A Rebellious Moon

Chapter Fifteen

Amanda tried to refocus on her classes, especially with midterms arriving. She still had not been able to discuss the events of the party with Farah. The three roommates were all finding their senior year to be the most difficult yet and the books were piling up all over the apartment. Even with the craziness of their studies, Catherine was still trying to convince them to celebrate Halloween.

Over dinner, Farah and Amanda found themselves on the defense against another one of Catherine's adventures she had planned for their senior year. The pasta in front of them lay untouched and was beginning to cool, but none of the three currently showed much interest in eating.

"Trick-or-treating on Embassy Row, Cat, really?" Farah looked less than amused at her friend's suggestion for their Halloween activities. "That's a freshmen activity."

"No, it's not, technically. Look, I figured we could take advantage of some free food and booze before hitting up a club. Doesn't it sound better that way?" Catherine eyes flickered between the two girls standing with their arms crossed in front of her.

"Fine," conceded Amanda. "But we are not doing a group costume this year." Farah nodded to strengthen that point.

Catherine sighed heavily enough to blow loose sheets of paper off the counter. "You take all the fun out of it. Okay, no group costume, but you both have to dress as something. It can't be ambiguous." She made glaring eye contact to each girl in turn. "I know both of you aren't fans of costumes, but this is our senior year. You'll regret it if you waste it."

Despite that conversation, the three friends found themselves dressed as the Powderpuff Girls on Halloween night. Saying 'no' to Catherine was really hard. Unwilling to admit it aloud, Amanda thought the three of them looked quite good and was pretty proud of her blue dress and pigtails. She thought she looked the most like her cartoon counterpart, although Catherine's personality matched more with her costume choice of the Powderpuff Girls' leader.

The sunlight was fading softly with dusk slowly settling in. The streetlights began to pop on randomly depending on the amount of tree cover they had. The girls had their mouths stuffed full of premium chocolate from the Finnish embassy and had a slight buzz courtesy of French wine from an earlier stop. Amanda and Farah's previous misgivings had dissolved as the trio made their rounds through the Dupont Circle neighborhood. Maybe it was the wine, but the girls found themselves joking and laughing, forgetting about the ridiculousness of their crime-fighting costumes.

A slight breeze ruffled the colorful leaves, dropping a few from their branches. Amanda's giggles were cut off by a familiar scent. Farah, detecting the change in Amanda, turned her giggles to coughs. Catherine pulled in her breathing unsuccessfully, causing her to sound like an asthmatic pug.

"What is it?" asked Farah.

Amanda's head turned towards the source of the smell and her eyes widened. She then made a horrible attempt to hide behind the smaller built Catherine. Farah's eyes searched out what was causing Amanda's silly behavior. They alighted on a man that Farah recognized was familiar, but couldn't quite place.

"Amanda," said the man from across the street. He raised his hand in greeting and changed his course towards them.

As they waited for traffic to pass and the man to cross the street, Catherine whispered, "Who's that sexy thing? How do you know him, girl?"

"The party my father sent me to. He was the host," said Amanda still endeavoring to make herself as small as possible.

Her two friends ignored her obvious discomfort and focused their attention on the approaching stranger.

"Hello," Catherine called out cheerfully.

Farah narrowed her eyes. "I know you."

The man cleared his throat. "Yes, we met at the club. My name is Chase Nolan. I apologize for not introducing myself then, but the situation was rather..."

Farah laughed. "Understandable. Well, it's nice to meet you now. Although, Amanda appears to have met up with you since then."

Chase shifted his stance a bit and looked down at his feet. "Yes. I enjoyed having her at my party." His eyes sought Amanda's eagerly. Her refusal to acknowledge him caused a slight frown to appear and his forehead wrinkled.

"I apparently missed a lot that night because of Gavin," inserted Catherine. She glanced between Chase and Amanda trying to glean the situation from their body cues.

Farah, being both more intuitive and more aware of their history, grabbed Catherine's arm. "Well, Chase, it was good to actually meet you this time. Sorry to run, but we are supposed to be meeting with people for dinner." She studied his face for a moment. "Why don't you exchange phone numbers with Amanda and we'll be on our way."

Amanda shot her a nasty look, but wasn't able to come up with an excuse to not comply. She whipped out her phone entering Chase's number quickly before hitting the call button. "There you have mine now." She held her phone up to hide the screen and saved him impersonally as 'DC Alpha'.

Chase grinned widely. "Thank you. I'm glad I ran into you ladies. I hope you enjoy the rest of your Halloween." His smile fell a bit and he lowered his voice. "Please use the number, Amanda."

Her name on his lips sent a shiver of warmth down her body. She felt his eyes burning a hole in her skull. She tried to mentally shake off the feeling and decided a cold shower would be in order later. Not trusting herself to speak, she plastered a thin-lipped smile on her face and waved at him as cheerfully as she could muster.

Amanda turned as calmly as she could and began walking at a stiff pace towards the bus stop where they would ride back to campus for dinner and to touch up their makeup. Farah dragged Catherine along behind her, deflecting the twenty questions being thrown at Amanda. Embarrassment colored Amanda's cheeks as she remembered her different run-ins with Chase. This one was almost the worst because of the childish outfit she was wearing. Embarrassment deepened to mortification as she stopped and assessed her outfit.

"You have got to tell me the whole story," said Catherine catching up to her.

Farah rolled her eyes at Catherine, but kept quiet. The trio made it to the bus stop just as the bus pulled up and they boarded quickly.

As Amanda steeled herself for the onslaught of questions she knew Catherine would throw at her over dinner, Farah leaned over and whispered in her ear, "You really should call him."

Author's Note:

Farah and Catherine met Chase! I think Amanda's going to struggle a bit avoiding him now that he has her phone number?

Do you think she's resisting too hard?

What do you think of Farah telling her to call him?

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