Chapter 727: The Best Among The Best
Daylight came smacking me in the face, filtering through the flaky panes of the nearby window at just the right angle to deliver maximum retina-burning output.
I tossed and turned around the bed a few times before it quickly dawned on me that my mattress had never been this comfy. Then, like a mummy to his recently disturbed sarcophagus-I arose.
Amanda’s bedroom looked a lot homelier when in the warm light of a crisp winter morning. The events of the night before barreled at me all at once in a mixture of emotions, sensations, and actions that all stood in great contradiction of each other when mashed together.
Honestly, regarding last night, I gotta say... could have been a whole lot worse, but really nevermind that now, it’s behind me now. I’m here, I’m alive... a grateful observer to the drops of snow outside glimmering to the soft rays of a brand new day.
Then my body gave a jolt, all the coursing feeling of relief inside me freezing in an instant. It’s awfully bright out there for early morning, too bright actually... wait, what... what time was it?
Oh, Nick’s gonna kill me.
Must have torn a hole pulling my pockets inside, pulled a muscle flailing my arms desperately looking everywhere for my phone... more so that I could chuck it out the window myself as soon as I found it.
.....
Planted like a hundred alarms in case something like this happens, all hundred of which had spectacularly failed me.
I was half-considering flipping over the bed in desperation when suddenly the bedroom door swung open, a dainty sway of long blonde hair revealing Amanda with a beaming smile trained at me radiating brighter than the sun, the faint sizzling smell of breakfast closely following in after her from the hallway.
“Good timing on your part,” She said, planting herself straight at the edge of the bed and greeting me with a morning kiss. “Was about to wake you up myself.”
But sadly, not even the blessed sight of her basked with the light of falling winter could dampen the feeling of impending doom or stop the hundred epitaphs my brain was writing out for my early grave.
Her eyes caught mine, and the impish expression she gave was almost as if she could read minds.
“No work today,” She stated, magically pulling my phone out from behind her and plopping it onto my lap. “On account of the cafe door being blocked behind six inches of snow. As well as pretty much everywhere else. ”
“And you pickpocketed my phone, ’cause...?”
“It kept ringing, thought you should sleep in,” She said. “Also ten alarms for every minute?” She snickered. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, you laugh,” I said, grabbing my phone back and feeling my panic ebb away with every breath. “Just be grateful Nick’s not your boss.”
I trust Amanada enough to not be worried over any breaches of privacy, and indeed, when I unlocked my homescreen everything remained unchanged save for the message from Nick officially relieving me of duty until further notice... without pay, of course.
When I was done swiping through my phone, I looked back at Amanda again, and felt the thunderous impact of another runaway train of emotions barreling into my thoughts-again.
“You changed,” I blurted out blanky, having nothing to do but notice the things I missed about her at first glance.
Like the fact that she wore her hair in braided pigtails that hung over her shoulders, a far cry from the long, wavy ponytail she had last night. Come to think of it, her hair was different the day before too. It’s almost as if she had a specific style specifically designed for each day of the week or something.
“Disappointed?” She said, tugging the front of a wooly jersey she was currently wearing that looked awfully familiar to me. “Sorry, but unfortunately I can’t be seen wearing skimpy nightgowns for every hour of the day. I mean, just what would my parents say, hm?”
And there we were. The linchpin of awkwardness-last night’s otherworldly interactions. So we gonna talk about it? Discuss all that’s happened in forced nonchalance and strained laughter? Or how about the state of her bed, the wrinkled linings and crumpled sheets and the things that never happened atop them? Are we also gonna...?
“I made breakfast,” Amanda declared, ultimately deciding for us both, pulling me by the arm out of her warm and cozy blanket. “Hope it’d be enough of a compensation for selfishly leaving you dry last night.”
“But you didn’t.”
“Oh, yeah, you’re right,” She said, giggling once at her blunder. “It was actually you that left me dry, wasn’t it?”
A shamelessness almost worthy of Ria. I swear, this girl must be channeling her soul or something.
The bottom of my feet felt as if I plunged them into a bucket of ice-cold water the moment it made contact with the floor. By the time I had followed her out onto the kitchen, I was having trouble picking the fork off my plate on account of stiff fingers.
In contrast to that, Amanda’s cooking was like pure essence of edible warmth coursing throughout my body with every bite. I supposed the coffee to the side helped immensely. And I guarantee seeing Amanda’s subtle delight glimmering in her hazel eyes everytime I lifted my head up to look at her was the greatest contributor of all.
“Oh, now I’m jealous,” She said, peering over at me while dreamily twirling her fork atop a piece of sausage. “Is this really what Ash gets to experience every day first thing in the morning? That girl doesn’t know how good she’s got it.”
“Grass is always greener,” I said.
“I suppose,” Amanda shifted in place, stabbing the piece of sausage finally. “Doesn’t change the fact that out of all of us, it’s her that gets to spend time with you the most. It’s almost suspicious just how much,” then she raised a brow, chucking the sausage in her mouth. “Playing favorites?”
“I’m her master,” I said dully. “It’d be even weirder if she wasn’t always with me. So no-no favorites.”
“No favorites?” Her other brow rose to match in elevation. “You care for us all-Irene, Adalia, Ash, whoever else-you treat us all with the same amount of affection?”
“Why is this a question?”
“Because a harem is not without its unasked mysteries,” She said simply. “And relationships are not without its fluctuating preference. Especially with the kinds you’re keeping. So really, in all honesty... there has to be a special someone you’re keeping in first place, isn’t there?”
“You’ve asked this before, we’ve been through this already,” I said, placing both hands on the table. “My answer is still the same as back then. This is a trap, not answering it. I’m not naming names.”
“Oh, I know, and you can keep your secrets. Best girl shall remain an eternal mystery, and honestly, it’s probably better that way. That being said, though...” Amanda paused, the purity of her gaze suddenly turning to the dark shade of mischief. “Just tell me this one little thing, in this hidden, highly classified tier list of yours... after everything that’s happened so far... has my ranking gone up or has it gone down?”
This was ridiculous. Completely and utterly, with a capitalized, bold ‘R’. All these talk about favorites and rankings and who was in first place or last-does she really think that I’m that shallow of a person? Like I’ve got some arbitrary list of who I’m in love with more in my head?
As I said-completely ridiculous. I would rather be talking about the meeting with her parents, honestly.
Amanda continued to hover a lofty gaze toward me, as if thinking me exactly that. A man so shallow, a man so superficial... and a man only too human, after all.
“Afraid I’ll tattle and tell?” She grinned. “Had your phone, your privacy, for the whole morning, remember? Don’t worry, your womanizing, tactless thoughts are safe with me.”
I glanced at her, sipping my coffee slowly and felt the warmth puffing out of my nostrils.
“You went up.”
Her smile instantly broke into a pearly white grin, a silent haughty look of accomplishment shining through her expression as she promptly resumed with the rest of her meal.
“At the end of the day, it means nothing though,” I felt the urge to say, and immediately felt more abashed for even saying it. “To me, in my eyes, you’re all in first place, okay? You hear me? I care for you all the same, love you all the same. End of discussion.”
“Yes, yes,” Amanda said airily, chuckling gleefully to my dismay. “Whatever you say.”
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