Never As It Seems

Chapter 8

Amber awoke to the sun streaming in through the window and the sound of the birds singing. She smiled to herself as the events of the night before flooded into her mind.

They had spent a couple of hours talking and Jay finally got to meet the rest of the group. She couldn't remember all they had talked about but a few things replayed in her mind. Dessa had asked Jay how old he was and when he said he was 22 the group had joked about him being a cradle snatcher. The ever relaxed Jay took it in his stride and joked back with them.

She recalled the walk back to the car, this time made slightly easier by the sun beginning to rise. Holding hands as they walked, Jay stopped and turned to her. She thought he was going to kiss her but instead he studied her face for a second and then asked,

"Does it bother you that I'm older than you?"

"No. Not at all." She replied without needing to think about it.

He went quiet again seemingly doing battle with something in his head. She wished she could read his mind. When he finally spoke, he closed the small space between them.

"What I said to Tom in the woods...."

"About a lift home?" She asked with a slight smile.

"You know what I mean." He said, putting his arms around her waist. "About me being your boyfriend."

"Well I thought it was very presumptuous considering we never talked about it before. I was quite offended actually." A cheeky grin lit up her face and he mirrored it.

"You're beautiful." He said and he brushed his lips gently against hers.

"So?" He asked.

She put her hand behind her back and took his. She nodded and the smile that her nod elicited from him melted her. Again it looked like he wanted to say something but he didn't say a word. He drew her into a kiss that felt like her first and would certainly be the one she would remember forever.

Amber's memories were disturbed by a knock on her bedroom door and then straight away a voice.

"It's Mum. Can I come in?"

Amber tried to pull herself into the here and now and called out. "Yep!"

The door opened and her very smartly dressed mother walked in.

"Sweetheart what are you still doing in bed? Are you alright?"

Amber looked across at the clock on her nightstand. 1.12pm! Wow! She sat up.

"I'm fine. I didn't get back till sevenish. I had no idea it was this late!"

Her mother sat down on the bed.

"Well I have to get going in a minute but I wanted to talk to you about something. We haven't talked lately about University. We need to get you everything you need and work out how we're going to get you there in September. I haven't got time now but we really need that meal. Are you free on Thursday? In the evening."

Amber gulped. She didn't want to have that conversation but she was going to have to.

"Yes. I'm free on Thursday." She said.

"Great. I'll see if your father can come too."

She kissed her daughter on the cheek and got up to leave. As she reached the door she turned around.

"Oh. I meant to ask. Why on earth did you go back to the arena?"

"Oh um..." Amber didn't know how to explain quickly... "I made a friend when we were there the other night." She decided on.