It took me a while to get to sleep that night. I kept coming up with wilder and wilder scenarios for what Danielle had cooked up for my birthday. While she'd always been a friendly big sister, she'd never taken an interest in any milestone dates in my life so far.

But I guess this was the big TWO-ONE. Perhaps she was finally going to stop calling me squirt and think of me as an adult.

Or maybe she was going to embarrass the hell out of me. Both outcomes seemed equally likely, and I stayed up tossing and turning agonizing over which would happen.

So I was a little slow the next morning. Lack of sleep does that to you. I managed to stumble off to class. After oversleeping on the first day of school and sleepwalking my way to my second day, my academic career wasn't off to a great start.

And so it was that my peripheral vision wasn't in focus when I walked into a small classroom. A familiar voice called out, "Hey! David!"

Right in front of me, Amber was sitting at a desk chair in the third row. My head was thick as molasses and I slowly wandered over, found the desk chair next to her, and then sank down like a sack of bricks.

“Wow, you look Like shit."

I managed a pained smile.

“Didn't get a good night's sleep."

"You freaked out over what you and E-Beth did yesterday?" Honest concern was in her voice, along with a clear note of curiosity.

“That?" My voice immediately perked up as I remembered the good time I had. "Oh, no, no. E-Beth and I are fine. We're friends. It's cool. But that's all over now.”

“Good to know," Amber said mysteriously, Looking straight down at her desk. But then she composed herself and asked, “Then what is it?"

“Oh, my sister." I sighed.

“She always drives me crazy. But never mind.

So what are you doing taking Chinese Art History?”

Amber cocked her head. "I dunno. Figured it would be an easy 'A’."

“Well then," a deep baritone voice with a thick Asian accent filled in.

We both Looked up to see the professor walking in the door.

“You may be in for a rude surprise.”

Amber blushed and got out her notebook, readying herself to take notes.

I took a second longer to Look over her. Unlike most college students, who typically wore T-shirts and jeans, Amber Looked Like she'd stepped out of a fashion magazine. Some multicolored polo with white collar and white cuffs around the short sleeves nicely accentuated her bosomy chest. A delicate necklace highlighted her collarbones. Slender capri pants called my attention down to the exposed skin of her firm calves, and she was even wearing 3-inch wedge sandals.

All of this I was used to seeing. Amber dressed like this all the time.

But for some reason, I felt like I was noticing it more.

As the class went on, Amber slipped one foot out of her shoe and was dangling it on the end of her toes. I got distracted watching the flex of her legs while she did this and missed a couple of minutes of the lecture.

Later on, I found myself watching the way Amber fiddled with the butt of her pen in her mouth, apparently Lost in concentration. But then her blue eyes flashed over and caught me staring. A wide grin spread across her face.