Reunion (15 page)

“This is for you Savannah.” He handed me a folded note. I hurried off the field back to where my friends were waiting to hug me. They were jumping up and down and hugging me. We went to take our seats. I unfolded the note and it read:

You’re just too good to be true. I can’t take my eyes off of you.

Meet me at the door of the south entrance after the game. Please.

Sam

“Holy shit!” Ella said grabbing the note away from me. “This is from Sam? Sam Reynolds. What the hell Sav. He wants to see you?” Ugh!

“Oh yea he does!” Maddy interrupted. “ He asked her today after 3
^rd
period if she was going to Tyler’s party tonight cause he wanted to get to know her better.”

“Are you kidding me?” Trish asked with eyes wide open.

“Ask her what she said. Ask her what her response was. Go ahead. She’ll tell you.” I told him….” Maddy interrupted me again. “She told him she wasn’t interesting enough to get to know. Can you believe that shit? She is crazy.” She just shook her head. Just then as I looked up from the note., I glanced onto the field and Sam was standing on the sidelines giving me a wink and a devilish grin. I just shook my head and smiled a little. My feet were sweating and my stomach flipped. I think I was in trouble.

We killed the Lansville Lions. The final score was 42 to 7! Sam threw 4 touchdowns and ran for 2. He was a force to be reckoned with. It was time for me to go meet my match. My palms were sweating and my heart raced. The girls were going to wait for me at Lil’s car and we would drive to Tyler’s together.

Without fail and under the glare of the outdoor lighting and against a brick wall stood Sam. Still in his football uniform. He was sweaty, his hair was all disheveled, and he still had the eye black on.

“I didn’t think you’d show up.” He gave me slight smile and I rolled my eyes.

“Well I thought I’d at least give you a chance to redeem yourself after the act you put on today at my locker in front of my friends.”

“Oh that was no act Sassy. That was just Sam.” I chuckled and began to walk away. He ran in front of me.

“Whoa wait, wait. I was just playing. I didn’t mean it.”

I stood there with my arms crossed. The warm October breeze began blowing my hair in front of my face. A strand came across my lips and remained there until Sam reached up ever so gently and pulled it away. I felt his thumb graze my lip and at that precise moment a tingle ran through me like an electrical charge. I tried to hide my shiver from him but he would have had to be blind if he didn’t notice my reaction. The corner of his mouth came up and he jokingly said “ Cold are we?” I shook my head and rolled my eyes.

Some of his team mates crossed our path and yelled to him about getting a move on so they could all go to Tyler’s party.

“Um I’m going to go get showered up and head to the party. Come and find me when you get there.” I tried to play this one as cool as I could without sounding like the total bitch that I always seemed to be around him.

“Me find you? Well why don’t we just see who sees who first when we get there and maybe we can finish this little chit chat… or maybe not.” I half smiled at him.

“Haha. You are something aren’t you Savannah Garrett. You’re right. Let’s just wait and see.” He bent down to grab his helmet in front of my legs and when he did his hand grazed my leg. Accidentally? I used to think yes but now I knew better. He noticed the way I acted when he brushed the hair from my lip. Sam Reynolds knew exactly what he was doing. I shuttered and he made his way up from his bending position. He chuckled and made a tsk tsk sound with his mouth.

“Oh my Savannah. You better get a move on before you catch another chill.” All the while giving me a sexy little smirk. He knew what he did. Sneaky bastard. He turned around a jogged down to the entrance to the locker room.

I walked back to the parking lot where Lilian’s car was and the rest of the girls were anxiously awaiting my return. The thought of him looking sweaty and dirty in that uniform turned butterflies in my stomach and I wondered why this gorgeous boy would want anything to do with a bitchy choir girl like me.

The girls were actually pacing back and forth. Ella had to have smoked 10 cigarettes waiting for me to come back because I smelled the nicotine in the air. Were my friends just as excited as I was that he wanted to talk with me after the game? When I got to the car I went towards the handle of the back seat to open it and they were all staring at me like I was a piece of meat and they were the lions ready to eat me if I didn’t spill my guts soon. Ella jumped in front of the car door.

“Don’t you even think about it! Spill it!”

“Jeez what’s there to tell. He’s going to Tyler’s party and I may or may not talk to him when I get there. It’s all very simple.”

“Simple! SIMPLE!. Are you insane lady. You have the hottest guy in school coming up to your locker to ask you if you were going to Tyler’s party, then he wants to talk to you after the freaking game and you just say you may or may not want to talk to him at this shindig! I just don’t know what has gotten into you Sav. I need a smoke.” As tiny as Ella was she had an even bigger mouth on her. But I loved her for that reason. Maddy calmly turned herself towards me and grasped my shoulders. “ Savannah. This guy obviously has taken an interest in you. Why are you being so blasé about the whole thing?”

“Because Maddy guys like Sam Reynolds don’t go for girls like me. I’m not leggy, I’m not blonde and I’m what a B cup if that. I’m not a cheerleader and I’m not a bimbo. I’m just a little choir girl who runs for the track team. That’s all I am. Girls like me and guys like Sam, we are like oil and water. We just don’t mix.”

“Ugh! I have heard enough of this.” Lilian said leaning against the car. “ Savannah you are smart, talented, and you pretty and I am just not saying that because you are my friend. You are good enough for Sam. You are more than good enough for him. Maybe he sees those qualities in you. Maybe he sees that you are a strong person who carries herself with high self esteem and isn’t afraid to speak your true feelings. Maybe he likes that you’re not a bimbo and that you have little boobs! I don’t know it all but I do know that he is interested. That’s all that should matter right now. The rest of it you may just want to hang around to see the exciting conclusion.”

Lilian’s words rang true in my head in some aspect. Why was I afraid? Because he was gorgeous and popular?

Something in my belly told me I needed to find the answers.

“Ok. Let’s go and see what happens.”

They began to jump up and down in the typical excited teenage fashion. We all got in the car and headed for Tyler’s house. In the car Trish was primping my hair and trying to put some thick shiny lip gloss on me. I kept smacking her hand away and laughing at her. “Savannah your lips need to look kiss-ready. Hold still!”

“Trish I’m not planning on kissing anyone tonight so get that crap away from me. We turned up the car radio and headed to Tyler’s. I was nervous and I was going to play hard to get. I just hoped it wouldn’t back fire on me.

CHAPTER 12

TEENAGE DREAM

I went for a run in the mornings to try and clear my head before the day began. I tried to clear my head of all things Sam. The way I hurt him. The secrets I withheld from him. As the music from my iPod pounded once again in my head I ran the streets around the parkway. I passed by the beautiful fountains surrounding it and I imagined how you could get lost in their beauty. How simple water flowing could be. How relaxing. I looked up to the art museum steps to take in the beauty of the architecture. Looking there I felt a sense of peace. Something I hadn’t felt in a long time. I passed the Rocky statue and saw tourists taking pictures in front of it. I was tired of running. I jogged over to one of the fountains and stood there in front of it. I just stared at it. The cool early morning breeze blew beads of water from it onto my face. I wiped the water droplets away but it still continued. I laughed out loud and began to realize that this was like a cleansing. A cleansing of my soul. Like a baptism. I needed to be absolved from all my sins. I knew Sam would never forgive but I needed to forgive myself. I had to snap out of my funk. I needed to start dating again but I wasn’t sure if I was ready. My friends told me to go for it and if it didn’t turn to anything romantic at least I would have a nice night out and I made a new friend. They always knew the right things to say to me. I gave a guy my number who I met at McKay’s. He was cute and nice. He was a bartender at one of the clubs on Second Street. He called to ask me to dinner. I made up some lame excuse about needing to go visit my sick grandmother. What was I 12? So lame. I told him I would give him a call. Paul from work set me up on a double dinner date with him, his girlfriend Katie and his friend Nick. We had a really nice time. Paul’s girl friend was great and Nick was a really great guy. We were at dinner for hours and we sat next to each. During dessert I had some chocolate lava something and I offered Nick a bite I held a fork up from him and he grabbed my hand with the fork in it and he put it to his mouth. I waited for the spark. The electricity. It never happened. He was handsome and successful and he was easy to talk to but something was missing. I would definitely hang out again as friends but I knew that was as far as it would go.

I knew I wasn’t ready. I was young. Some day I knew I would be but I didn’t need anyone. I remember something my mom said to me after I left to go back to Boston before I moved.

You don’t need someone to complete you. You only need someone to accept you completely.

No words were ever more true. I had to focus on me for now. I’d still have fun but I’d let it come to me first.

The next week I threw myself into my work. I took a lot of work home the week following up to the spring showcase. I needed to work on the programs so I brought my work home with me. I love spring in Philadelphia. All of the windows were open and I could feel the warm May air breeze into my loft. I wondered for a brief second if Sam was enjoying this night air. He had the biggest windows in his apartment and I remember the wind flowing through them the night of our reunion in October.

I pushed the thought out of my mind and poured myself a glass of Pino and stuck that stupid iPod on my ears as I sat down to type out the shows program. My mom, Georgia, Tyler, and the girls bought tickets to the show and I was so excited for them to share in this special event with me. I loved my job but I was looking forward to a relaxing summer of teaching voice lessons here and there and heading to the Jersey Shore for some R & R with the girls in July for a girl’s weekend. Lil’s parents had a home there that they rented out and we had it for 5 whole days. We all needed it. Lil was stressed out with her upcoming wedding plans, Maddy was trying to get pregnant again and it was not happening as fast as she would of hoped so she was stressed. Ella had met a guy, And another one, and another one but she was happy and content with playing the field. I think she was still holding out for Dr. McDreamy. Trish had been seeing a guy from her office since about February and they seemed to be happy and in love. No one and I mean no one did more of a love 180 than my sister. Georgia was in love! She and Tyler became inseparable. I saw her more which was good. Tyler surprised her with a trip to the Bahamas for her birthday last month.

A familiar song came into my ears and I smiled at the lyrics. The singer sang of the way she felt when she was a teenager and fell in love and how perfect it once was. I know I felt that at one time too. Perfect wasn’t too long ago. Butterflies began to surface in my belly. I went back in my mind to the night of Tyler’s party 12 years ago.

We pulled up to the house and there seemed to be a ton of cars there already. When we got out of the car we could hear laughter and music coming from the house. I never walked through the house when I came to Tyler’s. They had a side entrance that only family and myself of course only used. I was at Tyler’s alot doing homework or playing Nintendo or listening to his vast array of U2 cd’s.

“This way girls.” I directed to them. We entered through the side door which led into the kitchen. It was packed. A keg and a stack of red cups sat in the center of the kitchen. I was nervous to look around to spot Sam. I wanted to see him but I didn’t want to be the first one to make the move to talk if he did catch my eye. We walked around and we said hi to our friends. People were talking about the game and how awesome it was to beat the crap out of the Lions. I walked out the family rooms French doors out into the yard. The Jensen’s had a built in pool and there were actually a few people in it. It was a semi warm night and the Jensen’s always had the pool heater on. The trees surrounding the yards were a lined with tiny twinkling Christmas lights and the pools lights made the water look relaxing and calming. I heard a voice behind me.

“There’s my pal” I turned to see Tyler standing there with his arms wide open. “ Come here to papa baby.” I rolled my eyes and shuffled my feet towards him so he could give me one of his famous bear hugs. “ Did you see my pass tonight? Wasn’t I awesome!” Tyler was so proud of his performance at tonight’s game.

“Yes Ty I was very proud of you.” I tapped the top of his head like a dog.

“Did you girls get a beer?”

Lil said “ I’m driving but you can grab me a coke.”

“You got it. Anyone else? The girls raised their hands.

“You Sav? Beer?”

“Ok. I deserve one.”

“You sure do baby. I was so proud of you tonight. You hit all the notes you were so nervous about yesterday.” I would always practice in front of Tyler. Actually in his parents bathroom. The acoustics were incredible in there.

“Why don’t you guys go mingle. I’ll grab your drinks and I’ll come and find you to give them to you.” He swept down and gave me a quick kiss on my cheek. He was just the sweetest guy and I loved him like a brother.