Convincing Amy (Amy, #1)

Chapter 10: Invitation

Chapter Ten

INVITATION

November

Weeks passed, and Matthew still hadn't seen Amy since the Hallowe'en party at Sebastian's house where she'd stormed out, tears pouring out of her soul and onto the cold, hard ground. And still, he didn't understand why exactly she'd ran out. Each night as he lay alone in bed, he'd pondered what could have possibly caused such a reaction.

She'd arrived at the party and nothing seemed to be bothering her. Other than Pippa and Nick snogging in front of her. It wasn't that they were being rude, but more so that they were making the scene awkward and uncomfortable for Amy to be in. But Matthew had no idea how this could have possible caused such an outburst of emotion only twenty minutes later.

Matthew thought harder, trying to tie the unexplainable pieces together. Nothing much was out of the ordinary as he'd led Amy, Nick and Pippa into Sebastian's house. Not that Matthew could remember anyway. He'd shown them around briefly before Nick and Pippa eventually went their own way to dance. That had left him with Amy. Alone. Well, as alone as you ever could be in a loud Hallowe'en party. But still, he couldn't find anything odd here either.

Unless... but no, he hated the thought.

Unless it was when he'd held her hand. But he hadn't intended to imply anything here. He'd done it almost absent-mindedly. He just wanted to lead her into the direction of... of... of Sebastian.

Sebastian. This is where Matthew had become more and more confused every night. When he'd introduced Amy to Sebastian. That was the point that turned everything on its roof. But what had Sebastian done that could cause Amy to retreat the party? (And Ostyn and Kolton weren't even there at the time!) He'd greeted her politely - a light peck on the hand. This was how Sebastian greeted every woman he knew. He didn't mean anything by it - it was merely a polite and courteous gesture. His father had taught Sebastian to treat women as though they were the queen, and that was just part of the characteristics he'd learnt to display. Or maybe it was when he'd asked if Amy spoke. But still, Matthew had no idea how this could be the cause. He himself had asked her the exact same question only days before the party. How Sebastian's question was any different, Matthew was dumbfounded. He had not a clue to the puzzle that was Amy.

The human memory worked like a sieve. As you tried to get all that you could, you lost some of it, each and every time. Matthew's mind was working exactly like this, and he was sure he must have forgotten something, or maybe missed it entirely.

He rolled over in his sheets, not needing blankets in the warm night, and looked at his alarm clock. It was one a.m., but that meant nothing to him.

"Lord, help me," he whispered before attempting, for the second time that night, to fall asleep.

* * *

The radio came on, blaring one of the latest pop songs. Matthew extended his arm to turn it off before it could go into the techno chorus. He hated that crap, and didn't know why he had his alarm clock tuned to such rubbish.

He sat up in bed and moved to the edge of his mattress where he placed his head in his arms and extracted the rheum from his eyes. There wasn't much - his sleep hadn't been all that restful. Matthew sat there, huffing when he couldn't bring himself to get fully out of bed - he was still extremely tired - and then groaning when he refused to go back to sleep anyway.

His alarm clock came back on, this time with a much better song. A song Matthew quite liked. In fact, it was the same song he'd assigned as his ringtone for his cell phone. And then, just as fast as the alarm clock had come on, it turned off again, having only played the chorus of the song. Matthew turned and looked at the alarm clock with a questioning glance, as though it would somehow answer him with an explanation.