Tada! Look how quick I updated!!! Okay. So. This chapter has been a long time coming...it might make some of you mad, it will probably make others happy. You'll understand what I mean.
Oh, and I wanted to say thank you to Tissue Paper Tiger for suggesting the first part of this chapter. I really hadn't even thought of that, and I had completely different plans for this chapter, but I shoved those off until the next update. Thanks, it was a great idea!
"Well," she heard the voice behind her, and turned, her eyes falling upon the redhead immediately, "I'm surprised at you, Amber."
Amber watched her with crystal eyes, the other girl's lips turned into a slight smirk as she studied Amber. In the few months since Christmas, Amber had made a genuine effort to save what was left of her vanity. She pulled her hair up now, tied it in a ribbon and allowed the few remaining blonde strands to rest behind her ear. She always wore her uniform with pride, always tied the apron around her slender waist carefully, despite the coffee stains that spotted it.
"Surprised?" Amber pursed her lips, her fingers curling into fists at her sides. She blinked, clenching her jaw, and the other girl watched her. "Surprised by what, Shelley?" She wasn't completely sure why she even bothered to ask. She knew what was coming; she knew that none of the girls, or boys, she had been friends with knew about most of her new life. Link was the sole exception; he was the only one of the entire council that Amber associated with, and had even invited he and Tracy over to Corny's house a few times to spend time with her. She knew that, in all honesty, it was a surprise. It was a surprise to see Amber working as what was often considered the lowest occupation one could desire. It was a surprise to all of them that she hadn't returned to the show, long after any physical pain Chip had inflicted upon her had faded. And most of all, she knew it was a surprise that she was still living with Corny, and that they often went out together now, almost as if they were a couple. The thought alone made her blush, but she realized this wasn't the time for that. She focused her gaze on Shelley again.
"Surprised by the fact that you're working here," she started smugly, "I mean, surely, Corny must be paying you something for fucking him."
Amber set her jaw. She should have expected this. It wasn't good enough that she had finally admitted to living with Corny, and that she had gracefully resigned from her position on the show. The unexpected part was that Shelley had even confronted her now, because, for a while, she and Shelley had actually gotten along. They'd sat together at lunch, Amber had listened as Shelley had droned on about the daily gossip that Amber herself couldn't even have pretended to be interested in. Still, they had lived in a kind of orchestrated paradise for a while. When word had gotten around school that Amber was living with Corny, Shelley had become particularly testy again; she had, in fact, shunned her more than any of the other council members had, and although Amber had her assumptions, she wasn't completely sure why.
"I'm not fucking him, Shelley," her voice was low, and her eyes darted around the small café. She was particularly grateful that Shelley hadn't simply said sleeping with him, because that was true. Not in the sexual way, of course, but for the past few weeks she had been crawling into his bed at night, just to feel that human contact that she hadn't had in months and so desperately craved. She liked falling asleep next to him, in the sheets that smelled the tiniest bit like a mixture of his cologne and coffee. She found it comforting, knowing that if she woke in the middle of the night, he was right there next to her. She liked waking up next to him in the mornings and being able to talk, and knowing that he would listen. It was the kind of comfort that she'd never known.
It was the first time she'd let herself become completely and willingly vulnerable to another person, maybe her entire life.
"Oh, I bet." Shelley let her fingertips rest on her slim hips, her eyes still watching Amber. "You know, it must be hard going from the self-proclaimed queen of the universe to what you are now." Her words were said with such a sneer that it made Amber's blood run cold.
She wanted to raise her voice, maybe even hit Shelley, or try to scratch her eyes out, but she kept her cold gaze locked on her. She couldn't make a scene, especially not here, at work. The last thing in the world she wanted was to be fired, especially because of something like this. She swallowed hard, and turned her face away.
"You don't even know what you're talking about, Shelley." She narrowed her eyes at the other girl, who arched her eyebrows in return. "You have no idea what you're dealing with."
"Actually," Shelley replied smartly, "I think it's funny. You got knocked down from your pedestal, and now you're on the bottom of the fucking heap." She chuckled softly, "That's all I really need to understand, Amber."
Amber swallowed hard, averting her eyes from her, turning from her before looking at her again.
"What are you doing here? What do you want? If you're going to eat, sit down. If not, get the hell out."
"No, I don't think I will." Shelley took a step closer to her, "Do you understand how long I have waited to see this happen to you? To see you crawling on the ground like the rodent that you are, Amber?"
"You're a bitch," Amber spat the word back at her, "Leave me the hell alone." She turned to leave and Shelley caught her by the arm, her fingernails digging slightly into her arm.
"At least I'm not a fucking beggar, Amber." Her blue eyes were laughing suddenly, "You are disgusting. You're the same thing as a hooker; you go around begging people to give you money for some pathetic service you offer." She smirked again, "And your mother. Oh, God, Amber; don't get me started on her. What's it like for her since she's lost her job? Is she living on the streets yet?"
Amber sucked her breath in quickly, and bit down on the inside of her lip. She glared at her, tears forming behind her eyes.
"Fuck you." Amber's words were low, and she could hear her own voice trembling.
Shelley smirked at her, tilting her head slightly.
"Is that any way to talk to a customer, Amber?" She sneered, "I don't think your boss would be very happy if I happened to tell him what you just said to me." She grinned, playing with her fingernails for a moment, making no attempt to hide the joy in her voice. "Do you think he'd fire you?" Their eyes met suddenly, and she grinned.
Amber made a conscious effort to remain stoic. She was half tempted to call her out on her bluff, but knew better. Shelley was a vicious girl, and Amber knew that she would stoop to levels lower than even humanly comprehensible if tempted. She wasn't going to push her.
"What do you want from me?" She was a victim again, begging Shelley in so many words not to hurt her, not to cause her any more pain than she'd already been through. As she studied the other girl, she couldn't help but feel somewhat sorry for her. Shelley was eighteen years old, a high school senior. She thought the world was Baltimore, had no idea that there was something beyond The Corny Collins Show. And though Amber was technically younger than Shelley by a few months, she felt so much older. Older than Shelley would ever be.
"I don't want anything," Shelley's voice was low, "because I've gotten everything I wanted. I got your place on the show; I got to see you knocked on your ass. Believe me, Amber…you've already given me everything I wanted." Shelley kept her eyes focused on her, reaching her hand around to the café's counter and pushing two full glasses of liquid onto the floor, smirking as they crashed to the ground, glass and their contents spilling around their feet. "Oops." She glanced down at the billowing liquid, and then back up at Amber. "I guess there is one more thing you can do for me. Get a mop and clean this shit up, like the fucking servant that you are."
Shelley stepped out of the way, her heels clicking as she made her way to the door and pushed through, not looking back at Amber.
Amber bit her lip, closing her eyes as she left. There was no point in fighting it. She stepped out of the way of the glass, returning a moment later with a broom, sweeping the floor until the bristles of the broom dripped with moisture. She tossed the shattered glass into the garbage can, thinking for a moment that she could sympathize with it. She knew how it felt to be knocked down, shattered, and thrown into the trash.
She got home from work a little after eleven, and tried to sneak up the stairs and through the house without waking Corny. She showered, if only to get the smell of smoke out of her hair, and then slipped into her silky nightgown, the one that brushed against her skin and made her feel like she was swimming in a pool of cream. It was soft, and smooth, and it caressed her in all the right places.
She slipped down the hall, and through the crack in Corny's bedroom door. She was silent, so as not to disturb him, and pulled the sheets back, sliding in beside him and curling away from him, into her usual position. She buried her face in her pillow, squeezing her eyes shut, trying to block the world out. She was home now, no matter how badly tonight had gone. She was home, in this bed that smelled like him, and everything was okay again, if only until tomorrow.
"You're home late tonight," his voice was groggy, and she could tell that he had been sleeping, even though she knew he would pretend he hadn't been. She turned slightly, looking at him in the darkness and laying on her belly, her cheek against the pillow.
"Yeah." Her voice was quiet, "I had to do something at work."
"Oh," he said softly, "Well, you're here now. That's good."
She tried to close her eyes and sleep again, but Shelley's words and images flashed in her mind suddenly. She swore softly, turning toward the wall and kicking the blankets from her legs angrily. She heard him shift beside her.
"Amber?" He was going to ask her what was wrong, she knew it before the words left his mouth, but she kept her face turned away from him. "What's wrong?"
"One of the council girls came into work, Corny." She hadn't necessarily meant to say the words, but they slipped out, and she turned to him slowly as he propped himself up on his arm to look at her.
"What happened?"
"She said some awful things to me." Her voice was small.
"Which one?" He sounded firm now, and she could tell, even in the darkness, that he was watching her.
"I can't-I can't tell you." She sighed softly, "I don't want you to make any rash decisions because of something someone said to me. That's not fair to them."
"It's not fair to you, Amber." He was still studying her, "Was it Shelley?"
She wasn't completely sure how he'd gotten it right on the first try, but she kept still, didn't say a word. She found his hand slowly, in the dark of the bedroom, tangling their fingers together. His warm hand cupped hers, and she smiled slightly into her pillow.
"It was Shelley," he sighed after a moment, "what did she say, Amber?"
She shook her head.
"I don't-I don't want to tell you." If he didn't already know people thought they were having sex, she didn't want to be the one to have to tell him. It would hurt his pride, that was for sure, and make Amber feel guiltier than she already did.
He was silent for a moment, and decided not to press her. If she didn't want to talk, fine. Still, his heart was suddenly pounding, his mind racing with consequences for Shelley's actions. She wouldn't get away with this.
"Okay," he whispered back to her, squeezing her hand. "But listen to me, Amber. One day, people are going to realize how amazing you are. They're going to realize that you are so much stronger than any of them realized."
Amber didn't respond, just listened to him in the darkness, her mouth suddenly dry.
"One day, you'll see some of the girls you used to be friends with, and you'll be able to smile, and wave at them and you won't even think about what's happening right now." He moved closer to her, if only by an inch, resting his head on his pillows, his eyes locked on hers. "And you'll find a good guy; someone who can show you how a woman should be treated. You'll see that not everyone is bad, Amber."
His words made her eyes burn with tears, her throat close up. It was so foreign to her, the idea that one day, she'd learn to trust again. Well, learn to trust someone other than him. She'd been relying solely on his companionship for so long that it felt unusual to even think about wanting to find new friends. It felt so strange to hear him say those words; find a good guy. He didn't know she'd already found the best one.
She was flushed suddenly, and was somewhat certain that he could hear her heart pounding in her chest. She swallowed back her fear, and raised her trembling fingers, the hand that wasn't entwined with his. She moved slightly, placing her fingertips on the side of his face, so gently that she wasn't even completely sure he could feel her touch. His skin was warm, and smooth, and she pulled herself up just enough so that she could support herself on her elbows as she spoke.
"Not everyone is you, Corny." She knew she should have done it in one quick motion, got it over with so that her nerves could stop being so jittery, but that wasn't right. That wasn't what she wanted; she needed this, but she needed it to be soft, and slow, not quick and meaningless.
She lowered her head toward his, her breath shallow and irregular. Her lips met his slowly, covering them in a soft yet intense kiss. She was trembling, her fingers brushing his cheek, her lips on his for another moment before she worked up the courage to slip her tongue into his mouth. She was sobbing now, on the inside, for him. For him to be the one to love her, for him to tell her that she could stay here, right here, in this house, in this bed. It was the one place that she'd found comfort.
The kiss was longer than she'd expected it to be, and as she pulled away from him, his eyes watching her, she curled into the space between his arm and chest, letting her head rest on him. She listened to the steady thump of his heart and realized something.
It wasn't this house, or this bed that was her home. It was him.