Page 19 of Pages of Amber
He continued on unfazed, not stopping until they reached the literature aisle of the school’s massive library. With three levels, sky-high shelves and comfortable seating, it was a booklover’s paradise, specifically Noah’s, if she went by the swoony sigh she heard from him as they passed a minted collection ofThe Raven and other Poems. The way he seemed to have the shelving positions and order of books memorized was another clue that shouldn’t have surprised her as much as it did. He wasn’t the Academy’s top student for nothing.
“You haven’t answered me,”Amber recalled as he began to search the shelves.
“I know.”He smirked, throwing her a glance. Her face heated in anger, adding to his amusement.“Here’s what I think, m’lady. You don’t want to work with me because you’ve always seen yourself as capable. You can fix everyone else's problems so yours shouldn’t be difficult, right?”Amber blinked, shocked and suspicious that he was calling her out. And doing it a little too well.“We both know you need a helping hand, but you refuse to admit it even to yourself. I get it. You’re a fixer, Amber. But it’s okay to let someone else share the work.”
An odd sensation fluttered in her chest. Who was this and what had he done with the abrasive Noah who liked to instigate debates with her every chance he got?
“But I also think you’re running scared.”
The sensation dissipated.
“Excuse me?”
“You’ve finally met a challenge. The one thing you don’t want to fix because it belongs to the one person you don’t want to help.Me.You can’t change the opinions of others when you believe the same thing.”
“I may constantly needle and barter with you, but I won’t sit back and let you lose your position.”Amber scowled.“Sure, you have a charred reputation amongst the students but I’ve fixed worse. Remember Bobby Swims from the 10th grade? Everyone thought he was a perv because soggy tampons were found in his bag. We bumped into each other in the hallway and got to talking. I found out he was accused wrongly. That wasn’t even his bag. He was holding Sarah Kinley’s bag for her so bullies wouldn’t dunk her stuff in the fountain again. The very next week, he was having lunch with the cheerleaders and school team who helped spread the word that he was innocent and they found the bullies. No one even found out the bag was Sarah’s, so in a way, I saved two reputations in one. There!”
“Fine then. I guess you aren’t scared of the challenge, only of accepting that you aren’t as invincible as you thought.”
A pause passed between them.
“I thought you had horrible people skills. You don’t go around diagnosing everyone like that,”Amber murmured.
“You’re not everyone else,”he answered. At Amber’s glance, a cheeky grin split his face.“Did I read you a little too well, m’lady?”
“Never, and drop the nickname.”
“Never,” he reiterated.
Her eyes rolled, bringing the light atmosphere back. Noah continued his search of the bookshelves. He picked out a textbook, flipped through a few pages. Appearing satisfied with what he saw, he tucked the text into his elbow and grabbed another book. Amber wanted to ask what he’d found. A different question left her mouth instead.
“Why would you even agree to this anyway? All I need to do is fix up your reputation but you’ll be stuck doing an assignment you’ve done before.”
Noah rose his head, his eyes meeting hers. They’d always been dark, framed by lashes she was jealous of and hooded by thick brows. He raked a hand through his hair, drawing her attention to the thick brown waves that reflected a shine under the room’s recessed lighting.
“I don’t mind re-doing it.”
She squinted at the vague answer. Amber couldn’t believe he would willingly put up with having her by his side after years of drawing a line and placing themselves on opposite ends of it
“But why?” she pressed.
He dropped his eyes to the book in his hand. He flipped a page, a smirk growing on his lips.“Can’t wait to have you to myself, I guess.”
An involuntary blush quickly coated her cheeks. Noah said nothing, a secret smile on his face as he refocused on the book.
“Are we done here?”she sputtered.
“Not quite, but these are a good start.”He held up the two books.“Come on, we’ll build our outline first.”
“Wait,”she spoke before he turned away. The words sat heavily on her tongue but it was now or never. Maybe a part of her really didn’t want anyone knowing how much of a mess she was in academically, but she didn’t want that part to cripple everything she had worked so hard for. With a deciding breath, she continued,“I don’t mind working on fixing the school’s reputation of you. I’m kind of looking forward to it actually, but this assignment isn’t the only thing on my list.”
The longer he looked at her, the more her blush spread.“What I mean is, I might get confused in my other classes or the notes might be difficult to understand or I could–”
“We’ll work on it,”Noah interrupted. She stared at him, a little wide-eyed at the quiet strength in his voice.“Whatever it is, we’ll work on it. I’m not in it for only now, Amber.”
There were two sounds she registered at that moment, the hum of the air conditioner above their heads and the fierce beating in her chest.Thump thump thump.Noah’s freckles darkened across the bridge of his nose as his words settled in the space between them. He cleared his throat and turned away, murmuring a‘going to find our seats’under his breath.
Amber watched him retreat, her brain struggling to catch up. She palmed her cheeks and squeezed her eyes. Even breaths helped her calm down enough to regain functionality. When she got to their table five minutes later, Noah was waiting for her. He’d taken off his jacket, his tie hanging loose around his neck, the top button popped open. He pushed the first textbook towards her and pointed to a section. The awkwardness from earlier was forgotten as Amber opened up a note from her tote and began to make points on what he said.
