Maybe Then...

Chapter 20: if I didn't overreact

I slipped my apron off of the coat rack, and started on tying it behind my neck.

Zeke helped me out by tying the other ties behind my back. The ends of my lips curved up with gratitude.

I thought for a moment about how truly blessed I am to have someone like him in my life. He took the time out to listen to me when I needed to talk. He helped me out with even small things, and actively practiced chivalry, and--

Then something snapped those thoughts quiet.

My eyes widened, and I tensed up. I didn't know how to react or how to feel about it. All I could think in that split second was,

Did he just grab my butt?

Now, it may not seem like that big of a deal, but I'm not the most...touchy-feely-person. I wasn't sure what to say, if anything at all.

So instead, I just dryly said thank you, then scurried out of there like I was rushing to an appointment.

Did I send mixed signals or something? Should I have said not to for future refference? Was it really that big of a deal? Am I just overthinking it? It's not like he's a mind reader, so how could he have known that I don't like being touched like that?

"You okay?" Natalie's voice brought me out of my thoughts.

I forced a smile onto my face. "I'm good."

I must be over thinking it.

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I eventually brushed the whole incident aside, convincing myself that I was overreacting.

When my shift ended three hours later, he offered to use his break giving me a ride home. I complied, walking out with him, emotionless. I wasn't afraid or anything, but I couldn't help feeling a little...uneasy. I smiled, knowing I was just being silly, and simply overreacted. 

Being the gentleman that he was, he opened the passenger door for me to climb in. 

I opened up the compartment where he kept his CD's, looking through them to see what he liked that I enjoyed, too. 

He glanced over at me for a second while started the truck up, then furrowed his eyebrows as he looked intently behind him as he backed up. I smiled at his focused look, admiring the way that he pursed his lips together. 

He noticed my smiling, and cocked an eyebrow at me. "What?" 

"Oh, just your face when focusing," I grinned even wider. 

He shook his head at me, though he didn't even try to suppress the smile that crept up onto his face. 

I enjoyed these simple moments of cherishing one another's company, the simple times of appreciation that we'd talked of when we first hung out. I stared at my own eyes in the side view mirror when I nearly jumped out of my skin. 

His hand was on my thigh, and way to high up on it for my liking. I didn't know what to do, so I just stared at his hand, wide-eyed, hoping I'd get an idea of what to say or do. 

He seemed to have noticed me tensing up, since he soon spoke up saying, "What's wrong?" 

"I just, I don't really like the suggestive touches you've been giving me lately," I muttered. I tried to move my gaze away, from his hand, but my eyes seemed to have minds of their own. 

He got the hint, and quickly snatched his hand away, resting it onto the steering wheel like next to the other hand. "Oh, you never said what you're uncomfortable with, so I didn't..." 

I shook my head, offering him a small smile. "No, you couldn't have known! So don't worry about it."

He didn't bring it up again for the rest of the drive, and I honestly didn't feel like bringing it up either since I pretty much dismissed it as "no big deal." Instead, I stared out the window silently, the awkward silence in the truck itching at my mind. It was a subtle feeling, yet a lingering one.

After what felt like an hour drive, we pulled up to my house. I was ready to run out of that vehicle, saying nothing else but a "see ya." But before I could out, he grabbed my attention once more. 

"Amelia," he looked me in the eye with an unreadable expression. "I don't want you to treat me like I'm some sort of a monster, okay?" 

I frowned, just now realizing that I'd really hurt him. "I'm sorry, I'm not meaning to come off as standoffish, just kinda awkward, you know?" 

"I'm not a mind reader, Millie, so sometimes you're going to have to tell me what's going on in that head of yours, okay?" 

I offered a small smile, "Okay." 

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I sat on my bed, reading through the mess I'd gotten myself into. Cooper wasn't kidding when he said that they might pester me with messages until I came back.

Some of them were demands, while others were attempts at guilt tripping me. Either way, I didn't cave in. I simply reminded myself that I needed time to myself to do things I wanted to do and not have such a backed-up schedule. There were about a dozen or so messages from each of them, most of which were sent while I was working and had my phone turned off. I shook my head at the thought. Impatient little knuckle heads.

Maybe Zeke had a point, maybe we were just an indie wannabe band. It's not like any of us wanted to be full-time musicians. As far as I knew, none of us wanted a career in the entertainment industry. Weren't we just doing this as a hobby after all?

But maybe I was being over-dramatic like I was with Zeke. Maybe no one really cared to hear me whine and complain so often about such trivial problems. Maybe this was why people tended to tip-toe around topics that might even remotely offend me in some way. Maybe my tendency to overreact was why people rarely brought up the topic of my mom. 

I just need to practice impulse control, and try not to take everything out of proportion. 

I smiled, thankful that I'd come up with a resolution after all of this. 

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Hi! Thank you for reading! Sorry this chapter was so long and tedious, I really need to stop over explaining things, and explain efficiently. 

So what are your thoughts on this chapter? 

What do you think about Amelia's internal dialogue? Do you think I should tone it down a little with the details and internal dialogue? Or do you think it's good for me to take advantage of the first-person narrative like this? 

Do you think I should split this into two separate chapters? 

What do you think of those messages? What do you think of what happened between her and Zeke?