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On My Mind

Chapter 3

Amber looked around her bedroom and smiled. She had all her clothes packed away in drawers and hanging up in her closet. Her shoes were perfectly aligned according to color, her accessories hanging on her vanity and her jackets/sweatshirts hung on hooks. She admired her handiwork which was her re-assembled bed, which only took a couple hours, and one wall painted dark purple while the rest were a shade of beige. The room screamed Amber which made her proud that she accomplished it in not only such a short amount of time but with absolutely no motivation. However, she knew that within a week it would look like a completely different room but she could deal with that. I think I am going to be taking pictures of this to put on my Christmas card, she thought with a giggle. She looked at her watch and sighed when she saw she should start getting ready for her dinner with John.

She hopped in the shower, due to her sweaty state. When she was out she blow dried her hair and immediately straightened it after to avoid the frizz she experienced often. Amber walked to her closet and decided that a pair of black skinny jeans and a red cashmere sweater would be appropriate for this occasion. And the best thing about these pieces of clothing was that they were wrinkle free which meant that she was making a good third impression which, she reasoned with herself, was definitely more important than a second impression.

When she looked at the clock and saw that it was already 6:30, she ran to the kitchen, preheated her oven and squealed with joy when she saw that her friend had dishes and everything needed to make food in the cupboards. On her way into town yesterday, she had stopped at a grocery store to get her some snacks to tide her over for a while and she picked up some ready made cookies that she just had to put in the oven. She put them on the tray and popped them in the oven. In her experience, men always forgot dessert and then when she would politely ask where the hell the dessert was they'd act confused for a second and then say that Baby, he was all the dessert she would need. And, in such case she smiled, said excuse me, stood from the table and ever so nicely, with a smile of course, proceeded to pour the contents of her glass onto his lap or sometimes she liked to switch things up with pouring it on his head. And of course after that she would make her exit like the lady she was.

After 10 minutes, Amber had her make up applied and the cookies were done. She took them out and let them cool before she went back to her room and put on some red ballet flats. She gave herself the once over in the mirror before going to the kitchen to put the cookies in some type of container. Unfortunately she hadn't thought that far ahead and didn't have anywhere to put them. She stood in her kitchen, her back against the sink, finger on chin in a thoughtful position, staring off into space and then she had an epiphany. She briskly walked to the living room, scooping the pizza box into her arms and discarded the pizza remnants into the garbage can as she passed it. Being the nice person she was, she lined the bottom of the pizza box with the napkins she had, oddly enough, packed. She then scrounged up some packing tape and taped napkins on the inside top of the box. She smiled at how creative she was and piled the cookies into the box before placing her purse on top of said box and made her way out the door.

She made her way to John's porch and adjusted the box in her arms, knocking quickly before placing her arms back under the box to make sure it wouldn't fall. She looked through the window that was in the door and smiled when she saw him approaching the door and mentally had to slap herself from drooling at how good he looked.

"Well, don't we clean up nice?" John said with a grin as he opened the door.

"Why thank you. I could say the same for you." She said stepping inside when he ushered her.

"Thanks." He said looking at the box strangely.

"You didn't let me finish. I said I could say the same for you." She said and paused for dramatic effect. "But I won't." She finished with an innocent smiled with her head tilted to the side.

"That hurts." He said with mock hurt present in his voice, knowing she was kidding. She laughed for a second.

"I'm kidding. You look very handsome." She said. Boy, do you look handsome, she mentally added. He was quite the picture dressed in jeans and a button down black shirt with the top three buttons undone. She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard him say something. "Huh?" She asked.

He smiled and shook his head. "I asked, what is in the box?" He said eyeing the box confused.

"Dessert." She said holding the box so her arms were outstretched in front of her, practically touching him.

"Pizza?" He asked taking the box warily. Amber rolled her eyes and stepped closer.

"No, silly. Cookies." She said looking at his face as she lifted the lid showing the crispy, soft baked rounds. "it's the only thing I had to put them in."

John laughed and started walking, motioning for her to follow him. "That was real thoughtful of you. I completely forgot about dessert." He said walking into the kitchen, and set it on the counter.

"I had a feeling you would." She said taking a seat on a bar stool, connected to the counter.

"Now why did you think that?" He asked standing on the other side of the counter wiping his hands with a dish rag.

She shrugged and smiled. "I just have a sixth sense about these things."

"Hmm. Alright. So what is your sixth sense telling you we are having for dinner?" He asked taking a bottle of wine out of a bucket of ice, popping the cork.

"It's telling me spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread," She said using her great sniffing power. "and is that a salad I see?" she asked using her also great sight power.

"Why yes it is." John exclaimed with fake joy and handed her a glass of wine before taking a sip from his own. "So how is the house coming along?" He asked as he checked on the pasta.

"Good. I made great progress today. You'll have to come over and see it sometime. Complete 180. However, its only my room and my bathroom but it looks killer if I do say so myself." She said taking a sip of her own wine.

"I'll have to make some time to do that." He said walking by her, taking her hand and led her into the dining room that was dimly lit with four candles on the table. He had set out two places, one at the head of the table and another one next to it. John held the chair for her to sit next to the head of the table. "Dinners almost ready. I'll be back in a minute with your salad. Italian or Ranch dressing?" He asked.

"Italian." She replied softly, taken aback by the beauty of the table. He nodded and walked into the kitchen, leaving Amber in her thoughts. While she did think this was beautiful, she was confused. Did he think this was a date? Was he trying to romance her? She knew he was a good looking guy and by how he had been treated her she knew he was a good guy, but she just moved here and she knew she couldn't rush into a relationship. Her thoughts were interrupted when John reentered the room. He set her salad in front of her and his in front of his own place setting.

"So Amber, do you have any siblings?" John asked eating his salad.

Amber stiffened at first mention of siblings but shook herself physically, knowing she had to talk about it to let go. "I...I" She repeated when her voice cracked. "I did. I had three older brothers. But they died in a fire, along with my parents. Actually, it was only my parents in the house while it was burning but my brothers are…were firefighters. The fire got out of control and no matter how hard their chief and coworkers tried, they couldn't get them to leave the house. They said that they wouldn't leave until they saved my parents. Well, two of them were upstairs when the floor gave out and my brother that was on the first level died instantly when the floor's impact hit him. My other brothers were pretty shooken up and rushed down stairs to try to save him but the stairs gave out under them." She explained taking a few seconds to regain her composure. "One of them was in a coma for three days before his heart gave out and the other was actually fine for a week and then he had a heart attack. They said something about the smoke getting to his lungs or something. I don't really see how that would cause a heart attack, but I suppose it doesn't really mater." She finished her story looking up at John who looked stunned and tried to hold in the tears she felt coming.

"I'm really sorry Amber. Really sorry. I wish I knew what you were going through to try and make you feel better but I don't." He said making her laugh slightly. He moved his hand on her back and made slow circles. "I'm glad you told me. I think you're a great girl and I would love to become great friends." He said as she looked up at him and smiled softly.

"I would like that too." She replied. "Thanks for listening. I haven't told anyone what happened for a long time."

"Well, I'm glad you decided to tell me." He said with a smile. "All better?" He removed his hand and she almost cried out in protest.

She nodded. "Much."

"So what were your brothers names?" He asked hoping to make the conversation happy again, which he think he accomplished because he saw her smile thinking about them.

"Mitch, he was like a father figure and always picked on my dates, Ryan, he always picked on me, and Jackson, he used to put frogs in my bed." She said with a laugh at the memories flashing through her mind as she took the last bite of her salad. "That was good."

"Thank you." He said leaning closer to her, wanting to hear more about her brothers. "How old were they?"

"Mitch was 37, Ryan was 35, and Jackson was 33. I wasn't expected so I was much younger." I said with a smile and a laugh.

"They sound great." He said as he got up to clear the dishes and bring out the spaghetti. Five minutes later, he walked out with two plates full of spaghetti and meatballs and garlic bread. "My lady." He said setting my plate in front of me.

"Thank you." She said lifting her glass for a toast. "To my new friend and neighbor who has saved me much time and years of debt in back therapy bills." She said as he lifted his own glass.

"And to my new friend and neighbor for being fun and a great person to talk to." He said as they clinked glasses. They both took a bite of their spaghetti and moaned at how good it was.

"So John, do you have any other siblings besides your sister?" She asked after she swallowed before going back for more.

"Yeah, I have an older brother and three younger." He said already almost finished with his plate.

"Wow. And I thought I had a lot of siblings." She said with a laugh, already feeling full. They pretty much talked the rest of the way through dinner and dessert with no awkward or uncomfortable moments. When Amber said she better head home, John politely walked her to her door and watched her go in before making his short walk back home.

Amber quickly changed into her pajamas and brushed her teeth before jumping into bed and turning off the light in one swift movement. It took her a while to get to sleep but once she did, she had nothing but pleasant and dreamy dreams.

A/N: alrighhttt. i am whipping this out. i'm very proud of myself. i've been trying to upload another chapter to Living the Dream but it hasnt been letting me for the past couple of days. i guess i'll just keep trying but make sure you look out for that. Reviews are always nice.