Exposure • Tamber

Chapter 12: Crossing Lines

"Tara sweetie, are you going to sleep all day?"  Anika was standing in the doorway to Tara's room, the door wide open and a hand on her hip.

"Hmm?" Tara rolled over to face her, "what time is it?" She asked sleepily as she rubbed at her eyes with her palms.

"It's nearly noon!" Anika threw her arms up in the air, "we are leaving for the farmers market in 10 minutes if you want to come!" She called out down the hall as she made her way to the kitchen.

Tara groaned and rolled back over, pressing her face into her pillow.  She had only just gotten home from the greenhouse about two hours ago and was still exhausted. As comfortable as Amber was as a human pillow, between the late night movie and beating the sunrise that morning, she hadn't gotten that much sleep. Luckily it was Sunday and she knew if she got up now, she would be able to take a nap later.

So with as much energy as she could muster, she rolled out of bed and changed clothes before dragging her feet out to the living room.

"She's alive!" Mindy joked as they pulled their raincoat on.

"Oh good!" Anika smiled as she walked in and saw Tara standing with Mindy, "I was afraid you were going to miss the last market day of the season."

"Of course not." Tara said through a yawn, "It's tradition."

"Well you better bundle up, it's been raining all morning." Anika pulled on a pair of gloves before pulling a rain poncho over her large coat.

"Oh she knows." Mindy wiggled their eyebrows at Tara and gave her a knowing grin.

"What was that?" Anika asked as she adjusted her earmuffs.

"Nothing!" Tara answered quickly before Mindy could get a word out. "Let's go before all the good food is gone!" She practically pushed Anika out the door before grabbing her jacket from the hook by the door and following her out, glaring at Mindy on the way.

—

"I don't get it." Mindy tossed a grape in their mouth and kept walking lazily next to Tara while Anika shuffled from table to table to see what everyone was selling.

"What's there to get?" Tara reached over and took a grape from the bunch in Mindy's hand and popped it in her mouth.

Post Halloween farmers market was barely a tradition. They did it Tara's freshman year and decided then to always do it. It was the last day the market ran before closing up for the winter months. Just like last year, Tara and Mindy followed behind as Anika ran about buying flowers and fruit and breads and whatever else she found that looked good.

"You went on a non date-date to the carnival. Then had a movie night sleepover followed by a sunrise adventure and you aren't sure she's into you?" Mindy's eyebrows came together as they threw another grape in their mouth.

Tara just shrugged. The way Mindy explained it sure did make it seem like they were more than just tutor buddies.. But Tara couldn't help but feel nervous and confused about the whole situation. If Amber really did like her like Mindy was saying, why hadn't she made a move yet? It's not like there hadn't been plenty of opportunities. And Amber wasn't the shy type when it came to girls. At least not from what Tara had seen.

"So why haven't you gone for it?" Mindy stopped walking as Anika stopped to haggle over some freshly baked bread.

"Huh." Tara stopped next to them, sticking her hands in her jacket pockets, "good point."

Tara knew she liked Amber, so why hadn't she gone for it? By her logic before, maybe Amber doesn't think Tara is interested.

"If I do and she turns me down, it's going to make tutoring super awkward." It was a lame excuse, and they both knew it.