the only promise that remains ,

[hunter trent]

The stupid little blinking cursor thing was mocking him, he just knew it. It was like it was daring him to type another word, and insulting him, saying that no matter what it was, it was going to be shit that he would backspace anyway. Hunter hated the stupid thing, and yet he couldn’t seem to look away from the blank page of the word document with is damn blinking cursor. He had just been on one hell of a writing streak the night before, adding a full two chapters to this novel that he was working on. He hadn’t been able to write for awhile, what with his school work, his job, and trying to do what he could for Kade and get some time with Anna in between all of that. When Hunter got home in the evenings, he would do what work he absolutely had to have done for his college courses, and then would go directly to bed. He did not pass go, nor did he collect the two-hundred dollars. He got what sleep he could before his alarm clock started with it’s annoying shrill the next morning, and then he’d get up and have to do it all over again. Hunter was glad to help out his older brother when he could, and his shift had just gotten a little lighter with the additions of Micah Orsino and Tyler Durden on the staff, but there was still his class work to do. Hunter was good at what he was doing, though, and could usually pull something out of his ass at the last minute, turn it in, and get top marks on it. His job at Jared’s is what really ate up his time in the evenings, but the bar needed employees, and Hunter didn’t mind having some extra money in his wallet at all. It was his goal to be out of his parents’ house this summer an into a place of his own. Having that extra money would help him achieve it.

Right now was just a spare moment he had early one morning. Hunter had been up half of the night typing away. This morning, he had gone back and reread it, and was surprised that all but three lines had survived the delete button. Now, it was like he had reached a block. There was still a lot to write about, but the words just weren’t coming to him like they usually did. He sighed, leaning back in his computer chair, still staring at the screen and the little black, blinking cursor. “Which dress do you like better?” What? Hunter turned his head, looking to his bedroom door where his mother was standing, holding up a dark, navy blue dress on a hanger in one hand, and a black, jewel accent number in the other. ”Honestly, Mom, I don‘t think either would be too flattering on me.” Hunter knew very well that she wasn’t questioning him about these dresses because she had it in her head for him to wear one, but it was always fun to joke. Marion shot him a look, and Hunter just grinned. ”Why are you asking me to pick out a dress?” he asked, turning his chair so that he was facing his mother. “Because one of my pictures has won an award, and the ceremony is tonight. I need to know which one, and you’re the only other person in the house, so tell me your opinion from a man’s view point.” Hunter just looked at his mother for a moment. He knew damn well that she wouldn’t have dared asked Robert, because he wouldn’t have been any help. Rob would have told Marion to pick the one she wanted, not wanting to make a wrong choice or say something that a woman might take the wrong way. If Kade were around, she might have asked him, but then she would have come and checked her oldest son’s choice with Hunter’s. That’s the way it had been since the boys were old enough for their opinions to not be worthless.

Hunter looked at the dresses. This wasn’t anywhere near his area of expertise, but he did have his own opinions about that sort of thing. Blondes were okay with black, but the brunettes pretty well owned the color unless it was a darker blonde color. Marion’s hair was still a beautiful, soft blonde, not too bright but not too dark. Besides, everyone wore black. ”Go with the blue.” “Are you sure?” ”Positive.” Marion looked down at the dress, then back to Hunter. “Thanks, Hunt. I better get to work on finding your father’s suit, and then packing, then.” ”Packing?” “Yes. It’s a three hour drive, and I don’t see me or your father driving that long so late at night. You’ll be on your own tonight. Think you can handle it, or should I call Kade and see if he can baby sit?” Marion just beamed at her joke, and Hunter just sat there, kind of insulted, but knowing that his mother was joking. Besides, everyone was trying to baby sit Kade these days, even though he hated it. If Kade came over, Hunter wouldn’t be alone, but they would be constantly bickering over what Kade could do for himself and what Hunter could do for him. That knee of Kade’s was really worrying everyone, them able to see how weak it was as their friend and brother walked, and how much pain he was in even when he tried to hide it. Brit was doing a good job with Kade, though. Hunter would leave her to it. ”No, I think I’ll be okay.” Marion laughed and then made her exit, going down the stairs and back to her room. Hunter was once again left alone, his dark chocolate hued eyes moving to the clock on his computer screen. He sighed again. It was time to get to his one class he had today, and it wasn’t one that he was particularly fond of. He saved his word document and shut the computer down, then grabbed his car keys, his book bag, shrugged a coat on over his shoulder, found his shoes, and then he was off.

The class was extremely boring, the professor droning on and on about the set up of the American government. Hunter should have been taking notes, but instead, he was doodling on his paper. He could go home, read the chapter for himself, and make a nice little outline for when he would actually need it. There wasn’t really a clear picture in what he was drawing because he was doodling for the purpose of looking like he was taking notes, being careful to look up every now and then to make it seem like he was listening. His mind was wondering, though, from one thing to another. There was the whole Kade thing, then there was the work thing. There was also the Tyler thing, her coming back to Seattle after being away for a little over two years. Of course, the whole Seattle looking like Fate thing was also there to think about. Micah and Tish coming to the city was really something, and Hunter didn’t know what to make of it. Micah was an aimless traveler, so that Hunter could understand. Tyler had lived here once, so Hunter could also understand that one. It was Tish’s sudden arrival on the scene that had him baffled, and kind of concerned. The girl caused nothing but trouble, and she was sure to make a mess of whatever she could. It was then that his mind went to Anna, and he suddenly felt very guilty. She should have been the first thing on his mind, and he felt even worse when he realized that he hadn’t spoken to her in almost two days. This was the girl that he loved, and he was doing nothing short of neglecting her.

Hunter was still as in love with Anna as he had ever been, feeling no distance coming between them in that area at all. When they were together, or when they were talking, he knew that she still loved him and that he was in love with her just the same as he had always been. If anything, he was more in love with the girl for being so patient with him and for helping with everything that had been going on recently. And how did he show it? By not doing one damn thing. That was just upsetting. It was then that Hunter got his cell phone out of his book bag and sent her a text message, saying a simple, “good morning” with a little smiley added after it. Hunter wasn’t concerned about the professor anymore. He had moved to the front of the room to the podium instead of at his desk at the side where Hunter was in plain view. During lecture, he never asked questions, so Hunter was safe. He didn’t know what class Anna would be in at the high school, but he knew that she wouldn’t care about his texting her no matter what class she was in. She sent a text back, and that was what Hunter did for the remainder of his class. There conversation was getting a little bit dirty by the end of it, but that was just Hunter and Anna for you. She was still in a class, so Hunter couldn’t call her as he made his way out of the college and out into the cool Seattle air. He sent her a text then, telling her that she should come over to his house later on that evening. Of course she said that she would, and they ended their conversation with I love you messages, and Hunter didn’t feel so bad about everything then. He would make this evening a good one to make up for not being around as much and to thank her for being as great as she was.

That meant he had some shopping to do. Anna had this one type of chocolate that she absolutely loved. Hunter didn’t know the exact name, but if he saw the box, he would know it. He went to the mall to hunt those down, and then stopped to pick up some other things that he could see his girl absolutely loving. She had said she would have to come over later, so he didn’t have to worry about dinner plans. Just some things to make an evening together special. Both he and Anna were the type that they were just as happy with an evening watching stupid movies that they’ve seen a hundred times over and cuddling on the couch, but it never hurt to get a little fancy and do something different. Deep down, both were hopeless romantics anyway. That’s what led Hunter to make one particular purchase, one that he knew that Anna would love. Or, he was really hoping that she would love. It was the last thing that he got while out on his little shopping spree, and one that really put a dent in his savings. He’d be working double shifts at the bar to make up for it, but that was okay. Anna deserved it. After leaving the mall, Hunter went to Kade’s and spent a few hours with his brother and nephew, this time escaping without a bruised up face. Micah was there, too, so they all got to spend a somewhat lazy afternoon together like they used to in the old days. It was nice to just sit back and enjoy an afternoon, even though Hunter could see that Kade was going out of his mind with boredom even with a two-year-old to chase around. Micah provided a lot of entertainment, though, so Hunter wasn’t too worried. It was after having left the apartment and arriving back at his home that Hunter started getting things ready for when Anna got there. He had this idea in his head, and by the time it was done, he thought he had put his idea into reality very well. Now, the only part that was needed was Anna.

anna ,

[anna.ღ.allan]

The world around us keeps on movin'
And there's no doubt that I still love you

This had to be the happiest Anna Allan had been in her life. There was really only one reason why she was so happy, too, and that was because of Hunter Trent. He had to be the best thing in her life at that moment, and for one that was saying something. Still, Hunter was great and Anna was completely and undeniably in love with him. Hunter had those dark, puppy dog eyes that Anna found irrestiable, and his smile melted her heart. All she had to do was see him and everything was automatically okay. She could never be mad at him, and there was no way that she could be in a bad mood when he was around. He made her feel things that no one else could, and he saw more in her than anyone else. Anna was far from perfect, but with Hunter she never felt that way. The way he looked at Anna was enough to make any girl feel like the center of the world. He was affectionate and sweet and so much more than she felt that she deserved. She couldn’t even imagine how she had done it before. As much as she had loved him before, she loved him even more now. He was all that she could ever want or need. For Anna, Hunter Trent was perfect.

Seeing Hunter upset about anything pretty much broke Anna’s heart. He was always happy and smiling when she saw him, but after Kade’s accident it hadn’t been much of the case. Thinking that you were going to lose your brother is never easy, but Anna had seen so much more that day then she had ever thought possible. Anna had never so much as heard Hunter raise his voice, and she had never seen that kind of anger in his eyes. It had surprised her greatly, but she had to admit that Hunter’s inner tough guy was certainly a turn on. Anna had been by Hunter’s side every second that Kade was in the hospital, and to tell her to be anywhere else would have been a mistake. She never would have even thought of leaving his side, and no one could have made her do it. There was one thing to say about Anna, and that was that she was the very definition of a good girlfriend. She was loyal and she was faithful’ she was supportive and she was loving. Anna was always ready to put Hunter before herself, and as long as he was happy, so was she. There were many girls that couldn’t say that, but Anna didn’t have to think about any of it when it came to Hunter. Anna didn’t understand how some girls just didn’t care what their guy was going through, and made the relationship all about them. Anan could never do that. Hunter was important to her, and to not want to know what was going on in his life would mean that she didn’t care.

Anna did everything that she could to help Hunter through everything. Whether it was to comfort him, to take his mind off of it, or a little bit of both, Anna was there. She was by his side faithfully, and she knew that he was grateful for it. The thing is that Anna didn’t get much time alone with him. Hunter was almost always somewhere doing something. He was either in class, at work, or watching Cooper. Anna saw him all the time, being with him almost everywhere he went, but she didn’t get to actually get him all to herself. Anna and Hunter had never been a typical couple; hell no one had even thought that they would ever actually last. They were complete opposites, and they were almost destined to fail. They hadn’t, though, and there was no logical reason why. They loved each other, and nothing else really mattered or made since. The two of them got along, and the fact that they could overcome major differences meant that they could overcome just about anything. The thing was, Anna and Hunter didn’t really have dates. She would go over to his house or he would come to hers. If they went out, it was because they were going over to Kade’s apartment or to Jared’s. There was no time for just them in any date-like form.

It had been two days since Anna had talked to that boyfriend of hers, and she was kind of going through withdraws. Millie had commented on it several times, and it felt that she was seriously considering whether or not she should drag Anna to the guidance office or something. It wasn’t Hunter’s fault, though. Anna had been pretty busy trying to finish up a paper for English, and she happened to not be as gifted with words as Hunter was all the time. So, she had been struggling to get it just right, and she hadn’t gotten the chance to really check on things. That changed, though, that day in her math class when Hunter sent her a text message. As soon as she saw the familiar number flash across her screen she grinned and flipped the phone open so she could read the message. The smiling face was an added touch to the message, and she quickly sent a reply back, all those feelings of withdraw fading away and replaced with a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling that came when she thought about Hunter, or when she was with him. Things were instantly better with that simple little message, and if the conversation had ended there, it still would have made her day. But, of course, it didn’t end there. He sent continuous replies back to her, and she loved how short messages always turned into long and suggestive ones. That much had never once changed, even when they had been friends, and it was something that Anna never would have changed.

The last message he sent was one saying that she should come over that night, and without even hesitating she said that she would. Of course she would. She hadn’t seen nor talked to him in a good two days. She certainly wasn’t going to give up the opportunity to see him and get to spend some time with him. After a quick I love you for goodbye, Anna flipped her phone shut and stuck it back in her pocket, finishing her conversation just in time to hear the homework assignment for that night. She didn’t worry about not having caught the lesson, though. She had Millie to help her out, and it was Friday. She had all weekend to finish it up, and if she didn’t, well, she’d just do it Monday night. They’re teacher wasn’t all that strict on turning in homework, and so she would finish it up before it was time to turn it in. After school Anna went home and ate dinner with her family, the table still feeling empty without Brit there anymore. She ate quickly, and then raced to her room to change her clothes, deciding to wear a nice little denim mini skirt that her mother had bought her the day before and a red halter top. She let her hair go as it normally was, curling and on the poofy side, and after slipping into a pair of red sandals, she grabbed her jacket and headed over to Hunter’s. She could feel the cool metal of Hunter’s bracelet on her wrist, her mind flashing immediately to him and she couldn’t help but smile. Around her neck was a small gold heart necklace that Brit had given to her on Valentine’s Day that year, her having gotten Hunter’s name inscribed on it. Anna had laughed about it, joking that it was Hunter who was supposed to buy those kinds of things for her, not Brit. Brit had simply laughed, saying that she had wanted to give it to her around Christmas, but things not completely playing out. Anna had loved it though, and because Hunter’s name was on it, she wore it quite faithfully. It didn’t take her long at all to get to where she was headed, and after a quick knock on the door, she waited patiently outside, waiting for the moment when Hunter would answer the door and she could see him.

[hunter trent]

Okay, so maybe Hunter had gotten a little too anxious in all of his preparations for the evening that he had planned. He had set to work with getting everything ready the moment that he had gotten home and saw that his parents had already left, leaving the house clear and open for him to modify in the ways that he liked without having them questioning everything that the did. That was the one sucky thing about living with his mom and dad, still. Everything he did, they knew about. Which, really, that was not so much different from how it had been when he was still in regular schooling instead of college. Most college kids hate it because they want to drink and party and have sex and all that good stuff, and if they live with their parents, then there really isn’t a good chance of that happening. But, with Hunter and his parents, well, they were already kind of beyond that point. Rob and Marion had been the kind of parents that raised their boys, allowing them to make their own mistakes and learn from them. That left the door wide open for a lot of things to happen, such as the boys getting caught drinking, or with a girl in their own home. Hunter’s parents knew about the things that he had done, them always being very open about talking with him about it and not making it seem like he was being such a horrible person for screwing around here and there and doing things most parents would pull their hair out when hearing it. They had that sort of relationship with all three of their children, now just the two of them, and that was how things still were. Even so, it was still awkward to invite even Anna over sometimes, knowing that his parents knew what it was they were doing, and Anna had been around for a good while now, Marion already adopting her as a daughter-in-law.

Anyway, but to the whole being overly anxious bit. Hunter had had all of this stuff that he had bought, and he had this great idea in his head. He had immediately acted on it, setting things up and getting it all to look just right. He knew that Anna would have been perfectly happy if he would have even gone as far as to just rent some old movie and spent the evening watching it and having little popcorn wars in the living room. She wouldn’t have expected to him to go to all of this trouble just for one evening, and that was why he had done it. She wasn’t going to see this one coming, and he was actually kind of pleased with himself for thinking to do it. How sad. This was the sort of thing that he should have been doing all along. Though, if he had, it wouldn’t seem so special now, would it? The problem with it was, though, was that Anna wouldn’t be coming over until sometime after she had eaten her supper with her family. Hunter knew how the Allan household worked, and after taking a glance at the clock, he knew that they probably hadn’t even begun to cook it yet. What was he supposed to do now? He had been so excited, and now it was going to seem like an eternity before his girlfriend was actually going to be there. He was caught up on all of his college work, so that wouldn’t serve as a good distraction. Hunter was up in his room then, and walked over to his bookcase, his dark eyes going over spine after spine of the many books that he had in his own personal library. Usually, when he was bored, he could come up to his bookcase, and there would be one title that would seem to call out to him, and that would be the one that he read. Of course, when he was really counting on one of the many voices to lead him to it, none were there. Nothing was catching his attention, which was so new to Hunter that he was really worried about it for a second. But, he knew that he was just restless. The books hadn’t lost their appeal, just their ability to take his mind off of Anna and the evening that he had planned out for them.

There was no point in sitting down at his computer and trying to add some more to his novel. Hunter knew where he had left off, and where he needed to go from there, but he wouldn’t be able to get into it and whatever he wrote wouldn’t seem good enough. He would get frustrated with the story, the computer, himself, and ultimately, it was jus at bad idea to even go there at this point. He knew his moods well enough after having dealt with them all of his life, and he knew that he wasn’t in a writing mood. That was what lead him out of his bedroom and downstairs to the living room, plopping himself down on the couch while turning the TV on with the remote control. While Hunter was glad that his parents were gone and he got the house for him and Anna, he wasn’t all that fond of being in that big house all on his own. It was the house that he had grown up in with two older brothers and his parents there all the time. There had always been someone around to talk to, or something going on. No room for boredom whatsoever. It was moments like these when Hunter could find absolutely nothing at all to watch on the two-hundred plus channels that they had that he really missed those chaotic days. Taking another look at the clock, he decided that there was only one thing that he could do to pass the time, and it was something that could actually be considered productive. He leaned over and grabbed the portable phone off of its base, sitting up straight again as he pressed the on button, and then dialed a number. Bringing the phone to his ear, he heard it ring once. Then twice. After the third ring, he thought that he was probably going to have to hang up and try to call someone else, but, Kade answered the phone in the middle of the fourth ring, his voice coming across the line sounding tired, but Hunter knew that the boredom had gotten to Kade as well. Hunter had just been over at his brother’s apartment not too long ago, but he was desperate for someone to talk to, and he knew that Kade would be grateful for something to do as well.

As it turned out, Micah was no longer at the apartment, leaving just Kade and Cooper there to fend for themselves until Brit got home. Kade and Coop had been on their own for the past two years, so it wasn’t a big deal, it was just the fact that Kade couldn’t get up and go anywhere, and that he was limited to what he could do that drove Kade up the wall. It was amusing to Hunter to hear his brother’s voice over the phone. Kade wasn’t one that hated talking on the phone, but he wasn’t like a girl and was on it constantly. He would talk to a select few on the phone, and even then he would keep the conversations short, sweet, and to the point. When Kade would call Hunter, or the other way around, it was just relay information or something like that. Never a full conversation. They had those when they were actually with one another. It was obvious that they were both bored, them sitting there and talking about absolutely nothing, but somehow able to make it seem like a really important conversation, one that they had to have or else the world just wouldn’t spin the right way ever again. Kade filled Hunter in on all of Micah’s little adventures that he had been having since being in Seattle, and Hunter decided that he was really better off not knowing what all that crazy idiot was up to. Oral sex in the Starbucks? Seriously? That was just.. Ugh, Hunter wouldn’t ever be able to go into that particular Starbucks again. Then, there was some news on the Tyler and Zach front that Kade had gotten some bits and pieces of. Nothing major, but still, it had to mean something, right? That’s what the brothers determined. And then, get this, Tyler was going to have this sleepover thing with all the girls. Her, Brit, Anna, Sydney, and Tish. Didn’t that sound like a disaster waiting to happen? But, then the brother decided that it was probably a good thing for them to get to know one another and be friends. It certainly couldn’t hurt anything.

”You don’t think they’ll talk about us, do you?” ”Yeah, I do.” Hunter sat there for a moment, wondering how Kade could say that so calmly. ”And you’re not worried about that?” ”Why would I be worried?” Kade couldn’t see it, but Hunter’s face was one of pure disbelief. ”Kade, you’re surely not forgetting the kind of histories we have running with those girls. If they start talking-” ”I’m not forgetting. I just don’t have anything to worry about. Brit knows it already.” There was a pause, and then, ”Wait, are you saying Anna doesn’t know about it? And that you‘re worried?” Crap. Hunter shouldn’t have even gone there. He should have just kept the question to himself, and worried about it later. But, he couldn’t help but see some unfairness to this situation. His oldest brother, who had one of the longest track records in the history of players’ track records, was going to get away with it all as if it really wasn’t there. Hunter’s record was considerably shorter, and yet he was the one that was going to get into trouble. ”I thought you guys had that thing going where you didn’t care, you loved each other anyway, blah, blah, blah…” Hunter was still silent, contemplating. Kade was right. Hunter knew that Anna had been with other guys, but he had never once asked for a list of names, or how many. To him, it had never mattered who else she had been with or what she had done in her past. All that had mattered was that she was with him, and when he looked into those pretty eyes of hers, he could see how much she loved him. It worked the same way with her, Anna not asking for a written up history from him, or even for him to say it. They knew that they had their histories, but it just wasn’t important. ”You still with me?” ”Yeah.” And he was starting to see that he really didn’t have anything to worry about, either. Why would he? She wouldn’t be mad at him. She had no room to talk even if she did get upset with him. ”Don’t worry about it, Hunt. What’s that one thing about love always forgiving?”

”It’s ‘love is patient, love is kind.’ It’s a verse from the Bible, Kade.” ”Right. I knew that.” Kade couldn’t see this, either, but Hunter was rolling his eyes. Kade didn’t know where that bit came from. Kade was lucky if he had even touched a Bible in the last five years of his life. Hunter amused himself with an image of that for a second, Kade trying to touch a bible, but it flying away from him every time. Kade was like, anti anything that had to do with the church. Hunter wouldn’t be surprised if his brother was struck with lightning if he even tried to step foot on hallowed ground. All of Hunter’s doubts were gone, him feeling dumb for even thinking them in the first place. Even thought Kade had been a little off with that saying he was right. Plus, there was still the thing where it just didn’t matter to him and Anna. Everything was going to be okay. ”Do you realize we’re gossiping like two old ladies?” ”That’s what happens when you’re so bored and God refuses to let you die from it.” Hunter stopped at that one, surprised that Kade had used God’s name, but not surprised that it was in a bitter way. There was sarcasm in those words, Hunter knowing that his brother really wasn’t asking for death. But, it was sad that they had come to talking for almost a whole hour on the phone because they were so damn bored with everything else. Hunter could hear some movie playing in the background at Kade’s, but Cooper was obviously caught up in it and being no fun to play with, or else that was probably what Kade would be doing. It was then that Hunter heard what sounded like a door opening from the other end of the line, and he knew his phone conversation was over when he heard Brit’s voice. Lucky bastard, he thought, but said his good bye to his brother and hung up the phone easily enough. At least one of them got to be with their girl all the time. Granted, the situations were nothing alike, but still, that was Hunter’s thought.

Anna would be there soon, though. Hunter realized this after taking a look at the clock. Actually, she should be there anytime. YES! He jumped up and went for the stairs, getting the last bit of their evening set up. Then, he took a glance at himself in the mirror, just to make sure his hair hadn’t gone haywire on him and give Anna something to pick on him about when she got there. His hair was it’s usual slightly messed up but looking how he meant it to. His clothes were a t-shirt and a pair of slightly worn jeans, the usual. Nothing fancy. Socks were a must. Just another difference between himself and Kade. Then, Hunter was back downstairs, this time going into the kitchen to get himself a glass of water. Drinking from it, he turned and leaned back against the counter, his dark eyes going to the island that not too long ago, he, Kade, and Zach had all been ducking behind, hiding from Zach’s hellion little brother and sister. Good times. His reminiscing was interrupted when he heard a short knock on the door, but Hunter didn’t mind one bit. He put his glass on in the sing and walked into the foyer, opening the door and being greeted with Seattle’s cool night air and the ever lovely sight of his girlfriend, who had of course dressed sensibly and really wasn’t freezing at all in the clothes she was wearing. Hunter smiled when he saw her; she was gorgeous as ever, and he was just realizing that how much he hated not actually seeing her in two days. He made a mental note to not let that happen again as he extended a hand out for her to take. ”Well, don’t you look gorgeous,” he said sweetly once she was inside, shutting the door behind her and letting his eyes move over her, not in the hungry way drunks do at pretty girls, but simply in pure appreciation of her and how she had dressed for the evening. Once she was closer, he leaned in and gave her a soft kiss, his lips meeting hers and him definitely starring that little note, knowing that he should never go that long without these kind of little moments between them. He cradled one side of her face in his hand as he pulled away, smiling softly. ”You ready for a surprise?” he asked, keeping his voice on a lower register, but letting playful grin come to replace that smile, and the gleam of it touch his eyes.

[anna.ღ.allan]

The world around us keeps on movin'
And there's no doubt that I still love you

One thing that is important to know about Anna Allan is that she’s not really the type of girl to go around and brag about something that she has. Honestly, it just wasn’t like Anna. Surprisingly enough, she was a pretty modest girl, and didn’t show off stuff she owned or had gotten. So, with that said, it’s easy to understand that Anna wasn’t one of those girls that went around saying “oh my God look what my guy just bought me!” No, so not Anna. In fact, she was always tempted to slap girls who did that. Seriously, did they always think that people really wanted to know everything about their relationship with their guy? Anna sure as hell didn’t, and she didn’t do stuff like that at all. Though, that was about as far as her modesty went. See, Anna was more than proud of Hunter. The fact that a guy like him could so unconditionally love a girl like her blew even Anna’s mind. It was more than she could ever have hoped for in her life. She was also very protective over him. It was one of those things that if you dared to mess with Hunter, then you’d have the woman beside him as well. There was no way she’d ever give another woman the slightest chance to move in on him, and she was very clear with her body language when they went out somewhere (when they went out somewhere). She clearly told the other girls, “don’t think about it, he’s mine.” She was subtle with it, though, a trait that her and Brit had down to a science. Not that Anna ever felt threatened by other girls. She knew that Hunter loved her, and that he’d never leave her for another. And Hunter had absolutely nothing to worry about. Anna would never, ever leave him. She was his, and no one else’s.

Many people once probably would have told you that Anna could, in no way, love someone so much. But, those people wouldn’t have known her at all. Anna had always been capable of loving someone unconditionally, she’d just never found someone worthy of that love. Hunter had had her from the first words spoken between them, though. When she’d been lost that day her Freshman year, she had never imagined that she’d run into Hunter Trent. His boyish looks had made her heart skip like crazy, and his dark, puppy dog eyes had captured her heart. Getting to know him had been a pleasure that she couldn’t have even hoped for back then, and finding that he was attracted to her had been the sweetest thing. I guess you could say that it was love at first sight, but it didn’t really matter what it was. From the moment that she had met Hunter, no one else could have had a claim to her heart. It’s really amazing how opposites really do attract. Anna and Hunter were absolutely nothing alike. He was super smart, sweet, and pretty down to earth where Anna was anything but. She did okay in school, mind you, but not exceptional. There were times when Anna could be pretty selfish too, and as far as being sweet went, it wasn’t really a word that someone would use to describe her… unless they saw her with Hunter… then they might. As for being level headed, that was almost laughable. Anna was pretty down to earth when she had to be, but on a regular, normal day she was anything but. It wasn’t surprising for her to be standing with you, talking about one thing, and then suddenly blurt out that she wonders why the sky is really blue. That was just who Anna was, and the amazing part was that Hunter loved it all. In all truth, though, Anna needed someone like Hunter in her life. He kept her grounded, and always made her want to be a better person than she was. There were times when she often felt like she wasn’t good enough for him, but she would never dream about letting him go. She’d loved him entirely too much to ever do that again, and she is selfish, remember.

Walking to Hunter’s house that night, Anna expected nothing different than what had always been when she went over to his house. She was more excited than anything, having not seen him for two whole days. Had she not had school work, Anna probably would have been going crazy without him. It was now that she was really realizing just how much she had missed him… AND IT HAD ONLY BEEN TWO DAYS!!! Distance was a good thing sometimes, though. Anna wasn’t the clingy kind of girl, but sometimes she couldn’t help it with Hunter. She loved him so much sometimes that she just couldn’t even be away from him for two seconds. She was good at not smothering him and letting him have his space, but she still didn’t like being away from him for any long length of time. It seemed that now a days, wherever Hunter went, Anna wasn’t far behind him. Occasionally Anna would stay home or go somewhere with someone else, but usually she was with Hunter. The other day had been one of those days. She had taken a shopping day with her mother and Brit, which had been fun. Maria was a very understanding mother, and though she made her relationship with Anna clear, she was always there to listen. Maria absolutely loved Hunter, especially for Anna, and she treated the boy like a member of the family. Charles was the same way. He loved Hunter, never once having had anything against the youngest Trent. Hell, Maria and Charles even loved Kade, so they would obviously love Hunter. That had always made Anna feel good, knowing that her parents supported her and Hunter. They were extremely understanding of her, having fallen in love at a young age themselves. And Anna received the same treatment from Marion and Rob too. She loved going over to their house, enjoying the fact that she was accepted there too. All in all, Anna had to say that her and Hunter had the most understanding parents in the world.

Anna’s outfit that she wore was more for Hunter than herself, obviously. Since it was starting to get a little warmer, she was doing okay at the moment, but it was very much not a sensible outfit. That was okay, though. She had a jacket to keep her warm in the short distance it took her to walk to Hunter’s house, and it would be so worth it in the end. Not that Hunter really cared what she looked like. She could have worn sweat pants to his house, her hair a mess, and he would have said she looked beautiful. She loved him for that and so much more, but she was very much liking how she looked in the outfit she had picked out. Her mother and Brit were excellent shopping buddies, always managing to get Anna wearing something extraordinary. It wasn’t hard for Anna to look good in something, though. She was a beautiful girl, and she had a great body. Anything she wore always looked good on her, and even if it didn’t she could have made it work. There was denying that red was her color, though, bringing out her blue eyes and blonde hair surprisingly well. The halter top fit snuggly to her body, showing it off quite well, and the skirt wasn’t too short, but short enough to show off her long legs. Anna, surprisingly enough, was pretty girly when it came to clothes and the sort. The wedding that her, Brit, and Amy had went too had showed that off more than anyone ever would have thought, yet it seemed that anytime someone saw her in a skirt or a dress, they would all look completely and totally shocked. Okay, so it was something different, but different was always good. Anna was a classy looking kind of girl, and she’d wear just about anything. She wasn’t afraid to show off a little skin every now and then, but most of the time she just didn’t. There was no denying that Anna was a weird cookie at times, and that sometimes showed up into her outfits. Though she mostly wore jeans and a t-shirt, what was on the t-shirt was always different. But, this is, again, Anna Allan, and with her, just about anything is possible.

Anna felt like she had to wait for Hunter forever, but he eventually came and opened the door for her. The minute she saw him, she had to grin, her heart swelling and skipping and flying and everything else. Only Hunter could do that to her, and she liked it that way. She watched as the smile slid onto his own face, and if anything that made her heart do its thing even more. That was okay, though. Everything was okay with Hunter. She saw him extended his hand to her, and she immediately took it, loving the way his warm skin felt against her own, which was cold from the cool air. ”Well, don’t you look gorgeous.” She couldn’t help but grin wider. Oh how she loved this boy. “Why yes, I do.” She laughed softly, her blue eyes looking up into his own. “And you look just as good as ever.” The last bit was said on a softer note, the grin turning into a soft, warm smile. She watched as his eyes moved and looked her over, loving the way he did it, which was so different than all the other boys. Before she could do anything or say anything else, though, she was pulled closer and she felt Hunter’s lips on her own, not complaining one best. She felt the warmth of his hand on her cheek, and she leaned against it, savoring even that small touch, which she loved very much. ”You ready for a surprise?” Oh, a surprise, huh. Anna loved surprises, Hunter knew that. She let her eyes slid open and her gaze and found his own again, her curiosity ignited. His words were low, but she saw the playful grin on his face and the gleam in his eyes. She shrugged her jacket off her shoulders, throwing it onto a nearby chair and she grinned up at him, taking both of his hands in her own and lacing her fingers with his. “Of course, I am.” She had no clue what it was that Hunter had up his sleeves at that moment, but she certainly couldn’t wait to find out.

[hunter trent]

Anna loved surprises. Hunter had learned that in the time that he had known the girl, and the first time that they had been dating, he had always been the one going around and finding different little things to do to surprise her. Whether it was a flower left in her locker, that bracelet that he had gotten her, coming up with a way to get her out of class to be with him, or even something more simple as a little note for her, he was always trying to do something sweet to show her just how much he liked her, and then loved her as he fell harder and harder. There were a lot of guys that didn’t like him for it. Not because they thought that it was dumb that he did such special things for his girl, but because their own girlfriends would see, and wonder why their boyfriends weren’t as sweet and wonderful as Hunter Trent was with Anna. He had been shot ugly looks by the guys when their girlfriends would say how great the youngest Trent was, and Hunter would only shake his head at it, not caring one way or the other what those people thought. As long as he was making Anna happy, then that was all that had mattered. It was still all that mattered. These sweet little things done for Anna were what set him apart from both of his older brothers, Kade never once doing anything sweet for a steady girlfriend because those didn’t exist for him, and Jared only ever having one girl that he had claimed to love, but not daring show that kind of affection so publicly as Hunter did. Jared just hadn’t been that kind of a person. Anyway, Hunter had been pretty good, if he did say so himself, at being a boyfriend, showering Anna with affection and putting her first. That’s why he had been absolutely crushed when she had ended things with him. His unfaltering love and affection hadn’t been enough, so what would ever be enough? That had been the question on his mind then, but now he understood why she had broken up with him. Really, though, that was all in the past. Hunter didn’t dwell on it.

When they had just been friends, the surprises and sweet little things had come to an end. Hunter was still as kind as ever, and he did come up with little things now and then to do for her that would have been considered sweet and loving had they been a couple at the time. Now that they were a couple again, Hunter hadn’t been much for the surprises, and he hated that. It just seemed that every time they turned around, there was something else going on and another thing to worry and stress over. Plus, with him in college and her being in high school, it made it harder because they weren’t around one another all day like they were the first time they were together. That was why Hunter had really gone all out with his preparations for this surprise. Some might call him crazy for doing what he was about to do, but he didn’t care what they said. He knew that it was the right thing, and that Anna would love it. Because she loved surprises, and Hunter loved surprising her. It was funny, though. Hunter himself wasn’t really all that fond of surprises. It probably had something to do with the fact that he had Kade Trent, Jared Trent, and Zach Cool around as older brothers while he was growing up, two of them blood and one of them by Kade’s choice, not Hunter’s. Whenever they said that they had a surprise, it was never a pleasant one. Unfortunately, Hunter had been quite a gullible child, and had fallen for some many of their dumb pranks that it wasn’t even funny. The worst, though, had probably been when they had said that they had a surprise outside in this big cardboard box for him. Hunter had gone out, looked in, and the next thing he knew, he was inside of the box and heard tape going over the closed flaps. No matter how the young boy tried, he hadn’t been able to get out. Later on, he had learned that they had tried to sell him out on the sidewalk in front of the Trents’ house, and that had been the end of surprises for him. They had scarred him for life.

That didn’t mean that he hated all surprises, though. Just ones that came from Kade or Zach. Always Micah. Sometimes his parents if he didn’t have even a tiny idea of what was going down. Surprises from Anna were always welcome, though, as Hunter trusted her not to try and turn it around and make it some sort of living hell for him in the end. The like and dislike of surprises was just one of the ways that the two varied from one another, as they were two very different people. There were a lot of people that just couldn’t understand how the relationship that he and Anna had worked, but that didn’t really matter. They did make it work and it was absolutely beautiful, what they had between them. Hunter’s life had been anything but dull, but having Anna around with all her randomness made his life brighter, if that makes any sense at all. He was the level headed one, and often the voice of reason when it came to stupid stunts and pranks that he had to talk his brother and friends out of, or help bail them out of in the end. He was extremely laid back, taking things as they came and never getting to ruffled with any of it either way. Some might say that he kept Anna Allan ground and somewhat tame, but she was the one that kept him from being too grounded or too tame. Not that there was ever a chance of him being blah and the perfect goody good type with the last name Trent, but they seemed to balance each other out. He loved how she could be so lively and seem a thousand miles away from reality, and yet still be there in his arms at the same time making him smile and laugh with her words. If they were exactly the same, things would be boring. Being different was what made them what had to be the closest to a perfect couple that God ever let man and woman be. Well, maybe they were tied with Brit and Kade, but they were the only other two that Hunter could ever see being as perfectly content and happy and in love with one another as he was with Anna.

So, in knowing that Anna had this love for surprises, asking her if she was ready for a surprise was probably a dumb question. Scratch that. It was a dumb question, but one that Hunter has asked anyway. She gave a response that he had expected, seeing the curiosity building up in her and loving it. It was killing her to not know what was coming, and this was the best part when it came to surprising anyone. Seeing the anticipation and the excitement, like a little kid at Christmas time. Her hands were both in his, and he smiled widely down at her. He was so sure that she would love what he had planned, and he really hoped that he was right. Hunter was usually pretty good at guessing, though. He had guessed at her favorite kind of flowers the first time that he had ever gotten her flowers and had been right. He had also guessed about favorite colors, favorite soaps, favorite perfumes, and had done really well with all of that. All that stuff he already knew, and that had greatly helped out in what he was doing now. Yeah, she would love it. ”Come on,” he said, still smiling as he turned, letting one of his hands drop from hers as he headed up the stairs, leading her at his side. ”I’m sorry I have to rush it, but you’ll see why.” It was custom to have a surprise, and keep it and hold it over the receiver’s head for a bit, to keep them guessing and let it really eat at them. Hunt had done that a few times with Anna, and he loved to watch her try to think of what it was, and listen to her guess. He might have done that this time, but there was no way in hell that he was risking it. Sound odd? Yes, it probably does. At the top of the stairs, they took a left, Hunter’s room being the door at that end of the hall. Anna was probably wondering what the hell was so special about this room. She had been there innumerable times, and knew it probably better than Hunter did. Oh, but she wouldn’t even recognize it when he opened that door.

”Okay, close your eyes,” he instructed her, still holding her one hand. Hunter watched as she let those gorgeous eyes go shut, and then used his free hand to twist the doorknob, giving the door a little push so that it would swing open gently. He lead her a few feet into the room so that when she opened her eyes, she would be able to see all around it. He grinned to himself. ”Okay, open them.” What would Miss Anna Allan see when she opened those pretty eyes and saw Hunter’s bedroom? She would see candles. Everywhere. All around the room, all lit and making the room glow with the warm, orange flames. Hunter knew that Anna loved things in candlelight, and that was all that in the room. At the foot of his bed sat a huge bouquet of red roses, which were her favorite flowers. Beside of the bouquet sat the box of her favorite chocolates that he had finally managed to find at the mall earlier that day. Then, there was an envelope lying on the comforter surface between the two other items. No card was inside, but instead a folded up piece of paper. When she opened it, which he knew she would do last, she wouldn’t find a poem that he had wrote her, or this long letter about how much he loved her and appreciated her. Instead, in his somewhat messy handwriting, she would find the message, “Ask me about my pocket.” She would probably think that it was some sort of joke, maybe something suggestive, but it wasn’t either one of those things. It was a bit of a humorous way to put it, but Hunter and found it to be the simplest way to get to the point of all of this. The candles, the roses and the chocolates were only minor details to what he still had in store. His dark eyes looked over face, a small grin still playing on his lips. ”What do you think?” he asked quietly, feeling as though he had to speak so softly in a room lit the way his was and in the short silence that had developed.

[anna.ღ.allan]

The world around us keeps on movin'
And there's no doubt that I still love you

Anna had always wondered what she had done that was so good for God to give her Hunter. Honestly, Anna could never think of anything that made her Hunter-worthy. She loved him desperately, and she knew that he loved her, but how on Earth had she ever managed to catch his attention long enough for those feelings to come around. Before Hunter had come around, Anna wasn’t exactly the most committed girl in the world. She had never really associated with people much and had been a loner by most standards. The crazy, carefree Anna that currently existed hadn’t shown through when Hunter wasn’t in her life. It had always been there, all of it, but without Hunter she had never had a reason to be that way. Anna had never had a problem getting guys, though. She was a beautiful girl, and she had always been more than willing when it came down to stuff like that. With Hunter it had been so much different. She hadn’t saw him as a potential night of fun or even as anything remotely uncommitted. From the moment she had saw him she had wanted so much more than that with him, and she had gotten it too. Ask anyone and they’ll tell you that there was a noticeable change in Anna. She had slowly loosened up and let herself go to Hunter. She had shown him what was there, all of it, and instead of rejecting her, he had only held her tighter. It was because of that that, after losing him, she hadn’t sunken totally back in that loner state. The only reason she had went back to it was because she was heart broken and missing Hunter, not because she was afraid of showing people who she was. Now, though, Anna didn’t worry about any of that stuff. She had Hunter, and with him, there was no hiding who was underneath the good looks.

Underneath, Anna was insane. It was sometimes surprising even to her that a part of her could be so moody and heavy, weighed down by everything that she had been feeling and now she was carefree and light as a feather, there being nothing that could probably bring her down. There were times when Anna seemed so far away that you wondered where it was exactly that her head was at. She was crazy, outgoing, and random as hell, but then there were times when she was one-hundred percent there and completely serious. It usually involved certain situations for the second to come around, but Anna would occasionally surprise the people around her by being totally there. That was the thing about Anna, though, and that was that she was always full of surprises. You never knew what you would get out of her, and anything at all was possible. Many didn’t really believe it when they heard, but then they didn’t know Anna. The people around her school, though, had been able to tell when Hunter came back into her life, because she was back to her perky, happy self. She knew that she had probably gotten on Millie’s nerves the first couple of weeks, but afterwards it had all slowed down and everything had flowed back into a semi-normal way of living. When she was with Hunter, Anna was never happier, and she liked who she was with him. She had had a lot of problems at some points in her life, and she had not always had someone there to help her with it. Anna was a strong person, and she got by well with who she was, but everyone needed someone sometimes, and Anna hadn’t always had it the way others around her had. Anna was the one that helped you, you didn’t help Anna. But with Hunter that wasn’t the case at all. He was there for her completely, as she was for him.

Hunter, though, was the world’s most perfect boyfriend EVER! She knew that he didn’t do things just so people would think that, which made him all the sweeter, and he did it so well. Anna could probably tell you every sweet thing that Hunter had ever done for her. She had every note, letter, and poem that he had ever wrote for her. She had an infinite number of pictures of them together, and apart from all that, she had the memories that went with it all. She wore his bracelet all the time, or at least most of the time, and since Brit had given her the necklace she currently wore, she had pretty much had it on the whole time. Anything that signaled to those around her that she was with Hunter was the kind of thing that she loved, and they meant everything to her. Hunter was such a prominent figure in her life that she had so many stories she could tell you, and you’d have to tell her to stop before she even came close to shutting up. Anna couldn’t help it that she was in love, and that the guy she was with was the most amazing guy on earth. It wasn’t her fault that she had been so blessed. The only thing that was bad about Anna’s excellent memory of Hunter was that she not only remembered the good times, but the bad times as well. Anna could remember the pain that she felt when she had broken up with him a couple years back. She could remember the pain she had saw in his eyes, and anytime she thought back on it, her heart would shatter right then and there.

Anna remembered sitting in her room one day, stumbling upon the essay Hunter had written about his hero, the one he had stopped by for her to read and had eventually led to their pregnancy scare. That day had been so many different things. She remembered reading through it, and rereading through the lines that he had written with her in mind. It had reminded her of all that pain and sadness that had been there at the time. She could remember everything she had felt that day, and how she had eventually given in to his buried feelings for him, sleeping with him for the first time in years that day. Afterward everything had felt awkward and, if possible, worse. She had turned her back to him as he left, and when she had finally turned over, after he had left, she had found that he had left his work and had laid her clothes on the bed. Even with all the pain and hurt that had been there, Hunter had still been sweet to her. Remembering all that and feeling all those things so close again had brought tears to Anna’s eyes, and she had immediately grabbed the phone and called Hunter. She had been close to hysteria by the time that he picked up the phone, but hearing his voice had made her feel so much better, and when she had finally told him why it was that she had sounded so upset, he hadn’t laughed at her like she thought he might. He had simply talked her through it, and when he had whispered that “I love you” before they hung up, Anna had to say that it was the sincerest thing she had heard in her life. She later felt silly for being so upset over the past, and Hunter’s voice over the phone had helped a lot, but she hadn’t been totally better until she had seen him the next day and held him close to her. That was what had made it all better, and when she had held him tighter and longer then she usually did, Hunter simply did the same. The was the best thing about Hunter, apart from every other good thing. He understood her, and why she did things. There weren’t many people that she could say the same thing about.

Hunter knowing Anna meant that he knew all about her love of surprises. Ever since she was a kid she had loved Christmas and her birthday not because of the gifts, but because she didn’t know what it was that she was getting. Hearing Hunter say that he had a surprise for her was like telling a child they had chocolate. Immediately Anna was excited, and she knew that Hunter could see it. God did he know just what to do to get her going. ”Come on.” He let one of her hands drop from his own and he lead her out of the kitchen; she could still see the smile on his lips. Well, at least he liked surprising her as much as she liked him doing it. ”I’m sorry I have to rush it, but you’ll see why.” Anna did not mind him rushing it, in fact she preferred it. There were times when Hunter had made her wait and guess and it drove her INSANE! She hated when he did that. It was terrible and irritating, but she went with it because that was something that he liked. The things she did for the man she loved… They climbed the stairs, her following close behind him as he led the way. She had climbed those stairs so many times she couldn’t have even tried to give you a number. She could have walked from her room to his in her sleep and not once gotten lost or ran into anything. She had done it so many times it was familiar to her. They turned left at the top of the stairs and a couple steps later they were standing in front of Hunter’s closed bedroom door.

”Okay, close your eyes.” What? He was making this whole anticipation thing unbelievably hard to accept. She looked up into those dark eyes of his, let out a small sigh (which was extremely exaggerated) and then let the lids slid over her pretty blue eyes. Darkness was all that welcomed her. She heard the door to Hunter’s room swing quietly open, and then she could feel Hunter leading her into his room. She moved when he instructed her and then stopped when he wanted that as well. She waited as patiently as was humanly possible for her and then she finally heard him tell her to open her eyes. FINALLY! She opened her eyes instantly, unsure exactly what to expect. Whatever she was expecting, though, it was NOTHING like that at all. It was better. Her jaw dropped at once when she saw all the candles that were present in his room. She could feel the warmth that radiated from the flickering orange flames touch her skin. She looked all around the room, her breath almost completely taken away with what she saw. She caught sight of the candy and the flowers amidst the glowing candles, and that only made her lose her breath again. It was better than anything they ever came up with in the movies, and she was so awed that she about lost it. She could feel his dark eyes on her and she knew that he was grinning.

”What do you think?” What did she think? What did she think? Holy cow she didn’t even know how to begin to answer that. She still felt Hunter’s hand in hers and she squeezed it lightly, with her own. “Wow.” That was all that she could even begin to say. She was still glancing around at all the candles that were in his room, and that was something that she would never have attempted in her own. Her room was fairly small, and with her luck, she would have probably burned the house down, but she wasn’t really thinking about that as she looked at what was in front of her. That was when she saw the light reflect off something white reflect from where the flowers and candy were laying on the bed. She looked at him with a slightly puzzled look, but then grinned and moved from his side, not dropping his hand until it wasn’t possible for her to hold it any longer. She slid onto his bed, moving to the center of it and folded her legs in front of her. She reached down and pulled the envelope from the other items, then turned it over and opened it. Inside was a single piece of paper folded up. She withdrew it from the envelope, laying that down in front of her and unfolding that paper. There, in Hunter’s messy and familiar script, were five very plain and simple words. She almost laughed at them, but she didn’t. “Ask me about my pocket?” She read the words in a questioning way, then turned her head and let her gaze find his own. “Hunter, if you wanted to do that, all you had to do was ask.” She sounded completely serious, and if she hadn’t expected an ulterior motive here, she would have been. She was being quite suggestive with that, and she grinned and laughed softly after she said it. She turned so that she was facing him, laying the piece of paper with the envelope that it had previously been in. “What about your pocket, Hunter?” she asked completely serious, her crystal blue eyes on his dark ones, sincerely wanting to know, but not in the same way as before. Her stomach was still doing that flip flopping thing it had earlier, and there was still a hint of excitement and curiosity shining through her gaze, but she was calmer now (it had to be the candles). This was one of those times when Anna was 100 percent there, and it was extremely obvious.

[hunter trent]

Hunter was really probably one of the best guys that someone could ever want to meet. He was pretty selfless, putting others before himself and always trying to do what was right by them and worrying about him last. That point has already been demonstrated by all the things mentioned that he had done for Anna when they had been dating in their, or rather, his, high school years. Hunter had never asked for anything in return for all the little things that he had done for Anna. For him, simply seeing that she liked what he had done for her was enough. That’s how it was with anyone, though. He liked doing things for people, feeling gratification for it whenever their faces would light up and he would hear their kindly said words of thanks to him. That’s what made it all count, and that’s all he could really ask for. Of course, he wasn’t one to deny things in return. He would say that they didn’t have to get him anything, which he really meant, but he wasn’t about to turn down something that was free. It was sort of like Kade had always used to say, and still sometimes found good reasons to say, “You never say no if it’s free.” Kade had always directed that saying toward women when he had first said it, but later, he and the rest of their group had found ways to apply it to just about anything that turned up and happened to be a gift or free of charge. Not that Hunter always went along with the sayings of his oldest brother, or else his life mottos would be, “Everything is legal until you get caught,” and then there was Micah’s contribution of, “Easy as a whore.” Anyway, Hunter wasn’t beyond that love of receiving things himself, but he was the kind that liked to give things more. He and his brothers had all been raised like that, all of them willing to give their last dime and the shirt off of their backs to someone if they thought it would help and never expecting something in return. Hunter didn’t want anything in return for this. Seeing Anna’s reaction was enough.

The jaw drop was great. Hunter watched as Anna’s eyes moved all around the room, taking in the sight of the candles and spying that candy and flowers that sat at the foot of his bed. His question to her, asking what she thought, had been asked so that Hunter could get a clearer idea of what she was thinking, though words weren’t really all that necessary. That expression of wonder and pure surprise was speaking for her, but it never hurt to ask and hear the words either. Though, it seemed that Anna was only capable of one word, and it gave Hunter reason to smile. That, and the little squeeze that she gave his hand that she still held in her own. Even after dating before and having been together for awhile now, little simple things like that still got to Hunter in all the best possible ways. He had this feeling that with Anna, they were always going to get to him that way, and he wasn’t complaining. Hunter still watched, waiting to see what she would do when he saw her look back at him with a puzzled look. Ah, she had spotted the envelope. He had wondered when she would get to that. Sometimes, he himself wasn’t great with opening the cards first like mothers always try to get their children to do at birthday parties and on Christmas. Everyone had their moments when they just wanted to see what the present was so bad that it was just pure torture to have to open the card first, and he didn’t know if Anna was going to have one of those moments with the candy and the flowers or not. Or if she was even going to take notice of the envelope at first. It was kind of hard to pick out, but she had spotted it, which meant it was closer to the main point of the evening. Hunt saw the grin that she flashed back at him, and then let his eyes follow her as she walked over toward his bed, letting his fingers stay touching hers until it wasn’t possible to do so any longer. He could have went with her, but he wanted to let her go and enjoy it. Not that she wouldn’t have if he would have been next to her, but it was her moment to soak in while she opened that envelope, and his moment to get his thoughts straight.

Only, his mind wasn’t where it should have been as he watched her move over to his bed and take a seat, picking the envelope up in her hands. He was thinking back to that day during his junior year in high school when he had been in the guidance office, getting a schedule printed when that pretty freshman girl had come in, completely lost. In a way, Hunter and Anna owed their relationship to the principal that had sent Hunter with Anna, showing her the way to her classroom. Hunter had thought Anna was absolutely gorgeous from the start, and had easily talked with her about the class and the school and all those kind of things that new people talk about with one another. Then she had flashed him a smile, and he knew that she was a newfound crush. He hadn’t gotten his hopes up, though, seeing as they were in different grades and classes. What were the odds that they would even see each other again. She had showed up in the same lunch that he had, though, and Hunter hadn’t wasted time in going over to talk to her. They had gone out a few times after that, and then he had gotten the nerve up to ask her to be his girlfriend. It sounded cheesy, but Hunter was a hopeless romantic if there ever was one. He just didn’t let that side of him show to a lot of people, or any people unless he knew them. She had won his heart so easily, being as random and a little bit out there as she was, there never being a dull moment. The way she smiled and laughed and sang while she was playing her guitar, how she danced how she whispered during quiet nights spent in his arms… There was just not one thing that Hunter didn’t love about the girl. In his eyes, she had no flaws. He had been there to see the best of her and even the worst, but his opinion was unchanging. Anna Allan would never have flaws as far as Hunter was concerned; he wouldn’t change one thing about her.

Having all of that in mind, it seemed crazy that he had ever tried to be with other girls after Anna had broken up with him back then. He had been trying to move on, trying to get her out of his heart and make room for there to be someone else, as she had seemed not to be there. Hunter wasn’t a player by any means, but he had a few one night stands here and there on his record, but only one of them after he had been with Anna. Then, there were two relationships that he had been in after Anna. One had been shortly lived, the girl in question being sweet and caring, but Hunter had had to end it, not quite liking the girl well enough to be her boyfriend. A friend, sure, but not a boyfriend. The second had lasted for five months, the girl being a pretty red-haired thing with a heart stopping smile and a body to make any man stop and do a nice long double take. That wasn’t the reason that Hunter had gone out with her, at least, not in the long run. She had started off as a fling, but eventually they got serious about their relationship and had a lot of fun with it. She had been a little wild, and definitely not one to waste a single moment of her life. She had also been intelligent, and funny and just seemed to be perfect. She was good with Hunter’s family, and her family liked him pretty well, too, but even with all of that going for them, Hunter hadn’t been happy with it. In the beginning he thought he had been, but slowly, that spark between them had died out. She had felt it too, and they had parted on good terms. No hearts broken, no tears shed. Hunter still got e-mails from her from time to time, just little updates. She was getting married soon, he knew, and had been happy to hear that he was back with Anna, the girl that he had clearly not been over even when he was with her. And that was the truth. Hunter had gone out expecting to find something as pure and amazing, or even better, than what he had had with Anna, but he had come to find that it just simply did not exist. Nothing was better than what he had with Anna.

Hunter’s thoughts were brought back to the present when he heard the words that he had had written on that piece of paper being read back to him in Anna’s sweet voice. She looked back up at him, those beautiful eyes of hers finding his. When he heard what she said next, he couldn’t help but to smile one of those cute little smiles of his, looking down at the floor for a second before looking back up to meet her gaze once again. Of course. Leave it to his girl. Hunter knew that he wouldn’t have to go to extremes for that, though. Hell, he never really had to ask. For him and Anna, that sort of thing just came naturally, but that wasn’t the point. The next moment, Anna was completely serious, turning toward him and asking him about his pocket like the paper had instructed her to. He gave her a little playful grin, seeming totally at ease while his heart started to beat a little faster in his chest. God, and he had thought that asking her to be his girlfriend had been a big deal. ”Well, there’s something in it, and it’s for you,” he said, then moving across the candle lit room to take a seat beside of her on his bed, sitting at a slight angle so that he was facing her. Again, his words could probably be twisted in a way to mean something totally opposite of what he had meant for them to. He literally had something in his pocket that he was going to give to her, but there was always a twisted little mind that was going to think of that the wrong way. Anna was in a serious mode, though, which meant that she probably wouldn’t be picking his wording apart and finding a way to twist it and turn it around on him. Hunter had always been good with words when it came to usage and putting them together to form a good story or essay. He was hoping and praying that they wouldn’t fail him now as he looked at Anna. He had put together an outline in his head of what he wanted to say. Now, it was just down to actually saying them and getting it right.

”Anna, you’re-” he started, but stopped when his dark chocolate hued eyes looked up to see how the dim candle light seemed to make her skin glow and her eyes sparkle. The words had been there, but he was so caught up in what he was seeing. How in this wide world had such a beautiful girl been given to him? ”You’re beautiful,” he said, his voice soft and sweet as he continued to gaze at her. Hunter had told her countless times how gorgeous she was, but it was the truth, and it was the only thing that he could say in that moment. Looking down and away from her, Hunter reached out and took a hand of hers in his, and then looked back up, the expression on his face soft. ”I’m so in love with you, Anna. You’re the only one I’ve ever been in love with, and the only one I’ll ever want. You’re the only one that’s right for me.” His words all came with such care, the love he was confessing able to be heard within them. He let a little grin once again turn up the corner of his lips. ”You’re my Bella.. My Lyla, even my Joey. You’re my everything.” Only Anna would appreciate that, as she was the one that actually knew who these characters were and what he meant by saying that she was them to him. If he were Edward, she’d be Bella. If he were Louis, she’d be Lyla. And if he were Pacey (even if everyone was rooting for Dawson), she’d be Joey. All couples that were the world to one another, so in love and just so meant to be with one another in their stories. This was when he moved in how he was sitting, using his free hand to take a little black box from his pocket and open it, moving it over to where Anna would clearly see it. ”So I bought you this ring, and I’m going to have to ask…”

Hunter moved off of the side of his bed where he had been sitting and onto one knee, keeping her hand in his (he’d been crafty enough to hold her left in his right), and with the ring in the other, he looked up at her, the one he loved more than anything. ”Anna Allan, will you marry me?” Bet no one saw that one coming, did they?

[anna.ღ.allan]

The world around us keeps on movin'
And there's no doubt that I still love you

Anna couldn’t quite believe that all of this was happening. Had someone told her at the beginning of her freshman year that she would meet the perfect guy and be so in love with him that she could truly be herself, Anna would have assumed they were on drugs and walked away. Before Hunter, that kind of happiness just hadn’t seemed real to her. Anna had always hoped that she’d get that kind of love and commitment in her life, but she’d never believed it could happen. Anna would always watch her parents and see how happy they were and just wish that she could have the same thing in her life. The idea of a love that was unconditional and unending was more than she could have ever hoped for, but it was the one thing that she had secretly always wanted more than anything else. For someone to love her as she was, no questions asked, was a dream come true, and for them to want everything that she herself wanted often felt like a miracle. She had never been seen as a potential girlfriend to guys, only a simple one night stand or a friend they could reek the benefits from, but never actually love. That had all changed with Hunter, him wanting her heart, body, and soul. He was her guiding light, the one thing that kept her believing in what the world had to offer, and giving that stable ground beneath her feet that she had always been searching for. Hunter was the one thing in her life that never seemed to change, and that stability was greatly needed in her life.

There was only one time when things had changed for Anna, and that was when she had broken things off with Hunter. He had went from loving and compassionate to cold and distant, though Anna hadn’t expected anything else from him. She had been surprised when he wanted to still be her friend, but glad all the same. Thing hadn’t been like when they were together, but having Hunter in her life after what she had done had been more than she deserved, but if anything it made her love him even more. Looking back on it, Anna had no idea how she was able to just be his friend. There were so many things about Hunter that made her weak in the knees and to not act on how she felt would kill her. It had taken a lot of restraint, but she had done it, and she was glad that she would never have to do it again. A day without one of Hunter’s kisses or not feeling his arms holding her tightly would be pure torture for Anna, and she knew that she’d never be able to do it again. Not having Hunter’s love would kill her, and without him there was just no way that she’d be able to go one with her life. That may sound depressing, but it just goes to show how much Anna loved Hunter.

As Anna walked away from Hunter and over to his bed, she couldn’t help but remember how many times she had done this. Of course, she had never really done it for this reason. Anna had no idea what was going to be in that envelope, but she definitely hadn’t expected something like that. Anna had many poems and letters at home that had been written by Hunter, but she hadn’t really considered that as a possibility, though it would have been logical. As Anna sat there, waiting for Hunter to gather his thoughts and speak, she couldn’t help but wonder what he was up to. He had never went all out like this, ever, and there was something about that look in his eye… This whole thing was more than she could have ever dreamed of, and so far she was liking it. There was more, though, she could see it in his eyes. What could it be? Anna didn’t have very good patience at all, and it Hunter didn’t get it together she was going to go insane. She was hoping that Hunter wouldn’t make her guess this time around; she wouldn’t be able to take it.

Anna watched as a playful grin crossed Hunter’s lips and then listened for the words that came next. “Well, there’s something in it, and it’s for you.” Oh really? That was the look that crossed Anna’s face when he said those words, then she offered him a smile that matched his and laughed softly. She really didn’t think that was what he was meaning, though. When it came to things such as that, Anna and Hunter didn’t really think about it. That kind of thing just sort of happened to them, and it never really seemed to matter where they were. At school they had once snuck away to the locker rooms, and then there was that time at the hospital when they had snuck away to the bathroom. It may sound bad, but what could Anna say? There were times when Anna just couldn’t help herself when it came to Hunter, and she wasn’t the only one at fault. Hunter had annunciated their affairs once or twice himself, and he had never once said no; not even the time when they were apart. That time was one of the best to show how little self-control Anna had with this particular male. Though she had everything to lose, her feelings for Hunter had been too much for her, and she had given in. That day had been a trying one for Anna, and she had obviously failed the test. But that day had led to her and Hunter getting back together. Had they not had to sit down and think about what would happen if Anna was pregnant, they probably never would have talked about the day they broke up. That wasn’t the point, though. When it came to Hunter, Anna had no self control.

Anna’s eyes moved with Hunter, following him as he came over to her and sat beside her. As he sat and faced her, she turned so that she was facing him. ”Anna, you’re- you’re beautiful.” Something told her that wasn’t what he was originally going to say. Anna didn’t mind, though. She smiled softly, her dark eyes on his own. She loved the tone he had used when he said the words, and it was one that made her heart skip. She watched his gaze shift from hers and felt his hand take hers. Anna loved the feeling of her hand in his, Hunter’s smooth, warm skin brushing against her own. There was no better feeling in the world. Anna watched Hunter’s gaze come back to hers. ”I’m so in love with you, Anna. You’re the only one I’ve ever been in love with, and the only one I’ll ever want. You’re the only one that’s right for me.” The love Anna heard in Hunter’s voice was overwhelming. Anna felt it all too, though. Hunter was the only one Anna had ever been in love with, the only one she ever wanted, and the only one that felt right for her. She was so in love with Hunter Trent that it was almost surreal. There was no one out there better for her, and no one that she could love more.

”You’re my Bella.. My Lyla, even my Joey. You’re my everything.” I know your all thinking it… “aww.” A word to the wise, always fall in love with a writer. That had to be the sweetest thing she had ever heard in her life. Anna loved Edward and Bella (Brittany getting her hooked on the Twilight series), she loved Lyla and Louis, and she loved Joey and Pacey (though she always rooted for Dawson). Hunter couldn’t have said something better or sweeter to Anna, especially by naming her three favorite couples of all time. Not only that, but Hunter was her everything too, and no matter how many times it was said, it still felt nice when she knew that he felt the same. She was so overwhelmed by his words, and she didn’t quite come back until she felt the bed shift as he reached into his pocket. Anna looked down, and when she saw what he had pulled out, her heart skipped again. ”So I bought you this ring, and I’m going to have to ask… Anna Allan, will you marry me?” As he sunk to one knee, Anna could feel her stomach tying into knots. Whatever Anna had thought was going to happen, it certainly wasn’t this.

So, at this point Anna was freaking out. She had never, ever thought that Hunter was asking her over to propose. She had to say, though, that this was the best surprise ever! Once Anna had gathered her thoughts, and herself for that matter, she managed to grin down at Hunter. It took a while for her to come up with words, but when she did he was sure to love the answer. “Of course.” It was all that she could manage, but she knew it was enough. Anna didn’t have to think about her answer either. There was no one else other than Hunter, and whether he asked her now, or ten years into the future, the answer would be the same. Anna watched as he slid the ring onto her finger, loving how it caught the light, then reached out and wrapped her arms around him tightly. “I love you,” she whispered softly into his ear as she held onto him, taking in the moment. When she finally pulled away from him, she let her hands rest on the side of his face. She took another minute to look into his eyes, a smile on her lips, before she leaned forward and kissed his lips, the feeling absolutely amazing as she did it. Kisses like that only came from one person: Hunter. She could kiss him like this forever, and it seemed like now she could.

[hunter trent]

Hunter had always been the most soft hearted or the three Trent bothers. Kade seemed to have a heart of stone sometimes, almost like he really didn’t give a damn about what was going on around him or what other people were feeling. Jared had been almost the same, though there was a side to him that had been incredibly sweet and caring if one was close enough for him to show it to them. Hunter didn’t even seem to possess the ability to have a heart of stone like his older brothers had. Sure, there were the rare occasions here and there when he got extremely pissed off that he could be cold, but it took a lot to get him there. Everyone knew that he was the most mild of the Trents, and it was easy to see that he was the one that was the most prone to being a romantic. All three of the boys had that potential in them, but Kade and Jared had been the ones that had a little too much pride to be able to openly show it. Hunter knew that Jared had been very sweet with his girlfriend that he had had before he had died, and Kade went above and beyond to do sweet, romantic things for Brit all the time. Hunter was just the one that did it and didn’t care if the rest of the world thought that he was soft or weak or whatever the hell they wanted to think. His mother had always said that he may be her youngest, but he would be the first to get married and to have children. She had said it because he seemed to be the only one of her boys that dated throughout high school instead of just jumping from one girl to the other. That idea had been blown completely out of the water when Kade had come home from Las Vegas, Nevada with a wife, and then three months later telling his family that Vivian was pregnant, but the circumstances were very different there. Kade’s marriage and child had come about as both being accidents, though ones that he didn’t regret. Hunter was still seen as the one that would do things the “right” way, and he was proving it as he was down on one knee, asking the love of his life to marry him.

It hadn’t taken long for Hunter to fall in love with Anna. They had become friends pretty quickly when they had first met, her working with the broken version of himself that he was then and being with him as he healed from his brother’s death. Them becoming a couple had seemed like the only thing for them to do, and Hunter had felt himself falling faster and faster for the girl everyday that he was with her. There was just something in the way that she laughed and smiled, in the way that those gorgeous eyes of hers looked at him, and even just the way that she said his name. He remembered back to when he had gotten such a thrill from just being able to reach out and hold her hand for the first time, knowing that she was with him and he had somehow managed to have her at his side. No one had really had a lot of faith in their relationship, not seeing them as a good couple at first and saying that they would be lucky if they lasted a month. It was when they had been going together for almost three months that Hunter knew that he had fallen in love with her. It hadn’t seemed rational at all. They were still in high school, him a junior and her a freshman, and yet they were so happy and just so caught up in one another. People said that it would all fall in ruin, that they were too young to feel so deeply about one another. They needed to be with other people, they said. They didn’t know who they were yet because they were so young; how could they possibly know who it was that they were meant to spend the rest of their lives with? Those were all the negative things that Hunter had heard, but he hadn’t cared about any of it. He knew that statistically, high school sweethearts never made it. Something happened that split them up, and it just didn’t work out. But, he also knew that he loved the girl that he was with, and that seemed to outweigh everything else. None of that other stuff really mattered. As long as he had Anna, everything would be okay, and it would work out perfectly.

That’s not to say that it was easy. They had had their moment of hardship when they had broken up, and it seemed to Hunter that they might not get back together. He had wanted it, but he wasn’t the one that had done the breaking up. She had, and he had taken that to mean that he had somehow done something to push her away, or that she had grown tired of the relationship and just wanted something more. Hunter didn’t have near the amount of pride that his brothers did, but he did have enough pride in him to not be that pathetic man that started begging and pleading for a girl to take him back. Clearly, if Anna had broken up with him, she had had some sort of reasoning for it. Hunter had let her have what he had thought she wanted, and for nearly two years, he had went along with just being her friend. It had been hard, and there were some days when he wondered if it was even worth it, but the answer to that one had always been yes. If he couldn’t be the guy with her, then he would settle for being her friend if that was the only way that he was going to get to be around her. Trying to get over her had been a task that Hunter Trent had failed miserably at, though, and had always come back to the realization that Anna Allan was the girl that held his heart. That fact had literally sucked when Hunter knew that he couldn’t be with her, and it had been even worse that time that they had slept together when they weren’t even really together as a couple. He had had her back in his arms, only to have to pick up and leave without really having her at all. It had hurt, but even with his soft heart, Hunter was good at playing it off like it really wasn’t as bad as it really was. Not really good at it like Kade was, but he didn’t let it make him a dark cloud of drear all the time. It wouldn’t dominate his life, in other words. Those had been the most trying times in his and Anna’s relationship as friends and as a couple combined. Though, without overcoming those times and having all the great times in between, they wouldn’t have gotten to where they are.

Engaged. They were engaged now. Hunter hadn’t planned on it happening, nor had it been something that he had had in his head to do for any amount of time. That morning when he had woken up, it wasn’t something that he had decided he wanted to do. It was purely a spur of the moment sort of thing. All that it had taken was him walking by a jewelry store in the mall, his dark eyes catching site of a few of the rings. Hunter had then wondered on in, thinking that it would be nice to get Anna a pair of earrings or a charm to add to the bracelet that she wore. Maybe even another pendant to put on the necklace Brit had gotten her, but then he had found the engagement rings. Hunter was usually one to think things through, playing out all the different ways to go about it and the outcomes in his head, looking for flaws and ways to avoid them. He was also the type to want to do things by the book a lot of the time. But, he had thrown caution to the wind as he had picked out a ring, having to determine the size by knowing what finger of his Anna’s other rings fit on, and then putting down the money for it. He hadn’t asked her parents about it. He hadn’t told his parents what his intentions were. All he knew was that this ring was meant to go on Anna’s finger, and that it was absolutely the right thing for them. There were a lot of couples out there that were good as boyfriend and girlfriend, but engagement killed them. That wasn’t something that he ever saw happening between himself and Anna. Getting engaged would just be him showing her that he wanted to always be with her, that he was done looking. He’d already found what he wanted. This was a good thing. She was still in high school, about to graduate, and he was almost through college. It didn’t seem like a good thing looking at it from that point of view, as they were young and had a lot ahead of them, but Hunter didn’t want her to give up what she wanted. Marriage could be put off, but just as long as she knew that one day that’s where they’d be, that was all they really needed.

Anna’s reply was the one that he had been hoping for, and had been sure to receive. She had said yes, and that made it all official. Hunter Trent and Anna Allan were engaged, one day to be married as Hunter and Anna Trent. Hunter smiled a smile that communicated the extreme degree of happiness and love that he felt in that moment as he saw that grin come to her lips. The candlelight was still casting a pretty orange glow and flickering shadows, and her beauty in it was almost too much. Though, Hunter always felt that way about Anna. She was the definition of a perfect woman in his eyes. The candlelight was just another way of highlighting it. He then took the ring from the little black box it had been contained in, setting the box aside as he slid it onto her left ring finger, the light catching it and really making those diamonds glitter. It was a pretty ring, if Hunter did say so himself, but it looked beautiful on her finger. He knew that she would have been happy with a plain and simple golden band, or that she wouldn’t have really cared if there was a ring or not, but Hunter had taken pleasure in getting that ring for her. She deserved something like that. It was only a few moments after he had placed the ring onto her finger that Anna wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly. Hunter’s smile softened as he let his arms go around her as well, hearing her words whispered so sweetly to him. ”I love you, too,” he whispered back, just holding her there for as long he could. Him saying the words back was hardly necessary. He had just proposed to her, after all, but Hunter didn’t care if it was necessary or not. He’d tell her he loved her every chance that he got, no matter how well she knew it. Sometimes it’s good to know something, but to hear it and have it reinforced makes it that much more special, and much closer. Hunter held onto Anna, savoring such a blissful moment, one that the both of them were sure to always remember.

Anna was the first to pull away from their embrace, and Hunter loosened his hold on her. Her hands came up to the sides of his face, gently holding him there as their eyes met. God, she had the most gorgeous eyes. It was in these little moments like this that he knew that he was lucky to have her. Other guys had always made crude comments about how they were lucky to have girls that were good in bed or however they had termed it, but Hunter never based his and Anna’s relationship around something like that. That was a part of their relationship and he, like any other guy, did very much like it, but that was never something that he made the biggest part of what they had. Hunter would be perfectly content with just looking into these eyes and falling asleep with her in his arms. Though, sharing in a kiss definitely wouldn’t hurt his feelings at all. Anna was smiling as she leaned in close again, letting her lips meet against his in the kind of kiss that only came from Anna. Their eyes closed, still sharing in that moment that was fueled by nothing but the love that they felt for one another. Hunter let his hands come gently to her wrists, his thumbs moving over the soft skin of Anna’s hands. He had read so many books and tales that were considered romantic works, and had read so many heartfelt lines and words that could move even the coldest of hearts, but those could never compete with the moments like this one that he got to share with Anna. There were no words for what it was that he was feeling. Some words could come pretty close, but none would ever seem like they were good enough. Even with him being as talented of a writer as he was, Hunter knew that he would never be able to come up with words that would do this moment justice even if he worked on it for years. It was just that perfect.

That kiss seemed to go on without ever stopping, even as Hunter joined Anna once again on his bed and they leaned back, making things more comfortable. All that was needed to make it a perfect love scene out of a movie was some music, but Hunter sure as hell wasn’t going to break away from her just to go find out that he had no music to suit the mood. However, he did eventually pull away from her, looking down with loving eyes as he leaned over her, his arms holding her close even as he propped himself up. It was a perfect moment, but they could only stay in their little bubble of happiness for so long. Reality would have to come into play at some point and time. It was a weeknight; there would be classes tomorrow for both of them. Her parents would want her home at a decent hour, or at least want to know where she was at that night. Then, there was the thing that he was going to have to tell her parents and his what he had asked of Anna, and that they were engaged. Hunter knew Rob and Marion would be thrilled, and he thought that Anna’s parents would be as well. It was just the fact that he had done it without doing the traditional thing of asking that thought there might be a little bit of a catch. Otherwise, that part would be okay. Then, Hunter knew that all these candles had to be blown out eventually if he didn’t want to risk his room getting caught on fire while he dozed off. ”I don’t want you to leave,” he said softly, hating to even think about it but knowing that it was going to have to happen sooner or later. Hunter took his eyes away from her just long enough to glance at his clock on his bedside stand. It had been late when she had gotten there. Now it was even later. ”You think your parents will let you stay if I promise to get to you school on time?” he asked, liking the idea of her staying, but not so sure how Maria and Charles would like it. Anna had some clothes there from other times when they had been left, and if it came to it, Hunter could always swing by her house in the morning and let her go get what she wanted. Anything if he could keep her there with him.

[anna.ღ.allan]

The world around us keeps on movin'
And there's no doubt that I still love you

Anna was always considered a pretty simple girl. She never really needed anything special, and she never asked for a lot. Maria and Charles always joked that Anna was the a girl of few needs. She had been raised to not want things, and so she really didn’t. She would get new clothes from time to time and every once in a while there would be a CD or a movie or something that she had wanted, but really Anna never asked for things. Hunter had pretty much spoiled her over the years, even when they were just friends. While dating, he had always gotten things for her and done things for her, stuff that she had never felt she deserved at all. The charm bracelet was probably her most treasure item, her wearing it all the time except when she showered. She kept it close to her, and would have probably been devastated if she lost it. It was almost like a symbol of the love between her and Hunter, and as he slid that ring on her finger, she knew that it would be the same way with it too. Anna would have been happy with a simple band, no jewels placed on it. That was just the way she was. Still, she wasn’t complaining about Hunter’s choice, either. She liked it a lot, and what it represented made it mean so much more. She was engaged to Hunter Trent, the man of her dreams, and the love of her life. No one else compared to him. No one could ever even come close.

Anna had never really been all that sure about her future. There were times even now when she didn’t know what she wanted in this world. She had no plans for the future, no idea what to expect, and no idea what she really wanted. Except for one thing: Hunter. Anna had always known that she wanted Hunter in her life, standing by her side, and holding her hand. He meant everything to her, and without him she could never be truly happy. She had found that out the hard way. Anna didn’t worry about not having Hunter in her life anymore. There were times when she asked herself what she had done that was so good that gave her such an amazing man, and she sometimes felt like she didn’t deserve him. Anna knew, though, that Hunter changed her. Hunter had given her a reason to be open and free and who she really was. Before Hunter, Anna was a loner. She was mean and angry and had this toughness in her that often scared people away. She had never tried to be like this, it was just who she was. The day she had met Hunter Trent, though, was the day all of that changed. Anna couldn’t explain what it was about the boy, but he had captured her heart from the minute those dark eyes had met her own. It had taken a while for her to come of her shell, for sure, but it had been easy. Hunter had made everything easy that way.

Anna could remember the first time that her and Hunter had ever been together… you know the way I mean. Anna had been with other guys before him, but those times didn’t even begin to come close to how it was with Hunter. Anna remembered the night perfectly, too. It had been during one of Seattle’s biggest storm, the lightening knocking out all of the power. Anna had been over at Hunter’s watching movies, and Marion and Rob had somewhere for some reason or another (Anna had lost track of how many functions and what not that they seemed to attend). Kade and Jared had been out living up the Friday night, and so that had left Anna alone with Hunter. Somehow Hunter had talked her into watching The Ring Two with him (she hadn’t seen the first one) and for practically the whole movie Anna had practically been on his lap. She wasn’t a big fan of scary movies, and something told her that that had been Hunter’s whole plan to start with. It was just getting to the climax, and Anna was waiting in horror to find what would happen when BAM! All the power went out. She had jumped about a foot in the air and screamed, scooting herself father into Hunter’s arms. Anna had never been so scared in her life. Of course, Hunter had found the whole thing hilarious, laughing and then telling her that the power had simply been knocked out. That had done nothing to settle Anna’s nerves, though, and whenever Hunter had said he was going to go find some candles to light the living room, Anna had clung tightly to his hand and followed him.

Once the candles had been set up and there was light back in the room, Anna had quieted slightly, but not much. Her and Hunter had decided to move the furniture around in the living room to make room for them on the floor, and after moving the coffee table, the couch, and a couple of the chairs to the outer limits of the room, they had laid a couple of blankets on the floor and laid down there, Anna staying close to Hunter’s side and talking quietly with him about nothing at all, really. As Fate would have it, Anna’s cell phone had vibrated in her pocket, making her scream again, and causing Hunter to fall into another fit of laughter. It had been her parents, telling her to stay where she was and to not even tempt to come home while the storm was going on… like Anna was really going to argue with that. It had taken a good while for Anna to calm down again, but being close to Hunter, and hearing his voice had to be the most soothing thing for her, and it didn’t take long for her to calm and talk easily with him again. It was that night that Hunter had first told her that he loved her, and she had returned his words happily, having felt that way since the first day she had met him. From there, it had just kind of happened. She had started by simply kissing him, and slowly those kisses had gotten more passionate and more intense. Anna wouldn’t have taken that night back for anything, and there were still times when she would lay with Hunter and night and relive that night in her head. As she looked around at the candles that surrounded his room, she could remember that as well. She didn’t know if he had planned it this way, or if it had just kind of happened. Either way it didn’t matter. Anna knew what it meant to her, and that was all that mattered.

”I love you, too.” Anna knew that Hunter loved her, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t love to hear it. This was where she loved to be, holding Hunter tightly in her arms and feeling him doing the same. There was nothing better, really, than being in Hunter’s company. She loved everything they did together, and that made every night with Hunter wonderful. When she let her lips meet his, Anna could feel that spark between them as they did, the fireworks coming each and everytime her lips met his. Her heart would always raise and skip, and everything else in the world would just disappear. Her lips didn’t once leave Hunter’s, not even when he moved onto the bed with her and leaned back, taking her with him. She moved easily with him so that their connection didn’t break, having done it so many times before. She was comfortable laying there beside Hunter, just losing herself in the moment. Eventually Hunter pulled away from her, and simply looked down at her, Anna able to see the happiness and the love in his dark eyes. She simply stared back at him, wishing that this moment wouldn’t end, though she knew that it would. Apparently, though, Hunter felt exactly the same way. ”I don’t want you to leave.” She didn’t want to leave either. Anna watched as he glanced over at the clock, having absolutely no idea what time it was, but not really caring either. Then his eyes returned to her own. ”You think your parents will let you stay if I promise to get to you school on time?” Anna felt the smile pull at her lips. Maria and Charles loved Hunter. Besides that, they themselves had once been high school sweethearts… just look at where they had ended up. Anna had to say that she had the most understanding parents in the world, especially when it came to Hunter, and to ask if they would mind if she stayed was pretty much laughable.

“Of course, they’ll let me stay, Hunt.” She smiled softly at him, her words soft and light, just as his were. “They pretty much know not to expect me home when I come over here.” That was pretty much true. Anna had stayed at Hunter’s so many times that her mother had pretty much told her to stop calling and telling them where she was. That might not sound very parental, but Maria and Charles knew that Hunter wouldn’t let Anna go home on her own, especially at night. They didn’t really worry much either, which might sound odd but was true. For some reason, they trusted Anna, and they knew that she was safe when she was with Hunter. Anna loved her parents so much for that, and she couldn’t have probably asked for better ones. “They’ve been where we are. They know how it is.” Anna could remember sitting on her father’s lap when she was young and listening to him tell stories about when him and her mother were younger. They had gotten married just after they graduated from high school, and everyone had been pretty much against it. Ginny had told her brother that he was crazy and foolish for doing it, and Maria’s hadn’t even wanted to see her for years. They were okay with that, though, because they had loved each other. Nothing else had mattered to either of them. Anna knew that her parents never once regretted their decision to be with one another. They were so happy together, even after years of marriage, and though they had had many trying times in all those years, they had never once doubted what they had. The thought of something that was so powerful was amazing to Anna, and a part of her thought that she understood how they felt. As long as she had Hunter in her life, everything was going to be okay. She could overcome anything, as long as Hunter was right there by her side.

Anna leaned up and gave Hunter a sweet, short kiss, then she curled up next to him, resting her head on his chest as he lowered himself down on the bed. She left her free arm stretch across his stomach, then she took his hand in hers and laced her fingers through his, watching as her ring caught the light once again. She sighed softly as they fell into silence, letting herself take it all in once again. It was kind of hard to believe, really. Anna was engaged to Hunter. One day they would be married and have that life together that she had once thought she would never have. They were one step closer to having it, and the thought of having it with Hunter just made her so… happy. “Hey Hunter,” she asked softly, her voice just above a whisper. Anna’s eyes were still on her and Hunter’s hands, and she didn’t lift them as she talked. “Have you ever thought about the future?” It was a rather odd and maybe even random question, but in light of the present situation she figured it was an appropriate question. Now Anna slowly lifted her eyes and tilted her head so that she could see her boyfriend’s face. “I mean… like what you want to do with your life… or what you see for us.” Anna really didn’t know if he ever had; it was something they had never really thought about. Obviously in light of recent events he planned for them to be together, but outside of that, what was there? Did he have any idea what he wanted? Or was he simply playing it by ear and going with the flow? Anna had no idea, and that was why she had asked him.

[hunter trent]

So reality sucked at this point in Hunter’s mind. If it were the kind of world that he saw as perfect, he and Anna could do whatever they wanted to do without having to worry about classes and grades and keeping up so that they could get the hell out of school. Anna was working toward graduation from high school while Hunter was trying hard to graduate from college as quickly as it was humanly possible for him to do so. He was already one grade up from most of the other students his age, having skipped a grade early on in elementary school. Truth be told, he probably could have skipped another grade had he worked himself a little bit harder and tested into the next grade up, but Hunter had had a lot on his plate as it was. He had been perfectly content where he was, and he was fine with where he was presently was. Summer courses were in his future, he knew, if he wanted to get out a bit earlier, but that wasn’t something that he wanted to think about until he absolutely had to. Hunter loved his summers, and to think of one of them getting eaten up by yet more classes really sucked. But, one has to do what they’ve got to do to get ahead in this world. That’s why Hunter knew better than to suggest that he and Anna just skip a day instead of him worrying about getting her to school on time the next day. Hunter had skipped a few days in high school here and there, mostly after Jared had died. He sometimes skipped out on some of his college classes as well, but only if he had a really good reason for doing it. Then, he was looking out for Anna as well. She would have skipped a day with him in a heartbeat had Hunter suggested it, but he didn’t want that for her. It might sound like he was being parent like, wanting to keep her in class and wanting her to do well, but he was just looking out for her. He wanted the best of everything for this girl in his arms, and he knew the reality of that happening unfortunately started with school.

School really hadn’t been all that bad in Hunter’s opinion, though, and it still really wasn’t. After all, if not for the school screwing up his schedule that day, Hunter might not have ever had the opportunity to have met Anna Allan. Sure, they would have gone to the same school, and Hunter probably would have noticed her eventually, but he wouldn’t have had a good reason to strike up a conversation with her. They might have met sometime or another through different connections, like through Brit or something, but it wouldn’t have been the same and it would be hard to tell where they would have been in their lives when they would have finally met. Anna did live just down the street from the Trents, but that didn’t make much of a difference in the matter when one lived in the city like they did. There was really no reason for Hunter to care who it was that was living down the road from him, and a lot of the time you were really better of not knowing. Zach Cool had lived across the street from the Trents while they were all growing up. That pretty much said it all. Though meeting Anna was the best part of school, Hunter liked it for other reasons as well. He was always in the honors classes, and he excelled in pretty much all the subjects. Apart from that, Hunter had been involved in football, playing along side of Kade for three years, and then playing his senior year as the only Trent on the team. Hunter wasn’t much of a fighter or one to be violent, but there was just something about football and hitting the other team as hard as they could that Hunter had loved. He hadn’t much liked it when he saw this massive guy about ready to tackle him, but that was the part that bred competition and pushed Hunter harder. He and Kade had been a good team out on the field, even when Kade went through that psychotic breakdown during his senior season, Hunter’s junior, and almost violently pushed Hunter to the ground along with two other teammates. That wouldn’t have been a big deal if Kade played defense, but he was offense; he rarely touched other players unless there was no one else to do it. But, that had been a difficult time. The breakdown was understood.

Even now in college, Hunter kind of liked school. He wasn’t playing ball, that not being the direction he had chose for his life, but the academic side of it was enough. He liked most of his courses that he was taking. It was all well and good, but right then in that moment with Anna, he really wished that he could be irresponsible for once and just take the day to spend with his girlfriend, or fiancé as she now was. He couldn’t do it, though. That wouldn’t have been Hunter, so he would settle for just getting the night with Anna. A small little smile came to play on her lips after he had asked whether or not Maria and Charles would let her stay, and it was enough to tell him the answer. He listened to her reply, and then smiled a smile to match her own. Of course they would let her stay. They knew better than to expect her home when she came over here. Hunter was so thankful that Anna had parents like Maria and Charles. He could remember the first time that he had ever met them, being much younger and nervous as hell. What if he didn’t like them? What if they didn’t like him? What if he accidentally broke something in their home or said something that insulted them without realizing it until it was too late to fix it? God, he had been more than nervous, but he hid it well and felt incredibly stupid for all his worrying after having only been in the Allan household for two minutes at the most. Maria and Charles were kind people, and they seemed to take to Hunter almost instantly. From the start, they had been supportive of Hunter’s relationship with their daughter and accepted him as a part of the family. They were like another set of parents for him, and Hunter had found himself missing them almost as much as he had missed Anna when they hadn’t been dating. He still saw them then, just not like he had.

Then, there was the fact that Anna’s parents were just so trusting in Hunter, and allowed their daughter to spend the night with him basically whenever they wanted to. Not too many parents would let their teenaged daughter spent the night with her older boyfriend, but Maria and Charles had always been understanding on that front as well. Hunter also remembered being nervous about them finding out that he and Anna had taken that step and were sleeping together. Some parents just didn’t take that well. Rob and Marion had always been open about that sort of thing, and made it clear that they just wanted their boys to be careful. As it turned out, Maria and Charles were pretty much the same way. Anna had just told her parents about it, and Hunter could remember his jaw dropping when he had learned that. How the hell was he supposed to face her parents again? But, once again, he need not have worried. Maria and Charles understood perfectly, and it had only been brought up once between Charles and Hunter. The two had been sitting to themselves in the Allan living room, and Charles had only asked that Hunter and Anna be smart about what they were doing. Instead of it being awkward and uncomfortable, the conversation had been easy to have as Hunter was so comfortable with Charles. After that, it hadn’t been mentioned again, and the second half of Anna’s current reply probably had a lot to do with that. Anna’s parents had fallen in love at a young age as well. They had been where Anna and Hunter are, and they knew how it was and what it felt like to love someone the way that Hunter loved Anna. Hunter’s own parents had met during their high school years, and Hunter contributed a lot of their understanding nature to that same reason. Of course, Hunter had heard a lot of stories on his parents that suggested to him that Marion and Rob hadn’t been angels themselves, but that’s a different story.

All of that meant that Anna was going to get to stay with him, and that in itself was a relief to Hunter. He wasn’t going to have to let her go so soon. How he had ever gone even a couple of days without seeing her and talking to her, he didn’t know. He supposed that he had just had a lot on his mind and a lot to deal with, but even that didn’t seem like a good reason. As if everything weren’t good enough, Anna leaned forward and gave Hunter a short, sweet kiss to make it all that much better. Had he mentioned just how much he loved this girl? God, the things she could do for him just with that one little kiss. It was like the whole outside world had faded away from his mind again, taking him away into this world where it was just the two of them and everything was perfect. It was a world that he very willingly let himself slip into, leaning back onto his bed as she curled up closer next to him. If this was all that the nigh was, just Hunter getting to hold Anna this close and feeling her there against him, he would be perfectly fine with that. His dark eyes watched as her arm stretched out over his abdomen and her hand reached for his. Once their fingers were interlocked, he was able to see the shine of that ring he had just put on her finger, the light from the candles catching it. If it could do that in dim light, imagine what it would do in a bright light. Hunter heard Anna’s sigh, and they both seemed to settle into this quite comfortably. Falling asleep like this wasn’t impossible, but there were all those candles to put out. Eh, oh well. Hunter and Anna had fallen asleep by candlelight before and nothing had caught on fire. Though, there hadn’t been quite so many candles out that night when the power had gone out, and it would just be something that would happen to them. Marion and Rob wouldn’t know what to think when they came home to discover that their youngest son’s room had been completely torched. God, that that would probably cause some damage to Jared’s old room. Hunter didn’t want to be responsible for that.

His nightmares about burning rooms were chased away from his mind the moment that he heard Anna speak again, his full attention on her. Hunter listened faithfully, tilting his head to see her better. Her question was a little random maybe, but he could see where it fit in with all of this. Hunter looked down at her for a long moment before looking away, down to their hands once again. It should have been an easy question to answer, but really it wasn’t. ”I used to think about it a lot,” he said, starting slowly as he picked out the words to say. ”I mean, when you’re younger, you always picture how you want your life to turn out. I never really knew what I wanted to do in life, but every time I pictured myself in any future, I always saw it as me, Kade and Jared. No matter what, I thought I’d always have both of them there with them there with me. But after Jared, well, the picture changed.” Hunter almost felt bad for digging up that old wound when he and Anna were supposed to be happy, celebrating their love, but that was his honest answer to her question. Hunter rarely talked about Jared, whether it was about a time before or after his death. He just hadn’t found the strength to do that yet. ”I didn’t want to see anything without him, so I quit looking for awhile. I just moved, knowing where I had to go but not really caring for what might be ahead of me. Eventually that changed, but it wasn’t until I got you that I really started thinking about it again.” Hunter looked back down at Anna, a small smile playing on his lips. ”I still don’t really know what I want to do with my life. Finishing that book would be a good start, but we’ll see. And as for you and me, I just know that I can’t put a future together for myself without you in it.” It might seem like much was said, but Hunter had just let a lot of his insecurities show, and he could only do that with Anna. Looking ahead in life was something that still bothered Hunter, the scars of his brother’s death still there, but he knew he had to. As long as Anna was there with him, Hunter could do it. If he ever lost her, he might never recover.

[anna.ღ.allan]

The world around us keeps on movin'
And there's no doubt that I still love you

These right here were the times that Anna liked best. Those times when she could just lay there, in Hunter’s arms, and just listen to the sound of him breathing or his heart beating in his chest. As long as Anna was close to Hunter, she really had nothing to think or worry about. She had been known to waste the entire day and night away like this with him, a weekend popping up every now and then when they did nothing but lie in each other’s company. Yeah, this was where Anna loved to be. This was where she always wanted to stay. The whole engagement thing had actually come as a shock to her. Don’t get me wrong, Anna had been serious about Hunter for a long time, and she knew that Hunter was just as serious about her. She had just never expected this kind of thing out of him so soon. She had no idea if he’d planed this in advance or if it had been on a whim. He’d certainly never showed any signs of doing this sort of thing, but really, it didn’t matter how it had come about. Hunter was hers. He was hers forever and always. She would never let him go… never even dream of letting him go. He meant so much to her, he always had. For Anna, losing Hunter would be like a knife through the heart. She’d rather die than have to go through life without him. That might seem dramatic, but as she lay there looking up at him, waiting for her question to be answered, she knew it was true. Losing Hunter just wasn’t an option for Anna, and life without him would simply be unbearable.

And then those dark eyes met her own. That simple thing sent Anna’s heart racing. Hunter kind of had that affect on her, though, and she really wouldn’t have it any other way. No one else on this planet could ever do the same thing to her; no one had ever even come close. Hunter was one in a million alright, and he was her one. Until Anna had met Hunter, Anna hadn’t always believed her parent’s old high school stories about meeting and instantly knowing they were meant to be together. She’d often roll her eyes, mutter a “yeah right”, and then walk up the stairs to her room. Now she knew that those stories weren’t just things of fiction that now, after years of marriage, her parents believed had happened. Anna knew that it was possible. It was what had happened to her with Hunter, her knowing right away that Hunter was the one she wanted to be with, and that no matter how hard she looked she’d never find another that could even come close to comparing with him. His dark eyes had stolen her heart from the moment they looked into her own, and her heart still belonged to him… every last, pulsing piece of it. It was almost scary to love someone so much. Anna had never depended on anyone before, never needed one specific person to survive. That was different now. She had to have Hunter by her side, holding her hand and leading her away from the darkness that sometimes haunted her. He was her guiding light, her savior, and she didn’t think he’d ever realize just how much he had saved her.

”I used to think about it a lot. I mean, when you’re younger, you always picture how you want your life to turn out. I never really knew what I wanted to do in life, but every time I pictured myself in any future, I always saw it as me, Kade and Jared. No matter what, I thought I’d always have both of them there with them there with me. But after Jared, well, the picture changed.” Anna listened carefully to his soft, deep voice, her crystal eyes looking up into his face. She shifted herself so that she was lying on her stomach, resting her chin on her hand, now able to see him better without getting a crick in her neck. When she heard Hunter say Jared’s name, Anna couldn’t help but feel her stomach knot slightly. Anna had never really known Jared. She’d known him a little, but not as well as she now knew Kade and Hunter. That didn’t mean that she didn’t wish he was still here, living his life and breathing the air with his brothers. Hunter had only mentioned his brother once or twice since his death, and when he did, Anna couldn’t help but feel the sadness that she knew Hunter himself was feeling. That’s kind of how it was when you loved someone the way Anna loved Hunter. She didn’t have to know Jared. Just seeing Hunter sad or upset about his lost brother was enough to shatter Anna’s heart into a million tiny pieces. ”I didn’t want to see anything without him, so I quit looking for awhile. I just moved, knowing where I had to go but not really caring for what might be ahead of me. Eventually that changed, but it wasn’t until I got you that I really started thinking about it again.” As the smile stretched onto his lips, the same one stretched onto Anna’s. Knowing that she was something in his life, not just a girl that he could love or hold onto, always made her feel good. Hunter was always saving her in one way or another. He was everything and more to her, and she couldn’t imagine not having him there. Knowing that she had somehow meant something to Hunter and done something in his life made her feel like she was worth something in this world. She might not be able to help a lot of people, but being able to do something for Hunter’s life, without even realizing it, was more than she could have ever hoped for.

”I still don’t really know what I want to do with my life. Finishing that book would be a good start, but we’ll see. And as for you and me, I just know that I can’t put a future together for myself without you in it.” Again ladies, always fall for the writers. It seemed that lately all the words that came out of Hunter’s mouth were ones that were so sweet and so amazing that Hollywood could never be able to touch them. The thing was, Anna felt the exact same way. She had never really thought about what her future may hold; it had never seemed that important really. There were times when she had had certain whims as to what she might want to be, such as a doctor, or a lawyer, or a teacher. Those had never really stuck with her, though, and it always seemed that the more she thought about it, the less sure she was about all of it. One thing was for sure, though, and that was that Hunter was the only thing that she needed for her future to be great. He was everything that she needed, all that she wanted, and worth more to her than anything else in the world. As far as careers went, Anna simply figured she would just go with it all and see where it all led her. She wasn’t really the type to worry and stress over such things, and for now, she didn’t even want to think of them. All she wanted to do was look into Hunter’s dark eyes, kiss his amazing lips, and hold onto him for as long as she possibly could.

“My future’s always been with you,” she whispered softly, leaning down and brushing her lips against his so softly that she barely touched them. “And you’ll finish your book, Hunter. You’ve always had a great way with words. It’ll be great, just like you.” She grinned down at him, then leaned down and kissed him again, letting her lips touch his this time, and lingering them there for a little while longer than before. “I am so in love with you, Hunt, more than I ever thought was possible.” Her voice was just above a whisper, yet she knew that he would hear them, her having his complete and undivided attention. The sincerity in her voice was so intense that it even surprised her, but she meant those things with every fiber of her being. She had never known that it was possible to love someone this much, and that that love could be returned so intensely and completely. She had no doubts in her mind now, though, because she was in love with Hunter. The word was so often misused and misinterpted, and that sometimes made it seem weak and unimportant. There were times when love didn’t feel like a strong enough word, or that any word could really express what she felt for Hunter. That wasn’t really important, though. Anna knew how she felt about Hunter, knew how Hunter felt about her, and it wasn’t always about what you said, but more how you showed it, and Anna felt she did a damn good job expressing that. With a final grin she leaned forward once again and let her lips meet Hunter’s. To Anna, there was nothing sweeter in the world than this right here. Nothing else had ever compared to it, and nothing else ever would.