Chapter 13 : My future on a plate
Denver's University
(Ephram & Amy are walking on the campus, talking while trying to find Templeman's office)
EPHRAM: so what you've been doing lately ?
AMY: you know, insulting Bright, hating Bright. Pretty much the same. (Pause) What about you?
EPHRAM: you know … insulting Bright, hating Bright.
(They laugh)
EPHRAM: oh and last week, the handle of my door broke and i tried to fix it. So now i got a big whole in the middle of my door. Pretty aesthetic though.
AMY: You know you just need to stay away from an hammer… (They laugh)
EPHRAM: I wanted to give me another shot. Well, I think I definitely know now that hammer and I are not meant to be.
AMY: better sooner than never. (she laughs) You know, you could have just called me …
EPHRAM: yeah, I wanted to but I didn't think I could.
AMY: of course you can, Ephram. You can call me whenever you want. I'm always here for you, for a handle or for you. (He smiles)
(Amy is looking around) You know, I'm glad I came, This is fun.
EPHRAM: I'm glad you came. (looks at her, he smiles. Pause) Plus if you didn't, I think I'd get lost with this crappy map, look: it says "follow the trash". I mean, what kind of map says that?
(They laugh)
AMY: you know we're lost anyway.
EPHRAM: you know the word: "better two than alone".
(they laugh)
AMY: but you know A&M's not really a university you can qualify as big. Do you think the City guy you are could bear it?
EPHRAM: for 3 years, I lived in a town which got only one cab! I think I can take it. (they laugh slightly). You know, my whole life everybody thought i'd go to Julliard or another big university, and I believed it too. But now, I'm here, applying to this local university(pause) Do you think I'm some kind of a faillure?
AMY: Ephram, you're not a failure. To anyone. You're not a failure to me. (EPHRAM smiles, touched) You know, you gotta go where your heart gotta go, you know what I mean?
EPHRAM(smiles): not really. But I appreciate you're trying.
AMY: if you know you're not meant to go to a big ultra famous college, it's not a failure. You got pretty good instinct, so I guess you're meant to stay here.
EPHRAM: You're probably right (looking at her intensively).
I think I don't care about not going to an A-list college. I'm not really sure that was what I really wanted anyway.
(still looking at her. She smiles and turns her head to notice that they are in front of Templeman office. He turns his head to look at it.)
AMY: I think this is it.
EPHRAM: yeah. (he sighs, becoming a little stressed suddenly. Amy, noticing his tension, leans toward him to give him a kiss on his cheek)
AMY: don't worry, everything's gonna be fine. I know you'll get in. I'm staying around.
EPHRAM(smiles): thanks. (they look at each other for a moment, smiling, finally he goes to knock on Templeman's door)
- - - - - - - -
Outside of Templeman's Office
(Ephram's still with Templeman talking about his eventual enters in A&M. in the meantime AMY's waiting for him outside, playing with a paper aircraft on a bench. EPHRAM finally gets out of the office with the guy)
EPHRAM: thanks a lot. It means a lot to me.
TEMPLEMAN: It's my pleasure, Brown.
(He leaves. EPHRAM goes to see AMY. She gets up)
EPHRAM : Hey
AMY: Ephram ! so how it went? You took so long, I thought I was gonna die. So ? What did he say?
EPHRAM: sorry. It's just we talked a lot and lost track of time.(he pauses on purpose to get her out of her nerves and starts to leave.)
A (following him): Ephram!
(She hits him. he smiles)
EPHRAM: you're a violent person, you know that.(she leans her head on the left. he laughs, savouring it.) okay, so he said that if I take some classes before the end of this semester and practice enough to catch up all that I've missed, I could start the second semester… And that I was one of the best pianist he's seen in years.
AMY: Ephram! That's great!
EPHRAM (pretending not to be excited): well, yeah I guess it's alright.
AMY: you're kidding. It's awesome. (she hugs him, really happy for him. They smile sincerely. They keep the hug and, at some point, Ephram notices something on her neck, and realises that it is the necklace he gave her back. He smiles and finally breaks the hug. He's still smiling.)
AMY: I'm so happy for you, Ephram. I'm so glad that you finally have what you really wanted.
E (he smiles): Yeah... (Giving her a look, to make her understand that he doesn't really get all that he want. Pause) Wanna grab something to eat?
AMY: thought you'd never ask! I'm starving over here.
EPHRAM: come on.
- - - - - - - - -
Ephram's car, 1AM
Ephram's driving, Amy's deeply sleeping. He smiles tenderly as he reminds himself of all the moment Amy and he shared the last few hours. They spent a great day together, and nothing came to shadow this moment.
He looks at her sleeping, thinking how great and beautiful she is. She was there today, as always -actually she was always there when he needed to - hoping this will last. Obviously lost in his thought of Amy, suddenly realising that it's late and that he's not at all concentrating on the road, he decides to park his car on a rest area and get a refreshing sleep just for few hours.
When he turns off the car, he sighs and looks at Amy, still peacefully asleep. She shrugs a little but still in her sweet dreams. He stares at her for a moment, smiling. Then, he grabs his coat and tenderly puts it on her, then touches her hair a little and strokes it for a while, he notices once again her necklace and leans back on his seat, staring at it, smiling ultimately.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Rest Area, 6AM
Amy's awaking slowly, alone in the car. She looks all around her and notices that the car's in a car park, not really far from Everwood. She yawns once and finally realising that she has Ephram's coat wrapping all around her.
She smiles sincerely, thinking how sweet and caring he really is. A fact that she used to forget, with all this sadness and distance between them for the past few months.
She smells the coat, thinking about him. And surprisingly she can't help smiling. A fact that Ephram notices while he walks towards the car with two coffees. He opens his door
EPHRAM: Hey, finally you're up.
AMY: just for a little while.
EPHRAM: you slept well?
(AMY smiles and nods as an answer)
AMY: by the way, why are we not in Everwood?
EPHRAM: I was kinda sleeping on the wheel, and that was the cue for me to park the car and have a rest, but I kinda slept all the night.
AMY: so my snoring didn't wake you up?
EPHRAM: the snoring was cute, on the other hand, the hitting part wasn't.
(He laughs and she hits him)
EPHRAM: see! Here. (He tends the coffee toward her and she takes it.)
AMY: thanks.
- - - - - - - - -
Later, still on the road in Ephram's car
AMY: You know, I was thinking about going to A&M, you know, now that my mom's better, I figured I could take my student life back. I kinda thought about it a lot for the past months.
EPHRAM (surprised): what about Princeton?
AMY: I really can't go there, I mean, it's really far and I'm not sure going to a super famous college was really what I really wanted, you know.
EPHRAM: you're kidding? It was your dream since you have hair. (Pause) you don't have to give up your dream, you've been already sacrificing a lot.
AMY: you gave up Julliard and it was your dream.
EPHRAM: I don't want you to make the same mistakes. Do you think I thought I would end up here?
AMY: it's not that bad, isn't it? Plus, dreams are like everything else, they change as you change
(She looks at him intensely but he doesn't notice it since he's driving).
EPHRAM: I don't know.
AMY: Look, maybe my mom's disease was a sign that my life's here, in Everwood, not in a big city.
EPHRAM: how can your life be in Everwood? The place the time forgot?
AMY: I don't know, it's like what happened to your mom. You thought moving in Everwood was the worst thing that could happen to you, but lots of good stuffs happened to you. So why going to A&M would be a good thing to you and not to me?
EPHRAM: because you're a better person than I am. (Amy gives him a look. Pause in which Ephram thinks a moment and slightly smiles) maybe you're right. You know, I just want you to be happy, if this is what you want, this is what I want. (They smiles)
- - - - - - -- -
In front of Bright's Place, Road
They finally parked the car in front of Bright's flat. They look at each other and you can see they don't want their time together to end yet. After a silence,
EPHRAM: You know, I think you deserve a real breakfast because the coffee I gave you was crap.
(They laugh.)
EPHRAM: You want to come in ?
AMY (smiles): sure.
(Later, Amy's sitting on the bench, waiting for her breakfast while Ephram's cooking it and making some coffee for them.)
AMY: you're a real housewife.
EPHRAM: comparing to your brother, I think I am. Look at the lounge, I let him one night and it seems the apocalypse now.
(They laugh)
AMY: so, are you really gonna go to A&M?
EPHRAM: yeah, think so. (he goes to sit next to her, tending her coffee towards her) you now, I don't have much choice but now, I know what I wanna do – piano- so I guess I'm gonna do my thing, or try to.
AMY: I think it's great for you.
EPHRAM: and what about you, were you really serious about going there?
AMY: yeah, I already saved the brochure and talked to my dad about it, but I was hesitating. (Pause. She looks at him) but now that you're going there, that's one more reason to go.(she smiles)
EPHRAM: why ?
AMY: You know, (pause) since you came back, I just realised how much you're important to me, how much this relationship is precious…
(Amy looks at Ephram, trying to see what he thinks. Ephram smiles slightly. He's really touched but a little unconfortable. He looks down, trying to avoid looking at her)
AMY: I also know that you're much more than a friend to me.
Ephram looks up to amy.
EPHRAM: (not sure of what he just heard) What do you mean ?
AMY: I think you know what I mean.
They look at each other so intensely that they could feel their feelings intertwine at this very moment. Amy leans slowly towards Ephram for a kiss that he gives her without thinking.
When their lips touch, they felt a storm of all sort of powerful emotions in their soul. They were trying to hide all this time they were near each other, but they both knew now that this was what they wanted.
They could feel the happiness, the love they had for each other, only with this kiss. They felt like it was the first they've ever given to each other, or to anyone. They could describe what they were feeling at this moment for each other but instead of describing it, they were living it and feeling it.
They weren't thinking anymore, all that matter was staying in this intense embrace. He could smell her soft hair, a smell he realised he missed and she could feel his hands, caring and loving, on her skin.
While these hands were on her waist and stroking gently her skin, nothing counted for her. The universe was all aligned for her, and her universe was Ephram. Words couldn't describe or even qualify what they were feeling from each other right now. As their hands and arms intertwined, their hearts were beating as if they shared the same one.
They hold each other tighter and tighter, letting their love and desire lead them to happiness.
- - - - - - - -
Okay, this was our favourite chapter so far, it took a lot of time to wrote it and made it into what we really wanted so :
Please review !
We really hope you've enjoyed it !
Next Chapter is called "happier than ever"
It's gonna take a little time for us to update (since LibertyBelle's doesn't have her laptop back and my job is taking all my time) but we thought this chapter you make you wait a little… :-) we'll try to update as soon as possible and give you the final 6 chapters.