Arabella walked up to her apartment and let out a sigh. She was happy that Hunter had ruined her phone because it gave them time to be together at the wedding, but now she was stressing out. What if something bad had happened and she wasn't able to figure it out on time because of her phone breaking? Arabella walked back to her bedroom and slipped out of her dress and high heels, pulling on a pair of sweats. She walked down the hall and grabbed the home phone, dialing Daniel's number quickly. He answered on the second ring.
"Hello?"
"Danny! Is there anything wrong? I am so sorry about not calling you back sooner, my phone broke" Arabella explained quickly, working herself into a bit of a panic.
"Hun, breathe. Everything is fine. I got most of it all figured out, there are just a few pieces of paperwork that I need you to do and I've email those to you. I also need you to confirm your flight to London. You've been putting it off for too long now" Daniel said to her and Arabella let out a huff
"Okay..I'll go check my emails. What would I do without you, Danny?" Arabella said, avoiding his statement about the trip to London. She didn't want to talk about it. She knew that she was going to have to tell Hunter but she didn't know how.
"And what else are we going to do? Confirm the flight, perhaps?" Daniel said into the phone. Arabella could practically hear him rolling his eyes at her. She flopped down on the couch and leaned her head back, closing her eyes.
"I don't know, Danny" Arabella sighed eventually "I guess I have to, right? It's kind of my job"
"Yeah, kind of" Daniel teased. Arabella knew that he was smiling on the other end. She could feel it "Get your little butt to work!" he said before hanging up. Arabella huffed and hung up the phone. She pushed herself off of the couch and headed towards her bedroom, where her laptop was currently living. When did her job become such a job? Arabella used to love it, but now...now she kind of hated it. She hated getting up in the morning and knowing that she had to go to work. She didn't like her day to day life. The only highlight was coming home and seeing Hunter. She let out a sigh and sat down at her computer, getting to work.
The rest of the afternoon went by pretty fast. Arabella worked for most of the time. The sun was setting and Hunter wasn't home yet. Nervously, she decided to take a shower. Maybe the warm water would help calm her nerves. Arabella slipped out of her clothes and turned on the shower. Gingerly, she stepped into the hot water and closed her eyes. Her head was filled with confusion and questions and worry. Hunter had been gone all afternoon. That was enough to worry her. When he left, he seemed so distant. Had she done something wrong? Had she gone too far with him? Her stomach knotted at the thought. She was also worried about this trip to Europe. Arabella would be gone for a few months. But it was more than that. She thought of how her work had affected their relationship. Hunter had broken her phone because of her work. She almost lost him because of her work. She never got to spend time with him because of her work. Arabella was just going to get busier and busier as her life went on and Hunter was going to have to suffer because of it. She loved him. She loved him with everything she had. The thing that made the most sense to her was something that shattered her heart into a million pieces. But it was because she loved him that she had to do it.
What she needed most of all was her mom. Arabella needed to talk to her mom but her mom wasn't there. Arabella sat down in the tub and pulled her knees up to her chest, letting tears fall from her eyes. Why was this so difficult? Why couldn't this be easy and smooth and perfect. She loved Hunter. It should be as simple as that. Arabella looked down at the bottom of the tub and got shivers as she thought about what had happened in that very spot. Hunter had saved her life. Her wrist started throbbing and Arabella put a hand over it.
Eventually, she climbed out of the shower and slowly got dressed, trying to think of what she was going to tell Hunter. How she was going to say it to him. She pulled on a pair of sweat pants and her Camp Half Blood shirt, tucking Hunter's pendant inside of it so no one could see that she had it on. Arabella looked in the mirror as she pulled her hair into a bun and saw that her eyes were puffy and red from crying. she took a shaky breath and stepped out of the bathroom, wrapping her arms around herself. As she walked down the hall, the door opened and Hunter walked in.