A/N: I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Thanks for the reviews!
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CHAPTER 3:
Amy was going to pick up Laynie to go out when she saw Ephram and Madison walking down the sidewalk. She frowned and tried to keep her eyes on the road, but she was curious. She could see Madison smiling. Amy found herself wishing that she could be standing there where Madison was at that moment—right next to Ephram.
The fact was, she had been standing right next to Ephram, only hours before. But she hadn't wanted him to go. She wondered what they were saying…
***
"Aww, look, Ephram," Madison nudged him and pointed to a brown puppy sitting in the window of Everwood's one and only pet store.
Ephram only smiled and nodded, but Madison didn't really seem to notice. He stopped with her and let her gaze in the window at the puppies. Madison was important to him—so why was he feeling so indifferent tonight? He wasn't sure. He let his gaze shift over to a red pick-up truck. It looked a lot like…
***
Amy noticed Ephram starting to look her way as she was driving past, so she quickly fixed her eyes back on the road. She didn't want Ephram to think she was some kind of crazy stalker. She let out a frustrated sigh when the light before her turned red.
***
Ephram realized that it was, in fact, Amy in the truck belonging to her grandmother. He smiled, remembering the walk they had shared earlier that day.
"…Ephram? Ephram, are you listening to me? What are you staring at?"
Ephram woke out of his trance as Madison tried to follow his gaze. She sighed when she saw the Abbott girl that she knew Ephram had had a crush on before she had started dating him. "Ephram…" she started.
"What, Madison?"
"You've been acting really distant all night. Would you please tell me what's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong," Ephram insisted. "Look, let's just go," he said, taking her hand. Madison walked with him, but little did he know it was too late for him to cover up now. Madison knew that she wasn't the only girl in his life anymore.
***
Amy got to Laynie's that night looking a little depressed.
"What's wrong, Amy?" Laynie asked as soon as she got into the truck. The two of them were going to see a chick flick at the theater right outside of town that night.
"Oh, what?" Amy said, barely realizing that her friend was there. "Nothing," she quickly lied while starting up the truck and pulling out of the Hart's driveway.
"Please," Laynie rolled her eyes. "Don't lie to me."
"It's just…" Amy took a long pause. She sighed, annoyed with herself. "Ephram."
Laynie chuckled. "But you just broke up with Tommy!"
"It's not that," Amy said convincingly, "I'm not an 'on the rebound' type of girl. I've just been feeling really weird about him lately."
"I think you have an issue called jealousy."
"Jealous? Why would I be jealous of Ephram?"
"Not of Ephram, silly. Madison." Laynie didn't even know Madison, but she knew all about her thanks to Amy.
They were both quiet for a while. Amy was lucky to have Laynie as a friend. They were very different, but got along so well with each other, especially since Colin had died. Amy really appreciated her advice, since Laynie had always seemed to be more experienced with love and boys than she had.
"I'm not going to do anything about it," Amy announced as they drew close to the theater.
"What?" Laynie asked, almost forgetting what they had been talking about before.
"Ephram," Amy reminded. "I think that I… might still have feelings for him. But I'm not going to do anything about it. He loves Madison now… I just have to accept that," she said, more to herself than to Laynie.
Laynie just nodded. "Okay," she said, not knowing what else to say.
***
When Ephram visited Amy at her locker at school the next day, her heart fluttered a little bit. "Hey," Ephram said.
"Hey," Amy said with a shy smile.
"I think I saw you yesterday evening," Ephram said. "while I was out with Madison," he finished.
Amy shrugged. "Okay," she said, pretending like she didn't know what he was talking about.
"So how are you?" Ephram asked.
"I'm fine, Ephram."
"Great." The bell rang. "Well, I'd better get to class. See ya."
"Bye," Amy said as he walked away. "God, I'm so stupid…" she muttered to herself.
***
"BOO!" Bright jumped out from behind a locker right in front of Ephram. Ephram just rolled his eyes.
"I saw you makin' the moves on my little sister again," Bright pointed out.
"Shut up, Bright." Ephram laughed in spite of himself. Sometimes the irony of Bright's name just got to him.
"Aw, you know I'm just joshin'."
"Well, you sure do joke about it a lot."
"Because it's fun," Bright said innocently, although he knew Ephram still had something in his heart for Amy. He knew that what Ephram felt for Amy didn't just suddenly go away one day just because a hot babysitter walked into their house.
***
Ephram and Amy talked every day for the next two weeks… without fighting. They even had plans to hang out all day Saturday. Both of them were thrilled that they seemed to have their friendship back, but Ephram was scared at the same time. He was scared that their newly rekindled friendship would drive him away from Madison. He didn't want that, did he? He cared about Amy—a lot—but Madison was still his girlfriend.
"We should play truth or dare," Amy said with a big smile on her face.
Ephram grinned and raised his eyebrows. "And how are we going to do that? It's just the two of us, plus we're sitting in a diner."
Amy loved seeing him smile. God, he's so cute… Amy silently slapped herself for thinking it. She had told herself a long time ago that she wasn't going to do this. "Fine," she made a mock-pouty face, "can we at least play the 'ha he ho' game?"
Ephram laughed. The 'ha he ho' game was something that the two of them had made up while studying at the library together one day. The first person said "ha," the second person said "he," then the first person said "ho," the second person said "ha," and so forth. It was actually a lot harder than it seemed. "Fine," Ephram said. "Ha," he started out with a smile.
"He."
"Ho."
"Ha."
"He."
"Ho."
The game picked up speed, the two of them laughing in delight at how they'd both seemed to have mastered the game.
"Ha." Ephram said.
"He."
"Ho."
"Ha."
"He."
"H… holy crap."
Amy started to laugh because she thought he was making a joke, but then she followed his stare. It was Madison. Amy didn't get it. Then Madison started to look their way.
"Look away look away!" Ephram said hurriedly as he turned his head to the left so Madison wouldn't see his face.
"Ephram, what's your problem?" Amy said. "Are you scared of Madison seeing you with me?" She asked, hurt.
"No… no of course not," Ephram said, still turning away.
"Yes you are!" Amy shouted. Everyone in the diner looked at them, including Madison. She blushed, forgetting where she was.
"Amy, please—"
"Bye Ephram," Amy said bitterly as she grabbed her coat and stormed out of the diner.
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A/N: Bleh, I know that seemed kind of silly but the next chapter will have all the answers. Please keep leaving reviews and letting me know what you think :)
