Never Really Meant It When We Said 'Goodbye'

Morning After

The next morning came with the memories of the night before, as well as the realization of what happened the night before. It didn't exactly help Tara out either when she realized that she was wrapped up in Amber's arms, on the couch of the ravenette's apartment, where her daughter and her partner were in the other rooms. A bit of panic flushed through her body as she carefully unwrapped herself from Amber's hold and reached for her phone. Luckily, it was still only six in the morning and it was unlikely that anyone other than her was awake, but she knew that she couldn't stay here and wait around for someone to wake up and see her. She sat up, phone in her hands, and looked back at a sleeping Amber, who was so peaceful that Tara smiled a little. She missed seeing the raven head like this, and although she couldn't predict the future, she was glad that she got the chance to experience this moment once again.

She leaned over to place a kiss on the woman's forehead, grabbed her shoes that were by the couch and her keys, and carefully slipped out of the apartment, being so careful with closing the door as to not give anything away. The streets were barely awake, with only a few cars driving by, and just a few people on the sidewalks, either out on their morning run, or walking their dogs. Tara put her shoes on only when she reached the end of the stairs, again, careful to not wake anyone up, and once done with that, walked over to her car. There was no way she would make it to her house to change and take a shower before work, so her best option was to drive to the station right away. It wasn't going to be the most ideal or convenient thing, but if she wanted to make it to roll call in time, that was the only way to go. Besides, she'd be in her uniform for the majority of the day, so it really didn't matter much.

As she waited for her car to warm up, she decided to send Amber a quick text to read when the woman finally woke up. Leaving without saying anything wasn't really Tara's style, and although they both ended up in Amber's apartment after they were done with their endeavors, a text explaining why Tara left without saying anything was better than nothing.

Tara:
hi, good morning! so, i guess we somehow ended up in your apartment together last night?? unsure as to why we decided that was the best option given your daughter and your friend being there, but it is what it is lol. anyway, i just wanted to let you know that i left without waking you up because 1) i didn't want to wake you up and 2) i figured it would be best to avoid possibly getting into a real awkward situation if either Jade or Maddie woke up and saw us tgthr. hope you slept good and we'll talk later. have a great day!

Tara sent the text and sat in her car, starring at her text thread with Amber for a bit.
"What the fuck?" She said to herself as she tried to wrap her mind around what happened last night. She knew very well that this is how her morning was going to go, but she wasn't sure how to wrap her mind around it. Last night was all over the place, and although it was confusing and a bit weird, she couldn't exactly say she regretted it. Sure, in the beginning of the night she was wrapped up in Mia's arms, and by the end of it, her and Amber ended up falling asleep together in the woman's apartment post having sex, but Tara would be lying if she said she regretted it. There was no way to know how things would play out next, and yeah it was a very dangerous game and a very stupid thing to do, but so what? It happened and there was no taking it back or changing it.

Tara started driving as soon as her car was ready to go, and on the entire way to the station, she was in a mental debate with herself over whether or not she should talk to someone about it. Talking with Amber herself was still up in the air, as she had no way of knowing what the other woman felt. Mindy and the rest of the friend group were a no go, as they would very much slap her across the face for making the choice she made without fully thinking it through and while she was seeing someone, even if it was not entirely exclusive. Mia was absolutely not an option. The only person Tara could talk to this about was her sister, but then there also was no telling of how the older Carpenter was going to react. It would be best to talk about this with someone, but with who, Tara didn't know yet. Holy fuck did she get herself into quite the situation.