More Than Her

"She'd say 'LOL' or 'ROFL'."

Amanda laughed harder.

"She said 'OMG' all the time. Every sentence, 'OMG'." He mocked her voice when explaining.  "Instead of acting or saying she was confused, she'd actually spell out 'w t f'."

Amanda was all out laughing now, and so am I. She scooted closer to me, and hugged my arm, plastering her face onto it to muffle the sound. My hand landed on her bare leg.

I saw Ethan's eyes catch the movement, but he didn't say anything, just smiled and continued to speak, "I twisted my ankle playing basketball, and when I told her, she didn't ask if I was okay. Guess what she said?"

Amanda shook her head, still laughing.

"Guess!" Ethan said again.

"What? I don't know." Amanda's giggle took over the room. All I could do was watch her.

Ethan answered, "She pouted and said 'Sad face emoticon!'"

She threw her head back in laughter, her eyes starting to water.

"She did not." She shook her head in disbelief.

"Swear it." He got off the sofa and started walking out of the room. He turned just before the door and took in our positions again. "You need to call Ma and let her know everything's okay."

Her face sobered but she nodded.

Then her head was back resting on my lap, and my fingers were in her hair.

And it was pretty damn close to perfect.

***

"I've got a good truth question today." She smiled big, excited. She sat up and got comfortable, turning her body towards me.

"Go for it." I told her, as I positioned us so were face to face, our knees touching.

"Okay. You get the chance to travel the world. All expenses paid. You get flights, accommodation, and food, everything taken care off. But you have to somehow make money to go sightseeing and buy souvenirs and stuff. You can bring three things with you to help you make money. So, you can be like, a street performer or something. Whatever. What do you bring?"

I watched her as she said all this, legs crossed, her hands clasped in front of her, eyes wide, waiting for my response.

And seeing her like this—I know what I want.

I want more.

I want her.

"I'd only need one thing."

"But you can bring three," she said, still excited.

I shook my head, looking her straight in the eyes. "I don't need three, I just need one."

"Okaaay...are you going to tell me what it is?"

"Honestly, I don't think you could handle it."

She rolled her eyes, "Come on! Tell me," she pled, her hand on my leg trying to shake the answer out of me.

"Fine!" I told her. She stopped shaking me, but her hand stayed on me. "I'd bring you, Amanda. Just you."

Her eyes widened, before looking down between us. My hands moved to hers and linked our fingers together.

"But...I can't make you any money," she said quietly.

"Amanda." Her eyes lifted to mine. "It doesn't matter where I am in this world, there's nothing else I'd rather see. Just you."

She closed her eyes slowly. I don't know how long I sat there staring at her, her eyes staying closed, before she finally whispered, "Kiss me now, Logan."

So I did.

I slowly moved forward, licking my lips. I rubbed my nose against hers.

She sighed.

My lips brushed hers so lightly I don't know if she felt it.

Then her phone sounded.

We both jerked back from the sudden interruption.

She let her ring tone play. It was Hey There Delilah by the Plain White T's. She smiled dreamily.

"Excuse me," she said, standing up and leaving the room. She put the phone to her ear and spoke, "Well well," she started, "you finally find time in your busy schedule to call me." I heard her laugh before the bedroom door closed.

Fifteen minutes later she was back. She stood in front of me, biting her lip, playing with the hem of her shirt.

I waited

She opened her mouth to speak, and then snapped it shut. She did that a couple more times before finally sighing and sitting down next to me.

I raised my eyebrows, waiting for her to speak.

"So." She looked down at her phone. "That was my friend Ty."

"Friend? You need to leave the room to talk to a friend?"

She shook her head. "He's uh, he's my ex boyfriend."

I nodded. "And?"

She blew out a small breath, and then took my hand in both of hers. This must be bad. "Please don't get mad—"

I interrupted her. "You should never start an explanation with that."

"I know. But you will, and I don't want you to."

Now I was really worried. "What is it?"

"Promise me you won't get mad?"

"I can't promise that."

"Fine," she stood up to leave.

I pulled on her arm. "I promise."

Whipped.

She sat back down, closer this time. "We need to go out and buy your own bed. Like, now."

"What the fuck?" I almost yelled.

"You promised," she warned.

I tried to settle down. "Explain."

"Ty's coming to visit for a few days and I need you to not-"

I opened my mouth to interrupt her but she covered it with her hand.

She closed her eyes and took a few calming breaths, her hand still covering my mouth. Then she opened them and continued, like she was talking to a child. "I need you to sleep in your own bed tonight."

She slowly removed her hand.

"That doesn't explain a fucking thing, Amanda. What the fuck?"

"He can't know that you and I are—whatever you and I are."

I waited for her to continue but she didn't.

"I don't understand." I stood up and started pacing. I was so fucking confused. "Are you still holding out hope that you guys will get back together or something?"

"What!" she guffawed. "No. Not at all."

"Then what, Amanda? I don't get it." I was yelling.

She stood up, too. Then forcefully sat me back down on the sofa. Then she sat so she was straddling my hips with a hand on each side of my face. "Quit it. Stop being pathetic."

I rolled my eyes; my hands went to her ass, bringing her closer to me. She leans her forehead against mine and kissed me quickly a few times.

"Stop using your body to distract me," I told her.

She kissed me again, deeper this time.

I gripped her ass, tighter this time.

'Wait." I pulled away. "Why don't you want him to know about us?"

She pulled back, her eyes roaming my face. "It's complicated. I can't tell you. Not now. But soon, okay?"

"I don't like all these secrets you're keeping from me."

She smiled sadly, "Neither do I, Logan. Trust me."

***

My phone had been blowing up from the coaching staff, I guess because I missed practice this morning. I was still deciding whether or not it was worth whatever punishment I was about to receive.

She came to the field with me, but waited in the car while I went in and took whatever punishment they had for me for bailing on practice.

Turned out they were calling me for a whole other reason.

She must've sensed it, because the second I'm in the car, she turned to me. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"They need me to start."

She looked at me, and waited. I'm guessing she didn't get it.