The "L" Word

 

Chapter Sixteen

I kept my head bowed under the steady stream of lukewarm water, replaying yesterday in my head. The wine had muddled my memories to the point of them having a dream-like quality, so while I showered I tried to separate memory from the crazy dreams I’d had last night.

Movie�"that was a memory. Flying�"definitely a dream. Making out with Sam… that was a memory. Getting drunk was definitely a memory, I knew that much for sure�"I could almost smell and taste the wine when I thought about it.

Sleeping with Sam…

Memory.

I sighed and stepped out of the shower, toweling off methodically, my mind still on yesterday. I remembered becoming completely exhausted afterwards and passing out after chugging the bottle of water rolling around on the floor. I remembered waking up and panicking when I realized I had twenty minutes to get home and I couldn’t find my shirt. I didn’t wake Sam, chickening out at the last second, and raced out of her house like I was on fire.

I still didn’t know what to think. Would she be mad at me? I didn’t see how she could be, considering she started it, but girls were crazy.

I wrapped the towel tightly around my waist and walked back into my room, getting dressed quickly and sinking onto the bed, unsure if I should call her or not. My cell phone rang and I picked it up, flipping it open without glancing to see who it was. “Hello?”

“Hey.” My stomach felt like it turned into lead�"what if Sam started yelling? Why didn’t I check to see who was calling first? “So… yesterday got a little crazy.”

I cleared my throat nervously. “Um, yeah. I guess.”

Sam laughed a little. “Are you alright?”

“You’re not… mad at me?” I bit my lip and hoped for the best, but knowing my luck she was about to blow up at me.

She sighed into the phone, making me hold it away from my ear for a moment. “Hell no! Why would I be mad at you? Oh�"that was your first time, wasn’t it?” she asked suddenly.

“Uh�"“

“Damn. Well… At least it was memorable, right?” she interrupted with a small laugh. I laughed along with her, relieved she wasn’t yelling at me.

I moved mindlessly around the room, picking up random bits of trash as I talked to Sam about different things like school and friends. I heard Brandon moving around in the living room and closed my door in case Sam started talking about yesterday again.

“Aiden, I’m bored as all hell. Let’s do something,” Sam complained.

I thought about it for a second. “I don’t really know what we could do. I could call Matt and Jess and see if they have any ideas, if you want,” I offered. “We’ll all hang out�"forget Ethan. I’ll get Matt to pick up Jess without telling her you’re there, so Ethan can’t get too pissed at Jess if he finds out.”

“Okay,” Sam agreed. “Call me back and let me know what’s going on.”

I called Jess, who didn’t answer, and called Matt, who picked up on the first ring.

“Aiden, what’s up?”

“Hey, Matt. Are you free? Sam and I are looking for something to do, and I figured you might want to hang out as well,” I said, fiddling with a lone sock.

“Aw, man�"I can’t. I’m babysitting my little sister,” Matt groaned. “My parents will freak if I go anywhere with her.” I heard a tinkling crash and a shriek in the background and Matt swore. “I gotta go�"Isabella! Isabella are you�"“ He hung up the phone abruptly and I winced, momentarily relieved I was an only child.

I called Sam back, fiddling with the edge of my shirt. “No one’s able to do anything. Jess didn’t answer and Matt’s babysitting,” I informed her, sighing slightly. I heard the front door slam and Brandon’s truck roared to life, the sound dwindling away to quiet as he drove away. Sam didn’t say anything. “Sam? You there? Is something wrong?”

“Yeah, I’m here,” she answered. “I thought you were going to say something else.”

“Oh. Well… if you want, you could come over. We’ll find something to watch, or we can think of something to do while you’re here,” I offered.

“Your uncle won’t mind?” Sam asked, sounding hopeful.

 “It’s fine,” I answered. “He just left for work. Come over.” She hung up unexpectedly, leaving me to gaze at my phone mutely before realizing Sam was on her way�"crap! I threw all the dirty clothes on the floor into the hamper in my closet and kicked the door closed, snatching up torn bits of paper and throwing them into the metal wastebasket by my computer.

Fifteen minutes later I heard a car door slam, just as I was checking my reflection in the mirror. I hurried to the front door and opened it, letting her inside. She sank onto the couch with a frustrated look on her face, and I closed the door and sat next to her, wondering if I should say anything.

“Is everything alright?” I finally asked after a minute of silence.

Sam jumped slightly and smiled. “Sorry�"I got lost on my way here, and I was just going through the way in my head trying to figure out where I went wrong. I think I turned a few blocks too early,” she answered, stretching languidly.

I nodded, relieved it wasn’t some crisis or another, and sat back comfortably, turning on the TV and flipping through the channels mindlessly, nervously throwing an arm around Sam’s soulders and inwardly sighing with relief when she didn’t shrug it off.

I grabbed some drinks and snacks and we steeled in and started watching part of That 70’s Show, huddling together under a blanket against the house’s annoying chill. Sam shrugged out of her jacket, tossing it to the side next to her purse before wrapping herself up in the blanket, staying close to me to stay warm. She pushed my sleeves up and startled me by wrapping icy-cold fingers around my forearms, chuckling when I jumped.

“Holy crap!” I exclaimed, rubbing my arm briskly to warm it back up. “Is it that cold outside?”

Sam shrugged. “My fingers are always cold,” she answered flippantly. “Besides, it’s fun watching you jump!” She placed a chilly hand on the small of my back, making me yelp and jump away from her.

Sam laughed and reached for my exposed stomach, making me try to move away fast enough. I put a hand behind me to pull myself away and shut my eyes when I realized my hand touched nothing but air.

“Ow!” I rubbed my back gingerly, cracking one eye open to see Sam struggling to keep a serious look on her face as she leaned over to take a look at me, turning off the TV as she bit a smile back.

“Aiden, you all right?” she managed to squeak out before dissolving in a fit of giggles. I glared at her playfully and grabbed her ankle, pulling her off the couch onto the floor next to me. Her bemused expression made me roar with laughter as she sat up and flipped her hair out of her face.

“Sorry,” I choked out. “I just had to!” She glared at me playfully and got back on the couch, wrapping herself up in the entire blanket and sticking her tongue out at me.

I crawled up on the opposite end, grabbed the end of the blanket and pulled hard, expecting it to come easily. I lost my footing on the couch and my legs shot forward, making me fall back harder than I expected and I saw Sam shooting towards me with a startled look on her face.

“OOF!” I exhaled, cracking an eye open to see Sam, still wrapped in most of the blanket, half-lying on me awkwardly. My heartrate sped up as I realized the position we were in, so I swallowed hard and stuttered, “You were s-supposed to let go!”

Sam shrugged easily, seeming unfazed. “Maybe I like it here,” she said, wriggling slightly so that her folded arms were across my chest and her body on mine�"I suddenly felt very aware of her chest on my stomach. My cheeks burned slightly, and she smirked at my tense expression. “Maybe I planned it.”

My palms started to feel clammy, so I folded my arms behind my head, hoping she didn’t notice just how nervous I was. “So, your plan was to knock me off the couch twice?” I said skeptically, hoping my light tone didn’t give away how uneasy I was.

She quirked an eyebrow, pinning me with her brilliantly blue gaze. “Perhaps,” she finally said enigmatically, narrowing her eyes and smirking slowly.

“Right. Thanks,” I said, my gaze darting aroung the room. If only there was something interesting to look at �"Brandon wasn’t much of a decorator.

Sam smiled widely all of a sudden. “Do I make you nervous?” she asked.

Crap. “Sometimes,” I admitted, subconsciously smoothing the back of my hair.

“Aww, “ Sam cooed. “That’s kind of cute. I make you nervous!”

I rolled my eyes as she giggled over what I said and let my head drop to the arm of the couch, giving my underdeveloped abs a much-needed rest. “It’s not like I’m always nervous,” I half-lied, hoping she’d get off the subject�"knowing my luck, Matt would somehow find out and hound me mercilessly for weeks.

“Really?” she questioned archly, disbelief evident in her eyes. “Then prove it.”

That caught me off guard�"how would I prove something like that? “I’ll do that then,” I said, thinking frantically. After a few seconds of silence, Sam sighed heavily and pretended to check her watch, smiling slyly at me.

“It’s okay to be nervous. Just say it,” she teased, digging her fingers into my ribs for a moment as she tried to readjust herself more comfortably.

I pulled her up to me when she moved again, catching her off-guard as I captured her glossed lips in a kiss. I moved to sit up and kissed her again, making her smile.

“How’s that for proving it?” I asked, biting back a smile and getting a faint taste of strawberry along with it. She shrugged, curling up on the opposite end of the couch and looking around disinterestedly.

“It was okay, I guess,” she teased, peeking at me. I raised an eyebrow and leaned over to kiss her again, wrapping my arms around her tightly. I closed my eyes and tried to run my fingers through her hair, pulling my hand away when I remembered her hair was in a ponytail�"knowing my luck, I’d just hurt her or something. She chuckled softly against my lips, kissing me again lightly when I chuckled awkwardly. We kissed again, just as I became dimly aware of the faraway sound of a car engine.

Sam tried to deepen the kiss just as I noticed the sound was getting closer�"Brandon couldn’t be home this early, could he? I pulled away and peeked out of a window, and sure enough, the dirty black Tundra was turning onto the long driveway.

“Brandon’s home,” I said to Sam, hurriedly straightening my shirt and turning the TV back on, shaking the tangles out of my hair. Sam frowned slightly, but stood up and straightened her shirt and fixed her hair.

“I thought you said your uncle just left for work,” she said, folding the blanket. “Will he mind that I’m here?”

I shrugged. “I doubt it. He doesn’t usually mind anything,” I answered, settling on the couch in front of the TV just as the engine cut off. I smiled reassuringly at Sam and added, “I wouldn’t be surprised if Brendan disappeared into his room to sleep when he comes in.”

Sam nodded, still looking unsure. The front door opened with a bang as a gust slammed it against the far wall and Brandon rushed in, forcing the door shut against another strong gust. He stepped into the room and threw his jacket onto an armchair, grinning at us.

“Hey, what are you doing home so soon?” I asked, hoping my tone was neutral enough.

Brandon sighed, the grin disappearing as quickly as it had come. “The manager’s an idiot,” he grumbled. “She told me to come in because the usual cook was sick last night, and when the cook did show up this morning, no one thought to call me!”

“That sucks,” Sam agreed. Brandon looked at her curiously.

“Oh, Brandon, this is Sam�"my girlfriend,” I said, sitting up a little straighter on the lumpy couch. “Sam, this is my uncle Brandon.” They waved politely at each other, and Brandon yawned suddenly, rubbing his eyes with the heel of his palms.

“Sorry I’m not much company�"I’m dog tired,” he said apologetically, going to his bedroom and shutting the door. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” he called through the door.

I raised an eyebrow. “There’s not much he wouldn’t do,” I chuckled to Sam, putting an arm around her again. She shifted against me and reached for the drink I’d gotten her earlier, playing with the tab after opening it almost nervously. “Is something wrong?” I asked, turning to face her better.

She shook her head. “Everything’s fine.” She met my eyes for a second before looking away again, making me suspicious.

“Sam, you can talk to me. I love you,” I reassured her. I saw a weird, panicky look on her face for a second before it became carefully blank, then morphing into a cheesy fake grin. She gave me a hug and stood up, grabbing her jacket and purse.

“It’s been great, but I should get home�"I have homework to finish for tomorrow,” she said, her smile not quite reaching her eyes.

“Oh�"okay, then I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said slowly, trying to figure out what went wrong as I opened the front door for her. She smiled cheesily again and got into her car, waving once as she backed out and sped off.