His Little Amelia

|38| • Everest

This was the second call I was getting from Florescent today, and this was the second time I had rejected the call.

Perhaps two weeks ago I'd have spared her the time, but the last thing I wanted was to have an argument with Amelia over some woman that was in the past. At one point, I was tempted to text her and ask what the matter was, but Gabe advised me against it.

"It could be a trap." He said with a serious face, which made me chuckle.

"A trap?" I asked again, smirking at his ideology.

The man nodded, crossing his arms. "What if she calls and says she has a baby for you?

" He asked with furrowed eyebrows, his light skin forming creases.

I chuckled, "A baby? We haven't even had sex yet.

" I teased. Alright, to be honest, we did.

Once. It was a drunken night. I told her a warning to wait until our wedding, but she didn't really want to.

A heated night out, one thing led to another, and we did it in her best friend's house -- not my proudest moment.

Dear Lord, I hope she didn't get pregnant from that. Gabe scoffed, throwing his hands in the air. "See? You even have to think about that for a solid minute." I rolled my eyes, why did I allow him to tag along on my property hunting again?

"Probably because I'm your only friend, and you need a professional's opinion." Gabe gushed out; I could practically hear his head inflating with every sentence. Oh, had I asked the question out loud? Huffing, my hand went to ruffle my unruly hair.

"Look, I'm just saying. If you want peace, ignore the ex.

I'm speaking from experience." This made me grin.

That was true, he fell into a coma with a girlfriend and woke up in a different one.

Such a charmer. "I just hope she isn't in any kind of danger.

" Why would Flo buzz me at one in the afternoon?

Gabe groaned, most likely tired of our backs and forth -- I was too.

"Danger? If danger was close, she'd be dialling the cops, not you. Back to what we came here to do." He huffed, gesturing at the flat we were in. The agent who was taking a call walked back in, his name was Fredrick, a dark-skinned man with thick biceps. "So, gentlemen, is this to your liking?"

After Amelia said yes, I realized it would be weird to come to my family's house just to see me, that was part of the catalyst, the other being I was over thirty and still leaving in my parent's house.

Army or not, I needed my own place. We were in a two-bedroom flat on the fifth floor.

The flat was quite generous in spacing, the kitchen having a cozy look to it.

What I thought was intriguing with the stone block interlocking fireplace.

Honestly, I wondered if Amelia would want this.

Call me crazy, perhaps obsessed, out I had chosen a location a bit close to the baking school she was going on about. The culinary school was out of town, but not too far from this apartment. When I told Gabe about this, he hollered and decided on a name for me.

"So, lover boy, is this flat to your liking?" There was the nickname Gabe adamantly gave to me. Giving the apartment one last look, I shrugged. This was the third one we had been to today, I didn't really see any fault in this one, besides, I thought the style of the flat was neat, and modern too.

"It's pretty decent, to be honest, I like the location too," I told Fredrick, from my peripherals, I saw Gabe sneaker, probably mocking my reason for choosing this location.

Fred nodded, a satisfied smile on his lips.

'I'm glad you do, the lease is for two years, and the owner says you can start bringing in your things after the payment has been received. " His words were monotonous.

"Alright, no problem. Send me an offer on that." I told him, shoving my hands into my pocket as Gabe followed through, walking outside with me. The hallway seemed pretty quiet, the last thing I wanted was a noisy neighbor. I and Fred spoke some more before I bid him goodbye.

Gabe yawned, itching his goatee. "You know what I want to do right now?" He let out casually, walking towards the stairs. According to him, this was his form of exercise, Penelope nagged him about not getting out much to help with his physical therapy, so he began taking walks now.

"Hey man," Gabe called out when we were in my truck.

I hummed, narrowing my eyes to him. "Do you still have those things?

The panic attacks." When he asked this, I paused.

There was no way he could have known that he was in a vegetable state during those times when I was haunted by the eerie sound of bombs and guns.

My gaze gave the question away. Gabe chuckled.

"Pen, she told me about it. Said she'd seen you having one of those on time.

And, well, I do too." He admitted, looking away.

"She said I have PTSD."

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I never really classified my panic attacks as those, it seemed to make them too real.

After the war, after almost bleeding to death, I blacked out and woke up in the hospital, my father by my side.

That was the first time I'd seen Saffron up close, so.

..sad, so...there. She didn't even know me much, but she was bawling, holding the sheets of my bed.

I guess my body looked bad. Shards from the bomb left bruises on my back and neck, and bandages wrapped protectively around my ankle.

To be honest, from the damage done when my leg got trapped, I thought I'd wake up to only one ankle attached.

"You have those as well?" I asked.

He nodded. "One time she dropped a plate and I ducked, shaking like a leaf. Dammit, it was so embarrassing."

His words made me chuckle, I could only imagine the front he'd want to put up for her, that he was fine.

To be the protector of some sort, this man had a bit of a hero complex.

"Did she ask you to see a therapist?" I wondered out loud, that was usually the next best thing.

Gabe snorted, cocking his head to me. "She didn't, I knew she wanted to, but she saved me the talk. If it gets worse, I will."

"My worst days were when I was out of the hospital, anything triggered the feeling.

A loud noise, screaming. Anything. I don't think I was safe with myself, to be honest. Pa didn't let me out of his sight.

Said I was depressed." I wasn't so sure why I was telling him this, it just felt easier to do so. He could relate to it.

Waking up to find most of your men in battle dead or in a coma was gut-wrenching, many phone calls later, I'd decided to stop trying to reach out, it was the same news anyways.

At some point, I didn't see a point in living, how couldn't I protect my team?

Why did a simple cut in the leg have to take me out? Pathetic.

"Pen also says if you're quiet for too long, those harsh thoughts start to come in," Gabe muttered, glancing at me, as though he knew I was already beating myself up. Kissing my teeth, I adjusted in my seat. "You're right," I admitted.

"When was the last time you hit a boxing bag?

" He said out of the blue, a wide smile on his face.

A boxing bag. I went to the gym often, but it didn't involve hitting dummies, so I shrugged.

"I don't know about you, but my pride was bruised from that talk.

Let's go boxing." He uttered, cracking his knuckles.

"Then on the way back, you could get your girl some flowers, lover boy.

" Gabe teased, wiggling his eyebrows at me.

My girl. Gee, I was sporting a silly grin right now.

He was right, Amelia was my girl now, my sweet, little lady.

Rolling my eyes, I tried to tame the cheeky grin on my face.

"That's one way to pull me in," I said, nudging his arm.

I hadn't told her about the house hunting yet, although I wanted to hang out with her today.

Nibbling on my cheeks, I wondered if it would be a good idea to go to hers to see her this evening.

Her father did say our talk was pending, it was nerve-wracking to think his opinion mattered so much to her.

Shaking my head subtly, I put the thought at the back of my mind.

I was already missing her, and it hadn't even been a full day.

Pulling out my phone, I sent a quick text, making sure she was alright.

"Gee, I said give her attention later not now," Gabe said as if he was texting Penelope right now with a stubborn grin daring to make himself known. There we were two smitten men. What were the odds? Deciding not to say it, I slid my phone into my pocket, waiting for her response.

Amelia stayed at the family house until the night that day, I wasn't sure what Emily -- my stepmother was whispering to her, but they were having a fun time, giggling, and grinning.

At one point, I wanted her attention too, so I stole her and locked my room.

She gushed about how nice my family was and, in a minute, we found ourselves cuddling, my arm wrapping around her securely.

I remember how warm she felt. As Amelia spoke about different things, I took note of them, studying her face as though I wouldn't see her again.

Amelia bit her lip whenever she noticed my stare had gone on for too long, it took quite the self-control not to kiss her at the time. I wanted this to be intimate, not sexual.

"Alright! So, you'll take us back to the express and turn right, the boxing arena is about an hour from here -- according to my Google map." He said, racing the lines with his scrawny fingers. Kicking the car back to life, I reversed out of my soon-to-be apartment, going back the same way I came.

As we drove to the boxing arena, my phone began to vibrate. Had Amelia messaged back? The thought added haste as I went to grab my phone from my pocket. "Hey! Eyes on the road man!" Gabe scolded, holding the handlebar at the top of his head.

The excitement brewing dissipated when I saw who it was. Curiosity is taking over. This was now the third time Flo was calling. Was there anything wrong? Gabe probably noticed my change in mood because he asked what was wrong, and when I told him, he scoffed.

"Decline." Were his words.

"What if—"

"What if nothing? Decline the call, Everest." He deadpanned, narrowing his eyes. "I'd hate to say I told you so if this spirals out of control. So what's best right now, I won't tell you twice." Goodness, he said this like I was aching to hear her voice, I just wanted to know why she was calling.

With a deep breath, I did as he said, declining the call.

It didn't take long before we reached the arena. It was a bungalow, from the outside, it didn't seem like anything fancy, just a few cars parked around. Gabe got down with a huff, "Finally, I haven't hit something in a while." He uttered, tapping the seat.

"Let's go lover boy."

The inside smelt of sweat and cologne, and even though the air conditioning was on full blast, men were still breaking a sweat as they served the punching bag blow after blow. When last had I been to something like this? I hadn't been practising my punches for a second, I saw no need to.

"I'll hold, you go first." He said after we were heated up, the bandage wrapped securely around our palms, the gloves fitted and thick.

The first hit was weak, it barely made Gabe move.

He scoffed. "C'mom lover boy, you can do better than that.

Imagine this bag as that boy, what's his name?

The one who is obsessed with your woman.

" He chided, pushing the punching bag to me.

Imagine it as Darrick? I chuckled, I didn't want to have too much fun while doing that.

Come to think of it, Amelia did say she was going to visit him today. I wasn't in the slightest comfortable about that. It seemed as though when they were alone he began his mind games. They'd kissed before, I didn't trust him with her anymore. Especially now.

I didn't realise how angry I was becoming until I hit the bag and Gabe stumbled. "Now that's what I'm talking about!" He cheered on, jamming both hands on it. "Go on, vent," Gabe said, pushing the punching bag towards me.

I hit it again, harder. My muscles tended up, not used to the sudden lovely, I continued to hit it until I saw specks of dust in our midst. Taking a deep breath, beads of sweat rolled down my forehead.

That guy had the audacity to call me a paedophile.

Hit.

Just because I fell in love with his best friend?

Hit.

He says I'm manipulating her when in actual fact he's the one doing those things? He was lucky he didn't catch me on a bad day. "Dammit!" I huffed, slamming my fist into the bag. My heart pumping harshly.

Hit.

"Breathe." I heard Gabe say when I began to heave her, perhaps I'd pushed myself too hard. Removing the gloves, I grabbed fresh towels from the tray, dabbing my sweat. "All that for one man?" Gave asked with an eyebrow raised. This made me chuckle.

"He really gets my blood boiling," I admit. From the onset I knew he didn't like me, I didn't mind at all. As long as he didn't do anything to Amelia. But he broke that silent pact when he kissed her.

"I can imagine." The man muttered, stretching out. "I guess it's my turn." He said, getting ready to start punching the bag. I heard a vibration, making my head dart to the bench.

Gave scoffed.

"This woman just doesn't give up, does she?"

I sighed, shrugging my shoulders. There was a budging in my chest, too hard for me not to check who was calling even if I had a strong intuition on who it was.

Once I had the phone up, my chest constricted. It wasn't Florescent, no, it was Amelia. I held my hand up at Gabe, quickly picking up the call, hoping to God that nothing bad had happened while she was with Darrick.

The first thing I heard was her sniffles.

Was she...crying?

"Baby, hey, what's wrong?" My voice betrayed the fear in them. It took all in me to be patient and listen to her sniffle some more. "Evie..." Amelia trailed off, her voice heavy with sadness.

"Yes? Amelia, I'm listening, what's wrong? Did anything happen? Do you need me to come to pick—" I was nervous, a rambling mess, tugging on my hair when she didn't reply.

"He...he's leaving me. Darrick, he, he's going to abandon me too." After that, my girl broke into a sobbing mess.