Change of Heart
Chapter 20
Lucas had been mildly surprised when he got the text from Sami stating that she wanted to go out and party with him and his fraternity brothers tonight. He'd been trying to get her to go out with him for weeks and yet she never caught onto his less than subtle hints.
Carrie had blown him off for the last time this past week. He was sick and tired of her teasing him or rather using him to get his older brother Austin jealous. Maybe it was high time for him to move on and what better revenge to get on Carrie than to begin dating Sami.
Even if Carrie claimed she only loved Austin she had slept with him time after time, especially whenever she and Austin were fighting or broke up. She told him he had to keep their trysts secret and he had so far, but she'd used him for the last time.
Maybe Sami would help him get over Carrie, she was funny and snarky and they had been friends ever since high school when he had transferred from Riverside Military Academy to Salem High. He needed a distraction and Sami could be that for him, plus she was pretty in her own right even though it was rumored she never gave it up for anyone.
Not that guys hadn't tried, but Sami never let herself get into a situation that she couldn't get out of, but tonight they would party and hopefully she'd give him a kiss or even something more if he pressed the issue. He'd get her enough drinks to get her in a good mood.
So Sami had no clue as of Lucas' true intentions when she got in the car with him and they headed out to Luna's the new nightclub that everyone was trying to sneak into because it was the place to be for anyone who was anyone. Or that was what Lucas was claiming as she took a beer from him in the car on the drive to the nightclub that was on the outskirts of town.
Sami hated that Jamie had refused to go with them, but she was determined to go out and try to get EJ off of her mind. It wasn't like he was thinking of her or anything anyway which only spurred her on to drink another beer and then another before they even made their way to the door of the club with their fake ids.
_
EJ tried his best to seem interested in what Lindsey was saying to him as they sat at a table together in what Lindsey claimed to be the coolest new bar in town. He took another sip of his beer and hoped he was giving the appearance of seeming to hang on her every word to him.
Frankly his mind was somewhere else as thoughts of another blonde haired vixen came into mind. He mentally scolded himself, he shouldn't be thinking about Samantha Brady, but with each sip of his beer he thought of her more and more, something that had been happening more frequently as he got to know her better with each passing day in class.
He must be barmy, he was a professor, and had the company of an extremely attractive woman with him who seemed more than a tad bit interested in him if the signals she was giving out were any indication; but sadly he wasn't slightly attracted to her at all. No he wanted the girl who had managed to get under his skin from the first moment he had laid eyes on her in his classroom.
He must be a lunatic to even entertain such ideas of a girl who managed to get a rise out of him by her sarcastic comments and lackadaisical attitude in his classroom. No, he'd redouble his efforts to pay attention to what Lindsey was talking about although she seemed to have no problem with talking non-stop to him while he quietly drank.
Then all of the sudden out of nowhere she appeared, the girl who had begun to haunt his dreams and kick start his muse whom he had thought had abandoned him lately. He shook his head; he must be seeing things because this was a bar which had stated in the entrance way no admittance to anyone under 21 years of age.
The girl walking into the bar wasn't 21, nor was she of legal drinking age, yet she seemed to have consumed some alcoholic beverages somewhere because she was singing slightly off key over the din of noise that was playing in the bar and dancing some kind of bizarre dance with a group of guys some of whom were definitely failing his English Lit class.
He must be seeing things, surely Samantha wasn't here with a bunch of guys and now they had left the dance floor apparently to chug some beer which she seemed to be doing like a pro with a chorus of the guys cheering her on. He watched her finish off her mug of beer and signal for another one.
He wanted to go over there and ask her what did she think she was doing, but he couldn't cause a scene and then luckily some other professors joined he and Lindsey so if he needed to go he wouldn't feel beholden to take Lindsey home since they had met each other at the bar after she had begged him to go with her and some of her friends. At first he had thought it had all been a ploy, but at least some more people were here even though if they spotted the underage partiers they might get into trouble at school.
Which was all he was trying to help Samantha avoid, she didn't need trouble at school if her parents were on her like she had mentioned earlier this afternoon always taking her older sister's side of things. So when he saw her leave the group to apparently go to the loo, he made his way over to casually bump into her without it seeming like he was stalking her.
Which he totally wasn't because technically he had come here first and he was old enough to be here and she wasn't so…
She was dancing and humming or singing a snippet of something that was now playing in the ever increasing crowded bar and never even saw him coming while she sang with an elevated voice.
Everything you want so let me get up there Ooh You make me feel that
I'm the baddest baby in the atmosphere
Tell me what you want so we can do just what you like
Everything you know I'm flipping upside down
Take you 'round the world
You know I like it loud
Tell me what you want 'cause we can do just what you like
La la la la la
You make me feel so
La la la la la
One La la la too many and she crashed right into him, causing him to try to right her before she fell in the floor in a heap at his feet. Which she almost did as her drunken laughter continued that was until she saw who she had just run into.
Surely she couldn't be falling down drunk in front of Dr. Wells, no EJ which she almost called him if she hadn't been struck dumb over the sight of him here at the bar with his hands trying to steady her. She tried to crane her neck around to see if anyone had seen her crash into him, but apparently no one in the bar was paying attention to them.
"Samantha," EJ said as he tried to distance himself from her, but she was unsteady on her feet and when he moved she went with him.
"Dr. Wells," Samantha blushed even though it was quite dark in the bar.
"I think you can call me EJ seeing as how we keep running into one another all of the time or at least you can call me that when we are out of the classroom."
"Yeah that might not be appropriate for English Lit." Sami stated all the while trying to keep from falling but she had drank quite a lot of beer in the past few hours and even though he didn't know it she was trying to not think of him and of course in doing so she would run into him.
"What are you doing here? I know you're underage."
"Aren't I always?" she muttered, but then her smartass attitude hit her since it angered her that he didn't consider her old enough to be here even if she technically wasn't of age. "What are you going to do, call the police and report me?"
"No, but you shouldn't be here drinking with that group of guys."
"You're getting close to sounding like a parent instead of a friend," she blurted out before she thought better of it.
Well at least she was considering him her friend which was a vast improvement from her disliking him as a teacher and a person.
"Well as your friend you need to be a bit more choosy with your drinking companions."
Sami snorted, "This coming from the guy who is here with one of the biggest whores to ever grace Salem University."
Apparently he wasn't the only one a bit jealous then even though he knew he couldn't take things further with her.
They stared at each other both trying to decide what they needed to do since both thought the other shouldn't be there with who they came to the bar with tonight. Before they could say anything else though there was a loud noise that suddenly made Sami look completely panic stricken.
"Salem PD!" Roman Brady's voice boomed loud and clear over the ruckus in the bar as various police officers milled in behind him.
"Oh my god, you've got to hide me," Sami said as she ducked down behind EJ, hoping her father hadn't seen her.
When he seemed reluctant to do said hiding of her person she whispered, "That's my daddy, the police commissioner and my uncle Bo is right behind him and dear god I think my aunt Hope is with them too."
EJ turned around to face Samantha again. He didn't want her to get arrested, much less be humiliated by being here by her family and before he could decide how to keep from that happening all of the sudden he felt her drag him to a darkened corner of the bar and then she did something he never in a million years would have expected from her.
She linked her arms around his neck to kiss him and without a second's hesitation on his part he pulled her up closer to him to deepen the kiss. It felt like everything disappeared for those few seconds her lips were upon his and then she wrenched away from him, motioning to the back exit with the insistent tug of her hand within his hand.
He told himself it was just a distraction she had employed so that she wouldn't get caught, they had to look like a couple who had wanted to leave without being too conspicuous, but for that brief moment in time he had felt the world open up and shift beneath his feet.
What was he going to do with her? She was drunk and needed to get as far away from here without being detected by her family. So he did what he thought was best, he'd put her in his car, drive away and hopefully by the time they were close to Salem University she would be sober enough to go into her dorm.
Well at least that is what he knew should happen, he didn't need to take her to his flat.
He only hoped his plan would work as he prayed she would sober up quickly as he got her into his car and pulled out of the parking lot leaving the sea of blue lights from the police cars behind as he drove them both away from Luna's.
You Make Me Feel song lyrics by Cobra Starship