Falling For Amelia Manning - 16 Secrets in the Sock Drawer

“I was just in the backyard. I left my bag out there and I didn’t want to wake you up, I’m sorry mom. I thought it was going to rain and I didn’t want it to get ruined.” Phoebe quickly tried to cover up what she had been doing. She had no way of knowing how long her mother had been standing downstairs waiting for her, she had to take a stab in the dark.

Seconds ticked by as her heart seemed to freeze in her chest until her mother finally spoke.

“Get ready for bed and don’t make a peep until tomorrow. I hear anything, and I will add roof work to your punishment,” her mother spoke sternly with a finger pointed at her in anger but her heart restarted when she realized she got away with what happened for the most part.

“Thank you, mom, goodnight,” she told her quickly before breezing past her and running up the stairs. When she carefully opened her door and slipped into the room, she glanced around trying to find Amelia in whatever hiding place she found.

“Is the coast clear?” A mousy whisper came from her closet. Phoebe made sure the door was clicked closed, she dropped her bag on the floor and walked over to the closet.

“You really shouldn’t be the one talking, that could have been my mom coming in my room,” Phoebe whispered harshly back at her. “Don’t get onto me, Edan, I can’t see a damn thing. If this is such a chore for you, I’ll leave out the window!” Amelia’s voice raised just a little bit making Phoebe’s heart slam in her chest when she heard her mom’s footsteps outside the door.

“Hush,”

The room was silent. Phoebe moved around gently as if she was getting ready for bed, just in case her mother was listening at the door. When she heard the sound of the room across from her close and no other noise sparked outside, she knew her mother had gone to bed for the night.

“It’s safe,” Phoebe whispered to her closet.

Slowly, Amelia peered around the closet door, checking for herself if the coast was indeed clear. When it was just Phoebe standing by her bed, she pulled herself out of the closet with great difficulty as she pulled her last leg from the tight spot she had been squished into.

“How did you even get back there? I think I have stuff in there just stacked to the roof, you shouldn’t have been able to fit!” Phoebe playfully whispered before pulling out a few blankets and pillows from under her bed for guests – usually James.

“It wasn’t easy, Edan, I’ll say that much. Are you sure this is okay?” Amelia asked, dropping her voice so it wouldn’t carry outside the room. “It’s fine, James stays here all the time, there’s plenty of room. Granted, my mother usually knows about that, but there have been days where my mom hasn’t noticed James being here for a week straight. It just depends on how busy she is. With the suspension, she’ll be on my ass more, but I think we can work around this.” Phoebe explained while creating the blanket pallet next to the closet for Amelia – something she never thought she would be doing – not in a million years.

While Phoebe folded blankets and plumped pillows, Amelia walked around her room with light steps as she had taken her shoes off the second she came in contact with the soft carpet of Phoebe’s room so she wouldn’t track dirt and so her mom wouldn’t hear her footsteps.

She looked across the tall dresser by the bedroom door looking from framed photos of James and Phoebe at various stages of their lives. There were even ones from around the age they used to hang out, but Amelia was an outsider looking in on their lives, she wasn’t attached to these in any way.

“I got rid of the ones we used to have, if you wanted to know,” Phoebe spoke up from behind her. She watched her go from photo to photo knowing she wouldn’t find one with her in it. “I wasn’t hoping I would be in one of them, it would be weird if I was. Though, I do remember taking a bunch with my dad’s old camera,” Amelia reminded her. “Yeah, I remember that,” Phoebe’s voice dropped before she realized how softly she was talking.

“I’m going to use the bathroom really quick; you’re welcome to it after,” Phoebe told her just before heading into the bathroom with her nightclothes to wash up. She watched Amelia nod that she understood while keeping her eyes on the photos sitting up on the dresser.

Closing the door behind her, Phoebe stripped her clothes off and ran the tap while she waited for warm water. Cupping her hands under the flow, she splashed her face with the warm water while trying to think of a rational reason she had Amelia in the same room as her, sleeping only a few feet away from her in James’ usual spot.

“It’s in both of our best interests. Mom wanted you to move on from this, so does James, no one considered moving on from it would lead the two of us to a mutual understanding and a sleepover.” Giving herself a sort of pep talk in the mirror, barely above a whisper with the water running, she looked at her tired eyes in the mirror.

“Never in my life, did I think Amelia Manning would be sleeping in my room. Whether my mom knows about it or not. I think I would have rather been kicked in the shins over and over until I bled than have something like this happen. But here we are.” She spoke to herself in the mirror some more, trying to talk herself into the deals she’s been making.

Splashing more water on her face, she finished up at the sink before pulling on her nigh shirt and drying herself off. Quietly, she stepped out of the bathroom and left it for Amelia to use who had been moving the blankets and pillows around by the closet.

“All yours,” Phoebe whispered across the room. When the bathroom door closed again, Phoebe tossed her dirty clothes in the hamper and moved to her sock drawer. There was a little spot just under a mess of bundled socks that no one knew about – not even James. She wiggled it until the wood came loose enough to pull it back a bit. There were a few pieces of paper sitting in the middle of the two pieces of wood that made up the bottom of the drawer. Pulling a couple of them out, she looked over the folded pictures she swore were burned a long time ago.

It was a little line of six pictures, edged like a movie reel. Down the center of the long piece of shiny paper were the six photos she was a little ashamed that she kept in the dark, in her secret spot. They showed two happy kids at the top making faces at the camera, then three people in the next two. The rest of them were various faces of serious, stern faces to embarrassing, almost cringe-worthy dorky-ness that made a blush rise to her cheeks.

She heard the water stop in the bathroom and quickly hid the photo line ups of James, Amelia and her, but not before looking at the very last one where it was just Amelia and her.

It felt like a lifetime ago. They were about ten or eleven years old, thinking they would be best friends forever.

The picture folded easily and was stuck back by a note she kept from her younger days that would never see the light of day again. She made sure the wood was bent back where it needed to go before moving the socks back into place and closing the drawer. Phoebe crossed the room quickly and got under the covers before Amelia came out of the bathroom with her toothbrush and toothpaste in hand. Phoebe kept her eyes down until she made it over to the blanket nest, she created next to the closet.

With both girls settled into their respective beds, Phoebe clicked the lamp off on her bedside table letting the dark fall around them.

“You still have them,” Amelia whispered, alerting Phoebe to the right side of her bed. Turning, she faced the closet without actually looking down at Amelia in the dark.

“What are you talking about?”

“The glow in the dark stars, we put them on your ceiling when we were in fifth grade. You begged your mom for a pack of them from the craft store when we were at the mall.” Amelia reminded her and Phoebe had almost forgotten. Turning to lay on her back, Phoebe looked up at the fading green glowing plastic stars on her ceiling. She forgot it was all three of them at the time, sticking them to the popcorn ceiling. Smiling, she stretched her arms to lay behind her head as her eyes grew heavy.

“Josie, you remember her, right?” Amelia spoke again, surprising Phoebe.

“Yeah, she was your bestie, she used to shove me down the stairs in middle school. She’s even smacked my tray out of my hands a few times. I was so happy when she transferred for senior year.” Phoebe nearly forgot who she was talking to, Josie’s best friend, and her tentative enemy.

“That’s long over, even before she transferred this year. I asked her after the food fight about what James told me.”

“What did James tell you?” Phoebe asked, genuinely curious.

“She was telling me that you did say anything about my parents to anyone at school. Except that you told James a few things, but not enough to spread the rumor everyone heard. She told me Josie was whispering about it too, that it sounded like she knew just as much, if not more than you did.” Phoebe’s throat went dry. She knew this was a bad idea, letting the devil into your home never was. Her whole body tensed but what happened next, shocked her.

“It wasn’t you; I know that now. Josie confessed. She said she was in the hall with you. By the bathroom that night,” Amelia revealed.

“I didn’t know she was there!” Phoebe was quick to defend herself.

“I know, she said you didn’t know,” Amelia reassured her.

“You believe her? Why now?”

“Because she doesn’t have a reason to lie anymore. Back then, she was jealous of James and you. I hung out with the two of you a lot and she didn’t like that. So, she told everyone about my parents and made me think it was you. She told me a bunch of other lies that I won’t say right now, but I’d like to leave that stuff behind, what about you?”

Phoebe didn’t think she would ever be able to breathe properly again. All the air seemed to be caught in her chest and throat. She never thought the devil herself would be reaching out with an olive branch. Maybe she would have an answer to why she did this for her after all; they were worth saving.

“I’d like to forget about it, but I fear that this is just nighttime talk, you know?” Phoebe finally spoke but Amelia didn’t understand.

“Edan, are you scared that I’ll wake up a different person?” She teased.

“No, that’s not it,” Phoebe told her while trying to stifle a yawn. “Get some sleep, Edan,” Amelia told her while turning around and getting comfortable. Phoebe laid with her hands behind her head for a little while. Thinking about what she just said. That she was scared she would be a different person when they woke up, and she was, she was also scared they would wake up and Amelia would be the same old person. Her enemy and it scared her how much she didn’t want that anymore. She didn’t want her to be an enemy again.