Page 27 of More To Us

"Amber, you didn't do anything wrong. You were with Dylan before you even knew Matt."

"I know, but still, I shouldn't be looking up stuff about him." She points to her phone. "Which is why I'm having you do it."

"Isn't that almost the same as you doing it?"

She snatches her phone back. "You're right. It's wrong either way. Just forget it."

"Wait." I take her phone back. "I want to see what you found."

"It's just some articles about how the band started and a little about each guy. There's stuff about Austin in there."

I scan the article until I see his name. It says he works construction for his dad, just like he told me, and that he organized a benefit concert last spring to raise money for some guy's medical bills.

"What does it say?" Amber asks.

"I'm reading about Austin, not Dylan."

"So you're not mad at him anymore?"

I glance up and see her smiling at me.

"I wasn't mad at him. I was annoyed with him."

"Are you going to call him up and agree to go out with him?"

I shrug. "Maybe as a friend."

She sets her elbows on the table and leans toward me. "So what changed your mind?"

"I just think it'd be good to try to make some more friends."

"You mean hot guy friends you might want to date."

"I'm not going to date him. Maybe I'll be friends with him, but that's it."

"Did he call you?"

"I didn't give him my number."

"Then how are you going to be friends with him? You'll never see him again, unless you go hear him play somewhere. And if you do that, you'll have to get through about twenty girls just to say hi to him."

"I have his number. I can call him."

"He gave you his number?" She grins. "When? Last night?"

"Yeah," I say, since I can't tell her the truth. She can't know I was at the gym and she can't know Austin is going to be my trainer.

"So when are you going to call him?"

"I already did." Another lie, but I can't tell her I saw him today.

She slams her palm on the table. "Are you serious? You called up Austin Wheeler?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"First of all, just last night you said you never wanted to see him again. And second, Austin is like a local celebrity. Girls all over the city are dying to get his phone number, and he just gives it to you? Some girl he just met?"

"He's not trying to date me. I already told you, he just offered to show me around town. He was just trying to be nice."

---