Chapter 2
Sam was quietly mopping the floor at the restaurant that she worked at. It was her night to close the place and clean up with the owner. The restaurant closed at 9 pm, and Sam was hoping not to stay here any later than 10:00. She looked at her watch, and saw that there was a chance that she would at least finish the cleaning by 10.
She made it to the back corner of the establishment, and looked around. Looks good to me, she thought. She pushed her mop bucket to the back and emptied the dirty water down the drain. She put the bucket and the mop away, and walked over to the back office to talk to the owner.
"Ma'am," Sam asked her boss, Tammy Moore, "may I talk to you for a moment?"
"Let me finish getting the deposit ready to take to the bank first," Mrs. Moore said kindly as she was going through some receipts at her desk, "Go ahead and take a seat though Miss Puckett, I'm sure your feet are killing you."
"Thank you," Sam replied gently and appreciatively, "you have no idea." Sam took a seat in the chair across from Mrs. Moore's desk and sat down. She sighed in relief. She was grateful to be able to sit and stretch out her body. She had had a long day of serving tables at the restaurant.
She had been working today at Paula's Place since noon. It was one of two days during her week that she was scheduled such a long shift. When she was scheduled on her other three days, she came in to work the day shift, which was 6am to 2pm. She was one of only four other waitresses that worked at the family owned restaurant on Seattle's east side. The area was not one of the best in the city; it was actually regarded as one of the poorest districts in the area.
Mrs. Moore finally put all the money and paperwork in a night deposit bag and zipped it up. She set it down on the table and looked up at Sam, "Okay Sam," she said somewhat drowsily, "what can I do for you?"
"I just wanted you to know that I really want to stay on working here with you," Sam replied a little nervously, "but I'm having some problems at home that might change things."
"What sort of problems, dear?" Mrs. Moore asked concerned.
"My boyfriend Trevor just left me earlier today," Sam answered trying to keep her composure, "I guess he couldn't commit to me like I hoped he would…"
"That jerk knocked you up; then decides he can't be with you?" Mrs. Moore asked her somewhat disgusted, "what is with men these days?"
"I don't know ma'am," Sam replied rubbing her belly softly, "anyway, the rent of the apartment that we have is just too expensive for me to live at alone. And with a baby on the way, I will definitely not be able to save up the money to support me and it."
Tammy looked at Sam for a moment sadly. "I'm sorry this has happened to you. I really do want to keep you too." She paused for a moment as she just remembered something, "I know what we can do about your living situation though."
"Really?" Sam asked hopingly. She was hoping for a bit of good news today.
"Yes," Tammy nodded, "You know that small little apartment complex a couple of blocks from here?"
Sam nodded. She passed by it every day on her way to work. It was rundown, and the apartments were very small.
"I know of a couple of vacancies in the building right now," Mrs. Moore continued, "I know they are not very clean, and they are very small, but the rent in these places is extremely cheap. I know the landlady there. Would you like to apply for a place there?"
Sam wasn't entirely thrilled of having to take such a big downgrade from the apartment she was in to this particular one in question. But she knew she didn't have much of a choice. It was going to take an awful lot of her paycheck just to pay rent at the place she was at now. And this didn't even include utilities or food.
Sam smiled graciously at Mrs. Moore, "If there is one available, I'd appreciate it very much."
"Very well then," Tammy said as she got up to get ready to go to the bank, "I'll talk to Mrs. Jones tomorrow, and I'll let you know what she says."
"Thank you ma'am," Sam said as she slowly got up to get ready to leave herself.
"Please Sam, I asked you to call me Tammy," Mrs. Moore insisted, "And you are welcome. Have a good night dear."
"Thank you Tammy," Sam grinned lightly, "you too." Sam walked out of the office and walked to the front door. She snagged in her long sleeve flannel shirt that she always wore outside of the restaurant that covered her waitress uniform and walked out to the front sidewalk.
She looked at her watch, and saw it was after 10:15. She grabbed her cell phone from her pocket and called her friend Ashley Covington to give her a lift back to her apartment. Ashley was one of the other waitresses that worked with Sam.
When Sam managed to reach Ashley on the phone, she told Sam that she'd be there in fifteen minutes to pick her up. Sam walked over to a bench that was about twenty feet from the entrance to the restaurant, and sat down to wait. She looked up and down the road and saw that the only areas that were lively at this hour on this Friday night were the bars. She thought this was unusual for a Friday night in May for the streets to be this quiet. She reached into her purse for her can of mace just in case.
Sam couldn't believe she was going to be alone yet again. She had been use to it though. She hardly ever had any guy in her life that was with her for any length of time. She sadly believed she was becoming her mother. Her mom had bounced from this man to that for most of the time Sam could remember. Her mom had been happy when she was with her dad though. Her dad was a military man, who had died in an overseas mission. Sam had been seven when her father passed away. Her mom never recovered from losing her husband. She tried so hard to find the perfect replacement, but she was never able to have any luck. She kept dating one loser after another, and it began to scar her psychologically. She had also turned to alcohol as a means to kill the pain that she felt inside. Eventually, she became a raging alcoholic. She began to become mean and heartless, and she began to ignore everything that meant anything to her. This also included her own daughter. She had actually wanted Sam out of the house on her eighteenth birthday because she didn't want to deal with her anymore. But her sister talked her into letting Sam remain at the house until she graduated high school. Having seen what alcohol did to her relationship with her mother, Sam despised alcohol. She, to this day, still has an estranged relationship with her mother.
As for Sam's love life, let's just say that she has yet to find a man that she has truly loved, at least not since she graduated high school. She did meet a man a year after she graduated that seemed to be the real deal. The two lived very happily for six months, and she eventually became pregnant with his child. She had finished her first year of college at a community college in town when she met him. He was doing so well financially that she decided not to return to school that fall. He was 24 when she met him, and she was 19. She thought for sure that this would eventually be the man she was to marry, until she found out that he was cheating on her. It nearly destroyed her. When she found out about her man's infidelity, the stress that this put her through caused her to miscarry her baby. She had no job, and no money to her name when she was pretty much forced to move out. Her friend from high school Taureen found out what happened, and offered Sam a place to stay until she could get back on her feet again.
Taureen was about the only real friend she had left from high school that was still in Seattle. Carly was off in New York working on a music and acting career, while Freddie was down in Southern California going to school. Sam had found out that Spencer had moved in with his fiancé, and no longer lived at Bushwell Plaza. The only problem Sam faced when she lived with Taureen was dealing with Taureen's on again, off again, boyfriend Gibby. When Gibby stayed with Taureen, Sam wanted to get out of the apartment. She never could stand Gibby. Sam would often stay with some of the co workers she'd meet at some of the low paying jobs she had to settle for during this time in her life.
After nearly four years of living this way, she had decided to find a place of her own. She had slowly saved up enough money in this time to do so. It was around this time that Sam had found a decent job working as a sales clerk for Lacy's Department store. She spent a year their working in their cosmetic department selling colognes and perfumes. She had matured enough over the years to be able to provide good customer service to people who were in the mall shopping. It certainly wasn't always that way with her, but she worked hard to try to set a good example at her job of being friendly and caring. This would have been a dream job if it wasn't for the company being bought out about a year after she started working there. She was one of thousands of employees to have been laid off due to the business going under nationwide.
Since she thought she was living a better life when she worked at Lacy's, Sam started spending money that way too. When she lost her job, she had lost about everything once again. She had just started dating Trevor when this happened, so the two of them moved in together. Trevor was a construction worker she had met while she was working at Lacy's. He actually made some decent money working at his job. He took care of Sam while she looked for another job. Sam finally had to settle for the waitressing job she currently has at Paula's Place. Sam and Trevor liked each other very much, although it seemed that Trevor fell for her more. He was a younger man, being 21 years old, while she was now 25. He had a little immaturity in him, but she still liked him a lot. He kind of reminded her of her one and only true love of her life.
And that one true love of her life was Freddie. She had known him for so many years in school. She never disliked Freddie at all throughout their years in school even though she tortured him in middle school and the first two years of high school. She had always thought that he would ask her out one day, but she was always a little jealous when he drooled over her best friend Carly. After the incident where Carly and her "rebel" boyfriend told Freddie to back off during their sophomore year, Sam helped Freddie get over Carly. Their friendship got stronger, and finally by the end of junior year, he asked her out.
What followed was probably the happiest year in Sam's life. She knew she had always liked being around Freddie, but dating him was even better. They were nearly inseperatable during senior year. They were almost always seen with each other. Freddie always tried to be romantic with her, and he always tried to remember special dates or moments. In her mind, Sam always thought that Freddie was being such a nerd when he did all this stuff. In her heart, Sam knew she would never experience love like this. She knew she wanted to be with him more than anything, and she had hoped that he would stay in the Seattle area after they graduated. It was his love and patience that caused Sam to want to do well in school and graduate in the top 25% of her class.
But what seemed like a fairy tale was crushed on prom night. She was hoping that this would be the night that her and Freddie would have moved on to the next level in their relationship. It didn't turn out that way, and it hurt her deeply. The night had started out well. But it was what happened in the auditorium of the school that changed her forever.
She and Freddie had been dancing away to all of their favorite songs that were provided by a tribute band. It was a warm night that evening, and Sam got a little flushed from dancing after about five songs. She motioned to Freddie that she was going to use the little girl's room; then she proceeded back to the back of the auditorium.
As she was passing by the refreshment table, she bumped into Gibby who was sneaking around in the back corner. "Geez Gibby," Sam snapped at him, "What are you doing back here in the dark?"
"Shhh," Gibby hissed putting his finger to his mouth.
Sam looked down to see that Gibby had an empty Vodka bottle in his other hand, "Where did you get that?" Sam asked puzzled.
"My uncle gave me a case of this stuff," Gibby smirked with his little beady eyes, "I've been trying to give the punch a little kick to it."
Sam looked at him angrily, "You mean to tell me that you spiked the punch?"
"Yeah," he nodded gleefully, "and it looks like everyone is having a blast too."
Sam looked around the auditorium and saw that people were acting a bit crazier than she was accustomed to seeing. She turned back to Gibby, "Does anybody know that you did this?" She asked.
Gibby nodded, "I've been trying to let everybody know that we did this. I have Reuben, and a couple of his friends telling people about it." He quietly began inching his way towards the back door of the auditorium so he could go outside and get rid of the empty bottle he had in his hands.
"Has anybody told Freddie yet?" Sam asked concerned. She didn't want Freddie to be intoxicated. She hated alcohol to begin with; plus she had something special planned for later.
"I haven't told him," Gibby replied as he was almost to the exit, "but I'm sure one of the other guys has. I'll tell you what, I'll make sure he knows about it when I get back in, I promise."
"You better, Gibby," she said disgusted with him. She then hurried to the ladies room to freshen up.
After a few minutes, she returned to the dance floor to look for Freddie. She finally found him near the front of the auditorium. The two began to dance again with their classmates. After about a half dozen songs, the two of them needed a break, so they walked to the back of the auditorium.
As the rest of their classmates danced to the next song, Sam stood watching Freddie. He looked very peaceful that night. She never thought that she had ever seen him look this good. She was getting nervous about asking him to "be with her" that night. It was loud and hot in the auditorium, and she was starting to sweat. She really wanted to get going, so she tapped his arm to get his attention. When he looked at her, she asked him, "Do you want to do it with me?" She asked it very slowly because she was nervous. Freddie looked at her, and pointed to his ear indicating that he didn't hear her request. Sam asked him the same question, only slower. He looked at her for a moment; then he took off to the refreshment table. Sam was a little confused about why he left here at this time, and it upset her a little. But what was worse was what happened when he returned. Freddie had returned with a large plastic cup of punch. He handed it to her and told her to drink it, that it would help her to feel better. Sam was shocked, she couldn't believe that Freddie wanted to get her tipsy before they left, especially since he knew how much she hated alcohol. She gave him the weirdest look; then told him she wanted to leave. She walked off angrily with the punch. Freddie was trying hard to keep up. He was calling her name, but she ignored him. When she reached the exit, she dropped the full cup of punch in a garbage can and walked out. She got into the limo that she and Freddie took to the prom, and they headed home without her saying a word to him.
The remaining days until graduation were hard on Sam. She tried to avoid Freddie at all costs. After she graduated, she quickly tried to find a job, so she could throw herself into work to avoid the pain she had felt when it came to Freddie. She never wanted to hear any explanation from him. She knew what she saw on that night, and she just couldn't be around him. Carly had even tried to sit down with Sam to talk about what happened, but she never would tell anybody. Carly also had to be the one to tell her that Freddie was taking off for USC early in the summer. Sam went by to wish him well, and gave him a shallow hug, but she still couldn't stand the sight of him. The pain she felt lasted throughout the summer, and when Carly got ready to start college in New York, Carly told her friend that she had a feeling that time would heal all wounds and that Sam would eventually be comfortable with Freddie again.
She knew she was always going to love Freddie, but she didn't realized how much she would miss him when she realized that he wasn't coming home after the first year of college. When Mrs. Benson passed away, Sam had been in the process of living with co-workers while Taureen and Gibby were staying together. Neither Taureen nor Carly was able to get ahold of Sam for days to let her know what happened. It wasn't until Sam had come by Taureen's one afternoon about a week after the funeral that she was filled in about the bad news. It crushed Sam that she had missed out on everything, and she mourned for the rest of the day. A few years later, Sam was again saddened when she flew out for Carly's wedding and was told that Freddie wasn't able to attend. She was delighted to be part of the wedding ceremony for her best friend, but she was still upset that she missed a chance to see Freddie again. When she flew home, it was at this time that she had decided to move away from Taureen's and get her own place.
In the seven years since high school, no man could ever touch Sam's heart the way that Freddie could. Even this young loser that had just knocked her up and took off hadn't done the trick. There was never a day that went by that Sam didn't think about Freddie. She only prayed that she could see him again someday. She had no way to get a hold of him. She had neither a phone number for him, nor any internet access to reach him via email. She only hoped he would just show back up in her life someday.
Ashley finally showed up to pick up her friend and took her home. "Hey," she said as Sam got into the car, "did you have a good day today?"
Sam nodded as she put her seatbelt on, "Yeah, I talked to Mrs. Moore about my situation at home."
"Oh," Ashley said gently as she pulled away from the curb and began to drive to Sam's apartment, "what did she say?"
"She told me she was going to talk to the landlady of the apartment complex that is right up the road from the restaurant," Sam replied, "I guess we will wait and see what happens."
"Well, I hope that this will work out for you Sam," Ashley said showing concern.
"Yeah," Sam muttered as they were continuing towards her apartment, "me too."
Author's Note: I hope that everybody could follow that chapter okay. I know there hasn't been a great deal of dialogue in these stories yet, but I have to get you up to speed in what's going on in their lives. I really do hate writing about Sam having tragedies in her life, but hopefully you'll realize why later. Let me know what you think.
