chapter 10

Hunter's pov.

I was standing in front of the playground watching kids play. Odd I know. But this always made me feel closer to him. He would always beg me to bring him to the park just so he could watch kids play. He never ever joined them. 

And also because I had had a shitty week. Suddenly a kite came crashing into me and a little boy came running after it but he ended up falling on the kite and ended up breaking . 

"Noo, no my kite," he cried out. And looked at it in disbelief.

"Great," I heard him sigh, clearly agitated by his situation.

"Am sorry I knocked you sir," he apologised. 

"You're the one that lost a  kite, no need to apologise, you okay?," I asked, helping him to his feet. 

"Yeah, am Joey Jenkins, JJ" very mature of him to introduce himself 

"Am Hunter," 

He reminded me of someone, everything about him from how he acted a little too mature for his age to how he kept running his hand through his hair from confusion I think. 

I wonder what else they have in common. 

"Wanna play stirr blade?" I asked, shocking myself, it was something I hadn't played since Henry passed. 

The boy's eyes lit up.

"Are you sure? I don't have any money on me to pay." He said and I laughed. Henry would definitely have said something like that.

"It's cool I got it,  Just be ready to get your butt kicked."  he laughed at my statement.

"Ohh you're a joker. Nice nice. If anyone's butt is gonna be kicked it's gonna be yours." He replied 

"Wanna bet?" I challenged and he had this 'You don't know what you're doing'  look on his face and I laughed at that.

"Lets bet if i win you do anything i ask you to do, and if you win i do anything you ask me to,"He said 

"Okay what would you ask me to do if you won," I asked while we walked towards the gaming centre. 

"Impatient much. LJ would love you so much. She likes people she can easily tease." He said and my eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Who's LJ?" I asked

"My sister, she's all about stirr blade too, am good but that girl is pure evil at this game," he said with a proud look on his face. They must be close. 

"Is she here with you? Won't she be worried?" I asked. 

"I don't think so, she usually just sits around and waits for me to finish playing, unless she wants to mess with people's dogs," 

"Why would she want to mess with people's dogs?" 

"My sister is crazy like that. Half of the time she doesn't have a reason to do the things she does. But if it seems fun to her, she'll do it." He explains.

"Is she a brunette like you?" I don't know why I asked but I did and instantly regretted it when he sent me a smirk. 

"You crushing on my sister already," 

" no .am just curious,i don't even know her, " I defended and he laughed but kept his eyes on the game. 

"Her hair is hard to explain its brunette mostly but some of the middle parts are a deep auburn. It's pretty though." He laughed 

"Anything else you want to know," he added and I shoved him playfully.

"Nope" I replied , popping the "p" for emphasis and he laughed. 

"I'll tell you anyway."

"She has bluish grey eyes but when she's overwhelmed by an emotion they turn sea green, they're really nice, not as nice as mine though." He smirked and I scoffed but he carried on.

"She loves every pizza but pineapple and strawberry. According to her, it's offensive to put fruits on pizza. Strawberries belong in chocolate. And pineapples belong in pie," he said air quoting his words

"As it should, " I said, and he laughed. 

"She loves sneakers, basically any outfit that takes five minutes to throw on."

"It pisses our mom off. She wants her to act all lady-like but LJ is a hard nut to crack."

"Might change when she gets a boyfriend, girls do that alot reinvent themselves for a guy, I hope she doesn't though." I said and the boy laughed. He laughed so hard he had to  pause the game. 

"What's funny exactly?" I asked

"LJ..... boyfriend... funny," he said, trying so hard  to talk while laughing. 

"Ahh anyway LJ has never had a boyfriend, i don't know why because she's really pretty but she had this tendency of brozoning everyone that tried. That's what dad used to say. I remember our dad once set her up on a blind date with this boy rodney. And it was too funny ," 

"She didn't talk to dad for a week, then we found out that the guy kissed her and she literally ran away. So all that time she was just mad because she was embarrassed." 

"What I am trying to say is that she's awkward when it comes to boys. Especially guys she likes. LJ can talk non stop but when a guy she likes comes around, she gets awkward. She still talks but says all the wrong things, and I'd never worry about her changing for a boy, LJ is just LJ that's all you get." 

"I think i know what I want you to do when i win," he smirked and I scoffed 

"Yah good luck," 

***********************

Needless to say JJ beat me. Honestly I let him win because he's a kid and I was kinda curious on what he wanted me to do. 

We started walking back to where he left his sister and he started explaining what he wanted me to do. 

"So there's this Parent student dance at my school, my mom won't be able to do it, she's going to be away so she won't be able to practice, so LJ agreed she'd do it with me but my routine involves three people, so since you lost the bet, that's what you're going to do, you're going to dance with my sister and I." He said and looked at me  hopefully. 

"Am not really the best dancer, am going to embarrass you," 

"You can learn, LJ is a great dancer, we will teach you, come on please I want this to be perfect," 

"How is having a terrible dancer on your team going to make you perfect," I argue. 

"There's this thing called practice, people tend to do it to get great at stuff, plus if we completely fail with your dancing skills am pretty sure your looks will be a plus, just wink at the female judges," I gave him a face and we both laughed, that's seriously the stupidest thing I've heard a kid say. 

"What if you're sister for whatever reason, doesn't want me to dance with you guys?"

"Leave her to me. I know how to handle her,"  I tried to suppress the weird fuzzy feeling inside, it's been a while since I've done anything outside my comfort zone or interacted with total strangers, with all the shit going on in my life, I could use a destruction i would be lying If I said I wasn't a little excited.

" That's LJ, " he cried out and ran towards a girl that was crying on a bench not so far away from us.

Her hair was tied up in a messy bun. Her shorts were a loose fit making her legs appear much longer, and her skin  glowed under the sunlight. She looked familiar but I couldn't tell since her face was covered by her palms. 

"LJ, why are you crying?" JJ asked and the girl's head shot up. Beautiful sea green eyes analysing her brother before she ran up, hugging him as tight as her small body could.

JJ looked embarrassed and I stood  in shock. LJ was lia 

The one girl I couldn't figure out. The girl I secretly stared at when she wasn't looking. The girl that was dancing shirtless on my counter last Saturday. That was LJ. 

I guess I was so lost in thought I didn't notice when she looked at me. 

"Hunter," she said slowly. I guess she was still embarrassed about Saturday or that day she hit me with a book.

"Remember that  dance we're doing two weeks from now, Hunter agreed to be our third partner" The boy smiled and Lia's eyes widened in surprise before she started laughing humorlessly.

I bit my lip waiting for when it would kick in that JJ was actually serious.

"Oh shit," her face  dropped. 

There it is.