Justin inclined his head. “Always liked that girl. Good head on her shoulders.”
“So it's been a day full of changes for both of us, I guess.”
“Yep,” Justin agreed, “I'm celebrating a fantastic addition to my life and you're celebrating a fantastic subtraction.”
Justin had to duck to avoid the napkin that came flying across the table at his head. He didn't care, though. It was worth ducking 100 napkins aimed at his head, just to see that sparkle in Amanda's eyes.
That sparkle reminded him of so many good times from their youth, so many fond memories of camaraderie and affection. He started to get slightly choked up, in spite of himself. The times he had spent with Amanda as a teenager were the only times he had ever felt purely loved, just for himself. He never felt judged, and he felt completely comfortable. In fact, times spent hanging out with Amanda had felt far more like home to him than any time he had ever spent in the so-called “home” that he had grown up in.
Amanda leaned back in her chair and yawned prettily, moving her hand up to her mouth in a dainty gesture. She then brought her arms up above her head and stretched like a cat, seeming to luxuriate in it.
Justin felt an acute sense of disappointment, realizing that this probably signaled the abrupt end to this pleasant evening.
“Are you sleepy?” he asked, “Do you need me to get out of your way so you can go to bed?”
“Hmmm...” she said, considering, “I do feel kind of sleepy, but you know what actually sounds much better than crashing right now?”
Justin smiled. They had always had a weird ability to know what the other was thinking in many situations, and this was no exception. The scene popped into his head fully formed – the two of them on the couch in the dark, covered in quilts and the flickering blue light of the TV. He knew immediately that he was right, this was what was on her mind. This is how it had always been between the two of them. He didn't know how he knew, but he was one hundred percent certain.
“Movie Night?”
She rewarded him with the enthusiastic brandishing of finger guns, which he had always regarded as her nerdiest – and therefore most endearing – habit.
“Exactly!” Amanda exclaimed.
One thing they had never had was completely simpatico taste in movies, but there were a few that they could always agree on. He set one of these in his mind, and decided to test out their mental connection to see if it still went both ways.
“You know what movie I'm thinking of?” he asked with a wink.
“Goonies!” she said with complete conviction.
Interesting, so they still had it. He was glad. “Go cue it up, I'll get the blankets,” he told her.
“I'm changing into sweats first, I don't even care what I look like!” she declared emphatically.
“Amanda, don't you know? You're even sexier in sweats than you are all dolled up,” Justin said with a smile.
They settled in on the couch, about six inches apart. Justin pressed play on the remote and the familiar opening scenes of the movie began to play, launching them both back into feelings of nostalgia. Seemingly without thought, Amanda sighed contentedly and leaned her head onto Justin's shoulder, just like the old days. As the film progressed, she snuggled in even closer.
By the time the kids on the screen were well into the cave in search of treasure – and the movie had settled into a feeling of dimly lit intimacy because of that dark, claustrophobic setting – that same cozy sensation was permeating the den where Justin and Amanda sat cuddling and watching the story play out.
Suddenly, it became a little bit too intense for Justin to tolerate. Even though he had made up his mind that he would win Amanda back, he wasn't ready to completely surrender himself to this feeling of intimacy – of family, really – until he knew that she was all in, as well. If she broke his heart when this was all said and done, it would be that much harder to recover from if he'd let himself get accustomed to the feeling of connection between them. Moreover, if he'd let himself become accustomed to the feeling of being deeply connected to anyone in the world, it would be that much harder to go back to being alone if it were ripped away.
Justin paused the movie and jumped up abruptly, surprising Amanda. “I need a drink, want anything from the kitchen?” he said, too quickly and too brightly. He heard his own voice betraying him as it left his mouth, but he was powerless to modulate it, somehow.
Amanda shook her head and smiled shyly, “I think maybe the last thing I need right now is additional intoxication,” she said, not quite meeting his eyes.
Justin turned and walked into the kitchen, smiling broadly at her statement. That was a good sign if he'd ever heard one. He also considered the wisdom of her words. If he were to keep his emotions in check this evening, then probably alcohol was the last thing he needed.
Besides, he thought he had a better idea. A way to satisfy a different kind of craving, as well as move forward with his campaign of showing Amanda what a great, thoughtful guy he could be, and further solidifying their bond.
A few minutes later, Justin re-entered the den with a large bowl heaped full with mounds of ice cream, covered in chocolate syrup and nuts, and topped with whipped cream. Sticking out from opposite sides of the bowl were two spoons.
“Here you are, madam, a sundae for two. What would movie night be without ice cream?”
Amanda's eyes lit up and she actually clapped her hands in front of her like a 6-year-old. Justin thought that it was possibly the most adorable reaction to ice cream that he – or maybe anyone – had ever seen.
He sat back down in his place on the couch and bundled himself back up in the blankets with one hand while holding the bowl aloft with the other. When he lowered the bowl between them, he saw a glint of disappointment in her eyes. “No cherries?” she said, slightly dejectedly.
“Girl, please,” Justin said with a laugh, “You think you need to remind me about you and ice cream? Not only are you the only person I've ever known who craves ice cream even when they're freezing cold, but you have the most obsessive fondness for Maraschino cherries known to mankind. You think I left you hanging?”
And with that, he used his spoon to move aside the outer edge of whipped cream, to reveal that the interior of the entire bowl was ringed with the bright red candied cherries, probably 25 or 30 in all. Amanda laughed delightedly and, without forethought or guile, leaned over and gave Justin a light peck on the lips.
She drew back quickly, flustered, having obviously surprised herself as much as she had surprised Justin. Justin's lips burned with the heat of their contact with Amanda's lips, however fleeting and casual it may have been. Suddenly, his body was alive, electricity firing his nerve endings, his heartbeat and breath speeding up, and his desire for Amanda stirring in every cell of his body.
He gazed into her eyes, and he saw by the flush creeping up her neck and the increased speed and shallowness with which her breaths were coming that she felt the charge in the atmosphere that was now between them, as well. With that one millisecond of contact, their facade of casual camaraderie had dropped like the curtain on a bad play. Suddenly, their true emotion and their true connection was on naked, raw display. It could no longer be denied.
They moved their heads closer together, their lips drawing towards one another, slowly, inexorably, the crackling tension in the air growing thicker with each millimeter closer together they moved.
Justin had just closed his eyes, anticipating the feel of Amanda's warm lips on his, so tantalizingly close he could almost taste them – when a wriggling rush of black fur jumped up onto the couch between them, nose twitching as he jostled them apart.
Amanda gasped, and Justin laughed in shock.
“He must smell the hot fudge,” Amanda giggled shakily.
Justin bent down and called Teddy back onto to the floor between their feet, where he curled up and plopped his head down with a dissatisfied chuff.
Justin straightened in his seat on the
couch, and looked at Amanda, studying her face for clues as to how to proceed. She was flushed, and couldn't quite meet his eyes, but she seemed determined not to let the atmosphere turn awkward. She too-brightly said, “At least he didn't tip over the ice cream!”
Justin smiled, and followed her lead, “That would have been a real tragedy,” he smiled.
He pressed play on the remote control, and the tale of the ragtag band of misfit teens of Astoria, Oregon resumed on the television screen.
Amanda and Justin each grabbed their spoon and dug into their ice cream. They didn't snuggle up again for the rest of the movie, but Justin felt that a very important line had been crossed. He had seen that he still got to Amanda – not just physically. She still cared. And tonight had shown him that she did have the ability to get past the hurt and enjoy spending time with him. He still had the unique ability to bring a smile of delight to her face and eyes with the simplest gesture.
Really, it was everything, Justin reasoned. If he turned her on, which had been well-proved on more than one occasion, and she still got pleasure from spending time with him, which tonight had convinced him of, if nothing else – well, what more was there?
Project Win Amanda Back was going ahead full steam. Damn it, tonight he had become convinced. She still loved him. Just like before.
Chapter 24
The next morning, Amanda sat at the breakfast table, sipping coffee and and trading gossip with the Fabulous Four. As she had predicted, they were more than supportive of her plan to break up with Geoffrey. In fact, she had even tried to call his cell phone twice while sitting there at the table with the girls, so that she could effect the breakup with the benefit of the moral support of her friends, but she had just gotten his voice mail both times. She left a message simply asking him to call her the first time, and the second time, hung up when she heard his outgoing message kick in.
She shrugged, “It's not like him to let my calls go to voice mail,” she said, sounding slightly concerned, “and he's always up by this hour. He's an early riser.”
Karina shrugged, “Maybe he can psychically sense that he's about to get the boot,” she posited.
Amanda shook her head, “He's been acting so strangely since my father died. Honestly, I'd put it down to jealousy over Justin, but he was definitely behaving that way since before Justin came into the picture. I don't get it. You guys don't know what he was like before. He was a very controlled man. His manners were impeccable. He was almost like an actor, reading lines from a very formal play in most instances.
“But, since my father's death, he's been short-tempered, high-strung – it takes almost nothing to set him off. This obsession with me selling my father's property,” she shook her head, “I hate to say this, but it honestly has me wondering if he might not be somewhat unbalanced.”
Karina snorted, “Wouldn't surprise me.”
“It does make me wonder what would have set it off, though,” she mused, “He and my father were not close. I wouldn't have thought Daddy's death would affect him that much, if at all. I really don't understand it.”
“Sometimes things effect us in different ways,” Sam input reasonably, “If he and your father were not close, perhaps it's merely the fact of a death which has him so spooked.”
“Or maybe this is bringing up buried emotions in him about a time when someone he was, in fact, close to died, and he just doesn't know how to talk about them,” Lauren added helpfully.
“Or maybe,” Karina interjected in a comically exaggerated helpful tone, “He's just so unused to having to put someone else's needs and feelings first that it actually short-circuited his brain!”
All four of them laughed, although Amanda a bit reluctantly. She did admit to feeling some guilt about laughing at Geoffrey's expense when, as far as he knew, they were still a couple, and she still had his back. Still, it did feel good to release some of her tension through merriment.
All of a sudden, Karina sat up straighter. “Girls!” she exclaimed, “I know exactly what we need!”
The other three looked at her expectantly.
“Girls day!” she declared triumphantly.
The expectancy on the three faces tuned to puzzlement.
“Come on you guys,” wheedled Karina, “This will be a perfect way to do some wonderful self-loving, self-supporting, stress-relieving activities. Also, more bonding time for us.”
“Well, what would we be doing?” Samantha inquired.
“I'm glad you asked,” Karina continued with a flourish, “We can head down to Sacramento. Everything we need for a brilliant girls day is right there. I know a fabulous health spa where we can take a Zumba class and then get our hair done and get mani-pedis. We can get massages. We can stop for a sandwich so we officially become ladies who lunch. We can go shopping and get this one,” she pointed squarely at Amanda, “a brand-new, grown-up friendly wardrobe.”
Lauren looked Amanda up and down. “I'm in,” she agreed.
“Hey!” Amanda protested, “what's wrong with my clothes?”
Karina smiled, “Oh, honey, nothing for when you're working the resort. When you're climbing things, or fixing things, or, you know...whatever goes into working there that apparently requires that you wear jeans and Chucks every day.
“But this is officially a new era. You are not just spending your days taking tourists around on horseback anymore.”
“Point of fact, I never did that.” Amanda interjected.
“Not important,” Karina waved her off, “My point is, we are not simply working at a mountain adventure resort now, babe. We are now trying to catch a man. And man catching requires wardrobe.”
“I hate to admit it, but she's right,” Lauren agreed.
“Why do you hate to admit that?” Karina pulled a face.
Lauren ignored her, “It's not only about Justin, Mand. There's also the fact that you own a successful business now. Other people, like businesses that you may want to partner with, or your own employees, will only take you as seriously as you take yourself. When you dress every day in jeans and vintage tees, no makeup, and your hair in a ponytail, what that says to the world is – I still think of myself as a teenager, and you should treat me as such. The image that you want to portray is – yes, I'm casual, because I work in an outdoorsy business, but I still have my shit together and project an air of authority.”
“Whoa,” said Amanda, shaking her head to clear it, “If a new pair of slacks can say all that, then I say, Sacramento here I come.”
“Yes!” Karina celebrated, grabbing the car keys, “You will not be disappointed. My styling skills are second only to my musical stylings.”
--- ~ ---
As Karina stepped up to the counter at the Capital Day Spa and Fitness Center in Sacramento, Amanda noticed a whole new presence come over her. It wasn't merely in the way that she walked more confidently, with her shoulders thrown back and her stride strong and purposeful. It was an aura that came over her, a command of the room, that was unlike anything Amanda had seen her project in the past.
Suddenly, she was no longer Karina Blackstone, Amanda's friend from high school. Right before Amanda's eyes, she transformed into pop sensation Karina Black, Super Star.
As Amanda watched her walk across the crowded lobby, she saw heads turn in response to Karina's energy, before anyone even recognized who she was. Amanda was blown away. Was this what they meant by the phrase “star power?” Amanda wouldn't be surprised. As soon as Karina turned it on, Amanda felt an electric charge bolt through the room.
Karina stepped up to the counter and pushed her sunglasses back on her head, smiling. “I called earlier,” she said, in a tone that was both gracious and commanding, “I have a reservation for four – the group X class in the morning and then a half day of spa and treatments.”
The young woman looked up from her computer, smiling a nondescript customer service smile, which froze on her face when she saw Karina. Then, as if she couldn't trust her eyes, she sa
id almost tremulously, “May I ask what name it's under, Ma'am?”
As Karina slid her American Express Black Card across the counter, she replied in a smooth tone which showed that she was clearly used to this type of shocked behavior, “Karina Black.”
Suddenly it seemed as if the woman had lost control of her faculties. Her fingers shook on the keyboard, she couldn't seem to find the right screen, and when she spoke, she was bumbling and nervous.
Amanda was completely taken aback. She had never seen anyone react in such a way to Karina, and it was so odd to see someone so flustered by meeting a person that she only knew as her good friend from high school.
Yes, of course, intellectually she had always known that Karina was a big star. But it had never emotionally sunk in until she saw this young woman, so competent and coolly efficient just moments before, come completely undone, transform into someone who could barely function for all her fumbling nervousness as soon as she laid eyes on Karina.
Suddenly Amanda began to understand the toll that it must take on her friend on a daily basis, only ever being surrounded by people who didn't treat her as much as a human being as they did a curiosity, never being able to truly relax around people that she knew cared about her for only herself. Amanda realized that this reunion of the Fabulous Four must have been such a gigantic relief for her, to be able to let down her guard around people who really knew her, and loved her no matter what.
To be able to say anything, to do anything, to be completely and utterly and only herself. For the first time, it occurred to Amanda that this might be a luxury which Karina was seldom afforded.
--- ~ ---
As the four women walked into the wood floored and mirror lined group exercise studio after having changed into workout garb in the locker room, Amanda nervously asked, “Let's just stand in the back, OK? I don't want to look like an idiot. Karina, you're the only one of us that's done this before, what's it like?”
“What, Zumba?” Karina asked, “I've never done it before. My friend Melissa teaches it at the Crunch on Sunset, and everyone just raves about how fun it is, and how it's a huge stress reliever. And I'd seen the sign for it here last time I was touring through and came to get a massage, so I thought it would be fun for us to do together.”
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