Dinner and bonding

Opening the door to the apartment Bailey found the familiar face of his friend on the other side tapping on the door with her hands full. “I got us like lots of food.” Candi said out loud holding a few bulging plastic bags and then spoke in a much softer voice before coming in. “Are you like okay? She said she was going to spank you… and like only my Nana does that and she makes me go find her a stick.” Reflexively Bailey touched his sore behind at the thought of what he just endured, but was thankful it wasn’t Nana giving out the punishment if that is how she did it. “I’m like fine.” Bailey said with a shrug, not willing to give up his male bravado, even if he looked like some teen girl right now. “Well, I’m like really, really and I mean really sorry you got in trouble.” Because of you Bailey added mentally as he opened the door more for Candi to come into the apartment. Stepping in past Bailey, Candi approached the kitchen table where Amanda sat with her laptop out in front of her and she noticed for the first time she was wearing a pair of glasses. “Oh I love your glasses, they look so good on you.” Amanda pulled them off her face, giving the teen girl a smile before glancing down at the blue framed glasses she hated wearing, it also made her feel old to wear them and put it off as much as she could. “Thank you, Bailey tells me I should wear them more often.” Candi nodded her head glanding at the glasses again before starting to unpack the bags. “You look super cute with them on, I bet Bailey would look cute with a pair like that, but like black, or red oh oh or PINK!” Amanda smirked as she put the glasses back in their case and shut her laptop. She was positive Bailey had never been to an eye doctor in her life, not that she followed her ophthalmologist's advice.

“So like here is the thing, all the stuff is separate and we just put it all in our bowls and I like promise you will both love it.” Candi turned her gaze to Bailey who had come up beside her. “I also may have seen a place called Backyard Burger on the way back.” She said holding up a paper bag that had a black and green BB printed on it, that she had hidden inside one of the bags she was carrying. Bailey’s eyes lit up as his fingers reached out for the container of food like it was a holy relic worth praise and adoration. “Sit down at the table pumpkin, so we can eat like a family.” Most meals between the two that were brought home were taken in front of the tv, or him on the couch in front of the tv while she was able the table or small desk on her laptop working, but he was not going to argue. A good girl never argues or complains and he felt no need to with his best friend in the world picking him up a burger. As he sat down Bailey’s first thought was how his backside was still sore, but the second was wondering why Chuck had never done something like that for him, or even him for Chuck for that matter. Pulling the items out of the bag Bailey noticed the fries looked a bit orange and glared at them and gave it a poke with the nail on his index finger. “I figured if you were going to have fries you should at least have some that are better for you.” Bailey looked between the fried objects in the container, then at Candi, then back at them. “Sweet potatoes?” He said with a hint of distaste in his voice as he held one near his mouth. Not his first or second or even like third choice, but it felt like forever since he got something fried. Biting into the fried object Bailey was surprised at the flavor, he never actually had one before. Chewing the small bite completely before swallowing Bailey held the nibbled on piece of food in the direction of Amanda. “This is like actually good!”

Pouring the noodles into the broth, Amanda enjoyed the aroma wafting off her food and couldn't help herself from chuckling at Bailey’s wide eyed reaction. “Well I am glad you are expanding your horizons, but maybe you should be saying thank you to someone for going out of their way.” Bailey nodded and took another tiny bite of his food like he had been taught and patted the top of the wrapped up burger. He was about to speak, but stopped himself as he remembered to not talk with his mouth full. “Oh my god Candi you have like no idea… how much I needed this.” Candi gave an exaggerated shrug of shoulders as she spun the food around in her bowl to mix everything together. “Ideas aren’t our like strong suit, but listening to each other and doing what is best totally comes naturally to us!” She said with a large smile and enjoying that what she got Bailey was enjoying so far. “Daddy always says to use what the lord gave us and we have heart.” Bailey was loving her heart at that moment, much better than when her heart made him go on a liquid diet with those shakes. Unwrapping his burger he took a small bite and chewed on it slowly to savor the beef's flavor. He would have loved to take a huge bite, but that wasn’t lady like. On the third chew Bailey realized something was off and he recognized the look of mischief in his friend's eye. She hadn't taken a bite of her own food yet, she was just sitting there watching the two people across the table from her. The burger still tasted good, but it was wrong and looking down at the object between his fingers he knew what it was. She wasn’t an angel, but a devil bringing him nothing more than unfulfilled promises and lies. “This isn’t beef…” Bailey said looking at the patty. Candi gave a big smile before reaching over and stealing a sweet potato fry. “You can like hardly tell right?! They are so much better for you than beef and you still like get to satisfy that craving!” Shaking his head Bailey didn’t even look up from what he had taken a bite of, hating himself for savoring it. “It like isn’t even healthier, it just different.” Taking a bite of the fry, Candi waved her other hand in the air at the wrist. “Nah, you are like only saying that because you wanted beef and don’t want to admit I’m right.” Candi said with her mouth full.

“Manners Candi.” Amanda said hearing the girl talk with her mouth full as she looked on amused at Bailey eating a plant based burger for the first time. She loved the things and often had a few in the freezer. She took a few more bites of the wonderful dish Candi had brought back for her to try before looking at the two. A few slurping noises came from Candi as she eat her meal and it looked like Bailey was just picking at her food. “Bailey, eat your food unless you are not feeling well.” Bailey felt fine, if a little sore in the rear and the food tasted fine he guessed, it just wasn’t what he wanted and what the others had seemed much better. “My umm..” Candi tapped the bridge of her nose and paused trying to find the word. “I’m stuffy and have a headache, do you have that too?” Bailey shook his head and purposely took a large bite of one of the now cooling sweet potato fries. “You should have said something earlier, let me get you something for your head.” Amanda stood up from the table, then took another bite of her dinner, giving Candi a wink before heading off to her bedroom to get her something for her congestion and headache. “Is it good? What do you think?” Candi said pointing her fork to the half eaten burger. He remembered having the argument about the impossible burger being almost or just as bad as a real burger, so long as it it wasn’t something from the golden arches, but she wasn’t going to listen and it really wasn’t bad. “It taste good, yeah.” Bailey reluctantly admitted. “Just like not what you wanted? Sorry, I thought I was like going to open your eyes to a better world. Well I like did, and I’m not done. Let's trade!” Candi said sliding her bowl forward with one hand and sliding Bailey’s burger closer to her with the other. She stopped to think for a second before moving what was left of the fries between the two and let out a giggle as she smiled.

Coming back to the table Amanda saw the girls had swapped food and both looked much happier for it. “Here Candi, take these and from now on you tell me if you are not feeling well. Bailey likes to play it tough, but always ends up acting like a baby in the end when she does not feel well.” She said running her hand through Bailey’s hair. He huffed at the comment, he didn’t act like a baby, he just didn’t want to leave bed when he wasn’t feeling well. She was the one that acted all motherly when he wasn’t feeling a hundred percent. “What about you Candi, how do you act when you are sick?” Candi reached for another fry as she thought and gave a little shrug. “I dunno, I like sleep till nine sometimes when I don’t feel well or oh yeah I like always want ice cream! Rocky road is the best! I will get my blanket and wrap it around me and watch tv, but I like hardly ever get sick.” Amanda sat back down in her seat and gave Bailey a side hug. “Well I think that is a better attitude than me, I tend to just try and push through it. What about your father?” Amanda asked before finishing off her dinner. “Daddy, he is horrible. He pretends he is perfectly fine, last year he said he felt fine when he totally had the flu! Monica sprayed him down with lysol, scolded him and sent him home.” Candi laughed at the memory of her Daddy smelling of the cleaner and being told what for by his own employee. “Tell you what girls, the two of you get ready for bed while I finish up some work. I spoke to Bailey earlier about us all painting each others toenails, we can do that say in half an hour. Meg and I always did this when we had a friend sleep over growing up.” Candi’s face lit up at the idea of joining Bailey in their mother daughter activities. “I would just love that!” Candi said while Bailey smiled on, trying to focus more on the wonderful flavor in his mouth than what was to come.

“Did Bailey tell you about the job application to work at the water park? She like needs a parent to sign off because of, well the being a minor thing.” Amanda pursed her lips looking at Bailey as she painted Candi’s toes that were elevated on the coffee table. She looked oblivious to the world around her as she focused on applying the sparkly purple nail polish to her friends' feet. Candi had already done her own in a pale pink and she was letting them dry and when Bailey was done it would be her own turn to paint Bailey’s nails. “Bailey is that true? You want to work at the water park?” She was surprised that Bailey would be willing to take such a job considering how picky Bailey was about finding a position that suited her level of skill as she put it. “Hmm What?” Bailey said looking between the two on the couch, he was trying to make sure he got this right and hadn’t heard more than his own name. “We were talking about the job application today so you can work around all those snacks.” Bailey hadn’t considered the fact of being on his own there and being able to actually buy some of the candy bars. He always picked up a peanut butter cup when he went to the store, but that felt like forever ago now. On his own Candi couldn’t stop him, but she was obvi saying that to tempt him into doing something he told her he didn’t want. “I love, I mean love a good snack.” He said borrowing her turn of phrase, that caused Candi to giggle. “But I like told you I didn’t want to work there.” Bailey had to use a paper towel to wipe up some of the paint that dripped off the brush onto the table as he moved his hands around as he talked. “Besides, like if I did that I couldn’t be around you.” He added thinking of a way for her to drop the subject. “Why are the two of you talking about snacks? Did you find something you really liked that only the park has?” Candi met Bailey’s eyes and gave her friend a knowing smile before looking at her mom. “A snack is like a boy who looks cute or hot. You know like, you say look at that snack over there. Cause like they look good right there, but like probably arn’t good for you. The water park has a lot of cute boys.

“The two of you spend a lot of time looking at the snacks then?” Amanda asked a little surprised, making sure to not focus her eyes on Bailey who looked like she was embarrassed for her to find out. “Maybe, I dunno. What is like a lot? Bailey was saying how I should only have eyes for Ry, but like I can’t help myself.” Amanda smirked at the girl, she had completely forgotten that part of the conversation happened in the car with the of them earlier. “So would I say you look like a delicious snack to your father?” With talk like that Bailey went back to pointing Candi’s toes, he didn’t want to hear her talk like that. The closest thing someone called him to a snack is a large guy at a club told his then girlfriend she should ditch the snack sized boy and get with him and now Candi got him walking right into using slang he wasn’t familiar with like he was checking out men. He had opened his mouth to say that wasn’t what he meant, he just wanted a peanut butter cup, but Mommy was looking right into his eyes and he lost his nerve. I would most def have to sort that out in private later. “I would use the word delish, but I also would like never say that to Daddy, but I think he would like love to hear you say that. Oh, oh I know! He said you two were going to talk tonight, call him now!” Amanda did want to see how he was doing and that his day went okay, and selfishly she wondered if he had heard anything about her role. “Bailey sweetheart, could you do me a favor and go get my phone from my purse?” Happy to scurry away from the conversation, Bailey got up and move around the couch feeling the pink with white accented babydoll flow around him as he moved how he was trained. Elbows slightly bent, palms out facing the floor, one foot in front of the other sashaying to his destination.

After being handed the phone Amanda watched Bailey go back to her task as she clicked call on the cell phone, clicking it over to speaker phone. “Hey there Mr. Connors,you are on speaker phone with the girls and I. The girls taught me a new word today.” Bailey put a piece of cotton between Candi’s toes, hating that his girlfriend was literally about to flirt with Derrick right in front of him. He had told her to pursue him and to treat himself like her daughter and it wasn’t like she was going to break character right in front of Candi, but still it hurt. He was wearing a sexy baby doll nightie, while Candi wore cotton comfortable looking shorts and a long t-shirt that just said the word Girl in pink on it and Mommy… she wore a pair of black silk pajama pants and shirt. It wasn’t made to be sexy, but he was so pent up he had to keep himself from touching her ass when she had walked by earlier. “Don’t think I like this Mr Connors business, I don’t think either of us are on the clock, but it is nice to hear the three of you are enjoying yourselves together. Hi girls!” He said in a slightly louder voice to make sure they heard and gave them a second to responde, happy to hear both of them say it back to him. “What is this new word you learned?” Amanda looked over to Candi who seemed to be trying to hold in a fit of giggles and urge her to continue at the same time. “What if I were to say you were a delish snack?” A small smile curled on Amanda’s lips while she held out the cell phone with one hand and ran her fingers through her blonde hair with the other a little nervous. Flirting like this did not come naturally to her, she had never really been the pursuer, heck she really had only been on a handful of first dates and only dated four men in her life for any real length of time. “Ah.. wait.. I KNOW THIS ONE!” Derrick’s voice boomed with excitement from the phone. “I looked it up when I heard Candace using it with her friends. Now you saying that to me is entirely flattering, but you my dear are a main course.”Amanda’s smile brightened at his response, it was child like with how excited he got for knowing the answer and moved to him being playfully romantic.

“Awww that is totally sweet and you said it right Daddy!” Candi heard her father laugh with a lot of mirth. “I would like to tell you I knew, but I looked up a bunch of things when I was looking up snack. Wasn’t actually sure I was using it correctly.” Amanda leaned forward so that the phone was closer to Bailey. “Before we go further, I think my daughter had something she wanted to say to you.” Putting the brush back into the bottle Bailey rolled his shoulders like he was building himself up, he really didn’t want to apologize to this man, but he really had destroyed one of his shirts. “I’m like, umm Mr. Connors.” Bailey corrected himself, remembering this man was an adult. “I’m sorry for going into your things ruining your shirt.” Amanda gave a small smile and a wink of her eye to Bailey to let her know she appreciated what she did. Bailey wasn’t known for apologizing, or admitting fault.”Don’t worry about it princess, Candace said you were going to buy me a new one, while I didn’t expect you to do that. I do appreciate you trying to make up for what you did.” Amanda tilted her head to the side, unaware that Bailey had offered to replace the garment. “Derrick hey, the girls and I are finishing up painting our nails, can I call you right back?” After agreeing Amanda ended the call and swapped places with Bailey so that she was on the couch. “Okay, what color are we going with?” Candi looked at the various bottles and held up two bottles in one hand from her own collection and the light pink Bailey’s mom had. “Bubble gum pink, luscious red or light pink like Mom has?” She had backed off calling her that, but after hearing her flirt with Daddy, Candi felt emboldened. When she talked to him earlier about what happened she could tell he was only trying to sound stern and wasn’t mad at all, and while he wasn’t going to ground her he did take away her allowance for the week.

Pointing to the least horrible option, Bailey picked the light pink. “So cute that you want to match! I am just loving tonight.” While she was having the time of her life and it looked like Momm.. Mandy was too, Bailey was not. Not only did he not get to have his burger, he didn’t get the promised video games and instead got a piece of plant disguising it self poorly as food, girl bonding time with painting of nails and he had to eat crow. What Derrick had brought up reminded Bailey of having to purchase a shirt for the man and when Candi got up to tinkle he thought it the best time to bring it up. “I umm was going to log in and do like, well pay the bill and I was hoping I could like borrow your card to buy a shirt for Mr. Connors.” Amanda looked up from her kneeling position, cleaning off the existing nail polish. “Pumpkin, you will not be able to log into my bank account.” Bailey’s eyes narrowed, not sure why she said it was hers, it was both of theres. Sure he hadn’t added any money to it in a long time, but it was a joint account. “I removed my ex-boyfriend’s name from my account, we could not risk anyone that might know him or you seeing his name on the account if they looked over my shoulder.” Frowning, Bailey looked at the woman he loved, hurt that she was wiping him away. That seemed like a tiny risk, and it was like totally his job to pay the bills and handle their money. “But, like I always pay the bills.” Amanda gave Bailey a pat on the leg, thinking about how she said she wanted to spend the summer with Candi and not worry about a job. If Bailey wanted to have relive a youthful summer she did not think it would be fair to add the stress of being an adult and responsibilities of paying bills on her. “You just focus on having fun this summer and being a teenager, you can leave being an adult to your Mom. Mommy.” She corrected herself, looking up and to the left as she tilted her head to the left and back again as she smiled, enjoying the thought of being a mother. “How like can I buy a shirt?” Bailey asked, grasping at straws, hoping she would still give him her debit card.

“Can’t you just use your allowance?” Candi asked, coming back into the living room, walking oddly with the cotton still between her toes. Amanda looked over at the blonde girl coming back into the room and then glanced back at Bailey as a thought came to her. “She was not getting one with her not helping out around the apartment, but if she continues to show me that she can be responsible, and I mean more responsible than today. Then I do not see why I could not give you one, at least until you get a job.” Candi sat down at the couch next to Bailey and nudged he friend with her shoulder. “I can totally loan you the money for the shirt and you can pay me back when you get your allowance, I have like a few things to do at the mall tomorrow before our date.” Amanda had just finished rubbing the polish off Bailey’s last toe when she looked up at the two. “I thought your double date was not till Thursday? I am afraid I will be at a book club meeting with your Aunt tomorrow night.” Glancing at Candi, a smile grew on Bailey’s face. He finally had a way out of the date that wasn’t on him, Miss April couldn’t be mad that it was canceled because the boys moved the time. “Well… like Ryan has to do something with his Dad so like the boys wanted to get together tomorrow, but if you aren’t home I like totally understand. I will let them know we have to cancel.” Bailey said looking around for his phone, but remembered he had left it in his room on the charger when he got changed. “I think it will be fine, the boys can come over tomorrow night. I think Candi you will be in charge.” His eyes wide, his mouth open Bailey was upset that she would put the teenager in charge of him. “What… but Mommyyyy!” Amanda pointed the polish brush in Bailey’s direction. “You have not exactly been the pinnacle of decision making lately.” Candi leaned closer whispering to her friend loud enough that Amanda could still hear. “It is because I’m the older sister.”

“No, it is because Bailey was not responsible enough to study for her test, had you help her with her own chores, and then thought it was a good idea to invade someone else's privacy. Given that, Bailey do you think it is fair that Candi is in charge?” Chewing on his lip, Bailey could taste his lip gloss. “Yeah, I guess.” Putting her arm around Bailey, Candi gave her friend a kiss on the cheek and squeezed her as tightly as she could with one arm. “Stick with me sis and I will have you like be a responsible adult in no time.” Scrunching his nose up Bailey shook his head. “Pass.” That response made Amanda laugh and she almost spilled her nail polish on the table. “Bailey and I were just talking about her enjoying her time as a teen and not growing up too fast.” Far as Bailey could tell his friend was more than happy to be put in charge and be considered the responsible one and accept the excuse of Bailey not wanting to grow up too quickly. As his nails got painted Candi started to ask about Amanda’s childhood and how she grew up and finally about her mother. Bailey had heard a story or two, but it was surprising at how much of a rebel she was. “Wait, so like you got in trouble all the time too?” Bailey asked, thinking about the punishment he received earlier. Aunt Megan sounded like a know it all growing up so she hadn’t changed much, but was odd hearing about how Mommy was different then and how her Mom raised her two daughters on her own.

When they were done Amanda helped setup some sheets, a blanket and a pillow on the couch for Candi, wished the girls a good night and headed to her room. Stopping in the hallway she motioned Bailey over, smiling slightly when Bailey stood before her, their toes a matching pale pink color. “Honey listen, make sure to use your.” She paused for a second, not enjoyed talking about what Bailey had to do. “Follow the doctors orders on how to take care of yourself.” She then gave Bailey a hug and a kiss on her forehead before making it to her own destination. Getting under the covers she called Derrick back, getting a little nervous when he hadn’t answered by the third ring. It shouldn’t bother her if he was busy and couldn’t get to the phone, but when he did answer she felt relief. “Hey…” He sounded out of breath, like he had to run for the phone. “Everything okay? We can talk tomorrow if you are too busy.” She couldn’t see any gestures like a head shake or a nod, if he looked tired from traveling or irritated that she had interrupted him. “Oh, no, no. I was just in my gym. Well I say gym it is just a spare bedroom that I had the carpet pulled out of, I put down some mats, added a treadmill and bike and some free weights.” Amanda pictured him wearing some tight bike shorts, shirtless and sweaty. Her free hand reaching up and gently touching the nape of her neck. “Oh? I could not imagine having enough space to turn a room into an office let alone a home gym.” He laughed, god she enjoyed hearing it. His was a baritone and it sounded like it vibrated through his chest as he laughed with his whole body, while Bailey’s had always been a light thing. “Yes and no, my place is large, but when I bought it the place and the neighborhood weren’t much to look at. I renovated and over the years the entire area has just well it was a good investment. I actually considered giving up on it, felt like a sink hole for money, heck I considered selling when the value went up, but I’m glad we stayed. Now I’m the proud owner of a four bedroom house, two car garage and a small pool. I would love to show you sometime.”

Having such a large place would be wonderful, housing prices weren’t outrageous here, but she never felt the need to invest in one before she had a stable career. Something she still did not feel she had managing a department and it wasn’t like she needed the space, or could afford a down payment right now. The image in her mind of Derrick sweaty from working out morphed into him wearing a flannel shirt putting up a wall to expand a house or digging to create a pool. She felt her pulse race a little as he thoughts drifted more to what they had done on the previous Friday afternoon. “Did..” She stopped herself and took a deep breath, she wasn’t some teen girl she could control herself. “Did Candi get a chance to speak with you about this afternoon?” It still made her mad thinking about them going through his things and stepping over a line like they did with putting his stuff in her drawers. “I did and the girls shouldn’t have done that, but honestly Mandy. It is incredible to me… never in my life did I think about dating someone who already had a child, heck after.” Amanda waited as he paused. “When my wife died, I never thought about dating ever again. Yet I find myself dating someone again, and you have a teenage daughter and I couldn’t be happier. You hear stories about children rejecting or being downright cruel to men their mother brings home, and yet Bailey. She is a kind girl and has done more than accept me, when she danced with me the other night it was like dancing with a shorter and almost as pretty version of you. When she called me Daddy like Candace does it made me smile, and when she held me as she cried from the gift, I found myself… Well I was happy.” Amanda heard Derrick laugh, one full of nervous energy before he continued. “I have over shared a little and this could be a little heavy of a conversation for right now, but when Candace was telling me Bailey wanted to put my clothes in your drawer it felt like she was telling both of us that she wanted me to stay around. I never had spare clothes at a girl’s place before, it was always the other way around for me.”

“Well you still have not, this is not a girls place.” She said teasing him, it was odd that he was being so open with her. When they laid together after having sex the previous week they shared things they liked and didn’t, like they were planning to continue meeting like that and here he was being open about his thoughts and feelings. “Apologies, but I would imagine you have already put everything back before getting into bed tonight, so it was short lived.” Her eyes fixated on the drawers on the left side of her long dresser where his clothes were. She was so upset the girls put them there, but she hadn’t thought to remove them. “They are still where the girls left them, I was a little busy tonight.” Busy having fun, it wasn’t exactly a lie. “Can I ask you something?” Amanda nodded first before putting voice to her actions. “Yes, of course.” She could heard his beard scratching over the phone receiver as he moved, getting comfortable she presumed. “Would it be so bad if you left my clothes where they are?” Her pulse started to speed up and Amanda could swear she could hear her heart, her voice caught in her throat as she tried to quickly reason out if he was asking to stay with her for the summer. “I mean, ah.. I have never been good at this sort of thing before, let alone now. Candace has told me I should just come out and ask, and at this point she would know better I think. Mandy, would you be my girlfriend?”

Amanda ran her tongue over her lips, they felt suddenly dry. She couldn’t be his girlfriend, it was so cute how nervous he was to ask though and it did make her happy, but she couldn’t. Could she? She definitely couldn’t say she was dating Bailey, Bailey was her ex, at least for now and… Bailey did say to go for it with being in an open relationship. It blew her mind at the idea of Bailey looking at boys, sure she had seen August kiss her back at the park, but Bailey said she hated it and the looking at boys was just all part of the act, wasn’t it? With the silence hanging on the line Derrick pressed forward. “I know we like each other, I find myself speaking to you now and wishing I could see you, being excited at the idea of taking you to a wedding. Both the girls like us, but if there is a hang up. Tell me and we can discuss it.” She couldn’t tell him that her ex-boyfriend was pretending to be her daughter and it would be cruel, but she wasn’t even sure it would be. Bailey really did have a relationship with Derrick and maybe having him around dating her was like reliving his past having both his parents around, this time with more support and not putting the weight of the world on Bailey’s shoulders. “Oh I am well aware of your daughters feelings, she has called me Mom a few times today no matter how much I tell her to just use my first name.” His laugh came again, this time fainter, she was pretty sure he pulled the phone away from his face to do it. “That does sound like her, she really does like you, and I would… Mandy I would love to see where this takes us, together. If though, this is all to fast for you and I would understand that completely. I will tell Candace to cool her jets and if me asking has put you off completely, just let me know.” She could tell that wasn’t what he was going to say, this was a man that could come off as smug with his confidence and being around her seemed to turn him into a school boy at times. “Yeah, umm actually I would too.” Amanda said without thinking it through, her free hand gripping her silk bedskirt. “It is official then? I have a girlfriend?” Her smile grew as she felt her face warming up from a blush. “I want to keep seeing you, so it seems you do.”

The conversation between the two carried on till Amanda felt herself unable to fight off sleep anymore. Hanging up the phone, putting it on her night stand before closing her eyes for bed. Trying to remember the last time she stayed on a call with someone for almost two hours that wasn’t a work meeting. Drifting off to sleep she felt concern, anxiety, and pure glee. Amanda was so wrapped up in her phone call she had no idea what was happening in the rest of the apartment that night and would be a little surprised when she got up for work the next day.