HEY EVERYONE! I MADE IT ONTO WATTY AWARDS UNDER ROMANCE :) PLEASE VOTE IF YOU THINK I SHOULD WIN OR JUST TO MAKE ME ECSTATIC - THAT'S GOOD TOO! <3
greeting earthlings! how's it going? (and yes, i'd really like to know the answer to that question)
here is a new chapter for you and i hope that you like it :) it's actually decently long this time although not that that that that much happens until - well, you'll see. *insert mischevious smirk* just read to find out.
a few announcements though that i thought you should know:
1) school is over which means summer is here! please enjoy yourselves and as a personal favour to me, when you read this, go outside and get some sun! it'll make this chapter all the more better :)
2) as some of you know, i usually update every week. today is different though because (and here is the bad news) my computer needs to be fixed due to hard drive problems. this just basically means that i might be absent for a few days if you leave comments, vote, fan or read. so i'm sorry if i don't respond all of a sudden.
anyways, i hope you enjoy the chapter!
Yours truly,
Hannah-vo
~*~
Chapter 19 - Just Friends
Amy scooped up another mouthful of ice cream and swallowed in a large gulp. She’d found her comfort in sweets when she was young and ever since then, whenever she was sad, she would pile up the sugar. It was so obviously unhealthy and desperate but at the same time, it was the only way she could hold in her tears.
She still couldn’t get over the way Melissa had spoken to her yesterday or the way Chris had completely ignored it. What she’d said had hurt, like shards of glass that cut through her skin. But Chris just pretending that nothing was happening had been even worse. Did he not care about Amy at all?
Of course there was still the chance that he just hadn’t seen Melissa’s rudeness but he would have had to be blind and deaf for that to be true.
Amy wiped the back of her hand across her forehead and ate another mound of ice cream straight from the container. Why couldn’t she just figure out this whole situation? It made no sense to her. She could never really understand Chris. One minute, he was playful and they were friends and the next he was insensitive and superficial. Was that normal for popular people?
Out of nowhere, the door bell rang. At first, Amy was certain that she’d just imagined it. After all, who would come to visit her at – she looked over at the oven clock – 9:44 p.m. on a school night?
She ignored it and bit her lip whilst shoving another spoonful into her mouth and swallowing the lump. She wasn’t going to cry for this boy. It wasn’t like she still had a crush on him or anything – not after what she’d seen at the mall. Maybe they would still be friends one day but for now, she didn’t see it in the cards. Friends don’t let friends suffer the way he let her hurt.
The doorbell rang again and Amy rolled her eyes. Whoever it was needed to leave. Maybe, if she didn’t answer it, they would go away and leave her alone.
After waiting for a few seconds more and hearing the loud shriek of the bell a third time, Amy threw the spoon back into the container with a loud sigh and pushed her way to the door, wiping the corners of her mouth quickly.
“Yes?” she asked, pausing as the visitor came into full view.
Chris was standing there, his hands in his jeans’ pockets, absolutely mesmerized by his shoes. If it were anyone else, Amy would have said that they were sad or embarrassed but someone so selfish could never feel those emotions for someone other than himself.
“Oh,” she said shortly, getting straight to the point, “What do you want?”
Chris ran his hand through his hair and stared into her eyes awkwardly, “I was hoping that we could talk.”
Amy leaned against the doorway, her eyes scrutinizing his every move. She didn’t feel much pity for him at the moment – even if he was looking that sad. His normally sparking eyes were regretful and his hands, usually confidently by his sides were stuffed into his jean pockets.
“About what? There is nothing to talk about.”
Chris paused and bit his lip. Amy, although frustrated to no end with him, still couldn’t help notice just how good he looked. His hair was pushed back and his eyes, although brimming with honesty were so passionate that Amy could feel her knees buckling with the thought that they might look at her one day filled with love. Yeah, yeah; don’t criticize. It wasn’t like she was the only girl who fantasized.
Chris looked past her quietly and shrugged, “Could I come in?” he suggested meekly.
Amy lowered her gaze from his face and waved him in, creases already decorating her forehead as she tried to calm her racing heart.
He still had the same effect on her - even when she was mad at him. How unfair.
“What?” she demanded irritated as he continued to stare at her. Amy crossed her arms in front of her and leaning on the kitchen counter so that the jar of ice cream was behind her, somewhat concealing its existence.
Chris scratched the back of his neck and switched his weight from foot to foot, “I wanted to apologize,” he started timidly, taking a step towards Amy before realizing that the hostile look that she was giving him was more than a warning sign, “Mel said some pretty horrible things to you the other day and it was really rude of her to do that.”
Amy nodded slowly, taking in his every word. She still wouldn’t let him off easy though. Just because he wanted to say sorry didn’t mean he was forgiven for letting Melissa say those things in the first place.
“Why don’t you get your girlfriend to come and say sorry instead?” Amy asked smartly.
Chris shook his head, “She isn’t my girlfriend anymore. We – I – broke it off earlier this afternoon when I saw the way she was treating you.”
“Oh,” Amy gasped, feeling suddenly worse than before. Had she been the reason to end Chris’s relationship? At the same time though, she couldn’t help feeling a little relieved as well.
Amy felt her heart skip a beat and she groaned internally. ‘So what if he’d dumped her? That didn’t mean that he hadn’t agreed with any of what Melissa had said or that he liked you’, Amy argued to her stubbornly crushing presence. It still didn’t change anything between them. They were just friends... just friends who were fighting at the moment, and that was it.
Chris nodded solemnly, almost as if he were embarrassed to be dating Melissa in the first place. Well, he should have been. Not many men dated witches and were proud about it.
“Why didn’t you stop her when she was saying those things?” Amy said in a small voice.
Chris shrugged and looked behind her again, avoiding her death stare. He wasn’t good under pressure and he’d already punished himself enough because he’d let Melissa make fun of Amy like that. She hadn’t been right about any of the things she’d said. Amy was smart and funny and caring and cute. Amy was probably the nicest person he’d ever met.
“I don’t know. I guess I just thought that since she was my girlfriend, I had to let her do whatever she wanted. I was wrong to think that letting her say the things she did was okay,” he said in an even smaller voice. Amy was ashamed. Chris was just nervous.
Amy rolled her eyes, re-holstering her glare for another time. Chris looked like he was about to break down and cry, for God’s sakes. But she wouldn’t just forgive him yet. Her defences were cracking and she knew that she pitied this boy to stay mad at him any longer, but at the same time, he didn’t yet quite deserve her forgiveness.
“It wasn’t right, Chris,” she pointed out, leaning back against the counter. Amy felt like the principal as she tried to soothe and lecture him with her mature tone.
“I know. And I’m really sorry. But in the end, we broke up because I just didn’t like her saying those things; especially to you. You are a really amazing person, Amy.”
She trying to rapidly calm her nerves before they took over completely and she ducked her head to hide the blush that slashed her cheeks with colour.
“I guess our bet is still on then,” she muttered, tripping over her words after choosing that as her witty remark albeit it didn’t seem to come off as smart as she’d thought in her mind.
Chris grinned although the corners of his mouth didn’t quite reach the bottom of his eyes. He was still unsure if she was mad at him or not – she could tell; “Was it ever off?”
Amy grinned, and looked at the counter behind her, then back at Chris and then at the counter once more.
“Want to – um – watch a movie?” she asked. Of course now that Chris wasn’t in trouble she was back to her old awkward and silly self, Amy noticed glumly.
Chris nodded and went over to the movie closet. As soon as his back was turned, Amy slammed her hands onto the box of ice cream, pulled out the spoon and threw the tub into the trash. Chris didn’t need to see how pathetic she was and Amy was happy to see that he was still trailing his fingers along the top of each DVD case until he was satisfied with one of the movies when she was done.
“Here,” he said finally, looking at her with a smile alight in his eyes and not just on his beautiful red lips. He was holding up a cheesy romantic comedy and Amy rolled her eyes.
“No more horror movies, I guess,” she laughed, coming over to join Chris on the couch and catch her breathing from her race to hide her comfort food.
Chris pushed the DVD into the player and pressed play as he made himself at home before responding, “Not after what happened last time. You were shaking so hard - I was concerned for your health.”
Amy smirked, “You were concerned for me? Aw, how nice,” she chirped sarcastically, still staying firmly away from Chris on the other side of the couch. There was no way she was surrendering to his body heat or strong arms. He was on the rebound anyways which meant off limits to her.
Chris rolled his eyes although keeping his grin in place as the credits started rolling, “What can I say? I’m a caring person.”
Amy laughed and turned towards the screen. They got along so well... It was almost eerie the way they came from two different worlds but could just sit together and watch a movie in comfortable silence knowing that the other was someone to trust and care for. It was beautiful really, how easy it was to play and talk with Chris. He was just so nice. It reminded her of kinder garden where the only thing it took to be friends with someone was sharing your crayons with them because their relationship was just as easy.
“Hey, Chris,” she said softly, listening to the opening credits in the background of her thoughts.
“Mhm?”
Amy bit her lip, continuing to stare at the screen, “Did you agree with anything she said about me?”
Chris let his jaw slack loosely and turned towards her. He hadn’t been expecting that question at all. “No. She was wrong about everything,” he replied truthfully.
“Swear?” Amy asked again, holding out her pinkie finger for them to pinkie promise. Sometimes she was just such a child and Chris smiled in the dimmed lighting.
He took her pinkie finger in his much larger one and shook them, “I swear.”
~~~~
By the middle of the movie, Amy found her body shifting towards Chris’s. With his arm dropped over the back of the seat and the lights dimmed, she felt it so comfy to just relax into his arms and go to sleep.
Her eyes began to shut slowly and even with her feeble attempts to thrust them open, Amy could feel herself lapsing into the black nothingness of sleep. With a smile on her face, she lost herself in unconsciousness.
Chris chuckled and shook his head in disbelief as he looked over her. Amy was so peaceful, deep breaths coming from her nose at a rhythmic pace. A little strand of blond hair danced lightly up and then down, floating on top of the air that escaped from her lungs. Her hands were crushed under her head, her cheeks were flushed pink – the same colour as her full lips – and her eyes were closed cutely.
Not for the first time, Chris realized how pretty Amy was. She just looked so tranquil and calm when she slept...
Melissa had no right to say the things that she had said. Amy was smart and pretty and funny and definitely not a loser. Sure, she didn’t have that many friends and she was way too smart to be as carefree as the rest of them but she certainly was not a loser.
What had he seen in Melissa? Most of it had just been for his reputation but some of his feelings towards her were actually for himself. He’d felt lust, loving (maybe not to a very high extent but there was still some there). And now all he saw was a jealously territorial female who liked to sleep around.
What was so appealing about that?
Nothing. Nothing about her interested Chris anymore.
Chris had almost been horrified when he’d heard from Julie what kinds of things Mel had said to Amy and something had just broken inside of his. Something had snapped. No one should get away with treating others the way she did but it just made him even madder to know that she’d said those things to Amy without any real reason for it. So maybe she was jealous. So what? Did that really give her the right to call a girl she barely even knew a slut, a loser or a bitch? No. The answer was plain and clear.
But at the same time, Chris had realized something else:
He liked Amy.
He wouldn’t have broken up with a girl just for making fun of just anyone. Some jokes were funny, others were just cruel. But Amy didn’t deserve this and Chris wished deep down that he could have redone that day and stood up for her when he’d heard the awful things that had left Melissa’s mouth to stop Amy from feeling the pain.
He pulled his eyes away from the sleeping girl in his arms and quickly texted to his mom that he’d been staying over at a friend’s house tonight. After all, wasn’t that what they were? Friends?
Chris sighed and gritted his teeth. The word didn’t exactly please him but he didn’t really know why. What was wrong with being friends? That just meant that they could trust each other and be nice to each other without having to act like boyfriend and girlfriend or enemies. “Friends” was just a nice of saying that they liked each other and enjoyed each other’s company.
But no matter how much he defended the term, Chris knew that the word didn’t suffice for the way he felt about her.
Chris slung Amy across his chest, his arm under her leg and on her back and brought her up to her room bridal style. She was so light and small in his arms. She didn’t move an inch as he carried her up each step, opened the door to her bed room, and placed her on her bed.
Chris smiled at her and pulled the covers over her body, brushing the little bit of hair from her face and looking down at her. He felt a sudden urge to climb in next to her and wrap his body around hers but things had changed.
It was funny how much could change in a matter of minutes. You could get someone to hate you forever or you could find that you were terminally ill with the love bug. You could ask someone to marry you, break someone’s heart, or even have the last dance under the twinkling night stars.
Just a few minutes ago, Chris had realized that this bet was never going to work. Chris didn’t want just a kiss. He wanted a girlfriend. He wanted to be Amy’s boyfriend which meant that it would be weird to go sleep next to her when they weren’t dating. Before, it was to tease her because he could do that; they were friends. Now he couldn’t. Not without feeling like a stalker or any worse than someone like Michael.
“Night, Amy,” he said, paused, and then looked down at her lips thoughtfully.
Maybe he could steal a kiss. Just one kiss.
He breathed in sharply and leaned forward, his hands in fists at his sides. With his eyes open, he found her lips with his own and gave a light peck before flicking back up in a straight standing position.
She smiled and rolled over, facing away from him as she hugged the pillow to her chest. “Mmph...” she murmured and for a second Chris was worried that his cover had been blown.
But as the seconds ticked away, the thought that he might have been caught leaked from his mind and he turned away to go back to the guest room.
Stripping of his t-shirt and jeans, Chris smiled mischievously. Amy would have killed him had she known what he’d done. The only solution would be that she would just never have to find out.