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"Hello?" Amy was a bit wary as she answered her cell phone, as it was an unfamiliar number calling. Apparently, strange numbers calling people close to her was getting to be a normal routine.
"Hi, Amy!" It was Ashley, and the blonde's voice contained a sort of giddiness she'd never heard ever since they'd become friends.
"Ash... Hey," she said. "How are you?"
The redhead knew all about her friend's bold move the prior week at the show. She had finally garnered up the courage to stand up to Matt and had officially ended her relationship once and for all. The entire backstage area had been buzzing about it. Most of all, everyone had been shocked at the fact that Ashley had approached Carlito immediately after and had given him quite the liplock.
"Oh, I'm great now!" the blonde said with much enthusiasm. "Charlie is so amazing..." Her voice took on a note of dreaminess as she talked about her new boyfriend. "... I haven't heard from you-know-who all week, and thank God for that."
The redhead chuckled a little.
"Good, I'm so glad to hear that. And I'm glad you're happy, Ash. You deserve it, especially after everything you've been through."
"Thanks. And how's everything going with Mr. Rated R Superstar?"
Amy felt her smile go uneasily stiff at the blonde's question.
"Things are okay," she answered, and that was true except that the strange phone calls were still happening. She had no way of tracing back the number, or numbers, either, because they were blocked. Whenever a wrong number call came through on Adam's cell phone, the display would simply read, 'Private number.' Unfortunately, a few of their friends' numbers were blocked that way, so it wasn't always the best idea to not answer. After all, what if it turned out to be an emergency?
Their conversation didn't last for much longer, as Ashley told her she had to call Trish to update her with the good news. Amy smiled as she wished the blonde woman the best of luck with everything before they hung up.
"Who was that?"
She looked up just as she was setting her phone down, to see Adam back from his quick trip to the supermarket. He came over to kiss her on the forehead as she answered.
"That was Ashley. She's so happy - everything's working out great for her."
"I'm happy for her," he said with a smile. "For them, actually."
She studied him silently for a beat as he stood there with a slight hint of a smile on his face. He seemed a bit distracted, though Amy couldn't begin to know why. Cocking her head to one side, she reached up with her right hand, placing it gently on his cheek.
"Hey... What's the matter?"
His gaze instantly snapped right back to her. He blinked, then shrugged.
"Nothing," he said. "What makes you think otherwise?"
"I don't know," she said, shaking her head. "You just seem a little spaced out or something. Did anything happen at the store?"
"Nope." Adam reached for his cell phone attached to his belt clip, and placed it on the dining room table. He'd turned it off when he went out, just in case. Maybe, if the crank caller happened to call when it was off, they would actually grow some guts and leave a voicemail. However, he had yet to turn the device back on, so he had no idea if they'd even called. But to dial him so many times and not speak... It was beginning to creep him out on top of annoying him to no end. He figured it might be time to get yet another new cell phone number. The last time he'd had it changed was thanks to Matt being asshole enough to post it publicly on his forum. He'd quickly tired of the other man's little MFers crank calling him at all hours and promptly got a new number.
The tall blond man was so distracted by his bitter thoughts that he actually hadn't heard Amy speaking to him.
"Huh?"
"I asked if you wanted to start dinner," the redhead repeated, giving him a look. She pointed in the direction of the kitchen, gesturing to him to follow her there.
"Oh," he said dumbly. "Sure... yeah."
Amy led the way with her boyfriend right at her heels. Because she was ahead of him, the Canadian couldn't see the expression on her face. She wondered what in hell was going on with Adam. He had been acting more and more strangely lately, and she wasn't particularly enjoying it. In fact, it gave her a very uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach.
One thing was certain - regardless of what was going on with him, the redhead was determined to find out.