When Amber's cheese pizza with white sauce arrived she ate in silence and contemplated what she should do for the rest of the day. After eating she headed to the library, but even the thought of being surrounded by books didn't cheer Amber up. She wandered her neighborhood aimlessly and ended up back where she started. Not wanting to go inside Amber sat down in the grass and retrieved the paperback from her purse.
“Hey,” a voice said, before she finished reading the first page.
“It's Joshua Kirk! What the hell? Is he following me now or something?” Amber thought.
“Um...hi,” Amber said, without looking up.
“What's up?” the voice said again.
With a sigh Amber looked up from her book. Joshua Kirk was standing in front of her wearing jeans and a black tee. His short brown hair was windblown, but his brown eyes were bright in the afternoon sun. Joshua grinned, revealing his lack of dimples. Amber returned his smile feeling slightly disappointed.
“Just reading,” Amber said holding the book up awkwardly.
“Cool,” Joshua said, sitting down in the grass next to her, “You come here a lot.”
At first Amber thought he was asking a question. The words had been a statement, not a question. How did he know how often she frequented the library?
“Yeah, I guess so,” she shrugged turning her attention back to the book.
“I come here a lot, too,” Joshua said.
Amber hid her grin behind the book. Joshua Kirk was trying to start a conversation with her and it made him ner
vous. Greg had sounded the same way the first few times he had spoken to her on the bus.
“Cool,” Amber said, unsure what he was expecting her to say, “But I haven't seen you around.”
“I come here to do homework, so I usually keep to myself,” he shrugged.
“Me too,” Amber nodded.
“I've noticed,” Joshua laughed.
“What's that supposed to mean?” she asked.
“Nothing, I was just saying that I noticed you stayed to yourself,” Joshua said.
Amber's phone vibrated in her back pocket and she sprang to her feet.
“Are you okay?” Joshua asked.
Amber ignored him and pulled out her phone to answer it.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Kiddo,” her dad said, “I just got home and was wondering if you wanted to drive out to Marley's for dinner with me?”
“No, I'm okay, Dad. I'll have leftovers, okay?” Amber said.
She didn't want to go to dinner at Aunt Marley's. The woman would drone on and on about how imperfect she was. Amber was surprised that her aunt could live with herself.
“You sure?” her dad asked, “Where are you?”
“I'm at the library, reading,” Amber said.
“Okay, make sure you eat dinner though, okay?”
“Yes, Sir!” Amber said with a small chuckle.