Louis heard his sister yelling from Peter's bedroom when he came home. He hurried to figure out what was going on. Sam was in her underwear, Peter was pinning her down on the bed and Sam was yelling for him to get off of her.
"Get the fuck off of my sister, you son of a bitch!" He grabbed Peter's shoulder and pulled him off and to the floor. If Peter hadn't looked so shocked and instantly submissive, he would have hit him. Louis gently helped Sam to her feet and took off his uniform shirt to cover her, a gesture she was fast to accept. Louis looked positively murderous. Sam immediately realized this was quite a scene and began explaining rapidly to prevent her brother from killing his drunken roommate. He seemed to accept her story, he listened without uttering a word. "You can sleep in my room tonight. I will give you clothes to sleep in." He said carefully, struggling to keep his voice even before leaving the room as fast as he had entered. Sam slept in her brother's bed, Louis slept on the couch, and Peter was surprised to find himself on his bedroom floor the next morning.
Kate collapsed on the bed next to Eric, flushed pink with climax and panting. When they caught their breath he asked her if she was okay. "Yeah." Kate answered, staring up at the ceiling. "You seemed upset at the bar."
"My friend is a bitch and the man she was with has been a real jerk." Kate explained.
"She stole your boyfriend?" He asked.
"I wish things would happen to her sometimes, like someone should teach her a lesson, or scare her straight. Maybe I should. Maybe I should g…" Kate said drunkenly, half asleep and talking nonsense.
"You could teach her a lesson at the end of the month." Eric suggested.
"Yeah, maybe I will…" Kate slurred "You help."
"You want my help teaching her a lesson?" Eric asked seductively, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her neck.
"Nooo… we don't purge. We hate p.." Kate slept alone in her bed and woke up wondering if last night had happened. Indeed it had, she concluded, she was still completely nude, which wasn't her typical bed attire. She was incredibly grateful it was Saturday. She checked her phone, 5 missed calls from Sam and 3 text messages. Sam was worried about her, but Kate was still angry. She intended to ignore Sam until she was over it, whenever that may be. This desire was short-lived as she heard pounding at the door.
"KATE! Answer the door." Her voice was stern and Kate couldn't help but obey. She unlocked the door and Sam let herself in. Seeing Sam's attire, Kate scowled.
"I see you spent the night at Peter's." Her arms crossed over her chest, clad in a ridiculously over-sized duck T-shirt.
"I slept in Louis' bed, Kate." Sam saw some of the anger leave her friend's face, though she could tell she was trying to stay mad.
"Louis? Your depravity knows no limits." Sam laughed.
"Shut up. Let's talk about Peter and last night, okay?" Sam explained for what felt like the second time today and Kate forgave her after about an hour of back-and-forth. She never had been able to stay angry with her for long. "Alright Kate, I have to run home and change. I have shit I have to do today. I will call you, later okay?" Sam hugged her tight.
Peter apologized to Sam in the hallway as she was leaving Kate's. He looked incredibly embarrassed and quickly shrank back into his apartment having had "forgotten something". It was awkward, but she had been much more concerned with Kate.
Sam woke to a strange sound that she soon found was coming from the kitchen. The ugly beige phone attached to the wall was ringing.
"Hello?"
"Hey." It was Sam's voice.
"Holy shit, I didn't think this thing worked."
"Your land-line? God Kate, you're hilarious."
"Why didn't you call my cell phone?"
"I did, it must be dead. So, I wanted to ask… you went home with Eric last night, huh?"
"Who? I just called him bartender all night." Sam laughed. Kate plugged her cell phone in quickly and pressed the on button.
"Oh Kate, you would. So how was he?"
"Well I was pretty drunk but… mind-blowing."
"Has he called you?"
"He hasn't stopped texting me, it's pathetic." Kate said as her fingers aggressively worked her phone.
"Oh Kate, you like him!" The brunette insisted. Kate shook her head.
"Nah, he was just a great lay… a toe-curling, eye-rolling, multiple orgasm providing-ly great lay."
"Eye rolling?"
"Yeah, haven't you ever come so hard your eyes sort of do their own thing for a bit, like roll themselves into the back of your head?"
"…Um, no. maybe it's the way you just described it, but that sounds freaky."
"Probably because it's one of those things that cannot be described, you're simply meant to experience it. Like an orgasm, if you've never had one, then you don't have anything more than a basic concept." Sam laughed.
"That's very insightful, Kate."
"That's what they pay me the big bucks for." Sam laughed again.
"Do they?"
"Sure! Hey, do you know where my spare-spare key is? I don't really want to clean my entire apartment to find them."
"Again?" Sam laughed. "You're hopeless. They're in your junk drawer in the kitchen."
"They're all sort of junk drawers…"
"Okay, the top drawer nearest to the fridge." Sam dug around in the draw until it produced the spare key.
"Got it. Thanks!" Kate hung up. She never said goodbye on the phone, something Sam always thought was weird if not a bit annoying. Where she came from, people spent a great deal of time saying goodbye.
Sam hit the buzzer of her apartment to let her brother in the building. Louis let himself in and greeted her. "Wow, it looks better in here, Sam. I'm not a fan of the building itself, but you've made it look homey." His grey eyes wandered the room slowly.
"Thanks. I do like it here. I know you kind of wish I lived closer, but it's really nice to have this place." Peter did hate it, she knew he did, but he understood. He couldn't really complain now that she had finally moved halfway across the country. He had lived in San Diego for 4 years without her and it was awful. It had been worse before he met Peter and he started making some friends. Sam had just finished school in Minnesota and purposefully landed a job near her brother, the only real family she had.
"Sorry about Peter last night. I know that looked super bad, but he was harmless. Just too much to drink." Louis was staring at the floor as she spoke and then looked up.
"He likes you, Sam. Maybe you should talk to him, tell him you're not interested." He looked very serious.
"Yeah, you're right. Especially for Kate's sake. You KNOW she likes him." Louis nodded. "It's just so awkward…"
"Not as awkward as it will be for both of you if he keeps trying." He insisted.
"Okay, okay… I'll come by tomorrow around noon. Are you off work?"
"Yeah, we both are. That'll be perfect."
"Great…" Sam said without a hint of enthusiasm. "So, you're off tomorrow, huh? Are they finally letting up on you?" He shook his head.
"No, I'm just pulling crazy hours without complaint until they stop pushing for anger management classes."
"It might be easier just to go." He flashed her a look. "And that's what I'm talking about, right there." Sam smiled. Louis was not amused.
The next day she was in the guys' apartment, in her brother's room. He had finally managed to convince her to grow a pair and talk to Peter. She nervously walked down the hallway and saw that the door was halfway open.
"Hey, can I talk to you for a sec?" Sam asked, peeking into Peter's bedroom.
"Sure, come on in." He invited. She closed the door. "Please, sit." He insisted, motioning to a space next to him on the bed.
"Thanks." She halfheartedly smiled, sitting in a desk chair across from him. They shared an awkward silence.
"What's up, Sam?" He asked seriously.
"I'll make this short, because it's a little weird to talk about... I think you're a really sweet guy Peter and I'm really glad my brother has you as a friend. I want for us to be friends, you and me, but… you know, nothing more. You're attractive and funny and a great catch of course, and Kate is totally into you, another reason that it wouldn't work, and Louis needs you, not only as a roommate, but as I've said, as a friend. He needs someone other than me. He hasn't had anyone besides me in a long time. Its hard losing your parents so young and being moved around a lot, it's hard to make friends and until he came out here he hasn't really had much… um, ugh… I'm completely rambling, aren't I?" She was flinching. He smiled.
"That was short?" He laughed. "You probably should have stopped at the 'friends and nothing more' bit." He paused briefly. "It's fine, Sam. I would like for us to be friends too." She let out a large breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.
"Oh thank god. I'm sorry. I just really don't want things to be weird."
"It's not weird at all. I figured it wouldn't work, but I'm obviously attracted to you. I'm sure I'll get over it." He chuckled. "So, Kate's into me?" Sam smiled and nodded slowly.
"I probably shouldn't have told you that, but we're friends now right? We have common interests, and that includes maybe forgetting that I said that?" He smiled.
"Don't worry, Sam. Louis is really lucky to have you as a sister. You mean a lot to him. And I… I know what it's like to lose a parent." Sam looked surprised.
"I never knew that... your mom?" Peter nodded.
"Not something I really talk about… but consider us cool. Everything is fine here and I do consider you a friend." Sam felt surprisingly interested in the story about Peter's mother, but she smiled and gracefully left the room. She knew his dad lived in Chicago and she didn't know what he did for a living, but he was a wealthy man. As she walked back to Louis' room, she considered the idea of bringing Peter's mother up to Louis, but thought better of it. She wondered if the men talked about things like that ever, if they shared things, perhaps on drunken nights. Whatever had happened in Peter's childhood seemed to have been painful.