When Timid Turned Into Tension.

The tension could have been cut with a knife, although, no knives were available in the dark living room. Lights danced upon the walls from the movie they were watching and Amelia was feeling the strain of an awkward evening as she lay curled up tightly on one end of the couch. This night, however as uncomfortable as it has been was more importantly a reunion between her and her childhood friend.

Amelia glanced in the direction of the man who was just a few feet away from her, though in her opinion it wasn’t far enough. For a short time now Amelia had figured out the truth that was hidden behind every smile, every hug and every touch that she directed towards Tom. She craved the feeling of electricity when their bare skin brushed each other, craved this feeling to the point where it didn’t shoot butterflies into her stomach anymore. Being close to him was pain, knowing that her newly discovered desires would not be reciprocated by him.

As Amelia was sitting there, a recurrent worry played in her mind. With Tom’s budding acting career, is there really a chance for this easy friendship to grow into one that lasted a lifetime? Even with her revelation, she had known that a time was coming when they would grow apart as opposed to the growing up they had done together the previous years. Amelia and Tom had met a very long time ago, so long that she tried to convince herself she didn’t remember it. The truth was she couldn’t forget the first time she met Tom.

There on the second shelf of her bookcase she found it; the worn out creased copy of Pride and Prejudice that was a physical memory of their first encounter.

---

It was the first week of summer holidays and by some miracle Amelia’s mother had convinced her to go outside for a bit rather than sitting inside at the window seat either reading her new book or watching the squirrels run up and down the trunk of the tree that was growing in the far corner of her yard.

Smiling to herself as she walked down the steps, Amelia patted her stomach, making sure that the book she had been reading was still safely hidden under her shirt. Sure, she may have looked weird wearing a jacket in the warm weather but how else was she going to smuggle the book out? Turning around to wave at her mother, she watched until she saw her mom walk into the kitchen to prepare dinner. Breathing a sigh of relief Amelia ran to the edge of her yard and began to slowly and clumsily climb up the tree.

After a few moments of reading in her new hiding spot she let out a startled scream as a squirrel ran across her lap, at the same time she heard an equally startled grunt and someone picking up the book she had dropped in her brief moment of terror.

Two choices. Hide, pretending nothing happened. Or break out of her awkward adolescent silence and make social contact. Unfortunately for Amelia her hesitation was what prevented the chance of being able to make the choice herself.

“Erm, hello?” called the boy who was struck by the book.

“Um, hi. Sorry about that, can you please pass my bo-” There wasn’t really a need for her to finish her question, or really even time to focus on finishing her question as the boy was beginning to climb up the tree himself. It wasn’t long before she was seated uncomfortably next to a lean, gangly boy with bright blue eyes which were filled with curiosity.

“What are you doing up here?” he asked, though he must have already known the answer given the book that he was holding in his hands now. Continuing on, “and why are you reading a tattered copy of…” He was turning the book over in his hands in search of the title before Amelia stole it back, nearly losing her balance in the process. Clearing her throat she wiped off the cover and shoved it back into her jacket.

“It is not tattered, or I mean it wasn’t until I dropped it just a moment ago.” She said defensively, embarrassed that someone besides her mother would know that she had a soft spot for novels written by the great Jane Austen. After another moment of hesitation, Amelia began to slowly make her way back down the tree, trying to hide her fear of falling and mentally kicking herself for forgetting how much she hated heights. She felt the boy grab her arm quickly and saw that without that she would have grabbed onto a branch that was too small to hold her weight.

“Here, let me help.” Said the boy with a small sort of arrogance and he gracefully jumped down and helped her finish her descent.

Once both feet were on the ground and her clothes were straightened out she turned to him to say a small but grateful thank you and saw the boy had already began to walk away. Looking at the scuffed up and dirtied cover of Pride and Prejudice, she sighed and began to walk back into the house thinking of how she was going to explain the damage to her mom.

A couple of days later Amelia was seated at the window again, but this time she wasn’t reading this book that was open in her hands. Her eyes were scanning the neighborhood for the blonde haired boy who seemed to walk by her house at sporadic times of the day, wishing she could maybe talk to him again.

Startling even herself, the next day she told her mom she was going outside. Her climbing was still unsteady, but she was a little surer of where to grab what branches and which foot fits into the crevice that once held a bird’s nest. This time she wasn’t so careful with hiding herself, in fact she wanted to be found.

She didn’t have to wait long. With her feet dangling down from the branch she was perched on, she felt a light tug. Smiling when she looked down, Amelia saw the blonde boy looking up at her with an amused expression on his face.

“What, no book to chuck at my head again?” He asked jokingly and red inflamed Amelia’s cheeks.

“No, I didn’t chuck it at you in the first place. I accidentally dropped it.”

“Yeah, on my head!” He replied, laughing lightly.

By this time, there was not possibility of her embarrassment going unnoticed. “No what part of ‘accident’ do you not understand?” she said slowly “But that’s not the point. I was… waiting for you” she added hesitantly.

“Waiting for me?” he asked, smirking.

“Yeah, well I didn’t really get a chance to say thank you.”

“So you decided to climb back up the tree that I had to help you down in the first place?”

“Well.. Uhh..” Amelia said awkwardly, not thinking of that. The boy smiled back knowingly. Reaching out his hand to help her down, she jumped before she had her grip and fell down. Once regaining her balance, some thanks to his arm around her lower back, Amelia realized she knocked him on the shoulder. Again.

She took a step away from him and began to apologize but he held up a hand which caused her to stop. “Don’t worry about it.” He said lightly while rubbing his shoulder. Amelia looked down at the ground and twisted the hem of her shirt in her small hands awkwardly not knowing what to say.
When she looked back up at him she saw him checking his watch.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you later.” He said to her and turned to walk away.

“Amelia!” She called lightly in his direction after he was across the street.

Turning back around he called back, “See you later, Amelia!” with some amusement in his voice.
Amelia gave a light wave back at him and made her way back into the house, this time with a smile on her face.

---

Tom looked in Amelia’s direction when he noticed her movement in his peripherals and smiled, knowing what she was thinking about. Turning slightly to make eye contact with him she returned his smile for a moment, reveling in interaction briefly before the pain hit her chest. Her grimace didn’t go unnoticed even after her head was turned back towards the television and Tom found himself mimicking the expression, confusion and worry mingled in with it and he sighed, knowing full well that if he asked he wouldn’t receive a truthful answer.