Amans

2. Oh Happy Day

Ding! Ding!....Ding!

"Mmmmm," Amara stirred.

Ding!.....Ding!

Her phone continued to chime.

Keeping her eyes closed, Amara began to pat around her bed in search of her phone. She planned to silence the annoying machine since it was ruining her peaceful sleep.

Amara needed her rest if she planned on making it through the day.

Sleep had finally come to her around 2:00 A.M. that morning after she could no longer keep her eyes open to continue watching episodes of her favorite show. Her schedule had been so busy lately that she hadn't had a chance to watch it and last night was a chance for her to finally catch up.

As a result of her falling asleep so abruptly, she knew her phone was buried amongst the sheets beside her, but the little device was tricky to find.

Failing at locating it with minimal effort, Amara tried to sit up to continue the search. Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain stab at the side of her neck, "What the," she mumbled.

She was now fully awake and sat up quickly.

With her neck still craned to the side, she attempted to move it again and felt the sharp pain return. "Nooo..." she groaned, rubbing the back of her neck, hoping to soothe the pain, "I swear that will be the last time I fall asleep like that again."

Scanning over her bed with just her eyes, since her neck wasn't going to be of any help, Amara managed to spot her phone overturned at the edge of her bed. It was an inch away from toppling over to the ground below. She reached over and picked it up to check the time:

9:16

"Awwwww," she whined, "it's still early."

Amara was not a morning person. If it weren't for the stinging pain in the side of her neck, she would have laid back down until a more significant matter demanded her attention.

Pressing her thumb on the tiny button at the bottom of her screen, she unlocked her phone only to reveal the long list of notifications needing her response. "Of course," she grumbled, not exactly jumping at the idea of having to sift through the messages to accurately classify them in the order she wanted to attend to them. One message, however, caught her eye. It was from her best friend, Kaya. Clicking it open she began to read,

"Heeeyy! Hope you're up! I'll be there around 10, and I've got coffee!! See ya soon!"

Amara's eyes widened in realization.

She had forgotten she invited Kaya over that afternoon to go over some home renovations, but that wasn't supposed to be until 12:00 P.M.

Kaya was coming over early.

This wasn't the slightest bit surprising to Amara, knowing the early bird that Kaya was. She loved making Amara awake at unreasonable hours to meet her demands, and this time, she had succeeded.

Amara tossed her phone back onto her bed and swung her feet out onto the faux white rug below. It was the only thing that separated her warm feet from the cold mahogany floors. Letting her toes wiggle amongst the soft fibers for a moment, she then slid them into her slippers and headed towards the bathroom.

Amara was hoping she would be able to take a quick shower before Kaya arrived and perhaps the hot water would help soothe her stiff neck. Pulling back the sliding glass door, she twisted the knob until a stream of hot water started to pour down.

Turning around, Amara headed back into her bedroom and grabbed the box of matches she kept in the first drawer of her nightstand.

Once back in the bathroom she began to light the candles that lined her sink and sat at the base of her toilet.

Amara was huge on ambiance, even if she was just taking a simple shower.

She loved pastel colors, relaxing music and candles...lots of candles.

Amara was keen on setting a particular type of mood when you entered her home. She believed it was a reflection of herself. If not for her successful career as an actress, her mother could have sworn she would have gone into interior design. So, it wasn't surprising that her closest friend, Kaya, happened to be an interior designer.

Once all the candles were lit, Amara went back to her bedroom to grab her phone. She opened her iTunes app and scrolled through her playlists.

After selecting "Shower Vibes," she placed her phone into the iHome speaker, and the soothing sounds of Sade began to fill the room.

"Diamond life, lover boy..."

Amara slipped out of her nightgown and stepped into the steaming hot shower. She was instantly relieved. Slowly rubbing her neck, she felt it began to loosen under the hot bullets of water.

Sade drowned on.

"He moves in space with minimum waste and maximum joy..."

Steam began to fill up Amara's bathroom, fogging up her mirrors.

Allowing the water to caress her skin and continue to ease her aching neck, she began to fall victim to the music.

Swaying her head to the beat, Amara became enveloped in the sounds of the different instruments and allowed her mind to be swept away.