Hunter wasn't keen on socializing during workouts. Too many people aggravated him, and he liked to be fully absorbed in the grind instead of chit chatting with the rest of the jocks. But humans naturally sought out companions after a while. Even he was not immune to it. It was luck, then, that Jasper and Benjamin had been free for a session.
It was probably one of the few times he welcomed the distraction.
A full week had passed, and he still hadn't gotten Feyre Abernathy out of his head. The haunting had begun; memories of her melded with those of the others wronged by his hands, and for some reason he was having more trouble than not forcing it out of his head. He couldn't punch it out, and he sure as hell didn't want to talk it out. So he would work it out.
But the little treadmill wasn't cutting it. Breaking out of his jog, Hunter stepped off it and headed towards the bench press.
"One of you come spot me," the quarterback said to Benji and Jasper. The polite please was ignorantly missing.
"I got it," Jasper said, getting up from his own machine to go and help Hunter.
"What are you starting at?" Jas asked as he went to the other side to put the weights on.
"60 each side."
"Gotcha." Jas slid the weights onto the barbell leaving the other side for Hunter before moving to the head.
"You wanna take a swing at it after?" Jasper asked, looking over at Benji.
"Sure thing." Benji hardly looked at the other two. Throughout the week, his easy going smile was absent and his relaxed nature turned stale. Ever since he wandered the mazes, his mind was anywhere but the present moment. He could often smell the lingering traces of blood from the details of his memories.
Following his last set with a grunt, Benji put down his weights and took a swig of his bottle. Soaked in his own sweat, he pushed through to lift heavier and with more reps. The physical strain was the only thing that got him going throughout the week. More than anything, he wanted to see his best friend but it was obvious that he was being avoided. Another thing on his mind was the missing status of one of their students: Feyre Abernathy. Although a friend, she was still one of the Founding children and cloaked by their strangeness.
"Nolan, Nolan," Benji sang with the return of his mischief tone. "What the hell are you eating to get so beefy. You're built like a fucking ox."
"No...clue."
Hunter spoke between breaths, his large biceps parallel to one another as he held the weighted bar straight above. He fell into silence as the bar went up and down, over and over in a slow, rhythmic pattern.
Then it paused abruptly, poised above the teen's face. His black eyes were pinned on Benji.
"Where have you been all week? Haven't seen shit of you or Jasper since school started." There wasn't the slightest shake of his straightened arms. He made holding the bar look so easy. "'Cept for practice. Got some girls finally?"
Benji smiled nervously - even he felt the pressure of Hunter's gaze. He was a tad more intimidating while he held those weights above his face like no problem. "You need some extra weights there, bud?"
Jasper released a short laugh and moved closer to Benji after seeing the ease in which Hunter lifted the weights. The guy really put the rest of them to shame sometimes. "You're one to talk." He countered.
"Besides, we both know Benny boy here prefers the friend zone."
"Ahh, shut up." Benji chirped, wringing an arm around Jasper's neck. "I just care too much about how lonely you'll feel if I start chasing a girl. Also, Hunter strikes me as the jealous type. I don't want to make him mad if I ditch him too often."
CLANG!
The weighted bar fell into its metal holders with a careless drop. Hunter sat up from the bench press, his eyes darting from Jasper first to Benji second. He stared for a moment, his expression unreadable.
And then he was reaching down to the sides, pulling up more weights into his lap from the floor.
"Huh. You sure Benny prefers the friend zone? I don't think he has a choice." A small smile graced his features.
"Please, I'm sure I got better game than you." Benji said, but muttered under his breath. He grabbed a couple weights and started his curls on the bench beside him.
"Jasper, why don't you hook him up with Joan? Unless you two are still together," He teased lightly.
A look of disgust immediately filled Jasper's expression. "That would be like screwing my sister." He shuddered at the thought. "Gross. Just no."
"Huh?" Confusion clouded Hunter's features. "Oh, I thought you liked hanging around her."
With the new weights added to each side, he laid under the bar again, grunting a bit as he hefted it from its resting place.
Joan, huh.. Benji felt impartial towards her. "Hey, that's enough about us." He paused between a curl, a steady breath blown through his lips. "A kid from your team said you found yourself a girl." Another slow breath, " I'm happy for you, man."
"A- what?"
It wasn't so easy to hold the bar this time. Perhaps because the whole damn thing had almost dropped on his neck after his fingers had slipped inexplicably at Benji's words, and the football captain swore as he regained his hold.
"The fuck are you on, man?"
"Oh yeahhh, I heard about that," Jasper piped up, keeping an eye on the bar Hunter had almost dropped. "The interview chick with the blue hair. You guys actually have a thing?" He asked.
Hunter's jaw locked stubbornly. "No." And in his typical fashion, he left it at that, eyes staring at the ceiling with renewed interest.
Benji dropped his weight, finishing his set. "Nah, you're not getting away with just that. I'm sure there's some truth behind the rumours, no?" Leaning his back against the seated bench, he tipped his bottle against his lips. "Come on, Hun… tell me more, tell me more. " He hummed the rest of the tune from the movie Grease and chuckled while sipping his water.
"Lay off," Hunter snapped. He sat up, putting the bar back in its holder - had he really finished his rep so quickly? "Look -"
He stood up, his hands on his hips, frowning down at Benji.
"Finish that and let's get something to eat. Unless you guys wanna put in overtime here."
"Fine, fine."
