Trying Not to Love You

"What the hell are you doing here?" I asked Hailey, as she stole a piece of bacon off my plate. She just shrugged her shoulders at me.

Shaking my head at her, I picked up my plate, put it in the dishwasher and then went back up to my room to take a shower.

Hunter showed up right on time to help load all of my stuff in his truck. My brothers were also there helping him. My mom was crying because she did not want me to go. I promised her I would be home for Thanksgiving, and I would call her every chance I got. I think that helped ease her mind, maybe just a little.

My dad pulled me aside, and handed me a check. "What's this for? I don't need your money dad; I saved up all my money from babysitting, and working over the summer."

"I know, but I'm not going to be there to spoil you like I would if you were here. If you don't spend the money, at least deposit it in the bank for emergencies." Dad grabbed me, pulled me into a tight hug and kissed the top of my head. "We're really going to miss you, baby girl."

I wiped the tears away that were running down my cheeks. "I'm going to miss you too dad. I love you." I was going to miss him and mom; this was the first time I was seriously going to be on my own.

"Alright, go say good-bye to your Mom, and then I'll get her out of here so you can leave." He said with a chuckle.

I walked over to my mom and hugged her. I told her I would call her as soon as I settled into my dorm. Mom was still clinging on to me, crying when Dad wrapped his arm around her, and walked her to the car to go out to lunch.

Jackson hugged and kissed my cheek, told me he would miss me like crazy, and that he and Chloe would call me during the week to check up on me.

Cooper was next to say goodbye. "Don't let anyone mess with you Kenzie. If you have any problems, call me. I don't care what time it is."

"I will, I promise. Love you; take care of Mom for me." Cooper was my mom's favorite; I knew he would look out for her.

Finally, it was Mason's turn. Even though we fought all the time, I was going to miss him the most. "Give your sister a hug." I told him, with tears rolling down my cheeks again.

Hugging me, he whispered, "I really wish you weren't going away Kenzie. We need you here." Then he pulled back and wiped the tears from my cheeks.

"You're not going to be here in a few weeks Mase. You guys will be ok without me. Y'all are going to come visit us in a few weeks anyway."

"I know we'll be gone, but I can't keep an eye on you Kenzie. I have to rely on Hunter to protect you now that I can't." Always the over protective one, I loved him, but this was another reason I chose this college.

"I have Dominic too, you know. No one is going to mess with me with him and Hunter around. Go to school, have fun and stay out of trouble." I winked at him, trying to lighten the situation. He was always getting into trouble until baseball season started up.

"Love ya; call me when you get there. If you don't, I'll be there by tomorrow morning." I knew he was not kidding.

Chuckling, I said, "Yes Dad. Love you too."

I walked over to Hunter's truck, and looked over to him. "Finally, let's get the hell out of here before they handcuff me here."

4

After we stopped at Hailey's and picked up all her stuff, we started on our five-hour drive. We played Hot Seat to kill some of the time. Since Hunter was driving, he was in the Hot Seat first. Hailey and I had to ask five questions each, and he could veto only one question.

I started, "Who was the first person you ever kissed?"

He glanced over at me. "You." That surprised me. I am shocked he even remembered it. He was sixteen and the girls flocked to him. I would have thought he would have kissed someone before me.

Hailey piped up from the back seat, "Who was the first person you had sex with?" Of course, she would jump into that.

Hunter looked in the rear view mirror at Hailey. "Lilly."

"How old were you?" I asked curiously.

He honestly did not want to answer, but did anyway, "16."

Hailey laughed, "When was the last time you had sex?"

He looked straight out the window, "Two months ago."

Hold on…what? "You walked that girl out of your room last weekend."

"That's not a question."

I rolled my eyes, "You didn't sleep with that girl you spent the night with last weekend?"

"No," was all he said.

Hailey was bouncing in her seat, "My turn, would you have sex with Kenzie?"

"Really, Hails?" I looked at Hunter, "You don't have to…."

"Yes." he said, before I could even finish what I was saying.

I needed to change the subject quickly. "What's your favorite color?"

He looked over, and winked at me, "Blue, like the color of your eyes." Ugh, this is not going the way I wanted it to. I did not want this to become awkward.

Hailey was laughing hysterically, "How big is your dick?" Now it was awkward.

Turning around in my seat, I glowered at Hailey, and she shrugged her shoulders at me.

Hunter started laughing, "No one has ever complained."

I wanted to change the subject completely. It was becoming extremely hot in here, thinking about his size, "What did you have for breakfast?"

He was still laughing, "Coffee."

I braced myself for what was about to come next out of Hailey's mouth. "Would you date Kenzie if you weren't friends with her brothers?"

He looked at me, smiled and then checked both ways before entering the intersection, "Hell yeah." Damn brothers!

"Alright Hailey, you're next." Hunter looked in the rearview mirror once we were safely through the intersection.

Hailey started whining. "Let's play something else; I don't want to play this anymore."

I had a pretty good feeling it was because she knew we were going to ask questions about her and Mason. Since Hunter is an easygoing guy, we dropped the game and started playing Name that Song. Hunter had the radio buttons on his steering wheel, so he would hit the seek button, and the three of us would try to guess the song. This kept us entertained for a little bit until Hailey and I busted out dancing and singing Call Me Maybe at the top of our lungs, while Hunter laughed at us. After a while, my throat started hurting from yelling, so I gave up. I laid down along the seat, stuck my feet out the window and read for a while.

It was late when we finally made it to campus, but because it was check-in weekend, it really did not matter. When we pulled up to the dorms, I texted Dominic to let him know we were here, and to ask if he could come help me unload my stuff.