Sam sighed, hanging his head in shame.
He hit Hunter’s shoulder, nodding his head towards the girls.
“I’ll see you later, bro.” He waved, running off towards them.
Hunter nodded, watching him walk towards Amanda. The girl jumping on him the second he got into range. Callie on the other hand didn’t seem phased, not even bothering to look their way as she continued her phone call while the two sucked face.
He walked downstairs into the locker rooms, jumping in for a shower before throwing on clean clothes.
“You going to Sammy’s party later?” Derek asked, grabbing his bag from his locker.
“Yeah, think so. You?”
“Nah. I got Ms. Pho for Trig, the amount of homework that bitch gave out is going to keep me busy all weekend.”
“I had her for geometry sophomore year, how’d you end up with her?” Hunter asked, putting in his headphones and throwing his duffle bag over his shoulder.
“Failed out of trig last year.” He shrugged.
Hunter laughed, shaking his head as he scrolled through his phone to pick a song. “Suck. I’ll see you Monday then.”
“Later.” Derek called behind the quarterback, as he headed up the stairs again.
Shoving his phone in his pocket, Hunter nodded his head to the beat of the music, walking towards the entrance of the field when he spotted Callie against the gate, scrolling through her phone.
“Hey.” He called out, catching her attention, as he approached her. “What’re you still doing here?”
“Hey.” She smiled, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. “Sam and Amanda are having a fight in my car, figured I’d give ‘em some privacy.”
He chuckled with an understanding nod. “Feel you. You just get out of practice?”
“Yup. I got roped into giving them a ride back to his place. What’e you listening to? I left my headphones in the car.”
He pulled out one of his headphones and handed it to her. Placing it in her ear, Callie took a step closer to him, nodding her head to the beat like he was.
“I went to see them in concert last year.” She said, lifting her emerald eyes to look up at him.
“You went to that? I wanted to so bad but I had this stupid event with my dad’s company.”
She laughed lightly. “That blows. They were really good to see live. What else you got on here?” She asked, taking his phone out of his hands.
Usually he’d be more tense about the fact that someone else had his phone, but he wasn’t. He leaned against the gate with his body turned towards her, looking through the playlists as she scrolled down the list of songs.
“You got good taste. This one’s my absolute favorite.” She said, changing the song.
I’ve been looking sad in all the nicest places
Baby, baby, I feel crazy
I see you around in all these empty faces
Up all night, all night and every day
Closing her eyes, she leaned her head back against the gate as we listened, taking in the warm air.
She was so pretty and he didn’t even think she realized it. Since he’d seen her in class earlier, she must’ve cleaned off her makeup for practice, but it didn’t make much of a difference. Her lashes were curled upwards, long and dark, matching the color of her chocolate brown hair which was stroked with soft golden highlights and tossed up in a ponytail. Her cheeks had a rosey finish from working out with freckles running across her nose, which was something he’d never gotten to see before. Her lips light pink against the contrast of her tan skin, shined with only a touch of chapstick. To top it off, she smelled amazing.
This last week of class, he’d gotten a chance to admire her from up close. Her sheer concentration when she worked left her oblivious to the fact that he’d stare every chance he got. Who knows why the fuck he hadn’t talked to her before, she was actually one of the easiest chicks in their group to talk to.
“Hunter, you mind givin’ me a ride dude?” Sam asked, coming up to the two.
Cal opened her eyes, looking behind him to Amanda who looked like she was yelling out every swear she could think of inside of the car.
“Yeah -” Hunter said, running his hand through his hair. “Yeah, I guess.”
“Everything okay?” She asked
“Nah” Sam shook his head. “Fuck that crazy bitch. She’s out of her fucking mind.”
“Great.” She muttered under her breath. “I’ll see you guys later then – maybe.”
Handing Hunter his earbud, she waved back at them as she got in the car. The moment the door opened, you could hear Amanda screeching at Sam before she slammed the door shut and all went quiet again.
“The fuck was that?” Hunter asked, motioning his head for them to walk back towards his car.
“She’s crazy man!” He repeated. “My cousin’s coming next week so I sent her a text. Amanda saw and flipped the fuck out.”
“Damn.” Hunter laughed.
It wasn’t necessarily funny for his friend, but it was pretty amusing from an outside view. Sam and Amanda had the weirdest relationship but they somehow kept it going. He could never deal with that. He was bitched at enough by his mom all the time to even consider having that in a girlfriend.
ooo
For the second time that night, Hunter ended up at Sam’s. The party was already well underway when he arrived and Sam was already a couple drinks passed the point of seeing straight. Couldn’t blame the guy, Hunter wouldn’t of wanted to be sober after that kinda fight with a girl either. Fortunately, this was his house so even if he passed out, nobody would have to take him anywhere.
Getting a beer from the cooler in the backyard, he walked over to Rob and a few other people playing beer pong.
“Ayy!” Rob greeted him, tossing the ball across the table and missing. “You seen Sam? He’s shitfaced already.”
“Yeah, got in a fight with Amanda earlier.” Hunter said, leaning back against the wall as he popped open his beer.
“She’s such a bitch sometimes, don’t know how he can put up with that mouth.” The bigger man shook his head, downing another cupful.
“Screw you, Robby!” They heard her from behind them before a solo cup full of vodka was thrown their way.
“Hey!” He yelled, his clothes drenched.
She shoved past them to go inside, leaving a trail of people staring at her.
“Cal, let’s go we’re leaving!” She screamed.
Hunter leaned over to see Callie on top of the kitchen island with Jamie, being twirled around with the music. Her hair flowing freely in sync with the hem of her skirt. She looked so carefree and happy, it was a sight to see.
“I said we’re leaving!” Amanda repeated, her eyes damn near popping out of her head.
Both girls stopped dancing when Callie lost her footing, every muscle in Hunter’s body reacted to run over but she fell right into Cam’s arms. Fucking Prince Charming. She giggled, laying her head against his shoulder, tucking her face into his neck as she tried to control her laughing. Cam laughed, practically carrying her bridal style as they locked lips.
“Fucking cunt.” Rob growled, ripping Hunter’s eyes away from the view.
“She’s got issues man.” Hunter agreed, taking another pull from his beer.
Rob threw his shirt off, storming inside where he shoved past Amanda to run upstairs. The girl screeched again, storming out of view with Jamie following behind while Cam pressed Callie against the doorframe as they made out.
Something about the sight had made Hunter drink more than even he thought possible. With Rob still ranting and raving about his favorite shirt getting messed up and Sammy passed out somewhere, Hunter was left to fend for himself when the sudden urge to empty everything in his stomach took over him.
As fast as his feet could carry him, Hunter charged to the bathroom before hurling himself over the toilet to vomit. Suddenly sober, he hated himself for even pushing his body to this limit. Not since freshman year had he lost this much control.
Heaving again, the doors opened behind him,
“Oh shit, sorry!” He heard the person behind him before they stepped in. “Hunter?”
Fuck. It was Callie.
“Fuck, you don’t look too good.”
With that, he leaned over again, uncontrollably throwing up some more. Instead of running out, he felt her behind him, running her hands through his hair to hold it out of his face.
“I feel like I’m going to fucking die.” He breathed, leaning his head against side of the tub.
Callie shushed him, a bit of humor in her tone. “You’ll be alright. Let me get you some water.”
He heard her footsteps getting further away and he wished he would die. This was the most embarrassed he’s been in a long time. Out of all the people that could’ve walked in, it had to be Callie.
She came back shortly after, helping him lean against the tub before handing him the bottle of water. He thought for sure she’d leave but she sat down next to him, back against the side of the tub, feet crossed underneath her.
Hunter groaned, feeling his stomach start to bubble again before he leaned over the toilet. Instantly she was behind him, holding his hair as he threw up again.
“You don’t have to do this.” He said, resting his head on a towel she’d placed over the lid.
Shaking her head she ran her fingers calmingly through his hair. “It’s cool, not much going on out there anyway. Is this how all your night’s end up?”
“No.” He managed to chuckle. “Not in a long time.”
“Right.” She laughed, sitting back again. “I have to say, it’s pretty freshman of you.”
“Did you just come up to laugh at me?” He snapped in agonizing frustration.
“No, but it’s funny to see you knocked off your high horse everything once in awhile.” Callie admitted, rubbing his back.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” He looked back at her, his head still hung in shame at the situation he’d put himself in.
She giggled, shrugging her slender shoulders, her long hair falling off of them to rest against her chest. Opening her mouth to speak, she was interrupted by the sound of him heaving into the toilet again, before finally throwing himself back on the ground, his head resting on her legs. Between blinks of his heavy eyelids, he could see her adoringly smile at him. The feel of the soft skin on her thigh, warm against the back of his neck. Her nimble fingers running through his knotted hair.