Page 9 of Tangled Up In You
I didn’t know anyone there. Not one person I could confide in. Not one friend. It was lonely, and I was desperate for something familiar.
I grabbed my phone and started browsing through the pictures. Some were of me and my grandpa. I smiled. He’d been excited for me, and although I knew he’d miss me, he hadn’t wanted to hold me back. I had called him when I got to campus to let him know I’d made it safely.
Then, I came to a photo of Hunter, and before I could stop myself, I was sobbing into my damn pillow. Fuck, it’d only been about a week, but I missed him so much it hurt. It was the longest we’d ever gone without talking.
I called him, needing to hear his voice.
“Hello?”
“Hunter.” His name was said with a relieved exhale. “I’m glad you answered.”
“I nearly rejected the call,” he said. “But I needed to talk to you too. It’s weird with us not talking.”
“I know.”
“Are you settled into your dorm yet?”
I lightly chuckled as I looked at all the unpacked boxes. “Not exactly.” He was quiet, and by the occasional sniffles, I knew he was crying. “Are you okay?”
The question was stupid, but I didn’t know what else to say. If he was beside me, I’d just tickle his sides or something to get him to laugh. The miles between us prevented that.
“No,” Hunter said in a shaky voice, as if he was barely holding himself together. “I hate not having you here, Cor. I’m in the same place I’ve always been, but everything feels foreign. Like a part of me is gone.”
I cleared the lump in my throat, but it did nothing to stop the tears from pooling in my eyes.
“Fuck, baby. I miss you.” My voice was gruff, and I bounced my knee. The quickening of my pulse caused me to shake a little. “I don’t know what to do. I feel like I’ve just made the biggest mistake of my life. It just took me driving over a thousand miles to figure it out.”
As it all went through my head, I started panicking. The white walls of the dorm began to close in on me, and it felt like I was drowning.
“Corbin? Breathe,” Hunter said, and I tried to focus on his voice. “You didn’t make a mistake.”
“Yes I did,” I responded as I started hyperventilating. “I should’ve never left you, Hunter. Fuck, I’m such an idiot! We had plans and I fucked them all up. I’m coming home. I can’t do this.”
Everything went quiet, and all I heard was his breathing on the other end of the phone.
“Listen to me, Corbin. You made the right decision by going.” Something about his voice had changed. I couldn’t figure out exactly what it was, but he didn’t sound like himself. “It would’ve never worked out with us anyway.”
My mind reeled with his words.
“What?”
“Don’t act so surprised,” Hunter said with a condescending tone. “Our plan to come out and ride off into the sunset of our happily ever after was just bullshit. We wouldn’t have lasted another year.”
“Why are you saying this? This isn’t you.”
“No, itisme. It’s called tough love.” Hunter sounded off. Or maybe I just didn’t want to believe that’s how he really felt. “I’m glad you left.”
A sob tore through my throat against my will. “Hunter, I—”
“I don’t think we should talk anymore,” he interjected with so much coldness in his voice that it sent chills down my spine. “We both need to focus on our own lives, and keeping one foot in the past won’t help us do that.”
I knew we had our lives to live… I just thought we’d live them together. Even when I’d left Willow, I still had a tiny speck of hope that we’d somehow find a way to make it work.
Before I could respond, he hung up.
I texted him.
Me:Hunter, what the fuck is going on? I KNOW u don’t feel that way.
