"That sports bra looks way better on you than it ever did on me," Amber sighed, watching Krystal twist from side to side in front of the floor length mirror she had attached inside her closet door. "You can grab a tank from the bottom drawer to cover up a bit more if you want." 

Amber went back to her own outfit and threw a t-shirt on over her athletic gear. 

"You're the Nike model," Krystal grinned, tweaking Amber's chin before turning again and snagging one of her many loose tanks. She bounced on her toes and Amber's eyes tracked her pony tail sweeping across her shoulder blades like a cat. "Please don't tell me we're lifting weights today." 

"Just a few," Amber informed her, laughing when she groaned. "Today is arm day and your noodles could really use some work." 

"The soft noodles are the ones that get eaten." 

Amber flexed, "Yeah, but master chefs serve them up al dente." 

Krystal pinched her lips together in an effort to stop a laugh, but it burbled up anyway and she rolled her eyes. "Let's get going before I change my mind,” she said, hooking an arm around Amber’s neck. “I can’t stand you.” 

Their easy banter continued through the first half of their work out and Amber allowed herself to relax a bit more. Last night had gotten a bit tense with Krystal's questions. She hadn't fully worked out in her mind what she was going to say. How do you just spring on one of your closest friends that you're interested in them? 

She watched Krystal stretch on a mat in front of the gym's giant wall mirror and swallowed hard. 

"Hey, e!" 

Amber jumped and Emily let out a raucous laugh sounding like she was in her late sixties rather than her early twenties. Amber glanced around her and saw that a few of their other health conscious friends were there too. 

"Stop scammin on her and do something about it,” Emily snapped, tired of issuing the same advice. “ And what's that on your head?" Her brows twisted and Amber touched the green scrunchie self-consciously. 

"Krystal put it on me when she saw my hair getting in my eyes-" 

"Oh my god! Just her up already. This is her practically claiming her territory." 

Amber squeezed her eyes shut. This girl really wasn't the best to listen to when it came to relationships. She hadn't had one in like three years and her hookups were always disasters. What did she know about anything?

"Could you please just go work out on the other side of the gym or something and pretend you don't know me. You're the-"

"Amber?" 

She tensed when she heard Krystal's voice, wondering what she might've been able to hear as she walked up on the two of them. 

"This is Emily, right?" she asked, sticking a hand out past Amber to reach the shorter girl. "I'm Krystal." 

"Uhm, yeah. I know." Emily waggled her eyebrows at Amber who only made an exasperated noise and folded her arms across her chest. “I’ve seen pictures of you.” 

“Oh god,” Amber huffed under her breath.

"Good to see you making time for the gym with how busy you must be,” Krystal chirped perkily.

Amber's eyes flicked toward Krystal at the weird note in her voice. 

"Not really," Emily grinned. "I haven't found a job yet since I graduated a few months ago and I'm between modeling gigs." 

"Oh? Shame..." she felt Krystal looking at her. 

Emily must've sensed the atmosphere change because she glanced over her shoulder and gestured to a treadmill. "I'm just gonna get started. I had like a hundred cheeseburgers this month. Can't just let those build up, you know?" 

Amber watched her disappear, uncertain what she would find if she looked at Krystal. "Speaking of cheeseburgers, you want to grab something to eat on the way home?” She asked, fiddling with the hem of her shirt. 

Krystal made a noncommittal noise in the back of and stalked to the mat area to finish cooling down and Amber’s shoulders sagged. She hated that Emily was right. The friendship they shared had ended a long time ago. It had changed the moment Amber started hiding things from Krystal; her relationships, her feelings, and her uality.

She won’t care. She won’t leave. And maybe…just maybe…she’ll like you back. 

Gathering her courage, she approached the other girl, catching her eyes in the mirror. 

“I want to talk to you about something.” Krystal paused to focus on her. Amber cleared . “Later tonight? Maybe see a movie, have some dinner?” She realized that kind of sounded like a date, but friends did that sort of stuff all the time. She tried to pretend she wasn’t nervous as she offered, “Maybe you can pick out my outfit?” 

Krystal leaned her head back to look up at Amber and her lips tilted up a bit at the corners. “And you’ll pick out mine?” 

She usually wore jeans and t-shirts when they hung out together, so it shouldn’t be that difficult. Amber shrugged. “Alright.” 

“And do my makeup?”

“Why did this suddenly become a punishment?” Amber rebelled. 

Krystal raised an eyebrow at her. “I’ll do your hair.” 

“Like that’s some sort of reward?”  

Krystal lithely rose to her feet making Amber’s breath catch once they were eye to eye. Her delicate lashes fanned across her cheeks, rosy from her workout. “More of a reward for me since I’m the one who’ll have to look at you across the dinner table.” 

“Oof, you’re a real sometimes.” 

She tried to pretend the punch to her shoulder didn’t hurt a little. 

“Why has your friend Emily been staring at us since she got in here?” Krystal asked, glancing around Amber.  

“She’s weird. I don’t know,” Amber blinked over her shoulder at the girl in question and caught her pretending to study her nails. “And annoying,” she grumbled. Let me do this my own way, pleease?

“It’s not anything else?” There was a small line between Krystal’s brows, signaling the downward spiral of her good mood, something Amber had been seeing with she was with her more and more lately. 

“Like what?!” Amber asked, her brows darting toward her hairline as she focused back on the girl in front of her. There was a small line between Krystal’s brows, signaling the downward spiral of her good mood, something Amber had been seeing with she was with her more and more lately. 

“Is she like, into you or something?” 

Amber’s eyes got so wide they looked like they’d pop out of her face. “Emily?! Into me?!”

Krystal hitched her shoulder and just waited, her foot bouncing on the mat. 

“No. No way. Never!” 

“Protesting a bit much?” 

“Krys, what-“

Krystal turned away from her, flipping her hair. “Let’s just get going huh? The gym is starting to fill up. I want to get some rest before we head to the theater. We should probably figure out what we’re going to watch too.” 

The mood in the car was strained on the way back to Amber’s apartment. She wanted to know what was going through Krystal’s head as she scrolled through her phone, clicking in and out of movie trailers, but was too nervous to ask. Did she guess? Did she know? 

Her sweaty palms slipped on the steering wheel so she gripped it tighter in her hands. 

Get yourself together. Say something. DO something.

“Uhm…Krys?” 

“What?” It had a bit of a snap to it, but at least she’d answered. 

“Me and Emily are just friends. I promise.”

A heavy sigh. “I don’t care.” 

“Krys?” 

Krystal turned her head toward Amber so hard she thought she heard her neck click. “Whenever people say ‘just friends’,” she mocked with air quotes. “It means there’s a possibility of something else.” 

“What?” Amber laughed a little.

“You don’t say that if you’re really friends with someone. If there’s no possibility of a romantic relationship. The ‘just’ isn’t necessary because you’re not trying to reassure anyone of anything.” 

Amber’s head spun. “Wait. No. I just didn’t want you to think-“ 

“You’re attracted to her!”

Amber’s face flushed. “N-no. No!” She glanced over at Krystal, surprised to see tears spring to the corners of her eyes. 

“You’re attracted to her. You’re attracted to women and you’ve been keeping it from me this entire time!”

Nothing was going to way it was supposed to. “Wait. Just wait, Krys. And listen, please.” She turned into the parking garage of her apartment building and hurried out of the car after Krystal who’d jumped out the minute the car slowed down. 

She took hold of her elbow, but Krystal was having none of it. She snatched her arm away and rounded on Amber. “How could you keep something like that from me?”

“I didn’t think-“ 

“There was this little kernel in my mind over the years,” Krystal said, pressing pinched fingers to her temple, “that some of your friends weren’t ‘just friends’. And I’m right, aren’t I? You’ve been dating and lying and pretending and-“ she ran a hand over her hair, then grasped the end of her ponytail, pulling it across the lower half of her face. “Are we even friends?” 

“Yes! Yes, of course.” 

“Then why didn’t you tell me? Why-“ she shook her head. “I wouldn’t have hated you, you know?”

“I know that. I-“ Amber glanced around. “It’s stupid.” 

“Tell me, Am. Talk to me. Be honest with me. Please?” 

Amber scuffed the toes of her shoes on the concrete of the garage and focused on her shoelaces. “I didn’t want you to think…that I had feelings for you.” 

Krystal scoffed, then laughed a little. “I’m not one of those arrogant people who think every gay friend I have is in love with me.” 

“Bi…and…” she dared to meet Krystal’s eyes. “I am.”