"Daniel, what am I going to do?" Arabella sighed, pulling her knees up to her chest and resting her bare feet on her office chair. She was in her office at lunch with sushi take out in front of her. Arabella put a piece of California roll into her mouth and chewed. It was a bright summer day and Daniel was sitting in the chair across from her with a vegetable roll in front of him. He swallowed and raised an eyebrow at her. She had spent most of the morning making dresses and talking to Daniel about Hunter.
"Hunnie, Hunter is not about to just leave. Besides, he's not the type to start seeing some other girl on the side" Daniel said to her with a shrug.
"But that's just it. We're not official. We're not..together. There is nothing stopping him from finding a girl who isn't as busy as I am" Arabella muttered, pushing around a California roll piece on her plate. Daniel rolled his eyes and leaned closer to Arabella.
"This is Hunter we're talking about. The same man that was a friggin Hunter until recently. He had made an oath to be a virgin until he died, which would have been never. He is not about to go out and find some girl when he has you at home" Daniel said simply and took a sip of his Vitamin Water. Arabella sigh and looked at him with worried eyes.
"Danny, he was was Philippa. She's Aphrodite's daughter too. Do you really think that she didn't do anything with him? Now that he's slept with her, he's probably with some other girl because I'm never home" Arabella sighed and pushed the rest of her sushi away "You know I went to Victoria's Secret last night? I had a full out romantic night planned and he didn't even show up. Once he did, he just went to bed"
"Yes, you did tell me that" Daniel sighed. He picked up one of her California rolls and popped it into his mouth. He swallowed before he continued "Give me all of the paper work that you were planning to do tonight" he said and Arabella sighed, reluctantly pushed the stack of papers towards Daniel. He grabbed them and looked at her with a raised eyebrow "What you're going to do tonight is find your man and take him home and have a wild night of passionate...oh gods, why am I giving this advice to my sister" Daniel finished and stood up, grabbing his things. Arabella giggled a little and smiled sadly at Daniel.
"Thanks" Arabella said to him in a gentle voice. Daniel nodded and grinned at her.
"Tell me how amazing he look naked" Daniel laughed and slipped out of her office. Arabella rolled her eyes, giggling. She nodded to herself and went back to work on a dress. She was going to make this work with Hunter. She had to.
That night when she got home, Hunter was home and he mind started racing. They were going to have a wonderful night. Everything was going to be perfect. But then he was kissing her forehead and running out of the apartment before she could say anything to him. Arabella's hand flew to her neck automatically and started rubbing Hunter's pendant, Why did he just leave like that? What did he have to do? He didn't have a job, for one thing. So it's not like he was going to work. Her insecure mind then landed on the one thing that made sense to her. He was seeing another girl. Arabella took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. She needed to find out for herself. Looking out the window, she saw Hunter get into a car and drive away. Quickly, Arabella ran out of her apartment and caught a cab. She told the driver to follow Hunter's car and to make sure that they weren't seen. The cabbie looked confused but Arabella reminded her that it was New York and he probably got weirder requests on a daily basis.
Soon enough, Arabella was walking around a house, trying to find Hunter. She was nervously rubbing the pendant in her fingers but the pendant only made her think of Hunter more and how much it would hurt if she saw him with someone else. Then she saw it. Hunter was hugging some girl that Arabella didn't know. He was holding her close to him and she could tell from the look on the girl's face that Hunter was smiling. He had found someone else. Arabella didn't want too, but she started crying. Tears flowing freely from her eyes. She felt like her entire reason for living was just being ripped away from her. That might sound dramatic, but it was true, really. If it wasn't for Hunter, she would be dead. Arabella looked at Hunter when he turned around and saw her. Her hand clasped over her wrist and she shook her head, starting to walk away from them. She felt horrible. It was happening all over again. Without meaning to, her fingernails started to dig into the skin on her wrist. But then she felt Hunter's hands on her upper arms and he was turning her towards him.
"Just..forget it, Hunter..I'll leave you two alone" Arabella muttered and she looked down. Hunter looked down at Arabella's hand on her wrist and he gently pulled her wrist free from the vice grip she had it in. Once again, Arabella was stunned at how gentle Hunter was. He had always been built and strong and she had always expected him to have a rough touch but then he would be the most gentle person on the planet.
"This is Marina, Ellie" Hunter said and Arabella looked over at the girl. She didn't want to know the girl that Hunter was running off to all the time. But the name stirred something in Arabella. A memory of a story or something. She felt like she had heard of this girl before "She's my friend from Camp..the one I told you about" he finished, looking down at Arabella. She looked up and looked in his eyes for a moment before looking back at Marina who was cautiously walking towards them. Arabella bit her lip. Marina was beautiful but not in an obvious way, which was even harder for Arabella to accept. Marina was stunning without trying. Arabella however, spent hours putting together outfits and finding the best make up and going through routines for her skin.
"I was just telling Hunter that my boyfriend, Kyle, just asked me to marry him" Marina said clearly, like she was trying to make sure that Arabella knew that her and Hunter weren't doing anything. Arabella looked at Marina then at Hunter. She then felt like a total idiot. She had let her mind come up with all kind of conclusions that sent her into a whirl wind of anxiety. Arabella nervously wiped the tears from her cheeks and took a shaky breath. She remembered Marina now. Hunter had talked about her a few times to Arabella.
"I uhm, that's great" Arabella said, forcing a little smile on her face. She was happy for Marina. Arabella loved weddings so very much. Marina smiled at her and Arabella could feel the happiness radiating off of Marina. She saw Hunter and Marina look at each other and Marina gave him a look. Arabella didn't know what it was about or what it meant, but it kind of made her nervous.
"Thanks Arabella" Marina said with a grin then looked back at Hunter "Well, I'm going to go get a drink of water and maybe sit in the kitchen for a couple minutes" she said and raised an eyebrow at Hunter before walking away and into the house. Arabella turned to look at Hunter who had pink cheeks. He looked nervous about something.
"I'm really sorry about all of that. I was an idiot and I'm really sorry, you don't have to say anything" Arabella said and looked down at the ground. She had assumed that the reason why he was nervous was because he was about to say something to Arabella about her being a jealous bitch. Hunter cleared his throat and shook his head. He looked around, like he was trying to find something to say to her. His eyes landed on a beautiful red car and he walked towards it.
"You know how I was meeting with that lawyer for the last little while?" Hunter said to her and Arabella looked at him and nodded, wondering where all of this was going "Well, I got a bunch of stuff from my family and one of the things that I got is this car. Marina and I have been working on it and I wanted to give it to you" he told her quickly, in a voice that said that he was trying to keep the topic of conversation on the car or something else. Anything other than whatever was on his mind.
"Are...are you serious?" Arabella gasped, walking over to the car. It was the most beautiful vehicle she had ever seen. Was she actually going to keep it and drive it and love it? She ran her hands down the hood of the car and looked at Hunter "I can't take this from you, Hunter. It's your car" she said softly and shrugged. Hunter then nodded towards another car that nearly took her breath away.
"That one is mine" Hunter said and smiled a little at her "This one..is yours" he finished, placing a hand on the hood of the red car. Arabella threw her arms around Hunter, totally blown away by the fact that she actually had the car, that it was actually hers. Arabella closed her eyes, leaning into Hunter for a little bit longer than a usual hug. It felt so good to be in his arms again. She missed it so much. Eventually, she pulled away and went back to looking at the car, letting her fingers run over the body of the car gently.
"There's actually something that I wanted to ask you" Hunter said nervously and Arabella looked up at him. His cheeks were pink again and he was nervously rubbing a new pendant on his neck. She made a mental note to ask him about it later. He looked like he was about to have a panic attack.
"What is it, Hunter?" Arabella asked him, leaning against the car and looking up at him. Seeing him so nervous made her nervous. What was he going to say to her?
"Well, it's just..you know, this wedding coming up now..." Hunter said, looking down at his feet. Arabella raised an eyebrow at him, not even thinking about what he could possibly be asking her. She was lost. She had never seen him so nervous. "I was just wondering, if you know, you were interested and you weren't busy if you maybe wanted to..go with me? Like..together?" he finished, his cheeks were now bright red and he was still rubbing the pendant on his neck. Arabella felt her face break into a wide smile and she nodded softly. Hunter was still interested in her. He wanted her to be his date. She felt better knowing that he hadn't totally forgotten about her.
"I'd love to" Arabella said and when she saw the smile on Hunter's face, she felt like she was nearly glowing with happiness.