Chapter 16 - KMCF

It was dark. My eyes were shut. I could feel the beams of sunlight spread all over my face. I separated my lips a little before I moved my head slightly away from the starting point of the pillow. I set about to open my eyes, but they weren't ready for the tsunami of bright colors. I quickly shut them, I preferred them closed anyway, it allowed me to savor the sweet solace of my bed. The thick bed covers were cool and perfect enough for my picky needs, but they smelled different. Like brand new clothes with a touch of cologne whereas they usually were supposed to smell like my shampoo and my Midnight perfume by Ralph Lauren.

I didn't mind at all, I easily brushed my suspicion aside. One by one my senses began to awaken and I could feel something or someone in my bed. Could it be Ozzy? Tired of all the intuitions, I rolled over to lay on my back and as I was doing so, my shoulder hit against a form. Sort of like a hard muscle? I promptly sat up, it was all too freaky, I rubbed my eyes to get a better view. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"Hunter?" I wondered with every bit of astonishment attached.

He was resting on his stomach with his head smashed against a plump pillow. He looked incredibly handsome, his hair was sprinkled throughout the pillow. The sun highlighted his beautiful facial structure and gentle lips . He smiled slyly and yawned, "morning."

"Don't morning me, what's going on?" I spewed. I looked around the room and you couldn't really tell it was a man's room, there weren't any personal decorations. It appeared to be more like a hotel room, only it smelled like fresh laundry and the cologne section at Macy's. I quickly scurried out of his bed and that's when I got even more worried. My clothes were scattered along the floor, the only things I didn't see where my bra, panties and Hunter's clothes.

"You really don't remember?" He inquired as he whipped the comforter off of his body. I noticed he was wearing the same clothes from yesterday, but there was no persuasion from that.

"Remember what?" I finally acknowledged what I was wearing, a dress shirt, that was obviously not mine. It fell down to my mid-thigh and wasn't fully buttoned. I was alarmed.

"Did we ..?" I trailed off, I was too abashed to say more.

He swayed his head negatively. "No. Someone drank a little bit too much and ended up drunk." He eyed me directly.

My hands shielded my face from the shame I was experiencing. "You're kidding, right?"

"Nope. I have a video, would you like to see it?" I could hear the amusement in his voice.

"No, that's even worse. Please just tell me what I did. What exactly happened-" I paused. "Did you change me?"

"You took off your clothes all I did was put on the shirt."

"Did you see?" I wrapped my arms around my body like it'd protect my dignity.

"I tried not to," his eyes flickered in some way, lust?

I sat near the bottom corner of his bed. This was all too overwhelming, I could barely remember last night and I may never truly know what exactly occurred. I drink, but I hardly get drunk and frankly, I detested it. The past couple times I was able to gain memory within minutes of waking up, but I felt like this time would be different. I rubbed my temples and sighed. "Why don't I have a hangover? " I murmured to myself.

"I got you to take Advil, it's really effective when it comes to alcohol." He fell backwards onto his bed and yawned once more.

I perked an eyebrow. "You got drunk Jen to take a pill?" I snickered. I had been told that I was genuinely difficult to deal with when it came to anything liquor, so of course, Hunter's words were like a foreign language to me.

"Considerably, I had to negotiate. I proposed blueberry pancakes and you, a kiss." His eyes were closed so I couldn't interpret his expression exactly, the only thing that helped was the smile resting on his face.

"I did not." I uttered in disbelief.

"Oh, believe me, you did. You ended up going with the pancakes though, but now that you're sober, I hope the other offer still stands." He sat up to take hold of my annoyed expression.

I jokingly gave him a punch on his arm as he laughed softly. "It doesn't." I glared at him.

He stood up before saying, "how about we go brush our teeth and then I'll make you the pancakes drunk Jen wanted?" I nodded in reply and he ruffled my hair before leading me into his bathroom.

I used his spare brush as we childishly fought over who stood in front of the mirror. After we were done, I put on my shorts and drew out my phone from my back pocket. I left my top aside only because the dress shirt Hunter provided smelled like him and made me feel comfy.

We walked into the kitchen only to encounter a mess waiting to be discovered. Once Hunter told me I caused the mess, I felt obligated to cleaning it up. The mess only consisted of pots, pans, and kitchen utensils. I was prepared to wash them since they were on the floor all night and Hunter began to put the batter together.

I was done and that allowed me to catch Hunter putting blueberries into the mix, I watched him carefully until he saw me staring. "Don't go around selling my recipe." He scolded me in a clownish tone.

"Mind I remind you, I own a clothing store, not an iHop." I returned.

He simply shrugged. "You're a tricky one, sometimes it's hard to tell with you." He scooped out some butter and flicked it onto the pan.

I rolled my eyes at him, brushing off his comment. "Look who's talking." Right when the butter had completely melted he poured in some pancake batter. It forged a nice medium circle. As we were waiting Hunter brushed off a small bit of batter onto my cheek.

"Hey!" I glared. I touched the little droplets of water that were in the kitchen sink and splashed them onto him. He stopped laughing after that and then, I began to express joy.

In an instant, a ringing sound came about. I grew startled, Hunter reassured me when he said, "it's just the buzzer." He pressed the intercom button after he walked near the door.

"Guess who it is?" A feminine voice sang through the mic. I tried to focus on flipping the pancake even though I could feel my jealousy stirring.

"I can see you, Laura. There's a camera outside." He smiled somewhat. I don't know why that hurt my heart, but it managed. We weren't a couple, then what gave me the right to be jealous?

"Oh." She sounded disappointed, but sprinkled it with humor.

He chuckled as he opened up the door. "Come in."

She walked in, she looked around, but not for long meaning she was unable to notice I was in the kitchen.

She turned to Hunter with a bright smile, perhaps even brighter than her blonde hair. I wished she wasn't beautiful, cross that. I wish she wasn't gorgeous. She was a little brusque, but the girl had curves. She had on a black, highwaisted pencil skirt and might I add, they accentuated her curves unbelievably. She wore a casual silk top and little to no makeup. Whereas I had on an oversized shirt and shorts that were concealed underneath. Not to mention my hair was in a delirious state.

"I didn't think you'd be here this early," Hunter stated. He made it seem like I wasn't here, that played bad and good for me. Good, I wasn't ready to be introduced to a woman who raised my levels of jealousy nor did I want her to see me in skimpy clothing. Bad, I wanted him to give me some type of recognition before talking to her openly.

"I can't believe you've known me for this long and still don't know I'm an over achiever?" She raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

I dumped the delicious pancake onto a plate discreetly trying hard not to draw attention. Until my phone rang loudly, which caused the two to stare in my direction.

I smiled awkwardly. What would you have expected me to do? Give her a welcoming hug? I declined the request for a phone conversation and returned to the awkward conversation I was bound to have.

"Laura, this is my childhood friend, Jennifer." Hunter introduced.

Childhood friend..

She looked at me with kind eyes, something I wasn't expecting. Though she was taken back by my appearance. "Hi," she said.

"And Jen, this is my hotel manager, Laura Thomson." He addressed.

"Hi." I smiled politely.

"My work room is the room at the end of that hallway. I'll join you soon." He pointed out the directions after noticing she had a black carrier hooked onto her shoulder and files secured in her hands. She nodded and walked towards her destination.

Once she was out of sight and hear, we looked towards each other.

"Jen-" He started, but was completely cut off. My phone rang again, I wondered who was trying to hard to ruin my moments.

I glimpsed at my screen.

Call from .. Miranda

I picked up my phone and brought it close to my ear. "Hello?"

"Jen! Where the hell have you been? I've been calling you for hours!" She shouted into the phone, but there was no trace of anger or rage.

"I'm sorry, I-"

"Okay, whatever I forgive you. I need to tell you something!" She squealed in excitement.

"Tell me what?"

"No, I can't tell you through the phone. This is no ordinary news, I need to tell you in person. So, get your ass over here!" Even though I couldn't see Miranda, I could easily tell how enthusiastic she seemed.

I sighed with a smile pressed on my face. I looked at Hunter, he was in the middle of flipping another perfectly shaped pancake. "Okay, Okay. I'll be there in thirty."

"Make it fifteen, you're two hours late for work. You're lucky I'm in such a good mood to look past that."

I hung up after giving her my occasional "byes". I couldn't believe I was two hours late for work, this was unacceptable I was becoming worse than Rocxy.

"That was Miranda, I'm two hours late for work." I raked my fingers through my hair in remiss.

"I understand." He sounded almost disappointed. "I have some work to catch up with anyway."

I looked at him for a few more seconds. That's it? That was all I got, he was willing to throw me away. Probably because he had a smoking hot woman to keep him company.

"Okay, I'll go get my stuff and head out." I pointed my thumb behind me before following its direction. I unbuttoned Hunter's dress shirt and neatly laid it on his bed. I slipped on my shirt, looked for my sandals, found them, and left his room.

When I got to the front door, Hunter stood near it being the cause that made it open. "You'll miss out on the world's best pancakes."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "Only in your dreams. Give them to Laura, you two can enjoy them together." I stitched on a plastic smile.

"Jen-" I figured he saw through me, so I cut him off. I wasn't going to listen to something I was easily going to brush off.

"I'll see you later." I attempted to walk past him, but I felt a tug on my wrist.
"Hunter, I'm late."

I didn't turn around to face him, I didn't want to act stubborn and rude, but I did. She was going to be with him all day, I wasn't. I was worried, he had a past with multiple women and she could be one of them. What if having her near him awakened the past, he was trying to conceal.

"I don't care. What's wrong?" He was upset.

I looked at him. "Nothing," I murmured.

"Jennifer," He used my full name, I must've really dismayed him. He stared at my face waiting for the answer I wasn't going to give. He then sighed. "Fine." He took out a twenty dollar bill. "Here, this is for a taxi."

I wanted to testify against him once he placed the money in my hand, but I remembered that I didn't have any cash on me. "Thanks."

I felt his gaze on me as I walked down the hallway, only it didn't last long since I had to enter the elevator. I closed my eyes the entire ride, I felt terrible and stupid. I didn't even feel like sending back a rude remark to the snotty receptionist. I whistled for a cab and drove to Anders.

** **

I walked into Anders with my head up, I didn't want anyone to think something was wrong. I saw Miranda conversating with a tall, tanned, toned dark haired man. Rocxy was attending to some customers, but it didn't stop her from eyeing the mysterious man.

"Look who decided to show up," Miranda said jokingly when she noticed me. The man looked at me and he was incredibly handsome. He had caramel colored eyes that complemented his nicely placed facial hairs. His hair was pulled into a low ponytail because of its length. With all that aside, I took a good look at him and interpreted that I had met him before. "Jen, I'm sure you can tell who this is."

I was just in a gloomy mood, my mind wasn't ready to dig up old memories. I shook my head, "no, sorry."

The man laughed. "It's okay. It's been a while, so I wouldn't expect you to remember me so quickly. Plus, I look quite different from before." He had a slight Spanish accent, but it helped with the sexiness that was oozing out of him.

"Sorry. I still can't remember." I gave up.

"Oh, for Christ's sake! This is taking too long." Miranda jumped in. "This is Marcos Martinez."

Marcos Martinez.

His name rang in my head for a long time until it finally came to me. Marcos Martinez was one of my friends from college. Back then, he was still good looking, only it didn't stand out much due to the many others who held the same title. He was destined to be a fashion designer, if you ever had laid eyes on his work. We were close along with Miranda, but the real world forced us to follow different paths.

My eyes expanded in surprise, "Marcos!" I smiled brightly. I pulled him into an instant friendly hug. "What are you doing here?"

He looked over at Miranda. "Remember that promise he made?" Miranda spoke. I shook my head in rejection. "You seem to be forgetting everything, are you sure you didn't bump your head somewhere?"

I stuck my tongue at her, she rolled her eyes. "Do you see what I have to deal with, Marcos?" He chuckled at her response.

"You two never changed." He gave us a nostalgic smile. "I promised that if my first clothing line was extremely successful, then I'd have my second one be exclusively sold in your store, if you ever had one."

"I thought you were joking," I stared at him.

"So did I," Miranda said. "But, are you joking Marcos?"

"No, I'm serious." He grabbed a luxurious invitation card from a nearby table. "Here."

Miranda and I took the card from his hold, we looked at it together. "What's this?" I asked.

"A VIP access to my fashion show and after party this Saturday." From his grin, I could tell how proud he was. He was able to create something that benefited many and now he gets to share it with the people who helped make his future clear. "I'm not going to force you to sell my line, that depends on if you like it."

"It won't depend on anything, of course we'll like-"

"Hello!" Rocxy barged into the conversation and interrupted Miranda's sentence. "Who might you be?"

Marcos shook her stretched out hand while he smiled a little. "Marcos Martinez, you?"

"Rocxy. Spelled with a c and an x," she winked flirtiously. Miranda and I rolled our eyes. "Oh, my bad. I didn't notice you two." She pretended to be shocked.

"Mm, sure. If you don't mind Roxcy, we're in the middle of a conversation with Mr. Martinez." Miranda informed, only she was agitated.

"That's okay, I have to go anyway. I have an important meeting to get to." He ruffled my and Miranda's hair, it reminded me of Hunter and I got upset again, but I didn't let it show. He walked towards the exit and we followed.

"And I'm so sorry that Rocxy's failing attempts to get a date with you is scaring you away." Miranda smirked as she watched Roxcy's reaction.

Roxcy faked a smile and giggle in such a disturbing manner, I almost gagged. "Oh, Miranda, you've always been such a kidder."

"Okay.." Marcos awkwardly trailed off, which gained a little laugh from me. "I hope to see you two there," he winked as he waved goodbye.

We waved back and watched the good-looking Hispanic leave Anders.

"Okay, back to work!" Miranda ordered, emphasized by the clapping of her hands. Rocxy and I groaned loudly before walking past her. "Except for you, Jen."

** **

*In the two pictures, the bearded man is Marcos Martinez and the blonde woman is Laura Thomson.

-PulchGradeur