Work Text:
Tara: I think Mindy hates Liv
Amber: LOL
Amber: what happened
Tara: Nothing really. It's just the way she talks to her yk?
Tara: Or doesn't talk to her…
Amber: you are so unintentionally funny, it's hilarious
Tara: Huh?
Tara: …
Amber: if Mindy hates Liv then she hates me too
Amber: which she doesn't. That woman is smitten with me
Tara: ??
Amber: bitch r you serious.
Tara: explain this shit to me again ?
Tara: Bitch.
Amber: heartbroken little shit
Amber: Mindy filters nothing
Amber: she'll get used to it
Tara: I just think we should include her a bit more
Amber: she comes to everything and we talk to her so fym
Tara: I just don't want her to feel left out
Amber: im sure Chad's realll good at that
Tara: Stop
[Seen 8:37pm]
Tara: Wyd
[9:45pm]
Tara: YK WHAT IM CRAVING??
Amber: if you miss me just say that
Tara: I don't miss you
Amber: keep lying to urself it's good 4 you
Tara: I'm craving sushi. Thanks for being curious
Amber: didn't Chad and Liv go to that one spot earlier
Tara: Yes!!
Tara: And now I want sushi ):
Amber: you clearly should've taken Liv on that date yourself.
Tara: Wtf Amber
Tara: I don't
Tara: stop wtf??
Amber: the way Ur talking
Tara: And what about it??
Amber: ur smitten.
Tara: Amber.
Tara: Kindly shut the fuck up.
Amber: as you wish
Tara: You make my blood boil sometimes
[Seen 9:58pm]
Tara: Amber, okay okay I submit I miss you where are you
[Delivered 10:40]
Tara rolled over in her bed, mindlessly scrolling through Amber’s obsessive Stab tweets, when she heard a soft pounding noise. She put her phone down and slowly sat up, furrowing her brows when the rapping continued, only this time it reverberated louder, the sound travelling further in through her open room door
“Sam? I thought you were going out with Kirby tonight?” She yelled out, slowly creeping into the halls. There was no response.
“Sam?” she repeated, unsure whether or not she was hearing things when only silence answered back.
Tara slowly made her way down the stairs. She took a breath as she reached the bottom, eyeing the front door. A single pound. Tara flinched, slinking backwards and grabbing an empty vase off the counter. Amber’s forced her to rewatch Stab way too many times for her to not be at least a little paranoid in a situation like this.
Tara stepped toward the door, clutching the vase with two hands. the floorboards creaked beneath her feet, the sound amplified times a hundred in her mind, the moment getting to her as she prayed to God that she wasn't about to be the classic first kill in a slasher film.
Another step.
Tata reluctantly peeled five fingers off the stem of the base. She reached for the door handle, hand inches from the brass knob.
Two pounds. Tara jumped back at the sudden sign of something, almost dropping the vase. Her breathing picked up, and she made to open the door, repeating her actions from just a second ago, before the familiar tune of her ringtone rang out, startling the girl.
Tara squealed, and the vase did slip from her hands this time. She stepped away from the shattered mess, uneven breaths falling from her lips as she retreated back into the kitchen to get her phone.
A wave of relief washed over her as she looked down at the device, seeing a familiar picture and a comforting caller ID staring up at her.
"H–hello?" She stuttered, failing to regain control of her breathing after that earlier scare.
"Open the fucking door, bitch. I'm freezing my ass off."
Tara nodded, too caught up in the warmth the voice behind the line generated within her to realize that her best friend couldn't actually see her respond.
Tara hung up and tiptoed around the glass, one hand clutching her chest as she finally unlocked and opened the door.
"What took you so long? Did you not get my–" Amber's sentence was cut short, worry immediately replacing her previous annoyed expression as she saw the beginnings of an asthma attack transpire in front of her.
"Shit Tara, where’s your inhaler?" Amber dropped the two bags she was holding and squeezed past Tara, eyes darting around the room in search of the inhaler, before she bolted up the stairs, yelping in surprise when she felt glass crunch beneath her soles.
She returned seconds later, holding the inhaler up to Tara's mouth, one hand rubbing small soothing circles into the shorter girl's back.
When Tara had finally managed to calm down, her chest feeling clear, Amber picked up the bags and brought them to the kitchen, setting them down on the counter before grabbing a broom out of the pantry.
"I brought the sushi you were drooling over. Start eating; I’ll take care of this,” she said, motioning toward the glass. “Oh, and I was thinking we could watch Stab 5 tonight?"
Tara was speechless. Partly still reeling from the scare, another part of her wholly admiring Amber, not fully understanding how she could have found someone so perfect to be in her life after having drawn the short stick so early on.
“Uh–” Tara blinked twice, realizing she had been staring. “Stab is good. But I’m a little traumatized right now. How about a rom-com?” She said quietly, opening up the paper bags, already drooling over the food.
Amber quirked up an eyebrow in confusion. Eventually shrugging her shoulders as she continued sweeping up the shards on the floor. “Whatever you want, Beloved,” she said, the pet name rolling off her tongue as a tease.
Tara’s face flushed at the name. She should be used to it by now. Amber has a habit of calling her cute little pet names at the most random times. But it still evokes the same weird feeling inside her. Every. Damn. Time.
It’s a mixture of warmth, sinking, and butterflies. Tara marks it up as discomfort towards any sort of pet name. Albeit conflicted on how that reasoning makes any sense when, somewhere deep deep down, she actually wishes Amber would refer to her that way more than she does now.
Tara split her chopsticks, quickly popping a piece of sushi into her mouth.
“Amber?”
“Mhm.”
“I fucking love you so much; this is truly satisfying my craving right now.”
Amber finished up, tossing the broken glass into the garbage, before taking a seat next to Tara at the island.
“Probably not as much as you love off that pink-haired–”
Tara flicked Amber’s nose, stopping her before she could spew out any horrid insults about their friend.
“Stop,” she said, staring the girl dead in the eyes, unable to prevent a small smile from creeping its way onto her face. “You brought me sushi. I love you more than anything else in the world right now. Take that win, Amb.”
Amber rolled her eyes, smirking before slowly leaning toward Tara, one hand coming up to gently stroke her cheek. Tara’s breath hitched at the action, train of thought lost. The only thing consuming her mind being Amber, and how she wouldn’t mind having her touch her like this every so often. She was so gentle, Tara could have stayed there forever, simply getting lost in her best friend’s eyes.
Amber stopped her motions, squinted her eyes, and shot back abruptly.
“Bitch.”
Tara couldn’t hide her shock and ‘slight’ disappointment at the loss of contact and odd quick turn of events
“What did I do?” she asked, extremely perplexed by her friend’s actions.
Amber turned away from her, standing up and grabbing her plate, heading towards the couch. “Should be all the time,” she mumbled, Tara only barely able to pick up on what she said.
Tara stayed quiet for a minute, an idea popping into her head. “All the time? Impossible. Every other moment of my life is spent devotedly loving Liv McKenzie,” the brunette teased mischievously, a smirk plastered on her face as she watched Amber whip around. Pure betrayal and a look Tara couldn’t quite discern written on her face.
“I’m fucking leaving.”
“No you aren’t.”
Amber’s expression had faded, leaving nothing but a look of pure boredom as she set her plate down and started toward the front door.
“Try me, bitch.”
Tara watched her silently and slightly amused, only truly beginning to fear that Amber would leave her when she stepped one foot outside the door.
“Wait wait wait– Amber. Please. I’m sorry, don’t leave me; I’ll make it up to you.” she pleaded, rushing toward the girl,
“Literally impossible now.”
Tara pulled the girl back into the house by her sleeve, gently closing the door behind them. “If you stay, we can have a Stab marathon tomorrow. Watch bullshit Youtube fan theories and everything.” said the older girl, looking up at her friend with big begging eyes.
Amber paused, seemingly weighing her options as she avoided eye contact, preferring to blankly stare at a portrait on the wall behind the girl.
“I’m wearing my robe.” Her gaze shifted back towards Tara, a smile of pure anticipation shining brightly on her face. Tara couldn’t help but find how excited she got about the proposition a little cute. Even if her love for the movies themselves was a little... concerning,
“And you’re wearing one too.” She added, walking past Tara and back into the living room.
Tara stood there with her mouth agape. Still computing Amber’s words, trying to figure out whether or not she was being serious.
“...You have more than one cloak?” she asked warily
Amber plopped down onto the couch, spreading her arms wide out in front of her. “Yes. I’ve got like four. Now c’mere so we can get this movie started,” she said, wiggling her fingers as a sign of beckoning Tara over.
Tara pushed any questions about her friend’s collection of Ghostface robes aside, eagerly shuffling towards Amber and gracefully falling into her embrace.
“You’re such a nerd,” she mumbled into the girl’s shoulder, revelling in the vibrations Amber’s light chuckle sent through her body.
…Yeah. It was official. Tara Carpenter could definitely spend the rest of her life wrapped up in her best friend’s arms.
Who knew those cheesy quotes were actually telling the truth. Home really isn’t a place.
Home, for Tara at least, was wherever Amber Freeman was.
And she didn’t even care about how cringe that sounded. She truly loves that girl more than anything else in the world. Everyone else be damned.