Instead, I
focused on the prospect of taking care of six adorable little furry babies with
Hunter. It was going to be an adventure.
HOME
Friday marked the end of the
fifth week of classes. I stood outside the Floyd Hall parking lot, eagerly
awaiting my aunt’s arrival. She had called me asking if it was okay to park in
the lot for the weekend or if she needed some sort of permit. After checking
the signs posted on lamplights around the lot, I told her that she didn’t need
a permit on weekends.
I looked
at the rows of cars and saw Aunt Caroline step out the driver-side of a white
minivan with a bumper sticker that said “#1 Soccer Mom.”
“Aunt
Caroline!” I waved at her to catch her attention as she pulled out a small
suitcase from the trunk.
She turned
around and smiled. “Lorrie!”
I walked
over to help her carry her suitcase.
“You’re
looking good!” she said. “It’s been what . . . a little over a month since I
last saw you.”
“Thanks!
Yeah, it’s been some time.”
“I can see
you’re eating well at the dorms.” She grinned.
My face
heated as I laughed. Aunt Caroline was a good observer and wasn’t afraid to
call it as she saw it. But she wasn’t mean-spirited or critical. She was in
decent shape considering she had two boys, but by no means a Jessica Alba
getting a six pack a few months after delivering. “Yeah, maybe a little too
much.”
“Hey if it
feels good, it can’t be wrong right? Bah, I wish I was your age again with your
metabolism. I remember I’d be able to eat almost a whole pizza from the dining
hall and not gain a single pound.” She sighed. “Now, it’s all about eating
salads and dieting just to stay somewhat in shape. Ah, youth.”
“Well, you
look great Aunt Caroline.”
“You’re
too sweet!”
We went
back to my dorm room. Aunt Caroline opened up her suitcase and presented me with
a gift bag filled with cookies and other delicious treats.
“I wasn’t
sure if you were eating enough, being busy with studying and everything, so I
brought you this just in case,” she said.
I laughed.
“And here you were making fun of me for eating too much!”
“I know,
but you can eat these guilt-free because it contains Auntie’s love. Think of it
as aspartame for cookies.”
“Ah, Diet
Cookies. Don’t mind if I do then.” I took a bite of a chocolate chip one and
the cookie crumbled in my mouth in all its gooey glory. I could taste the love.
“So,” she
said, taking a bite of one herself. “How’s everything going? Are you adjusting
to student life again?”
“Yeah, it
was kind of hard in the beginning but it’s gotten easier. I’m getting into the
groove, doing a lot more art.”
“That’s
great to hear! Sometimes it takes a little while to adjust, it can be hard
coming back from a long break. Classes going well?”
“So-so.
Classes are tough but I’m passing at least. Psychology is kind of hard.
Economics is harder. My other classes like sociology and art history aren’t too
bad though.”
Aunt
Caroline put her hand on my shoulder. “Don’t feel bad, Lorrie. College isn’t
all about grades. Half of it is meeting new people and enjoying your
experience. You should be making fond memories that you can look back on when
you’re older. When it comes to grades, what’s important is that you’re doing
your best. Have you made any new friends besides Daniela?”
I thought
about Hunter. Suddenly I remembered that I had to feed little Rampage and Taylor.
Otherwise they’d get grumpy.
“Yes,
actually. Speaking of which, I have to go over to his place to feed his
kittens.”
“A boy?”
I thought
about correcting her by referring to Hunter as a ‘man’ but decided against it
because no ‘man’ would be afraid of a black-and-white fly monster. “Yes, a
boy.”
“Ooh, tell
me about him and the kittens.”
I told
Aunt Caroline a little about Hunter beyond him having short, dark hair—but not
too much more. Certain parts—like girls propositioning him for a threesome—were
definitely left out of the explanation. Having nothing else to do, Aunt
Caroline joined me in going over to Hunter’s apartment. I was wary of my
aunt meeting Hunter and getting the wrong impression, but he was usually at the
gym around this time. On the way, I asked her about how Uncle Stewart and the
boys were doing and she said that Stewart was keeping busy with his job as a
salesman and the boys—Billy and Joel—were keeping busy with soccer practice. It
seemed like the Perkins household was as stable as always.
I began
bottle-feeding the cats and Aunt Caroline helped out as well. When we were
almost done, the door opened and Hunter stepped inside. He was wearing a black
sweater with the hood up and jeans and was carrying a gym bag in one hand; he
looked like he’d showered recently.
Oh no.
“Hey
Lorrie!” He waved at me kneeling in the kitchen, kitten on my lap. “Oh, hello,”
he said, noticing my aunt beside me.
I put
Bones down and stood up. “Hey Hunter. Oh this is my aunt, Caroline.” Hunter
smiled and extended his hand. Aunt Caroline got up and shook it, and returned
the smile. “I didn’t expect you to be back from the gym already.”
“Yeah, I
got done early with training today,” he said as he set his bag down and removed
the hood of his sweater. “So you guys just feeding the kittens?”
“Yep,” I
replied, giving Bones a pet on the head as he mewed at me.
“So
Hunter,” my aunt chirped. “Lorrie’s told me a lot about you. It sounds like you
two are good friends.”
He
grinned. “Yeah, I’d say so. Wouldn’t you agree, Lorrie?”
I tried to
hide my smile by rolling my eyes at Hunter. “I’d say decent friends. We get on
each other’s nerves sometimes.”
“Maybe not
enough,” he replied.
Aunt
Caroline was too busy admiring Hunter’s appearance to pay close attention to
our banter. “Hunter, you’re very tall and handsome. You even have tattoos I
see.” She pointed at the collar of his sweater. “Has anyone told you that you
look like Tom Hardy?”
Oh no,
Aunt Caroline noticed his tattoos.
Hunter
laughed. “Yeah, I get that a lot. Thank you for the compliments.”
I was
expecting Aunt Caroline to promptly pull me back to the dorm or even back to
Indiana and lock me inside my room, so what she said next came as a surprise.
“Have you considered dating Lorrie?”
“A-Aunt
Caroline!” I spluttered. “Why would you ask such a thing?”
Hunter
smiled widely. A little too widely. “We’ve had a discussion or two about it but
we’re just friends at the moment.”
“I see.”
Aunt Caroline looked at me gauging my reaction. She must’ve noticed how red my
face was. “So tell me more about those tattoos you have,” she said to Hunter,
changing the subject.
Hunter
pushed up his sleeve showing us his bulging biceps and the tattoos on his arm.
“I don’t have anything too crazy. Just some simple designs.”
“That’s
some cool ink! I really like that hammer!” Aunt Caroline then lifted up her
sleeve and showed us a tattoo on her arm. “The reason I ask is because I got
one recently myself.” I looked at her arm and saw an etched soccer ball with
big letters in front of it that said ‘MOM’.
“Awesome!”
Hunter said, smiling.
“Whoa,
Aunt Caroline! I never knew you had a tattoo. How come you never showed me?”
“I just
got it recently, Lorrie. Well, me and a few other moms on the team got tattoos.
We wanted to show our support for our boys.”
I stared at
her, dumbfounded. A bumper sticker was one thing, but a tattoo? When I thought
about it further, I realized that Aunt Caroline did have a bit of a wild side
so I shouldn’t be too surprised. She was probably the one who suggested it and
got the other mothers on board.
The rest
of the evening went by without anymore shocking surprises. Aunt Caroline and I
stayed at Hunter’s a bit longer to play with the kittens and hang out with
Hunter. Hunter was being uncharacteristically flattering and entertaining to Aunt
Caroline and me, taking every opportunity to flash his tattoos and biceps.
It wasn’t
until dinner time that we got back to my dorm.
“I’m happy
that things are going well for you Lorrie. Hunter seems like a nice boy. Seems
like he really cares about you.” She had a sly smile. “I know you’re reluctant
to admit it, but I know you have feelings for him, Lorrie. I can tell. Maybe
you should think about talking to him about those feelings sometime. A guy like
him is probably not going to be available for long, you know.”
“Thanks,”
I said sarcastically. I was still a little annoyed by Aunt Caroline asking
Hunter if he wanted to date me. “I’m actually surprised you’re pushing me to
date. I thought you’d be wrangling me back to Indiana once you saw Hunter’s
tats.”
“Oh
Lorrie. I know I’m sometimes a little overprotective of you but I also want you
to live your life. As long as you’re not drinking or doing drugs or sleeping
around with guys left and right, I think it’s good for you to have some fun.”
I raised a
brow skeptically. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“I’m just
saying, I know you’re still adjusting to school but I don’t want you to be
afraid of taking chances. Worst comes to worst, it doesn’t work out. Have some
fun.” She grinned. “You’ve always got me and Stewart and the boys behind you.
You’ve got our home you can always come back to when things get tough. So feel
free to spread your wings. I just don’t want you to regret not seizing the
opportunity when it’s there, that’s all.”
I sighed.
“Yeah, yeah. I know Hunter’s a nice guy. I just want to go at my own pace with
things though.”
“Sure,
sure, Lorrie.”
We spent
the rest of the night hanging out. On Sunday, I showed her around campus and we
had fun getting ice cream from Clyde’s. Then she went back home Sunday night.
It was a bittersweet goodbye. Although she had embarrassed me in front of
Hunter, I was really glad she visited. With her surprising approval of Hunter
as a potential boyfriend, I began to think that maybe that wasn’t such a bad
idea.
THE SCAM
I dropped by Hunter’s
apartment regularly the next couple days to feed the kittens. They were growing
by the day but still so tiny. Even though feeding them by bottle was cute, I
would be glad when they could finally eat solid food. Hunter and I had taken
the kittens to the vet yesterday and they said it would still be a few more
weeks of bottle-feeding.
The way
Hunter and my Aunt Caroline had interacted still puzzled me. She had always
been so overprotective, but Hunter and his tattoos seemed to impress her. I
still couldn’t believe she’d gotten that soccer mom tattoo.
Thinking
about all this made it hard to concentrate on psychology. Wednesday had come
around and I had managed to drag myself to class with Daniela, but that didn’t
mean I was really there. I was sketching Georgia’s adorable furry face in my
notes when Daniela elbowed me.
“You
should pay attention, this is interesting,” she whispered.
“Sorry,
I’ve been distracted. What’s up?”
“Muller’s
talking about how our emotions during an event affect our memory of it.”
“Oh, that
does sound cool. Can I borrow your notes?”
“Sure.
What’s bugging you, anyway?”
People
were starting to give us dirty looks for chatting during lecture. I debated in
my mind whether I should tell her I was developing feelings for Hunter. “I’ll
tell you later,” I whispered.
She
nodded. I spent the rest of class doing my best to pay attention, but it was
hard to follow after missing the first part. Guess I’d have to copy Daniela’s
notes again before the midterm. I went back to sketching Georgia. At least that
was turning out well.
Daniela
had to rush to meet with her group before a presentation in Geology, so I said
goodbye and headed to the bathroom. I was hanging my purse up in the stall when
I heard two girls enter with noisy footwear. They were chatting excitedly and
quickly. I was preparing to ignore their gossip when I caught two words:
“kittens” and “Hunter.”
“Did you
see how little they were?” the girl with flats said.
“Oh my
god, I know! And he looked so cute holding them. He’s
so
hot,” her
friend wearing boots replied.
“I
knowwwww!” Flats gushed.
“I’ve
never seen that side of him before. He always seems so tough. He’s like an
M&M: hard on the outside but soft on the inside.”
Flats
laughed. “Maybe. But I like to think of him as a Snickers: long and hard.” They
both laughed.
These
girls were talking like they knew Hunter intimately. I started to fear the
worst.
“Yeah,
it’s too bad we didn’t get a chance to have sex with him,” Boots said.
I
carefully released a breath of relief. Hunter had a reputation for being a
player with women. Daniela had warned me multiple times and I had my own
suspicions. But after becoming friends with Hunter, I realized he was a
good-hearted guy who liked to be alone most of the time or only with close
friends like me and Gary. Other than the threesome proposition at the hockey
game—which he turned down—I hadn’t seen any signs of him living up to his
reputation. Gossip could be stupid. These girls were stupid.
“Do you
think he uses the kittens to pick up girls?”
“I wonder
if he’s trying to be ironic with the whole using pussy to get pussy you know?”
She laughed. “That’s so Hunter’s sense of humor! He doesn’t need to but I don’t
see how any girl could resist him after seeing him with those kitties. I mean,
it definitely worked on us. I was like so ready to scratch his pants off!”
“Yeah, me
too.” They both laughed.
God, these
girls made me want to hurl. Fortunately—but unfortunately for them—I couldn’t
see Hunter ever going for these bimbos. It’s because of these types of girls
that Hunter often wore hooded sweaters to hide his identity in public.
“At least
we got to give him a blowjob,” Flats said.
My stomach
dropped. Did I hear that correctly? Hunter got a blowjob from them?
What the
fuck.
I suddenly
felt light headed. Surely I misheard her or she was joking. I had to have
misunderstood her words. “Blowjob” could mean she’d been cutting his hair and
had blow-dried his head after a rinse. Maybe these girls were part-time
hair-stylists. Misinterpretation and jumping to conclusions was how rumors got
started in the first place.
Boots
chuckled. “Yeah, his cock has literally got to be the biggest on campus! I
didn’t think it was possible but it was somehow long enough for both of us to
suck on it at the same time!”
I fought
against the urge to retch. The sordid details were too damning to ignore. How
could Hunter be using his kittens to pick up girls? Our kittens, really. I was
over there just about every day taking care of those things. And he was using
them to get girls to suck his cock? I was so disgusted I wanted to vomit.
“Oh, and
did you hear their names?” Flats giggled. “Rampage? How funny is that?”
“He said
that girl Lorrie named the females. Are they like together?”
My heart
pounded as I tried to steady my breathing.
“They have
to be, right? I mean they have kittens together. Even still, Hunter’s never
really ‘with’ girls. I mean, he let us give him a BJ.”
“Yeah. So
weird. He must like the tragic emo type. I guess he’s probably as much with her
as he ever is with anyone?”
Her friend
laughed. “Well, now that I think about it, that’s not entirely true. He was
with Ada for a while during freshman year and I don’t think he ever cheated on
her.”
“Oh right,
I never heard anything either, but who knows with him? It’s been a pretty long
time since they dated, anyway.”
Who’s
Ada
? I was tempted to ask
them what Ada’s last name was so I could look her up but decided against
blowing my cover.
“Okay, how
do my eyes look?” Boots said.
“Great!
Let’s go before we’re late.”
I heard
footsteps, and then the door opened and closed. Bending down to look under the
stall, I scanned the room for feet, but there were none. They were gone. I
finished up in the bathroom and headed out. My face was hot with rage; it took all
of my effort to try and fix my face in an expression that didn’t make me look
like a deranged person. How could he do that to me? How?
Hunter texted me just as I
entered my dorm after my drawing class. It was a little after three.
Hey are
you coming by later to take care of the kittens? Rampage misses you ;-)
I stared
at my phone, angry that he still thought he was tricking me into taking care of
his kittens for him. How long would he have kept it up if I hadn’t found out?
Months? I thought about giving him the typical avoidance treatment but decided
I was going to be slightly more mature this time.
Find
some other girl to take care of them.
Right as I
hit ‘send’, I realized I should’ve made myself clearer so I sent another text
immediately afterward.
Asshole.
Seconds
later, my phone buzzed, but I put it on silent. I didn’t want to deal with his
bullshit just then. If he wanted to try and explain his actions, I was going to
make him think
long
and
hard
about what he had to say—like a
fucking Snickers bar.
As soon as
I got to my suite I threw my bag down on the futon and began to cry. I knew
Kate and Petra were probably at the gym at this time so I didn’t care about
letting loose. It was the first time I’d cried in a while and it surprised me
that I was having this stupid reaction to what I’d heard earlier. Just when I
opened myself up to someone, he stabbed me in the back with a smiley in his
text message.
Daniela
came out from her room and saw me. Her face fell as her eyes tracked the tears
falling down my cheeks.
“Oh my god
Lorrie! What happened?”
I took a
deep breath and sat down on the futon. She took a seat beside me and took my
hand in hers.
“So I was
in the bathroom today and I heard some girls gossiping . . .” I sighed deeply.
“Oh no,”
Daniela said. “They weren’t talking crap about you were they?”
“No,
worse. They were talking about how they went over to Hunter’s apartment to play
with the kittens.”
She looked
at me as though she were expecting me to go on. “Umm . . . am I missing a part
of the story? Kittens are kind of made to be played with.”
“They were
saying how cute the kittens were and how it made Hunter so much hotter. Then
Hunter got them to give him a blowjob . . .”
“Oh
Lorrie, I’m so sorry . . . Wait, did he use the kittens as bait to get him a
blowjob?”
The
reasoning sounded ridiculous when I heard it out loud, but it was a difficult
conclusion to ignore. “I . . . I don’t know!”
“Oh my
god!”
I opened
my mouth to respond but was interrupted by a knock at the suite door. Daniela
got up from the futon and cracked open the door.
“Is Lorrie
here?” I heard the voice behind the door say. It was Hunter. He must’ve come to
my dorm since I refused to answer my phone.
Daniela
looked at me, eyebrows raised. I could tell her to shut the door in Hunter’s
face, but I decided that I should at least hear him out. Maybe he had a good
explanation for what those girls said and I was just overreacting. I
begrudgingly nodded.
“Yes,
she’s here,” Daniela said.
“Can I
come in?”
Daniela
checked with me. I raised my brows.
She looked
back at Hunter.
“Please?”
he said.
I nodded
and Daniela opened the door for him. “I’m going to leave you two alone,” she
said. She turned to me. “I’ll be in my room.”
She walked
out of the common area and closed her door.
Hunter
entered the suite, lacking the usual swagger in his step. He was shuffling his
feet like a zombie. I couldn’t be sure but I interpreted it as the distinct
walk of a guilty man. He eyed me carefully, confusion on his face, his mouth a
thin line. He was wearing a brown leather jacket over his usual gray hoodie,
dark jeans that hinted at the powerful legs beneath, and tan winter boots with
traces of snow clinging to the laces. The backpack slung over one shoulder
seemed full of books.
“You sure
came over here quickly,” I grumbled. Seeing his gorgeous self in person made me
think about how those girls must’ve felt when they were giving him head. I
grabbed a futon pillow and squeezed it angrily over my chest.
He
squinted to get a better look at me almost as if he’d just woken up from a nap.
“I came as quick as I could.”
Hunter
shifted on his feet, adjusting his balance. Although his speech seemed fine, I
was beginning to suspect he was inebriated. “Have you been drinking Hunter?” I
snapped. “It would certainly explain a lot.”
“No, no .
. . I’m just tired that’s all.” He sighed. “I was studying in Wheatley when I
texted you,” he said, sounding frustrated. “Lorrie, what’s the matter?”
God, I
could barely even look at him. Hunter wasn’t just a weirdo; he was a sick
person. “It’s hard for me to even look at you after what you did.”
“Huh? What
the hell? What did I do?” His shuffling feet came to a stop near the TV. He
kept his distance.
“Don’t
pretend like you don’t know. I fell for your bullshit before, I tried not to
listen to the rumors about you. Maybe I was just stupidly naive to think you
were a decent guy despite all the red flags, but now it’s all clear to me.
Congratulations, Hunter. You’re a fucking asshole.”
“What the
hell, Lorrie. If you’re going to accuse me of something, say it for god’s
sake!”
I threw my
pillow at him but he casually swatted it away. “You used kittens to get a
blowjob!” I screamed.
His sleepy
eyes widened. “W-What?!”
“I heard
two girls saying you invited them over to pet the kittens and they gave you a
blowjob.”
“Dammit, I
thought you said you didn’t listen to rumors,” he snapped. “Who did you hear
that from anyway?”
“It wasn’t
a rumor Hunter!” I shouted. “It was a first-hand account! I was in the bathroom
and I heard them talking about how they went over to your place to see the
kittens and how hot you looked with Rampage. They said they both went down on
you at the same time—I don’t even know how that’s possible!” Just saying it
almost made me gag. “Go ahead, tell me it’s not true. Tell me I’m being
delirious and creating imaginary cats and imaginary blowjobs in my head. Tell
me I’m wrong.”
His mouth
was a thin line. “I told you I don’t like talking about that kind of personal
stuff. I keep my sex life private.”
His
obvious deflection made me seethe. “Jesus Hunter! If that’s not an admission
then I don’t know what is. You make me sick! To think you were using them . . .
using poor Taylor, Georgia, and Frida to get your cock sucked. Somebody should
send you to prison where you can fight all day and have your balls rot off.”