"Ughhh. Boys are stupid. Right, Casey?"

Sammy was lying down on my very small bed, her hair fanned out on my pillow. Of course, she didn't leave any space for me on the bed.

I rolled my eyes and said in a high voice, "Omg they are like totes stupid! Ugh, whatever. Let's paint each other's nails and get fat on Ben & Jerry's while bitching about stupid guys."

She grinned widely at me. "You always know how to cheer me up. And I don't mean that only because you let me into your apartment at three in the morning so I can take up your entire bed and whine to you."

I nudged her lightly. "Move over. You need a hug."

She pressed herself to the wall to make room for me on the twin sized bed. I threw and arm over her waist and pulled her to me. "Tell me about it, sunshine. What did Albert do?"

"Be an asshole," she grumbled.

I hesitated before asking, "Wasn't he asking you to move in with him?"

She groaned. "Yeah. He wouldn't shut up about it. But the only reason he wanted me to move in with him was because he wanted some kind of fuck-a-thon."

I tensed. I did not under any circumstances want to hear about their sex life. "Oh," was all that I managed to squeak out.

"Anyway," Sammy said, "I should let you get back to your essay." She smirked. "What's it on again? True love? Ha!"

I growled. "It's to describe love in as few words as possible. After ten words, she takes one point off for every word used. This is fucking impossible. I'll probably end up doing it when she's collecting it. So I don't mind you staying here. But what's Marissa gonna think if you don't come home tonight?"

"That I'm at your apartment and she can call Billy over for the night. She'll probably be washing her sheets when I get home."

I covered my ears and yelled, "TOOOOO MUCH INFORMATION. STAWP. DON'T DO THIS TO MEEEEEEE. I AM YOUNG AND INNOCENT."

She laughed and got up to straddle my waist, grabbing my hands and pinning them above my head. "Wha-What are you doing?" I asked. The last time she did this was a few years ago, during her sophomore year of college. She would make so much physical contact with me, not that I minded. We would sleep in the same bed, cuddle, wrestle, even tackle each other.

But everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.

And when I say Fire Nation, I mean Albert.

And when I say attacked, I mean that motherfucker swooped in and charmed her and asked her out and ruined my life.

Since she was dating him, she probably didn't think it would be a good idea for her to be so intimate with someone who wasn't her boyfriend.

Did she really have to be so faithful?

But now…she was doing this again. Why?

Was she trying to make him jealous?

Seems unlikely, seeing as he isn't here.

Was she letting out her anger at him?

Whatever she was doing, if she was leading me on…I was enjoying it.

She leaned down to nuzzle my neck with her nose. "Mm?"

"Sammy-what…" I tried asking again, but she had pressed her lips against the base of my neck and I lost my train of thought. This was not good. I was losing control of my actions. So I pulled away slightly and pushed her off of me gently.

She looked down at me with a glazed look in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Case. I just-"

"Shhh, don't be. You're just feeling vulnerable about Albert being a dickwad." I smiled at her teasingly. "Besides, I'm not into being the rebound guy. But you two love each other and I know that-"

"Who says I ever loved him?"

I looked up at her bewildered. "I just-assumed. I mean, if you were willing to have sex with him-"

"Ew!" she squealed. "Are you insane? Who told you that preposterous lie?"

My face reddened slightly. "I saw you guys. In his room. You were only in your underwear and I-I left, but I thought that-"

She burst out laughing. "I was helping him wash his car and I was sprayed with the hose. I took off my clothes to dry them and he brought me some of his to wear. You thought I was gonna fuck him?" She giggled hysterically. "Oh man! I can't wait to tell Marissa now."

I looked away from her, settling on staring at the glow-in-the-dark star stickers that Sammy put on the walls. "Thanks for making me feel like a complete idiot."

She leaned down to press her forehead against mine, forcing me to look at her. "I never loved him. And he never loved me."

"…Did you guys break up?"

She rolled her eyes and rested her head on my chest. "I walked in on him in bed with someone."

"Oh."

"With your sister."

"Oh."

She began to trace small patterns on my torso with her long, slender fingers. She only did this when she wanted to ask something, but she didn't want to ask it at the same time. If she keeps this up, next she'll want to watch some random movie to change the subject.

"Wanna see Serial Mom? I haven't seen it since I was little and I guess I'm in the mood for a cheesy 90's movie about a suburban housewife serial killer."

I pouted. "But I wanna see The Fairly Odd Parents."

She laughed and grabbed the remote. "You are such a child," she teased and turned the TV on to channel 33.

"Uhhuh. Says the girl who remembers what channel is Nickelodeon."

She shoved me lightly and muttered, "Shut up. Eliza Thornberry was my favorite. I mean, dude. She talked to animals. Today's generation would be like, 'Whoaaaa, I wonder what she's been smoking that she thinks she can talk to animals, I want some of that.'"

I snickered, "I was more of an As Told By Ginger fan."

She gave me a look as if to say, Really?

"No, I'm kidding. Hey Arnold! all the way."

She stuck her tongue out at me. "Ginger was still kinda cool. Her brother drove her up the fucking wall and her friends were…interesting."

I pulled her onto my lap and we sat in silence throughout the theme song.

"Timmy is an average kid that no one understands…"

I looked down at Sammy sitting on my lap, completely entranced by the cartoon. She looked like a small child.

And I don't mean that in a ponytails and naive kind of way.

I mean it in a sort of vulnerability and some sort of innocence.

Not entirely innocent.

Because I think that she knows what she does to me. How anything she does makes me want to throw her onto my bed and kiss her pretty little head to oblivion.

Apparently Timmy decided to wish everyone away so there would be no competition for Trixie Tang's affections. So now Trixie was flipping a shit that no one was telling her how pretty she was.

"TELL ME I'M PRETTY."

"You're pretty…"

Sammy squirmed in my lap. "Casey? Can I ask you something without you thinking I'm superficial or shallow?"

"You can always ask me anything, Sammy."

"Do you think I'm pretty?"

That question threw me off guard. She never asked me anything like that. If anything, she gave the air of not caring at all about how she looked. She would walk out in public in sweatpants and a ratty t-shirt if that's what she was comfortable with. She wouldn't bother with her hair or her make-up.

But now she was asking me if she was pretty?

Of course she was, but why would she ask me that?

She got up from my lap and I realized that I took too long to answer. "I should be getting home," she whispered.

I grabbed her wrist firmly. "No. Don't leave me. Why are you asking me this now? What happened? Does it have to do with Albert?"

"…he said he cheated on me because I'm not as pretty as Heather."

I wrinkled my nose in disgust. "Are you fucking kidding me? First of all, he's an idiot. Second of all, you're beautiful. Third of all, he's an idiot. Fourth of all, he cheated on you because you wouldn't put out which I applaud you for. Fifth of all, he's an idiot."

"You're my friend, you're supposed to say that," she argued.

I insisted, "I always thought you were beautiful."

I got up to grab her by her waist and hoisted her up, carrying her over to the wall mirror I had on my closet door. 'Look at yourself," I ordered.

She stared at her feet instead so I grabbed her chin and pulled it up so that she could look at herself in the mirror. "Maybe you don't want to look at yourself, but you have no idea how beautiful I find you. If Albert decides that you're not good enough for him, that's all the better for me. He took away from my Sammy Time," I teased.

"How come you never asked me out?" she asked bluntly.

Without a beat, I replied, "Because I'm not good enough for you." I kissed the top of her head and pulled her to my bed. "C'mon Sams. You've had a long day. Get some sleep, okay?"

"Would you reject me if I asked you out on a date?"

"I may be quite stupid, Sammy. But I'm not that stupid. Of course I wouldn't. Jeez, who would be stupid enough as to pass up that chance? But Sammy, I-I'm not the rebound guy."

She rolled her eyes. "Duhh. You're more like first choice. But you never asked me out. So I settled for Albert. I thought maybe I would grow to love him, but two years and I still remind myself to tolerate him." She checked the time on my clock. "You wanna have sex?"

I choked on my own spit. "What-?"

"You have class in ten hours. We have time."

I grabbed her face between my hands. "I repeat: What?"

"Youuu liiiiike meeeee," she teased. "And I love you. And I want you."

"Fuck," I gasped out. I entwined my fingers through her hair and pulled her face to mine. "You always teased me on purpose. Didn't you?"

She smirked. "You're just catching on?" She pushed me onto my bed and turned off the TV and lights.

The next morning

I had to run out the door, still trying to put my shirt on because I was late enough for class as it was. I had scribbled Sammy a quick note saying I loved her and scrambled out into the street to catch the bus. I stood in the middle of the bus and yanked out a sheet of looseleaf and a pen, determined to finish my damn homework.

How the fuck do you describe love in as little words as possible?

End of class

"I really am quite disappointed in the quality of work that was handed into me this morning. I realize that for many of you, English is not your major, but you must realize that this is a skill that is the foundation for society. Where would we be without it? It is disgusting that most of these papers say that sex is love. So everyone who wrote that for their homework will receive a zero for this assignment. Now there was one paper in particular that caught my eye. Mostly because I am certain that it was done on the bus ride to class, Mr. Acosta. Nevertheless, it is the most outstanding and sincere paper that I have read and it speaks from the heart. Therefore, Mr. Acosta will receive the highest grade for his work. I applaud thee."

She put my paper on my desk and I picked it up, noticing the large A+ in red ink.

Casey Acosta
Mrs. Gretina
English Course 7483
June 25, 2013

Describe love.

Sammy.

A/N: Hey look, another stupid story from me. Please blame my addiction to candy canes on this weird story. And plus, these are story ideas from when I was but a lowly sixth grader. I didn't even know what to name this so I went onto Pandora and stole this from a song because it sounded cool. But can you pretend for me that the name actually means something to you? I worked really hard on this and now my neck and back hurts from typing this in the dark on my laptop and I have to sleep on a bed with the springs digging into my back have mercy on me.