Quantum Entanglement ~ Tamber

Chapter 6

"When the fuck was Richie here, and why did he leave his shirt?" Tara repeated, more assertively this time. She was shaking. Amber reached out to try to touch her, but she flinched away.

"I know this is cliché as fuck, but it's not what it looks like."

Tara put distance between them, standing up and away from her. "Is he here now?"

"No! Of course not. What the fuck, Tara? I wouldn't do that."

"You promised you would take time away from him, too," she found herself yelling. She was still shaking.

"I said I'd try."

"You tried so fucking hard, right? So what, you just needed time away from me so you could spend time with him?" she spat.

Amber stood and reached out a hand, desperate for contact. "No, it's not like that! I didn't invite him. He showed up when I stopped responding to his messages. I don't even fucking know how he got my address." She rubbed her temple and softened her voice, seemingly remembering who she was talking to.

Her anger quickly turned to worry. Sure, Amber may be lying, but if she wasn't, then some thirty-year-old douchebag broke into her house completely uninvited. Tara reached out this time, lightly grasping her forearm.

"Shit, are you okay? When did this happen? Did he hurt you?" She scanned Amber's body for bruises before resting her gaze on her eyes. "What happened?"

"Two nights ago," she confessed. She grabbed Tara's hand and led her back to the couch. "He didn't hurt me."

"So what did he want?"

"To know why the fuck I was ignoring him. We went from talking all day every day to not at all. He was paranoid."

"And he didn't hurt you?"

Amber shook her head. "No. He didn't hurt me, but he freaked me the fuck out. I never told him my address."

"How did you get him to leave?"

"I threatened to call the cops. He slammed the door and left and then blew up my phone telling me what a rude cunt I was. Then he apologized and said he had a rough day at work."

"Oh yes, rough day of work at the bow - " Tara realized she wasn't supposed to know about his bowling alley job. She started coughing, pretending to be choking on air to cover up her blunder.

Amber rubbed circles on her back and soothed her. "It's okay. Take your time and breathe. Do you need your inhaler?"

She shook her head and swallowed hard before asking the next question. "Did you – uh – did you guys hook up?"

The taller girl's face twisted into something that could only be described as pure horror. "God no! No! But that – It leads me to something I want to talk to you about." She paused for a second before correcting herself. "Two things. There are two things I need to talk to you about."

"You can always talk to me."

Amber took a deep breath. "I really thought you'd catch on to this before now and I wouldn't have to tell you, but I forgot you're completely oblivious. I seriously don't understand how you're the smartest person I know and also a total idiot."

"Whoa! Excuse me?"

"I'm sorry for not telling you sooner, but you don't need to worry about me hooking up with Richie."

"And why's that? Is it because of me, because I swear it's not just that I'm jealous. I mean, I'm not jealous. I just – "

"Tara."