all hers | tara carpenter x fem!reader

part 8

Wes is acting weird. Weirder than usual.

You've felt it ever since the night of Amber's party. He had always been one of Tara's quieter friends. Shy, almost. But he was sweet, and he'd always had a lot in common with Tara. They both liked those awful, gory horror movies. Video-games. They had the same taste in food and in books. In fact, out of all of Tara's friends, you think you liked Wes the most. He'd been the first to welcome you into the group when you'd started dating Tara, and he always went out of his way to make you feel like you belonged.

But over the past week he'd been acting even stranger.

It had started in the cafeteria on Monday, when you'd arrived late to lunch and climbed into your usual spot in Tara's lap. He'd watched you close as you'd kissed her softly, fed her the last of your grapes. He was just lonely, you figured. He wanted a girlfriend of his own, maybe.

But then Tuesday he'd looked down at your entwined hands in the hall and made a face. Something you couldn't quite place in his expression.

Wednesday he'd left the table the moment you and Tara sat down.

And Thursday he spent the entire biology lesson staring at the back of Tara's head. And something clicked.

"Wes has a crush on you." You tell Tara that night. She's in the kitchen, one hand stirring the potatoes, the other minding the chicken. You'd been thinking about it all afternoon. Stewing about it all afternoon. The idea of him and her made your stomach writhe with hot, wanton jealousy.

Tara looks up at you for a moment. Then, she quirks her eyebrow and snorts.

"It's not funny." You tell her, smacking her arm gently.

"Why on earth would you think that?" She asks. She's amused, you can tell by the sparkle in her eyes. You're not laughing.

"I caught him staring at you today." You say, "All through biology. He couldn't take his eyes off you."

She stirs the chicken, a smile playing on her lips.

"Maybe he was daydreaming." She suggests, a little wry.

"Babe. He wasn't daydreaming. He was staring. He has a crush on you."

Tara puts down her spoon, reaches for you.

"Wes doesn't have a crush on me," Tara assures. She pulls you into her, presses a gentle kiss to your forehead. "He's like my brother. You have nothing to worry about."

She makes her point with a kiss. Strokes the hair out of your eyes.

"It's not you I'm worried about." You mumble. You feel hot, a little tingly. It had been hard for you at first to understand why Tara got so angry when she thought someone liked you. You think you understand it now. Anger burns under your skin. Anger towards him.

"Stop worrying." She kisses you once more. Retracts to go back to her cooking, "Wes is harmless. And he doesn't like me. I've known him forever."

It feels unfair, the way she's allowed to brush this off so easily. Your mind can't help but wander. Dan. Sam. Sadie. Chase. Amber. All with one thing in common.

"If he had a crush on me, you'd have killed him by now." You don't often bring it up, the elephant in the room. It was unspoken between you. Like if you didn't talk about it, it didn't exist.

Tara looks up at you. She isn't smiling anymore.

"That's different." She says, quiet. Your lip twitches.

"How?"

"You know how."

You do know how. She'd explained it, one night when you were entwined and your curiosity had gotten the better of you. The Rage, she'd called it. She described the feeling. Hot, ever-present, like burning bright fury coursing through her veins.