His Little Amelia

|57| • Everest

"You, are an idiot, Simon."

Gabe's voice blared through the speakers of my phone, I could already imagine how he'd look at me if he were here -- like I'd grown a new head. Rolling my eyes, I put the phone on speaker, laying my head on the bed with a groan. I didn't need anyone telling me that, I knew I screwed up.

When I got back yesterday, Amelia simply forced a thin-lipped smile at me, before leaving for her room. That was all the interaction we had. I wanted to call her back and explain but she was avoiding me. The locked door was proof enough.

This morning, I woke up feeling like a thousand pounds were on my shoulders. So I picked up my phone to dial Gabe, hoping for some comfort. When I explained everything to him, he let out the loudest snort before calling me an idiot. Now here we were.

"No, no. Say it with me. This needs to be internalised. I...am an idiot." Gabe continued, his pauses dramatic. I scoffed, covering my face. My heart felt heavy. I knew Amelia was angry with me, I guess I was just too cowardly to face her right now. "Gabe, I'm serious here."

"So am I!" He snapped. "Penelope would literally have my head if I came home after that. Seriously? Shit man, I can't believe you did that." My friend muttered, the irritation clear in his voice. Narrowing my eyes, I soaked in the guilt. "I just thought it'd be better to see her physically and end whatever was going on."

Gabe clacked his teeth against his gum, "I thought I advised you not to pick up her call? She had nobody else to turn to than the guy she dumped eight years ago?" His question made me regret this even more. If I was feeling bad, I could only imagine how Amelia was feeling. "Simon, that honestly didn't seem suspicious to ya?"

Quietly, I shook my head, "I guess I wasn't thinking straight."

"Darn right, you weren't. And you proceeded to tell Amelia you were going to see your ex? How did you expect her to welcome you back? Hm?" The more he spoke, the heavier I felt. The questions he threw at me remained unanswered. At that moment, I didn't want to add Amelia to all this drama. I wanted to sort it out myself.

Perhaps I shouldn't have approached things that way. "I know I screwed up." To say the least anyways.

"Why didn't you take her along?" Gabe asked after a minute of silence. Take her along? "Why would I do that?" I asked, drawing my eyebrows together in confusion. The last time Florescent and Amelia were together, the latter teared up and left. Why would I want a repeat of that?

"Why not? She's your woman, isn't she? If Florescent or whatever you call her wanted to talk with you and see Amelia, things would have gone smoother than they did. She wouldn't have tried to kiss you or make you drunk with wine."

"She didn't try to get me drunk, Gabe."

"Sure she didn't. A few more glasses and you'd be telling me a different tale."

I huffed, massaging my temple. "I didn't think of it that way. I just wanted to protect Amelia from her charades."
"And how'd that work out for you?"

I remained silent, thinking about what he'd said. "You need to make this right man. Don't worry, I'll put your stubborn ass in my prayers tonight." This made me chuckle, taking my phone from the bed as I stood up. He was right, I needed to sort things out, leaving the air tense would do us no good. We were living together now.

"See you, and thanks, man." I meant it, he was one of the only people I knew I could turn to. Gabe chuckled, saying he was here for me before I ended the call.

Now that I was alone again, the nerves slipped in, was Amelia going to give me the time of day? What if she avoided me the whole day? I turned to look at my reflection in the mirror. I wasn't able to sleep much last night, there were bags underneath my eyes, and my head was starting to ache from too much tugging.