die for you

Chapter 3

Eliza, Amber, Wes, Chad, and Mindy stand when Tara's older sister, Sam, walks into the hospital room with a random man in the late afternoon. Tara hasn't seen her sister since she was thirteen years old. Wes called her though, because Tara's mom is away on a business trip.

Sam is tall in comparison to Tara, but shares the same black hair and tan skin that Tara has. The random white man behind her is also tall and has a brown beard that matches his hair.

Sam kneels down next to Amber's chair to address her sister, "How are you feeling?" Is the first thing she says.

Tara smiles lightly, "You came."

Sam rubs her sister's arm lovingly, "Of course I came. This is my boyfriend, Richie."

He kneels down to say, "It's so nice to meet you. I'm so sorry if I'm intruding."

Tara gives him a finger wave, "Nice to meet you too."

Sam then stands up and gives everyone hugs, "Thank you for calling." She says to Wes.

"Of course," He answers.

"Look at your hair! I like it," She smiles at the boy's frosted tips, "Did you get taller? Do you still play football?" She asks Eliza.

The girl nods and adds, "Like an inch," She's barely taller than Tara, but enough to call the girl "Fun size." Her muscles, however, are above average size for the typical teenage girl, due to working out all the time for the sport.

"These are Chad and Mindy, Wes and Eliza the twins," Sam explains to her boyfriend.

"A friend group with two sets of twins?" He asks in astonishment.

"Yup," Eliza replies. They get that question a lot.

"I used to babysit them all," Sam adds.

"Which is always how I like to be introduced," Wes retorts.

"And Amber, hey," Sam gives her an awkward wave to the girl since she didn't hug her. Amber didn't become friends with Tara until after she left. Sam doesn't even know they're dating.

"Hi," Amber smiles politely, "Nice to see you."

"H-Hi. I'm Richie," Richie says.

"Hi," She replies.

"Where's Mom?" Sam asks.

"She's stuck at a conference in London," Tara answers, "She called me earlier."

"Yeah, for all of ten minutes," Amber sighs, putting her hand on her hip. Tara's smile fades and Eliza feels her face heat up. She would never make a comment like that, "Uh, look, guys, Tara's really tired. Maybe we should just give her some space."

"Yeah," Wes says.

"Yeah, yeah," Chad agrees. Tara's eyes find Eliza's with a distinct look in them. Almost as if she is afraid of being alone. Eliza continues following the line of people out the door though. Sam goes to follow but Tara stops her.

"Not you, Sam," She says, "I want you to stay."

Sam nods with a relieved smile, "Okay."

"But the rest—"

"Yeah," Mindy says to her twin.

"If it's okay with you, I could sleep here tonight," Sam tells her younger sister.