My Heart's Always With You

It was a few days later and since it was a Saturday afternoon Amber, Alyce, Matt, and Kellan were at the beach. They guys had actually gotten into the water while Amber and Alyce sat on the beach, contently watching their shirtless boyfriends. Alyce suddenly let out a content sigh and turned to Amber. “Is Kellan not the hottest guy you have ever seen?” Amber rolled her eyes and looked at her best friend.

“No he’s not. Matt is.” Alyce looked at Amber and cut her eyes.

“Kellan is so much sexier than Matt.”

“Matt is a thousand times sexier than Kellan.”

“Wrong!”

“What are you two arguing about this time?” Kellan and Matt asked walking up. They both looked up at them and smiled.

“Nothing.” Amber said sweetly.

“Which one of you is sexier.” Alyce bluntly told them causing them both to laugh and Amber’s cheeks to blush. Kellan sat down next to Alyce and Matt sat down next to Amber. Alyce gladly leaned onto Kellan’s shoulder even though he was wet. Amber leaned on to Matt before jumping away.

“What?” Matt asked laughing.

“You are wet.”

“Your point being what?”

“My point is you are wet.”

“So you aren’t going to touch me until I’m dry?”

“Probably.” Matt reached over and pulled her into a hug. She tried to fight away from the wet but then relaxed into Matt’s arms.

“Amber are you part cat or something?” Alyce laughed.

“No I just don’t like wet things.”

“I’m a thing now? Thanks Amber. Thanks.” Matt laughed.

“Let me rephrase that. I don’t like wet things or getting wet. Better?”

“Sure.” They both laughed and then Matt kissed her.

“We’ve gotta go. See you guys later.” Alyce stood up.

“Later.” Kellan added.

“Bye” They both told them.

Amber and Matt didn’t worry about time or anything, they just wanted to spend some time with each other with out thinking. Neither of them wanted to think about how they were hiding from the world, how Anthony was still pushing Amber towards Aaron, what would happen if they got caught, they didn’t want to think about any of it.

***

“This is going to suck.” Amber sighed as she looked at her reflection in the mirror of her bathroom. She hadn’t found out about what her dad had planned until the night before when she’d gotten home from the beach. He’d decided to have a party at their house and invited everyone from both sides. Amber did not want to have to deal with Aaron.

“Amber! The Sanders are here!” Anthony’s words made Amber’s heart rate double as she left her room in a hurry. At least she got to see Matt. She reached the living room just as Matt was walking in the door. After telling his parents and little sister hello she stood in front of him.

“Hello Amber.” Matt smiled.

“Hello Matt.” She smiled back. Alyce and Kellan showed up next and Amber waited for her worst nightmare to show. She knew that he wouldn’t miss this nor would he miss an opportunity to bug her and Alyce.

“Alyce if I punch him you’ll make up some story right?” Amber turned to Alyce several minutes later as she stood with her, Kellan, and Matt.

“But of course!” Alyce seemed shocked that Amber even had to ask.

“Just making sure.” That is when Aaron walked into the back yard and Amber glared at him. He smiled back and waved. Amber pretended to be pushing her hair back and flipped him off. She knew he’d notice.

“I think I should follow him after he leaves.” Matt said seriously as Zacky laughed from beside him as the rest of the guys joined up with Matt, Amber, Alyce, and Kellan.

“Why?” Amber asked looking at him confused.

“So that way I can beat the living crap out of him.”

“I understand now. I’m not so sure if that is a good idea at the moment though.”

“Why not? He’s got it coming.”

“I know he does but that might cause crap with the whole business situation. That would mean it would be even harder for us to see each other.” Matt considered that for a few seconds before nodding his head in agreement. They then dropped the subject noticing that Aaron was heading for them.

“I should kick him.” Alyce mumbled making everyone laugh.

“Spending time with the trash who doesn’t belong here I see, Amber.” Aaron spat walking up and making Amber’s fists ball up.

“They aren’t trash Aaron, that would be you.”

“Ouch Amber that hurts.”

“I can make stuff hurt way worse than that. And the next time it will be physical pain.”

“Is that a threat?”

“Of course not. It’s a promise.”

“So mean.”

“I’m being nice.”

“Aaron leave.” Kellan’s voice caused the two of them to look over at a very angry Kellan. The look in Kellan’s eyes was enough to make Aaron turn and leave, but not before looking at the girls one more time making them both gag.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you got him to leave but why?” Amber looked at Kellan.

“Well first I wanted to beat the crap out of him again. And second off Matt was having a hard time not beating the crap out of him too.” Kellan shrugged.

“I don’t like the way he looks at you or the way he talks to you.” Amber saw the angry in Matt’s eyes and realized that he felt that way because of his love for her.
“Oh by the way there is a party tomorrow night that you are all invited to. My folks are going out of town.” Jimmy handed Matt the piece of paper and Matt handed it to Amber.

“Awesome I’ll be there.” Amber took the paper and slid it into her pocket for safekeeping.

“Count us in too!” Alyce almost cheered. They all agreed that these so called “parties” weren’t parties at all. It was just an excuse for the adults to talk.

“Sweet!” Came from all the guys.

***

The following night Amber parked at the address she’d been given the night before and looked at the house before looking over at Alyce. “Well here we are.” She put the car in park and engaged the parking brake before turning off the engine and unbuckled her seatbelt before removing the keys from the ignition.

“Let me guess you are going to go find Matt?” Alyce already knew that is what Amber was planning.

“Good guess.” Alyce laughed and rolled her eyes as she got out of Amber’s car and took her normal spot next to Kellan. Amber had realized soon after they started dating that those two were practically joined at the hip. Inside she found Matt almost instantly.

“Hey.” He kissed her quickly.

“Hey.”

“Did you have a hard time getting away?”

“Not at all. I said that I was going shopping with Alyce.” Matt laughed and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

“Well I’m glad that you went shopping with Alyce.”

“So am I. Trust me.”

It was later that night when Matt finally decided to ask her what had been bothering him. “You don’t think Aaron is on to us do you?” Amber looked at Matt and considered his question for several seconds.

“Nah. He is too caught up in his own little perverted world to realize what is going on with me. I doubt he’ll ever figure it out. But if he does let him run to my dad. I’m getting pretty sick of having to hide just because of whatever problem my dad has.”
“Do you think maybe we can come up with some way to get everyone to not care?”

“Maybe. But this is a party, I really don’t want to think about it right now, do you?”

“No not really.”

“Then let’s not.”

***

“Where is dad and Lisa?” Amber asked the following afternoon as she walked into the kitchen to find her mom when she got off work.

“Lisa is at Jude’s house and your dad stayed late at the practice then he is going to the Marshells house for a little while.” Esme looked over at her daughter and smiled. “Which means we can do whatever we want to and talk about whoever we want to.” Amber knew exactly what this meant.

“Let me grab a soda and then I’ll tell you everything.”

“Come to the living room.” Amber nodded and opened the refrigerator to grab a soda. She found a bottle of Black Cherry soda and twisted the cap off before throwing the bottle cap in the trash and headed for the living room. She plopped down and looked at her smiling mom.

“Well last night I went to a party at Jimmy’s house.” Esme nodded knowing that her daughter hadn’t actually gone shopping with Alyce. “And that was a lot of fun.”

“Okay I’ll want all those details later, but right now I want to know more about you and Matt.” Amber laughed at her mom’s quest for information.

“Well he is really sweet. He is obviously very, very, very, very gorgeous. He is one hell of a kisser. And I love him.” She hurried over the last sentence as she blushed slightly.

“Love him huh? And does he love you back?”

“Yeah, he does.”

“How much does he know about Aaron and that situation?”

“Everything. He hates him. He has a hard time keeping his cool around him.”

“What are you going to do about not actually being able to see each other?”

“We don’t know yet. I don’t think that I could stop seeing him now Mom.” That is when her cell phone buzzed. She opened the text from Alyce.

Meet me and Kellan at the hang out tonight around 7ish. See if Matt wants to come if you want to.

“Alyce?” Esme asked.

“Yeah. She wants to meet at the bowling alley tonight. I’m supposed to see if Matt wants to come.” Amber selected reply.

Okay will do. See you later.

“Do you think he will go?”

“I think so and I hope so.” Amber selected new message to type out.

“You can call him, you don’t have to text him.” Amber realized that her mom always knew what she really wanted to do and smiled. She typed in his number and hit send. It rang a few times before he answered.

***

Matt had just got back from band practice and work when he went up to his room. He thought about calling Amber and decided to wait a few minutes. He always called her around 6ish since she was usual in her room by that time.

Then his phone started ringing. He saw it was Amber and flipped it open. “Hey, I was just about to call you.”

“Well my dad and sister aren’t home so I can talk today. Hey Alyce wants me to meet her at the bowling alley around 7, wanna come?”

“Of course. I always want to see you.”

“Awesome. So how was your day?”

“Okay I guess. Yours?”

“Good so far. No dealing with bullcrap.”

“Sweet. Well I’ve gotta go grab a shower before I leave so I’ll see you there?”

“Okay. See you there.”

“I love you.”
“I love you too Matt.”

***

As soon as Amber closed her phone she looked up at her smiling Mom. She laughed and shook her head before rolling her eyes. Then the door opened and her dad walked in. “Oh hey dad.” Amber said since she hadn’t gotten pissed at him yet today.

“Hi sweetie. Are you going to be home tonight?”

“Sorry dad I promised I’d go bowling with Alyce.”

“Oh okay, well have fun kiddo.”

“I will.” Amber glanced at her watch and decided to go up to her bedroom for a few minutes before she left. Soon enough she left for the bowling alley. Matt arrived soon after she got there and they walked inside.

Alyce had already turned everything on and they both had to laugh at the current scene. Alyce was on Kellan’s shoulder as she tried to reach something that was on one of the highest shelves close to the stereo system. “Just a little more.” She mumbled as she stretched to reach it.

“Can you get it now?” Kellan asked.

“Not yet, almost though. Uh! How did this stupid jacket get thrown up here?”

“It wasn’t me, I promise.” A look of sheer determination came over Alyce’s face and she lunged for the jacket and this time grabbed a hold of it.

“I got it!” She exclaimed happily before Kellan sat her down and he kissed her. She then looked at the door to see Amber and Matt. She ran over and threw her arms around Amber to hug her and show her the jacket. “Look what I found! It’s that jacket I thought I lost a few weeks ago!” Alyce squealed as she showed Amber.

“Awesome! How did it get up there though?”

“I don’t know. It’s a mystery to me, but at least I found it!” Alyce laid the jacket on a seat and skipped over to Kellan before jumping onto his back making Amber laugh again.

“Alyce can’t you walk?” Amber asked her as she took a breath from laughing.

“Yes, but this is more fun.” Alyce kissed Kellan’s cheek and Amber rolled her eyes before sitting down and having Matt sit next to her. “You should seriously try it sometime.” Amber looked back at Alyce and laughed some more.
“I think I will pass on that one. I rather like walking.”

“Don’t lie. You are just afraid of being dropped!”

“Am not!”

“Are too!

“I am not!”

“You are too!”

“I wouldn’t drop you Amber.” Matt’s voice cut in.

“I know you wouldn’t. Thanks but I’ll still pass.”

“Amber you worry too much! Let lose! Have some fun!” This time Alyce yelled it making Matt and Amber both laugh. Amber moved closer to Matt and rested her head on his shoulder like she always did.

She still couldn’t believe that it was real and was happening. She couldn’t believe that she was actually in love with a guy who felt the same way about her. She couldn’t believe that someone as amazing as Matt was interested in her. And yet she didn’t want it to ever end, and she knew that one way or another she would find a way to be with him.

But for now as long as she was around him she could deal with hiding until they figured something out. “You okay?” Matt asked her suddenly since she’d gone completely silent.

“Oh yeah I’m fine.” She looked up and smiled at him before he kissed her. She kissed him back happily.

“Oooh!! Amber and Matt sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” Alyce sang from her spot on Kellan’s back, making him laugh.

“Shut up Alyce! And don’t even think about continuing that song!”

“You popped my bubble.” Alyce pouted.

“Remember that you are being carried around by your boyfriend.” Amber reminded her. Alyce smiled and let the subject drop going back to her happy self.

“I love you Matt.” Amber whispered before kissing him again.

“I love you too Amber.” Matt smiled resting his forehead against hers.