The next morning I woke up in Beca's room. It felt good to finally talk about everything my dad put me and Aubrey through. I slid out of bed and made my way through the fort to my room. Aubrey and Chloe had separated in the night and were now spread eagle on the floor, which made it really difficult to make it through without waking them up. I got dressed quickly in running shorts and a t-shirt and tied my shoes before creeping past Aubrey and Chloe again. I brushed Chloe's foot and she snored lightly.
As I crawled back out of the fort the front door's lock flipped and Dr. Mitchell stepped in. I stood up and smiled at him, "Hey, Dr. Mitchell!"
"Good morning, Amber!" I liked Dr. Mitchell, he was a pretty cool guy. "That's a nice fort."
"Thanks, Chloe and Aubrey helped build it!"
"Is Beca awake?" I shook my head as I moved around the kitchen getting a water bottle. "I didn't think she would be, but I was on this side of campus. So how's the ugh...face going?" he motioned to his own face as he spoke.
"I should be able take the nose stuff off today, I have to go to the doctor for x-rays though, just so they can make sure everything's healed up. But then 2 days for the stitches!"
"That's good news, you're looking better too!" he smiled affectionately at me.
"Thanks! It's gonna be great when I don't have this beak anymore!"
"well, why I've got you here, I just wanted to personally thank you for what you did. It was very brave of you to stand up for Beca like that. I also don't know if Beca asked you or not, but Sheila and I would love for you two to stay with us for a while this summer, beca mentioned that you might not want to go home," he looked down like he thought he'd said too much.
I didn't mind though I was actually kind of touched. "Yeah she asked me last night, thank you so much! I hope you don't mind if my sister and Chloe and I kidnap her occasionally?"
"Oh, of course not! feel free to take her," he laughed a little then he looked uncomfortable with what he was about to say. "Um...Beca told me a little bit about what happened between you and your father," I tensed up a little bit without his notice, "and I wanted you to know that even though I may not have been the best father I could have been for Beca in the past, I'm trying to do better and that includes you too. You've become something like a sister too her, and its really opening her up more, even more than last year."
I was at a loss for words, that was possibly the nicest thing anyone's said to me in awhile. I just nodded because I couldn't think of anything to say.
"But you're an amazing kid, Amber, don't let anyone tell you differently. I'm always here if you need someone to talk to," he offered up a small smile. I gave him a big hug, he hugged me back like my dad never did.
"Thank you so much," I whispered as I choked down tears. I let go of him and smiled weakly as I wiped my eyes quickly. "I should get going though, I've got to go run! I'll see you later!"
"Bye!" I headed out the door.
"Oh, Dr. Mitchell," I stuck my head back in the door, "you can just go in Beca's room and wake her up, just stand back a little," he laughed at me and nodded his head.
I took the elevator down and started to jog away from the apartments. I headed towards the quad, the weather was great, it was sunny and just a beautiful day. I was about 35 minutes into my run when I heard my name called. I spun around looking for the culprit. "Over here!" it was Stacie she was laid out on a picnic table in her bikini soaking up the sun.
"Hey, Stace, you're up early today." I jogged over to her table and sat down next to her.
She put a hand over her eyes to shield them from the sun as she looked up at me. "Well you know, I got to get to work on my tan! I scout out the nicest days and plan accordingly," she smiled brightly, practically blinding me with her super white teeth. "How are you managing to run with that thing on your face?" She pointed to the bandage.
"It's hard, but I manage!" I sighed and tilted my head up towards the sun, it felt good to be outside.
"Careful there, albino, you're gonna turn yourself into a tomato!"
"Not all of us are pigmently gifted, Stacie!" She put her arm next to my thigh, I was practically transparent compared to her. She busted out laughing. "This is why Beca is my best friend! We can both be super pale together," I smiled down at her.
"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Amber! So how much of the album do we have left to record?" she laid back down on the table and closed her eyes.
"Just last year's finals performance, Becs and I finished her part of No Diggity yesterday. We should have the whole thing together in a couple days then you guys can listen to it and pick it apart and we'll work from there!" I was excited about finishing the album finally, it was definitely one of the highlights from my freshman year.
"Well that's exciting!"
"Have you and Sammy started working on the choreography for finals yet? It's got to be great if we don't beat Paramordent I'm probably gonna lose my mind."
"Relax, we're working on it, and it's pretty awesome, you'll be impressed. We'll show you guys at practice!" My phone rang, of course it was my father checking up on me to make sure I wasn't getting in more fights. I sighed and laid back on the table letting it ring, I was really considering just letting it ring when Stacie grabbed it.
"Hey!" I freaked out a little and then she pressed talk.
"Hello, this is Stacie answering Amber's phone," she flipped her hair over her shoulder and winked at me while I was cringing at the thought of what the repercussions would be.
I heard my dad's voice, "Stacie? Who is Stacie? And why are you answering my daughter's phone?"
"Oh, hi, Mr. Posen," she faked surprise and flashed me the "okay" sign. "We met last week, I'm in you daughter's a cappella group!"
"Ugh...Right, you're the tall brunette one?" he was caught off guard it was kind of funny.
"That's me! So what can I help you with?" I buried my head in my hands, Stacie was flirtily talking with my dad.
"Umm...I don't know," she was making him stutter from just over the phone, God, that woman is something else.
"You just take your time and think about it," she slapped her hand over her mouth to stop from laughing into the receiver. My eyes widened.
There was silence on the other line. "Oh right! Where is my daughter?" he suddenly remembered his purpose for calling much to my dismay.
"Amber, just went to the library to study for a test she has tomorrow, she asked me to hold onto her phone for her while she was there so she wouldn't get distracted!" she said brightly while she lied through her teeth. "I can giver her message if you would like me to?"
"No that's not necessary. I was just making sure she's doing what she is supposed to be-" oh God Stacie opened her mouth to interrupt him.
"No disrespect meant, sir, but Amber always does what she's supposed to do," oh shit. "She's one of the most responsible, kind, and busy people I know. She has a ton on her plate and she manages to do it without complaining and it's always perfect. I know she holds a lot of stock in the way she presents herself, and I think you should realize that...sir." she paused thinking again. "I mean, she's managed to produce a whole album, keep straight A's, help Beca with the Bella's, and she's also an amazingly loyal friend. That's pretty impressive seeing as I can barely get up in the morning to go to class."
I was staring at her in awe, today was a good day for building up my self esteem. "Thank you for telling me that, Stacie. Please tell her to call me as soon as she is done studying. Have a pleasant day."
"Right back at ya, sir." she hung up the phone and smiled at the amazed look on my face as she tossed it back to me. "Your dad has a real sexy voice over the phone."
I chose to ignore that comment and hugged her close, "How the hell did you do that?"
"Years of practice in the bedroom...it's made me pretty confident," she winked. 'Hey, you're already burning," she pointed to my forearm, it was turning a nice shade of red.
"Ah shit. I guess I should get going. Thank you so much for that, Stacie," I hugged her again. "I'll see you at practice later." I got up and jogged away.
"Amber! Oh God, you're really burnt...but hey! We can take your bandage off now and then we can go to the doctor later!" she dragged me into the bathroom, I looked at myself in the mirror, I was a nice shade of red.
"Are Chlo and Bree still asleep?" she nodded her head while she shoved me down on top of the toilet seat so she could reach my face easier. She slowly started to peel the tape off my face, trying her best not to upset the sun burn.
"Oh, no."
"Oh, no? Oh, no? You can't just say 'oh, no' when you're taking bandages off my face!" I got up and stood to look in the mirror, my mouth dropped. I barely took in my nose at all because all I could see was the pale shaped mark standing out against the sunburn on the rest of my face.
Chloe and Aubrey walked in half awake and then started laughing, "Oh that's unfortunate," Chloe laughed.
"Fuck, my nose is crooked too!" I was like half an inch from the mirror. Aubrey grabbed my head and spun me around.
"It's just a little crooked, don't worry about it! You can barely tell!"
"Introducing the new and recently improved Amber Posen!" everyone was doing a drum roll as i walked into the practice hall.
"It still looks like you have the bandage on!" Amy yelled and then she took a step forward to inspect my new nose, "Oh, its a little crooked too!"
"Thanks, Amy, I appreciate that!"
"Are you gonna fix it?"
"No, I'm not wasting money on that!"
"Alright! Now that we're done discussing Amber's nose, let's get to work!" we got to work right away learning our choreography for the Finals performance.
An hour and a half later we finished up, "Okay everyone, tomorrow we're recording last year's finals performance and then I'll edit it and it'll be done!"we all cheered excitedly. I decided I should probably call my dad then.
"Hi, dad," I said quickly as soon as I heard "Alexander Posen speaking."
"Oh, hello, Amber, I've been waiting for you to call."
"I'm sorry, sir, I had to study then go to a doctor's appointment and Bellas' practice just got finished."
"Your friend Stacie told me some interesting things this morning."
"Really, sir?" I decided to play dumb as Beca and I walked back to the apartment.
"Yes. So I've decided that I won't be making these daily phone calls to check on your behavior."
"Thank you, sir."
"I will see you at the end of the semester. Good luck-"
"Pardon the interruption, sir, but I'm not coming home this summer."
"Excuse me?"
"The Mitchells offered to let me stay with them and Beca wants me to go with her to her mom's house and then I'll stay with Aubrey and Chloe." I held my breath while I waited for his answer.
"Very well, if that's what you wish."
"It is. Thank you, sir."
"You're welcome, have a nice night."
"You too." I hung up and looked at Beca with my mouth open. "He said I can go! And he didn't yell at me!"
"Woohoo! This is gonna be the best summer ever!" she wrapped her arm around my waist as we walked the rest of the way home.