1Los Angeles - May 2000:
The school year was rapidly coming to an end. Instead of heading back to Texas for the summer break, Amber had decided she was going to stay in LA and work as a lifeguard. She was enjoying the job and with no classes and the increased crowds on the beach, could work enough hours to easily be able to put some money into her savings account.
Surprisingly, her mother hadn't said too much about the idea. Other than making Amber promise she would at least find time to come home for a few days at some point over the summer, she hadn't said anything about Amber staying in LA. As for her father, while he hadn't tried talking her out of it, he had insisted on coming out and helping her find an apartment.
"We really appreciate you helping us out with the apartment hunting, Mr. Rossi," Maria said from the back seat, as David Rossi drove toward the first address on the list of places they were planning to check out. Though she was going home to Texas for the summer, Amber and Maria planned on living off campus for the following school year, so she was tagging along on the apartment hunt.
"Speak for yourself," Amber muttered under her breath.
Beside her, David Rossi didn't catch his daughter's remark. Instead he replied to Maria's comment.
"It's not a problem. I'll teach you girls what kind of things to look out for when you're looking at places to rent and it'll come in handy in the future. Not to mention, people see a couple of college kids apartment hunting and they're going to try to get away with just about anything."
Amber didn't comment. She knew her father was only trying to look out for her. At the same time though, she felt he was interfering. She was perfectly capable of finding an apartment to live in by herself. Her twentieth birthday was coming up in September and she was old enough to look out for herself. Had been doing a pretty good job of it the past year.
"Lesson number one," David Rossi was saying to his two passengers, "is to never settle on the first place you check out. If it's a definite out then thank them for their time and leave. If you like the place, tell them that you'll get back to them. You always want to be able to check out several different places and compare them. Make sure you're getting the best deal. If they try pressuring you that they need a decision right then and there, then be suspicious."
"I do need to be at work by one this afternoon," Amber said, starting to wonder just how long her father was planning on dragging this out.
"No problem," David Rossi replied, as he stopped at a red light. He glanced over at his daughter. "Everything okay, Sweetie."
"Yeah, Dad. Just fine," Amber said, forcing a smile.
David Rossi nodded as he shifted his gaze back to the traffic light. When it turned green he stepped on the accelerator and continued on his way to the address of the first apartment building.
An hour and a half later, and six addresses later, they were headed back to the second apartment building they had looked at. Both Maria and Amber had liked the apartment. Even Amber's father had commented that the apartment they were shown and the building itself looked to be well maintained. The lady, Ms. Caroll, who ran the building had patiently answered every question that David Rossi had thrown at her. Insisting that they at least needed to check out a couple more places before making a final decision, he had told Ms. Caroll that they would get back in touch with her after they looked at their other options. Amber had thought the lady had seemed almost relieved to see him leave.
~Wonder what she's going to think seeing us come back,~ Amber thought as she climbed from the passenger seat of her father's car.
The three of them made their way into the apartment building, and headed straight for Ms. Caroll's office. If the landlady was surprised or not happy to see them, she hid it well. Seeing the two girls standing in the doorway with David Rossi, Ms. Caroll gestured for them to enter the room. Amber and Maria let Dave take the lead, and a half hour later the papers were signed. Ms. Carroll told the girls that the apartment was ready for them whenever they were ready to move in.
After taking the girls out for a quick lunch, David Rossi dropped the two girls off at their dormitory.
"Thanks for your help today, Mr. Rossi," Maria said as she climbed from the car.
"You're welcome," Rossi replied. "I'm just glad that I know you two girls are living in a decent apartment."
Amber said good-bye to her father, without making any comment about the apartment or his help with the search. She wished him a safe flight home and then headed into the dorm to get ready for work.
Los Angeles - August 2000:
It was two o'clock in the morning when Amber pulled her truck into the parking spot outside her apartment building. Reaching over, she gave her friend's shoulder a slight shake.
"Hey, Maria, we're home," Amber said. How her friend had managed to fall asleep on the ride to their apartment from the airport, Amber didn't know. Especially as she had slept the entire flight from Texas too.
Amber had taken a week off from work and gone back to Texas to visit her mother and step-father. As school would be starting soon, Maria had decided to come back with her. Mark was still back in their hometown, hanging out with old friends who had gone to other colleges. Though Amber had enjoyed seeing the familiar faces, she was more than happy for the visit to end so she could come home to LA.
~I wonder when I started considering LA home,~ Amber wondered, as she pulled the residential parking placard out of the middle console and hung it on her rearview mirror, as Maria undid her seatbelt.
She knew she had never really considered Texas as home, in the sense that most people used the word. Sure, it was where she told people she was from if they asked as, she was so young when her mother had left Commack with her, that her memories of there were vague. However, Texas was simply where her mother lived, just as Virginia was where her father lived.
During the fall semester last year, her English teacher had asked them during the first class period to take ten minutes and write down what the word 'home' meant to them. After writing - home is, on the paper, Amber had spent ten minutes staring at it. She couldn't think of anything to write and was glad the assignment wasn't a graded one. When the professor had asked for people to share their thoughts, Amber had listened to her classmates definition of home and realized she had never felt that way about anywhere she had lived.
The two girls climbed from the truck and moved to the bed of the truck. Reaching over the side, Amber pulled her one bag out, and put its strap over one shoulder. Having been in Texas most of the summer, Maria had more luggage with her. Amber snagged the handle of the one suitcase and then headed toward the building, Maria carrying her laptop bag and the other two bags she had with her.
With her free hand, Amber un-clipped her cell phone from its holder. It wasn't long before she had found the number she had wanted in her contacts list, and pushed the button to place the call.
"Who are you calling at this time of the morning?" Maria asked, as the approached the front entrance of the building.
"Spencer," Amber replied. "He told me to call when I got in."
"When are the two of you going to stop playing at this friend thing, and just admit that you like one another?" Maria asked.
Amber ignored her friend's question as Spencer's voice came over the phone. Wedging the phone between her head and shoulder, Amber pulled open the door to the apartment building and held it for Maria, before following her inside. By the time they had reached the elevator, Amber had finished the short conversation with Spencer. Instead of hanging up the phone though, she held it out to Maria.
"Ethan wants to say, hi," she told her. Like Maria and herself, Ethan and Spencer had found an apartment near campus.
Maria placed the bags she was carrying on the ground and took the phone from Amber. As she talked to the boyfriend she hadn't seen since the ending of the previous school year, Amber hit the up button of the elevator. By the time the elevator doors had opened, Maria had ended the short conversation with Ethan. She handed the phone back to Amber and picked up her bags.
"So what did you need to check with me about?" Amber asked as the two girls stepped onto the elevator, having caught Maria's side of the conversation.
"How late you're working tomorrow evening. Ethan invited us to join him at the Jazz Club for dinner before his performance. He said he could probably convince Spencer to come if you're free.
"I work until four," Amber told her.
"Great. So how does dinner and some Jazz music sound?" Maria commented.
"Fine, but I thought you didn't like Jazz?"
"I don't but I do like Ethan. Kind of like how I hate football but go to Mark's games or how Spencer had no interest in swimming meets until he met you," she added with a wink.
"Spencer and I are just friends," Amber replied, even though she had accepted the fact that she cared about the genius more than as just a friend. Still, she didn't know how to bring up the subject with Spencer to find out if he felt the same way about her, nor was she sure she wanted to. Did she really want to take a chance of losing him in her life forever? If it was one thing she had learned from her parents it was that making a relationship work was darn near impossible.
"Whatever you say," Maria said as the elevator came to a stop. The doors opened and the girls stepped out.
"Dinner and music sound good tomorrow though," Amber replied, as she lead the way down the hallway to their apartment.
"So what is Spencer going to be up to this fall, anyway?" Maria asked.
"He's going for a doctorate in Engineering," Amber replied.
"That'll be what, his third doctorate?" Maria asked. Amber nodded as she found the key to the apartment on her key ring. "Man, I'll just be happy if I ever get through getting my Bachelor's degree."
"You and me both," Amber replied, as she pushed open the door to the apartment.
Los Angeles, October - 2000:
Checking to make sure everything was out of the pockets, Spencer Reid untied the apron and removed it. He had reached the end of his shift at the Sun and Surf Café and was more than happy to call it a day. After staying up all night to make sure the project that had been due today was perfect, and then having classes up until he came to work, he was exhausted. He didn't even care that no one had done anything special for his birthday. At least Ethan, Amber and most of his co-workers had remembered what day it was and had wished him a Happy Birthday.
Reid headed for his locker to retrieve his bag when his supervisor caught up to him.
"Oh, good, I caught you before you left," Jake said. Spencer hoped Jake wasn't going to ask him to stay later, as he really wanted to go home tonight. "Those people that were at table twelve came back and said they wanted to talk to their waiter. Not sure what it was about but could you go see if you can smooth whatever the issue was over."
Spencer sighed but nodded his agreement. Table twelve had been his last table of the night, and though he couldn't remember anything going wrong, he'd prefer to talk to the customers himself than for them to go to the manager.
Leaving his bag where it was, Spencer followed Jake out of he back room. He followed Jake as the supervisor headed toward the register at the counter. Spencer didn't see anyone standing around in that area, and wondered what was going on. Realization hit him a few moments later when he saw familiar faces sitting at a couple of tables that were pushed together not far from them.
Ethan, Amber, Maria, Vince and Chelsea were all sitting there, a cake with lit candles on the table.
"Happy Birthday," they all called out when they knew Spencer had spotted them.
Spencer felt his cheeks grow warm as he realized people in the café were now looking in their direction. He was extremely grateful that the café wasn't crowded.
"Have fun," Jake told him, clapping him briefly on the shoulder as he headed back toward the back room. Spencer knew then that his supervisor had been in on the surprise.
"Well, blow out the candles before the wax starts to get on the cake," Ethan instructed his friend, gesturing to the cake.
Spencer finished closing the distance to the table and taking a deep breath, blew out the candles on the cake. Suddenly he wasn't feeling all that tired anymore.
"Have a seat," Amber told him, indicating the empty chair between her and Maria. "You can open your gifts while Vince serves the cake."
"Why me?" Vince asked.
"Because you're the closest one to the plates," Amber told him, indicating the stack of plates that had been provided by Jake.
Not able to find any way to argue the point, Vince picked up the knife and started cutting the cake. One of the waitresses still on duty, came by with the drinks that everyone had ordered and asked Spencer what he wanted as he sat down next to Amber.
"Here, open mine first," Ethan said, pushing one of the packages toward Spencer.
"Yeah, and be careful opening Vince's gift," Chelsea said. "You never know what might pop out at you."
"Hey, you always told me that you liked snakes," Vince said defensively.
"I do, but I don't like rubber snakes jumping out at me when I open a box," Chelsea retorted.
Meanwhile, Spencer had opened the small package Ethan had given him. Opening the box, he found two tickets to the Los Angeles Philharmonic concert for the following Friday.
"Thanks Ethan," Spencer said.
"You're welcome. See I do listen to you," Ethan said, as Spencer had talked about wanting to see a live performance of the LA Philharmonic on several occasions. "I already informed Jake that you need the evening off, and I figured you could ask a certain brunette to accompany with you as I know she likes that kind of music too," he added, with a wink at Amber.
Spencer felt his cheeks growing warm again. All eyes at the table were on him though, so to end the awkward moment, he glanced over at Amber. "Would you like to come to the concert with me?"
"Sure. It sounds like fun," Amber replied, as she saw Ethan and Maria share a knowing look. Amber knew the two of them had been in on the scheme together and what they were hoping would happen during this little outing. Amber found her gift among the ones still on the table and handed it to him. "Here open this one next," Amber told him.
Not looking around the table at the others gathered, Spencer took the package from her and started opening it.
"How long do you plan on ignoring me?" Ethan asked later that night, as he followed Spencer into their apartment.
"I'm not ignoring you," Spencer replied. "I've answered every question you've asked me," he told his friend as he walked across the living room toward his bedroom.
"And yet, that is the longest string of words you've put together since we left the café," Ethan replied, as he watched his friend walk across the room. Ethan pushed the door shut behind him. "Spencer, I get it. I put you on the spot and you're mad. Fine. Let's just deal with it though instead of you ignoring it and trying to bury it, just like you do every other emotion that you don't want to deal with."
Spencer paused before reaching for the door knob of his bedroom. "I don't bury my emotions."
"Yes, you do," Ethan said not backing down. "And I do get it, Spencer. It's a coping mechanism. You haven't had it easy. You just turned nineteen and you've had to deal with more than a lot of people twice your age have had to. By closing yourself off though, you're going to miss out on a whole lot of experiences. As your friend, I can't just stand-by and watch you do that."
"You put me on the spot back there," Spencer said, finally turning around. To Ethan, his friend's tone sounded hurt more than angry. "What if she had said no? It wasn't only Amber I would have witness that rejection but her friends too. I never would have been able to face them again."
"She wasn't going to tell you no."
"How do you know that?"
"I'm dating her best friend remember. Maria knows Amber as well as I know you. She knew what I was going to do and we knew Amber would agree to go to the concert with you because she likes you, but like you, she's scared to admit it. The only two people who aren't aware of the mutual attraction between you two, are the two of you."
Spencer didn't reply. He was tired of trying to deny that he liked Amber, especially when he had come to accept the fact that he did like her as more of a friend. At the same time, he didn't want to risk losing her friendship. Didn't want to lose her support.
Ethan, however, wasn't done with the conversation.
"Now maybe the two of you end up going to the concert and still keep pretending you're just friends or maybe you'll both come to your senses. Whatever the outcome, I had to give it a try and if you want to be mad at me for that, then so be it."
Spencer held Ethan's gaze for a moment. He wasn't really sure what he was feeling right now. Was he really mad or just embarrassed? Was Ethan right? Did he have a chance with Amber? Even if he did, what gave Ethan a right to set him up like that?
"I'll see you in the morning," Spencer told his friend, before turning and heading into his bedroom.
"That was very enjoyable. The orchestra played beautifully," Amber commented, as she and Spencer walked out of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion the following Friday evening. "Thank-you for bringing me."
"You're welcome," Spencer replied. "I'm sorry about the dress. I'll pay to have it fix or replace it if it can't be fixed," he told her, the dress having gotten ripped when he had accidently shut the skirt of it in the car door when he had picked Amber up.
"I told you not to worry about that," Amber told him, restraining herself from looking down at the damage done to the skirt. It was one of her favorite dresses but the tear was minor and as the skirt was full length, Amber was hoping it could be repaired. Even if it couldn't be, Amber refused to let Spencer feel guilty about it. It wasn't as if he had done it on purpose and it was partly her fault anyway. She should have made sure the dress was clear of the door but she hadn't been thinking about it. Spencer was the first guy she had gone out with that had even bothered to open the car door for her.
Amber reached out and slipped her hand into his. The evening had been enjoyable though awkward at times. As the cool breeze of the October night, blew across her bare neck, as she had pulled her hair up in a bun for the concert, Amber realized that she wasn't quite ready to call it a night.
"Do you mind if we take a walk before you take me home? It's such a beautiful night," Amber asked.
"Are you going to be okay walking in those shoes?" Spencer asked, glancing down at Amber's feet.
"I'll be fine," Amber told him. She had worn a pair of her dress sandals tonight with no heels, which were quite comfortable.
Spencer nodded. Instead of heading back to the car, which Spencer had borrowed from Ethan for the night, the two headed in the opposite direction. After walking in silence for a little while, Amber started up a conversation. She knew once she got him talking that the conversation would smooth slowly, the trick was getting him to open up.
The two of them lost time as they were chatting and waking. Eventually they found themselves at Pershing Square. It had been awhile since Amber had been to the public park. Thinking back she tried to remember when it was and decided it must have been in January when she had gone ice skating with her friends.
They were at the end of the square with the fountain. The city lights danced on the surface of the water as they walked toward the fountain. Letting go of Spencer's hand, Amber reached up and pulled the light shawl she wore over the sleeveless gown, closer around herself.
"Are you cold?" Spencer asked.
"It's a little cool. I'll be okay though," Amber said, not ready to head back to the car, knowing that would only bring the end of the evening that much closer.
Beside her, Spencer took off the jacket of his tuxedo and slipped it over Amber's shoulders.
"Thanks," Amber told him as she reached up to pull the jacket close around her. She became aware that instead of drawing away, Spencer had left one arm draped across her shoulders. It surprised her, as this was the first time that he had ever initiated any kind of physical contact.
Amber turned her head in Spencer's direction. Even in the dim light she could make out the expression on his face. She could see the hesitation and fear there. Feelings that she was feeling too. Like herself though, she could also see something else there. Was it love? Amber wasn't sure but she did know that she liked the feel of his arm around her.
Not breaking the silence between them, both of them leaned in toward each other until their lips met. For Spencer, it was the first time he had ever kissed a girl, and all he could think of was if he was doing it right. As Amber didn't pull away from him, he figured he was doing okay. As for Amber, it was the realization of something she had hoped would happen for the last month or so. Sure she had been trying to deny to Maria, Vince and her other friends that she liked Spencer as more than a friend but she had long ago tried convincing herself of that.
Yes, she had kissed boys before, but this time was different. This kiss had an electricity in it that the other kisses had never had. This kiss wiped away all her rules about not getting too close to a boy. About guarding herself against the heartache the love always seemed to bring. She didn't care about that right now. Right then, all she cared about was that the guy she had fallen for was kissing her.