Ah, the sweet smell of fanfiction. I'll be honest with you all, I've been so busy lately, but that's not why I haven't kept up with my stories. The real reason was a severe case of writers block and my desire to write had dropped considerably. But now, halfway through summer, I've found myself with a little free time and the first thing I think is 'I should write'. So, here is the third chapter of Love Comes Softly. I'm trying to make it super long to make up for the wait, so lets see how that turns out :)
Disclaimer: Lauren Brooke owns all characters, settings, and plots mentioned in her books. Everything else is mine.
December 17th, 2006: Wednesday
Amy awoke to her cell phone chirping away on her side table. She groggily reached her hand towards the shrieking device, grabbing it and flicking it open.
"Hello?" Amy rolled over in bed, onto her back.
"Amy! It's Nina." Amy yawned. "I'm having a total meltdown. You need to help me!"
Amy groaned slightly, blinking her drooping eyes. "What's wrong, Neen?"
"Well..." Nina paused, as if contemplating telling Amy something. "I'm supposed to work out with the guys today, right? So I was all hyped when I woke up earlier, but now I'm freaking out." Amy glanced at the clock. It was only 5:30 in the morning, apparently Nina was a very early riser.
"Why are you freaking out? You were totally fine with it yesterday, and you have till the end of the day to get ready." Amy reached over towards her clock and turned off the alarm that was set to go off in 15 minutes.
"Well, I know. I mean, I'm not worried about actually doing the workout but..." Amy sighed, getting annoyed.
"Will you just spit it out, Neens?"
"It's the basketball team!"
Amy blinked slowly, trying to comprehend the meaning behind the statement. "So?"
"So?! Amy, have you ever looked at our basketball team?" Nina sounded as thought hyperventilating was in her near future.
"Um...yeah. I've been to Ty's practices before. So what?" Amy heard a long suffering sigh from the other end of the phone.
"You really, and truly, are the most oblivious person alive. You know that, right?"
"Nina, seriously. You woke me up at 5:30 in the morning, and you expect me to sit here and listen to you tiptoeing around your problem. I really wouldn't mind all that much if you'd get to the damn point!"
Nina sighed. "Fine, whatever. So much for venting to a friend." Amy groaned loudly. "Okay! Well, since you have, obviously, gone blind, I will inform you of my hesitation to the basketball team." There was a five second pause. "They're gorgeous, Amy!"
Amy couldn't help but laugh. "Are you serious? Nina, since when have you cared about gorgeous guys?"
"Since I have to run around them making a fool of myself in spandex shorts and a sports bra."
This only made Amy laugh harder. "Listen to me, Neens. You are the liveliest girl I know, and if you let some nice looking guys daunt you, then there is no hope for any other girl in this world."
"You're such a sentimental slob, Amy. I have no impact on any other girl in this world, and you know it."
"Okay, whatever. But the point is, don't worry. Everyone loves you, and you know it. Plus, you're taken, so why should you care?" Amy smirked as a large gasp resounded through the phone.
"I am not taken, Amy!!" Amy rolled her eyes and stood up to look for clothes, listening to Nina rant about her availability to all men who pursued her, Roddy excluded.
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7:30am
Amy sprinted through the barn, stopping quickly to pat Sundance affectionately, before running straight through to the end of the barn, across the yard, and into the house. She ran swiftly up the spiral staircase off of the kitchen, down the hall, and into her room.
She hurriedly whipped open her closet doors, rummaged through piles of disorderly clothes, and then began to strip off her work clothes. In their place she threw on a pair of old worn jeans and a light pink t-shirt that had a stain on the hem. Over that she threw a brown zip up hoodie. She quickly grabbed her book bag, and as an afterthought, her hairbrush.
She practically flew down the front steps, and into her old maroon Jeep. Panting, she stuck her key in the ignition, and not even letting it warm up, flew down her long driveway and down the road.
About five minutes later she pulled into Ty's driveway. She beeped lightly and, while waiting, pulled the brush through her straight hair. After wrestling a few tangles, she pulled it up into a loose ponytail, threw the brush in the back seat, and let herself breathe.
"You're late." Ty climbed into the passenger seat, looking at her.
"I know, sorry. I got held up." She could feel Ty's gaze as it settled on her.
"You're overworking yourself, Amy." Amy sighed, not in the mood for a lecture.
"No, I'm not." There was a pause, in which Amy backed the car out of his driveway.
"Then why are you late everyday? Why do you keep setting your alarm clock earlier and earlier each day? Why do you keep leaving homework till the last minute? Why..."
Amy cut him off. "Look, Mr. Observation, you aren't my father. Let me worry about it, I'm fine."
"Whatever, but I'm coming back soon." Amy looked over at him, surprised.
"What do you mean?" Ty had worked at Heartland since they were little kids. At first he just helped out, but soon enough he was a working employee with a paycheck. Usually he came in the morning to help out, and then right after school until he felt the need to leave. Every year during basketball season, though, he didn't come until around 6, so Amy was pretty much alone doing the work after school, but him coming before school really helped out. But only two months ago, his mom got a new job, and she wasn't able to bring him in the morning anymore, because she left too early. Therefore, Amy was stuck, during the season, with little to no help.
"Well, I've been saving my money for my car, right? Well my dad and I were talking, and he said he'd give me half the money if I came up with the other half. I'm only one paycheck away, and Chuck says the car is ready for me anytime." Amy looked over, stunned, to see him smiling brightly. They had just pulled into the parking lot, and Amy waited till she was parked to lean over and give him a quick hug.
"That's great, Ty!" Ty smiled, as his arms slipped off of her as she pulled away. "Now I won't have to drag you to school anymore!"
His smile faltered. "That's not the reason I talked to my dad about this, Amy. I did it because, like I said, you're overworking yourself."
Amy's face dropped. She stared at him for a moment, before shutting off the car and grabbed her book bag. "I told you, I'm fine."
Ty quickly jumped out of the car too. "Amy, I thought you'd be happy. I can come before school now, and there's only like two months left of basketball before I can come after school again."
Amy kept walking. "Sure, Ty, its great." Ty could sense her discomfort, but wouldn't let it go.
"I don't get why you aren't happy...or relieved! This means you'll have more time to get things done. I won't be there for only an hour or two, I'll be there all day..."
Amy sighed, not even knowing why she was mad. "No, you're right. I am happy, and relieved." She kept walking, trying to convince herself she was relieved, but in a way, she wasn't. Sure, she had been really busy lately, but she'd learned to deal with it, and the fact that Ty thought she needed help just...bothered her.
Ty looked at Amy, still not convinced, but not willing to keep fighting.
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2:20: Last bell
Amy sat in the last period of the day, tapping her pencil in boredom, when the bell rang. She instantly threw her notebook into her bag, and walked out of the class. She was nearly to the parking lot doors when she heard her name being called.
"Amy!" She turned around and saw Hollie running towards her, a crimson hair falling from her jet black ponytail.
"Hey, what's up?" Hollie smiled at her as she slowed down next to her.
"I'm about to go to the gym...where were you going?" Amy looked at her, confused, before it dawned on her.
"Oh! I totally forgot about the bet." Amy looked out towards her car, then back at Hollie. "I was supposed to go home and help Lou with a new border."
Hollie looked at her sympathetically. "Well, I can call you and give you the play by play, if you'd like."
Amy thought about it for a second. "You know what, that's okay. I'm going to go home and tell Lou what's going on, help her stable the new border, and I'll be back. No more than 20 minutes, okay?"
"Yeah, I'll tell everyone. See you." Hollie smiled and bounded back down the hallway.
10 minutes later
"Lou?" Amy called into the barn, looking for her elder sister.
"In here!" Amy briskly walked down the aisle, and turned towards the end stall. "Hey, he's here!" Amy smiled at the new horse, Seafoam.
"Yeah, her owner brought him earlier than she thought. He's been doing okay so far." Amy smiled gleefully, lightly holding her hand out for Seafoam to touch.
"That's great." There was silence as Seafoam accepted the hand in front of him, lightly touching his nose to her. "He seems comfortable enough."
"Yeah. I figured let him get used to his stall, and you can take him out in an hour or so." Amy frowned, turning towards her sister.
"Actually, there's kind of something I have to do at school, I just came home to help you get Seafoam comfortable." Lou looked at her, confused. "There's just this bet, with Nina. So I have to go to Ty's practice. I won't be home till around 6, with him."
Lou seemed to think it over. "I don't have much to do today, so I should be able to handle everything. Go have fun." She smiled and Amy beamed at her.
"Thanks Lou, you're a life saver." Amy saved no time in bounding back out to her Jeep.
10 minutes later
Amy climbed out of her car, grabbing her backpack just incase she had a chance to do some homework.
She was just about to walk through the door when she bumped into someone else doing the same. She looked up, surprised.
"I'm sorry." She apologized, looking into the face of someone she'd never met. He was much taller than her, probably around the same height as Ty, and his dark blonde hair fell about halfway down his forehead. He smiled at her, holding her arm where he had caught her when she'd run into him.
"No problem." His voice was low, secretive.
Amy blinked. "Um, I'm Amy. You must be new here." She held out her hand, breaking his grasp on her arm.
He didn't hesitate in taking her hand firmly, and shaking it. "Nice to meet you Amy."
She blinked again, releasing his hand. "I didn't catch your name."
He smiled. "I didn't give it."
Amy, taken aback, stuttered. "Oh, well, o-okay."
His smiled only brightened as she fumbled for her words. "I'm Braydon, and its still nice to meet you."
Amy couldn't help but beam, and giggle, to her horror, as he said this. "Well, uh, sorry for running into you." He nodded. "Maybe I'll see you around."
He looked into her eyes. "Maybe." She opened the door to the school, and walked inside. She shook off the encounter and began walking towards the gym. She knew he had followed her inside, but surely he couldn't be going the same place? As she got to the gym doors, she found out she was wrong. As her hand reached towards the handle, she was surprised to see one already there.
"Allow me." Braydon pulled open the door, sweeping his other hand in the air, motioning for her to go inside.
"Thank you." Amy stepped through the door, jumping slightly as the door shut behind them.
"Coming to watch your boyfriend?" Braydon smiled, flirtatious.
"I don't have a boyfriend." Braydon's smile didn't falter, but the flirt in it did. "I'm here to watch my friend, Nina, win a bet."
"A bet?" Amy pointed towards the court, where Nina, the only girl, was running around the perimeter of the gym, amidst a sea of boys. "Ah, I see." Amy looked at him, and realized he actually did. It was easy talking to this guy, but a criminal record could put a damper on things.
"What are you here for?" Amy looked up at him and their eyes met. His eyes were a stunning brown, like root beer floating through his irises, lulling you in.
"I'm going to try and convince the coach to let me join up late, seeing as I'm new here." Amy thought of the boys' easy going coach, and thought it wouldn't be hard to convince him.
Spotting her group, Amy headed towards the bleachers. "See you later."
Braydon shot her a friendly smile, as thought disappointed in her for some reason. "Sure."
She climbed up a few steps, and walked towards her group, sitting in the spot that was between Soraya and Mabel.
"Anything good?" She asked, letting her book bag fall onto the seat in front of them.
"You should of seen her doing pushups." Mabel laughed, holding up her phone. "I taped it." Amy laughed and settled down to watch.
"It's only the second lap." Soraya giggled, watching as Nina dropped to the back of the pack, panting.
"She'll do it. If that girl has anything, its will power." Amy smiled, looking at Nina's outfit. Sure enough, she was wearing spandex halfway down her thighs, with light pink shorts over it. Then, through her white tank top, was a visible gray sports bra.
"She better. I don't have ten bucks." Mabel said. "But enough about that, what was your little entrance about?"
"Entrance?" Amy asked, slightly confused.
"Oh, don't play coy. We saw you walking, and talking, with the new kid." Amy blushed at the thought of what she'd looked like walking with him.
"It was nothing. We bumped into each other on the way in and introduced ourselves." Mabel looked at Soraya knowingly.
"Was he all 'bad boy, mysterious, leave-me-alone', to quote Mabel?" Cecile leaned over, eyes curious.
"Um, not really." Amy laughed as Mabel lightly punched Cecile. "He was polite, and actually joked with me." She paused. "He was a little mysterious though." She had been thinking of his smile as she'd told him she didn't have a boyfriend.
"Hah. So I wasn't totally off." Mabel smirked at Cecile.
"What are you chicks talking about? Hey Ames." Matt greeted, sitting down with Los.
"Hey Matt." Amy smiled.
"We were talking about Amy and the new guy." Soraya lightly kissed Matt, taking his hand in hers.
"The new guy? What about him?" Los asked, sitting next to Cecile.
"Nothing! I talked to the guy on the way here. He came to talk to the coach." Everyone looked at her.
"The coach?" Matt asked, intrigued.
"Yeah, he's asking if he can start up late, since he's new." Matt looked over towards the court, his eyes traveling to where the coach stood with Braydon, speaking low as the players whizzed by, Nina dragging along.
"Isn't he a criminal? Will he be allowed to play?" Amy hadn't thought of that, but Carlos made a good point. If he'd been sent to work, would he really be given a spot on the team, when it took his time away from the farm?
They all sat in silence, watching the talk between Braydon and the coach, before Cecile burst out laughing.
"What?" Everyone asked.
"Ne...Neens just..." she could barely talk she was laughing so hard. "She just fell!" Everyone's eyes darted to where Nina was slowly standing up, before beginning to jog again, now in the front of the pact because she took so long to stand up.
They all burst out laughing as Matt and Los cat called at her, resulting in a very rude hand gesture from Nina.
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An hour later
Nina limped towards the group, sweat pouring down her face, her breath coming hard. She wearily fell to the bleachers, laying across the bottom seat.
"Kill me now, please." Amy smiled and walked down to her.
"Is practice over?" Nina looked at her, her eyes burning.
"No. We have a ten minute break." Amy shook her head, laughing, before walking across the court towards Ty, Derek, and Roddy. She looked at Ty, his face tired, and frowned. She squeezed his arm and sat down next to him.
"Are you okay?" Ty turned a lazy head towards her, and smiled slightly.
"Just a little tired. Coach has been killing us the past few weeks. And we have our first game this Friday, so we're in overload right now." Amy nodded, sympathetic. She'd forgotten his first game was this Friday, and she always made it a priority to go to all his games, just like he made time to go to all her jumping shows, even though he hated the show scene.
"Well, don't worry, I'll be there to cheer you on." She raised her arms in the air and said: "Go team, Go!" in a cheery voice.
Ty chuckled, taking a drink of his water. "You're a loser."
His eyes, which had been on her, now flickered above her head, and his smiled faltered. Amy turned to see who was behind her, and her eyes widened when she saw Braydon.
"Hey!" Amy chirped..
"Hey Ames." Amy glanced at Ty, seeing him frown at her nickname. Amy, herself, was confused as to why he'd used it. He'd known her all of two seconds. Braydon sat down next to her, and Amy, guiltily happy at this gesture, turned towards him, her back to Ty.
"How did it go?" Braydon smiled at her, still friendly.
"Great. Coach says I can start practice tomorrow. I can't play in the game this week, but I didn't expect to, being so late to join." Amy nodded, her insides flaring at their normal conversation. She couldn't pretend that she wasn't attracted to his slick looks and easy smile.
"That's awesome!" Amy smiled brightly. She heard a cough from behind her, but knowing it was Ty she didn't turn around. She kept looking at Braydon, and didn't miss his smirk at Ty's cough. She crinkled her eyes in confusion, and looked over her shoulder to see Ty hunched over his knees with his head down. She then looked back at Braydon, who's smile had become flirtatious again.
Amy didn't understand this, but shook it off. For the next five minutes she was easily poured herself into conversation with Braydon, not noticing as his eyes flickered to Ty now and again, coupled with a knowing smirk.
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An hour and a half later: 5:30
"Done, finally!" Nina collapsed at Amy's feet, on the gym floor.
"But you did it! You're like, 100 dollars richer!" Nina smiled, and poked her leg.
"Only 60. I'm not taking money from the guys who bet on me being able to do it." Nina mock glared at Hollie, who raised her hands innocently.
"Hey." Ty held out a hand to pick up Nina, smiling at Amy. Nina grabbed his hand, was lifted up, and when she went to pull away Ty grasped her in a hug.
"Ugh, you big pile of sweat, get off me!" Ty laughed, squeezed Nina, then let her go.
"Congratulations, you proved us wrong."
"You bet your ass I did." Nina smiled as Ty rolled his eyes.
Amy, who had been itching to go home and see Seafoam, looked at Ty. "You ready?" Ty nodded, picked up his bag, and shouldered it. They said goodbye to everyone, then headed towards the door.
"So, you're friends with the criminal?" Ty asked, casually.
"I ran into him on the way here. We talked." Ty looked at her skeptically. "He seems nice, really. I don't think the criminal thing is true...but I didn't ask."
"Well, someone should find out. I don't want you getting mixed up with him if he's doing things he shouldn't be." Amy laughed.
"Hey, big brother? I'm fine. I like him."
Ty eyes bulged. "You like him?" Amy nodded. "Amy, I just told you, don't get to know him until you're sure...and please, don't like him." Amy suddenly realized what he was talking about.
She reached down and grabbed his hand, squeezing it, then letting it go. "I meant he's a nice guy. I don't like like him."
Ty looked relieved. "Good. But don't start to, not until you know for sure. He's not a good guy to like if its true."
"Yeah, yeah." She smiled at him as they climbed in the car.
There you go. I'm actually getting somewhere with this story. As for my other stories, 7th Hell included, I'm still experiencing some writers block. But I've got this story mapped out. So expect another chapter soon, maybe even tomorrow. I mean, after four months of waiting, you guys deserve it:)