WRITER IN THE DARK , neil perry

15

december

the cold weather came quicker than amélie expected. one week they were skinny dipping in the lake and the next it's snowing. it wasn't a blizzard or anything, but it hurt to see the quick change in weather. still, almost all the schools in vermont got a snow day due to the sudden change in weather. amélie actually was excited to have a day off. she'd read, watch tv, bake. it was practically heaven to her, until she got a phone call that

"laurent residence. my father is away to see his parents, this is amélie speaking." amé softly but nervously spoke into the phone. she wasn't supposed to answer the phone while her dad was out, but the ringing made her anxious. she rarely got her own phone calls, but she always picked up just in case.

"amélie!" she heard a faint female voice exclaim. it sounded to be in the background, because she could hear someone else breathing closer to the phone.

"who is this?" she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. she didn't know who would be calling her, other than marianne, who was busy today.

"well, you're on the phone with knox overstreet but everyone else is here too. except for neil." amé sighed with relief to the response, but then furrowed her eyebrows again after she realized who was calling. "how'd you get this number?"

"marianne. now, will you help us with something?" he quickly said. you could hear laughing from marianne in the background, which made amélie smile warmly.

"fine. what is it?" she groaned jokingly, a smile still playing upon her lips.

"will you help us bake a cake for neil's birthday?" knox asked sheepishly. he sounded embarrassed, but that made amé even more enthusiastic.

"of course! do you want me to help wrap your presents and stuff too?" she asked excitedly. she already had a list of gifts she needed to get and wrap for neil, so she wouldn't mind helping her friends too.

"presents?" she heard meeks asked in a confused tone faintly, and after a bit of chatter knox gravely spoke into the phone again.

"we don't have presents."

this shocked amélie. "what? the whole point of a birthday is to make the person feel special and spoil them. a cake isn't enough! i'll take you guys to the mall and help each and everyone of you pick out the perfect gift for neil. bring your own money too." gifts weren't always a big part in amélie's birthdays. she loved giving but she hated getting. she wasn't used to even getting gifts, because every year all her father gave her was a 10 dollar bill and not even a card. she could come up for the perfect gift for anyone, so that made her all the more excited to spoil neil with gifts.

amélie quietly shuffled around the house, afraid someone would hear her creaking on the old floorboards. it was only her at home, yet she was afraid her dad was somehow there, listening and waiting for amé to make a small mistake so he can call her on it. she came to the record player in the living room, and grabbed a random record. she carefully took off the sleeve, and took every one of the dollar bills that were inside.

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the local shopping center was very busy. amélie met her friends at the large department store that took up half of the mall, and watched as they all looked around until she approached them.

"hi guys." she waved, smiling with excitement. she could barely contain herself.

"amé!" marianne hugged her tightly as she walked up to the group.

"thanks for doing this. we really wanted to surprise neil." knox smiled warmly, making amélie nod and shrug like it was something that she was naturally supposed to do.

"i've got a list, one sec.." she dug into her bag, searching for the crumpled up paper she had been scribbling on just earlier.

"oh god.." cameron groaned, walking away from the group and finding something else to do.

"okay, charlie, i wrote down that you could get him a playbook, maybe pick out one you'll think he'll like." amélie read, occasionally squinting at her own writing as if she couldn't read it.

"sounds easy enough." charlie shrugged. marianne had her hands wrapped around him.

"do i have to get a gift for him?" she rolled her eyes, not wanting charlie to leave her grasp. he chuckled as marianne planted kisses down his neck.

"it'd be nice of you, mari." amélie rolled her eyes back as she watched marianne and charlie make out in the middle of the store.

"can't i just piggyback off of charlie's gift?" mari whined, crossing her arms.

"only if you go halfers. playbooks are expensive!" charlie added in charmingly, making marianne annoyed.

"fine." she growled, grabbing charlies hand and walking with him to the literature section.

"okay then. meeks, i wrote that you could buy him a book. just any book." amélie continued, looking up to meeks and pitts as she read out the gift she had in mind. they had already decided to go half and half on the gift, so they both agreed in unison. "okay."

"todd, i figured-" amé started, putting the list down to look directly at todd.

"i've, i've actually already got a gift in mind." he cut her off with a small smile.

amélie's rouge lips grew into a grin once she heard what he had to say. "great. i wrote down that i thought you'd already had something. what are you getting him?"

"a new watch. he broke his old one a few days ago." todd quietly said, gaining amé's interest.

"i've actually got to go to that area too, could you wait for me?" she turned her eyes back to the list, reading the last of what she had written.

"of course." todd quietly nodded, stumbling on very other word he spoke.

"knox, neil loves buddy holly. if you could get some records of his i'm sure he'll love them."

"you've got it. thanks again for doing this amélie. you better be this prepared for my birthday." knox nodded jokingly, but then pulling amélie into a tight hug before walking away to find the record section.

"my pleasure." amé nodded. she couldn't help but blush. "i'm not sure where cameron went, so let's go todd."