Girl in the White Dress: Sam's Story (12 page)

             
“Ya think?” My phone rang again. It was Danny, of course.

             
“Just answer it, Sam. He’s going to wonder why you’re not answering and think something’s wrong,” she said.             

             
“Something is wrong! I kissed his brother!” I exclaimed.

             
“Technically, his brother kissed you and you left. So you really did nothing wrong.” Ok, she had a point.

             
“Yes, but I enjoyed it and can’t stop thinking about it and that makes me equally guilty.”

             
“I wouldn’t say equally, but you feel guilty for other reasons.” She paused to get a drink from the kitchen. “Just talk to him.”

             
I thought about it for a minute. “Ok, I am not going to tell him because that would hurt his relationship with his brother and I don’t want that to happen. Danny has had a rough time of it and I do not want to be the one that breaks up the only family he really has. I cannot do that. I will just stay away from Tim unless absolutely necessary.”

             
“Ok, but I somehow don’t think this is over.” Boy was she right.              

             
I finally called Danny back that night. I could not avoid him forever. He answered right away. “Hey gorgeous, where ya been?” he asked.

             
“Hey, studying. These professors are trying to kill me.”

             
“I hear ya. So I talked to Tim today,” he said. Oh, crap.

             
Play stupid, Sam. “Oh yeah? How is he?”

             
“Ok. I guess him and Stacy broke up. He said they just didn’t want the same things and it wasn’t fair to continue with the relationship if they didn’t agree on the major things.”

             
“Aw, that’s too bad. She’s a nice girl.” No idea what to say. “So I guess that means our double date is off, huh?”

             
He laughed. “I think so. But we’re still on, right?”

             
“You know it. I can’t wait.” It was true. I could not wait. I just needed a hug and to smell him. His smell was intoxicating. “Actually, what are you doing now?”

             
“Now? Not studying for my Bio test.”

             
“Do you want to come over?” I did not want to wait until tomorrow. I needed to see him now. I needed him to push Tim’s kiss out of my head.

             
“Well, that depends…”

             
“On…?”

             
“Who is home?” Weird, it had never mattered before.

             
“Um, Trinity is at Derek’s and Miranda and Kiley are somewhere. I never know with those two.”

             
“Ok, be there in a few minutes.” That was the best part of living on campus… the boyfriend was literally minutes away at all times.

             
I freshened up a bit in the three minutes I had before he would show up. I glanced around the townhouse, wow we were slobs. Eh, he had seen it messy before. I ran over to my room and looked around. Ok, not too bad, it had definitely been much worse. There was at least sitting room on the bed. I heard a knock just as I was throwing my clothes in the laundry basket to get them off the floor.

             
When I opened the door, Danny was standing there with a bottle of wine. “Hey, handsome.”

             
“Hey,” he gave me a kiss on the cheek as he walked in the door.

             
I pointed to the wine “What’s the occasion?”

             
“Nothing, I just thought it would be nice.” He headed to the fridge to keep it chilled. “I thought it would go nice with your Oreos. Wow, you women need to go food shopping.”

             
“Yeah yeah. This woman also needs to find herself a job. The savings was definitely depleted. It would be great if the internship was paid.”

             
“Yeah tell me about it. If I didn’t work in Student Services I’d be screwed.” He was rummaging around the kitchen. “Don’t you have any wine glasses?”

             
I thought for a moment. “Yeah, they should be in the cabinet above the fridge. Generally, we buy boxed wine and it’s ok to drink that out of a plastic cup.”

             
“Classy,” he joked.

             
“Hey, what can I say?” I took the wine back out of the fridge and took the glasses he had gotten out of the cabinet. “Um, small problem.”

             
“What’s that?”

             
“I don’t suppose you have a corkscrew?”

             
“Shoot, really?” He looked at the bottle. “You don’t have one?” he asked.

             
“Danny, boxed wine. No bottle, no cork. And Captain Morgan is a screw top.”

             
“Ok then… umm…” He looked around for something to open it with.

             
“Why don’t we save it for next time?” I suggested. “I’ll buy a corkscrew.” I put it back in the fridge. “In the meantime, how about some nice boxed white zinfandel?”

             
He laughed. “I guess we really don’t have a choice, short of breaking the top. And I don’t know about you but I don’t want to drink glass.”

             
“I think I’ll have to pass on that one tonight. Thanks, though.” I poured the boxed wine into the real wine glasses. “I don’t know if this is going to taste good not being in a plastic cup,” I joked.

             
He just shook his head. (I know, I was a geek.)

             
“So why did you ask if anyone was home?” I thought it was a strange question.

             
He blushed. Hmmm… “Maybe because I wanted you all to myself tonight,” he said.

             
“Oh really?” I moved closer to him. “Why’s that?”

             
“So, I can do this as much as I want,” he kissed me and the rest of the night was a blur. Tim who?

             
Danny and I were nearly inseparable during the spring semester. We did hang out with Tim a few times and I still saw him every Wednesday. The semester was nearly over; we just had finals to get through, and Danny and I were going strong. I tried to avoid Tim like the plague at school, which was hard because he had been a good friend and I missed talking to him. This summer I was staying at school again. There were so many classes I needed to take and I did not want to take twenty years to graduate. Danny was moving in with Tim when the semester ended and I would probably not get away with avoiding him much longer.

             
Sure enough that night when I went over to help Danny pack, Tim was there, looking gorgeous as always. Obviously my efforts to stay away from him had done me no good if it all comes rushing back the moment I see him. Argh!

             
“Hey, babe,” Danny said. When I walked in Tim waved and looked away. We really had not talked about anything important since that day he kissed me. When Danny and I were around him, the conversation was limited to small talk.

             
“Hey, boys,” I looked around at the boxes. “Looks like you guys are almost done.”

             
“Yeah, just need to pack up my clothes and I’m good to go.” Dorms did not really allow for much stuff because of the lack of room, so he really only had about six or seven boxes. It would only require one trip in Tim’s F150.

             
“Alright then,” I grabbed a box labeled sheets and headed to the door. (Yes, I purposely grabbed that one. Pots and pans were super heavy.) “Let’s get this show on the road.” I had hoped to get away from Tim as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, as usual, fate was against me.

             
“I’ll meet you guys at the truck in a sec. I’m just going to throw my clothes in a tote,” Danny informed us.

             
“Ok.” Tim took a box and we went down to his truck. Of course, as I expected, he brought up the kiss.

             
“Tim, I don’t want to talk about it.”

             
“I just want to apologize. I was an ass.” I could not disagree.

             
“Yes, you were,” I told him.

             
“Can we just forget it happened? I miss our friendship. I know you have been avoiding me. I know it’s my fault.”

             
“Completely.” He looked so sad. I was such a glutton for punishment. The smart thing to do would be to stop talking to him all together. However, no one said I was smart. “Ok, fine. Starting over. But no more funny business.”             

             
“Deal.”

If only…

              Finals week was brutal. Morning exams were bad enough, never mind four-hour ones. Damn English Lit. I had to help Trinity pack her stuff when I got back. She was moving in with Derek permanently. I was happy for her, but sad she would not be my roommate anymore. At least Miranda and Kiley were not bailing on me yet.

             
I got a job in Student Services so at least I had some semblance of income for the summer. Buying groceries was a tad important and as adorable as my smile was, I did not think it would pay the bills.

             
I was taking four classes this summer and, yes, I was nuts. Some might call it ambitious, but I was realistic. I was crazy in the head.

             
Tonight, I was going to Danny and Tim’s apartment to hang out. I kept thinking about what Tim said about starting over. I could not get the kiss out of my head, though. I know I was the rational one that stopped it… but it left an impression. It was incredible. So so wrong, but amazing. As hard as I tried, I could not deny I definitely still had feelings for Tim and knowing that he harbored feelings for me, as well, did not make that any better.

             
When I got to the apartment, Tim was not there. He had to run to the store to get something to make for dinner. For Danny to make, I should say, since Tim could not cook to save his life from what they told me. I was not sure what the plans were for the night but I was hoping alcohol would be involved somehow.

             
Danny and I were lounging on the couch watching a Friends rerun when we heard voices at the door. I instantly knew the second voice and jealously crept over me.

             
“Hi, Stacy.” What the hell?

             
“Hey, Sam,” she said awkwardly.

             
Tim avoided my gaze. “I ran into Stacy at the store and invited her over.”

             
“Hey, the more the merrier, right?” Danny chimed in. “Now we have enough people for some Cranium.”

I moaned. Danny and his stupid board games. My attention was not going to
be focused on a game, anyway. Stacy and Tim had broken up months ago and as far as I knew, they had not talked to each other since. I had not really seen her around Fowler School either, now that I thought about it.

“So, Stacy, how have you been?
I have not seen you around school,” I asked.

“Good. I had a schedule change so I’m at Fowler on Tuesdays instead now.”

Well that would explain it. Ok, I was done with pretending to care. “Who wants a beer?” I raided the fridge and found some Sam Adams. Score.

Several Sam Adams later, I was feeling good. Probably too good because while Danny and Stacy had headed down the street to get a movie, I ventured into the living room and plopped myself next to Tim. “
Soooo? Stacy again, eh?”

He shrugged. “Maybe. What does it matter to you?” he sounded a bit gruff.
Nevertheless, he had a good point. What did it matter to me? It should not matter… but of course, it did.

“Um,” I hesitated. “I guess it doesn’t.”

              He moved closer. “You guess? Or it definitely doesn’t matter?” By now, he was practically in my lap and I was not backing away.

             
“They will be back any minute,” I said. At least I could still speak. Breathing, on the other hand, was getting more difficult by the second.

             
“Uh huh, and?” So close… I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. He smelled just as amazing as Danny did. My head was telling me to move, but every bone in my body was frozen.

             
After what seemed like an eternity, we heard the door. I jumped back about twenty feet and tried to compose myself. I could not keep doing this to myself… or to Danny.