Long-Distance Calls

15

When Amber and I sat on the bench near the school's backdoor, I started feeling pain all around my body.

Must have been the adrenaline of the moment, but until then I didn't feel pain, even though I had just gotten kicked by a group of people.

Amber's cold finger wiped a tear away from my cheek. Her hand somehow smelled of a mixture of vanilla and smoke. "What the hell happened back there?" She asked me, as she leaned towards me with her elbows on her legs.

Her voice, so soft and comforting, made me think of my mom when I was ill as a kid. When she would tuck me in, put her soft hand on my forehead to check my temperature and even give me a kiss. It was the closest she'd ever be to me, and all the problems seemed to disappear in that moment.

I coughed and scolded, "You should ask your boyfriend!"

She moved a lock of hair away from her face. "Yes, but why did he do this?"

I tried to go for a deep breath, but the pain I felt in my ribcage stopped me from completing it. "It was Andrew. He started it."

She looked at me with a confused yet not impressed expression. "I don't understand. Wasn't he your friend?"

"He was," I nagged, "Until he decided to hit on you."

She slowly raised her eyebrows, while looking deeply into me. "He was hitting on me?"

"Yeah," I said as I pressed on my hips to check for bruises, "You didn't notice?"

"Not really," she seemed a little pensive for a second, "What does this have to do with you, anyway?"

This time I completed the deep breath careless of the pain. "He's been threatening me ever since the first day of school. Saying that I shouldn't talk to you, 'cause you were his target and only he could talk to you. He didn't want me to befriend you 'cause he was afraid I would steal you from him."

"Woah!" she exclaimed, "That's why you were acting all weird the past few days! Would you believe that son of a bitch."

"His mom is actually a fine lady," I laughed, only to cough in the process.

A smile slowly formed on her face. "Maybe you should tell him that. Maybe adding something around the lines of 'I found that out last night'"

"I'm not that type of guy," I smirked. "Those jokes are dumb."

She held her chin with her hands as she got comfortable on her legs while looking at me. "You're such an interesting kid," And she actually looked inspired, "I don't understand why he would do something like this to you."

I felt myself blushing, so I turned my head to the other side. But then her cold, vanilla-smoke smelling hand grabbed my face and turned it back to her.

"Oh my God," she exclaimed, as she started pinching my cheek, "You have such soft cheeks!"

I think I was tomato red at that point, so her cold hands were a good thing. She started playing with my cheeks, realizing how elastic they were, looking as happy as a child who got his favorite toy as a gift, while I was embarrassed and tried to look everywhere but right at her. I was so not used to all that touching.

The coldness of her hands, the kind that would make you move away, was obviated by that particular smell. It wasn't the kind of smell you'd want a perfume to be. It wasn't the kind of smell that everyone would surely appreciate. It was a particular and personal smell, that I felt like I could breathe for the rest of my life and never get bored of it, like the smell of a fresh book. That smell felt like home.

She still had her hands around my face when I mumbled an ooookay, trying to restore the conversation and get me out of that invasive situation.

"I feel sorry for you," she said, looking at me like I was a lost puppy, "I didn't know Josh could be so violent."

"Did you even know the guy?" I said wryly.

"I told you," she didn't even sound convinced herself, "I thought he was a nice guy."

I kept the grimace on my face. "Yeah. You thought."

She sighed. "Surely someone saw him. They'll suspend him for some days. And I'll break up with him."

For some reason, that lit a little fire of happiness in my heart. "Ooh, I'm sure he'll be heartbroken," I sarcastically pointed out.

"And just so you know," she looked at me all serious, "Andrew stands no chance in hell with me."

I beamed, though my face was still achey. "You should go tell that to his thick head."

"If that makes you feel better, I will." She was still very serious.

"Actually it would," I admitted, "This has to stop. I want to talk to you and not be scared of him every time."

She smiled. "And I want to be your friend too. Want to go back in?"

I looked away for a moment. I looked at the nature over the gates. Two blue birds were standing very close to each other on the branch of a tree, and one of them would pick on the other with his beak. But he wasn't tormenting him or anything, it actually seemed like he wanted to get his attention.

I looked back at her and put a quick smile on my face. "Sure."

We stood up at the same time. As I did so, I felt my ribcage aching. That pain wasn't going to go away very soon, and bruises would likely appear.

I pushed the door and realized that the inside was actually colder than the outside. A few people moved their eyes on us, due to the noise the door made when opened.

As I walked, I felt Amber's ever-cold hand sneaking into mine and grabbing it.

I felt a little tense for a moment, but then I grabbed hers too. I looked at Andrew in the distance. He was looking at me already, with half-closed eyes. The grimace was back on my face, as I held Amber's hand stronger. I felt nothing but pleasure in that moment. The pain, both physical and psychological disappeared.

I imagined the minds of everyone, especially Andrew's. Peter Charming, loser without redemption, holding hands with a cool girl.

I wish things could stay like this, with a kind of happy ending. But they didn't. And very soon, sooner than I expected, I crushed with reality once again.

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Thanks for reading! Finally a lighter and happier chapter. Did you like it? Let me know with a VOTE and a COMMENT!

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I'll see you next week, with the aftermath of this crazy day in the life of Peter Charming!

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