For the life of him, Chord couldn't stop.

Everything about Ms. Riley these last few weeks had set his mind wondering and his heart fluttering. He tried to tell himself that his feelings came from the show really ending this season and that they wouldn't see each other as much afterwards. Though a week later the new scripts were issued, and after his rage from Samcedes not happening and not having a valid excuse to flirt with Amber - he finally gave up that lie.

From the way she would enter the room for read throughs to her one of a kind laughs from a silly meme that her sister would send her during the day. Even when they were done filming, Chord found himself thinking about her. Wondering what she was doing, or who she was with. He knew he had it bad when he started listening to McRiley on Dashradio on Friday nights - not that he'd ever admit it THAT.

Keeping his newly discovered feelings to himself had been a challenge, but he had managed to do it. Until the last day of rehearsals before their Winter break. He was passing by Amber's trailer and heard that captivating laugh. Before he knew what he was doing - he had walked up the short steps and started knocking on her door.

'OMG! Why did I do that?! What the hell am I gonna say?! ' he thought.

Just as he was turning around to make a run for it, the woman in question had open the door.

'Hey! Was I being too loud Chordy?' Amber asked.

He coughed to clear his mind of the truly raunchy responses that came to mind to answer her question. 'Nah Ambs! I was just wanting an invite to the party - since we're done on set and all.' Damn - was his voice cracking?

'Oh, you just missed it! Mark and I were just watching Chris and Kevin trying to freestyle to 'Gibberish'.' she said with a giggle.

'I had it on LOCK bruh!' Chris shouted from inside in his best hiphop artist voice, causing Amber to giggle some more. Chord couldn't help but to stare at her - the way her eyes lit up had him rooted to where he stood.

'You ain't shit C-whacka! Ya'll know that I won that round!' Kevin chimed in finally.

As Amber turned around to face both of them, Chord looked up quickly and silently begin reciting lines from the last scene he shot that day so he wouldn't get caught staring at her glorious ass. 'Come on you two. Let's go before Ryan or Ian decides there's still time to reshoot a scene.' She still had on the blue jeans from her number with Lea and they were showing off her assets perfectly and proudly.

Once everyone had left her trailer they begin heading to the cars to leave the set.

'So Amber, got any big plans over break?' Chord asked

He could see Kevin side eyeing him and nudging Mark behind him, so he tried not to let his nervousness show.

'Not much really. Just hanging with the family and doing some last minute Christmas shopping. How about you Chord?' she asked.

'Does she know how intoxicating my name sounds coming out of her mouth?' he wondered. Then he answered,'Just gonna do some R&R with the fam too. Maybe somewhere nice and warm this year.'

By now they had made it to the parking lot and were next to her car.

He knew it was cheesy, but he couldn't help but to say it anyway. 'Guess I'll see you next year then.'

Listening to her laugh one more time made it completely worth it. 'See ya next year Chordy.'

She reached out to hug him and when her soft fingertips touched the back of his neck..he closed his eyes and inhaled her scent to commit it to his memory of that moment. Watching her say goodbye to the others before driving away, he almost didn't hear Kevin when he said, 'Will someone PLEASE catch this fool?'

'Wait - what are you talking about?' Chord asked him.

Mark answered for Kevin this time. 'He's talking about you man. It's clear that you've fallen for Mama A..'

'Hard too - from the way those gems of yours are sparkling.' Kevin added sarcastically, causing Mark to brust out laughing

Chris just looked at him while shaking his head. 'It was only a matter of time guys...Leave him be.'

Still kind of shocked that they knew, he had to ask, 'How did ya'll know?'

'I knew something was up when instead of practicing your lines this morning - you choose to watch her and Lea shoot their number.' Mark told him. 'The way you looked at her while she was performing.. I thought your gawking during 'Disco Inferno' was bad..Damn was I wrong!'

'How about when he went to Ian trying to get some Samcedes action after reading the revised script? That was priceless! You in his office trying to pitch a Sam and Mercedes reunion..the fandom would seriously lose it if they knew.' Kevin said. 'If it wasn't my future wifey that you were trying to sneak in some smooch screen time with - I would've been pulling for ya man.'

Chris finally spoke. 'It really doesn't matter how we know Chord. The fact is that we do. Sooner or later the rest of cast will too, so I suggest you spend your vacation deciding if this is something you want to pursue.'

'What?! Oh hell to the No! He ain't pushing up on my boo. Not to-'

Chris cut Kevin off to finish his thought. 'Amber is our girl, so if this is just some fly by night wonderlust - use this time off to get over it. If it's more than that for you, then use this time to decide how you want to let her know. That's all I have to say for now.'

Once the guys left the lot and he was alone, Chord knew what he wanted to do. What he had to do.

With his new sense of clarity - he was determined to let Amber know that he wanted to be more than just friends.