WRITER IN THE DARK , neil perry

19

"you guys are sure you don't want me to help clean up?" neil asked cautiously, watching all of his friends stuff the trash from his party into a black trash bag. him and amélie watched from afar, beginning to walk down the path leading out.

"neil, it's your birthday." todd scoffed. everyone else but marianne agreed, who just simply gave amé a cold stare.

"amélie, you will owe me." she groaned, disgusted at every piece of trash she picked up. she recoiled everytime she got too close to the garbage bag.

"i'm sorry i'm not staying to help. me and neil have other things to do." amélie's cheeks grew rosy, a guilty smile on her face.

"don't apologize, you've already helped us out enough. it's the only way we can repay you!" knox waved them off.

"okay, come on, before it gets dark." neil whispered, interlocking his arm with amé's.

"ok, bye everyone. see you tomorrow marianne." amélie fell instantly into neil's touch, beginning to walk away with him through the forest.

"what's tomorrow?" he asked, lowering his voice. amélie's response came out quickly and panicked.

"shopping." she laughed nervously, as to not reveal her and marianne's secret. well, it wasn't exactly a secret, but she wanted to surprise neil. if he did even end up asking her to the sadie's.

neil hummed, reading amélie's face with suspicion. "sounds fun." he exhaled.

"yeah. it's a girls thing, you know?" amé smiled, glad she had just gotten away with a little white lie.

"oh, no i get it." neil nodded in agreement. he followed behind amélie as she led the way to her house.

"ok, just wanted to make sure." she quietly said. the only sound after that was the sound of their shoes crunching against the snow.

they finally walked up to amélie's house, neil stunned at how average looking it was compared to the other houses in their neighborhood. "thanks for inviting me over." he quickly said. it was so cold he could see his breath as he spoke. amé unlocked the door quickly, the warmth hitting them as they scurried inside.

"yeah. dad's not home, so we'll have no interruptions." she carefully took her boots off, shaking the snow off of them. neil did the same, hanging his big coat on one of the pegs on the wall.

"no interruptions you say?" he grinned. amélie knew what he meant, and quickly regretted her choice of words.

"shut up." she managed, flustered. her face was burning red. neil chuckled and followed her to her living room.

"thanks for setting up that party for me." he added.

"i didn't set it up." amélie mumbled. neil raised his eyebrows with suspicion.

"how'd knox know i liked buddy holly?" he questioned, amé's lips growing into a giant grin.

"everyone likes buddy holly." she defended. she clutched her last gift in her arms, anxious to give it to neil.

"right."

she held out the blue wrapped present out to neil. she couldn't stop from blushing uncontrollably. "open your gift quickly. get it over with."

"okay, okay." neil chuckled, taking the present from her. he tore away the paper, revealing a black notebook covered in stickers.

he opened up the book, flipping through all the pages in disbelief. poems lined every page. "is this.. is this your notebook?"

"yeah." amélie managed. she'd never opened up to someone about her writing this much."not all are mine." she continued, watching neil's eyes move from the book to interlocking with hers.