Page 37 of More To Us

"No. Why?"

"Because you have the fridge open like you plan to eat something."

She quickly closes it. "I'm not eating anything. You're just confusing me with your wacky theories. Let's talk about you." She wraps her arm around mine and walks me to the kitchen table to sit down. "Why won't you date Austin?"

I sigh. "Because I don't have time for a boyfriend. I have too much going on. This is my first semester at college and I'm freaking out. I haven't had to study and take tests for years."

"School is easy. I mean, it's not easy, but compared to other things in life, it's easy. But it can be stressful sometimes, which is why you need a boyfriend to help you de-stress." She grins.

"Guys make things more stressful, not less."

"Some guys, but not all." She puts her elbow on the table and rests her chin on her palm, staring at the wall behind me.

"Amber?" I wave my hand over her face. "You awake over there?"

She blinks a few times. "Yeah. I was just thinking."

"About what?"

Her hand drops to the table and she sits up straight. "You can't date Austin."

"What? You just told me to."

"I changed my mind. It's a bad idea. Horrible. Worst idea ever."

"Why?"

"Because he's friends with Dylan. I wasn't even considering that before, but now that I have, I don't know what I was thinking. If you date Austin, there's a good chance you'll meet Dylan, maybe even hang out with him, and then what? What if they were over here and he saw me?"

I shrug. "He'd say hi and you'd go on with your life?"

"No!" She throws her hands in the air and stands up. "It'd be a total disaster!" She points at me. "It can never happen, you hear me? Never. You can't date Austin. Don't bring him over here. Don't be friends with him. Don't even talk to him."

I laugh, which riles her up even more.

"What's so funny?"

"You know that when people tell me I can't do something it makes me want to do it all the more."

She sighs heavily. "I'm serious, Kira. Don't do it. I can't risk seeing Dylan again. I told him I moved to New York."

"I'm not promising you I won't date Austin. And I AM going to be friends with him. Like you said, he and I have a lot in common, and after getting to know him tonight, I really like him."

"Kira, please? Just find someone else."

My phone rings. "It's my mom. I have to talk to her." I answer the call as I walk to my room. "Hey, Mom. I was just about to call you."

"Hi, honey. How was your night?"

"Good. I just got home. I was talking to Amber when you called."

"So who's this new friend of yours you had dinner with?"

"Just someone I met when Amber and I went out the other night."

"A boy?" she asks in a hopeful tone. She wants me to get a boyfriend because she thinks that'll distract me from gymnastics.

"Yes, but it's not like that. I'm not interested in him that way." It's so not true but I'm not telling my mom that.

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