"Hey, Sam!" he shouted. "I think it'd be great if you came outside. As of now, I'm expected a surprise for you."
Dad stood outside in the February cold with two other people. They were both male, but one was obviously the other man's son. He looked about my age, but his features distinctly resembled his father's. Also, I couldn't help but think the two of them looked vaguley familiar.
"What do you think?" Dad asked.
I chuckled, puzzled.
"Of what?" I questioned honestly.
"The car," he pointed out like it was more obvious than a big, neon sign that screamed free bacon. "It's all yours."
That's when I finally looked past him to notice what he was leaning up against. It was a car- my car. A dark blue PT Cruiser that screamed my name.
"This is amazing!" I shouted happily and began to stroke the car like one of Mom's ex-boyfriends would do to roadkill. "You're joking, right? This can't even be mine!"
"I hope you're just in a state of shock," Dad laughed. "It cost me an awful lot to have Peter here repair it."
Then, I looked beyond Dad and the car and acknowledged the man who had apparently been smiling at me for the past three or so minutes. He was small for a man of his age with olive skin, hazel eyes and chestnut brown hair. It was unarguable that even though he was far older than I was, he was good-looking, and his son looked the same. Even if nothing became of it, I appeared to be in some sort of lucky situation.
"Hello, Sam," he said to me. "You probably don't remember me. I'm Peter Russett, an old friend of your dad's. I used to see you all the time when you were a little girl."
"No, I definitely remember now that you mention it," I told him, trying to sound friendly. "You have the daughter, Mary, right? Yeah, I remember you guys being around."
"Glad to hear it. Mary's doing fine, in the middle of her sophomore year of college. I've also got a son, Jonah, who's standing right here."
The boy worked his way up to me and shot me a toothy grin. I hoped he was kind and not cocky like his facial expression was radiating. I'd had my fill of cocky guys what with all Mom's men and more.
"Hi," the son greeted me. "I'm Jonah. You used to bury my face in the sandbox at the park."
Looking back, I laughed at my own absurdity. It sounded like something I would do then for a ridiculous reason. Then again, I don't have much reason to act the way I do now that I'm sixteen. I guess that's all part of being a confused female.
"Right," I snickered. "But you'd better watch out. Steal anything from me or try anything with me and I could do that to you again within a week."
Jonah grinned. "You'd better not. I'm still picking sand out of my teeth, and it's been about ten years since the sandbox and I were that intimate."
"That's a good one," I remarked. "Don't be surprised if I use it in casual conversation when such a subject pops up. I'll be sure to credit you."
Modestly, he shrugged. "Hey, it's all I ask."
Peter came back to the scene after he and my dad had been overly admiring my PT Cruiser. When he saw Jonah and I making conversation, I noticed that he was schemingly beaming at us, and I prayed to God that he wouldn't try to set me up with the kid. Sure, he seemed like a nice enough guy, but I just wasn't feeling anything special even when I talked to him in those short seconds. Cute as he may be, I was looking for that certain amazement factor that he just didn't have.
"We'd better run off, Jonah," Peter stated, still staring at the two of us. "After all, it's Don's first day with a full time daughter."
"Okay, Dad," Jonah replied, but I couldn't help but sense that he was disappointed. Romance is so not my thing.
He looked at me once more. "See you around, Sam. You going to Ridgeway High?"
"Yeah, that'll be my new prison," I teased.
"Wait until you see the cells," he played off me. "Believe me, they're guarded by some pretty creepy wardens."
Honestly, I laughed, and then Jonah and Peter drove off. Dad turned to me surreptitiously and tried to interrogate me.
"Sure was nice of Peter to repair and give you that car," he mumbled. "It's really nice, isn't it?"
"Awesome, actually," I breathed, distracted by something that was going on across the road. The dirt ground seemed to be moving- almost running- seven times in a row. And once in those seven times, the motion would cease, and I could hear a single word being whispered.
You.
Thinking I must be hallucinating, I blinked my eyes rapidly and shook my head. It was all my imagnation. Nothing out of the ordinary was going on. Hell, I was Sam Puckett, one of the most commonplace people out there. Everything was below the normal level.
"Jonah's a nice kid," Dad observed. "He's smart, clever, funny. And he's cute. Say, why don't you ask the kid for a date next time you see him? That'd make all of us happy."
Knowing this was going to happen, I tried my best to joke my way out of the awkward scenario.
"Sorry, Dad," I began, "but I'm not gonna fulfill some childlike fantasy you and Peter have got cooked up for Jonah and me. I didn't like to play house in kindergarten, and I'm definitely not gonna start playing happy family now."
Shockingly not hurt, Dad wrapped his arm around my shoulder.
"Eh, that's all right, Sam. You don't have to be with anybody you don't wanna be with. I guess for right now, it's just you and me."
Smiling, I replied with, "Don't think of it as a strange thing. Think of it as a terribly fun challenge."
Dad nodded. "Way to be optimistic. Hey, do you by any chance watch boxing or MMA fighting?"
"All the time. Why?"
"See, Peter and I just ordered this Pay-Per-View channel that only shows MMA fights, new ones and classics. Do you wanna watch that with me tonight?"
Satisfactorily beaming, I answered, "Something tells me this is going to be a beautiful father and daughter relationship. And something else tells me that it will be even better if there is ham involved at least five days a week."
"I'll make sure of it."
And now, I was pretty happy about living with my dad, just not the whole Seattle thing. That made me want to vomit my extremely delicious breakfast. But things would be good between Dad and me. After all, I am a man's woman.
In all aspects except for one.
************************
So, yay! First, other than Sam being the new girl, why do you think this story is AU? Can you make a guess? Well, we already know one thing: Sam is openly book smart, which she wouldn't be on the show. But there's another CRUCIAL point that I wonder if you can pick up on. Any takers?
