Chair in the Air (HAOIFEN#1)

Charms went by very slowly, probably because she was so hungry. Lunch was next and she hadn't eaten all day so she was eager to leave as soon as possible. Lalala, spells, lalala, groups, lalala Lyra slapping her in the face to stop her from staring at the clock any longer. Eventually, lunchtime arrived. After a small smile at Lyn, a dirty look at Lyra and a glare at Blake, Aoife had bounced out of her seat and she was skipping towards Hunter's desk.

"Lunch!" she beamed at her best friend. HER best friend. Not Seren's. And just to point that out, she smiled overly sweetly at Seren. And she still hadn't learned to raise her eyebrows properly, so she grabbed her eyebrows and lifted them up. It didn't have quite the same effect, but it would do. She really needed to learn how to raise her eyebrows, though, because it was a really useful skill.

Now hopefully Hunter would take the hint and hurry up. He'd been REALLY weird since that day before Christmas when they were playing quidditch and Aoife hit a bludger at his face. But it wasn't because she broke his nose, he must have some other reason. Still, she got him a Christmas present (an ice-cream voucher and a pink purse) and he hadn't said anything. They still ate together and stuff. So everything was FINE!

This thread is OPEN! Witnesses are good. Just wait a second until he actually asks her out though

It's got to be today, Hunter thought to himself as he sat in Charms, twirling his wand between his fingers. They were supposed to be working on their project for the last five minutes of class, but Hunter wasn't listening to whatever his group was talking about. Because today, he was going to ask Aoife to go to Hogsmeade with him. On a date. The word date sounded strange in his head - he'd never been on one before.

Hunter had been putting this moment off for over a week, and he had no idea how Aoife would react to what he was going to ask her. He didn't even know how he was going to ask her. He figured he'd just wing it when the time came. He didn't even register class ending, and only stirred from his thoughts when someone bounded over to him from another table. Of course, it was Aoife.

He glanced up at her from where he was sitting and flashed her a smile, ignoring the way his heart started to beat a bit faster when he looked at her. Of course, it was mostly because of what he was about to do. He wondered if she even still wanted to be friends with him after how he'd been treating her lately. He took a breath to calm himself. This was ridiculous - Hunter didn't get nervous. He was going to wait until they were out of the classroom at least, but he had the feeling that if he didn't say something now he would put it off for another day. So, he gathered his things and stood up, but didn't head for the door just yet.

"So, Aoife, I was thinking..." he said, trying to sound nonchalant as he shouldered his backpack. Just do it, he chided himself as he caught himself hesitating. "D'you want to go to Hogsmeade with me on Saturday?" That part was easy. She'd say yes to that in a heartbeat. They went to Hogsmeade plenty. The hard part was next. "As in, just us...?" Hunter let his sentence trail off, suddenly unable to go on any further. Maybe, if he left it there, she would just take it whichever way she liked. If she wanted to, she'd say yes and everything would be grand. And if she didn't, she had a way out. He was safe this way, right?

Cool, he got the message and quickly put his stuff away. Aoife rubbed her lip. She'd put lipstick on before classes this morning but now she'd wiped most of it off. The sleeve of her robe had a rather big, red lipstick mark on it. Why did she even still bother with this stuff? Although it was hard to admit and she didn't want to sound like she was boasting, she thought it looked good on her. So she put up with the annoying makeup on occasion. She didn't know how Seren did it. And Seren COATED her face in makeup!

Then he was talking and she was staring, unimpressed. Could they not just go and eat now? And he was totally wasting her time! The time she could be using to stuff her face with bacon! Could they go to Hogsmeade? "Yes, Hunter, of course we can go to Hogsmeade, LIKE we always do," she said patronizingly.

"Now, can we plea-" Hunter sometimes needed to shut up. The child talked too much. Aoife didn't much care what he had to say. WAIT. Just the two of them in Hogsmeade? Wasn't that what the stupid teenage boys asked their potential girlfriends at Hogwarts? So he was... joking? That was the joke? He was pretending to ask her out, right? "Haha," she croaked. She'd been scared for a minute there! "You aren't even funny."

Why was his face like that? Hunter couldn't act as well as that! He was untalented! Was he being SERIOUS? NO, he couldn't be! He wasn't a serious person! But he HAD to be being serious!

Yes, he was being serious. "Hunter, are you drunk?" she asked, stunned. "Did you get hold of firewhiskey and have lots and lots and lots of bottles?" That was the only plausible explanation for this MADNESS. "Oh! Are you going mad? Do we need to take you to the Hospital Wing and get you medicine?" Aoife was almost distracted from the matter at hand by thinking up theories. "Did someone cast an evil spell on you? What's it called again? Imperio? Is someone laughing at you now as they control what you're saying?"

WHAT WAS GOING ON? "THIS ISN'T YOU," she exclaimed, her tone hysterical, grabbing his shoulders and shaking them hard. Could she shake him out of this strange daze? In the corner of her eye, she could see Lyra looking on, disappointed. Then she was whispering something to Lyn. DID THEY KNOW SOMETHING?

So she said she'd go to Hogsmeade. Hunter had figured as much. He waited impatiently as she processed the rest of what he'd said, running a hand nervously through his hair. Why had he even asked her? He shouldn't have said anything at all. But who knew, maybe she'd say yes. Maybe she'd been having the same problem as him and hadn't been telling anybody either. And by asking her out he was actually relieving her of her huge secret.

Or not. She thought he was kidding. Now's the time to play it off. Just act like you're kidding, he told himself. But no, that would make the fact that he'd come so far useless. He wasn't a coward - he was going to see this through. "I'm not kidding," he told her, trying to keep his voice a bit low so as to not make a scene of it. "I want you to go with me to Hogsmeade." He still couldn't bring himself to say the word date, but he knew that by now the inflection in his voice was enough for her to understand.

But no, she still wasn't having it. When she asked him if he was drunk, he laughed a little incredulously. "I wish," he said, mostly to himself. That might make this moment a little more bearable. As Aoife continued to come up with excuses, her voice got progressively louder, and Hunter looked around quickly to see if anyone was looking. Of course they were, she was throwing a fit. "I'm not going crazy," Hunter said in exasperation, not sure what to do from here. "Or maybe I am - look, relax, you're practically screaming - "

Aoife cut him off, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him and practically shrieking that this couldn't be him. "Aoife!" he exclaimed, reaching up to grab both of her wrists. His hands wrapped around them as he tried to hold her still and hopefully subdue her meltdown. "Aoife, just calm down!" She seemed to be completely hysterical - Hunter silently prayed that she wouldn't start crying as well. Well, this is going well...

Hunter wanted her to go WITH him to Hogsmeade. "Yes, I heard what you said," she snapped, still looking a bit incredulous. Now HE was telling HER to calm down? Did she not have enough reason to be going absolutely mad? "Do not tell me to calm down," she finally decided on. She was more calm now anyway. At least, she wasn't screaming.

It was such a ridiculous idea. Her, Aoife O'Donnell, with him, Hunter VanDerberg, on... on a DATE. A DATE. A date was a romantic going-on between two people who were in love. That was gross. Hunter was supposed to be her best friend. If he wanted to be her... boyfriend... well... EW. It wasn't going to happen.

There was always that idea in muggle books and movies of letting down people who loved you gently. But in her opinion, Hunter didn't deserve that friendly treatment. Aoife was still too shocked to speak any more anyway. For the first time in forever, she felt like she could do with her sister's advice. Even SEREN could help her here. And she would never say that unless she REALLY meant it.

Then again, she wasn't Claire, or Seren. She was Aoife, and she shouldn't get asked out. She didn't say yes. She didn't say no. Suddenly overcome by more RAGE, she leaned down and picked up one of the chairs from Hunter's table. And then, with a crazed look in her eyes and a furious face, she threw it at Hunter.

THAT GIT.

Why? Why on earth had Hunter ever decided that this was a good idea? He should have known that Aoife would react this way. She really was as naive as she acted. And now everyone would be talking about the horrible scene they caused and how badly Hunter had been rejected. Hunter sighed in frustration and crossed his arms while he waited when she told him not to tell her to relax. But honestly, was the explosion really necessary?

Aoife looked as though he'd just asked her to solve some really hard math problem that had no answer. In a way, he almost felt bad for putting her in that position - that was before she decided to throw a chair at him.

"What the hell, Aoife?" Hunter exclaimed, his patience and temper finally snapping as a wooden chair came hurdling at him. Hunter ducked to his right just in time, and the chair caught his shoulder pretty hard but didn't hit him head on at least. Hunter heard an audible gasp from behind him as he rubbed his shoulder. "MADEMOISELLE O'DONNELL!" Professor LeBlanc squeaked from his desk. "Zis is preposterous be'avior! What 'as zis chair ever done to you to deserve zis kind of treatment?!"

But Hunter wasn't listening to the professor, who apparently cared more about the chair than the well-being of his students. Fuming, he rounded on Aoife, hoping to get in his share before she threw something else at him. "You could have just said no," he told her coldly. "That's what most people would do." But Aoife wasn't like most people. That wasn't the point. "Honestly, Aoife, you can't keep from growing up forever! It isn't the end of the world that somebody likes you, you know. And you can't really be that oblivious, because in case you've forgotten it was you that walked into school looking like - like that - with makeup and everything instead of like the Aoife I know!" The words came easily now, because the entire school basically knew by now anyway.

Hunter could hear his voice raising, but he didn't care. "We aren't first years anymore, in case you haven't noticed. Maybe you should try acting like it, rather than throwing chairs all over the place. I don't know why I even wanted to ask you out in the first place." That was supposed to be an insult, but Hunter figured she wouldn't take it that way. It didn't matter, it helped him feel better to release his frustration.

Honestly, Hunter had always stood up for Aoife when his other friends put her down. Maybe everyone else was right. Maybe she was just crazy - Hunter had expected her to hit him, but not this. Why was it, then, that he still wished that her answer had been yes. Surely this was enough to squash any feelings he thought he had for her. Well, it was definitely enough to stop him from ever trying again. He couldn't remember ever being angry with Aoife before, but right now he couldn't be angrier.

Morgana was sitting by her desk, trying to write down a few keywords on their project, unaware and completely fine with that until someone started yelling. Morgana looked up, not at all surprised to see that it was Aoife. The girl was a pain. She quickly understood that Hunter had asked her out on a date, and she had freaked. Why? Even Morgana wasn't stupid enough to freak out by that. She'd just say no. Easy.

But they were making a scene. Honestly, humans were so petty. So easily distraught. Pathetic. Morgana rolled her eyes and shut her book annoyed, not feeling the least bit sorry for Hunter, and not at all compassionate for Aoife. She just put her things in her backpack. And then a chair was thrown. And the professor shouted. Well, it was good to know professor Leblanc had his priorities straight. Not that it mattered. He was just a professor. An annoying one at that.

She could tell by their looks that Hunter was obviously hurt by the lack of sentiment from Aoife, and that Aoife was just plainly shocked to the core. And so confused. Oh really, Morgana almost had to laugh at the ignorance of these idiots. She didn't, though. She simply zipped up her backpack and threw it over her shoulder. And then she walked straight past them, not bothering with this stupidity, and not looking back to see how it all ended. It really didn't interest her.

Her face remained cold and unimpressed, but the anger faded a little bit, now that she’d threw a chair at him. Aoife wondered if it had hurt him. Probably not, he seemed alright. She wasn’t entirely sure whether she should be relieved or annoyed. Obviously she didn’t want to kill him, that was mean, but to severely injure him? That wouldn’t be so bad. Unfortunately, she’d forgotten that the professor was in the room. Now wasn’t the time for his concerns about furniture, but she’d deal with it. “Sorry Monsieur!” she called, giving him a little apologetic wave. Then she picked up the chair and gave it a friendly pat. “Sorry Mr Chair. I think he’s alright!”

Now, back to the important things. This point would be a good time to leave and hide, but she wasn’t the type of person to be weak like that. And Hunter was starting an amusing little rant, which she was interested in hearing. So she could roll her eyes at and make corrections. Because she was like that. “Oh, I’m SORRY.” Saying no? Boring. It was too late now anyway. She was hardly going to genuinely apologise to Hunter after what he’d done, the git.

“You think I haven’t grown up? Isn’t that the whole point of this? I started wearing makeup so you ASK ME OUT?” she began. If she hadn’t grown up, what had happened to her? “People change, Hunter! If you aren’t mature enough to accept and understand that, you’ve got no chance with anyone!” Except Seren, but she was just desperate. “And I’ve hardly changed, anyway! It’s LIPSTICK!” Sticky red stuff! Why should that make any difference to anything?

If Hunter hadn’t opened his enormous mouth, they could be eating right now. As best friends, just like before. Everything had been fine a few hours ago. Suddenly, she didn’t feel that hungry anymore.

First she was all grown up, now she was a first-year? Wasn’t Aoife meant to be the controversial, messed up Cancer? Just proved the Divination crap was… well, crap. “First years don’t even throw chairs!” she burst out. Nobody threw chairs except her. Other than dramatic muggle singers at award shows. It was unfair of him to compare her to those children. “No, I don’t get it either! So why did you even bother? Did you really think there was a chance I’d be ecstatic and say yes straight away?” No. Gross.

Aoife was still convinced that she was in some huge prank that the whole class was in on. She glanced around the room, for any support at all. A load of people had left. Seren was leaving. There was no point in her being here anymore either. But where would she go? She wasn’t hungry and everyone else would be at lunch. There was always her dormitory. Yes, she would just camp out there and skip classes for the afternoon. Then she wouldn’t have to see Hunter or Blake or anyone. It was perfect.

So dramatic storming out. She shot Hunter one last disgusted, slightly disappointed look and started awkwardly shuffling to the door. Ah. Very dramatic.

"I didn't ask you because of the makeup," Hunter said coldly. "But why do you even bother wearing it, if you don't want people to notice?" Honestly, she acted like it was such a sin that he'd taken notice of her! And she acted as though he was really shallow enough to only ask her because she looked different! Didn't she realize how long he'd thought about this? How much he'd turned the idea over in his head?

"And wearing makeup doesn't mean you've grown up. Clearly." This whole scenario proved that. What was she talking about? She'd changed, but not enough to not have a meltdown and throw a chair at someone when they treated her like a fourteen-year-old instead of an eleven-year old? Or maybe it was just that she didn't want to go out with him specifically. Hunter hadn't considered that possibility, and he felt his confidence falter a bit more.

But there wasn't time to think on it right now, because Aoife was patronizing him now. Agreeing that she wasn't sure why he bothered and asking him if he really thought it would work out that easily. "Because I'd hoped there was a chance!" Hunter exclaimed in exasperation. "I don't know why, I should have known you'd do something like this. I should've just kept avoiding you, I would've been better off!" Well, he'd sure be avoiding her now!

His frustration finally getting the best of him, Hunter decided that he was done with this. If Aoife wanted to be that way, then he wasn't going to waste his time. With an angry huff, he turned and stormed for the door - unfortunately, Aoife seemed to have the same idea at the exact same time, and Hunter just ended up slamming into her. "Damn it," he swore, reaching out instinctively to catch her by the arm and steady her. Then, realizing what he was doing, he let go, gave her a cold look, and left the classroom.

When he got outside, he made a quick turn in the direction that had less people, just wanting to get away from everybody. His anger was building and the moment he was out of sight, he released it by slamming his fist hard into a door - "Argh!" he exclaimed loudly as his knuckles made contact. Apparently, solid oak doors weren't good targets for pent up frustration, and since he couldn't move his fingers now, he was fairly certain that he'd crushed his hand. But at least now he could focus on his hand and not what had just happened.

Lyra knew it was going to happen sooner or later. The Haoife movement. But she hadn’t expected it to turn out like this. Maybe Lyn was right. Maybe Senter was meant to happen and Haoife was just unrealistic. Although for once, she didn’t particularly care that her sister was right about something. She was too worried about both Hunter and Aoife. Did she have to pick a side? They might both see it as a betrayal if she was hovering between the two of them. No, she shouldn’t be worrying about this. It was their fight and she didn’t need to get involved.

It was sort of cute how Hunter awkwardly asked Aoife out. She watched from a distance, almost dying from the adorableness that had to come next. But then it didn’t come. It was a huge argument with mean remarks and, eventually, a chair thrown. Oh no! Before, they’d been cute best friends. But if Haoife really had no chance, all that was gone. The redhead would never visit their house at summer again. The awkward tension whenever the two were in a room together would be too much.

There was still time. Still time for Hunter to realise that he didn’t regret asking Aoife. And for Aoife to realise that she was unconditionally and hopelessly in love with him. For now, though, Lyra was just going to grab a sandwich in the Great Hall and think about this complicated romantic stuff when she was no longer hungry.

This was not happening Blake kept repeating to himself as he wondered who put Hunter up to this. Jack probably, Blake told himself as he refrained from banging his head on the desk or physically dragging Hunter away from Aoife. Things weren't going too smoothly for Hunter anyway as he seemed to slowly be digging a hole for himself. Ever hear of quitting while you're ahead? But eventually Aoife caught on and things just seemed to snowball from there. But what else could Hunter expect? Was Aoife even capable of loving? But then seeing her crushed and confused face as she left the room made Blake nearly stop in his tracks as he himself stood confused on his way out the door after Hunter. There was no smug looks or grinning faces that time, he just stared pitifully at her. But Blake realised he had loyalties with Hunter once they both had stormed off and damage control was needed quick, so he rushed out of the classroom after his best friend.

Blake caught up with Hunter just in time to watch him break his hand off a door. Maybe he should have got there sooner. Blake really didn't know what to say or do. Maybe just being there was good enough for his friend, he knew telling him I told you so about Aoife O' Donnell wouldn't have gone down well either.

"Hard luck man." Blake said, swinging an arm around Hunter's shoulders and leading him away from the door, or any wall which could cause even more damage. He hoped Hunter didn't mind his company. He didn't feel like getting punched in the face but there was no way he could leave him to self destruct either. "I suppose a trip to the hospital wing was due." Blake sighed dramatically. "How long has it been since your last visit? It must have been a record." Blake said trying to make light of the situation and show his friend that he didn't think any less of him for asking Aoife out, never mind the whole being turned down by her. Blake didn't feel any better after Aoife turned down Hunter, he just felt bad, but maybe the relief would come later. He supposed it was hard to feel good when his friend just got a chair thrown at him. Seren was right, Aoife was a psychopath, but Blake still couldn't get the forlorn look out of his head.

Hunter was still too focused on the shooting pain in his hand to pay attention to anything around him. He'd wanted to release his frustration through his punch, but it didn't do much good. What had he done? He didn't notice Blake approaching until he'd hooked him and started steering him back down the corridor. Hunter followed along beside his friend, but was still too worked up to really pay much attention to him. He lifted his arm so that he could inspect his hand, and didn't even flinch at the blood leaking from his knuckles. "I guess that was a pretty stupid thing to do, huh?" he said irritably, though he wasn't sure himself if he was talking about asking Aoife out or punching the door.

When Blake spoke next, Hunter made an attempt to listen. Blake was joking with him - Hunter wasn't in the mood to joke about anything. Another wave of anger rushed through him, but he forced it down. He shouldn't be angry. One of his biggest concerns before he'd talked to Aoife was what Blake would think of his decision. He should be glad that Blake was still acting like his best friend - he hardly needed to lose two of those today. So he decided to keep his anger directed at Aoife and not Blake, and replied a little stiffly. "Not quite a record, I just went last week. When Aoife - " Damn it. But he'd already started. "When I broke my nose," he amended in a weaker voice, staring down at the floor as they walked.

Hunter sighed in frustration and looked over at Blake apologetically. "Thanks," he said. He wasn't sure why he was thanking him. For not making fun of him? For not hating him? For preventing him from punching any more solid objects, maybe? And suddenly, he felt like he owed his friend an explanation.

"Look, mate, I'm sorry I didn't tell you," he said, running his not-maimed hand distractedly through his hair. "I was just afraid of what you would think, I know how much you can't stand her - " Words were hard right now. There was too much else to think about. "I should have, though, you would have knocked some sense into me." Why did he feel so tired and just - just unhappy, all of a sudden. It was a strange feeling, really. Hunter was always in a cheerful mood, always wanted a good laugh. It was strange to feel as though he would punch the next person who rubbed him the wrong way - with his good hand, of course.

Well...That had happened. They were done with class, and Ariel's friend Hunter had asked Aoife out. The girl that gave a lot of hugs, and she completely freaked and threw a chair at Hunter. That was something to see, and definitely not something you'd see everyday.

She looked up at Peeves who was still holding his chair in the air, and even he didn't know how to react to that. In the end, Hunter ended up punching a door, and Aoife ended up throwing the chair and apologizing to it...even weirder. As Hunter left, she thought to herself, "I guess class is dismissed?"

"Well you know I've seen you do stupider." Blake gave a slightly forced laughed, trying to shrug off the fact that Hunter's hand appeared to be crushed right now. Hell, he had done stupider, but asking out Aoife had to be the worst. "Ehm you sure that's ok?" Blake asked, but then he supposed Hunter was still running on adrenaline. The pain would probably come soon and it probably wouldn't hurt half as bad at the rejection.

"Here listen man I know it's soon and all that but.." Yes, what were you thinking were you under the Imperius Curse or something or did you just suffer concussion from the last bludger I hit at you? Blake wanted to say and still shake some sense into his friend by completely knocking the whole notion of even ever being friends with Aoife again from Hunter's mind. But he slowly inhaled and exhaled knowing now was not the time for that, unfortunately. He felt like punching the wall himself when Hunter decided to ask Aoife out and continue on with the ludicrous idea even when the girl didn't get it at all. That was his escape, he should have taken it!

"It's alright, man I get you. Look I know you might not want to here this right know but there's always someone else. There's some great girls in our year." He added hopefully at the end, with an apologetic look. He had never seen Hunter like this before and didn't know how he would react to his suggestion. He was making Blake slightly awkward and he didn't know what was the best way to deal with it. He could in no way help him win back Aoife even as a friend, it went against everything in his nature or so that's what he had instilled in himself since his first meeting with the girl. He was trying to be nice about it and just avoid the whole why did you ask out Aoife in the first place topic. He definitely had nothing kind to say about that. And the more he thought about it the more he realised how it was a bad idea. Never mind the overall idea, just where he did it. He actually did feel bad for Aoife, he did it in front of everyone. Had the boy no brain?

Hunter snorted humorlessly at Blake's words. "I don't know about that," he said evenly. Had he really done stupider? Hunter had done a lot of stupid things in the past, but at the moment he couldn't think of one thing that surpassed this moment. And then Blake was saying something else - "What?" Hunter said dully, before catching what his friend was saying and looking once more down at his hand. "Oh, that. No, actually I'm pretty sure I crushed it," he grunted, a wave of pain finally shooting through his knuckles. It had been there the whole time, really, but Hunter hadn't focused much on it until now. And now it hurt like hell!

"Damn," Hunter swore, wincing at the pain. "At least I know I've got a good punch, right?" he joked a little darkly. But it really wasn't funny at all. "I'm an idiot," he added with a defeated sigh, still following Blake without really thinking about where he was going. He definitely was an idiot. But hadn't Aoife overreacted a little too much? Yes, definitely.

He looked over at Blake when he started talking again, this time focusing on his friend's words. What was he saying? There were other girls. Hunter had never really thought about other girls - he was surprised enough that he'd thought about Aoife. "Yeah, I guess you're right," Hunter said finally, his mind running over the other girls he knew. Seren, Victoria. Ariel. They were all fine. But Hunter didn't get the feeling with any of them that he had with Aoife. But maybe that was just because he didn't spend as much time with them. Looking down at his hand again, Hunter made a face from the pain again. "Guess I can't avoid a trip to the hospital wing, then? I'm pretty much a regular there."

Blake wanted to say "yes. You are an idiot." But once again he refrained. Hunter wasn't himself at all. His mood seemed to plummet as soon as his face fell when Aoife rejected him. Blake was beginning to see first hand what this whole dating businesses was like and he was wondering if it was really worth the effort.

Blake chose not to respond to Hunter as he really couldn't think of anything more to say and all he was getting was sarcastic remarks or doom and gloom from Hunter anyway. He'd try again later once Hunter got his hand fixed up. At least Hunter didn't punch him too once he suggested that maybe Aoife wasn't the only girl in the universe. Good thing too, Hunter did not need another broken hand because if punching his face didn't break it he would've done it for him. Ok, that was a bit harsh his friend was hurting and obviously heart broken. He'd just break a finger.

Obviously Hunter had not being paying attention to where they were going and was too busy caught up in his own pain to notice that he was bringing him to the Hospital Wing. Did he honestly think he was bringing him to the Great Hall for dinner?

Blake stopped outside the door, knowing Hunter could go in himself as he had done on previous occasions and he was also hungry and hoped to make the end of dinner. "So I'll see you later?" Blake said kind of awkwardly, wondering if Hunter was even listening to him.

Blake wasn't talking anymore, and Hunter supposed he couldn't blame him. Really, he didn't notice all that much anyway. He was too busy either thinking about what had just happened or focusing on the pain in his hand. So did it really matter if Blake was talking to him? Not really. Because nothing that his friend said could fix anything - although his words about moving on lingered in Hunter's head. Maybe he was right. Maybe that was the best way to deal with this. But Hunter couldn't think about that right now.

After walking in silence for a bit, Blake finally slowed them to a halt. Hunter looked over at him in confusion, but then actually made an effort to look around himself and recognized where they were. Blake had been leading him to the hospital wing! In truth, Hunter couldn't even remember exiting the dungeons - he hadn't been paying the slightest bit of attention. Had they really been walking that whole time? Apparently, they had.

Hunter nodded when Blake said he'd see him later, not really picking up on the awkwardness of the moment. An awkward moment between him and Blake was the least of Hunter's problems now, and he wasn't really focusing enough on what was going on around him to find it awkward anyway. "Yeah," Hunter said, grabbing the handle of the hospital wing door and pushing it open. "And mate?" Hunter added before leaving. "Thanks." And with that, he slipped into the hospital wing with the intention of avoiding everyone for pretty much the rest of his life.