Song of the chapter - Come Undone by Duran Duran

Things were different. Actually, different was an understatement. I woke up the morning after my date with Amber feeling...strange. I had no other word to describe it. Truthfully, I had been feeling off for a while. It crept up on me slowly, and the first moment I noticed it was that day behind the cafeteria.

Stepping out of my world to help Amber had been the first unusual experience over the past few months. She was something special, I knew that now. But back then I was just feeling tired of the game. I was sick of watching the assholes win. So I willingly walked into that mine field and started setting off one bomb after another. Matt wasn't the only casualty.

There was something about Amber that made me want to speak up and spill my guts. I know I've said it before but she just had this presence that made me feel safe. And safe was not something I had ever really felt. It scared the hell out of me at first. That's a simple way to say what was really going on in my mind. It was more than scared, it was overwhelmed. The way she made me feel was so unknown, so unusual, that I pushed it away as far as I could.

But she didn't give up or run away. Shit, I'm not even sure she realized how she'd affected me. It's like she took a chisel and started chipping away at the fucking wall I had kept up for so long I forgot it was even there. I felt it coming down, though. If it wasn't for running into Brett that night, most of that wall would still be there.

Damn, that was a heavy way to wake up.

I ran my hands down my face, rubbing away the memories, and sat up in bed. The long weekend meant sleeping in for most students, but I had a big job in front of me, so I wanted an early start. As I now did every morning, I looked over to the Mach five Amber gave me. Today, however, I smiled. Yeah I let the fucking grin spread across my face. I usually hated smiling, it was fake, forced. Now I had something to smile about, so who gave a shit how stupid it looked. That girl just made me so damn happy.

My bare feet hit the floor and I dragged myself into the kitchen. My mom was still asleep after pulling a sixteen hour shift and I wasn't about to wake her up. Scouring the cabinets, I found a box of stale cereal but there was no milk in the fridge. Mom would be shopping later, but I needed to eat fast, so I crunched on the dry crap and washed it down with tap water. I'd grab something else after my errand.

Next came the hunt for clean clothes. I never remembered to wash my clothes. Mom had passed that task onto me as soon as I could reach the nobs on the washer. Whatever, I was doing some pretty dirty work that day so what did it matter if my clothes weren't clean.

Once I was dressed, it was off to Nico's. And he wasn't too happy about it. That much I could tell the minute I stepped into his house. It was way too early for him to already be working in the garage.

"Hey, glad to see you're already up and I don't have to dump a glass of water on your head." I laughed.

"Shut the eff up, G. I seriously don't see why I have to get up this early in the first place." Nico is clearly not a morning person. Truth be told, neither am I but today was...special.

"Like I already explained, bro. This whole thing is your fault so it's just poetic justice that I'm dragging you along." I punched his shoulder as I laid on the guilt.

"How the hell is this my fault?" He shouts. I've probably never seen him quite this cranky.

"Oh probably comments like, 'Worried about your girl?' or maybe something like all the fucking smirks you give me when she's around." I raise my eyebrow at him, "Or could it be the 'It's about damn time you took her on a date' comment yesterday?"

"No, April made that last comment." Nico tries to defend himself.

"Dude, same fucking thing. You guys swap so much DNA you're practically the same person now." I threw my hands up, tired of the back and forth with him, "come on, if we are gonna get there before noon we need to leave. Now!"

"Ok, fine. Let's go." Nico gave up and grabbed his keys. He's such a fucking alpha male he always insisted on driving. "Are you sure the thing is running? This could be a huge waste of time if it's not."

"Yeah, yeah. The guy said he's had it running for a few weeks. But it still needs fine tuning. I should be able to get it all the way back here without any problems." I assured him.

Nico just shook his head, "Well, get in the damn car so we can go."

He could be such a little bitch.

***

Nico and I were able to get the car home without any issues with the motor, thank God. Neither one of us had the time to problem solve on the road, I really just wanted to get the thing back to my garage and get started on the fine tuning.

The second I pulled it in to my driveway was the first victory. When I got the motor purring and I could drive it back out would be the second victory. It was the third victory, the one I was banking on, that made my heart race. It pulled my stomach into the now constant ache I felt...fucking all the time. I was really hoping that feeling would get easier to deal with, but looked like that was a no go. Better to ignore it and just keep working.

Over the years I had collected my own set of master tools needed to fix up a classic. Some were hand me downs from Nico as he upgraded, others were deals I had found on our different scouting trips, trying to find the next big project. My mixed kit was all I needed to work on the latest top-secret plan.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" I hear screamed from the very last person I wanted in my garage. The door slammed behind her as she stomped her three inch high stilettos across the concrete towards my location.

Fucking hell, she could be so dramatic.

From my position under the car, all I could see were her blood red heels, the left one stone still and the right one tapping to emphasize her irritation. I could practically see the look on her face. Her eyes were no doubt narrowed and shooting daggers my way.

"The fuck did I do now?" I said, letting my annoyance fly freely.

"Oh no, mister, you don't get to play dumb with me. You know exactly what went down!" April insisted.

What the hell is wrong with this girl? I slid out from under the car and grabbed a rag to wipe the oil off. Damn I should just give her a big pat on the back with my oil covered hand. That would really piss her off. Ha!

Nah, Nico would pound my ass for a month for messing with his woman like that. She's got a thing about getting grease on her clothes. Wonder how he keeps it off of her...

Oh damn! Mental images! Shit I have to stop picturing those two together!

I shake the thought from my head before responding to her. She still looked as pissed as I imagined, but now she also looked confused. Whatever, I wasn't going to enlighten her about what I'd just been thinking.

"Calm yourself, April. I have no fucking clue what I did to piss you off so just tell me. That way I can tell you why you're wrong, you can go back to Nico and stay his problem not mine, and I can finish working on this car."

"How could you just hug her and walk away? Do you know what that girl has gone through for you?" April says, anger clearly coating each word.

What? I really didn't want to talk about anything that happened last night with April. But I was also concerned about how Amber felt, and if there was some problem I didn't know about.

"Well, first of all, I think that's between Amber and me, and I really don't have the patience or the time to talk to you about it. But, is there a problem? Is she mad?" I had to know what kind of mess I had made. For the first time all day, I was worried.

"That's the thing. She's not mad at all. I think she's become used to waiting on you, you jerk.
But shit, G, you should have just kissed her.
What the hell are you waiting for?" April seemed to have calmed down, but she still had her arms crossed and a scowl on her face. Not a cute look for her.

"If she's not mad, then what the hell is all this about." I gesture between her and I. "Why are you getting into our business?"

"Because, G!" April throws her hands up in the air, "She's it. She is the right one. Why can't you see it? You practically crushed her when you kissed her last time, why can't you just...Ugh!!!" She stomps her foot a couple more times.

Damn, she can get pissy.

"Not that it's any of your business, but I do know what it did to her. I just wasn't.fucking.ready. Okay? I made a mistake. That's what I'm trying to do now, make up for the mistakes I made."

April just looked at me strangely. "What do you mean you're making up for it?" She tilted her head to the side, obviously confused by my statement.

Girls. They just had to know everything. Speaking of that...

"How do you know what happened last night? I mean obviously you talked to Amber, but why?" I asked. I needed to know before I explained what I was doing.

"We've been hanging out this morning and I asked her. I assumed you would have already taken that next step. I couldn't believe it when she said you gave her a hug." She went back to shaking her head.

I had thought about it. I had really wanted to kiss her, I did. Looking at her as we sat in the car, holding hands as we had been all night. Damn I almost did. But I wanted to do something better than just lean forward in the car, or stand on the front porch. She deserved more than that. Amber needed to know how I felt about her first.

"It just wasn't the right timing, April. But I'm working on it. Right now." I said while motioning back to the car I had just rolled out from under. April looked over to it, almost as though she just noticed it was even there.

"What are you doing with a car here? Why aren't you working on it at Nico's?"

"Because it's not Nico's project, it's mine." I answered simply.

"So this car is more important then telling Amber how you...wait!" She yelled and took a step back. "What kind of car is this?"

I got a little smirk. "What kind do you think it is?"

"Don't play games, G! Seriously, what kind of car is it? Tell me!" She looked pretty funny when she was frustrated.

"A Karmann Ghia" I crossed my arms and told her with the most serious tone I could use.

"Shit! That's the one isn't it!" She squealed and started jumping up and down. "That's her car!! The Car Man whatever that she said she liked! This is for Amber!"

A smile, the same fucking smile I had that morning, pulled on my face. I just shrugged my shoulders and tilted my head in response.

"Ahh! Oh my damn gosh!" April screamed. Seriously, how did Nico deal with her screaming? "I can't believe it! When are you telling her about it?" She hugged me as she asked. Shit.

"Well, if you'd let go, I have about an hour of work left on it to get it purring. Then I thought I'd show her instead of telling her."

"What?! Ok, I thought you'd just tell me to shut up, but ok! What if you had a little help, would it go faster?" She asked me with the biggest grin I think I'd ever seen on her.

"Yeah, it would speed things up. Are you the helper? Cause it could get a little dirty, and I know how you feel about the dirt..." I point to her clothes.

April waves off my suggestion, "who cares about a little dirt? We need to get you two together as soon as possible. And honestly, Amber's worth getting a little dirty for."

She got that right. Amber was worth everything, and I wanted to show her how much I felt that. Damn, looked like I'd be doing that sooner than I thought when I woke up this morning.

"Ok, let's get to work." I told her. If my hands could stop shaking, I could finish the thing and get going. Best damn day of my life so far.

^^^^^^

Our boy has finally started admitting his feelings for Amber. What did you think of April's appearance in his garage?

Next up is Matt. If you missed his last chapter in part ten with the confrontation he has at lunch with Pete, make sure you go back and read it. I did a double update that week and his seems to have gotten overlooked. Matt's next part won't make any sense if you haven't read part 10.

Garrett is completely undone, and the sentiment in this Duran Duran song is exactly fitting for his mindset. Amber has changed everything for him.

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