Story of Us

Chapter 8 : Amber

Avery stayed at Amber's house the night before, they made hot chocolate and talked until late hours of both Princes as well as how excited they were to attend the spring gala and wear the ball gowns that Lillian helped them pick a while ago.

Waking up late for work that morning, Amber tried to get ready as fast as she could but when she opened the front door to go, Damien was frozen in place with his fist raised ready to knock on the door, "we need to talk," he said.

Tension rose up in her body as she saw his serious expression, she didn't want to have that conversation but she had to confront the situation right at that moment before she changed her mind.

"What are you going to say, Damien? That you're sorry? That's not going to work."

"I know, just let me explain."

"Explain what? That you cut me out of your life without an explanation or that you got cold feet and ran away," she asked defensively.

The last time they were together was on an autumn day a few years ago. They were having a picnic in the woods and he had almost kissed her, but the day after, he told her that they couldn't see each other anymore, and from then on, he stopped talking to her completely.

"I know it looked like that, but there's a reason why I did it," he admitted.

"I can't talk about this right now," she moved past him, "I'm late for work."

"This is also important, Amber–" he pointed out. 

"It's been way too long, and now you want to talk about this? I'm not like you Damien; I can't act as nothing happened. You left without saying goodbye, and I had to find out from Lillian that you were gone? How do you think that made me feel?"

He stared at the ground without saying anything.

"Just... leave," she pleaded.

Her lip trembled, and her eyes filled with unshed tears; realization finally hit her, she had tried to convince herself for so long that she was over him, but she felt like a fourteen-year-old all over again.

Instead of going to the bakery, she ran to her room and locked herself, letting the tears fall down her face.

Her father had come home but she refused to talk to anyone.

A knock on her door made her look away from her window, "I don't want to talk to anyone."

"It's Lillian, can I come in?"

Amber opened the door and hugged Lillian for a while.

"How are you feeling?"

"I don't know... relieved?" she said.

"Maybe it's time to let your guard down and forgive him... You know deep down he never meant to hurt you."

"But what if I give him a chance and he leaves again? I can't go through that again."

"Believe me when I say that he isn't going anywhere."

"How you do know for sure?"

"I raised that boy like he was my son, I know him," Lillian said "Now let's go, I brought you dinner."

Whether or not she was ready to face Damien again, it didn't matter, because the next day was the spring gala and he would be there as well as her. Avery told her at dinner that everything was packed and ready to go.

The next morning, she woke up to Avery barging into her room. It was a bright morning without a single cloud in the sky, the perfect spring weather for the spring gala.

"Are you still grumpy? I'm sorry that I had to wake you up early but look," Avery handed her a cup, "I made you coffee."

"Thanks," Amber smiled. 

They drove the van to the service entrance at the Palace, ready to discharge and take the pastries into the palace, but when they looked for Lillian in the kitchen, she wasn't there.

"I'll go look for her, give me a call if she gets here," Avery said.

"Sure, but don't take too long."

A couple of minutes had passed and still, no one had even come into the kitchen and Avery hadn't come back either.

Footsteps neared the kitchen calling for Lillian and through the doorway appeared Damien, in a blue sweater and black jeans, his eyes widen and his mouth dropped when he saw her, yet he still looked handsome as ever.