Page 45 of Tangled Up In You
He’d come over to my house that morning so we could ride to school together, but right as he’d gotten there, we’d found out school had been canceled because of the weather.
“Snow absorbs sound,” Hunter answered, holding out his hand to catch a snowflake in the palm of his glove. “But it’s also because the world stops to appreciate it too.” His brown eyes flashed to me and a smile lit his face. “People stay inside and aren’t on the roads as much, and animals do the same. Wait. What are yo—”
I chunked a snowball at him, hitting him square in the chest.
“Oh, you asshole!” he exclaimed before ducking down and gathering snow in his hands.
A snowball fight ensued. It was intense too. And epic. Even while wearing gloves, my hands got cold and stung. As did my cheeks and the tip of my nose. I was having too much fun to quit, though.
Hunter tried to run away as I formed a massive snowball, but I threw it and hit him in the back of the head.
“Dude, you can’t outrun me.”
“Damn you and your quarterback arm,” he said, pivoting on his heels to glare at me. The scowl turned to a smile, once we made eye contact. He looked around the clearing before grabbing my hand and pulling me under the branches of the willow tree.
“What are you doing?”
And then he kissed me.
I put my hands in his coat pocket and pulled him closer, moving my mouth with his. He smelled like cedar and smoke with a hint of mint.
“My lips are numb,” I said, inches from his mouth, before we both started laughing.
Hunter nuzzled my neck. “I have an idea.”
Curious, I stared as he pulled out a pocket knife and opened the blade. He turned to the tree trunk and started carving something. Catching on to what he was doing, I grinned.
“This way, a part of us will always be here,” Hunter said, smiling. “No matter where life takes us, we’ll be together. Somehow.”
I stood beside the tree, running my hand across the bark. My chest warmed despite the chill in the air, as I felt the carving beneath my fingertips.
H & C.
In a completely fucked up way, I felt like destiny had brought me back home. To him. To have a second chance to seize what we’d lost.
When I got back to the house, I took a long, hot shower before pulling out my laptop and catching up on emails. Jennifer, my agent, had sent me a contract for the shoe ad to look over. She also mentioned another shoot with Veronica that’d be coming up in March. I replied to her and said that worked for me.
My phone rang as I was browsing through my social media page and replying to some fans.
“Hey, man,” I answered after seeing it was Austin.
“Dude, I did it. I proposed to her.”
“Well, don’t leave me hanging, you ass,” I said when he didn’t say anything else. “What the fuck happened? Did she say yes?”
“Yes, I did,” a sweet, feminine voice said into the phone. “How are you, Corbin?”
“Hey, beautiful,” I said to Beth. “I’ve been okay. Doing much better than I was. Congrats on the engagement. Just please tell me hedidn’tput the ring in a pizza?”
Beth laughed, and Austin muttered something I couldn’t make out. A rustling sounded on their end of the line.
“I didn’t put the ring in a damn pizza,” Austin said. “I took her out to eat at her favorite restaurant and had it placed on top of her dessert. It was romantic as fuck.”
“I’m happy for you guys.” I placed my laptop on the coffee table and leaned back on the couch.
“Thanks, Taylor.” He sounded so damn happy, and he deserved that happiness. He was one of the funniest and most good hearted guys I knew. “You okay? And don’t bullshit me. Your voice is doing that thing again where you say one thing, but I know your goofy ass too well to not hear the sadness in it.”
Ever since I’d come across the tree Hunter and I’d carved our initials into, I’d felt off. I’d thought I had my whole life planned, but now I wasn’t so sure.
