She sighed on the other line. “You’re upset at me which is why I’ve been calling you to explain my part.”
“Just your part? This isn’t a trap where you’re going to convince me that Audrey’s innocent and trip me into feeling guilty for being mad, right?”
“I’ll send you an address and hope that you’ll come meet me. I don’t want to discuss any of this on the phone. Please, Jules.”
I closed my eyes as she ended the call and I gripped my phone tight. I stood up, knowing that I had to change and meet Amber wherever she wanted us to meet. I was surprised that the address she sent me was in Calabasas, in a fancy neighbourhood where I knew the Kardashians lived which made me wonder why she wanted me to meet there.
“Theo, you can leave now. I have to meet up with Amber.”
Theo didn’t move an inch as he eyed me. He was there in the hospital waiting area five years ago when Audrey forced me to leave and I was certain that he was aware that Audrey blocked me from Amber’s social media account. I didn’t want to be pissed at him too because it was tiring to be mad at everyone when in all honesty, I was just hurt with what Audrey did.
“Do I even want to know why you’re meeting up with Amber?”
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at the tone of suspicion in his voice. “We’re not rekindling anything if that’s what you want to know. I’m not interested in her and it’s clear to me that she’s only friendly flirting because that’s how she’s always been.”
“You’re no longer interested in Amber because you’re interested in her best friend, am I right?” Dylan chirped, teasing me. I grabbed a coaster and threw it at him, smacking him right on the face and he yelped in surprise as I ignored both of them and marched upstairs to change in my room.
It took me fifteen minutes to get ready and Theo had left by then. Dylan was in the living room still editing the video while watching something on TV and I told him that I was leaving. I took my car with me this time and felt a slight pang when I remembered it was the same car that I wanted Audrey to ride in when I planned to take her to the house I bought for the family that I sponsored but it never happened because Amber came with us.
It took me nearly thirty minutes to get to Calabasas from Malibu and once I was in the neighbourhood, I called Amber to ask her which house she meant. She told me that it was the fifth house from the entrance of the neighbourhood and I stared in awe at the mansion when I finally arrived.
Amber was waiting near the gate and I saw her when it opened for me. She waved a hand at me once I parked the car and got out. “Is this your parents’ place?”
I always knew that Amber came from a wealthy family but it never really occurred to me just how much. But Amber laughed and shook her head. “My parents live in Hidden Hills. This is where Audrey’s parents live.”
My mouth dropped in shock. “You mean this is where the Finch’s live?”
Amber nodded her head as she led me to the backyard without going into the house first. “Albert’s resting so it’s best if we talked in the backyard. If you’re wondering, Audrey’s not here. She had a meeting with the board of Finch Records and hasn’t been back since then.”
I remembered that Audrey wanted me to sign a day before our agreement officially ended which was actually today but that never happened. Amber motioned for me to sit under the gazebo in the corner of the backyard and I was surprised to see snacks already laid out there.
“I wanted to get some wine from the cellar but thought against it so I opted with tea instead,” Amber said, pouring me a cup and pushing it towards me. “Beth’s biscuits are absolutely the most delicious thing you could ever pair with tea.”
Pursing my lips, I stared at what Amber was offering me. “Did you ask me to come here to have tea with you, Amber?”
“I asked you to come here because Albert wanted to talk to you.”
Her answer was so simple but it made me pause. I stared at her. “Why would Mr. Finch want to talk to me? Is it because he thinks that I’m not going to sign with their label?”
Amber let out a long exhale and leaned back on her chair. Her green eyes stared at the flowers that surrounded us. “Beth was thankful that I was back since Audrey’s crap when it comes to taking care of her plants.”
I closed my eyes. “Why did you ask me to come here, Amber?” Why does Albert Finch want to talk to me?”
“Audrey and I met when we were young. Our parents usually spent Saturday nights with the same group of people so we always crossed paths when we were younger but never really became close until we were in the same class in high school.”
I’d heard this story before because Amber used to just talk about Audrey out of the blue. Sometimes I wondered if they were more than just best friends but it was clear that neither one of them batted in the other team. “I know, Amber.”
“Of all the people that I have in my life to see me in vulnerable states every time someone broke my heart, it was Audrey,” Amber’s voice had grown quiet as she said all of this, “but she never really saw past my smile sometimes. I was really good at keeping it all together and falling apart in the right time. She didn’t know that the struggle was worse inside of me than the fire that I allowed to rage outside.”
I remembered the accusation I made at Audrey when I told her that she felt guilty for not noticing the signs. Often, people close to suicidal patients felt guilty that they couldn’t save their loved ones. Amber was fortunate to be saved but it didn’t meant that Audrey felt less guilty because of that when she could’ve saved her sooner had she seen the signs.
“Audrey’s always been protective and she went overboard after I tried to kill myself.” Amber looked at me with a sad smile. “But more than that, she felt guilty that she couldn’t have helped me sooner and to ease her guilt, you became the receiving end of her blame since she already disliked you.”
I picked up a biscuit and then broke it in half, inspecting it, wondering if it could be deemed as a physical manifestation of heartbreak. “She knew how much I begged for your forgiveness because she must’ve seen all the messages I sent and yet she still had the audacity to call me out for breaking your heart.”
To my surprise, Amber’s lips twitched into a small smile. “Audrey’s very loyal and sometimes it’s to a fault. She saw me after you dumped me and in her mind, the breakup was the triggering point of the attempt. She didn’t know that it was a compilation of everything I tried to keep inside but it was one of the things. She knew that so she still held you accountable.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better and forgive her?”
“No,” Amber answered quickly, shaking her head. “It wasn’t her call to erase your existence from my life but mine and yet even when I noticed that you weren’t in any of my social media accounts, I didn’t even think of reaching out to you because I knew it was over between us. I was unaware of your guilt. For that, I’m sorry too.”
“How could you be aware if she never said anything?”
“Audrey did what she thought was the right thing to do as my best friend as long as it meant protecting me. She must’ve thought that our paths might cross again and she was trying to do her best to keep us apart.”