The weather was so nice. A wondeful mix between chilly and warm that made the skin tingle. Amber enjoyed taking off her button up between shoots and letting the wind play over her body. She'd brought her camera along in case one of the photographers were free to give her some advice at any point and ended up being allowed to shoot a few pictures and record some video material when the other girls were on break.

Now they were done with the shoot, she'd gone back to the hotel and changed into a comfortable pair of gray sweats, a black tank, and a loose checkered, flannel button up. She'd come back out to shoot some more landscape footage, hopefully getting a few when the sun started to go down.

Before she could aim her camera toward the canopy of the forest, she felt a pointed chin rest in the hollow of her sboulder and didn't even have to turn to know who it was.

"What do you plan to do with these?" Krystal asked, reaching around Amber to scroll through her photos and videos. She stopped on one of herself, looking back, long, dark hair shifting with the wind. "I look really pretty in this one."

Amber shrugged. "I was thinking about making some short clips using songs off our album."

"And the photos?"

"I don't know. Maybe mess around with editing. Lighting. I didn't really think that far ahead," she mumbled. She felt Krystal's arms settle around her waist and glanced up to see if anyone were around them. They were pretty deep in the woods though and their crew had packed up to head back to their own rooms nearly two hours ago. 

"Talk to me," Krystal suddenly said quietly. "Please?"

Amber focused on the screen of her camera. "About what?" Even though she could guess. She was really hoping Krystal would leave it alone. She should've known better. The younger girl liked to be clear on things and was always straight-forward. 

"Amber..."

"I don't have feelings for you, if that's what you want to know," she said shortyly. "At least,not the kind you might want."

Krystal pulled away from her and ran a hand through her wind-tousled hair. She'd suspected as much, but it still hurt. "Then why..."

"Sometimes," she tried to state gently. "I just do something because it feels good."

The younger girl almost wished she hadn't asked when faced with an answer like that. 

"I was really hurting, and you made it stop, at least for a little while. But I regret it and I really want to pretend it never happened," Amber said firmly. "I don't want to lose our friendship. I don't want to lose this group."

"Wow, I had no idea you were so selfish," Krystal snapped. "I don't want to lose those things either. Can't you consider how I feel for a moment? You just left me and then you didn't say a single word about what happened. Shouldn't you at least make sure I'm okay with whatever you decided too?"

Amber hung her head and scuffed her toe through the springy grass. She'd been so caught up in her own emotions, that no, she hadn't given much thought to what Krystal might be feeling or how she wanted to proceed from this. "I'm sorry, Krys."

Krystal rubbed at the side of her nose. She didn't want an apology. She'd thought she had, or at least to know how Amber had felt about that night; but thinking you knew the answer and actually having it were two vastly different things.

"Never mind. I'd hoped..."

"What? A reltionship is out of the question even if I were to like you too, Krys. We both travel too much, and if we ever got caught..."

Krystal blinked hard. She hadn't expected Amber to be so cold about it. She flinched when Amber wrapped a warm hand around her upper arm.

"I'm sorry I can't give you why you want, and I really don't want to hurt you. But if we keep talking about this, that's all I'm going to do." She shook Krystal's arm gently. "Let's just forget this, please?"

The younger girl shook her head. "No. I don't want to. I loved touching you and feeling you. And kissing you was better than I imagined, and I've been imagining it for a long time. Things after might not've turned out like I hoped, but everything else..."

Amber flushed red. Yes, everything had felt so good. 

Krystal bit her lip. In a lot of ways, Amber was so innocent. She often lived completely and fully in the moment, so she sometimes, not often, but sometimes, made reckless decisions based on how she felt in that moment. She could understand Amber's emotions that night and the regret afterwards. 

"I just hate that you regret it so much. I hate how it happened...but I don't dislike everything else," Krystal said softly. 

Amber scracthed the back of her neck, trying, but failing to keep the heat from her face. "I liked everything else too..." she admitted reluctantly. "But we can't have again, okay?"

"What if.." Krystal stopped herself. No. That was a stupid idea. Her desire to be with Amber was clouding her judgement and Amber likely wouldn't agree anyway. Besides, having Amber a few nights out of the year wasn't exactly what she wanted out of a relationship. Although, being an idol, that was about all she would get with anyone. 

"What?" 

"You don't want a relationship, and it's kind of out of the question for me since I travel so much..." 

"Yeah?" Amber prompted, wondering where Krystal was going with this. 

"My feelings for you are something I'm going to have to just deal with, but do we, can we...I don't really like to sleep alone, and I know you don't like to be alone...and relationships are hard enough for people with our kind of schedules. At least a couple of nights out of the year, we travel together. We could spend time together without people getting suspicious. And -"

"Are you saying we should be, what? Friends with benefits?" Amber asked in surprise, holding up her hand. "Cause that sounds like a really bad idea, Krys." 

"I know. But we don't even have to have . I just," she cupped a hand over her heart. "I want something more than what I have with you. I want cute messages and some hugs, and maybe some light night cuddling. I've been feeling so lonely for such a long time. And I know you do too, despite all your friends and your pets. You've got people to take care of you, but who's taking care of your heart?" 

Amber swallowed hard. Having a friend and having a lover were such vastly different things. Friends, sure they supported you and were there for you, but having someone hold you like a lover did or a kiss just for the sake of a kiss. 

She flexed her thumb absently over the rough rim of her camera lens, thinking about what it would be like to get a wakeup call from Krystal or having someone to hold at night. 

"And you really won't expect more than that?" Amber asked, taking a tentative step forward. 

Krystal shook her head, placing her hands on Amber's waist. A relieved sigh escaped her lips. "No. Not when we've laid it all out at the beginning." She pressed herself against Amber, making sure to shift the camera out of the way first. She buried her nose in Amber's neck and inhaled deeply. She smelled like she'd been playing in the grass. "This is more than enough. Our lives don't really allow much esle at the moment anyway." 

Amber wrapped her arm around Krystal, her hand caressing the small of Krystal's back. The embrace felt so warm and so... She felt tension she didn't even know she held melt from her body. "Thank you. I'm sorry I didn't talk to you before." 

Krystal tightened her hold on her. "I already forgot I was mad at you about that," she said, snuggling in, feeling like she could stay held against Amber for the rest of her life. "Come to my room tonight so I can kiss your lips off you and tell you about this bread stall I found in the city." 

Amber chuckled. "Okay, but I'm going to need my lips to tell you about these new shoes I bought." 

"I can already guess the story is going to start off with 'Dude! These new Jordans came out and-'" Krystal rolled her eyes. "I'll listen anyway."