“Today we’re having some spaghetti with tomato sauce,” Maggie said, coming and hugging Amanda from behind. “That’s your favorite, right dear?”
“Yeah,” Amanda said, smiling. She decided to keep the memories of Roger for later, and enjoy tasty dinner with her best friends.
“Maggie, let me help you,” Stacey said, entering the kitchen to bring the salad and the drinks.
The dinner was delicious. Amanda tried to be talkative and to converse with her friends, like before. She didn’t want them to sense that something had happened to her.
“Amanda,” Stacey said, putting her fork down for a minute.
“Yes?” Amanda said, taking a napkin.
“There is something we want to tell you,” Stacey said, looking around at their friends. All of them had become silent.
“Yes?” Amanda said again, suspecting that something was wrong. She noticed the tense expressions of her friends and put her fork down, too.
“Well, you see,” Stacey continued, “it’s probably wrong but we have had a long conversation and it seems like all of us have the same opinion. The thing is, we didn’t feel secure while we’re up there in the forests in the cabin with you.”
“What do you mean?” Amanda asked.
“The thing is, Mandy,” Maggie said, “we feel bad for turning you down, but we don’t want to stay in the forest anymore. Will you get hurt if we stay in the city all the time?”
“You know, the bear being in the forest…” Luisa added.
“And our vacation is ending, too,” Andy said.
Amanda felt the pressure releasing from her chest. She was relieved. If that was what they were asking for, she had no problem at all.
“Guys,” she said smiling, “of course I won’t get hurt! I have no problem at all staying there alone, if I need to. I will stay in the city most of the time, but if there is a need to go and see the construction, I don’t see there’s a problem if I go alone! The construction will be finished in two weeks, by the way. You have helped me so much; I am more than grateful to you for being such good friends to me!”
“Oh, Mandy, I’m really happy that everything turned out this way,” Maggie said. “I was worried that you would get hurt that we’re leaving you alone.”
“You’re not leaving me alone,” Amanda said, smiling. Only she knew who they were leaving her with. And she was happy about it.
“Mandy, I can give you a ride whenever you need it,” Andy said.
“I can, too,” Stacey added. “Just give me a call, and I’ll be right there.”
“I’m so happy to have you,” Amanda said, beaming in happiness.
Chapter 8: Love is in the Air
Lying down in her bed, Amanda turned off the light, happy to have the much desired solitary moment for fully enjoying her memories. Her mind raced to the beginning of the day, making Amanda squirm pleasantly upon remembering her encounter with Roger. “It is love,” she murmured to herself. “What else can it be?” she turned around in her bed. “I am in love. In love. With Roger. The man of my dreams. The one I want to be with.” Her own words surprised her a little. They also gave her some worries. She wanted to be with someone who she didn’t know at all. Literally at all. The only thing she knew about him was his name. The rest of the information was replaced by feelings and emotions. It seemed to her that she didn’t even need to know anything about him, as she was so happy with him. But in the back of her mind she knew she was wrong and her actions were wrongful, too. She would love to ignore that small voice scolding her for her actions and feelings, but it was impossible. The voice was telling her that it was foolish of her to fall in love with a stranger, to trust him completely, to give him her virginity, to have open sex with him in the forest. Who was he, anyway? Where did he live? Where did he work? What did he do all day? These questions started rotating in Amanda’s head. She needed to find out. She wanted to know the truth. “And I will find it out,” she said aloud. The mysterious stranger didn’t leave her mind, though. “You can’t rule your heart, your feelings or your emotions,” was the only excuse she could find to justify herself. “You feel what you feel, and there is nothing that you can do to feel otherwise.”
Amanda squeezed her eyes shut, getting hot of the vivid memories of Roger kissing her passionately. “Oh,” she moaned, as she got turned on, caressing her own body with her hands. She wanted to create the same feelings that she had while having sex with Roger. She wanted to imitate it and feel it again and again.
***
Watching Amanda leave the forest in a car was the most painful feeling for Roger. He knew that she was going to return to the city, as she had told him about it under the waterfall. But knowing that she was going to leave and actually seeing her leave were totally different things.
Roger was still in his bear form, running wildly in the forest, trying to calm down. “Roger, there’s a bear in the woods,” her voice was still ringing in his ears. He felt bad for being a bear shifter. “I want to be a human being,” he thought, “otherwise the distance will grow between me and her.” But he had no choice: he was a shifter and couldn’t do anything about it. He was starting to feel uncomfortable in his bear form, being conscious that she was afraid of bears. Quickly shifting into a human shape, Roger decided to walk for some time. The bear form was getting onto his nerves. He jumped into the stream to swim a little, to shake the negative feelings, the unquenchable thirst of missing Amanda.
After swimming in the stream for some time Roger sat down on a rock, to think with a clear mind. He wasn’t familiar with this new feeling: the pain of missing someone. And he didn’t know what to do about it. He wanted to be near her, to go to her. He knew that she was in the city. She lived there. She came up to the woods only occasionally, only to see how the construction was going.
“I need her,” he panted. “I must go to the city to find her.” This thought crossed his mind. He got up to go to the city, but then he changed his mind. “How will I find her in a city full of people?” he was in hesitation. Then he decided to walk towards Amanda’s cabin instead. He needed to feel her scent; to smell her again. He directed his steps towards the construction site, near which there were the cabins, situated in some distance.
Roger adored Amanda’s scent, which was still fresh around her cabin. Inhaling like a crazy man, Roger walked back and forth in front of Amanda’s cabin. He knew it was crazy, knew it was a bit childish: him, being such a pro with girls, him, having had many girls as girlfriends in the past, and now getting tortured by the thoughts of just one girl. “What’s the matter with me?” he whispered. “Why do I feel like this?” he didn’t know the answer. “Maybe I noticed that she’s in love with me, that’s why I fell in love so deeply,” he thought. It was an option. It was normal for some people, he thought. But even if that was the case, it was the first time for him.
***
It was becoming intolerable. The distance between her and Roger was painfully large. She was missing him so much; it was suffocating her. She was longing for Roger for three days already. Amanda was spending the nights in a miserable state. Memories of Roger weren’t joyful anymore. They were hurting her. She needed him badly. After having each memory, she would start to cry. She would wake up in the mornings, as if she hadn’t slept at all, and her mind would swiftly get in the state of missing Roger again.
Getting under her cold shower, Amanda closed her eyes and let the cold water caress her body. Just like the previous three mornings. She had wanted to go to the woods the previous days, but Maggie had caught a cold, so Amanda had to be there for her, if only to prepare tea for her best friend. She was still a good friend for Maggie, even though her thoughts were mostly obscured by memories with Roger, so Maggie kept asking what the matter was with her absent-mindedness.
Maggie was getting better by each day, so Amanda thought it would be great if she visited the construction site that day. Of course in the back corners of her mind she knew that she was hurrying to the
woods not only for seeing the construction, but also for meeting someone – a very important and mysterious person, who seemed to be more important now than her hotel.
Toweling her hair, Amanda called Stacey. She wanted to ask if Stacey was available to give her a ride to the woods.
“Hi, Amanda,” Stacey said, picking up the phone.
“Hi, Stacey, how are you?”
“Great. Just heading to grab some breakfast,” Stacey answered. “And you?”
“I’m fine, too,” Amanda said. She hesitated: maybe Stacey was too busy to give her a ride.
“Amanda,” Stacey said, as if guessing the reason of her silence, “Do you by any chance want to go to the woods today? If yes, then I’m available until one o’clock, that is, for a couple of hours.”
Amanda smiled. She knew that Stacey would always have some time for her friends.
“Stacey, thank you so much! That’s exactly what I was going to ask you for.”
“Great! When you are ready, just call me. But no later than in an hour.” Stacey said.
“Sounds perfect,” Amanda said. “You can come now, too. I am ready.”
“Okay, cool. I’m coming,” Stacey said and hung up.
***
Amanda was ready in a minute. She was as ready as she could be. Getting to the woods as fast as she could would mean having the chance of seeing him sooner. Her heart pounding harder with every minute, she was waiting in anticipation until Stacey came. Amanda was happy, joyful, excited, exhilarated. Stacey was a bit surprised to see her in such a happy state, given the fact that Amanda was more absent-minded and sad the previous days.
Amanda got into the car and they drove off. Stacey was chatting about the seminar she was going to, which was about new residents becoming local, or something like that, but Amanda didn’t really understand what the seminar was about, she wasn’t really listening. Stacey went on and on about the seminar, switching the topic to boys.
“There’s a guy there, named Adam, and I think he likes me, Mandy,” she said. “Well, not that I like him, too, but it’s pleasant to acknowledge that there’s some guy out there, whose breathing becomes faster when he sees you,” she added, chuckling. Amanda chuckled, too. She shared Stacey’s opinion.
“And what about you, Mandy?” Stacey asked. “Why didn’t you like the construction worker, who seemed to be attracted to you?”
Amanda had totally forgotten about that worker. She didn’t even want to remember about him. Now that her heart was fully occupied with Roger, there was no other man in the world she would care about.
“Mandy, he was hot, too,” Stacey went on, smiling meaningfully. “Sunburned body, passionate eyes, and…”
“Stacey, please stop,” Amanda said, rolling her eyes. “I am not attracted to that worker, really.”
“Oh, come on,” Stacey also rolled her eyes. “I liked him, though. And the way he was looking at you!”
“Stacey,” Amanda said again, holding her laughter.
“Okay, I’m not saying anything. But he was kind of hot,” she said, before bursting out with laughter.
Soon they reached Amanda’s cabin.
“Here we are,” Stacey said. “I’m really in a hurry, otherwise I would also come out to see the construction. But maybe next time.”
“Okay, fine,” Amanda said. “Then you’ll see it when you come to take me back to the city.”
“Yes, sure. Oh, by the way when are you planning to return?” Stacey asked.
“Well, I guess tomorrow,” Amanda said. “I’m going to stay here for one whole day.”
“That’s great. I am very busy tonight, anyways, seeing off some seminar guests,” Stacey said. “So it’s better that you don’t want to return tonight.”
Amanda smiled. “Thanks a lot, Stacey,” she said, getting out of the car, as Stacey also smiled and drove away. Amanda stood in front of her cabin, her backpack in her hands, the keys ready to open the door.
Chapter 9: Unforeseen Problems
The cabin was the same as she had left it a few days ago. Amanda unpacked and put everything in its place. She had brought food and some clothes. There was nothing else that she’d need. Sitting on her bed, she looked around, smiling. She was in the forest, near the man of her dreams. She didn’t know where he was, nor where he lived, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to find him in the city, so the best place to look for him was the forest. Suddenly her phone rang. It was Stacey.
“Amanda?” she said, as soon as Amanda picked it up.
“Yes? Stacey? What’s happened?”
“I’m afraid you must stay there for two days instead of one,” Stacey said apologetically. “I just got a phone call and it turns out that there are problems at the seminar and I am needed tomorrow the whole day. I just called Andy, to ask him if he can get you tomorrow, but he was only available today, for an hour. So if you want, he can come and get you in an hour.” She said in one breath.
“Oh, Stacey, don’t worry, it’s not a problem at all,” Amanda said. “I brought too much food anyway, so I will be fine for two days and nights.”
“Are you sure you don’t want Andy to come and take you from there in an hour?”
“I am absolutely sure,” Amanda said, smiling. The suggestion of staying more than one day was appealing.
“Okay then, Mandy, see you in two days. And sorry for this!” Stacey said.
“It’s fine, Stacey, I’m great. See you!” Amanda said and hung up.
Sighing, Amanda closed her eyes. Now that she was much closer to him, a strange feeling of fear crossed her mind. She was a bit scared to meet Roger again. What if he wasn’t the good guy she had thought him to be? Now, that she was alone and was going to spend two nights in the cabin, she got uneasy.
Shaking the negative feelings off Amanda brushed her long hair and got out of the cabin to go and see the construction. She wanted to know how many days the workers still had to work and when exactly the hotel would be ready to use. Walking the distance towards the construction site was refreshing, as the morning was cool and the sun wasn’t high in the sky yet. In her short jeans and a white shirt, Amanda was pretty. She reached the construction site and couldn’t believe her eyes. In those several days the building was almost ready. It wasn’t a big hotel, just two stories, and the construction process was coming to an end. They were already working on the patio, the front yard and the building decorations. Amanda was happy to see it. She noticed that in about a week the furniture would be beautifully arranged inside, too, and her hotel would be ready.
There were several workers there, busy on the different parts of the small building. One of them noticed Amanda standing under a tree and approached her.
“Hello,” he said, and Amanda recognized him. It was the worker whom she had seen before, winking at her. He was the one that Stacey had noticed and had told her about.
“Hello,” Amanda said. She looked at him and noticed that the man was looking into her eyes intently, as if trying to seduce her.
“Kevin,” he said, stretching out his hand.
Amanda looked at his hand, not knowing what to do. She didn’t want to touch his hand, but on the other hand, it wasn’t polite of her to leave his hand in mid-air. While she was thinking, Kevin withdrew his hand, saying: “Amanda, right?” Seeing her startled face, he smiled and added: “I remember your name. I just wanted to double check.”
“Oh, okay,” Amanda managed to say.
“So? Are you here alone?” he asked her.
“Well, um… no,” Amanda said. She was getting more and more uneasy by that worker and his sly questions. She was starting to get unpleasant thoughts about the nights that she was going to spend in the cabin.
“I see, I see,” Kevin said.
“I… I wanted to check the construction,” Amanda said. “When will you finish the entire project?”
“In a week maximum,” Kevin said, pointing to the building: “See there? 99% of the work is already done. I guess in a few days
your hotel will be ready.”
Amanda managed a smile. “Thanks, that sounds pretty nice.”
Kevin looked at her smiling and smiled, too. He came one step closer, confusing Amanda a little.
“Amanda,” he said, standing right in front of her, “I memorized your pretty name the moment I heard it. I learnt it by heart. Your name is as pretty as your eyes,” he said, fixing his gaze on her eyes, making her squirm. Amanda’s breathing grew faster. Kevin was closer.
“As pretty as your lips,” he stared at her lips. Amanda pressed her lips together. “And they look like sweet cherries.”
Kevin held Amanda by her arm. Amanda didn’t know what to do. She was scared to death, and she also acknowledged that she was alone in the forest with a bunch of workers who probably hadn’t had any girl in a month.
“Sweet cherry lips, which I’d love to taste,” Kevin advanced, seeing that Amanda wasn’t moving. He came closer and closer, until he was face to face with Amanda. Amanda jerked her hand free and turned to run away, but Kevin held her hand. “Wait, cherry lips, where are you going?”
“Let me go,” Amanda said through gritted teeth.
“But I like you,” Kevin said.
“I don’t,” Amanda marched to the direction of her cabin, got inside and locked the door.
***
Her scent… the familiar, sweet, enticing, head-spinning scent was fresh and near. Roger could feel that Amanda was near the forest. He walked quickly towards her cabin, but when he reached there, she wasn’t there. Following her scent, he advanced towards the construction site and stopped still behind some trees. He stopped short in his tracks, as something unbelievable was happening there, in a short distance from him: there was a man, standing close to Amanda, holding her hand, murmuring to her, while Amanda was standing still, letting him touch her hand and stand so close to her. His nostrils flaring, Roger felt anger and jealousy fill up inside of him, threatening to spill out. Instinctively he wanted to go and kill the man in one blow, but he contained himself and decided to watch more, forcing his eyes to look straight ahead at the girl of his dreams, flirting with another man. It was a painful sight, but he had to see it, he knew, because he needed to know if Amanda loved him or their passionate sex was just a pastime for her. Roger watched with pain, with frowned forehead, seeing how the man came closer to kiss Amanda’s lips – his Amanda’s lips. But at that moment Amanda jerked her hand free and marched off, in the direction of her cabin. Of course she didn’t notice him, as he was hiding behind the trees, but he managed to catch a glimpse of her face and noticed that she was frowning and angry. It gave him hopes. Slowly, Roger followed Amanda to the cabin, and when he got there, she was already inside, with the door locked.
Romance: The College Bad Boy: A Young Adult Romance Page 93