Quantum Entanglement ~ Tamber

Chapter 13

Tara hated that her first instinct wasn't worry for her friend, who she had known since she was a little girl. Her first instinct was paralyzing fear that Amber had somehow been the one to kill him. Her girlfriend had left to take a shower, after all, and she wasn't sure how long she had been gone. If there was even the possibility of Amber having been the one to attack Wes, then her whole mission was over. She would die, and Sam would be left mourning.

Tara looked over at her girlfriend in shock. "I think it's Wes."

"Sounds like it," she said, but there wasn't any hint of sadness in her voice. When she noticed Tara's expression, she added, "I'm sorry, baby. Are you okay?"

"He can't die," she exclaimed in a panic. "Baby, did you do this? How long were you gone?" She turned to her sister and frantically asked, "How long was she gone?"

"A couple hours?" Sam answered hesitantly.

She turned back to Amber, who had stopped touching her and instead folded her arms over her chest. "What are you suggesting?"

"Sam, can you give us a minute, please? Can you go check on things out there?" Tara asked, never removing her eyes from her girlfriend.

"Yeah – yeah, of course."

Once she was sure she was gone, she grabbed Amber's arm and tugged it down so she could hold her hand. "I need you to be honest with me, okay? It's very important. Did you hurt Wes?"

She watched the taller wrinkle her face up in faux disbelief and disgust. "Are you fucking serious? I can't believe you're even suggesting – "

"Baby! Please. I'm dead serious. Look me in the eyes. Did you hurt Wes? I need to know. It's urgent. I need to know. Please. I won't love you any less. I won't be mad. I need the truth."

And it was urgent – it was a matter of life and death. If Amber had been the one to attack Wes and he died, then they were both fucked. Their love story was over just as it began, and Tara wouldn't just catapult back to the future; she'd die, too. She needed to know if the only thing she would be mourning was her friend – or if she had mere seconds to mourn everything else in her life, too.

Amber looked her in the eyes and sighed. "Yes, but-"

Tara withdrew her hand. She collapsed into a fit of sobs that her girlfriend didn't quite understand the source of. Sure, anyone would get just a bit upset over hearing that their partner just gutted one of their friends like a fish, but this was a different type of sadness. Amber had just ruined everything, and for what? For some hatred of the boy who could never compete with her to begin with? For Richie?

"Baby, why?" she begged to know in between ugly weeping. "Why would you do that?"

Amber reached out to try to touch her but quickly thought better of it and tucked her hand in her pocket. "I – I don't know."

"You do know."

"If anyone had to go, I wanted it to be him," she said softly. Her voice was gentle and calm, the complete opposite of Tara's. "I had to prove I was still on his side."

"What does it matter if you're on his side, Amber?"

"So he didn't fucking kill us all, okay?" she snapped. When she realized what she'd done, she softened her voice. "I'm sorry for yelling. I'm sorry. It was Wes or us. I chose us."

Tara's eyes were wide and pleading as she realized that any second now could be their last. She grabbed Amber and sobbed into her chest, clinging to her for dear life. Words were flowing from her mouth, but she couldn't even fathom what was being said. She felt like she was shipwrecked and clinging to her life raft with all she had. She knew she would likely die, but she just didn't know when.