Amanda was sitting in her apartment with a girl that was working in WWE's developmental company NXT going over some outfit designs. Fergal brought her over because she was looking for something new.
She had made a good amount of money for her first job and was thrilled to have a second. It gave her more confidence and was getting her name out there. She also had a movie night planned with Fergal tonight and she was hoping they could talk about something that had been going through her mind lately. She had been happier now than she had been in a long time.
"Okay, so you want to keep it to the caribbean blue and green scheme?" Amanda asked as she was making notes in her sketchbook.
"Yeah. More of a yellow green if you could." The woman who was sitting next to her on the couch stated.
"Yeah, of course." Amanda smiled. "Alright, I think all that's left is to take your measurements so I can get started."
Amanda reached into her bag she keeps her sketching materials and pulled out a tape measure. The woman stood up from the couch. Amanda was taking measurements and writing them down in her book.
"I'm go glad Fergal told me about you. It's nice to work with someone so down to earth. And someone who isn't working with every other girl. Now I'll end up having something a little bit different!" She said excitedly.
"I'm glad too. You're the third person I've worked with and so far it's been amazing! I hope it continues!"
"Well, I'd like to recommend you but then I also might want to keep you to myself." The woman joked. "Hopefully Fergal can get you work with people who don't partially want your number because they think you're cute though."
"What do you mean?" Amanda asked confused as she looked up at her.
"Well, I know you were working with that one tag team. When Fergal showed them your picture, the one was commenting on how attractive you were and was asking if you were single and all."
"Are you serious? I can't believe him!" Amanda asked while standing up.
"I don't think he meant anything by it." She said sheepishly as if she had just told a secret she wasn't supposed to have told. "I can talk to him about it later if you want."
"No that's okay. I'll go ask him myself." Amanda said angrily and threw her tape measure down onto the coffee table and made her way over to the door. She threw it open and walked right next door opening his door without even knocking.
"Hey, are you all done?" Fergal asked after a second of being taken by surprise.
"That depends. Are you going to start bringing me actual clients or just try and fuck with my life?" AManda asked putting her hands on her hips.
"What are you talking about?" He asked confused.
"I was just informed that the last client you bought to me was more interested in me than my clothing."
"What? No." He began to say but Amanda cut him off.
"That's what she just told me." She said pointing to the woman who was now standing in Fergal's doorway. "And it would explain the more than normal text messages I've been getting."
"No. I was telling them about you and they were interested. Then when I gave them your info and showed them a picture of you he said that he thought you were pretty and asked if you were single. I told him you were and he asked if I wouldn't mind if he also called you sometime."
"You are unbelievable. Since when do you decide who gets to call me or not?"
"I thought it'd be okay. I hadn't seen you with anyone in a while so I figured…"
"I don't really care what you figured. You are not my father, my keeper, my owner. You need to back off."
"I'm really sorry about this. Ferg, we can reschedule and I can get going if you want." The woman in the doorway quietly spoke up.
"Reschedule?" Amanda asked.
"After you and I were done we were going to go out and grab dinner. But we can do it another time."
"Oh, now I get it." Amanda said much loewer, sounding more hurt than angry. "Now I get why you brought her to me. You just think I'm a big charity case. Well forget it. You don't have to fix me Devitt. I'm not broken."
She turned around and started towards the door to leave.
"Amanda, wait. Can we talk about this?"
She turned around and gave him the most serious look she could manage. "No, I have to go get ready. I have a movie date with my best friend. I don't want to be late and make him think I forgot or something." SHe shot at him, then turned to leave slamming her own door when she got into her apartment.
It was at that moment she made him realize he completely forgot that they had made plans for that night. He rested his elbows on the small counter in his kitchen and put his head in his hands. "Oh man."
"Are you okay?" The woman asked coming into his apartment.
"I messed up." He said as he rubbed his face.
"I'll go then. I'll let you deal with this. I'm sorry. I didn't man to mess anything up."
"No, it's not you. You didn't do anything. Thanks for understanding." Fergal said as he walked over to the front door with her. "I'll call you later okay?"
She nodded and left. As she went down the stairwell Fergal went to the door next door and knocked.
"Amanda. Come on let me in." He said through the door. "Please can you let me in so we can just talk?"
He knocked again and got no response. He reached down the grabbed the doorknob but it was locked. He knew enough about her to know that she was very stubborn, especially if she was right. She wasn't going to budge. He sighed and pounded his fist on her door. He disappeared back into his own apartment before reamerging a minute later with his keyring. She had a copy of his key so she could leave mail and packages for him inside when he was on the road. And he had a copy of her key just because she thought that would be fair. He looked through the keys and found hers.
"What the hell are you doing?" Amanda yelled at him as he opened the door.
"You weren't answering me." He replied as he stepped inside.
"Because I don't want to talk to you. So can you please leave now before I call the cops."
"The cops? For what?"
"Breaking and entering. Now go."
"It's not really breaking and entering if you have a key." He said holding hers up with a smile. He was trying to use his charm and joke around to hopefully diffuse the situation, but he had no luck this time.
"Maybe I need to take that back from you then."
"That's fine. You can take it. I have a few more."
"What is it with you tonight?" She asked annoyed.
"I don't know. What is it with you? Why don't you tell me why you're so upset."
"Gee, I'm not sure. Maybe because not only did my best friend forget was ditching me without warning tonight to go out with some new chick he brought home. And because he's handing my number out to guys I don't know because he doesn't know how to butt out of other people's lives."
"Okay, I forgot about tonight. I'm sorry. But I'll own up to it. I got a little excited when she seemed interested and she said she'd be in town so I completely forgot we made plans and told her we'd get together. I suck. I'm sorry." He pleaded with her.
"Well thank you for that at least."
"As far as the other goes, I didn't try to set you up. Not purposely but if it happened to go in that direction I thought it might be nice. You're always here alone. I know you're working a lot but you're alone. I just wanted you to find someone you can share things with."
"Oh, you mean like you? Jumping back and forth from person to person every few weeks because people never seem to be who they say they are? I'm good with just me thanks."
"I'm just trying to look out for you."
"Well sometimes you have a weird way of showing it."
"I'll work on that in the future okay? I really am sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. Did you still want to watch a movie together and get something to eat? I know both of our dinner plans got cancelled." He said with a light chuckle.
"No, it's probably better if you go and we do it another time." Amanda said turning away from him.
He was slightly shocked. "Amanda, please? If you're upset we can talk about it."
"I did want to talk to you tonight but I don't really feel like it anymore. I don't want to do this tonight. Can you just lock up on your way out, I'm going to bed."
He knew she sounded upset and he didn't want to leave her alone if she was like that. "Wait." He lightly took her hand and she turned slightly to face him. He saw tears sliding silently down her face and it was obvious she was trying to hide them. "Amanda what's wrong?" He knew she didn't really get emotional. She liked to hide a lot inside and play things off. She never really showed anyone when anything bothered her.
"I just don't want to deal with this anymore tonight. It was supposed to be a good night. But then she shows up here with you and i find out it's not only for my work and i find out you're trying to set me up with someone, and just things aren't going how I thought they were right now and I need to be alone and re-think where my life is going. "
He heard what he said. But he also heard what she meant. "Oh Mandy." He brushed his hand up on her cheek and wiped her tear away. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know you felt…"
She pushed his hand away, then ran hers threw her hair. "Nope. It's okay. I was obviously reading into things that weren't there. And maybe that made me feel things that weren't really there you know. I just got caught up in everything that was going on with the designing and saw things as they weren't."
"That's not true."
"Of course it is. Why else would you be trying to set me up with someone else if you had feelings for me?" She said with a light laugh, trying to cover up her embarrassment and hurt. "Plus the fact you showed up here tonight to go out on a date with another girl! Why on earth would you do those things if you felt like that about me?"
He stepped closer to her again. "Because I didn't think you ever did or would feel that way about me and I was trying to move forward and be happy." With that explanation he leaned in crashing his lips down onto hers. She was so surprised she just froze having no idea how to react. When he broke apart from the kiss he took her hand again. She was honestly wasn't sure if she was breathing heavily or barely able to breath.".
"What just happened?" She asked she asked in a whisper, to compose herself.
He chuckled. "We just had that talk you were attempting to avoid by going to bed."
"But, why? How long have you felt like that?"
"A few months. I thought maybe it's just because we were close and it would pass but it didn't. It just got stronger. So I started dating other people to try and make it go away."
"Why didn't you ever say anything?"
"You were never dating anyone. You always seemed too busy or didn't want to deal with people. And I thought you just saw me as a neighbor and a friend and with the way our relationship was that would be crossing a big line that you did not want to cross."
"So you give my number out to other people?"
"If you weren't going to be with me I could try and get you with someone who I knew would take care of you and I wouldn't have to worry about you." He replied touching his forehead down onto hers and looking in her eyes. "And what about you? All those girls you never liked for random reasons you seemed to just make up?"
She laughed. "Some of those were legitimate reasons. Some of them I just didn't want them around. Especially because I knew they'd try to push me away."
He smiled at her. "No one could ever push you away. I wouldn't let that happen. I don't think I could let it happen if I tried."
She smiled at him again and he leaned in for another kiss. This time she responded by passionately kissing him back and wrapping her arms around her neck placing her hands in his hair. They stayed like that for what seemed like hours before finally breaking apart. They still stood there in the middle of her living room holding each other.
"I'm glad you finally decided to tell me."
"Isn't this going to make it a little awkward for you at work now? Considering the other people you've decided to involve?"
He thought for a moment. "I'll worry about that later. Right now I think I have to make it up to my best friend for forgetting about our date."
"Oh really? What did you have in mind?"
"Whatever you want." He replied seductively with a sly smile.
"You know, steak would sound really good right about now." She joked catching him off guard. He laughed and lightly pushed her.
"Not quite what I had in mind, but I guess I do owe you a dinner."
She laughed at him. The friendship they had building up between them made the perfect relationship in her mind. Someone she could be herself around, someone she could joke with, someone she could be vulnerable but still feel safe. She had deep strong feelings for this man and her only hope was now that he knew it would continue growing now that neither of them had to hold back."
You can buy me dinner later. There's something that I want a little bit more right now."