My Wish for You (25 page)

“Hey,” I said,
sliding up to him. He looked down at me and completely skipped over greetings.

“Wow.”

“What?”

“It’s just…I
never usually see you dressed up like this. You look really good.”

“So, you’re
saying I don’t look good when I’m not dressed up?” I asked, pretending to be
offended.

“No, no, no.
That’s not it at all, Sammy. I love the way you look all the time, even when
you’re in sweats and some old ratty t-shirt…especially in sweats and an old
t-shirt.”

Blushing, I
smiled. He pulled me in closer so my face was a few inches from his.

“I love you just
the way you are.”

“I love you too.”

He leaned down
and kissed me softly. My brother coughed loudly.

“Come on guys.
Could you not get all gross on us tonight?”

I looked at him
with my eyebrow raised. It was obvious that he was joking; he had his arm
wrapped around Alisha and a smirk on his face.

“Fine,” I said,
laughing at him. “We’ll take our grossness somewhere else.”

I grabbed Sean’s
hand and started towards the dance floor.

“Where are we
going?” he asked.

“To go dance.”

“Uh…do I have
to?”

“Sean! Come on.
You never dance with me,” I protested.

“That’s not
true,” he denied.

“When was the
last time we danced together?”

“I danced with
you at that one dance.”

“The dance that
was my freshman year?”

“Yeah…,” he
trailed off, seeing that he was going to lose this battle. I shot him a look. “Okay.
I don’t dance.”

“I know for a
fact that that is a lie.”

He didn’t
respond.

“Why are you
being so anti-dancing?” I asked him, whining slightly.

He glanced away
and I followed his gaze to where Tasha was standing with his sister. I knew he
was remembering the dance I had mentioned when she came up to us while we were
dancing. She had let both of us know who he belonged to. After that, I never
even saw him dance with another girl.

“Is it because
of Tasha?”

“What? No.”

“And we have
nothing to hide?”

“Of course not,”
he replied, looking down at me.

“Then Sean?”

“Yeah Sam?”

“Let’s dance.”

Not letting him
protest, I pulled him towards the makeshift dance club. The lights were dimmed
and there were strobe lights flashing all over the room. The music was going so
loud you could feel the beat through the floor.

Once we were in
a position where we could dance, I pulled Sean close to me, wrapped my arms
around his neck, and started dancing. At first, he was reluctant, but then got
over it and started dancing with me. I glanced to the left and saw Tasha standing
in a corner with Cassie.

She glanced away
from Cassie and caught my eye. I smiled at her, wiggling my fingers in her
direction. Glaring at me, she stormed off in the opposite direction.

“What are you
smiling at?” Sean asked me.

“Nothing,” I
smirked. “I’m just happy.”

“Yeah. Sure,” he
said, not believing me, but he left it at that, enjoying the moment. We danced
for a while until it got too crowded in the room and we could barely move. Once
that happened, we made our way off the dance floor and to the other side of the
room, where we found Brian and Alisha.

“Man, I forgot
that you could dance.”

“Yeah. You seem
to forget a lot,” I teased sarcastically.

He laughed at
me, kissing the top of my head.

“I’m gonna go
get a drink. You want anything?”

“No. I’m okay.”

“Alright. I’ll
be right back.”

I made my way
through the crowd towards the kitchen, where I found Cara in line.

“Hey. How’s your
night?”

“It’s been
pretty good. There are some interesting guys here.”

I laughed at
her. “That’s good.”

“Yeah, but I think
I’m just going to hang out with you guys for the night. I’m kind of over it.
You know?”

“Yeah. Well that’s
good.” I smiled at her. “We miss you when you’re off being a social butterfly.”

“I know. I can’t
help it though. It’s in my genes,” she laughed.

We made our way
through the line and were heading out the doorway. I could see Sean across the
room, smiling at me. I returned the smile when someone behind me addressed me.

“You have to
know I’ll get him back.”

I stopped dead
in my tracks. Sean must have seen her or my face. He knew something was up and
started making his way towards us quickly. Cara turned around before I did.

“Excuse me?” she
said as I turned around.

Tasha didn’t
even look at her. She stared at me, a smug expression on her face.

“Sean,” she
clarified. “I’ll get him back, if it’s the last thing I do. It won’t be hard.
He and I were meant to be together. Why would he want to be with someone like
you
?”

I saw red. Who
did this crazy psycho think she was?

“What’s going
on?” Sean asked, coming up behind me.

“Hold this for
me please, baby,” I said, calmly handing him my cup.

“Sure, why?”

Before he had
even finished his sentence, I had turned back around, brought my right fist
back and swung as hard as I could. In one fluid motion, I connected solidly
with Tasha’s nose. Everyone turned to look at us as she stumbled backwards,
falling to the ground.

“You bitch!” she
groaned from behind her hands. “You broke my nose!”

“It’ll be an
improvement,” Cara remarked snidely from the sidelines.

“Take it as a
warning Tasha. Stay away from me. And stay away from
my
boyfriend.”

I turned back
around to Sean, who had shock covering his face, and grabbed my cup, taking a
drink.

Chapter Thirty-Two

“Man, you’re so
much more fun to have around than Tasha ever was.”

“Thanks,” I
said, not really paying attention anymore. Jonathon had seen the scene across
the room, along with my brother. Quickly, they had joined us, and in their
shock, no one could seem to just let it go.

“Seriously, I
don’t think I’ve ever seen you like that,” Cara said.

“Yeah…,” I
replied. Sean noticed my growing irritation with our friends and wrapped his
arm around me, leaning his head down to whisper in my ear.

“You want to get
out of here?”

“Desperately,” I
pleaded, loud enough for him to hear me.

“Alright,” he
said kissing my cheek. “Okay guys, Sammy and I are gonna head out.”

“Aw,” they all
groaned. “Take the fun away.”

“Yeah, yeah. I
know.”

“Don’t let her
hit anyone else,” my brother told him, and I rolled my eyes.

“You keep it up
and I’m gonna hit you next.”

“Oh, I’m so
scared,” he replied sarcastically. “You’re what, ninety-five pounds soaking
wet?”

“Ninety-six,
thank you very much.”

Brian snorted as
Sean and I made our departure.

Quietly, we
walked down to the lake. As we walked, I tried to forget about the Tasha
incident. I finally felt vindicated. Hopefully, she would take the hint and
stay away.

I glanced up at
Sean, who was still being completely silent. The fact that he was holding my
hand was the only thing that even kept me aware of his presence. There was a
smirk across his face that took me off guard.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing,” he
said, smiling at me.

“Yeah, okay,” I
allowed, not believing him. We continued to walk in silence until he snickered
again.

“What?!” I asked
again, stopping in my tracks.

“Nothing.
Nothing,” he tried to assure me. “I promise.”

“Alright.” I
hesitated, still not fully convinced. He pulled me into him and gave me a kiss.
I leaned into him and smiled, putting my hands on his shoulders. We were
kissing for about three seconds when he started laughing hysterically. I pulled
away from him.

“What
are
you laughing at?!”

“I just, I can’t…I…!”

“Sean!”

“I just keep
replaying it in my mind. You should have seen the look on her face when she
realized that you were swinging at her, when she realized it was two seconds
too late. It was… it was priceless!”

I stared at him
blankly until he stopped laughing.

“Are you
finished?”

“Yes,” he tried
to answer soberly.

“Good. Now, can
we please just forget that it even happened?”

“Yes, of course,”
he agreed quickly.

“Thank you,” I
smiled and went to kiss him again. I was only about an inch from his face when
he started laughing uncontrollably again. Frustrated, I threw my arms up in the
air and started to walk away.

“You’re ridiculous!”
I exclaimed, trying not to laugh as I headed in the opposite direction.

“Sam. Wait! I’m
sorry! I’ll be good. No more laughing, I promise!”

“Nope. You lost
your chance, buddy.”

“Ha!” he said,
grabbing me by the waist and picking me up, “That’s what you think!”

“Hey! Put me
down!”

“What are you
going to do? Hit me?”

At that
statement, I lost my composure and joined him in his laughter.

“It was pretty
funny, wasn’t it?”

“It was
hilarious.” He sat me down and we continued walking towards the dock.

“Are you nervous
about school?” he asked me, breaking the silence.

“Yeah, I guess.
A little.”

“You know, you
don’t need to be.”

We were at the
edge of the dock and Sean wrapped his arms around my waist.

“Oh yeah?” I
asked. “Why’s that?”

“I’ll be with
you every step of the way. Your own personal college guide,” he grinned at me.

“You promise? I
am going to hold you to that. You know my sense of direction.” I raised my
eyebrows at him.

“I promise. I
feel like I might be taking on a full time job, though.”

“You will be,” I
confirmed, laying my head on his chest, laughing. He made me feel so safe. I
was savoring the moment, staring at the sky, when I saw a spark flash across
it.

“Did you see
that?” I asked Sean, lifting my head up.

“The shooting
star? Yeah.”

“Did you make a
wish?”

“Why?” he asked,
looking down into my eyes, “I already have everything I’ve ever wished for.”

He gave me a
look that let me know he meant me. Beaming, I stretched up on my toes to reach
him and he leaned down to kiss me softly. I kissed him back, wrapping my arms
around his neck, anchoring myself to him, where I intended to stay for a long
time to come. Fireworks started going off all around the lake, illuminating
everything in dazzling colors. Pulling back, I pressed my forehead to his, nuzzling
his nose with mine.

“I love you
Sean.”

“I love you too
Samantha.”

With the
fireworks blasting around us, we smiled at each other and went back to kissing,
looking forward to the adventures that lay ahead of us.

***

The next morning
was the last minute chaos that it always was on the last day. Everyone was
scrambling to find their missing items, trying to get their things packed in
their bags the way they had when they packed in the first place, even though
they never would. “Where’s my charger?” or “Has anyone seen my brush?” could be
heard all around the house as everyone scrambled to get their searching done
before breakfast. While on a search for a pair of my sandals, I found my mom
sitting on the porch with a cup of coffee.

“Hey Mom,” I
said cheerfully, sliding into the chair beside her.

“Hey baby.”

“What are you
doing out here? Did you already get all your packing done?”

“Yeah. I
finished it last night. I’m just taking a moment to think about things.”

“Oh. Did you
talk to Charles last night?”

“Yeah, he
called. We discussed the terms of our divorce. He’s having his lawyer write up
the papers.”

“He’s what?”

“He wants a
divorce.”

“
He
wants
to divorce
you
? Wow. What an ass.”

“It’s alright
sweetheart. We both saw it coming a long time ago. I was just thinking about
all of the good times we had here…the good summers. My wish for you is that you’ll
find someone that treats you right, and that you’ll never settle for less. You
deserve more than that Samantha. You seem to be doing a good job of that with
Sean.”

I blushed. “Yeah,
I think so too.”

“I know you do.
Now, let’s go eat. I smell some bacon and it’s making me hungry.”

Laughing, we
stood up to make our way inside.

“Mom?”

“Yeah Sam?”

Surprising her,
I walked up to her and wrapped my arms around her.

“I love you.”

“I love you too,
sweetheart.”

An hour and a
half later, after an amazing breakfast, we were all fed and ready to go. We
carried our bags out to the cars, loaded the quads into the truck, and locked
everything up. We stood outside of the cabin for a short moment, each of us
taking in our own summer. It had been a summer of changes, that was for sure.
Some of them were good, some of them, not so much. In the end though, things
would turn out okay.

Brian, Sarah,
Sean, and I said our goodbyes to our parents and made our way over to the
truck. Sean followed me to the passenger side, where he lifted me into the
seat, giving me a quick kiss.

“I don’t see why
she gets to sit in the front. Bros before hoes, man,” my brother complained
from the back seat.

“Did you really
just call me a hoe?” I asked, turning around to face him, appalled.

“For lack of a
better term, yes, yes I did. It’s just an expression.”

Knowing he was
joking, I rolled my eyes at him.

“Sam is Sean’s
girlfriend now. Didn’t you know that means she gets all the preferred seating?”