CAPTURE THIS (Updating regularly)

Chapter 6

Amber sighed. It wasn't exactly an answer to her question but she knew he didn't have one. How could she blame him when she was only filled with questions?

"We need to somewhere private," she told him pointedly. It be rude and inappropriate for her to ask him to invite her over to his apartment again but she could prompt him to do it. Neither of them wanted to mention her going to his house because it was certainly against school policy and as for the law... well, surely it was frowned upon in the least?

Alex seemed to know what she was suggesting. He shook his head slowly, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably. His eyes fell on her crutches as he did so. "How long until you have your stitches taken out?" 

"They'll be taken out on Wednesday. Why?" Amber noticed his eyes gleaming as an idea popped into his head. 

"So you'll be able to walk properly?" 

Amber nodded. 

His face lit up with one of the small uneven smiles that made Amber's heart flop around in her chest like a fish out of water. 

"What is it?" She asked him curiously, absent-mindedly reaching out to place a hand on his arm. 

His muscles tensed under her touch, Amber recoiled as though her hand had been scalded. He glanced down at her apologetically, his eyes filled with conflict. 

Alex spoke to cover the awkwardness both of them felt. 

"On Wednesday, meet me at the place where we first met," he told her, his expression softening. "Do you remember where it is?" 

Amber melted at the words. The wind whistling through the trees. The leaves rustling merrily. Alex's low humming. The smell of dirt. "Of course I do." 

They gazed at each other for a moment, reminiscing the day they had met each other only two short weeks ago.

Alex was the first to break his gaze away from her, clearing his throat as he slid off of the desk. 

"We have a lesson tomorrow and on Wednesday, Alex," Amber reminded him quietly. 

He bit his lip as he thought. She never noticed that before. 

"We just have to act like nothing happened," he answered in a matter-of-fact voice that made Amber's heart sink. 

Amber nodded slowly and gathered her crutches so that she could walk out the door with her heavy heart. 

"For what it's worth, it wasn't nothing to me." 

She was avoiding his eye contact when he said. Amber mentally kicked herself for not having seen him admit it, but her mood was elevated, nonetheless. 

Alex was shuffling around a pile of papers on his desk noisily, not even sneaking a glance in Amber's direction.

Amber took his as her cue to leave. "I guess I'll see you on Wednesday, Alex."

As she hobbled towards the door, she could feel Alex's piercing gaze burning a hole in her back. 

"As for Mr Knightly, I will see you tomorrow in class." 

Amber stood on the other side of the door, her heart racing. There had to be a line drawn between Alex and Mr Knightly. Mr Knightly, the waistcoat wearing man, was not the same man as her Alex. 

It would be naive for her to say that she was in love with Alex. At only seventeen, she wouldn't know love from a small crush. All she knew about was what she had with Alex. He could make her heart soar but could shoot it down to the ground if he wanted to. And Amber trusted him with it. She trusted him with the hammer that would smash the walls she had built after her mother had died. If anyone asked Amber why she had such a strong feeling about him, she wouldn't be able to answer. She just hoped he felt the same way about her. 

The bus journey home was a hassle. The only empty seat was right at the back and the driver was not as kind as the one she had had in the morning. She walked down the middle of the bus like a circus act walking down a wedding aisle, stumbling and clutching onto the rails for dear life as she approached the last seat. 

Coming home was entering the garden of Eden. She couldn't wait to throw her wretched crutches aside and collapse onto her bed. Her enthusiasm drained away when she spotted her father's car in the driveway. She had forgotten about everything that had happened with Ann. Guilt settled in her stomach, as she realised she hadn't even called her sister to check if she'd arrived at her campus safely. Amber wanted to kick herself for being so self-absorbed.

"Amber? Is that you, kid?" Mr Riley's powerful voice travelled from the back of the house to the front door as Amber walked through it. 

"It's me," Amber grumbled, her mood souring immediately. She hadn't forgiven him for what he had done but she had always struggled to hold a grudge against her father. 

"Can you come to the den, please?" It sounded as though he had rehearsed that sentence. It sounded forced - as though he was talking through gritted teeth. 

Amber made her way to the conservatory where her father worked on his plans for the building company he worked for. For the first time, she was grateful that they slowed her down. 

Mr Riley was sitting at his desk in his favourite pair of sweatpants and grey t-shirt stretched over his middle-aged spread. He had a pencil tucked behind his ear and his hammy fist clutched his phone. 

He swivelled around on his chair to Amber as she perched on a tool beside his desk. 

"I spoke to your sister," he told her, putting his phone down as he looked at her. "She's okay." 

Amber opened her mouth to defend her sister but decided against it. She wanted to hear her father tell her she was coming home first. 

Mr Riley ran a hand through his greying blond hair. "What I want to tell you is that..." 

Amber watched him expectantly. 

He sighed and straightened up in his chair. "Annette's going to find a place of her own. She's having a child and she needs to know how to support it on her own."

Mr Riley's eyes were fixated on a spot on the floor, ignoring Amber's gaping mouth. 

It took a few moments for her to gather her wits. 

"You're telling me," she said slowly, still trying to comprehend what her father had said, "that you're going with a tough love approach instead of supporting your daughter who is having your first grandchild?" 

She felt the tears well in her eyes without warning. 

"Mum never would have accepted this. It's not just your grandchild, it's hers too and you're pushing them away from us." 

Mr Riley's eyes snapped up to gaze into her startling emerald eyes. "I had to learn how to raise two children on my own. I didn't get any help from Daddy. I'm doing this for her own good. Try to understand, kid." 

Amber felt like screaming. "She's nineteen, Dad! You were thirty-six! You may not have had 'Daddy' but you certain had your life together. She needs us, Dad." 

Mr Riley shook his head. "No, she needs to stand on her own two feet. I can't even look at her, Amber. She went and did this to herself... there's only so much I can take without your mother."

"You're kicking her out because Mum's not here any more? Dad, you're not making any sense," Amber insisted, the tears streaming down her cheeks. 

Mr Riley ran both his hands through his hair aggressively, knocking the pencil onto the floor with a poignant clatter. "Look, she's going to raise that baby on her own and she'll be stronger for it. As for me, I can't look at her right now."

Amber wrenched her crutches from the floor and pulled herself up angrily. "Fine, turn your back on your daughter and your grandchild. Don't expect me to do the same."

Without so much as another glance at her father, she stormed out of the room.