"I get to pick?" Henry asked with some surprise. He'd never been given much freedom before, so this moment was rather shocking. 

"Yeah," the executives nodded. 

Henry clasped his hands together and thought about the rappers within SM. He wondered if he should pick Shindong, but figured he was too big to be such a short feature and many of the others were busy. Amber, she was pretty much always available and it would be fun to get to work with her again. They'd performed together a few times before and she always knew how to deal with his energy and never got too mad at him. Plus, she would love to have something to do. He knew she was feeling bored at home most of the week. 

"Then, um, Amber?" he asked a bit timidly, but they just nodded and got everything worked out. Henry cheered and dialed Amber up. 

"Hey," he said cheerfully.

*What?* she asked, her voice sounding a tad annoyed through the phone. Henry decided to ignore that though. 

"You and Me, 1,4,3," he said cheekily. 

*What?!*

His eyebrows shot up. "No, no, no. I'm not confessing or anything. Not that I have anything to confess." He rolled his eyes and started over. "I was allowed to pick who I wanted to feature in my song and chose you, Pikachu." 

He heard her chuckle and applauded himself for getting her to laugh, making a mental note to ask what had been bothering her when he called her. 

*Awesome. When do we start?*

"Next week," Henry said with a grin. "It's gonna be awesome performing with you again." 

*Meh...*

"Yah!" 

Amber laughed and hung up on him. 

Henry frowned at the phone and shrugged. Hopefully she would agree to come over later so they could talk. Until then, he had some working out to do to get in shape for his promotions. He hated that his biceps and chests never got quite as sculpted as he wanted. If he were a little tanner, maybe the muscles that he did have would look a bit better, but as pale as he was, his muscles didn't give over the gleaming cut look that he wanted. 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Who was that?" Krystal asked, plopping onto the bed beside Amber and gathering Jack Jack in her arms. 

Amber tossed her phone to the side and turned the volume back up on the show they were watching. "Henry." 

Krystal scrunched her face. "How do you stand him for more than ten minutes, let alone years. You guys have been friends for ages." 

"I don't know," Amber replied honestly. "I hate him." 

"But you like him." 

"...yeah," Amber said with a grin. "He's a good friend." She wrapped her arm around Krystal's back and propped her chin on the girl's slender shoulder. 

"As good a friend as me?" Krystal asked with a hint of jealousy in her tone, her eyes flashing. 

Amber cuddled her closer. "No." 

The younger girl smiled with relief and sank into Amber's embrace, letting JackJack free. "Everything looks so easy when it's on television 'cause you can see the story from all sides," she said suddenly. "You know what each character should do and just wait until they do it. But real life, not so much..." 

"Why are you getting all philosophical?" 

"I don't know." She flipped her hair over her shoulder so she could look at Amber. "Do you think we have a weird friendship?" 

"What do you mean?" 

"Why do you put up with me?" 

Amber dropped her eyes, color rising to her cheeks. "I like feeling like I belong to you." 

Krystal cupped Amber's chin in one hand and kissed her cheek to watch her flush even redder. "I don't understand why people can't see what I see when I look at you," she said. "A cute, but awkward, very pretty girl." She Amber's blonde hair. 

"People don't even see the 'girl' part," she said bitterly. "You'd think them just knowing I'm a girl would be enough, but they always just see the clothes and the hair and nothing else. They don't want to hear me being a girl, they don't want to see it either." 

"Do you ever tell anybody else how you feel? Does Henry know that you feel like this?" 

Amber shrugged. "We talked about it once, about a year or two ago. I got drunk and kissed this girl." She rubbed a hand over her eyes. "I can't remember how clear I was or if I managed to explain what was really going on with me. I think I was scared he wouldn't understand and made something up. I don't know," she said dejectedly. "Besides, it doesn't matter if he sees me as a girl."

"Oh?" Krystal asked, her eyebrows wriggling in excitement. "Then who?" 

The color came back to Amber's cheeks and Krystal found herself wanting to pinch them but restrained herself. "There's this guy at the gym where I workout. He's got this great smile and-" 

"Muscles up to his forehead." 

Amber hid her face behind Krystal's back. "I like guys who take care of their bodies. And he's got the perfect arms. And he's six feet tall, so I'd feel so small next to him..."

Krystal sat up and laid Amber's head on her lap so she could her short hair. "Have you said anything to him?" 

"No. I always go there with Henry and I feel stupid crushing on a guy when Henry's there. Henry would probably make fun of me if he knew who I liked, or he'd go over there and force me to introduce myself before I'm ready." 

The younger girl laughed. "By the time you're ready, the guy is going to be married to someone else with two kids." 

The corners of Amber's mouth turned down in a frown. "So I should tell Henry so he can tell the guy for me?" she asked sarcastically.

"No, just put on your cute sweats and baggy t and go up to him, ask him for coffee and see what happens." 

Amber grimaced thinking about what the other girls wore to the gym and what she wore to the gym. 

She felt Krystal poking at her head. "Don't compare yourself to anybody else. You're y in your own way." 

"To girls because I look like a boy..." she huffed.

More poking. "To guys too. I've seen Kris looking at you when you turn your head." 

"We're friends. He's probably just making sure I don't have dog hair on my outfit your something." 

Krystal sighed, turning her eyes up to the heavens. "What am I going to do with my Amber?" 

"Buy me a nice, but comfortable outfit for the gym?" Amber asked hopefully. 

Krystal pumped her fists in victory. "Ooh, some nice leggings to show off those long legs of yours and a tighter tank so they can see you've got some kind of chest going on under there. But what you say is most important, okay? Or maybe start with a smile. Your smile is really attractive." 

Amber Krystal's lap so she could look up at her, her grin stretching her face and making her eyes sparkle. "Yeah?" 

Krystal squished Amber's cheeks between her palms. "Yeah."