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
Hello everybody!
Sorry this is a day late but yesterday I was at edge fest (and for those of you who don't know what it is, it's a radio station's concert where they have 20 or so different bands and you get to see them all). It was a lot of fun but it took all day which is why i couldn't update.
So, i hope you guys like this chapter although i have a feeling that most of you will either hate me or start a mob to come and find me... please don't do either. Just trust me because i am a strong believer in happy endings. One more thing to add to this paragraph, i would love to know what you think about this chapter and if i was right in thinking that you guys will loathe me or if i was wrong.
Also, i know this chapter isn't that great but i've kind of been having a hard time writing. maybe it was just this chapter or maybe not but i think i've come down with a severe case of - dare i say it - writer's block. i will continue writing anyways though because i refuse to give up on this story.
Finally, i hope you all enjoy or at the least don't detest it.
vote, comment, fan, like if you enjoyed this story please!
Yours truly,
Hannah-vo
~*~
Chapter 21 - Who Would You Rather Go on a Date With?
Amy pulled Julie over to the side, several questions swimming through her mind. What had Julie been thinking? Why was Chris here? Was she getting punked and if so, where the hell was Ashton Kutcher? And if she wasn’t, and this was a date - a real one – did that mean that Chris liked her or just that he pitied her?
“Julie,” Amy started, her lips trembling as she held tightly to her friends’ shoulders and looked between their dates, “Are you kidding me?”
She smiled and met eyes with David who was scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.
“Kidding you about what?” she asked innocently.
Amy blushed again. The heat hadn’t left her face ever since she’d seen Chris exit the car and walk over to her.
“About Chris being here!” she shouted, quickly slamming her hand over her mouth like the action would stop the people standing around them from hearing. Loosening up on her lips, Amy tried again, although this time in a loud whisper, “You know we have a bet and that I like him! Now I’m going to have to kiss him and lose!” Amy pouted.
But what was even more important than having to spread that awfully true rumour about her crush on Chris, Amy didn’t want him to leave. She didn’t want to wake up without him, to make her tiny dinners for one or to have to watch movies all be herself. Chris had become too big a part of her life for him to walk out on her now.
Julie shrugged; “You don’t have to kiss him if you don’t want to...” she trailed in a light, teasing voice as she winking at Amy. But one look at her face and Julie’s tone became serious.
Stepping forward onto some discarded popcorn, Julie grabbed both of Amy’s hands and held them in her own. “Ames, Amy, look at me,” she demanded.
Amy complied but bit her lip, leaving little red teeth marks behind. Her hair was a pushed back mess from all the times she’d combed her hand through the blonde locks; her eyes were becoming red and her stomach was churning with crazed psychopathic butterflies.
“Look, everything will be fine. I promise! Didn’t I say that you would have an awesome time? Chris is a perfect gentleman. Plus, you like him anyways so this double date will be fun!” Julie rambled confidently. Amy really wished that she could believe her. She wanted her own fairy tale ending; the kind where her prince carried her off into the beautifully warm and welcoming sunset.
But this date wasn’t going to give her that. All it was going to give her was a headache and about a hundred more awkward moments with Chris.
Amy glanced over at Chris, completely unconvinced. This was going to be the worst night of her life.
Against Amy’s will, Julie dragged her back to their dates with a huge smiled on her face. She pushed Amy towards Chris and after a few stumbles she fell forward into his open arms.
Amy jumped back, as if his touch was a burning coal. It felt so weird to touch him now, like if they made contact, he would feel that horrible hot sensation too. And he would hate her for that. It made no sense but after dusting herself off, Amy resolved to stay away from his touch. It was already had enough that things would never be the same between them because of this date. She didn’t want his hate too – no matter how stupid that sounded.
“Um, so,” Amy stuttered, scratching her arm for something else to focus on to keep her face from heating, “Do – um – do you guys want something to – uh – eat?”
David and Julie exchanged a knowing look that Amy understood all too quickly. They were worried, probably even regretting setting this all up. Amy didn’t know how to act on a date in the first place and now that it was with Chris, it was going to be even more uncomfortable.
But Chris didn’t notice their reaction and smiled at her before speaking, “Yeah sure. Choose whatever you like – I’ll pay.”
Amy nodded and headed toward the popcorn booth, completely fazed. Captured within her own thoughts, Amy pointed at the popcorn and a coke.
She didn’t notice what was happening until Chris put his hand on the other side of her and leaned into the counter to order, firmly pressing his forearm into the small of her back.
Amy let out a little gasp but managed to hold herself back from jumping away.
With a tiny ‘thank you’, they headed into the dark theatre. Julie and David had already gone to find seats and when Chris met their gaze, they waved over.
Chris grabbed Amy’s waist and turned her towards their friends. Bending forward, Chris managed to place his mouth beside her ear without any resistance on her part.
“There they are. I’ll follow you,” he breathed out, the air tickling her ear. Chris’s voice was husky and smooth and rough and just overall attractive. It was a nice voice...
Amy’s jaw dropped at their closeness. It only led to thoughts that she couldn’t control. Sure, she liked him. But she couldn’t lose their bet. She had to stay focused.
But despite her attempts to think about something else – anything else really, Amy couldn’t ignore him. Chris’s hands on her skin left heated marks, invisible swells. Hadn’t he felt the way his hands burned her like they were made from the embers of a fire? Surely he must have. Or was it purely her imagination?
Amy moved towards her friends slowly, gliding along the seats and choosing the seat next to Julie to plop down in and start munching on her popcorn for something to do. She didn’t want to talk or to even look at Chris and let those weird hormonal and totally irrational thoughts compromise her mind again.
Julie leaned over, to Amy as Chris stepped over her, trying to get to the next spot, “Everything alright?” she asked, cocking her head to the side to look at her afterward.
Amy nodded painfully. Every move made her want to look at Chris, sitting beside her and constantly digging his hand into the bag of popcorn that sat on her lap. She could feel him smiling as he watched the previews, laughing occasionally when it was for a comedy.
Julie moved away from Amy although somewhat reluctant. She was distressed, gnawing at her lip to avoid eating the popcorn and accidentally touching hands with Chris and crossing her arms so that they didn’t make contact while trying both to use the arm rest.
Even as the lights went out, Amy didn’t move a muscle. She was too tense to even think for one second about anything but the guy sitting next to her. He was so attractive and funny and nice and sweet... but now he was going to walk out of her life by how awkward she was making it.
Amy paused and let out a sigh. Chris was going to be missed.
Suddenly, there was hot breathing next to her ear and she nearly jumped out of her seat. Chris placed his face by her cheek and nuzzled her ear, trying to get Amy’s attention.
“Amy?” he called, lightly chuckling against her hair as she jerked away from the surprise. She felt shivers go up and down her spine and red flush her cheeks anew.
“Um, yeah?” she mumbled, turning to him but keeping her eyes locked on the door behind. Her fight or flight instinct was kicking in. She didn’t want to be here. Everything he did made her want to kiss him but Amy knew that if she ever did, he could leave and she would lose not only the bet, but him as well.
Chris smiled again and nodded towards the coke, “Can I have some?”
She gulped and moved to get it, handing it over without so much as another glance. And when their hands touched at the fingertips as he took the big cup of soda from her, it was all she could do to not yank his hand across her shoulders and cuddle into the crook of his neck.
Instead, Amy flinched away, barely managing to escape the questioning gaze that he gave her at her reaction. Chris raised his eyebrows in surprise but Amy stared at the screen in front of her, mesmerized as if she’d actually been paying attention to the movie this whole time – not that she could’ve anyways – and after a moment, he looked back to the movie too.
Amy swallowed and listened to the little pop in her ears, trying to distract herself with all she could. It seemed to calm her down a little and she tried again, finding it much harder to do a second time. She let out a loud sigh of frustration and shut her eyes tightly.
‘Think of anything,’ she thought to herself. ‘A nice warm breeze, playing in the park, think of sunshine and rainbows and unicorns if you must,’ she listed. But nothing was working. Everything reminded her of Chris. The nice warm breeze reminded her of the warm his touch heated her skin; playing in the park reminded her of the time after her experience with Michael when he’d soothed her and helped her. The rest were just so happy. Chris was happy.
It was stupid that every little thing could be compared to him. And the reasons were pathetic nonetheless. But that didn’t stop the thoughts of him from entering her mind.
By now, Julie and David had already cuddled into each others’ arms and Amy was left without anyone to distract her from the constant glances of worry Chris was giving her or the way she couldn’t seem to think about anything but how her life would be without him. With each new thought came a troubled breath and the strong feeling of burning from the tears that stung her eyes.
Chris nudged her lightly but she ignored it, hoping that he was just fidgeting in his seat and not trying to get her attention.
He yawned smoothly, lifting his arm over her head and placing it on the shoulder farthest him. If Amy hadn’t been so shocked, she would have laughed at the corniness of his move. But she felt paralyzed and frantic. Her eyes bugged out and her jaw clenched tightly, refusing to drop her head to his shoulder to complete the typical date position that she’d seen so many times in movies.
Amy crossed her arms against her chest and pressed back against the seat, trying to enter a world of nothingness through the back of the padding. Maybe if she pressed hard enough, it would open up and she would fall through and land somewhere else. Anywhere that wasn’t here.
Chris peeked over at her then. His eyes looked over her in the darkness but Amy could still see the glint of confusion that hid behind his unreadable expression.
“Ames?” he asked, lightly, rubbing his hand on her arm which she assumed he was doing to comfort her. Too bad it had the opposite effect, “Are you alright? You’re really nervous.”
Amy shook her head, rejecting the concerned look he gave with, “Just fine,” she said through clenched teeth. They both knew she was lying.
Chris pulled his arm back and shook his head, exasperated. Slouched over in his seat, Amy could hear the faint growl that escaped his throat. She’d ruined it for sure now. Their friendship was over. She’d figured out Chris’s actions enough now to know what he was thinking.
“Whatever,” he muttered with a scowl.
He thought that she hated him. Or maybe he was just disappointed with their date. What had he expected though? That Amy would just kiss him and let him win the bet? There was no way that was going to happen.
Amy was about to apologize when Chris turned his head to the left and grumble. She wasn’t meant to hear what he’d said, she was sure. Especially since his words hurt more than he would’ve thought.
“Rather go on a freaking date with Melissa.”
And that was all it took to send a line of tears down her cheek. Melissa was rude and obnoxious and horrible and self-centered and just an all around B’s and Chris would rather hang out with her than Amy? Did he loathe her that much?
Amy rubbed at her eyes as ninja-like as she could so that no one would notice although still managed to effectively ruin the makeup Julie had put on her before the date and sniffled. But no one heard her. No one noticed that she was tearing up. Julie and David were too busy being the only two people in their own little world and Chris was too caught up in his thoughts to even take in how much his comment pained her.
But that was fine. Amy just needed to leave so that nothing worse came from this atrocious mess of a double date.
When the movie ended and the credits were rolling, Amy stood up and nodded towards her friends, excusing herself by saying that she had to go home for some emergency. It was a sad lie and Julie didn’t believe her for a second but with an apologetic wince, she let her leave.
Amy nodded at Chris and dodged past him for the door to the theatre. Right now, she wouldn’t be able to handle talking to him.
He hated her for being a horrible date, she hated herself for destroying their friendship, and in all honesty, she just couldn’t handle all the horrible guilt that whirled in her stomach and made her sick.
Once she was out and the much-needed fresh air plunged into her lungs, Amy let out a huge breath – one that she didn’t know she’d been holding in – and closed her eyes, walking forwards. Wherever her feet took her would be better than here.
Where she ended up, she wouldn’t have to deal with what Chris thought of her. She wouldn’t have to think about how lame she was. She wouldn’t have to be jealous that Melissa had more appeal than her and she certainly wouldn’t have to worry about that stupid bet.
Amy crossed the street and began her walk home to where she knew she could be alone and away from the rest of the world if only for a few hours before Julie would come looking for her. Once she returned to her house, she would forget all about the past month she spent with him and how her life had changed as impossible as that seemed. With one last concluding thought about him, she frowned, ‘It was nice while it lasted.’