Formally | Ambi

Part 1

Amber's POV

"Amber?" Iris waves her hand in front of my face. "Are you listening?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry," I say, snapping back to our conversation.

I take one more last glance at Andi, who's sitting in a booth in The Spoon with her friends. She's smiling and laughing at whatever Buffy and Cyrus are saying. She always looks so pretty when she smiles. Then she notices me, and gets up to walk over.

" . . . so do you think I should return it?" Iris yaps. "I mean, I'll probably never wear it"

"Not now," I say. "Andi's coming."

Iris rolls her eyes as I frantically try to brush down the loose strands of my hair. I spin around in my seat, smiling wide as Andi approaches.

"Hey, Amber! You're not working today?"

"Nope," I reply. "Just hanging out."

"You're wearing the headband I made you," she points out. "It looks really good on you."

"Well, that's because you're so talented at making it."

I hear Iris make a subtle gagging noise behind me, but try to ignore it, smiling wider. Apparently Andi noticed, though, because she gives Iris a weird look.

"What's up with her?" she says.

"She's sick," I reply.

I slap Iris's arm lightly to make her play along. She immediately fakes a cough.

"Yeah," she says with a raspy voice. "Bad cold."

"Okay, then," Andi responds. "I hope you feel better."

Iris nods and turns back to her milkshake.

"Anyway, Amber," Andi continues, "do you want to come over tonight? My parents are going out, so we'll have the place to ourselves."

"Yeah, definitely," I reply. "I'll be there at 6:00."

"Awesome! See you then."

Andi walks back to her table, and I whip around to face Iris. She stops in the middle of sucking back her milkshake.

I make a little squealing noise, to which she giggles and rolls her eyes.

"Amber, relax," she says. "You hang out with Andi all the time."

"I know," I say. "But it's still exciting. Every time I see her I get these butterflies in my stomach and—" I gasp, grabbing her arm. "I wasn't blushing, was I?"

She grins. "Maybe a little."

I put my elbows on the counter, and drop my face into my hands in embarrassment.

"Why does this always happen?" I whine.

"You blush easy. It's not the end of the world. Andi probably thinks it's cute."

"She probably thinks it's weird." I fold my arms on the counter to prop myself up. "I wish she liked me."

Iris shrugs. "Maybe she does."

I can't help but smile at the idea.

"I think I'll tell her today," I say.

"Go for it," Iris says.

"But what if she doesn't want to be friends with me anymore?"

"Well, Andi is kinda awkward like that, so it's a possibility." She notices my expression of worry and quickly adds, "But I doubt that'll happen. Look, if you want to tell her, tell her."

I look over my shoulder at where Andi's sitting, then turn back to Iris, looking like a scared puppy. I groan and put my face in my hands again.

Iris pats my shoulder, saying sarcastically, "Glad to see you're keeping it together."

______________________________________

Andi's POV

"Hey, Amber!" I say when I open the door.

Amber steps inside, into the light, which make her blonde curls shine. I close the door behind her, and she turns to face me, holding up a plastic take-out container from The Spoon.

"I brought baby taters," she says.

"Awesome, thanks!"

We go over to the couch and plop down onto the cushions.

"Do you want to watch a movie while we eat those baby taters?" I ask. "Or we can binge Stranger Things."

"Sounds perfect," she says. "I haven't watched the first season in so long."

I pick up the remote and press play on the show. It ends up serving more as background noise when we start talking.

"Do you get a discount on these?" I ask, chewing a baby tater.

"Ten percent off," she says with a grin. "Not much but—"

"—better than nothing," I finish for her.

"Yeah." She giggles a little before fixating her sight on my hands. "Do you have nail polish?" she asks.

"Yeah, in my room."

"Where in your room?" She stands up.

"Second drawer of my dresser, but what are you—?"

"I'll be right back," she says, heading off to my bedroom.

She comes back a few seconds later with four different colours of paint: red, pink, purple and blue.

"Which one?" she asks, holding them up.

"I like the blue."

She smiles. "Me too."

The tiny bottles clink as she sets them on the table, keeping the blue one in her hand. After untwisting the top of the bottle, she holds out her palm. I know what that means, and place my hand on hers. She begins brushing my thumb with the blue paint.

"You have to let me do you after," I say with a laugh.

"Obviously," she responds, then focuses her attention back on my hands. "This is going to look so cute."

"I'll be able to have blue nails for the school dance next week."

She whips her head up. "Dance? You didn't tell me about a dance!"

"I didn't really think of it. I mean, it's not like I have anyone to go with."

She looks down again. "Nobody? There's not a single person you've got your eye on?"

"Not really," I respond. "I think I'll just go with friends."

"Friends? So what? You're going to fifth wheel with Cyrus and TJ and Buffy and Marty all night?"

"Jonah's going alone too," I say. "I think." Then I have an idea. "Why don't you come with me? That way I'm not the only one going without a date."

She smiles. "I'd love to, Bambi."

"Perfect! It'll be just me and you and no boys. Just friends having a good time dancing."

"Acutally, Andi, I wanted to tell you something." She pauses in the middle of painting my ring finger and looks up, but the moment she meets my eyes, she returns back to her work with the nail polish. "I think I know the perfect place to get a dress for the dance!" she finishes, smiling.

"Awesome," I say.

She continues painting my nails, keeping her eyes down.

"Amber," I say skeptically, "are you sure that's all you wanted to tell me?"

"Yeah, of course!" She holds her palm out again. "Next hand, please."