Quantum Entanglement ~ Tamber

Chapter 2

Bang!

She shot awake. Tara was used to having nightmares about the night she had had to kill her best friend. What she wasn't used to, however, was waking up in between the legs of said best friend with her head on her chest. It was actually the gentle thump thump of the taller girl's heart that made her realize where she was – a realization that, for some reason, had her holding her breath.

"You okay?" Amber asked in a sleepy, husky voice. "You have a nightmare again?"

Tara looked up at the girl for the first time. She was beautiful all the time, but there was something about catching Amber Freeman first thing in the morning, before she had time to put on her front for the world, that was absolutely breathtaking. Maybe it was the vulnerability – the lack of a façade. Whatever it was, it was mesmerizing.

She felt the heat of their bodies flush together for the first time and wondered how she'd not noticed it before. She knew they always cuddled like this, so why did it feel different this time?

It must have been because she knew she was in the arms of the woman who could and would murder her in a heartbeat – nothing more.

"Yeah," she said truthfully, her voice strained and groggy. "A really bad nightmare."

She felt Amber's hands on her back, rubbing gentle, lazy circles. "It's okay," she soothed. "You're safe."

Safe.

Was she? Those hands would go on to stab her and end the lives of her friends. Was she really safe? Could she ever be again?

"Thank you," she whispered.

Amber smiled, her eyes closing. "Can you maybe move, though? Like just a little? My foot's asleep. You're like the best and worst weighted blanket I've ever had."

She rolled her eyes and hid a smile. "You're the best and worst pillow I've ever had. None of my other pillows complain this much." She shifted slightly to let Amber's foot free.

"Mmm, much better," she hummed. "Now go back to sleep."

But she couldn't get back to sleep. She was too aware of the fact that her body was pressed into the taller girl's. Every rise and fall of her chest was torturous, but she couldn't quite pinpoint why. She decided that it had to be because she knew what was coming. Surely that was it. She knew what was coming, and she was scared of setting her off.

"Why are you still awake?" Amber groaned.

"How do you know I'm still awake?" she gasped.

"Because I know you, and I know that your breathing gets all soft when you're pretending to sleep."

"Wait. How does it sound when I'm actually sleeping then?"

"You snore. You snore so fucking loud," she laughed, her voice still thick with sleep.

Tara looked at her, feigning hurt. "Be so for fucking real right now. I don't snore."

"You do. You drool, too."

Her mouth fell open at the audacity. "I don't snore!"

"You're a vertically challenged asthmatic, Tara. Of course you fucking snore," Amber snickered.

"You're only two inches taller than me," she scoffed.

"And yet here I am, being the big spoon again."

Tara peeled herself off the girl and stood up. "Get up."

Amber rolled her eyes. "Fuck, Tara. It's too early for this."

"Up!" she ordered.

The taller girl groaned but did as she was told, shuffling off the couch and rubbing her eyes. Tara laid down in the spot she'd just left and parted her legs enough to accommodate her.