𝐈𝐅 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 → 𝖩𝖠𝖢𝖪 𝖣𝖴𝖭𝖪𝖫𝖤𝖬𝖠𝖭

𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍

Amber pulled out of the hug. "So, uh, no more Homecoming for me." Amber looked at him sadly.

"What if I tried to convince her? There is no way I'm going without you and I'm supposed to be singing." Amber suggested.

"I doubt that will work." Jack pursed his lips. "But I can try, right? And we know hardly anyone can say no to me." She winked.

Jack led Amber to her bed and they both took a seat. "I haven't been the best friend recently. And, uh, I am sorry."

Amber shook her head. "Are you kidding me? You were there for me when I've needed you. Like, that time you first found out about my parents? I stayed the night and Stig admitted to kissing Jodi, remember? Or, that one time I broke my finger, my favourite finger which made me pissed, and you sat there in the hospital holding my hand the entire time. Remember that? When I first argued with my parents and I stayed over your house for an entire week and my parents didn't bother ask where I was because she knew. Or, when I broke my ankle and I would insist on using crutches instead of a wheelchair, even though I can't use crutches, and you would help me get to every class, help me walk home, got me fresh ice packs when I needed them? Do you remember that, J?" Amber wondered, wiping his tears that he didn't know had fallen.

Jack nodded. "Yeah, fun times." He muttered. Amber gave him an offended look. "All those times I was hurt?"

"I was too busy thinking about that time we went to a theme park. Harper, Jodi and Fareeda were busy eating food and you wanted to go on a roller coaster." Jack sighed, and Amber widened her eyes.

"You were too scared to ride it so I held your hand the entire time, and not once did I leave go." Jack finished. Amber looked at her lap and smiled. "That was a fun day."

Harper and Jodi stood outside the bedroom door and listened as they retold their memories.

"I got you a present. Because even if I'm not going to Homecoming, you are. And there is no way you're singing without fantastic shoes."

Amber chuckled with a shake of the head. She stood up and Jack handed it to her. "I--I like the box." She mumbled and Jack chuckled.

The box was sparkly and purple. Of course she'd like it. "Open it." Jack instructed, with a smile still on his face.

Amber locked eyes with him for a moment and all her emotions came back. She glanced at the box in her hands.

She took the lid off of it and it opened to reveal beautiful grey heels.

She looked up at Jack. "You had help off Harper, didn't you?" Harper nodded from outside the door.

Jack chuckled, looking at his feet. "Yeah." She smiled lovingly at her Jack.

The Jack that would walk through fire just to see her smile, the one that would go to the ends of the earth for her, even pick a fight with her boyfriend because he saw him cheating on her with Emily.

But, he wasn't going to tell her that. He didn't want to make his Amber upset.

"They're from a specialty drag queen store called Scream Queens. It's this great place, and they gave me a little gift card," Amber couldn't help but chuckle in amusement.

"So, if I come in, like, nine more times, I get a free pair." Jack chuckled.

He knew the smallest things about her. Like how her eyes would light up like a Christmas tree whenever she laughed, or how she had dimples when she spoke.

The way she would raise her eyebrows when she lied, the way she'd play with the two rings on her two ring fingers when she gets nervous or that the moon necklace, the necklace he got her just over six years ago, still sat around her neck, with the two initials still carved.

A & J

Their initials. "Let me paint you a picture." Jack sits up straight and Amber lets out a small laugh. "Go ahead."

"We're three years in the future. You are at some nice college in the Midwest  Northwestern, maybe Notre Dame. And, you meet some nice guy and he really likes you because of how kind you are. And he likes how you sit up front with your Uber drivers 'cause you don't want to be lonely and how you hate nuts but love m&m's, which doesn't make any sense to me. But again, maybe he likes it. And he asks you out on a date. A date to a place where there's a karaoke and you wouldn't want to go on stage wearing flats so you think back to this moment and remember that you wore these heels and would want to wear them again."

Jack smiled with tears in his eyes and Amber looked at the bed. "It wouldn't work out with the guy. It wouldn't, yeah." Amber chuckled and nodded. "Probably not."

Jack looked down at the bed. "But, you'd look amazing, so..." Amber chuckled, pulling Jack into a hug.

"I'm only wearing them if your mom let's you come to Homecoming." Jack shook his head.

"You don't need to convince my mom. Harper said she'll face time me while you sing so I get to watch."

Harper opened the door. "I also said that I'm going to face time him through the whole thing... for no particular reason." Harper trailed off closing her eyes and leaving, hoping Amber wouldn't ask too much about that.

She didn't. Instead, she turned to Jack and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you." Jack smiled. "Yeah, no problem."

××××

Unknown: Hey, Amber. It's Liz. Just thought I'd show you something.

Amber clicked on the video and what she didn't know was that what she saw was going to break her heart.