“You what!”
“I’m not going to repeat myself.”
“But isn’t he like…old?”
“Oh my god, did I not tell you?”
Amber laughs out loud. A full gut busting laugh. Something she does very rarely. Even when watching stand-up comedy, something she loves, very rarely does it actually make her laugh. But this, Jess thinking she almost kissed some old man, is too much. The thought of Jess thinking she’s over here kissing a wrinkled old grandpa is both gross and absolutely hilarious.
“Tell me what? Amber! Tell me what?” Jess yells through the phone.
Luckily all the bungalows are spread out, so no one should be around to hear this.
“The rich guy I’m working for, the guy who needs a nurse, is not an old man. Actually, I don’t know how old he is, but can’t be more than in his low to mid-thirties.”
“Seriously? Oh god, and I bet he’s good looking. Tell me he’s good looking.”
“He’s not good looking.”
“Oh really?” The disappointment in her voice is clear, even over thousands of miles.
“Calling him good looking would be insulting to how spectacularly handsome he is.”
“Oh…really?”
Amber can’t help but wonder how her friend can make those two seemingly simple words, sound so sexual.
“Description now!”
Amber laughs again, leaning back on her bed, staring up at the thatched roof above.
“Dark hair falling over his eyes. A reserved smile, that only seems to come at the most tantalizing moments. He’s tall with wide shoulders and a thin waist, but with his shirt off, oh god, you can see how muscular he really is. Everything about him is just tight and firm.”
“Firm?”
Amber doesn’t just blush, the blood shoots to her cheeks as she feels the heat of embarrassment.
“No. I didn’t mean—I was just talking about his body.”
The phone is silent, and Amber can feel the smirk coming from Jess.
“Not like that. His upper body, his arms and back.”
“Hey you said his shirt was off, why would I suspect other articles of clothing couldn’t have also been removed.”
“We haven’t even kissed! Plus I don’t even know if I like the guy or not. Most of the time we’ve spent together has been arguing. He’s infuriating and really strange. He’s just…different.”
“Different can be good.”
“Different can also be different for a reason.”
“Well girl, everybody is going to seem different to the nobody you’ve been dating.”
“He got shot.”
“Woah! That’s different. How did he get shot?”
“I don’t know. I don’t actually know that’s what it even was. I didn’t hear a gunshot, and the others think it was caused by some sort of wild animal, but I’ve seen enough bullet wounds in the ER to know what they look like.”
“The bullet wasn’t still inside?”
“It only grazed him…if it even was a bullet wound. His other employees say he was probably mauled by a jaguar or something. I don’t know about that though.”
“God this guy sounds amazing. I can’t believe I gave you this job. That should be me making out with the ripped millionaire who fights jaguars.”
“It definitely sounds more like you than me.”
“I’ll tell you this. If he likes you, he would never have liked me.”
Amber smiles. It’s nice to hear. Not that there’s anything wrong with Jess, or that she doesn’t want to be more like Jess sometimes. It’s just that, if he does like her, it’s nice to think he actually likes her and not that he would be acting this way toward whatever nurse was here taking care of him.
“Listen, I’ve got to go, but…thank you,” Amber says with all the sincerity in the world.
“Anytime. Now go get me a juicier story than just an almost kiss.”
Amber laughs as she hangs up the phone, but the thought remains. Is he only interested in her because she’s the one who’s here? Would he be fighting with and almost kissing any woman who was taking care of him? Does she actually mean anything to him, or is she just the only girl in front of him at the moment? The excitement drains a bit at the thought. She’s never been one to be used, to be a one night stand, and she refuses to begin now.