Falling For Amelia Manning - 19 When We Were Young

**Flashback Chapter**

6 years prior to present day

6 years ago

“Did you get the invite to Mia’s birthday party?” Straightening a barrette in her hair, James leaned against the lockers waiting for Phoebe to get a few books out for the last class of the day. “Yeah, my mom said it’s gonna be a sleepover, are you coming?” Phoebe asked with a held breath hoping her best friend would be with her for her first real sleepover. “Of course, I’m going, my dad thinks it will be good for me since they’ve been fighting a lot, he doesn’t seem to want me at the house.” James’ voice didn’t show how much she hated hearing her parents fight but Phoebe wasn’t an idiot. She knew how much it was tearing her apart.

“Are you scared?” James asked, knowing what was on Phoebe’s mind already.

“Nervous, is more like it. We’ve only ever had sleepovers with just the three of us, now it’s going to be Madison, Caroline, Penny, and some others I don’t remember. There will be a lot of people at Mia’s party and what if they make fun of me for going to sleep too early or try and put my hand in a bowl of water!” Phoebe shouted making a few kids turn and look at her in the hall. Taking the last book, she needed, they headed off to their next class, arm in arm.

“Don’t forget Josie, she was invited too,” James reminded her as Phoebe’s arm tightened on hers.

“I hate that girl. Why does she have to come too?” Phoebe stomped her foot like a child and pushed out her lower lip to pout just before they found their last class of the day.

“Why do you hate her so much? She’s never done anything to you; besides, Mia is friends with her, and she’s allowed to have other friends aside from us.” James told her with a wag of her finger.

“We should be all she needs though! Why should Mia have other friends, especially crappy ones like Josie Meyer? All she does is put her nose into everyone else’s business. Plus, she called you names, and I owe her a punch in the face for it.” Phoebe roughly crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked at the classroom starting to fill up with kids. The class was starting.

“You’re not going to punch Josie in the face, not even if she says something at the sleepover, okay?” James demanded at least a nod of agreement from Phoebe before she let the subject go. “You can’t solve everything with violence,” she continued. “You can if the person is a stuck-up bitch who thinks she’s better than everyone else!” Phoebe harshly whispered in James’ ear as they walked into class. She made sure no one else heard her cuss, especially the teacher heading into the room behind them.

“Just let it go, I’ve been called worst things than what Josie Meyer can think of. Let’s just have a sleepover and shed as little blood as possible.” James nodded before taking her seat by Phoebe’s desk. Phoebe wasn’t as keen to agree with her, she already knew what would happen if Josie said anything bad about James, she would punch her right in the nose.

Phoebe stood in the driveway of Mia’s house, clutching her sleeping bag with both arms. The bag slung over her back weighed her down with the board games she brought for everyone to play, on the request of Mia personally, otherwise she would have left them home. The sound of an old car pulling up behind her made her body twist to see who was showing up after her, she was a little early since James told her she would meet her there.

Seeing James’ father in the driver’s seat, Phoebe waved at him as James came from the car. Phoebe waited for her to join where her feet wouldn’t move on the side of the driveway, but she had to watch her talk to her father first. Finally slamming the door shut, James joined her with her own duffle bag and sleeping mat rolled up.

“Ready?” James asked, clearly more excited than Phoebe was feeling. She looked up at the two-story house and tried to remember all the good times they’ve had here, sans other people, aside from her mom and dad when they would make an appearance. Phoebe remembered it was usually her sister that came in to check on them, her being five-years older than Mia. Swallowing her fear, she pulled on her bag’s strap just before taking her first step toward the house with James by her side.

Being on the right, James rang the bell once they hit the front door when Josie was the one that answered, Phoebe had to hold herself back from jumping on her straight away.

“Oh, it’s only you two, Mia’s getting ready for the party. Go sit in the living room.” She jutted a thumb behind her shoulder where the living room sat. They knew where everything was, it wasn’t their first time over to Mia’s house. Hearing Josie take the lead like that made Phoebe even angrier but the cold hand of James on her arm made her settle for just a bit while they sat on the couch waiting for Mia.

Time ticked away on the clock just over the fireplace. They’ve never had to wait around for Mia to come get them, but with Josie in the house, giving the orders, James thought it best for them to just sit and wait.

“When did you two get here?” Mia’s bright smiling face was met with confusion when she entered the living room after nearly a half an hour of waiting on their end.

“Not long ago, Josie mentioned you were busy setting up for the party, so we took a seat here,” James spoke up for the both of them and made sure to leave the part where Josie told them to sit on the couch out of the news. “Come back to the room, you guys know where it is!” Mia told them as if it was the strangest thing, they would be sitting on the couch instead of in the back room.

When they entered the family room the girls looked high and low at all the decorations Mia had set up. Phoebe was so agape she didn’t realize she was in the way of the door and when she was shoved out of the way by Josie, she nearly dropped her sleeping bag and retaliated. James holding her shoulder helped but she was still in a fighting mood. One more slip up and she wasn’t sure if James’ grip would be enough.

Tossing her hair to one side, James led them to the couches in the middle of the room. Some chairs had been added while blankets littered the floors along with pillows and bags of various snacks. Phoebe started bringing out the board games but when Josie, sitting across the blankets and pillows with a couple of other girls, saw them she stuck her nose up and said something James really wished she’d kept to herself.

“Phoebe, did you really bring “boring board games” to this party? What are we? Six-years-old?” Josie poked fun and the other girls laughed forcefully at her. James made sure to grab her arms just as she started to get off the blankets they were sitting on with their bags.

“It’s not worth it, just wait for Mia to get back in here and she’ll stop,” James reminded her in a low tone so that no one else could hear them. It took a little longer to calm her down this time, but when Phoebe yanked her hand out of James’ grip and threw her braided hair over her shoulder, James knew she would be okay for right now. She didn’t realize how much policing she would be doing at this sleepover.

Mia came in the room shortly after, Phoebe made sure to keep to James and try to ignore Josie for the time being. It was hard, especially when Josie would whisper in Madison or Caroline’s ear making them laugh. They didn’t look over or point at them, but Phoebe knew they were talking about her, and if she found out they were saying anything bad about James, she wouldn’t let her hold her back next time.

Once the movie started rolling and the snacks started getting passed around, the girls settled in more comfortably. Once the laughing started and Mia had Phoebe bring the games back out after getting all excited that she brought them, the party was in full swing. It wasn’t until Mia’s mom came in to tell them lights out, that things got a little more interesting.

“Mia, sleep over here with us, we wouldn’t want you to catch anything over there,” Josie pointedly looked at Phoebe and James, but her eyes landed longer on James and that was the last straw. Before Amelia even had a moment to speak up for them, Phoebe was across the room and on Josie’s shoulders.

“You don’t talk to my friends like that!” She screamed while she slapped and kicked her way down to the floor with Josie screaming her head off like a murder victim. James was trying to pull Phoebe off her while Amelia had her arm around Josie’s middle trying from that side to separate them. She didn’t stop until a big, booming voice broke them up.

“That’s enough!” Amelia’s father, standing past six feet, stood in the doorway of the family room with his hand on his hips like some sort of superhero. His booming voice made it easier for James and Mia to break up the fight on the floor and when they came apart the only damage to Phoebe was her red face from getting so worked up. Josie, on the other hand, had scratches and spit all over her face mixing with her tears from crying out so hard. Her pajamas were askew, and her arms were shaking from the fear still sitting under her skin.

“Mr. Manning make her leave! She’s evil!” Josie shouted and pointed at Phoebe who was being reined in by James. She looked down at her feet, too scared to look Amelia’s father in the eye. Taking in a deep breath, Mr. Manning looked over at Amelia. “Mia, what do you want to do? I can take them both home if you want, it’s your birthday.” He asked her, and Josie’s whimpers of attention could be heard across the room. Amelia only looked at Phoebe who had finally raised her head long enough to look back at her. There was a softness on her face that told Phoebe she would make the right choice.

“They can both stay; we’ll just watch another movie before bed. Sorry about the noise, dad.” Nodding his head and accepting her request, her father left the room. After he left, Amelia made sure to sit in between Phoebe and James with the other girls closer to the entrance of the room. There were no more words shared as the next movie played and when nearly everyone was asleep, Phoebe remembered the gift she had in her bag.

“Mia, I’ve got something for you, do you want it now?” Phoebe asked her in a whisper, careful not to wake James or any of the other girls.

“Of course, sorry I haven’t been super friend tonight. I thought it would be a good idea to have all my friends here, I didn’t realize Josie was such a priss.” Amelia told her while she rummaged through her bag for the wrapped box. Phoebe brought the box out of the bag and turned to give it to Amelia but stopped for a second.

“It’s okay, I shouldn’t get worked up over stupid words. I know you like James and me just as much as the other girls. You’re allowed to have other friends.” Phoebe told her with a hint of sadness to her voice. “Yeah, but I’ve got one best friend, and that’s you, Edan.” With a hint of glee, Amelia took the present from Phoebe’s lap to change the subject.

She carefully opened the present as to not wake anyone and pulled out a pair of gloves she’s been wanting for months.

“Phoebe! These are amazing, thank you!” Amelia tossed the box next to her and grabbed Phoebe in a tight hug. Chests together, arms wrapped around each other, they stayed like that for a long moment before Amelia broke it up. “Those will be great to practice in, that’s what the guy at the store said,” Phoebe parroted the man’s words from before when she bought them. “I always forget how much you don’t know about sports, I should teach you one day, I bet you’d be good at it. You’re good at everything.” Amelia told her while holding the gloves in her hand. She looked away at the credit rolling on the tv.

“We should get to sleep,” Phoebe mumbled before scooting down into her sleeping bag in between James and Amelia.

“Yeah, goodnight Edan,” Amelia’s voice carried over in a whisper as Phoebe slipped down into a comfortable spot on the floor. She wasn’t sure why her heart was hammering in her chest, or why she suddenly wanted to run five miles around the block, but she was so happy the smile on her face wouldn’t even come off if someone smacked her, and she liked feeling that way.