Hello, Again

Chapter 10 (Part 2)

"It's enough," Amelia said in a hollow voice, and Emily sat mute beside her, "I get it, he hates me. Does he have to rub it in my face? I've been giving them their space after each meeting too, isn't that clue enough?"

"I've noticed", Emily said, subdued, reflecting on how Amelia would slink out of the room after each meeting just as soon as the handshakes and see-you-next-Friday's would start. It had never quite occurred to her that it was done for his benefit, rather than hers.

Amelia ran her hand through her hair again, and Emily cast around for something appropriate to say.

"Amelia?" she finally found the courage to say.

"Yes, dearest?" Amelia asked wearily.

"Why did he call you Amy across the Atlantic?"

Amelia sighed, pulling out the cushion from behind her back and settling it in her lap, and Emily could tell that it was an old, if not long, story.

"Well, Adam and I - when we first met, I introduced myself as Amelia and he asked why he couldn't call me Amy instead..."

...

"Why did you call her Amy? Why not just - just Amelia?" Sarah asked quietly, her wary eyes on Armin's back, as Adam sighed beside her and looked at his hands instead.

Adam looked up and trained his eyes on Armin's back, who was now fiddling around in the tiny kitchenette in the studio loft, while Sarah waited patiently by his side. After a considerable while, he spoke, "I...I don't know."

Sarah said nothing, her silence gnawing.

"I just..." Adam paused again, his brow furrowed, "I wanted to get a reaction," he said, "I know what you're thinking, it's silly and it's juvenile and a little spiteful too - but you weren't there Sarah - she'd been avoiding eye contact and she'd throw us these cold looks like - like we were infringing, by being there, somehow. And I - I just said it."

"How did she react?" Sarah asked, her voice just as low, her hand resting on his forearm.

"She said nothing," Adam said, scoffing, "she just raised her eyebrows in that way she had and she walked right out of the office."

Sarah said nothing, only lowered her gaze, and Adam never saw the shame and disappointment in her eyes.

...

Emily thought she detected something like shame and disappointment in Amelia's eyes, but kept her opinions to herself.

Amelia, to her credit, sat with her chin up, gripping at the frayed edges of the cushion.

"Should I pull out?" Amelia finally spoke up.

"Er... excuse me?"

"Pull out of the project - I mean it's no use having an architect that none of the UAI members want to work with -"

"Amelia, no!" Emily exclaimed, unable to believe her ears, "There's no way - no way in hell are you quitting that job. You're the project manager - you can't back out -"

"I'm not backing out," Amelia interrupted loudly, her eyes flashing, "I'm just offering the position to someone better suited to bring the project to completion - it's nothing personal."

Emily remained silent for several seconds, and then decided to do what she did best - tell the truth.

"It is personal - you're afraid, Ames", she spoke, her voice echoing in Amelia's sparsely furnished living room, and Amelia visibly cringed at her words.

...

Sarah visibly cringed as Armin shuffled into the room and threw a backhanded comment about The Bitch before settling down with his sandwich.