Amber was in the middle of dreaming about winning a lifetime supply of milk tea when someone gently shook her awake. She whined a little and pulled the blankets closer, sinking back into the land of dreams when the hand shook her awake again.

Amber swatted the hand away. “Sleepin’,” she mumbled into her pillow and then she heard the soft laughter of Henry. She rolled her face out of the soft, cushiony material of the white pillow to glare at him.

“What?” she grumbled, eyes bleary as he smiled at her, amusement on the edge of his lips.

“The window is jammed and we can’t sleep with rain pelting our faces the whole night,” Henry answered, “so Eric and I are changing rooms for the night,”

“So why are you bothering me?” Amber whined, rolling her face back into the comfy pillow.

“Because I’m going to stay with you, and I’d rather let you know than scare you in the morning when you wake up and I’m in bed with you,” Henry answered, matter-of-factly and Amber’s eyes snapped open and she scrambled through her sheets for a moment before staring up at him with wide eyes.

“Wait what?”

“I’m staying with you tonight?” Henry blinked at her, confused.

“But - I - How?” Amber’s mind was reeling.

“Eric and I played paper, scissors, rock and I’m with you?” Henry replied, still confused.

Amber groaned and she let herself fall back onto the bed. “Thanks,” she muttered, the sarcasm dripping from her voice. Trust them to play paper, scissors, rock to decide who got to stay the night with Kris.

Henry chuckled and leaned over until their noses were almost touching. “I won, Ber,” he grinned and before Amber could even register that that meant they were fighting to stay with her and not the other way around, Henry had disappeared to the other side of the King-sized bed and was clambering in, sighing as he settled amongst the blankets.

Amber went still for a moment but very slowly convincing herself to relax, because this was Henry and she’d known Henry ever since he crashed into the white fence in front of her garden when he tried to learn how to ride a bike at age six. (She still remembered calling her mother because a ‘stupid boy on a wheelie thing was bleeding on the fence’.)

Amber sighed and let her eyes flutter closed, trying to succumb to the blissfulness of sleep again.

"Hey, Am?"

“Mm?”

“You know I love you, right?” Amber’s eyes flew open and she hesitated for a moment before rolling over slowly to look at Henry. He was lying on his side, facing her and the contours of his face was lit up in the slivers of moonlight breaking into the room through the curtains. Before she could reply, he continued. “All of us do. We’re all like family and that’s not going to change,”

Amber rolled over, feigning disinterest while quietly clutching at her chest, trying to dull the ache that was beginning to form there.

“I know,” she mumbled, defeated, pulling the blanket closer. Henry stayed silent and Amber fell asleep wondering what exactly that meant.



At one point, when the sun was beginning to rise, Amber opened her eyes sleepily, wondering what time it was. Instead, she was faced with Henry’s sleeping face inches away from hers, one hand in the small expanse of space between them and the other around her shoulders, almost as if he was pulling her closer when he fell asleep.

Amber blinked a couple of times to register this fact, before closing her eyes and letting herself surrender to the blissfulness of sleep, instinctively snuggling just that slightest bit closer to her best friend of so many years.



(And when Kris got kicked out of bed by a grumpy Eric who complained about his sleep talking, the tall Canadian decided to give Henry the same treatment and roll him off the bed until he was unceremoniously dumped onto the ground. But then he opened the door to find Henry and Amber asleep on Amber’s bed, Amber’s head resting just below Henry’s chin, there was something undeniably peaceful with the two of them sleeping that Kris almost left without waking them up. His still hurt though, so he reasoned that they didn’t deserve to be sleeping peacefully when he had been so rudely awakened.

He kicked Henry off the bed first, satisfied when he heard the loud thud of Henry’s back hitting the floor, coupled with a groan. Amber stirred slightly at the sound, so Kris rolled her in her blankets before shoving her off the bed too, standing triumphantly on the bed while Henry glared at him while rubbing the sleep from his eyes and Amber wriggled in her cocoon of blankets.

“Time for breakfast,” Kris said smugly as he looked between their grumpy faces.

“Damn you, Kris,” Henry muttered.

“,” Amber snapped.

Kris just laughed.)


 

After an obnoxiously large breakfast of omelette and bacon that Eric cooked as an apology for kicking Kris out of bed, Henry declared himself too full to move. Amber exchanged looks with Kris and a minute later, they had Henry between them and pushed him outside, shutting the glass doors shut and locking the door. Amber had to sit down because she couldn’t breathe, she was laughing too hard at Henry’s fuming face on the other side of the glass. Eric rolled his eyes from where he was washing the dishes in the kitchen.

When they finally opened the door to a very disgruntled Henry, he immediately ran over and half carried, half dragged Amber out. She screamed and laughed, wriggling out of his grasp and falling and rolling in the sand. As he reached out to grab her again, she flung sand at him, scrambling to her feet, but before she could, Kris grabbed her under her arms and Henry grabbed her legs and then they were running towards the water and Amber screamed that she wasn’t wearing bathers and if they threw her in and got her underwear wet she’d kill them. Kris actually stopped and Henry blushed before they put her down. She ran back to Eric who sighed and rolled his eyes, calling them ridiculous even though he was smiling at the same time.

After changing into their beach stuff, Amber ran ahead, careful to avoid both Henry and Kris because she knew they would throw her into the sea if they got the chance. She didn’t expect Eric to come up behind her and push her until she stumbled into the water, the cold blue-green water reaching to her knees before she managed to stop.

“Eric!” she screamed and he laughed and ran off as she chased him, but not before Henry grabbed her and threw her into the water, drenching her completely before she pulled him into the water with her.

When Kris and Eric stood and laughed from their safe point on the beach, Henry and Amber exchanged a look and then took off, Henry using momentum to swing Kris into the water. Amber had a little more difficulty, but she eventually managed to force Eric into the edge of the water and then ran and pushed him the rest of the way in.

With all four of them drenched, they laughed as the splashed each other, periodically dragging one another beneath the waves, but their laughter never stopped and they all treasured the laughter and stored the moment in their hearts to help them through the inevitable separation ahead.



After eating the Chinese take-out from down the road, the four of them sat in the middle of the living room, cups of soft drink between them.

Amber was in the middle of an intense conversation with Eric about a new upcoming singer in the music industry when Kris disappeared. She ended her rant and looked over to the other boys only to find one suspiciously missing.

“Where’d Kris go?” she asked, almost choking on her drink because one of her best friends had managed to leavewithout her noticing at all.

“He went to buy something,” Henry answered casually and Eric frowned.

“I thought the supermarket is closed already? It’s almost nine,” he said.

Henry hummed non-committedly and Eric and Amber exchanged looks, but said nothing as Henry brought up one of their teachers’ funny habits and they forgot all about their tall friend.



Eric and Amber got their answer when Kris walked into the kitchen with a brown paper bag in his hands, which made Henry grin broadly.

“Dude, did you - ?” Amber stared, wide-eyed, at the bottle in Kris’ long fingers.

Kris grinned. “Yup. They didn’t even ask for ID,” he grinned, putting the fake ID back into the drawer as he settled down amongst his friends on the floor. Eric seemed to be frowning.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” he muttered, because that was a whole bottle of vodka and aside from the fact they were underage, this wasn’t their house and if anything happened…

“Chill out man, it’ll be fine,” Henry pushed him lightly, pushing their cups to the centre of their haphazard circle, pouring in the soft drink after Kris added the alcohol.

They played a hilarious game of Never Have I Ever in which Kris swore at all of them for bringing up the time he hooked up with one of the exchange students, back in tenth grade. They all learned that Eric had indeed kissed someone before, and not told them, sometime in their high school experience, and Amber made the guys drink on various girl-related stuff.

After Amber almost fell asleep in the middle of telling all of them that they’re all s for that time they pranked her on halloween and almost gave her a heart attack, Henry declared her out for the night and tried to haul her off to her room, but she protested and wriggled so much he ended up just pulling her onto the couch.

She was too intoxicated to realise she was clinging onto his arm until he sat on the couch with her with a sigh and Amber giggled as she rested her head on his leg and curled up on the couch, eyes closing almost immediately, her breathing evening out as she fell asleep.

“I’ve never heard her giggle so much,” Kris muttered, the most sober out of all of them while Henry waved it off lazily, tipsy too.

“You guys didn’t know her before seventh grade. She only became really tomboy after seventh grade,” he answered, “Would you believe she used to have long hair back then? Like long hair, halfway down her back,”

“Seriously?” Eric mumbled from his position on the floor, half asleep as he rested his head on an arm, looking up at Henry tiredly. They weren’t sure if it was the alcohol or if it was the fact that Eric had gotten up early to go to the supermarket so that they had proper food in the house. After Amber, it seemed like Eric had the lowest alcohol tolerance.

“Yup,” Henry mumbled, carding his hand through her short hair. Amber didn’t move, her face peaceful and the slightest hint of a smile on her lips. “I mean, not like she wore dresses, but she had long hair and didn’t actively try to act like a guy,” he snickered and Kris rolled his eyes as he picked up his phone that had beeped with a message.

Eric mumbled something about how the girl at the supermarket was wearing a nice sundress and Henry and Kris exchanged looks, but by the time Henry asked him who this girl at the supermarket was, Eric was asleep on the floor.

Kris looked at the clock and sighed, grabbing a few of the bottles and heading to the kitchen unsteadily.

“I’ll get Eric back to the bed. You going to be okay with Amber?” Kris asked as he slowly hauled Eric to his feet, the other boy still half asleep as he leaned against Kris.

Henry nodded. “Yeah, it’ll be fine,” he chuckled and Kris nodded.

“We’ll clean up up in the morning,” he said and then he helped the practically sleeping Eric to the room that he shared with Henry.

Still stuck on the couch with Amber asleep, her head resting on his lap, Henry sighed and ruffled her hair again, but this time Amber made a soft sound, shifting a little and curling up closer to him. Henry smiled down at her, relishing the feel of her soft hair between his fingers.

She was so innocent, so trusting. She had known all of them for so long, after all. I could probably kiss her and get away with her, Henry mused quietly, fingers caressing her cheek lightly. He chuckled to himself. He probably wouldn’t live to see the next day if she found out. He sighed and tangled his hands in her short hair again.

Soon he wouldn’t be ab