“Oh GodI’m late!” Amber exclaimed as she heard her father talking withnone other than Greg.
“Sweetie,he’s only just arrived, you’re not late. Now hold still while I fixyour eyes,” mother admonished.
“What’swrong with my eyes?” Amber blinked owlishly at her.
“Honey,he sees you with only mascara and lip gloss every day. We have toadd a bit of umph,” mother explained as she picked up an eyelinerpencil and some glittery eye shadow.
“Whydidn’t I think of that?” Amber fretted and followed her mother’sinstructions as eyeliner was lightly placed on her lids.
“Experience dear,” mother chuckled and lightly fanned out theliner before gently applying a thin coat of eye shadow.
When she wasfinished, Amber stared at herself in the mirror. The effect wasstunning, a light touch of extra make-up and she felt like a supermodel. Then a curl bounced out of place and she groaned again asmother chuckled.
Greg nervouslylaughed as he glanced down the hallway where he could vaguely hearAmber and her mother talking in hushed voices. He was used totalking to Amber’s father but this was different. This was thenight he was approaching him as a suitor, not a friend of his onlydaughter. Mike and Steve, Amber’s older brothers were standingnearby, looking at him with a mixture of amusement andsuspicion.
Mike was 19 toAmber’s 17, Steve was 21. Both were tall and brawny as mostfootball players were which made Greg a bit self-conscious abouthis lean runner’s frame. He had always wanted to add more musclebut that would slow him down on the soccer field and on the track.It would be better for hockey but he all ready had a delicatebalance of speed and strength as it was.
Finally theclacking of high heels could be heard and Greg swivelled his headto see Amber come out of the bathroom door. He felt his heart skipa beat and refrained from wiping his moist palms on his pressedblack slacks. He could not believe this was the same Amber he sawevery day at school and on the weekend with friends.
“Hi,” hesaid sheepishly and tried not to kick himself over the lamegreeting.
“Hi,” sherepeated back and Greg was happy to note that sheblushed.
“It’s aschool night so have her back by 10PM,” Amber’s father suddenlybroke in.
Greg jumped andMike snickered. Steve smirked and Amber merely nodded.
“Sure,yes,” Greg sputtered out.
“If youdon’t, we’ll coming looking for you. Remember, we know where youlive,” Steve mentioned with a wink as he crossed his bulging armsover his broad chest.
“Right,”Greg mumbled as Steve chuckled.
“Steve,don’t be so mean,” Amber chided with a scowl.
“It’sokay, I’m used to it. You ready to go?” Greg questioned with asmile as he offered her his hand.
He hoped it wastoo sweaty. He hoped she wouldn’t draw back from the dampness ofhis palm with a disgusted look on her face. Then he remembered thather nose crinkled up cutely when she was disgusted and wondered whyhe would even think of that. The sudden placement of her hand intohis own jolted him back to the present and he stared at her.
Her eyes wereglowing in happiness and he noticed the eye shadow on her lids. Shenever wore eye shadow to school. In fact, the only time he couldremember her wearing any extra make-up was when she went onimportant social outings. He gulped and returned her grin. With anod to her parents, he walked her outside to his waiting car, hisstomach curling itself into knots.
Amber seemedcompletely oblivious to his plight and he was grateful for that. Hehad meant nothing by rescuing her from that creep back in theirfirst year of high school. But when she had finally turned to himhe was struck by how pretty she actually was. He had a girlfriendat the time and was happy to be friends with Amber but the othergirl dumped him. Amber began to replace his thoughts of rejectionand he realized how much he actually liked her a few weeks ago whenthey were at the movies with their groups of friends.
He had peeredover during a humours part in the movie and her bouncing curls andtwinkling laugh made his heart flutter and his breathing stop.Luckily the theater was dark and no one had seen the dopey grin heknew he had on his face. He realized then that he was alwayshappier with her and made the leap of faith to take theirrelationship to the next level. He could only hope that he didn’tscrew things up and she would be by his side for the rest of hislife.
Part 3:February 12th
It’staken me so long to finally catch up with her again. I mean, it’sonly been ten years but she moved around a lot. First she moved forschool and I didn’t know where she had gone. But when she movedinto the big city, it wasn’t hard to find her husband’s name. That bastard had gone ahead andmarried MY wife.
This year itchanges, just like I said before. This year I’m going to get myrevenge on that bastard and Amber will be mine for the taking.He’ll finally realize just how big of a mistake he made when hetold me to leave her alone back in grade nine. And she’ll realizewhat a life she missed out on. She’ll see how happy I would havemade her. She’ll realize just how much she missed and she’ll regretnot dating me all those years before and finding out sooner. She’llregret missing out on all the lost time.
I can hardlywait to see her smiling face. Those beautiful blue eyes and theperfect blond hair. It makes me sick thinking of all the timewasted because of him. It took me so long to get back to her and Iwon’t waste a moment of being with her now. She’ll never leave myside. Ever.
***
Amber sighed asshe pushed the snow down her drive way. She hefted the shovel andtossed the gathered snow into the growing pile on her lawn. Sheyawned hugely and waved at a neighbour as they drove past in theircar. It was 9AM and she was about half way through shovelling thefour inches of snow gathered on her lawn and sidewalks.
She wasn’tcomplaining exactly. It was good cardio exercise plus the
