unexpected love [ TAMBER STORY ]

best friends.

TW: verbal abuse, mentions of grooming

AMBERS POV

I was sleeping peacefully before my alarm began to ring, I groaned as I rolled over to my side and tapped my phone mindlessly; I had no idea if I was even touching the right button, but it obviously worked because the alarm stopped. I began to fall back asleep quickly, until my second backup alarm for school went off, I groaned once again and sat up, rubbing my forehead. I looked over onto my clock, the time was 9:21am, I was going to be late if I didn't hurry my ass up. my phone buzzed as I remembered, I was supposed to meet Tara at the coffee shop 20 minutes ago. i grabbed my phone in a panic and saw her notification, I sigh and rub my eyes as I open our messages.

T! 💌

Ambs!! where are you? i thought we were supposed to meet?

you

i know, I'm sorry. I slept in.

T! 💌

it's totally fine!!! i understand, do you wanna meet at school, then?

you

sure. I'll be there in 5.

READ 9:27AM

as i pulled up to the school parking lot and opened my door, someone leaped onto me and pulled me into a giant hug, I flinched as it happened, but I exhaled when I heard Tara giggling in my ear; apparently, Tara noticed I was uncomfortable, so she pulled away and walked Infront of me, looking deeply into my eyes. ''sorry. I forgot.'' Tara muttered, i sighed and pulled her into my arms, i was much taller than her, I had to bend down to make eye contact with her. as I held her, I rested my face into her shoulder, sighing. ''again, I'm sorry i forgot about meeting you earlier.'' I grumble to Tara. Tara closed her eyes and inhaled. ''it's not your fault, its fine, I told you.'' she said, not in a rude way, she just seemed tired. I backed away from her and looked down on her. ''did you sleep last night?'' I question. Tara looked at the ground and kicked a small rock on the concrete, Tara then looked to the road. ''busy traffic. '' she spoke, obviously avoiding the question. ''Tara. don't avoid the question, did you sleep last night?'' I repeated. a small sigh could be heard from Tara. ''no.'' she replied softly. ''why?'' I asked, not trying to seem forcing. ''I don't know, I just couldn't.'' she replied. my eyes softened at her. ''it's fine, just try and nap later, okay?'' Tara nodded.

i held Tara's hand as we walked to our class, we had all of our classes together, luckily. we were speaking about if cats or dogs were better, until Richie bumped into us, he was Sam's ex-boyfriend. Sam was Taras older sister who left as soon as she hit puberty, fucked up, right? Richie was a junior in college, but of Course, we still saw him once and a while. he was about 5'5 and he was 27 years old. i grunted and turned to him, he looked me in my eyes and winked at me, i gagged and turned back around. ''fuck off. '' I heard Tara say to Richie, I smiled at how protective she was.

when i was 16, Richie had groomed me and tried to make me kill a bunch of people in Woodsboro, including Sam and Tara, stupid. of course, I disagreed once I heard the plan, I could never do that..no matter what happens. when Tara found out about Richie grooming me, she called Sam and told her, Sam was shocked, but she still didn't return. she broke up with Richie that night. Richie kept trying to get my contact info and kept trying to apologize, but obviously blocked him on everything.

after class, me and Tara were talking in the parking lot, speaking about whose house we should go to when they spent the night with each other. we decided to go to mine because Taras's mother was home, her mother was a huge drunk who got really abusive at times. and I wanted to protect Tara as much as possible.

she was my best friend of course.

Tara hoped into my car, and we drove over to my place. Tara didn't have a license; she didn't have the time to get one, and she didn't have the money to buy a car. I didn't blame her, i couldn't knowing what situation she was in. as we were driving to my place, I noticed Tara looking at me, no, not even looking; she was staring at me. as I stopped at a red light, I looked back at Tara and we met eyes, I tried not to get lost in her beautiful eyes, as I heard a honk behind me, I quickly shook my head and began to drive forward. Tara brushed her hand over mine as she reached for her phone, her warmth on her hand was oddly comforting. ''turn on our playlist? '' I asked in a pleading way. ''sure, whatever. '' Tara replied, obviously joking around, but it still kind of hurt. I simply shrugged it off and kept driving, if I'm being honest; whenever we stopped at a red light if took a glance at Tara and sometimes even brushed my hand against hers. Tara took notice of this and did the same thing, but it wasn't only at red lights, it was sometimes at stop signs, or just random times we slowed down a bit. once we stopped at another red light, I looked into Tara's eyes once again, and she was looking in mine, she looked at me differently than usual; and I just realized how pretty her eyes are, actually, they were beautiful. they were like deep pools, and I just keep sinking into them and drowning. I've never felt this way with anyone really, I think it was because me and Tara have been friends for so long,

I think.

once we got to my place, we plopped down onto the couch, my arm wrapped around Taras shoulders, and I put on stab 1 with my other arm, that was my favorite one, ever. I knew Tara wasn't the biggest fan, but I made sure to ask if I could put it on, and she agreed. but as Tara was watching the movie, I watched her move as she began to lean into me, my heart fluttered, and it began pounding so hard I thought she could've heard it. I saw Tara turn her head to look at me back.

we kept eye contact for at least 30 seconds before I leaned in, I saw Tara leaning in Aswell, I closed my eyes and I'm assuming she did.