New Ways

THIRTY-ONE

Amery

After dinner I told Sigrid I had been wanting to take a walk at the beach since it was something I hadn't done in ages cause I was so caught up with everything else. We settled for Rockaway Beach and Sigrid drove us there. We took a walk and after about fifteen minutes of walking, we decided to sink our butts in the sand for a while. The air was chilly and I had regretted my decision of going to the beach.

Sigrid had forgotten to bring a jacket along so she offered to share her body warmth with me when I started complaining about being cold. When she finally had me in her arms as we sat, I stared at her and smiled until she frowned. "What? You said you were cold."

"Stop playing dumb, Sigrid," I reprimanded, removing her arm from my shoulders and stood up, wiping the sand off my backside.

"What?" Sigrid stared up at me, her expression confused.

"Stop it!" I lost my temper. That was it, this girl was pushing my buttons. "I like you, okay? And we both know you're still here not because of my threat. You're still here cause you like me too!"

"Wow. I've got to give it to you for being the most confident girl I've ever met," she winked, giving me a thumbs up. How dare she joke when I was being serious!

I groaned in frustration and turned to walk away. "I'm so done with this. I'm un-threatening you right here, right now. That's what you want, isn't it? Well I'm giving you what you want!"

"I'm not playing dumb, Amery!" Sigrid grabbed my wrist suddenly. She pushed herself up and slowly spun me around to face her. The wind blew in her brown hair and she quickly pushed her hair back before continuing. "I'm protecting you. You have a reputation to uphold in Parmont. You're very important to everyone in school and someone as important as you can't be with me."

"But I've never felt so important until you," I confessed, holding her stunning face in my hands. "I'm important to everyone because they either want or need something from me, Sig. Then you came along and showed me how important I was as an individual. As me, as Amery Tatcher. I became important to you because of what I needed and what I wanted. I was drunk that night you found me in Lloyd's bathroom. Somebody else wouldn't have agreed to my wish even if I hadn't threatened them. You didn't care about the threat. You cared about me."

Sigrid smiled. "I still do."

"No one's ever made me feel the way you do. Not even Derek. You're as important to me and I wanna be with you. I love you, Sigrid."

"I love you too, Am," she whispered back. Just like that, my heart burst in joy and I could feel butterflies going wild in my stomach as she landed her lips onto mine. I wrapped my arms around her neck and we kissed for a while. It felt perfect and I finally felt complete. She was the angel that kept me safe. She was the missing puzzle piece that I had been looking for. She was everything I never knew I needed and more. Now that she understood that, I could finally die a happy girl.

And then life had its own way of saying nope, not yet, Amery Tatcher.

Sigrid returned to me after answering a phone call which broke our kiss. "We have to go."

"Why? I'm finally sober-kissing you!" I whined, pouting like a five-year-old who had just been denied his rights to candy.

"It was Quentin from the Financial committee. He said he's got the Cellphone Stalker," Sigrid answered in a serious tone.

"Oh my god, who is it?" I widened my eyes at the new information. I had been waiting for this for so long!

Sigrid let out a shaky sigh and bit her lower lip nervously. "You won't like the answer. Now come on, we've got to hurry."

I staggered as she pulled my hand across the sand and we ran back to her car. I was angry and anxious at the same time. Angry that I was finally having my moment with the girl I loved when someone just had to ruin it and anxious to know who the Cellphone Stalker was and what we should do with him or her. Either way I was glad that I still had Sigrid by my side.