tamber one shots

missed person; missed flight

long distance was way harder than tara carpenter ever expected it to be. she honestly thought she and amber could get through it for the time being, but it was becoming much harder as the days continued.

most days, after a horrible day at school, all tara wanted was to cuddle with her person, and watch movies or something, but since amber's parents forced them to move back to boston, she couldn't and it sucked. all she could do was call them or facetime and it was never the same. how could it be?

she missed the feeling of being in someone's arms, or someone being in her arms, and she missed how happy she was when they were around. she missed all their gross jokes that always seemed to make her laugh even when she was sad, she missed someone touching all her stuff, and bugging her even when she was in the bathroom. she missed amber.

and it seemed no matter how hard anyone tried, tara couldn't stop being sad and missing them. she physically could not. she loved amber with her whole entire being- and yes she knows that sounds cheesy but it's true- so of course she could not not miss them.

her brain was always thinking about amber. every thought she had seemed to come back to amber in some way. sometimes it traced back to some goofy memory, but that sometimes only left her being sadder.

she felt like she couldn't tell amber any of this though. it felt wrong and selfish. amber was happy to be back home with their siblings and parents; tara couldn't ruin that for them. they always had a new story to tell tara and tara didn't want to ruin the vibe of their call, all because she missed amber.

it didn't feel right.

and maybe that's the result of her drunk mother always telling her how selfish she was... tara didn't know.

on top of all these feelings and thoughts, today happened to be tara's birthday. a day tara has grown to hate with a passion.

every year, her mother makes a big stink about how this day ruined her life, and tara- being only eight when she heard this- grew to hate the day. it was never a celebration, or happy, it was a day of sadness for tara. it was a reminder that for some reason she got to be in this world.

the only person who ever made tara feel special on this day was amber and guess what? they aren't here with her.

"baby..." amber said softly, entering tara's room and sitting on the bed beside the sleeping girl. they smiled a bit, moving hair out of tara's face, and just couldn't help themselves as they leaned down to kiss tara's head. "wake up... guess what day it is!"

"not a good one." tara grumbled, already knowing the date.

"oh come on. don't be a grump on your special day." amber pouted. "i got you presents!"

"no." tara shook her head, eyes still closed and still wanting to sleep a little longer before school began. "you didn't need to."

"yeah but i wanted to." amber leaned down to kiss tara's cheek. "do you wanna open them now or wait till later? or open some now and some later? or we can go get breakfast at that one diner you like...jack's." amber rambled. "that's why i came her so early— or we can have breakfast here. whatever you wanna do."

that ended up being one the best days of tara's life even if she didn't want to admit it at first.

"don't be a grump, tara." liv sighed. "i know it sucks that amber isn't here, but imagine how amazing the reunion would be! i can see it already. the tears. the joy. it's gonna be amazing."

"it's gonna be amazing when i off myself." tara grumbled. "hate this stupid fucking day anyway."

"today." liv stopped right in front of tara and grabbed her shoulders. "today is gonna be a great day for you." she started. "you're gonna love my present."