Saturday, July 20
News of Arabella and Ethan's break up spread fairly quickly throughout camp. It was the next day when Hunter heard it, officially from the however-many-hand source that was Jake. Hunter honestly wasn't sure how to feel. He was glad that she had finally broken up with Ethan, but he felt bad that he might have caused it. The accidental disguise bust that occurred during capture the flag seemed to be the final cannonball in the hall of their relationship. It's almost ironic that it happened to be because of a bottle rocket.
Now, as he walked to lunch all by himself, for what seemed like a long time, he found himself missing her again. Missing her blonde hair and the small giggle she gave at any little awkward thing that Hunter did. He had been able to push it down by hanging out with Marina.
But they were broken up.
Friday, July 12
"Hunter, it's over." Jake said, throwing his tray down onto the Hermes table. "Ethan. Arabella. They're through." Hunter's eyes widened and his stomach tightened at the news.
"Do you know why?"
"Well, hmm....let me think, genius. Because she found out he'd been lying to her!" Hunter punched him in the shoulder.
"I know that!" He said, rolling his eyes. "I meant, do you know how she finally found out? Was it capture the flag last week?"
"I mean, what else could it be? I mean, it's probable that this is a few things that she's noticed, building up to this. It's only been a couple weeks since we saw them leaving the woods, remember?"
"Hunter!" Hunter looked up and saw Marina rushing toward him, looking a little nervous. Hunter waved at her for a moment and finished off his food.
"I was just about to-"
"Shh. I need to talk to you." She said, as he stood up. "Without Jake."
"Yeah. Of course." Hunter said with a nod. He waved quickly at Jake and then followed Marina out of the dining hall. They just sort of walked for a few minutes. Hunter figured it was just to get away from camp, and soon enough they were entering into the woods. He looked over at Marina and it didn't look like she had any intention of stopping. They entered a clearing and he grabbed her arm gently.
"Hmm? Oh, sorry." She said at the look on his face.
"Marina, tell me what's wrong. Come on. Let's sit." He said as he sat down on a fallen tree and lowered her down next to him. She took a deep breath and rubbed her face a moment.
"I did it." She said with a sigh. "I didn't mean to. And I didn't even realize that I did when I did it, but I did."
"Well...okay? I don't know what you're talking about."
"Right. Sorry. Okay. Arabella came into the cabin and she asked me to fix her necklace and while I was working on it, she found your old shield. I guess, it was the one that you gave to her to...whack all the people with. And she must have recognized it because she asked whose shield it was and I said yours and now I just feel really bad because I kind of said that I wouldn't tell her and I did." Hunter looked down at the ground, just thinking through what she had said.
"Well, Marina...That's..." He said quietly before looking over at her. "That's okay. I mean, how could you have known that she would recognize a shield that she used for 5 minutes in the rain in the dark?" He said with a chuckle. "Don't worry about it." He added in a mumble. She looked a little relieved, but now there was a silence between them. It seemed like they were both thinking about things, but Hunter wasn't sure what Marina would be thinking about past the shield.
Hunter just couldn't get his mind off of Arabella. Even with Marina sitting right there. Now that she was single again, anything could happen. He was sure that he had feelings for her and considering how he thought he had gotten rid of them, but it was only a day into the summer when they were back, it didn't seem like they were going anywhere. He needed to go find her. Partially because of his feelings for her, but also because of how fast news cuts through the camp. There's probably already someone lined up to give lying to her another shot and Hunter wasn't really sure if she would see through it this time.
He needed to do one thing first. And it wasn't easy.
"Marina?" He said quietly. She looked over at him in surprise. Hunter took a deep breath. "The past few months have been amazing and I will always be there for you as a close friend and someone that you can trust, but I just...I just think that we should break up." He said, looking down at the log between them. "It has nothing to do with you. You've been a MUCH better girlfriend than I have been a boyfriend, but I just feel really confused right now and I don't-"
"Okay." Hunter looked up at her and she was smiling. Hunter couldn't help, but smile back a little, despite the situation. "Be honest with me, though. Is it about Arabella?" Hunter's smile faded a little and he looked down at the log again. "No, Hunter, listen. As soon as you told me that you used to have feelings for her, I had a feeling that this relationship had a zero hour."
"I'm really sorry." Hunter said with a sigh. "I hate that this ended this way."
"What you'd rather have us yelling and screaming and crying and hating each other forever?"
"Well, no. Of course not."
"Good, because I like having you as a friend." She said, nudging him with her elbow. "And, speaking of things that one would tell to a friend-"
"Who spoke of that?"
"Kyle kissed me." Hunter looked up at her in surprise and thought for a second.
"Huh."
"Wow. You're such a fantastic friend. Just brimming with wisdom."
"No, I'm just glad that you didn't have a boyfriend or anything. Because that would make it really awkward." He said with a laugh. Marina pushed him off the end of the log and laughed too.
"Yeah. I mean, that could have been bad."
Saturday, July 20
After lunch, Hunter went back to his cabin. He had tried to find Arabella that day, but the rumor weed said that she was avoiding everyone. Past that, he didn't know how he would react when he finally did talk to her. He knew that she really had invested a lot in Ethan and now she found out that he had lied to her.
It had been a week and now he needed to talk to her. He couldn't stand the idea of missing his chance again. He grabbed his jacket and slipped it on and walked outside toward the fire. He hoped that he could find her there. What he didn't expect to see was Arabella sneaking past everyone toward the woods. Hunter watched her enter past the trees and then took off after her. He followed her from a distance, just seeing where she was going. It didn't take him long to realize that she was headed to where he had saved her. He watched her stand in the small clearing for a moment before lowering herself down on a log. He could see her shoulders shake a little and she grabbed her knees to her chest and put her head down.
As he watched, he sighed a little. He watched her for a moment before running his hand through his hair. He made his thinking face for a few moments before starting to walk towards her. He quietly slipped off his jacket and when he got to her he placed it around her shoulders and sat down next to her. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know if he should say anything. All he wanted to do at that moment was comfort his friend, no matter how he felt about her.