Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.
Chapter 7
She wore a dress.
That was the first thing that he noticed.
The second one was that she looked drop dead gorgeous in it.
One look at her and he was a goner.
Also she wasn't behind the bar as usual but standing near the old jukebox surrounded by a group of friends. They all had something to drink in their hands and were laughing and talking to each other.
Sam was talking to a girl who was slightly shorter than her and whose cheeks already were pretty flushed, a sign that the drink in her hand wasn't the first one tonight.
Every now and then Sam's eyes flickered over the crowd as if she was looking out for someone.
The girl said something and Sam laughed. A throaty yet very cheerful sound. It suited her very well.
Then she saw him. She grinned sheepishly at him and waved him over to join them.
Her friend turned around to see who she had been waving at. When she saw Caius her eyes almost dropped out of her head.
"Who is that?" she hissed at Sam as he made his way through the crowd and over to them.
"A friend. And stop starring at him like that."
"A 'friend' huh? And just why haven't you mentioned this friend before?"
"I have. He walked me home, remember?"
"He is strange-but-nice-guy?"
"Yes. And for heaven's sake don't call him that." she whispered quickly before turning to face Caius "Hi."
"You are not working tonight." he simply stated.
"I'm not."
"Well, of course she isn't." her friend chipped in "It's her birthday."
Caius' eyebrow rose. "It is?"
She bit her lip sheepishly and blushed a tiny bit. The slight touch of red suited her face exquisitely.
"Yes, it is. And it's not that big of a deal." she said into her friends direction before turning back to Caius.
"Caius, this is my friend Leila. Please don't mind her. She has a bit of a quick tongue."
"Calumny! I don't have a quick tongue. I simply..."
"Leila, why don't you come over here for a second? I want you to meet someone." Max appeared out of nowhere, putting his arm around Leila's shoulder leading her away with soft force.
"Sorry about that. She's already pretty drunk."
Caius grinned a crocked smile. "And you are not?"
"Nope."
He tilted his head slightly as if to indicate that there had to be more to this.
Sam nodded in surrender. "I'm waiting for someone."
"So he will actually come tonight?"
"He promised faithfully. He'll be here until midnight."
"Not very long until then."
"He will be here." she demonstratively took a sip from her drink.
Caius didn't believe a word she said but he kept quiet about it. It was only 10 minutes until midnight.
Besides before he could say anything at all another friend of hers showed up, putting her arm around her shoulder and asking happily: "Hey Sam, Happy Birthday. Where's Sebastian? I haven't seen him yet."
Samantha kept smiling but Caius could see the resentment in her eyes.
Outside the clock tower announced midnight. People cheered over the loud sound of music. The light was dimmed, and someone brought out a cake with flickering candles. The crowd started to sing Happy Birthday. Sam stood there in the middle of the crowd and smiled bravely.
This should have been one of the happiest moments of her life but although Caius hadn't known her for very long, knew her well enough to see that behind this mask of joy she felt like crying.
For the past 10 minutes people had been asking her none stop about her boyfriend and when he would show up.
He hadn't.
Not until now and to Caius it seemed obvious that he wouldn't at all tonight.
Samantha blew out the candles and the crowd cheered even louder.
In the dim light he could see her eyes glistening as Dexy's Midnight Runners Come on Eileen started to play.
It was one of Sam's favourites. It was among the things she'd told him the first night he had walked her home.
Now she was really close to crying.
Before Caius could think twice he already moved through the crowd and towards her.
He grabbed her hand. "Can I have this dance?"
Sam's face showed an expression of utter surprise but Caius was already tugging her towards the small dance floor.
He hadn't been dancing in quite some time and certainly not to music like this but as it turned out Sam was quite a good dancer herself. As soon as she had gotten over the initiate shock of being dragged to the dance floor she took the lead.
Halfway into the dance the tears were forgotten and she started to smile. It lit up her face like the sun lit up the world in the morning.
Bright and glorious.
He couldn't help but smiling back.
"Thank you." Sam smiled in the dim light of a street light. It was way part midnight as they made their way home, "You really saved my evening with that."
"It was my pleasure." Caius smiled back. "And I'm sorry that he didn't show."
"Don't remind me. I can't wait to hear his excuse for this."
"Will you forgive him?"
"I don't know. I..."
A loud noise in an alleyway to their right caught their attention.
"What was that?"
"I don't know. Perhaps a cat?" Caius shrugged. Truth was he knew exactly what it was.
His vampire eyes cut through the darkness and let him see crystal clear.
There were two people. A male and a female. And they obviously didn't want to be interrupted.
But Sam's curiosity was piqued. "I just want to have a look."
"Samantha I don't think..." in that moment the pair stepped out of the shadows.
They were engaged in a heated kiss while walking backwards until the girl's back met the wall.
The boy pressed his body against hers as they continued to make out apparently absolutely unaware that they were watched.
That was until a voice cut through the sound of their kissing.
"Seb?"
The boy moved away from the girl as if she had given him an electric shock.
"Sam!" he said taken aback by shock and surprise, "What... what are you doing here?"
Sam's body had gone rigid and her voice was dangerously calm as she spoke, "THIS is why you stood me up?"
"This.. what? No! No Sam this is not ..."
"It's my birthday and you stand me up to snog this bitch?"
"Oh come on Sam! It hasn't been going good between us for weeks. Maybe if you hadn't been that uptight playing the virtuous little virgin this wouldn't have happened!"
For a few seconds that felt like hours Sam said nothing. Then she turned on her heels and walked away. Past Caius and into the night.
Sebastian rolled his eyes: "Always such a drama queen."
The girl behind him giggled about his comment.
Caius was close to losing it and ripping that guys throat out. He wanted to see him suffer and bleed and he wanted to be the one responsible for it.
But the image of Samantha walking past him with tears streaming down her face pushed everything else in the background.
And so he turned around too and followed her scent to find her, but not before making a mental note to make sure that Sebastian met a punishment that fit his crime.
He found her on the steps under the clock tower by the fountain. She was sitting there on the cold stone shivering in the cold wind.
Her face was red and wet streams of black graced her cheeks.
Seeing her like this made Caius' heart drop.
He felt like he should say something but there was a big lump in his throat and he had no idea what he should say that would make her feel better.
Eventually he just walked up to her and sat next to her on the cold floor.
At first they just sat there while Sam silently cried.
Finally, after endless minutes Caius asked: "Is it true? What he said?"
Sam nodded.
Again Caius didn't know what to say to that. The things that Sebastian had thrown at her head were so private and intimate it made him uncomfortable to talk to her about it.
It would have been different if this was Athena he was talking to or Aro or Marcus. But he had only known Samantha for a few days. Basically he knew nothing about her life.
"I wanted to wait." Sam said quietly, interrupting Caius' thoughts, "It didn't feel right so I told him I wanted to wait. I'm such an idiot."
"Don't say that." Caius snapped harsher than he intended to, "You are not an idiot." he continued in a softer voice.
He put an arm around her shivering shoulders and pulled her closer to him as she laid her head on his shoulder.
"You are not an idiot. Nowadays there are so many girls who give away their innocence to a stranger without a second thought. Believe me, I know it.
And every girl who does this has every right to call herself an idiot. But you know that this is something special and it shouldn't be wasted on someone you don't know the first thing about.
You are a strong young woman who knows what she is worth."
And I wish I would have met you 2'000 years ago.
"Thank you." she murmured, "Do you mind sitting here for a little longer? This feels kinda good."
"As long as you want."
