Page 48 of Pages of Amber
Her brows lifted, arms slowly crossing over her chest. “And ballet practice? Did you correct the mistakes I mentioned? You should be ready. After all, it’s not your first time performing this dance.”
“Practice is going well. The steps were easy to correct and I’m not having any trouble with it.” At the silence that followed, she smiled. “Can I go? I’m already late for school.”
Amber missed the narrowing of her mother’s gaze as she turned and headed for the front door. Mallory’s eyes followed her out into the morning light and stayed for several seconds after the door had closed behind her. Then slowly, her hands unfolded and she walked away.
Amber stepped out of her History class, her footsteps soundless amidst those of other students milling around the corridor. She waved to a group of cheerleaders who giggled and waved back. As she turned a corner, a boy and girl hurried up to her. Amber briefly recognized them from the Press club crew. They each held a flyer and asked her which caption she thought was better. Amber smiled and answered patiently then asked if they wanted to get the President’s opinion on it too.
Their answer shouldn’t have surprised her. Noah had quickly become well-known among the students and was always busy carrying out his duties and meeting with people. Apparently, they had already asked Noah and after giving his answer, he had suggested they run their questions by her since she had better knowledge on catchy captions.
A light blush coated her cheeks. Her mind once again, helpfully, reminded her of their little exchange the day before. She quickly waved the students goodbye and hurried off to her locker. It was almost lunch time and Amber needed to organize her papers and get ready to submit them to Mrs. Wilson. The teacher had reminded her last week that her time was running out. The midterms were right around the corner.
She dumped the notes she held into her locker as Evelyn appeared behind her in the locker mirror. Amber turned to tease her but the cheerful words died on the tip of her tongue. What was she about to say again? She had no idea because she couldn’t pull her eyes away from him. He stood there, staring back at her, looking more handsome than she had ever seen him. Maybe she needed to wipe her eyes. He had always been Noah, the annoying boy she squabbled with in the halls and liked to beat in their verbal sparring. So what had changed?
Oh right. A sly smirk curled onto his lips and for the life of her, Amber was helpless to do anything but trace it. Her brain upended in her head, her stomach went crazy doing backflips and somersaults. She had kissed those lips just yesterday. The reminder was not needed at that moment, not while she was blatantly staring at his lips.
“Do my good looks render you speechless, m’lady?”
She jerked, her eyes flying up to his. There was no way he hadn’t known where she was staring.
“Of course not,” she sputtered. “What good looks? I wouldn’t kiss you even if you were the last attractive person on earth.”
Oh. My. God. What did she just say? Amber cringed, wishing the aforementioned earth would drag her down to its depths and hide her there forever. It was either that or time needed to reverse itself. She didn’t exactly have the Superman capabilities to try the second option.
Noah seemed to be enjoying her mortification a little too much. He looked like he would burst out laughing at any moment. His dark eyes gleamed, his amusement clear. “You sure about that?”
Amber glared but she was too embarrassed for it to carry any full weight. Evelyn’s head swiveled as she peered at the two of them with a dumbfounded expression. Amber regretted her word vomit even more.
“What’s happening here? I know back and forth banter is kind of your thing but flirting is weird for you guys.”
If Amber turned any redder, she would probably explode. “Flirting? Why would Noah and I flirt with each other? It’s not like we like each other. I mean, we barely tolerate one another.”
She needed to shut up. Right now. Unfortunately, the command center had lost its connection to her mouth. Noah’s snicker dragged Amber’s eyes back to him.
“Really, m’lady? If that’s the case, I wouldn’t mind us ‘tolerating’ each other some more.”
Her jaw dropped and the jerk took the cue to laugh his heart out. Ugh! Amber clutched her books, slammed her locker and stormed away. His laughter echoed behind her, the eyes it had drawn following her as she walked away. Did that mean he had won that round? Could that even count as a round? They hadn’t even argued in weeks, not since striking a truce. Amber hated to admit that he had been right. Did they even tolerate each other anymore?
Since being paired, they had set aside their barbs and weapons and found a way to work together. They still teased each other, but they focused on putting the work into this deal, and walked side by side down the halls like normal people. She had met his mom for crying out loud. Evelyn and Emmett had accepted and befriended her, it felt like they had known each other for years. Yesterday they had opened up to each other. She had told him things about herself, spoken to him about her father when she had only ever mentioned him to Beverly before. Amber was also certain Noah didn’t go around telling everyone that he didn’t have a great father-son relationship with his dad.
That meant they weren’t enemies slash foes slash adversaries anymore.
They weren’t even frenemies.
Amber didn’t tolerate him. She liked his presence. Calm, steady, consistent. She enjoyed knowing he would always be there when she turned around. Well, when he wasn’t being a sarcastic jerk. But that didn’t mean she actually liked Noah. It didn’t have to mean anything. That kiss hadn’t meant anything either. Right?
Unbidden, her fingertips found her lips. If she closed her eyes for the slightest second, she could feel it. The gentle pressure of his lips, his hands tangled in her hair, his body pressed against hers. Everything resided in bright colors in her brain like a kaleidoscope on repeat.
“What was that back there?”
She jumped, her hand falling to her chest as Evelyn came up to her side. Her friend looked bewildered, her gaze heavy on Amber. “What? That? Oh, that was nothing.”
“Nothing? Seriously, Amber. It used to be arguments then over the past few weeks, it was teasing and now you guys are flirting? I mean, if this is some enemies to lovers thing…”
“We were never enemies.” Amber blinked in surprise as the words left her vehemently.
“Whatever it was. You could barely be in the same room with each other without glaring. All I’m saying is, I’d definitely be in support of whatever’s happening but some heads up would be nice.”
“No, there’s none of that.”
