Chapter 6

I wake up the next morning to the buzzing of my cell.

“Hello?” I say, blindly grabbing and answering my phone.

“Hey!” Chris’ voice washes through me.

“Hey.” I respond, a little more awake.

“I’m sorry if I woke you…” He says solemnly.

“No biggie.” I tell him, in my most awake voice I can muster.

“So… I was wondering if you wanted to hang out today… It’s a beautiful autumn day… warm enough for a tee shirt and jeans!” He goes on excitedly.

“Sure.” I laugh.

“Pick you up in 10?” He asks.

“Twenty.” I counter.

“Deal. See ya!” He says, hanging up.

I drag myself from my covers and grab some clothes before heading into the bathroom to shower. I take a hot, short shower. The water wakens my muscles and my mind. I feel much better as I leave the bathroom. I bound down the stairs and into the kitchen.

“I’m going out.” I say, kissing mom on the cheek.

“With who?” She demands.

“Chris.” I tell her. She nods and I head for the front door. “Bye!”

Chris is just pulling into my driveway as I get outside. I open the door and hop in.

“Wow, that was perfect timing.” He marvels.

“I’m just amazing like that.” I laugh. He laughs to and pulls back out of my driveway.

“So… to the lake?” He asks, glancing over at me.

“Sure.” I say, but then my stomach grumbles loudly and I blush. “Well… Maybe we could get something to eat first?”

He laughs, “Sure thing. Do you like pancakes?”

“Yeah, I love them!” I exclaim.

“Me too!” He says. “Well, IHOP it is then.”

I giggle at his matter of fact tone, but don’t argue. IHOP was my favorite place to have breakfast.

We pull into the local IHOP five minutes later.

“Mmm!” I say, taking a deep breath as we walk into the restaurant.

“Just two?” The hostess asks us. We nod. “Right this way, please.”

We follow her to a booth in the back of the dining area. Not many people are here to begin with, but there is absolutely no one back here.

We order a few minutes later. I get the Strawberry Banana Pancakes and a glass of white milk while Chris gets the Pancake Platter. We chat aimlessly as we wait for our food to come.

Suddenly, Chris says, “I’ve missed us, Hazel…”

“Yeah… Same here…” I admit.

“I wish things could be different, ya know?” He asks.

I nod as our food comes. Our aimless chatter starts up again. I feel totally comfortable with Chris. I’ve gotten used to Edwin, but with Chris it was all natural. We finish our pancakes and continue our discussion while we wait for the bill.

“I’ll pay for my share.” I tell Chris.

“Nah, I’ll get it.” He says, waving my offer away and he reaches for his wallet.

“Chris… it’s not like it’s a date… I can pay for my food. It’s bad enough I waste you gas by having you drive me everywhere!” I complain.

“Haze, I want to pay for you… even if it can only be as friends.” Chris says stubbornly. When the waitress comes with the bill, he takes it from her. When she walks away I stick my tongue out at Chris. He laughs at me but pays anyways.

“Ready?” He asks after we pay.

“Yep.” I say, standing up. We walk out to the car, smiles are plastered on both of our faces. We sing songs on the way to the lake. Chris was right, today was gorgeous.

I gasp as we reach the lake. “Oh, it’s gorgeous…”

The trees that surround the little lake are all a wonderful array of colors. There are a few leaves on the ground, but most of them are still up on the trees. I see reds and yellows and greens and oranges.

“So are you.” Chris says, breaking me out of my trance.

I look over at him a small smile playing with my lips. He is leaning closer to me, over the seats. I feel myself being drawn closer to him. Very quickly we are mere centimeters from each other. I feel his breath on my face. I want to kiss him badly.

“Hazel…” He breaths. I squeeze my eyes shut and sit up.

“This is wrong…” I say, my voice barely a whisper.

“I know.” He responds wickedly.

I look at him, unable to control this feeling raging inside me. I’ve never wanted someone as badly as I wanted Chris right now… If I could only touch him… it would be amazing.

“Don’t you ever break the rules?” Chris asks dangerously.

“Not… normally…” I admit.

Chris shrugs, “There is a first for everything.” He reaches over and takes my hand. He strokes the back of my hand with his thumb and my heart goes wild. I gasp for breath. I couldn’t believe what he was doing to me with only a touch!

I stare into his eyes and he stares into mine. He puts his hand on my cheek and I feel a bolt of feelings. Blood rushes to my face and butterflies fill my stomach. I lean my head on his hand and just take in the feeling. We come even closer and he brushes back my hair. My heart pounds out of my chest as I keep gasping for air. I put my hand on the back of his neck, feeling another bolt as I run my hand threw his hair. I close my eyes and our lips are about a centimeter from each other. My eyes open as “love story” plays on my phone. I lean back in anger as the moment is lost. Chris huffs in disappointment. I check my phone, its Edwin.
“I am so sorry Chris, I have to take this. It’s Edwin.”
I flip my phone open and answer.
“Hey Edwin…” I say trying to sound thrilled.
“Hey, where are you?” He says in greatest concern.
“I am hanging out, didn’t Amber tell you?”
“No, she did not. I was so worried when I came in to kiss you good morning and you weren’t there.”
Chris hears that and frowns. He gets up and turns his back to me.
“I am sorry, I will be home soon.”
“Ok, don’t be out to long.”
“Ok… bye…”
“Bye…”
I flip my phone closed and get up. I walk in front of Chris.
“Chris, I am so sorry.” I say while looking into his eyes.
“It’s ok…” He says and takes my hand.
“Seeing you as much as I want isn’t going to be easy is it?” He asks with a frown that could break anyone’s heart.
I shake my head, “No…”
“I wish things could be…”
“I know, different.”
We stand there looking at each other in silence, thinking about our situation. I want to be with him so bad, but it feels so wrong. I don’t know how long I can take this.
“I guess I should get you home…” Chris says.

I nod and we get into his car. I have him drop me a block from my house, insisting on walking and saying I was just over Claire’s house.

“Hay!” Edwin yells when I walk in, his happy puppy look breaking my heart.

“Hi.” I say, forcing a smile and kissing his cheek. I can’t wrap my mind around what just happened with Chris… the way he made me feel, so I’m distant. I chat with Edwin for a bit, hanging out like good friends do. I sigh as I realize I feel nothing at all when Edwin strokes the back of my hand.

“You want to go to the movies with me tonight…?” Edwin asks suddenly.

“Err… Sure” I say, smiling at him.

“Great! I was thinking maybe… the new Bond movie?” He says.

“M’kay.”

“We’ll leave at 5:30 then.”

We talk until around 4, when I leave to take my shower and get ready and such. I put on Amber’s knee length blue skirt and white v-neck tee shirt. I slip into my white ballet flats and grab my purse from my bed. I walk down the stairs slowly and find Edwin waiting for me at the bottom.

“Ready?” He asks, smiling lovingly.

“Yep!” I say and link my arm through his as we leave.

During the movie, we have the arm between us pulled up. I have my head on his shoulder and his arm is wrapped around my waist. He doesn’t try anything and I’m kind of glad. I am confused enough about Chris without Edwin suddenly going all out on me.

When the movie is over we blink against the setting sun outside the theatre.

“Hey, you want an ice cream or something?” He asks.

“Sure. I think there is a DQ down the road from here…” I say.

He takes me there in the Cadillac. Inside, I order a Brownie Earthquake and Edwin gets a Brownie Batter blizzard. We take our ice cream and eat it outside.

“Oh, that looks really good!” I say, eyeing his ice cream.

“Wanna try?” He offers.

“Sure.” I say. He dips his spoon in, gets a good sized bite, and then he feeds it to me. “Mmm! That is good.”

“Mind if I try yours?” He asks. I shake my head and then get some brownie, ice cream and hot fudge on my spoon and feed it to him. “Oh, that’s good too!”

I laugh and nod, enjoying more of my ice cream. Soon, our ice cream is gone and we head home. I’m surprised to realize I actually had a lot of fun on our date.
It is now the day before Christmas break. The last two months have been me stuck between what I have to do and what I want to do. I have to be with the stiff Edwin that sometimes surprises me by being fun. I want to be with Chris. Chris and I haven’t talked about what happened that one day where we almost kissed, nor did we get that close again.
The school is busing with happiness. There are cheers in the hallway and everyone feels it.
“Hey,” I say to Chris as I come up to him in our first hour.
“Hey you,” He says with a smile.
I feel daggers in the back of my head and turn around. Claire is glaring at me at the back of class. Chris stopped seeing Claire after I started hanging out with him again. She’s been glaring at me ever since.
“We should hang out over Christmas break,” He says,
“Ya, we should,” I agree.
Class starts and soon the class day is over. I slip on my jacket and Chris walks up.
“Hey, I’ll call you with plans.”
“Ok, have a great break Chris.”
“You too Hazel.”
I sigh when he says my name. I love how he says my name. He walks off and Edwin walks up.
“Hey,” He kisses me on the cheek, “Are you ready to go?”
“Ya,” I slam my locker shut and we walk out hand in hand.
This break is going to be full of emotion. I can tell.
It is snowing as Edwin and I rush out to the car. It’s freezing, so we blast the heat and wait to warm up.

“We’re lucky you have a car.” I say. “Since Amber and Ashton are going some place and couldn’t be bothered to take us home.”

“Yeah…” He says, starting his car. “What did you do when she had to stay after or something and couldn’t take you home?”

“I hitched rides with friends or, depending on the weather, walked.” I shrug.

“Ouch.” He says, glancing over at me before turning out of the school parking lot. “Why does she have a car and not you?”

“Well we both got jobs the summer after sophomore year, but I saved all my money and she bought herself a car.” I answer.

“You didn’t want a car?” He questions.

“Nah. I mean, it’d be nice… but… I don’t know. I never really thought about it… I always just bugged Amber for a ride.” I say and laugh. Edwin laughs too.

We pull up at our house and we get out. As I hang up my coat, Edwin disappears somewhere.

“Edwin?” I call to my otherwise empty house.

“One sec, don’t move!” I hear from the kitchen area. A minute later I hear, “Alright, come here.”

I do as told and walk into the kitchen. Edwin meets me there and hands me one of the two mugs he is holding in his hands. I glance towards the living room where I hear gently Christmas carols playing and notice he has lit our fireplace.

He leads me to the couch and we sit down. I curl up next to him and blow on my hot coco in the mug he had gave me.

“This is very romantic.” I tell him, smiling.

“I figured you’d like to relax and start your break off nice.” He responds.

“Well, thank you.” I smile, and lean over to kiss his cheek.

“You’re very welcome.” He says, smiling right on back at me.
I snuggle up to him and sip my hot chocolate. We watch the fire dance and make small talk. A thought hits me and I get up.
“There is a Christmas tree that needs to be set up. Help me set it up?”
“Sure!” He says
I lead him down into the basement and we both bring up a box.
“What are you guys doing?” I hear Amber ask as we reach the top of the stairs.
“We’re going to set up the ole Christmas tree!”
“Yey, Ashton! Come on, we’re going to set up the Christmas tree!”
Ashton comes and we all bring up boxes.
“It’s a fake tree, but Hazel and I set it up every year,” Amber explains as we open the boxes of tree pieces, ornaments, and lights.
“Hey, Amber! It’s our Santa hats!” I put on my hat.
“Very nice,” Edwin says.
I toss Amber her hat.
“There we go, now we are ready to set up this tree,” Amber says and laughs.
We set up the tree and put on the ornaments and lights. We all laugh and have a great time. The true feeling of Christmas is felt in all of us.
“Ok, it’s time for the top!” Amber yells and gets it out of the box.
“I’ll help you,” Ashton says.
He lifts her up to the top of the tree and she sticks it on. He sets her back down and we all step back and admire our handy work.
“So amazing,” Amber says and gives me a high five.
I nod and look at the lights.
Just then a flash goes off behind us, and we all jump. We turn around to find our Dad standing there with his camera in his hand, laughing.

“Jeez! Warn us next time!” Amber says.

“Okay.” He replies. “Then all of you in front of the tree, I want a good picture.”

Amber and I roll our eyes. Dad took pictures of _everything_! Edwin puts his arm around my waist, I link my arm through Amber’s and Ashton slings his arm over Amber’s shoulders. We all smile and Dad takes the picture. Amber and I look at each other and yell “silly picture!” We all laugh and make stupid poses.

“Oh, my gosh!” Amber yells suddenly.

“What?” I laugh.

“We have to go caroling!” She exclaims. I laugh.

“You boys wanna come?” I ask.

“Sure.” They say. We all split up to find winter coats, gloves, and boots. Amber and I keep our Santa hats on and our wearing our matching gloves. Putting up our Christmas tree and going out caroling together on the first day of break was a tradition we’d carried on as long as we could remember.

The four of us leave the house laughing. Amber and I walk past our neighbor’s house.

“Why didn’t we go there?” Ashton asks, pointing towards the house we skipped.

“They’re not home from work yet.” I shrug.

We go from house to house, singing and having a good time. We go to almost every house around our block. By the time we come home, our faces are flushed from laughing and the cold weather.

“You guys have fun?” My mom asks when we walk in.

“Yep!” Amber answers.

“Mrs. Lovedie,” Edwin says, still laughing, and puts his arm around my shoulder. “Why didn’t you ever tell me how amazing your daughters are at singing?”

“Stop it!” I say, blushing.

“What?!” He says, looking offended. “I’m only saying the truth.”

“Both our daughters have always been good singers. And they both love to sing around Christmas.” My mom laughs.

“Thanks Mom…” I say, laughing. “Yeah, we love it… but we’re not amazing!”
I sit at the table the next morning eating breakfast and sipping hot chocolate. I look at my phone and wonder when Chris is going to call. Just like that “Love Story” plays on my phone. I flip it open.
“Good morning Chris.”
“Hey, I am kidnapping you for the day with me. Get reading and I’ll be at your driveway in a half hour.”
I laugh, “Where are you taking me?”
“Hope you have ice skates.” He tells me then hangs up.
I chug my hot chocolate and take a shower.
“Mom, where are my ice skates?” I say while pounding down the stairs.
“It’s in the garage in a box with all the other winter things. Where are you going?”
“Ice skating with a friend.”
I run into the garage and search in the winter box. After searching for ten minutes, I find my skates in the bottom of course. I put on all my stuff as fast as possible. I hear the horn honk, five minutes early. I make sure my hat is fixed right and grab my ice skates.
“You’re early,” I tell him while I slip into his car.
“I know, but I want to spend this day with you. Every minute counts.” He grins like he has a big secret.
“What are you hiding?” I ask in suspicion.
He laughs, “It’s going to take a lot more to get that out of me.”I smile and sit back. There is no way he is going to tell me. He turns on Christmas music; I turn my head towards him.
“Christmas music?”
“Heck ya!” He turns it up.
I laugh. We sing the music like crazy people. When we go down a familiar road, I realize where we are going.
“We are going to the lake aren’t we?”
“Smart girl.”
The car stops and we get out. The amazing winter whit blinds my eyes as I stare into the beautiful trees and knee deep snow.
“This is amazing.”
“Mhm.” He agrees. “I come up here every day and work on it.”

“What?” I say, looking over at him.

“Mhm. I smooth out the ice and add a chemical to it. It’s my own personal ice rink.” Chris tells me, pride thick in his voice.

“Wow!” I say, impressed. “You really did this?”

“Yep! All me.” He says, walking to a bench I just notice by the lake. “I’ve never shown any one else this lake…”

“Oh…” I say, joining him on the bench. “Why not?”

“Because… this was my spot… My parents own the land, and it has been my get away since I could drive… I just, felt something with you… if that makes any sense… so I brought you here. It was about time I shared this sanctuary with someone else.” Chris shrugs.

“Well thank you.” I say, hugging him. “Now can we skate?”

He laughs and stands up walking over to the ice. I stand and follow him. Gingerly, I step out on the ice, taking Chris’ hand.

“Careful now.” He says, still holding my hand.

“It has been ages since I’ve ice skated!” I exclaim, wobbling a bit.

“I’ll catch you if you fall.” Chris says smiling at me.

“Promise?” I ask.

“I promise.” He reassures me.

He takes my hand and guides me once around the lake. Eventually, my muscles remember the feeling and I don’t need Chris’ hand any more. This doesn’t stop him from holding it though. I smile at the thought of us gliding around this private lake of his.

Some time later Chris asks, “Hungry?”

As he asks my stomach grumbles, “Yes.”

He laughs, having heard my stomach. “I made reservations for us at a nearby restaurant.”

“Oh?” I ask. “Where?”

“You’ll see!” He tells me, dragging me back to the bench so we can change out of our skates.
I take one last look at the lake before going into his car. We drive, Christmas music blasting again. I look out the window into the winter wonderland of the trees and the snow. Look over to Chris and he is looking at me. He looks away as if he was caught doing something wrong. He slowly glances back at me in the cutest face ever. I grin and giggle. He laughs then looks back at the road. I sigh and draw out his face in my head. His eyes and smile make me smile. I tilt my head back onto the seat. How does his smile just affect me so much?
“What are you smiling about? I didn’t know the road was that interesting,” he jokes.
“I was just thinking,” I say, hoping he will just let it go and not ask me.
“About what?”
I laugh, “nothing…”
“Oh, its something alright. It is always something when you smile like that.”
“How do you know that?”
“I notice things. I notice a lot of things about you.”
“Oh really?”
“Ya, like that ring. The one with a heart on it, you always wear that.”
I look at my finger and see the ring.
My parents gave me that ring for my sixteenth birthday,” I explain, “and I have worn it ever since. That is a random thing to notice.”
“Well, here we are,” He changes the subject.
I let it go and look out side. He had pulled into a spot near this village. I don’t recall how long this drive has been, but I have never been in this village before.
“Where are we?”
“It doesn’t matter,” he grins.
“I looks like a cute village,” I say.
“That is because it is a cute village,” He says in a girly voice.
His voice makes me laugh really hard. We get out of the car and walk into this restaurant. I didn’t catch the name, but the inside was beautiful. It was old English style, even the waiters were wearing gowns. Sweet music is being played by a guy playing a grand piano.
“I feel so underdressed,” I tell him, looking at my clothes.
“Nah, you like great.”
I smile at his kind words and we walk up to the hostess. She takes us to our seats. Our table is lite by candle light and has all silver plates and utensils.
“I thought you would like the old English style.”
“I do.”
“Order whatever you want. It’s all on me,” he tells me as I open the menu. I check the prices and almost fall out of my chair.
“Chris…”
“Just order anything all right. Its totally on me.”
I sigh and read it over. Everything sounds amazing, and pricy.
“What are you having?”
“Steak, I love steak.”
“I’ll have that too I guess,” I decide.
The waiter comes up.
“Hello, what are you having?”
“Both of us will have the steak,” He states.
“Alright, It will be here in a giffy.”
She leaves and we talk. We talk about what has been going on since we haven’t talked and we get way in deep into the conversation that we barely even notice our food has come right in front of us. We stop to eat for a while then just pick up right were we leave off. We laugh along like we have been friends forever with jokes nobody would get. Our food is taken away, but we continue to talk.
“Ok, lets go for a walk in the village.” He says after paying the waiter.
We both get up and walk out. I feel a cold breeze and button up my jacket. Putting my hands in my pockets, I stroll this little village with him. We talk some more and walk into stores. It feels like I am hanging out at the mall with a friend, but it feels like so much more. I feel more comfortable with him then I do with anyone.
“Try on this hat,” He says and hands me this hat with a big feather on the side.
I laugh, “ok, but then you have to wear this.”
I grab a simalar hat. He laughs.
“ok.”
We both walk to the mirror and check ourselves out.
“I have to take a picture of this,” I pull out my phone.
“Chicks and their pictures,” He sighs.
We get close and make goofy faces. I take the picture and we look at it.
“We look amazing,” he jokes.
“Oh, we so do.”
“Send that picture to me.”
“Okie dokie,” I send it to him.
He flips his phone open and waits for the picture to come. He then starts clicking a bunch of buttons.
“What are you doing?”
“Hold on,” He continues pushing buttons.
“Ok,” he gives me the phone.
I look and I see our picture on his wallpaper. The banner says,
Aren’t we amazing?
I laugh, “That is cool.”
“Just cool?”
“Ok, its great.”
“Hell ya.”
We walk from store to store until its starts to get dark.“Now we have to have this amazing dessert. You like chocolate cake?” He says holding the door for me.
“Ya!”
He orders to slices and we sit down.
“If you don’t like this, there is something wrong with you,” He puts his fork in his slice and takes a piece.
I fork up a piece and put it into my mouth. The taste melts in my mouth and my taste buds have a party.
“This is really really good!”
“Ya, I know!”
I savor every piece of the cake even though it’s a big slice.
“Wow, you ate the whole thing?”
“Ya, it was really good,” I say, wipping my lips with a napkin.
He gets up and takes my plate. He throws it away.
“Come on. Lets go.”
“I would ask you where you’re going to take me, but I know you not going to tell me.”
“Nope I am not.”
We walk out the back door.
“Why did we just…” My voice trails off as I look around me.The path ahead is aligned with trees. Those trees are lit up in lights.
“That is why,” he finishes.
He takes my hand and leads me down the path. The end of the path had a court with a large evergreen in the middle. His face starts to look nervous.
“Are you ok?”
He sighs, “Yes, I am great.”
He swings our hands and we come up to the tree.
“Turn around,” He says.
“Why? What are you going to do?”
“Just turn around!”
I turn around.
“Don’t look back until I say so.”
I suddenly see something light up behind me and I almost turn.
“Not yet!” I hear him yell from a distance.
I hear him run towards me and search for something in his pocket.
“Ok, turn around,” He says with excitement in his voice.
I turn in gasp. The evergreen was full of lights. No spot in the tree is without light and I am almost blinded by it. That wasn’t what surprises me. What surprises me it what he is dangling in front of me. He is dangling a necklace with the heart that is the same shape as the one on my ring.
“I saw this and remembered it matches your ring. Do you like it?”
“I love it,” I say sweetly.
“Want me to but it on?”
“Ya.”
I turn and pull up my hair. The winter air blows onto my neck and sends shivers down my spine. I feel his hands on my neck clasping the necklace and I get another shiver. When he puts his hands down and I turn towards him. Our eyes meet and I gasp for air again. He leans in closer and so do I. A shockwave of feelings enter me again like it did that one day on the lake. Butterflies fill my stomach. My feelings overcome me and I come in even closer. He puts his hand on my cheek and our lips finally touch. A whole new shockwave enters my body and I kiss him back. I put my hands on his neck and we continue kissing. I feel weightless and sparks fly. My tongue begins to trace his mouth and he pulls me closer to him. He hands fall down to my waist. When we finally need air, we both part with grins on our faces. Gasping for air, we both stand in silence looking into each other’s eyes. His hands never leave my waist.
“Your… wow…” He says still gasping for air.
“Wow,” I repeat.
We stand there until we realize it is really time to leave. Then there we are, the car siting in my driveway.
“I had the most amazing time of my life,” he looks into my eyes.
“Me too,” I say
My emotions overcome me again and I lean in and kiss him. The same sparks fly. We part and he sighs.
“Bye,” I kiss him on the cheek.
“Bye, I’ll call you,” He says and I get out.
I look back at the car once more before walking into the door. When I hear voices, the thought hits me. Edwin. I stand at the door and prepare myself to look as if nothing happened. I can’t believe I totally forgot about Edwin. My stomach starts to feel sick. I walk downstairs into the basement and the laughter increases.
“Hazel!” Edwin yells and runs to me.
He kisses me and Chris enters my head. Edwin doesn’t even come close.
“Hey Edwin,” I try to seem excited.
“Where have you been? I called you a couple of times.”
I check my phone. Four missed calls, crap.
“I am sorry, I was out with some friends for the day.”
I see a supicious look on Ambers face, but I keep my face straight.“So sorry I didn’t tell you.”
“Its ok,” Edwin says.
“So, what have you guys been doing?”
“We put up the christmas lights outside,” Ashton explains.
“Sounds fun.”
I go and plop down onto the couch. Our basement is like a game room. Amber and I haven’t hung out down here in a while.
“Ashton almost fell off the ladder,” Amber points out and then they start up a conversation.
I space out and Chris enters my head again. I recall the feeling of my hands on his cheeks and my lips on his.
“Hazel? Where is your head?” Edwin jumps me back.
“I am sorry, I am just tired. I am going to head off to bed,” I get up.
“Ok, good night.” Edwin kisses me.
I ignore it, “Good night everyone.”
I run up the two flights of stairs and run into my room. Closing the door behind me, I plop onto my bed. My hands trace the necklace and I flash back to our kiss. A thought hits me, none of them noticed the necklace. Maybe that is why Amber looked at my weird. I am going to have to lie my way out of this one. I groan in anger. How is this ever going to work? I push the thoughts out. I’ll save that for tomorrow. I close my eyes and Chris’s face appears. His face stays there when I fall asleep and in my dreams.
“Hazel!” I hear, waking me from a pleasant dream I was having of Chris and me.

“Hmm…?” I groan, sitting up and blinking in the dark.

”What the hell is around your neck?!” Amber hisses from the darkness. Suddenly she is right next to me, flipping on a little light and grabbing the necklace I had forgotten to take off.
”Oh, uh…” I stumble over my words, trying to come up with what to say.

“It’s beautiful!” Amber gushes. “Chris gave it to you didn’t he?”

Dang, she was good. I look away and shrug sheepishly, “Yeah… He did.”

“That boy has it bad for you… I see the way he looks at you I the hallways. You’re just lucky Edwin doesn’t believe the rumors.” Amber tells me, still fingering my necklace.

“What rumors?” I ask sharply.

“Oh… Uhm…” It’s her turn to fall over her words. “People are just saying some things…”

“What people?” I question, anger beginning to bubble inside of me. “What are they saying?”

“Just… that… well… that you’re cheating on Edwin with Chris.”

“What?!”

“Shh! You’ll wake everyone!”

“I can’t believe this! I…” I start, my anger fuming. I’m about to say I would never hurt Edwin like that but my thoughts flicker back to the kiss I shared with _Chris_ tonight and I instantly feel my cheeks get warm.

“Hazel…” Amber gives me a questioning look. “I’ll believe what ever you tell me… I’m your sister, but also your best friend… I get that you and Chris are good friends… but did you do anything with him?”

“Oh Amber!” I break down, my voice cracks and what I did settles on top of me like a thick dark blanket. “Chris kissed me tonight… and I kissed him back! And oh Amber! It was heavenly!”

Amber sits up straighter, looking away from me. I search her face desperately, searching for signs of what she’d say or what I should do but her face was unreadable. For five minutes, I wait for her to say something, anything. I’m tearing myself up inside. I loved Chris, yet I pretend to love Edwin. I cheated on my fiancé. I couldn’t believe myself. I hated myself for not having more self control.

Tears are pouring down my face by the time Amber looks back towards me. When she sees me her face softens a bit. “I… I don’t know what to tell you…” She looks as troubled as I feel. She leans over and hugs me. “It’ll work out…” She says and then stands and goes to her own bed.

“Thanks for not hating me…” I say into the darkness.

“I could never hate you. You are my sister for heaven’s sake!” She responds. “Goodnight.”

“Night…” I say, lying back in down. I fall asleep holding onto the necklace from Chris.