Chapter Seven

My feet were killing me, and I was ready to fall into bed and sleep for a week by the time Friday afternoon came around.

A turtle could have beaten me as I shuffled down the hallway towards my apartment. I refused to move any faster then was completely necessary considering my feet were killing me and I was just about ready to fall into bed and sleep for a week.

As I rounded the corner, I raised an eyebrow in confusion when I noticed Jay sprawled out in the hallway. "What are you doing?"

He looked up and smiled at me, "hey there Jack, how are you?"

Jack? Did he just call me Jack?

I frowned in confusion before realisation flooded me, "oh my god, you're never going to let me live down my choice of reading material are you?"

"Probably not anytime soon, no."

"What are you doing out here?" I questioned, as I came to a halt and leaned against the wall.

"A very demanding woman has taken over my room," he answered with a grimace.

"Girlfriend?"

Jay rolled his eyes, "mother."

"Ah," I breathed in realisation.

"She claims I live in a pigsty."

I smiled, "well I'm sure she's overreacting."

"Actually she's probably not far off the mark," Jay corrected, "but its not mess. Its organised chaos."

I grinned, "of course it is."

Jay shifted his position, "How was work?"

I pondered the question, "it was…" I trailed off. "Have you ever had to be in close proximity to an ex?"

Jay nodded.

"Well my day was something like that."

"Torturous and awkward with a lot of unresolved sexual tension going on?"

I nodded, "yeah something like that… But I don't know about the sexual tension."

"Its definitely there. I mean think about it. You're with a person for any given period of time, so you spend a lot of time thinking about them and being with them. And then you break up… where does all that love and affection go? It doesn't just disappear you know?"

I wrinkled my nose, "I don't know if I like the sound of that."

A crash came from Jay's room and he grimaced, "yeah well I don't like the sound of my mum in my room either. But that's life."

I chuckled and pushed myself away from the wall, "yeah well, tell your mum I say hello ok? I'm going to go fall into bed and sleep for a week."

I started my slow shuffle towards my apartment door.

Jay watched my progress for several moments. "If you don't hurry up you'll be walking for a week."

"Shut up you."

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An hour later, my conversation with Jay was still running around in my brain.

My original idea for the afternoon was to stumble into my apartment and sleep for a week, but instead, I found myself sipping coffee and eating Tim-tams while I scribbled my random thoughts haphazardly into my diary.

When I reached the end of the page I closed my notebook with a snap and pulled on a jacket before I stepped out onto my balcony.

The late afternoon winter air hit me like a bucket of cold water being dumped over my head and I crossed my arms across my chest before wandering over to the far right of my balcony.

"Jay!" I bellowed abruptly, breaking the deathly silence that surrounded Muscrove Apartments, "are you in there?"

It took a few moments, but finally a bewildered face came into view. "You know you could of just walked the two meters to my apartment door, Jack." Jay told me as he stepped onto his balcony and pulled a jumper on over his head.

"I didn't know if your mum was still there," I admitted with a sheepish grin, "and I'm sorry, but I don't want to be kicked out of my apartment while she cleans my fridge which probably hasn't been cleaned since I first moved in."

Jay wrinkled his nose, "ok that was a bit too much information. What's up?"

"I need to pick your brain."

"Pick my brain?" Jay repeated as he crossed his balcony towards me and leant against the railings two foot from my own, "I'm intrigued."

"Tell me more about this 'when you break up where does all the affection go' thing," I said leaning on my balcony railing comfortably.

Jay shrugged, "there's not really a lot to tell. It's just a thought. What do you want to know?"

I pondered the question, "do you think that when people break up, and then get back together, that it has something to do with the fact that the passion never really went anywhere?"

"Sure," Jay agreed, "I mean think about it. People usually break up because something crappy happened; like cheating or an argument. But after a while, when they can't really remember why they're mad, then things just go back to the way they were."

I frowned, "but some relationships can't be fixed right?"

Jay shrugged, "I guess. But for love to turn into hate? That would have to be a pretty big thing to go wrong don't you think?"

"What about those couples who break up and date other people? Do you reckon they'll ever get back together?"

"I'm not Doctor Phil, Jack."

I grinned, "I know, I just want your opinion."

"Well…" Jay began slowly, "I guess it depends on whether or not they find someone to take over you know."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning," Jay began, "that, say your dating a guy, and you break up, and you figure it's a permanent break up, so you go out and date a few guys. Then you find a guy you really like, and suddenly you wake up one day and realise that you haven't thought about ex-boyfriend in months, because you've replaced him with your new boyfriend. Am I making sense?"

I nodded thoughtfully, "perfect sense."

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By Saturday night I was positively buzzing with suppressed energy as I hurried around my apartment attempting to juggle as many activities as possible.

"Lana my beautiful engaged friend, how much do you love me?"

On the other end of the phone Lana laughed, "what do you need Amber?"

I grinned as I hoped around my apartment, attempting to get my shoes on, "I'm on a mission, and this mission requires a very long night on the town with a very short dress and plenty of cocktails. Are you intrigued?"

"I'm very intrigued. Especially since you seem to be following the workaholic path recently. This is a nice change."

I paused my search for my handbag and frowned, "it hasn't been that long since I've been out."

"My wedding engagement was the last time. And that was two months ago." Lana told me, "and besides, that shouldn't even count because we didn't go out."

I resumed my search, "yeah well, I've decided that all this sitting around isn't working for me. I need some new blood in my life."

"On a mission to find a date to my wedding?"

I grinned, and got down on my knees to look under my bed, "have you even set a date yet?"

"Not yet."

'Then I don't think I'll have to worry about that for a while," I replied as I located my handbag and immediately began stuffing my essentials inside it, "anyway, point of phone call being, do you want to come out with me tonight or not?"

"You know I do."

"Excellent." I hurried over to my mirror and fixed my hair, "invite everyone you know and tell them to meet us at Livid at eleven. Ok?"

"You're bossy when you're on a mission."

"Goodbye Lana."

I clicked my mobile closed without waiting for a reply before slipping into my little black dress, and hurrying out of my apartment. I tottered down the hallway and knocked loudly on Jay's door.

There was loud crashing from inside and I raised my eyebrow in amusement when loud cursing followed. A few moments later Jay opened the door, his hair horribly mussed with paint smears all over his face and shirt.

I looked at him curiously, "I'm sorry, am I interrupting some horribly kinky sex encounter involving paint?"

"Ha ha," Jay replied dryly. He opened his door further and gestured me inside, "come on in. You look nice."

"Thank you." I stepped into his apartment and looked around curiously. I hadn't been within this room since Danny left, and part of me expected to have a huge wave of memories wash over me. But they didn't… because there was not one ounce of similarity between Danny's apartment and Jay's apartment… other than the fact that the walls were the same colour.

Danny's apartment had always seemed a bit un-lived in because his apartment was so incredibly basic. He had a fridge, and a bed and every other necessity he needed, but other than that, it had always looked a bit like a motel room.

Jay's apartment was the complete opposite.

It wasn't that Jay's apartment was messy… not at all… it just had so much "stuff" in it. His book and CD collections were seemingly endless. They filled two entire bookshelves and were stacked around the room at random intervals. His entertainment system took up an entire wall, and in front of it stood a canvas with an abstract painting half finished. His walls were filled with posters and photo frames, every surface was covered with nick-knacks, except for the coffee table, which was almost unrecognisable under an unorganised stack of magazines.

"Wow." I murmured simply as I looked around, "this is what I imagine the inside of my head would look like."

"Its organised chaos," Jay told me as he cleared a pile of clothes off a chair and gestured for me to sit.

I plopped down into it. "It was ambitious of your mum to try and clean."

Jay shrugged and picked up his easel, "that's her prerogative. She doesn't like clutter. Unfortunately for her, I'm a collector. I love clutter."

I looked around, "doesn't it completely overwhelm you sometimes?"

Jay looked at me and grinned, "I don't crave organization like you do. I like to have lots of possessions. The messier the better, it makes everything more cosy."

I pulled my feet up onto the chair and curled up comfortably.

"So what brings you here so dressed up?" Jay questioned.

"I'm heading out on the town tonight with a bunch of friends and was wondering if you wanted to join us?"

"Destination?"

"Livid. It's a new little club in the city. A friend of mine is doing their public relations and their opening is tonight, which means cutting the cue and plenty of free drinks. You in?"

Jay looked at me and nodded, "sure, why not."

I grinned and jumped to my feet, "excellent. Get dressed, we leave in fifteen."

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Have you ever had one of those moments where you have to make a split second decision, but you feel as though you could have mulled over the alternatives for hours?

By midnight that night, I was having one of those moments.

Livid was packed, the most recent music was thumping, the drinks were flowing, and I was feeling pretty amazing because I had four guys' numbers down my bra.

"What's a long island iced tea?" my assistant Julie asked as we examined our cocktail menus. After several rounds of shots, we all thought it was a good idea to move on to something a little less potent.

"It's only the best drink known to man," Jay told her. "I recommend it."

"Don't listen to him," Lana interrupted, "a long island iced tea is worse than all those shots we just had put together."

"So its decided," I grinned, my eyes sparkling with excitement, "we'll have a round of long island ice teas."

Lana made a face, "yuck."

I laughed and swivelled in my seat, sticking my hand in the air to get a bartenders attention. It was only when I had signalled the attention of a near by waiter and was turning back around when it happened.

I don't know how I managed to recognise him, considering the lighting was so low I could barely see Lana across the table. But there he was… Danny Jones… the one man in the world I couldn't seem to get away from.

"Omg," I groaned turning quickly in my seat and ducking my head before he could recognise me. "Lana you will not believe who is across the room."

Immediately catching on to my tone, Lana's mouth dropped open, "no."

"Yeah."

"No.

"Yes."

"Am I missing something here?" Jay asked from beside me.

"Amber's ex is here," Lana informed him.

"Danny is here?" Eric questioned sitting up in his seat and glancing across the club, "where?"

"The infamous ex?" Jay asked with a grin, "well where is he? I need to meet this guy."

I groaned at the boy's reactions.

Jay shoved me playfully, "oi lets go get drinks and then you can introduce me."

I whipped my head around to him, "what? Are you serious? No!"

"Then at least point him out to me."

I sunk down into my seat and attempted to look as invisible as possible as Lana and Eric pointed Danny out.

"He looks like that guy from that pop band."

"He is the guy from that pop band," Lana replied as she picked ice from her cup and ate it.

Jay looked at me in amusement, "aw Amber you were the envy of thirteen year old girls everywhere."

"Omg," I exclaimed in horror as I slid out of the booth in attempt to get as far away from this crazy situation as possible.

Jay laughed and followed me, "hey wait up, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. Well I did, but I'm sure we can…"

'Amber!"

I grimaced, that voice sounded way too familiar.

I shot evil eyes at Jay before turning reluctantly to see Tom and Danny pushing through the crowd towards me.

"Kill me now," I pleaded with Jay.

He grinned in amusement at me. "I'll buy you a drink instead."

"Your useless to me," I muttered before forcing a polite smile, "hey. Tom, Danny, this is Jay. Jay, this is Tom and Danny, they're my current clients."

Tom extended a hand, "nice to meet you man."

"You too," Jay smiled shaking Tom's hand, "I've heard a lot about you guys." He extended his hand to Danny.

Danny met my eyes curiously before shaking Jay's hand, "so how do you guys know each other?"

"Oh we're dating," Jay replied.

I closed my eyes in horror.

"Really?" Tom asked, "That's great. I didn't know you were seeing anyone Amber."

I quickly weighed my options. I could set the record straight or I could play along with this strange little game. I instantly wished I could freeze time so I could think this out more thoroughly. I finally replied, "Yeah well, I don't really mix business with personal." I smiled awkwardly, "excuse us."

I grabbed Jay's hand and dragged him away. It was only when we were across the room I turned to him, "are you nuts?"

Jay laughed and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, "c'mon partner, I'll buy you a nice strong drink."

Five minutes later Jay and I were seated at the bar a round of empty shot glasses in front of us.

"Ya know that guy's still completely in love with you." Jay told me randomly.

I huffed, "what makes you say that?"

"You should have seen his reaction when I said we were dating," Jay replied passing a shot to me and downing his own. "What went on with you two?"

I rolled my eyes and downed my shot, 'I don't even want to talk about it. Its ancient history."

Jay shrugged, "whatever works for you. I'm going to the toilet. I'll be right back ok."

I lifted a hand in recognition, "I'll be here."

I was halfway through my next drink when Danny slid in next to me at the bar.

"So…" he began.

I glared at him, his entire demeanour just screamed drunk. "How many drinks have you had?"

He raised his bottle at me, "not nearly enough."

"What do you want Danny?"

He shrugged, "I just want to know how you've been."

"I've been great," I replied simply.

"And Don Juan, is he a nice guy?"

"His name is Jay. And he's wonderful."

Danny met my eyes, "wonderful huh?"

"Yes."

"So I guess you have a thing for next door neighbours…"

I glared at him, "stop it."

Danny looked at me innocently, "stop what?"

I downed the rest of my drink and got off my stool. "Jealousy doesn't suit you," I told him before storming off.

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To be continued...

I'm planning for this fiction to have about ten chapters... so never fear readers, the end is in sight... will Danny and Amber end up back together?

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