Never As It Seems

Chapter 23

Amber smiled to herself as she hung her new dress on the door of her wardrobe. It was a simple, fitted black dress with a sparkle running through it. It came down to just above the knee. She couldn't work out how they got the 'sparkle' into the material but it was subtle enough to look classy.

She had really enjoyed the last hour and a half of the Mall's opening hours with Dessa. It had been forever since they had spent some quality time with each other. She was sorry for that but happy that their time together had been just like it always was. She told Dessa everything that had happened the night before with Jay and once again realised how petty she had been about having a problem with Matt being related to him. It really was no big deal. Dessa agreed with her however, on being upset that Jay had lied to her. Agreed of course until Amber recounted the story of their argument and of how Jay had announced that he loved her. That melted Dessa and Jay's lying was instantly forgotten. She loved her friend!

Dessa had bought a dark blue dress, not totally different in cut to her own but it had a line of tiny white flowers sewn into the material around the neck, bottom and cuffs. She had looked beautiful in it and they both were excited about the party already. They had separated at the Mall and Amber had got the bus home, wondering all the way why Dessa hadn't once mentioned Rob. She had fully expected to never hear the end of their meeting over coffee, but she hadn't said a word... literally nothing. It just didn't make sense at all.

Hearing voices downstairs and recognising one of them because of the way it made her stomach do somersaults, she checked herself in the mirror and then left her room. Jay looked up as she reached the top of the stairs and beamed at seeing her.

"Who were you talking to?" She asked when she reached the bottom and melted into his embrace.

"Your Mum." He said holding her tightly.

She cringed at the thought but Jay seemed happy enough so it couldn't have been that bad.

"She took the food I brought. Said she'd heat it and bring it in." He continued. "She kept looking at me strangely... smiling at me."

Amber recalled the conversation with her mother the night before and was relieved to know it sounded like she was happy with the outcome. The fact that Jay was here now was not something even Amber had expected at that point. She didn't respond to Jay's description of her mother's welcome but smiled inwardly.

"Wanna watch a film or TV?" She asked light heartedly. Today had been a great day considering the way it had begun.

He nodded and followed her into the sitting room. Plonking himself on to the couch, he pulled her down to join him and she landed half on the seat and half on Jay's lap. He held her there and kissed her gently.

"It's nice to have you all to myself. I mean, today was good and all but I missed you."

She kissed him back and he responded passionately. They both jumped away from each other at the sound of someone clearing her throat. Amber nearly died when she saw her mother standing in the doorway. Once again though, Jay didn't seem phased. He just smiled politely and loosened his grip on Amber so that she could pull away and sit properly on the couch.

"Uh. I was just going to tell you we're off out. The pizza is in the oven. It'll be done in about ten minutes." She seemed just as embarrassed to be there as Amber felt.

She nodded, muttered a goodbye and headed for the front door. As she disappeared from the lounge doorway, Erin appeared in her place.

"Busted!" She chuckled and then followed her mother out of the house.

Jay looked at Amber with a smirk, obviously enjoying her discomfort. She shook her head at him and then playfully slapped his arm.

"It's not funny!" She tried but she couldn't hold in the giggle that escaped.