𝐏𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐬 ✓

Chapter Two

I smiled nervously which she returned with a beautiful smile just like the one she gave me two days ago.

"Alexander, hi."  I was surprised that she remembered my name. Most people don't. But, I don't just talk to most people either.

She walked towards me and suddenly I became even more nervous. I've thought about meeting her again and I wasn't nervous in those daydreams but having her right in front of me was completely different.

"Hey, funny seeing you here." Funny seeing you here? Seriously? Couldn't I come up with anything better! She laughed lightly. Goodness, gracious! Even her laugh was beautiful!

"I guess. I tend to come here almost every day. It's oddly relaxing." She laughed lightly again and so did I. But my laugh was more out of nervousness at this point.

"Why are you here?"

To see you.

But I didn't say that. I couldn't. It would probably freak her out and freaking her out is the last thing I want to do right now.

"To check out a book I've been wanting to read." She nodded to my response and kept quiet. I didn't want the conversation to end. I wanted to keep hearing her voice. Her beautiful angelic voice.

"So, um, you want to go get coffee sometime?" I said it so quickly that it took her a while to figure out what I said. Once she did her eyes sparkled.

"I don't drink coffee," My smile dropped a little at this. I tried not to make my disappointment noticeable but she noticed anyway.

"But, I can drink tea. So yes, I'd like to go get some tea with you sometime." I smiled brightly and tried to keep my happiness a tad bit contained so I didn't seem overly excited but it showed through either way which just made her smile bigger.

"It's a date then." It took me a few seconds to realize what I said.

"Not a real date, um, just a friend thing, unless you'd like to go on a real date sometime, but it's totally fine if you don-" Her laugh cut me off seeing as I was talking very quickly. She put a hand on my arm.

"Let's just go as friends. For now." She said with a smile.

"Hey Amaryllis, I found the book you were looking for-" the girl stopped walking once she saw me.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."

"No, it's okay, I want you to meet someone." I smiled and gave the girl a small smile.

"This is Alexander. My new friend." I stretched out my hand towards her to shake.

"Hi, nice to meet you." She put her hand in mine and shook it.

"Nice to meet you too, I'm Marcy." I just nodded with a small smile and let go of her hand.

As much as I didn't want to leave I had to since my shift started soon. It took me so much to look Amaryllis in the eyes and tell her I had to go.

"Hey, I have to go now but just give me a call whenever you're ready to get some tea with me." I gave her a piece of paper with my number on it. Yes, I did prepare this before I came to see her. I wanted to be prepared just in case.

    I looked at her in the eyes and saw them dull out a bit.

    "Oh, um, okay, yeah I'll give you a call." I gave her a goodbye hug and left reluctantly, not wanting to leave her. I wanted to spend more time with her but if I missed another shift I'd definitely get fired.

    I walked through the library doors with the image of her smiling up at me imprinted in my memory. That's one memory I never want to lose.

***

"Alexander. Alexander. Alexander!" I was snapped out of my daydream and looked up at my friend Connor.

"What?"

"That's the third time I've had to do that. You know the manager doesn't like it when you daydream on the job." I just rolled my eyes. We had no customers today so it's not really that big a deal.

A group of teens dressed in all black and heavy makeup walked into the store.

"Welcome to Sam's Records." I hated this job so much but I needed the money. If only I could punch these kids at least once for being so damn disrespectful.

They rolled their eyes and walked around the store. We had a lot of wannabe's walk into the store and it irritated me that not one normal person came in here. Conner was probably the most normal person in this entire store to talk to.

"Okay boys, you're free to go. Just remember to come back on Friday for your paychecks." We nodded and left immediately. We took the bus back to our neighborhood. It was cold and quiet and the crazy cat lady sat near the back of the bus as she muttered things to herself.

We got off the bus and headed towards our homes that were coincidentally right next to each other. We didn't live in the best neighborhood but it wasn't the worst place either. We were just happy we had a roof over our heads.

"Are you going to class tomorrow?" I thought for a while not knowing if I should stay home with my mom or go to my business class.   

"Don't think too much of it. Your mom is very capable of taking care of herself and you know it. Plus, you can't keep missing classes, or else you won't graduate." I just let out a sigh and ran a hand down my face.

"Fine, I'll go to class tomorrow just remember to wait for me before getting on the bus."

"Always. I would never let you be alone with the crazy cat lady again after what happened last time." He laughed as I shuddered at the memory. That lady really has no boundaries.              

4/19/98

Amaryllis                                                                                                        

I've been staring at the piece of paper that had Alexander's number written on for almost an hour.

"Just call him already!" Marcy was more excited about this than I was.

"You need to get out there more. You haven't let yourself have some fun since you found out about your heart. You can't live in fear forever you know." I sighed. I know I couldn't but I was just too scared that I would scare him off and that he would call me a defect just like my father does. But, Marcy was right. I need to live a little.

I reached for the phone that sat on my bedside table and dialed the number from the piece of paper.

"Oh and I think it would be best if you don't tell him about what's going on with your heart." I just nodded agreeing with her as I heard the tone from the other side. Suddenly it stopped.