.
When the white pickup pulls alongside the Merc she quickly grabs the duffle from the back and locks the car. Striding over she tentatively opens the door to the truck and stares at him for a quiet moment. He's still the man she remembers from so long ago. Still just, Sam. From his black hair to his brown eyes, his large tall frame, to the boots on his feet. His presence alone makes her memories scream and swirl in her mind. Seeing him is like looking at a ghost from the past; a subtle reminder of everything she could never have.
"Are you going to stare at me all night or get in?" He huffs, his voice clipped and irritable.
"Okay, okay. Keep your panties on." She snipes as she hops in and slams the door behind her.
Checking his mirrors first, Sam pulls out of the gas station and heads along route 101. The roads are dark, the lush green of the forest careening past them outside the vehicle. The silence is thick in the cabin of the pickup as he thunders along the empty roads.
"You called me." He states as he taps his fingers on the wheel to a slow song playing on the radio.
She quirks a brow at him. "I did."
"Why?"
Leah runs a hand through her hair, bunching the tresses and tying it into a bun on the top of her head. "Last resort?" She offers.
"Ouch."
"Yeah." she smiles tightly.
Spending time with Sam was not exactly on the cards, but then again, coming back home hadn't been either. She'd had an actual life away from LaPush. But like anything in her life, the cold drizzle of reality had soon slapped her in the face with its icy palm.
"How's Benny?" Sam asks this time causing her to scowl automatically. Her brows press together as she gnaws on her lip.
"Splendidly, I'd imagine. I haven't seen him in weeks."
Sam whips around to study her face, a frown masked over his normally stoic features. The looks he gives her seems to say he doesn't believe a word of what's coming out of her mouth. "What are you talking about?"
She can't help but laugh bitterly. "I left."
"You can't just... I thought you were happy?"
Leaning her elbow on the edge of the door frame she stares out into the darkness, knowing how the darkness has become one of the only things she has left in her life. "I thought I was. Seems I thought wrong. It happens."
Sam doesn't say anything else, but rather focuses on the drive.
It's something she appreciates.
.
