Hunter had been expecting to meet with the bad side of Mackenzie's attitude, and she had her mouth open and ready for a cheeky retort all of her own, but Kate stepped in before she had a chance. She had been intending to play off Mack's warning, she knew if she started off joking she stood a better chance of joking her down. But Kate seemed genuinely angry, not a hint of a joke. She was practically screaming, making Hunter flinch back a bit, it was as loud as a pack of screeching banshees in the tiny room. The blonde even saw the older woman lifting her arm, and her eyes went wide. She attempted to make a far too late grab to stop her from swinging, but it was over before Hunter could really react.

The slap echoed for what seemed to be forever through the room, and the tall blonde was actually stunned into silence. Her lanky arms hung limp at her sides, and she couldn't believe what had just happened. From behind Mackenzie, she could see the freshman still clinging on, though she looked like she was shaking now. It'd be lucky if she didn't piss herself or something. She didn't even really know what to say, especially to the look on her best friend's face. It wasn't as if her own mother had never slapped her before, and it did bring up a slight uncomfortable feeling for her.

She was extremely relieved to see Kia arrive back to the room, and she knew the situation would be taken care of. She was off the hook slightly for a little while.. wrangling Kate was no easy task, and Kia had a lot more years of experience, even if Hunter had the older woman basically wrapped around her finger. "No problem babe," Hunter agreed easily enough, trying to stay cocky and deny the fact that she did actually feel pretty bad now, even worse than before. It had been a hard week for Mack, and even if the other blonde was a bitch, it was still partially Hunter's fault that things had gotten so out of hand. And she could still hear that echoing slap.

Moving over to sit down on the edge of the bed beside Kate, Hunter slid an arm around the woman's shoulders easily, pulling her closer and leaning her head onto hers. "Chill out ma," she instructed her simply, her best attempt at a grin on her face. "Breathe deep and shit, find yer center."

From behind Mackenzie, although Kia had entered the room, Tatum continued to shake. Her grip on the blonde's shirt had increased ten-fold, and she might have been danger of actually ripping it if she had been stronger. Like her handshakes, her hands were weak. She hadn't looked up to see it, but had heard the slap, felt Mack rock back against it. She wanted to cry, her eyes closed as tightly as she could get them, and her teeth biting furiously at the inside of her cheeks, willing herself not to break down.

Like Mack, she felt she needed to get out of there. She couldn't take anymore of it.

When Kia came over to them and spoke, Tatum finally tried opening her eyes, squinting over Mack's shoulder at her as she spoke. Drinks and food, she could do that, and she gave a weak little nod of her head to show that she could do it. She didn't really want to be separated from Mackenzie, but the older girl could probably use a few minutes to clear her head. Otherwise, she might be beating Hunter and her mother to death tonight. She wanted to reassure the blonde, and she gently ran her hand over her back, just wanting to let her know she was still there.

She tried to smile back at Kia, though it was rather half-hearted, and she took a few moments of working herself up the courage before actually letting go of Mack's shirt finally. She immediately wanted to grab it back, but forced herself to walk out of the open door instead, looking back at the blonde with big slightly terrified eyes. Once Mack went her own way, she didn't know if she could do this. What if Kia was mad that she had basically been the reason Kate and Mack had gotten so worked up? Maybe she was going to yell at her or something. She was always nice before, but the redhead's paranoia was running rampant.

"Y-Yeah, uhm. I do.. a-actually, yeah," she finally managed in answer to the older girl's question, swallowing thickly and still staring at Mackenzie, still wanting to cling onto her.