Book TRK
Chapter 490
Chapter 0490 Hannah
When Amber called and said she wanted a girls' night, nearly dropped my phone. The last time we had all had a proper girls' night, just us, had been... Well, I actually couldn't remember the last time. Maybe not since Melody had been born.
Of course I said I would go even though it was a Wednesday night. Amber told me to meet her at the usual place and then hung up without a word, leaving me staring at the screen in confusion.
By eight, I'd made it to our usual corner booth. Emma was already there, her hair twisted up in a loose bun, and Viona sat across from her, leaning back with a relaxed smile, her drink already in hand. It felt good to see them outside of our usual routines. Amber, however, was still missing.
"Are we sure she's coming?" Viona asked with a small laugh, glancing at the empty seat next to me. "Or did she just want to make us get dressed up and come out on a Wednesday for the hell of it?"
Emma chuckled as she stirred her drink. "You know Amber. She's probably picking out the perfect shoes." Just then, a familiar hand clapped down on my shoulder, and I didn't even have to turn to know who it was.
"Guess who?" Amber called out, and she laughed as I swatted her hand away. She slid into the booth beside me, setting her Chanel purse down and flipping a lock of hair over her shoulder with an exaggerated sigh. "Amber," Viona teased, "only you would make us wait ten minutes just for some grand entrance or another."
"Oh, please," Amber scoffed, waving her hand dismissively. "I'm just fashionably late."
Her gaze met mine for a second too long before she quickly turned away, signaling for a drink. I narrowed my eyes as I stared at the back of her head. Something was... off. Beneath the mask of lighthearted banter, Amber was hiding something. I was sure of it.
Soon enough, however, the waitress had brought over a round of cocktails, and before I knew it we were all laughing over appetizers and catching up. Viona told us about her recent date with Drake-which had apparently ended in some pretty wild sex, although we all stuffed our fingers into our ears so we didn't have to listen-and Emma filled us in on her recent interview with the Luna Council.
But every now and then, I would catch Amber looking away, lost in thought as her fingers tapped the side of her glass. It was hard to ignore.
Finally, I'd had enough. "Amber, why are we really here? You called us all out on a random weeknight and you're acting weird. What's going on?"
Amber's gaze dropped to her lap, and she let out a small breath before reaching into her purse. She pulled out a piece of paper and set it on the table so we could all see it: a one-way plane ticket/
Emma's eyes widened, and Viona snatched the ticket, her brow furrowing as she examined it.
"One-way?" Viona croaked. "Amber, what the hell is this?"
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Amber's fingers played with the edge of her napkin. "I'm... I'm leaving. For good."
Silence fell over the table. I felt my heart drop, a sudden ache settling in my chest as I searched her face for any hint of a joke, some glimmer of that usual Amber mischief. But it wasn't there. She was dead fucking serious. "You're... leaving?" Emma whispered. "Amber, what's going on?"
Amber's hands tightened around her glass, and she let out a long breath, as if she'd been holding it in for months.
"It's Jake," she said quietly, her voice wavering. "Ever since Marcus brought him up at the engagement party, I haven't been able to get him out of my head. His death... it's been eating away at me. I tried to ignore it, pretend it didn't matter, but... it does. It really does." "Amber, why didn't you tell us? We didn't know you were feeling like this," I remarked.
She looked up, her eyes shining and her lips pressing into a sad smile. "I didn't want to burden anyone with my mess. I thought if I could just keep moving forward, keep pretending everything was fine, I could make it go away. But it's not going away. It's like..."