Falling in love with Ms. Bennet

Chapter 33

Gorgy and Gillian couldn't stop looking at Amanda who has been trying to work on her novel, clicking her tongue numerous of times, scratching her head and gave growls at times and typing furiously.

"Time of the month?" Gorgy tried to guess and was only given a shrugged by Gillian.

"Seriously? She doesn't act that way. She'll just going to lie on the bed like a dead man. I haven't seen her this mad."

"What could have happened yesterday?"

"Something happened yesterday?"

"I guess so. She went to Mr. Hudson's party. I dress her up."

"I was suppose to ask her how that go but it seems like-"

"Why don't you ask her? Gently." Gorgy said, cautiously. He pushed Gillian and signal her to hurry.

Like being thrown to a lion's den, she swallowed her throat. She hasn't seen Amanda this side of her. It felt like she didn't know who this person she is about to talk to. Gently, she tapped Amanda's shoulder. She shrieked when she saw Amanda glaring at her.

"I'm sorry-I...I was just in a bad mood."

"You're scaring us, dear." Gorgy said, feeling that the lion has calm down now.

"What's up with you today?" Gillian asked, sitting down beside her.

"I can't seem to get this novel right again. I-I can't think properly." Amanda soothed her hair, looking down at the keypads. 

"Why is that?" Gorgy asked, rubbing her shoulders.

Amanda leaned on her chair and folded her arms. "I'm just really mad. I'm so mad at myself." This is what you get for playing stupid games.

Gillian looked at Amanda's face carefully and notice her eyes were swollen. "Have you been crying?"

"No." Amanda stood up and went to her kitchen to grab some ice cream.

"You finish the last one." Gillian said. Amanda looked at her and she continued, "You eat ice cream when you get depressed about something."

"Everybody eats ice cream-"

"Chocolate fudge. You always eat that flavor. When you're happy, you eat vanilla or anything fruity." Gillian folded her arms. "What's really wrong, Amanda?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Amanda said, looking down. It hurts.

"We have 5 more scenes to go!" the director shouted.

Henry gave out an exhale and shook his arms when his leading lady approached him.

"You look tense."

"We're almost finished with the shooting. I'm just a little excited."

"Oh this isn't how you get excited, Henry Hudson. You've always been the smooth kind. Where did he go?"

Ignoring the question, he called out the director to start the shooting. 

After the shooting, Henry went back to his van, sat on the couch and laid down. James entered and sat beside him.

"Just the right timing that I needed." Henry said, sighing.

"Maybe I said something that she sort of misunderstood." James confessed.

"What did you say?"

Scratching his head, James gave out a nervous chuckle. "Well, I said all the things you've done for her. Because---of the bet, at first. She didn't let me finish."

Henry leaned back, looked at the script beside him. "This isn't the end though."

"What?"

"She needs to know that what I feel for her is true. This isn't going to end this way."

Staring into space, her hands on the keypad, Amanda couldn't seem to find her focus. I'm out of ideas. Nothing's getting inside my head.

Her phone rang and distracted her. She slowly took the phone and answered it.

"Amanda, dear!" the other line said, enthusiastically.

"Hello, mom." Amanda said, sitting on her bay window, looking right out the street. She felt comfort hearing her mother's voice.

"I'll be visiting you this weekend okay?"

"Can't you come as soon as possible?"

There was a bit of a long pause before Caroline answered. Despite the things that her and her daughter doesn't seem to agree, she can tell that something is bothering her. She was indeed a mother after all.

"Sure, dear. I'll come by tomorrow. As soon as I can."

*Amanda placed her phone down, leaned her chin on her palm and had her time looking at the window. The streets were still in covered in snow. And for the first time she found the whole thing as white, gloomy and cold.

She looked around and realized that her apartment had the same atmosphere as outside. And like a ghost, she saw images of Henry inside her room. Memories of him came-their first dinner, his visits. As soon as she realize she was smiling, she shook her head.

Better get back to work, Amanda said to herself. She sat in front of her laptop and stared at the screen and remembered why she haven't made progress at all. What could be a perfect scenario here?

She caught sight of a picture on her side table. It was by the bay and suddenly, she remembered the time when Henry took her out to the festival and they had a walk by the bay. The one where it rained and saw how he looked at her that night.

It was clearly different.

And she laid her fingers on the keypad and started pressing letters until she was able to make words:

Sitting by the ledge, she looked right out to the horizon. The sea was calm and the sky showed a display of pink, orange and yellow colors. The faint sight of the moon already peeked above. It almost looked like a painting. The smell of the sea went to her nostrils and the breeze softly slap into her face. It was beautiful and serene. 

And there were arms wrapped around her and she looked at Marcus and he looked right at her. Those gray eyes looking steady at her, there were warm and beautiful. She smiled for she understood how a perfect moment would feel like.

She could only close her eyes and feel.*

*I imagined music behind this scene. It is by Daniel Andrade singing Phantogram - "Bill Murray". It meshes well.*