Dead Apples

28- Lunch Dates

The next day, Javier drives me to Robby's lawyer's office to drop off the papers that Dex had given me. He assures me that he'll look at it and see what he can do with the information, and that's all that the meeting is. My next stop of the day is to meet Amber for lunch so that we can talk about things.

I'm kind of terrified of what she's going to say, especially after the disaster that was last night. I hope that she'll believe me when I promise her over and over again that nothing is going on with Dex.

"Amber is a really cool person," Javier assures me as he's driving me to the restaurant that we agreed to meet at earlier this morning. "You shouldn't be too worried."

"I'm still nervous," I mumble. "I hate that she's mad at me, even though I know that I deserve it."

"You two will figure it out," He promises me. "It's not like you were the one that he was cheating with."

"Yeah," I'm not as convinced as he is. Amber was with Dex for a really long time so this breakup has obviously hurt her a lot. The fact that he was cheating on her is a really big deal, and it's a big deal that it took me so long to tell her. I know that he's just trying to minimize it so that I won't be so nervous about talking to Amber, but I'm still so nervous.

"Well, even if it doesn't go well, I can come over when it's done and make you feel better," He says it with a slight smile curving at his lips that makes me blush and look out the side window of the car to avoid eye contact.

He pulls into the parking lot of the restaurant and I start to unbuckle my seatbelt. "Thank you for driving me everywhere today. I'll text you later, let you know how it goes."

Javier looks a little guilty as I'm getting out of the car and I think that he can tell that his subtle sex joke made me uncomfortable. It's not his fault that I'm so easily uncomfortable, but he probably should have picked up on that by now. Then again, we've seen each other naked twice now, so it's kind of ridiculous of me to get embarrassed about such a small and subtle joke.

Either way, I just get out of the car and hook my bag over my shoulder. Javier answers me by saying, "Yeah, no problem. Good luck."

I offer him the smallest of smiles before I turn and go into the restaurant. I'm gripping my bag pretty hard because I'm so afraid of Amber not forgiving me. I've really enjoyed being her friend this summer and it would suck if I lose that just because I made a really bad decision to side with Dex instead of her. Hopefully, she'll remember that I did eventually tell her the truth. Although, I did it in a horrible and insensitive way and I only did it to spite Dex.

This is going to be a disaster, but I still have to at least try.

I see Amber fidgeting with her red hair over at a small table by the window of the restaurant. I sit down across from her and she looks up at me.

"Hey," She says quietly.

I put my bag down and swallow the lump in my throat. "Hey. Thanks for meeting with me."

"I feel like we have a lot to talk about," she says. "I would like to start with what happened last night, because that was one big mess."

"Yeah, it really was," I agree with her. "But there's nothing going on with me and Dex. I don't know what he was doing last night, but I would never do that."

"Right. You wouldn't sleep with my boyfriend, you'd just let other girls do it behind my back," She mutters bitterly. The waitress breaks some of the tension by coming around to take our drink order but once she's gone, I'm faced with the burden of having to respond to that.

"I know that I messed up," I promise her. "But I didn't know what to do. I was confused, and for some reason, I just really wanted him to like me. Not in that way. Well... a little bit in that way, honestly, but I would have never done anything with him. Anyway, I'm really sorry that I didn't tell you. I should have, I know that. I don't really have any good reason as to why I kept this secret from you for so long."