Amber's View

I first met Steve the end part of my junior year in high school. I don't know what caught my attention about him first, his looks, or the fact that he looked so lost standing there in the hallway. I have never been a shy person so it didn't surprise any of my friends when I walked up to him. "Hey you look like you could use a little help," I said breaking out one my best flirtatious smiles. "I've decided to be that help."

He laughed a little as he checked me out – I got a lot of that when I was wearing my cheerleader outfit. "That's the best offer I've had in a long time," he said in a thick southern drawl. "I'm looking for M213, " he glanced down at the schedule in his hand.
"What a coincidence, that's where I'm heading right now. Come on I'll show the way." I started to walk in the right direction and he followed.

All my friends were so giggly around him, you know the way high schoolers are around boys. Well, I thought as I looked him up and down out of the corner of my eye, they have every right to be, he is pretty cute. He had wavy dark brown hair and these amazing turquoise blue eyes. Cute, I said again glancing at the blue jeans and flannel he was wearing, but not my type. I tended to fall hard and fast for the bad boy type and well he just didn't look like a bad boy.

As it turned out Steve was in a lot of classes with me, had the same lunch period as me, and surprisingly enough had even moved into the house next door to me. "Looks like we'll be seeing a lot of each other," I joked with him that first day after he had walked with me home from school. Actually, Steve seemed to turn up wherever I went and eventually we became really good friends. I sometimes got the feeling he wanted to be more than that but I never could see it happening between us. He would often ask me questions like "Would you ever consider dating someone that's a friend?" I would always smile, laugh and say something like "Depends – how much did he win in the lottery." I knew that kind of answer hurt him, but I didn't know how to tell him I wasn't interested in him like that.

As we went into summer, Steve and I became even closer. He was the one true friend I could tell everything to and did. We even had a greeting that was just ours - "Guess who?" We would say that when the other one answered the phone or when we saw each other. People eventually came to realize that if I was somewhere Steve was probably there too. For a long time it was just him and me. Everything about our friendship seemed fine until Devon showed up in the picture my senior year.

Devon was definitely my kind of guy: long black hair, earring, leather jacket, and a type of walk that just screamed sex. We met one morning before school started. Steve had just left for his first class when I bumped into him (accidentally of course). By the end of school we were in the parking lot, leaning against his car, kissing.

"Guess who?" a heard a rough voice say behind us. Startled I looked up to find Steve standing there with his arms crossed staring at us. His turquoise eyes had turned a darker shade of blue and were cold.

"Why, he's jealous," I thought slightly flattered.
"Who are you?" Devon said with a sneer.
"No, the question is who the fuck are you?" Steve replied sneering right back.
Devon and Steve moved towards each other ready to fight. I stepped in between them before they could start. "Stop it you two!"
"Fine," Devon said getting into his car, "you just better watch yourself asshole!" and pointing to Steve. "Call me," he said to me as he drove away. "What was that all about?" I was so upset with Steve at that moment I didn't know what to do.
"You going out with him?" was all he asked.
"Yes, as a matter of fact I am."
"What the hell do you see in him?" There were lots of things I could have said but I knew that saying them would only make the situation worse – so I didn't say anything at all. "Amber," he said taking my hand in his a soft look coming to his eyes, "you know I like you."
"I know."
"So why can't we be together."
"You know the answer to that," I said, "I just don't like you that way."
He ripped his hand away from mine hurting my arm in the process. "Fine," he said, his eyes growing cold again, "but it won't last…eventually you'll realize that I'm the one for you. I'll make you realize it." With that he turned and walked away.

I told Brian parts that even Rhonda and Dan didn't know; about the last time I had seen him right before I moved to Florida. As I told him the story I could see his knuckles growing whiter as his grip tightened around the steering wheel. "Does Rhonda know the whole story?" Brian asked when I finally came to the end.

"Most of it," I said.
"She doesn't know about what happened right before you came here does she?" he said figuring it out.
"No," I replied quietly.
"Why haven't you told her?"
"She has enough problems of her own to deal with." Brian gave me a funny look but before he could comment on it we arrived at my building. "Thank you for listening," I said as I climbed out of the car. "Oh and Brian..."
"Yeah?"
"Don't tell anyone," I said as I closed the car door and headed up the walkway towards the front entrance. I could still see him sitting out there as the elevator doors closed.