Formally | Ambi

Part 13

Andi's POV

Amber and I sit on the same side of the booth in The Spoon, waiting for Iris and the girl she's been seeing to get here.

"Are you going to tell me who it is?" I ask.

Amber shakes her head. "It's a surprise."

"But I know her?"

"That is correct."

A second later, Iris comes in, followed by Libby, and they join us on the other side of the booth.

"Hi," Iris says.

Libby waves, then begins to sign, How are you? I haven't seen you in a long time.

I sign back, saying, "Good. How are you?"

The same.

Then Iris joins into the conversation. "How did you two meet?" she signs along with her speech.

Libby responds before me. I dated her friend in the autumn, but we also became friends.

"She's super nice and really fun," I add. "How did you two meet?"

My little sister had a school concert, and she was in Iris' brother's class. We met at the concert, Libby explains.

Amber's eyes dart between all three of us, clearly lost.

"Their siblings are in the same band class and they met at their concert," I tell her.

We converse for the next hour, while splitting a basket of baby taters between us. Iris and I translate for Amber the whole time. Eventually, Iris and Libby decide to leave so they can get to a specific craft shop before it closes, the same one I get most of my supplies from. Then it's just Amber and I left to talk alone.

"How was your school project?" I ask. "The one about kinetic motion or whatever it's called."

"Fine," she says, looking down at the table. "I think I aced it."

"Then why do you look so sad all of a sudden?"

She shakes her head. "It's nothing. It's just . . . these guys I know are kind of teasing me."

"About what?"

"Us," she answers softly.

"What do you mean?" I ask, suddenly feeling very protective of her.

She shakes her head again, tucking her hair behind her ear. "They just think it's funny to say stupid stuff and called me names and—"

"What kind of names?" I interrupt.

She blinks and looks up at me. "I can't say it here."

"They called you a slur?"

"Well, technically they didn't call me it," she says. "They kind of wrote it on my locker."

"What? Who are they?"

"Nobody, Andi. I don't want you to worry about it. I'm sure it was just a one-time thing, and it'll be over tomorrow."

"So you're not going to do anything?"

She touches my hand, as she does when she wants me to relax. "It's fine. Don't stress about it. I'm not."

I sigh. "That's what worries me."

She puts her arm around me and I lean my head on her shoulder.

"You know," I say, "you really should be more open about your emotions. I want to be able to help."

"Nothing needs to be helped. It's all fine," she assures me.