"Amber?" Krystal called softly, like she did most things. She tiptoed into Amber's bedroom, scooping up a waggling Jack Jack along the way. It had been months since she'd last seen the cute puppy and he'd gotten notably fatter. Gongju, on the other hand, was just chilling at the foot of Amber's bed. Krystal knew she'd been sick recently and regretted she hadn't asked Amber for updates.

"Are you awake?"

Amber groaned and shifted a bit on the bed. Her shoulder was killing her with a lasting, dull ache and her body seemed to hurt all over. 

"I can't believe they still made you film yesterday," Krystal grumbled, putting JackJack down on the thick comforter. 

"It wouldn't have been fair to everyone else to not get the episode done, just because of me," Amber said, her teeth as she rolled onto her back so she could look at Krystal. "I should've soaked it longer, but I wanted to sleep instead." Her muscle pulled painfully and she squinted her eyes. "Uugggh, I want to slap yesterday me in the face a few times." 

Krystal laughed and brushed amber's hair off her forehead. "Want me get you some painkillers or something? Maybe a hot pack?"

Amber nodded. "I don't feel like rolling over again though." 

Krystal rolled her eyes while she shuffled through Amber's nightstand drawer. She kept a few ankle compresses and arch support pads in there along with extra contacts and solution. She scoffed when she found a crinkled half-finished bag of stale hot Cheetos. "You know you shouldn't eat snacks in bed." 

"Says the person who always eat snacks in bed," Amber huffed. "Nice to meet you, Pot. I'm Kettle," she said, sticking out her hand. 

The younger woman slapped the hand away and continued to rifle through Amber's makeshift first aide drawer. She sighed in relief when her hand closed on an unused heating pad. She quickly peeled it from it's wrapper, removed the adhesive, then turned to face her friend. "So..."

Amber pouted. "I don't want to move..." 

Krystal rolled her eyes and started fiddling with the hem of Amber's sweatshirt, trying to get her hand underneath while a panicked Amber tried to stop her. 

"Hey! Woah, Hey! What're you doing?!" 

"Trying to put on your heating pack without you having to move. Now just rise up a tiny bit and I can slip it on," she commanded firmly. 

Amber glared at her, but lifted as much as she could. Krystal put an arm around her shoulders to support her, then used the other hand to work under Amber's shirt to her back. She tried not to notice just how smooth and warm Amber's skin was or the fact that she wasn't wearing a bra and instead focused on her task. Amber told her when she reached the right spot and she quickly smoothed the pack on, withdrawing as calmly as she could. She let Amber fall gently back onto the bed. 

"Is that better?" 

The older girl sighed in relief. "Now if only I had some snacks close enough to-" 

Krystal shook her head. "Nope. I only stopped here on my way to work." She smacked Amber's cheek playfully. "Buh-bye. I'll feed JackJack and Gongju on my way out." 

"Give them enough for the afternoon too," Amber whispered pitifully. "I may not be able to make it out of bed all day." 

Krystal rolled her eyes but agreed. 

"Oh, and if you see my favorite manager, you know the one I'm talking about, tell him I miss him. Oh, and Zhoumi, tell him he's my favorite. Can you also-" 

"Oh my god!" Krystal yanked Amber's bed sheets up over the whining girl's head and darted toward the door. "I'll call to check on you later, okay?" 

Amber laughed, pulling the sheets down and ruffling her hair into a semblance of style. "Okay. Byeeeee." 

"Hey, Krystal."

"Henry?" she said in surprise, turning to face the older boy. He looked a little down as he dragged his feet into the SM building where Krystal stood waiting for her manager.

"It's been a while since we saw each other in this lobby," he said, gesturing around the place. "Wassup?"

She shrugged a tad uncomfortably. She liked Henry, but his swift up and down mood changes often left her unbalanced and drained after an encounter. He could go from being extremely playful to resolutely serious in a heartbeat. "Nothing. I just came from visiting Amber," she said, in case he wanted an update on his friend. "Her shoulder is still really sore."

"Yeah, I know. I called her to see if she wanted me to come visit, but she said she didn't feel up to seeing me today. Said I would ruin her mood and her house." Henry scoffed. "I've only left her place messy once and it was completely by accident." 

Krystal giggled. Amber had texted her a photo of the aftermath and had banned Henry from her place for two weeks. He'd left dirty dishes in the sink and on the stove as well as scattered her spare blankets from the extra bedroom all the way to the living room.

"Anyway, you heading to a schedule? Photoshoot? Commercial?"

"Photoshoot," Krystal said quickly before he would spend minutes listing down a dozen other possibilities. "I'm just waiting for my manager to finish collecting all the stuff we need. What are you doing here?"

"Got tired of my home studio. It's feeling a little cramped. I'm thinking about upgrading soon. But until then, I decided to use on of the rooms here. There're a few songs I want to work on. If Amber's feeling up to it later, I'll probably see if she wants to work with me for a while. I want to hear how this new track is going to sound with her backing vocals."

Krystal nodded, feeling a little bitter about the potential session, but also knew she didn't have a right to. Her schedule was completely packed at the moment, so even if she were free, she couldn't go to spend more time with Amber. Besides Amber and Henry had been doing this for years. They were just friends and that wasn't going to change just because of one jam session. 

"That's nice." She flipped her hand out to the side at a tall, slightly chubby man coming down the stairs and passing through the security gates. "Well, my manager's ready. So...bye..."

Henry grinned and waved her off, his mind already on a new tune he wanted to try out. 

Support Amber and f(x)