Part 1 - Chapter 10 (1/1)

After that, we could all tell that Amber needed her space, so we left her in her room to do some thinking, while we all joined hands and squealed, and skipped around the living room. Seriously, Kris was definitely more of a jerk than Henry- but he was also willing to put everything on the line to win Amber over – you know, before he was moving across the country (which meant that Henry wasn't really risking anything). But we also knew Amber would need some time to process this – and trying to force her into a decision was only going to make her run away from it. So we let her barricade herself away in her room for the next few days, coming out only for showers and basic sustenance, as first Luna, and then Sulli, and then Victoria headed off for winter break. I was busy enjoying my new found lifestyle of idle leisure – chilling on the couch with a trashy novel, chocolate milk, and some crunchy, high-sodium snack foods. I was all packed and set to leave later that day, and was a bit worried about leaving Amber here all by herself when she suddenly emerged from her room with her guitar-case and a small bag – not the kind you packed for a long trip home – the kind you packed as your airplane carry-on bag. It immediately set my alarm bells off. Especially, since she seemed, of all things, rather serene. “Hey,” she said, sticking her hands in her pockets, “you're getting back here before school starts, right?” “Yeah, I'm coming back the day before New Year's Eve.” “Can you do me a favor?” “Depends on the favor.” She held out a plain white envelope, “It's all in here. Just don't open it until I leave, k?” I was even more alarmed now, but her quiet laughter set me a bit more at ease. “Don't worry, princess.” She ruffled my hair, “I'll be back from Boston on the 2nd. Everything's gonna be fine, I promise. Trust me this time.” I glared at her, but nodded. Once she left, I rushed to the window – but I'm pretty sure it was just her sister, picking her up. I hurried back to where I had set the envelope down, and ripped it open: Krystal, Thanks for doing this for me. You know you're my favorite roommate, right? Ignore Luna and Sulli and Victoria if they say they I told them they were my favorite. I was lying to them, kekeke. I don't want to worry you by leaving in the 9th inning, but you're the one who reminded me that I still have loose ends to tie up. What would I do without you? Thanks for being my guiding star. Anyway, if you could obtain the following things for me by January 2nd, I would appreciate it. I'll pay you back. If you have questions, ask Kai and Sehun – they already know what they're supposed to do.  100 pink helium balloonsRose petalsA drummerThree trombone playersTwo trumpet playersA stepstoolIf possible, Andre Ethier, but I know that might be hard. Thanks again, Princess! Love, your favorite roommate (don't even lie, I know it), Amber. I called Luna, Sulli, and Victoria immediately – this news was way too good not to share. Plus, I probably was going to need their help if I was going to put this all together.  Somehow I managed to enjoy my family vacation, although I was a little too distracted to enjoy the beach or my presents appropriately. Kai and I celebrated New Year's Eve together, to mark the brief couple weeks between being his TA in Biology 101, and being his TA in Biology 102. He tried to switch sections, but the freshman core classes always have notoriously long waiting lists. We'd be fine, I was sure. And soon enough, all the preparations were complete, and it was January 2. In the moment, I was incredibly jealous of Xiumin, who was the one tasked with getting Kris down to the quad at the appointed time. I had an excellent birds-eye view from a third floor classroom window, coordinating via the use of a roughly 5-way call. Unbeknownst to Amber, I was also videotaping the whole thing, because obviously. However, only Xiumin was there to see the expression on Kris's face when faced with over 100 people in the quad, each carrying a pink balloon, and (since Xiumin had gotten Kris on his mark perfectly), had a bushel of red rose petals drop on him from above. At that, the crowd parted, revealing Amber, with an acoustic guitar. Instead her usual hoodie and boy's athletic shorts attire, she had dressed in her finest – a letterman style jacket over a white t-shirt and black skinny jeans. She strummed a few chords to open the song, and then began to sing “It's not unusual to be loved by anyone...” Yep. For some reason, Amber had chosen to go with Tom Jones to confess her undying love for Kris. I mean, at least it wasn't 'What's up, Pussycat?', right? After a few bars, she went silent, which is when you could hear drumsticks clicking, and Chanyeol's voice clearly shouting above the crowd, “a one, a two, a one two three four!” Then the full band kicked in. Chanyeol was talked into playing drums by Sulli – and once the boys got wind of the whole plan, Lay insisted on playing guitar, as well, while Luna recruited the horn section from her friends in the Music department. Meanwhile, Amber had handed off her guitar to a conveniently placed assistant, and was currently heading up the dancing flashmob – the entire crowd, who simultaneously released their balloons into the sky, had all been organized by Kai and Sehun over break. As the song came to a close, Amber was left standing 10 feet from Kris, as the crowd slowly dispersed (though a lot of them hung around, probably to see what was going to happen next.) I zoomed in on his face, here, because I was pleasantly surprised by how much Kris Wu could blush. She began to speak while walking slowly towards him. “You know you had this coming, right? And honestly, you can be such a tool sometimes. The way you go from, let's hide away and not talk about things to kissing me in front of all my roommates gives me whiplash in the worst way. But I like you. You know that I like you. But what I'm telling you now is that I like you so much. And if we don't at least try, I know I'm going to regret it for the rest of my life. I'm sorry for all the things I did that made it so hard for us up until now. I'm not sorry for the parts where it was actually your fault because you're such a butthole. So...will you be my boyfriend?” Now she was standing right in front of him, and she placed the stepstool someone had handed her at his feet, climbing on top of it until she was a few inches taller than him. Then she put her hands on each side of his face, tilted his head up, and kissed him. Now, we've all speculated on just how much kissing experience Amber has, and she herself has always steadfastly refused to reveal any hint to us. (“A lady doesn't kiss and tell”, she would say, mock-batting her eyelashes at us.) But, whether a veteran or a relative rookie, this was a pretty good kiss. Not like, top 5, all time, but pretty good. And I would know, because I had the video camera set to maximum zoom. I'm planning to play it at their wedding. And pretty much any event where I can cause them embarrassment in the future. Do they have video projection at MLB draft events? I'll have to look into that. As they kiss ended, Kris smirked. “Just remember who said it first.” “Seriously? Are you seriously doing Cutting Edge right now? I knew I should never have let Luna make us watch that movie. I take it back, I hate you. You are the worst person on the planet. Please never speak to me again.” Jokingly, Amber turned around and made to step off the stool, when Kris's hand on her shoulder jerked her back around to face him. I rolled my eyes, because I thought he was going to throw her over his shoulder and run off with her, and ugh, manhandling. Instead, he just held his hand out between them. Amber smiled and intertwined their fingers, and then they walked off into the sunset, hand in hand. Ok, it was actually 2 o'clock on a cloudy afternoon, but you get the picture. Fin, Part 1You guys knew I meant sometime IN the next week, not 'next week', right? :) Thanks for so many nice comments on chapter 9. Everybody loves it when nice things happen, right?So, here's the plan. I have a timeline, and extended notes on un-explored plotlines, things that I meant to happen, and never did, and other details that never worked their way into the story (About 2.5 pages altogether.) I'll probably post those as a bonus chapter/afterword sometime before the weekend, and then if people have like, specific questions, they can leave them, and I'll post the answers (if I have an answer/it's not a spoiler for part 2). Meanwhile, I only have the barest outline of Part 2, so it'll take a bit to really flesh that out and start writing. I can't believe I actually finished this whole section. Thanks for reading!