Chapter 2 ~ Life Without Him.

Sam opened her eyes slightly and tried to shake her grogginess and figure out what woke her. Seconds later her answer came in the form of a knock.

She sat up and called "Come in." Her voice was still tinged with sleep.

Her door opened and in walked Jed, he was smiling at her like he always did. He shut her door and raised an eyebrow. "You been sleeping?"

She snorted and fell back into her pillow, "What do you want?"

"nothing" he said sitting at the end of her bed, "just seeing how you're doing."

"Well, I'm pretty sure you can guess." She said sarcasm dripping from her voice. This only made him smile more. "Why in the world are you smiling?" She asked anger rising.

He dropped the smile and picked up an exaggerated frown. This was typical Jed.

"JED!" She said burring her face in the pillow so he couldn't see her smile.

He laughed, "I made you smile didn't i?" He said, a now conceited smile glued to his face.

"no." she replied weakly. No matter what she did, no matter what had happened Jed always made her smile, it was frickin irritating. "Jed you're such a loser."

"I know." was all he said.

She sat up and looked him in the eye. "I miss him."

He nodded, understanding immediatly she was talking about her father, "me too." He said more for her benefit than for and expression of feeling.

There was an awkward silence and then Sam asked. "Your dad home from work?"

Jed rolled his eyes, and shook his head. "Nope."

She looked down at her hands. "What are my bros doing?"

"uh... Kyle is hunting with Calvin and Tom is with Jessica."

Sam nodded. And layed back down. "Well I'm going back to sleep."

"Sam." He said voice stern.

She sighed, "Yes Jed."

"You can't sleep away your problems you have to face them." He said voice serious and face straight.

"I'm not trying to." She mumbled.

"lying to yourself doesn't help either." He said with no stray emotion clinging to his words.

She sat up and looked at him. "Jed... Jed, I..." Suddenly she realized he was right, she didn't want to feel the pain so she'd rather be asleep. I'm pathetic. She thought. She thought for the millionth time that day about her dad and stood. What would he say? What would he say? This was the last straw for Samantha. She felt tears well up in her eyes but refused to let them fall. No more tears, She told herself, you're being stupid. Calm down and grow up. She took a deep breath and turned to Jed. "um," her voice shook, "I'm hungry." She turned and made for her bedroom door but Jed caught her arm.

"Sam, are you okay?" He said as she turned to look at him.

Then she lost it. She cried. Jed pulled her into his arms and she cried into his chest. "What's wrong?" He asked, looking down at her on his chest.

"I'm what's wrong. It's stupid to cry. It doesn't help anything and yet I can't ever seem to stop myself. Ugh, I'm so pathetic." She said standing up out of his arms and looking down and away from him.

He gripped her shoulders, and told her. "Sam there's nothing wrong with crying. It's normal, it helps process your grief. In fact it's healthy. So cry if you feel like crying, I'll be here no matter what."     **Author to reviewer, is this too sappy? Would a guy actually say that? I don't know....

She took a deep breath, then another. "Okay, thanks."

He let go of her shoulders and watched as she hid the pain behind a wide-eyed smile. He shook his head and smirked. "Are you really hungry or were you just saying that to make me hungry?"

She rolled her eyes, "I can't make you hungry because you always ARE hungry. Let's go see what Tom and Jess are doing."

He gave her a sly smile, "That could be a bad idea."

She looked confused for a moment then understood and scoffed. "You are disgusting." She said, punching his arm.

He chuckled, "You know it's true."

She rolled her eyes. "Don't make me hit you again." She said walking out of the bedroom.

He shrugged and followed. "It's not like it hurt. Have you heard? I got taller. An inch. I am now officially 6'4"."

She scoffed again, "Are you bragging?"

"No just informing. But a shrimp like you would think I'm bragging wouldn't you? I think you're jealous." He taunted.

She flipped around. "First of all I am not a shrimp, I am 5'7" which is tall for a girl, no matter who you are. Second, Why the heck would I be jealous of your height? Do you think I want to be 6'4"? hm? I would be a freak of nature as are you!" She smiled smugly.

"Well girls like tall guys." He stated as she stopped in front of the guest bedroom that held Tom and Jess.

"No girl could get close enough to you to see that you're tall before your stench drove her away." Sam said looking up at him as she knocked.

"you're still here aren't you?"

"I lost my sense of smell long before I met you. So I'm safe."

"Who is it?" A voice, Tom's, came from behind the door.

"Sam and Jed." Sam called back.

"I'm busy at the moment. I'll be out in a minute." Tom called back.

They left the door and went down the stairs. On their way down Jed said, "told you so."

She rolled her eyes "That is not what they were doing."

"How do you know?" He asked.

"How do you?" She asked.

"Because I'm smarter." He smirked as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

"HA! Don't make me laugh." She said turning to look at him, then stumbling and falling down the last two stairs, she fell on her butt, and caught herself on her elbows.

He looked down at her amused, "I am smarter."

"shut up and help me." She said holding a hand out. He took it and pulled her up with ease.

They waited for a few minutes before Tom tumbled out of his room in his doctor's smock. Tom worked at the hospital and obviously was going to work. He jogged down the stairs with Jessica and her huge belly followed at a much slower pace, Tom walked into the living room where Sam and Jed sat, he caught sight of them and asked, "What did you need?"

Sam looked over, "oh we were hungry, we wanted to see if you guys were too."

"I'm hungry." Jessica called climbing down the stairs, "I kinda want chicken with pickles."

Jed, Sam and Tom all looked at eachother, chicken with pickles?

"uh, hun. You want chicken and pickles?" Tom started

"I know what I said." Jess responded. "I think Jamie want's chicken and pickles too."

Jed and Sam began to laugh uncontrollably. Tom shot them a warning look which only made them laugh harder. Eventually Tom left and Jess took them out to eat. She brought a jar of pickles and ordered chicken.

Reviews

[K8lyn]

Yes i agree about the dialouge. sometimes less is more. they do alot of random chit chat...if you get what i mean.
and i dont think that one part is too sappy. where shes crying? you dont have to say the "ill always be here" thing, if you think its too sappy still.

[Salvatore Buttaci]

I like this chapter too, but try not to overload your writing with too much dialogue. Add some narration. In other words, what is going on while a character speaks? Give readers an image to put in their heads.