Chapter Text
"I admit, I never thought your first choice in slasher horror movies would be something like.."
"Like?"
"This."
Amber picks up the case in between her forefinger and thumb, as if she were scared to touch the item complete with a grim expression. It was a dramatic sight, even for someone as theatrical as Mindy to be witnessing how Amber fucking Freeman carefully stood up with an outstretched arm - the very same one that was holding the case titled "Lovers Lane" - and with one swift move, was chucked right at Wes' face.
"Why'd you throw it at me?!"
The girl ignored the bleach-haired boy's complaints about how it apparently hurt his nose. Instead, she placed her hands on her hips and turned to her roomate with faux-disappoint in her features, sighing quite loudly.
"I expected better from you, Tara. You are better than this."
"Hey! I told you before, I'm not into mindless slasher things.. I like elevated horror!"
"Lame!" Mindy yells from the back, she was the one who went out to get them food before they started anything. And if they started the bloody movie without her, they'd be sleeping on the floor.
"Thank you, Mindy. Tara here has an odd taste in horror movies.."
That earned her a pout and a bit of glaring from the said girl, but they knew that the other meant no harm. Even with their opposing tastes in horror that is. Tara sits up properly on the red couch that the rest of their group sat on, scuttling to the side over to Wes to make room for Amber on her right, but that didn't go well.
"Tara, move over." Amber's tone was firm, and her hand was lodged in the space that was left before Tara was leaning over Wes, but had a soft smile while telling Tara to 'get the fuck away from him' in her own way. What else can a girl do but oblige?
There was a scoff heard from Wes' side.
"What? You have a problem, Hicks?" The girl had already made herself comfortable between the two of them, and in contrast to her gentle words to Tara - her own glare was hard when it comes to Wes Hicks. She doesn't have anything against the boy, really, she just likes bullying him until the group calls it off. "Yeah I do." He replies, trying to act brave but truly - no one likes a pissed off Amber, but that didn't stop him from saying that as he was getting annoyed with how she closes off every opportunity to get closer to Tara.
"Ah? What're you gonna do about it then? Make me leave?" She tilts her head and gave them a grin, it further annoyed Wes and she is thriving off of his fuming glances. "Yeah right, that's what I thought." With one last attempt to piss the boy off, she flicked his forehead before leaning further into the couch and pretending she didn't just do that.
"Stop that.." Tara gave her a pointed look, the girl merely shurgged before offering her side for the other to lean on. The duration of her annoyance was quickly thrown into a dead end as she reculantly accepted her fate and leaned onto Amber's side, huffing. "Why do you bully Wes so much?"
"He's annoying."
"He's nice.."
"Ew, Tara, you like him?"
"What? I didn't say that-?!" Tara sputtered her words until she heard Amber's melodious laugh - oh hell, she was laughing at her.
"You're so fucking mean Amber!" For that, she elbowed the taller girl right in the stomach, which earned a mixture of a yelp and a groan. Luckily no one else was looking at them, but Liv was watching them from the corner of her eye.
"That hurt like shit, you're lucky that everyone else is here or I'd actually plan kill you." Amber hissed out, rubbing her side with her free arm that was avoiding contact with Wes at all costs.
"You won't."
"I will."
"No, you literally can't. You love me."
"Who said that..?"
Tara gasps, looking offended. Amber's hard gaze faltered, she lets out a long sigh - throwing her head back against the couch and looking at Tara knowingly.
"I'm kidding."
That made the shorter girl smile like a fucking puppy. She wanted to wipe that off of her face.
"Knew it."
They share a glance.
"Tara I-"
Her mouth just hung there as she heard that Mindy came back from the kitchen, losing her train of thought - shaking her head and muttering something under her breath. It wasn't that important to drag on.
"So! What did you losers pick for tonight's movie?" Mindy plopped over to Tara's side, practically squishing the poor girl into Amber who heartedly laughed at the sight. She felt an elbow gut her side - it was Wes', but it was purely accidental. "Hicks, what's your damage?!" Didn't stop her from smacking his forearm though. There was barely any space between all of them, all tried to fit into the red couch that was sure to give up with how rowdy they were.
The bleach-haired boy muttered a half-assed apology from the corner of her eye, but both knew there were no hard feelings. Well, aside from his hard crush on Tara, which Amber didn't approve of, at all. They decided to act neutral about it, however - that didn't mean Amber couldn't show her distaste for his puppy crush around the others.
It seems that her stomach was a target of elbows tonight though.
She lets out a sigh.
"Amber picked Stab!" Tara chirps up beside her, this surprised her - as she didn't actually reject Tara's suggestion of Chucky prior to suggesting Lovers Lane. Her eyebrows raised a little, while the Carpenter girl only gave her a cheeky smile.
Mindy was giving Amber the side-eye with how she was looking at Tara, but stood up nontheless to grab the film and boot it up on the TV.
"Stab? Again?" Liv could be heard complaining from the farthest side of the couch, her dyed hair seemingly growing out faster this month. She wasn't much of a fan of horror movies as Mindy and Amber were, but liked spending time with everyone else.
"Yep, Amber picked it and I can't really say no to Stab can I?" There was a knowing grin to Mindy's face, which Liv caught on - recalling the little issue with Tara's taste in slashers earlier on. Chad's face scrunched up in mild confusion, looking like he'd just woken up from a snooze. "If you're tired, go to bed already you doofus."
"I thought.. we were gonna watch a movie?"
"Yeah but you don't have to, you don't like horror." Mindy deadpans.
"Oh.. yeah. Nah. I'm staying." He leaned into his girlfriend's side a little more, nose by the crook of her neck as Liv giggled a little with how Chad was nearly falling asleep again. Wes was beside them, looking rather grim at the interaction, painfully reminding him that he's–
"You okay, Wes?" It was Tara.
"Oh, yeah. I'm c-cool over here." He coughs out, a faint blush coming up to his ears.
"Calm your single, virgin ass down Wesley." Amber rolls her eyes, blocking Tara's view of the rest of the people at the other side of the couch, so it was just them. "Calm your tits Freeman, no one's going to take Tara away from you." Mindy laughs, only now deciding to take a seperate beanie bag that was near Liv and Chad, leaving Tara and Amber alone with Wes on their side.
"So like, no guys will ever be good enough for her?"
Amber's mood had dropped completely.
"Never said that."
"You're implying that–"
"Well, it might as well be true." Amber cuts him off, not even sparing him a glance as he clenches his fist into the couch. She was about to continue berrating him, until she felt a hand brushing over hers - it made her look at the girl beside her, the culprit for making her stomach do a backflip.
Her jaw clenched slightly, not wanting to open her mouth but gave enough of an expression that said 'why are you doing that?', which was apparently enough for Tara. As the hand started to retract itself - Amber took ahold of it and gave it a firm squeeze.
"Stop arguing with Wes.." her voice was barely above a whisper, only Amber was able to hear her with how close they were seated - and how Tara was leaning onto the taller girl. If this was meant to be a distraction, Amber could give Tara an applause as for how effective it is.
"You're on thin ice." That was the last of it, Amber swears on her mother's name. But if Wes does anything funny, who knows what could happen.
–
A few hours after the first Stab movie, they've continued on to an entire stabathon night as per Amber's request and eagerness to rewatch the whole franchise on one go – despite having the films ingrained in her memories from start to finish, she never fails to look like she's only seen the movies for the first time. The others didn't share the same sentiment as she had with the Stab franchise, Mindy understands her though, but the rest? Barely tolerates her obsession with it.
Maybe except Tara, because Tara never liked it in the first place.
Perhaps that'd be the reason why the Carpenter girl was on the verge of snoozing off in the middle of the third Stab movie, leaning into the taller girl even more so than before. Her breathing felt calm, relaxed even when she's barely awake and had her best friend keep her upright on the couch.
"Tara." She breathes out, eyes practically glued to the TV as the scene plays out in front of her. She didn't recieve much of a response other than a light grumble, so she snaked her arm around Tara's torso rather than around her shoulders – slipping down to her waist. She wanted her to be in a more comfortable position to sleep, and she had numerous guest rooms that they can freely use.
"Carebear's asleep?" Mindy peeked her head out to look at the pair, the ravenette gave a nod of confirmation and a motion to shut up, not wanting to disturb the girl.
With a quick movement of getting her arm hooked to the shorter girl's legs, she got herself up to carry Tara. "I'm going to get her to a guest room, don't pause the movie." Came the hushed response from her, the rest of them gave her a thumbs up and continued on with discussing about the film, but Mindy had something else going on while looking at Amber's retreating figure.
There was no way that Amber would let a Stab film roll on without her, so this was new. Maybe the ice queen's heart had finally thawed, but it was because of the cuddliest person they know.. really an odd situation to be witnessing at the moment.
The gayer Meeks twin sported a knowing grin, looking at Chad and Liv who also had an idea of what's going on with the two who just left the couch. Unfortunately for Wes, he was on the stage of accepting that he doesn't have a chance at dating Tara especially when Amber is around, and frankly – that girl is always around Tara!
"So, who wants to bet they'll get together tonight?"
"Not me."
"Of course not, Wes." She teases, occupying the space next to him since she was convinced that Amber won't be returning shortly to even watch the rest of Stab 3. The bleached-haired boy let out a huff of utter defeat, crossing his arms and lazily leaning further into the couch. Everyone knew Wes liked Tara, but why can't Amber see that Tara clearly likes her?
"Cheer up man, there's still a lot of people you can meet." Chad attempts to comfort the lad, but with how he was already in a committed and loving relationship – it only made Wes feel a bit worse than he already was. And he was supposed to be happy that two of his friends are getting together – well, he was sure Amber doesn't consider him a friend, but Tara does, and that's enough for him.
It was hard to accept that all of those things they shared never really meant anything other than it being platonic to Tara, but he'll get through it.
He hopes that Amber doesn't break her heart.
"Liv, why are you pulling out a twenty?"
"I just know they're going to get together in some way!"
–
It took the girl several minutes to carefully and gently get her friend into her room, as she was not that awake at the moment and the possibility of accidentally dropping Tara onto the carpeted floor makes her feel terrible. She decided it'd be better if Tara woke up in a familiar room rather than using one of the reserved room for guests, either way, Amber's room was cozy enough to feel like home. They'd already spent countless nights sleeping in each other's rooms as best friends since their first year in high school, this wasn't any different than that.
Familiarity.
Something that Amber made sure that her friend always felt when it comes with her presence, with all the bullshit that Tara endured from her family's issues – she promised to herself that she wouldn't let Tara get hurt again.
The girl stirred a little in her arms as she slowly kicked her bedroom door open, making her stop for a moment. Amber looked down to see if the girl was still comfortably sleeping, letting out a relieved sigh with the confirmation. Tara looked very peaceful when she sleeps, with her mouth slightly parted – she was a mouth breather when she was a kid, Amber remembers that. Old habits are hard to get rid of.
Amber gently laid the girl down onto her bed, and only now does she plan to bring out a mattress for her to use instead of sharing the bed with Tara, since she figured the girl wouldn't really be into sleeping next to Amber, a known fidgety sleeper.
Tara shifted to her right, Amber only watched as the girl leant into her retreating touch, eyes softening while letting her hand linger by her friend's face a little more – thumb caressing Tara's cheek. Amber had bent over a little from her bed just to get a better position to help Tara out, but the moment she removed her hand and ceased contact from Tara, she had woken up.
Shit.
Amber frowns a little, "Tara– shit, sorry. You can back to sleep." thinking she had caused the disturbance in her friend's road to having a good rest after the stabathon that was still going on downstairs. The shorter girl's eyes fluttered open, revealing those dark eyes that Amber seems to melt into the more she sees them, there was a slight pout to her face.
"Amby.."
Tara has used that nickname for her every once in awhile, and Amber can say that she pretty much got used to it. But it wasn't very Amber-like, as Mindy would point out – it doesn't matter though, Amber loves it.
"Sleep with me."
As if Amber's eyebrows could raise any higher than that, she wondered why her friend didn't just go back to sleep after waking up a little. Either way, who is she to ignore Tara's request?
"Alright, move over."