Fallout

Chapter 10

Written by: Karen

EJ was sweaty and tired after the basketball game. He played more than he thought he would, and when he was on court, he kept his mind of the game. He had to, or he'd be thinking about her instead.

Just those few seconds of eye contact with Sami before the game had somehow lifted his spirits tremendously. Her silent wish of good luck had made him feel confident, when only minutes before in the locker room frankly he'd been scared thinking he would fuck up terribly during the game.

Well he'd made it through this first experience of playing varsity, maybe he would get the hang of it soon and not feel like he was going to throw up before the start of every game. The rest of the team was quite loud congratulating themselves on the win and EJ had gotten a few pats on the back along with some way to go DiMera comments.

All he wanted to do right now was shower and then go home. It had been a long day and he was definitely feeling the effects of the lack of sleep he had gotten the night before. He grabbed a towel and headed to the showers. He felt so grimy there was no way he could wait until he arrived home to shower.

Before he could leave the main area of the locker room and hit the showers, Philip stopped him, "Where are you going?"

EJ held up a towel, "I've gotta take a shower. I reek."

"You usually do," Philip commented offhandedly, "but we have to go out and celebrate our big win tonight. Knox and some of the other guys asked if we wanted to go with them."

EJ shook his head, "I'm so fucking tired. I'm in no mood to party, plus I've got homework to do."

"I swear if you weren't my best friend I'd think you were a girl. We are finally being allowed into Knox's inner circle and you're snubbing your nose at the opportunity."

"I still don't know if I trust the guy," EJ said quietly.

Philip rolled his eyes, "You know how girls like us now? If Knox lets us hang out with him we will be able to get any girl in this school. Don't you ever want to get laid?"

"Life isn't all about getting laid Kiriakis."

"Are you even a 16 year old guy? That's all I ever think about is getting laid."

"Thus the reason I have a higher GPA than you," EJ retorted dryly as he turned away from Philip, then paused momentarily. "Anyway aren't you having the party of the year this upcoming Saturday?"

"Well, I've had a slight change of plans," Philip hedged.

"I knew they weren't going to allow you to have a party."

"Mom and Dad are still going away for a weekend, but not this upcoming weekend like they had planned earlier. There was some kind of mishap in one of the cosmetic labs for Countess Wilhelmina and Billie called her today, freaking out about it all. So of course Mom left immediately to go hold Billie's hand during this crisis. My father only made it worse when he made light of the situation and Mom left the house in a huff."

"Sure," EJ nodded. "Was this before or after you supposedly got a bj from Chloe."

"Kiriakis got a bj from Chloe Lane?" Knox asked stopping in his tracks to go to the showers when he overheard the two of them talking.

Damn, me and my big mouth. This is not going to end well.

EJ was ready to try and remedy the situation until Philip just widely grinned and boasted, "Oh yeah, I sure did!"

My best friend is a dumb ass. Knox will broadcast this all over school by the end of tomorrow.

Knox hit Philip on the back, "Damn son. Chloe is fine. Way to go!" Then he left them behind as he disappeared into the showers.

"Why didn't you say I was lying?" EJ asked knowing if this got out whether or not Chloe had actually performed oral sex on Philip it was going to be a like a nuclear bomb exploding when she got a hold of Philip. EJ could already hear Chloe screeching hysterically in his mind.

"I'm not embarrassed by it," Philip rocked on his heels and flipped his towel at EJ. "Besides I'm not the one who is too afraid to do anything with a girl. I bet by the time we graduate you will still be a virgin."

"You're such an idiot," EJ rolled his eyes as he took off to the showers too.

"Well at least I'll be a laid idiot," Philip replied proudly as if that was the best thing in the world.

EJ flipped Philip a bird and walked on to the shower stalls, turning on a shower and letting the warm water run over him. All he wanted was to clean up and then go home. This had been one hell of a long day.

The rest of the DiMera family was patiently waiting on EJ to make his appearance after the basketball game. A few of the players on the team had begun walking out of the locker room to be greeted by friends and family, but EJ was still nowhere in sight.

Well almost all of the DiMera family was waiting patiently; Kristen was past ready to go. She had talked Stefano into taking the entire family out to one of her favorite restaurants since as she told her father they needed to celebrate the big wins over one of their biggest high school rivals.

EJ emerged from the locker room, walking side by side with Philip. Apparently they were both engrossed in some kind of conversation where EJ almost walked past his family until Kristen reached out and grabbed his arm.

"Whoa there," Kristen exclaimed as she prevented EJ from walking any further away.

EJ easily allowed Kristen to drag him away from Philip especially since he had told him repeatedly that he was not going out with the rest of the team tonight. Kristen waggled her fingers at Philip to shoo him away and he went away frowning at them both.

Before they went back to the family EJ spoke, "Hey, just wanted to apologize for this morning. It was uncalled for and you know I didn't mean it."

"I started it," Kristen admitted, "but you have to cut me some slack I'm PMSing."

EJ put his hands up to his ears, "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear you tell me what you just did."

Kristen yanked on one of his arms and pulled him into a hug, "Love you little brother."

EJ looked down at her affectionately, "You too big sister."

Stefano waved them over, "Come on children we are all going out to celebrate your victories."

"Yeah, Daddy agreed we could go to Chez Rouge tonight!" Kristen announced happily.

"Father, may I take a rain check while you all go out instead? I'm very tired," EJ stated honestly. Right now he was so worn out he felt like he lay down on the basketball court and go to sleep.

"Eeej, come on! We hardly ever get to all go out to dinner together. " Kristen pleaded, but he shook his head no even when she batted those puppy dog eyes his way hoping to change his mind.

Lexie added, "And I drove us all to school this morning. You don't have your car with you."

EJ hesitated momentarily, he didn't want to be the reason they had to change the plans they made after the games were finished. "I don't want to ruin everyone's night."

"I'll drive EJ home," Marco offered. "I need to get going since I plan on having an early start for work in the morning."

Sami asked quietly "If you don't mind, may I go home as well? It's been a long day. You all know how the first day of school is and today was mine at Salem High."

Stefano wanted to say no to both of their requests, but whether Sami had realized it or not she had called their place home and that was a step in the right direction in helping her heal from all the horror she had faced over the past few weeks.

"Marco, if you don't mind?" Stefano asked after contemplating letting his most trusted employee take two of his children home.

"I wouldn't have offered if I didn't mind taking them home. Get your things and I'll meet you both out in the parking lot."

"Thanks for understanding Father," EJ slung his book bag over his shoulder while he waited on Sami to get hers too.

"It's quite all right. There will be other nights, other victories to celebrate. You did a fine job tonight my son."

EJ beamed under his father's praise as Stefano pulled him into a hug before letting him go. He pointed to Sami as she went to retrieve her book bag. "Look after your sister then."

"Yes sir, I will," EJ answered hating the feeling of conflict that arose once again over Sami being referred to as his sister.

Stefano watched them both walk away for a few seconds before he turned back to his other children and said, "Well let's go then."

"You brought the limo to the game?" EJ asked as Marco opened up the back door for EJ and Sami to enter the car.

"Your father was running late and I didn't want Miss Sami to be by herself when the basketball games began this evening."

Sami gave him a small smile. "Thank you Marco. That was very nice of you."

"I enjoyed your company tonight, so thank you."

EJ noted Sami was blushing slightly as she entered the limo first and then EJ followed behind her. They sat on opposite seats facing one another, both tossing their book bags to the side. After the door was closed and Marco got into the driver's seat to start up the limo Sami finally spoke to EJ, "I wanted to apologize to you again."

EJ's brow furrowed, "For what? You haven't done anything wrong to me."

"For waking you up and keeping you up so late last night when you needed your sleep…" She let her voice trail off thinking of what an inconvenience she must be to all of them even if they were being so kind to her. She lowered her head as she felt the tears she had successfully held at bay all day long threaten to start falling.

EJ moved over to the seat Sami occupied and sat down beside her, he placed his fingertips under her chin, "Hey, no apologizing for that at all. I was glad I could be there for you last night. I can't even begin to imagine what you've been through. Anytime you need me, I'll be here for you, no questions asked unless you want to tell me."

EJ was being so sweet, it made it all the worse as Sami took a deep breath and forced herself not to cry in front of him. "But I was the reason you were so tired and then you and Kristen got into an argument before school and …"

"Kristen and I will argue no matter what, it's what we do. That wasn't your fault."

"Are you sure? I mean we all had to ride together because it was my first day of school."

"We all wanted to ride with you. We're happy you are a part of our family. So was the first day ok for you? I'm sorry I didn't text you to see how you were doing."

Sami nodded her head, "That's all right. Lexie did and Kristen sent me corny jokes and Chad was with me all day in my classes. He introduced me to everyone. They all seem nice enough."

EJ asked her, "It basically sucked didn't it?"

"Yeah, but things will get better. Things are getting easier, as easy as they can be considering." She paused as if the words were too difficult to articulate. "Can we not talk about it yet? I'm not ready to go into how everything went down when my father died and then having to deal with starting over at a new school, living an entirely new life."

What she wasn't saying was what made EJ's heart hurt for her. He wished he could take her in his arms and hold her tightly, never allowing anything bad happen to her ever again. He nodded, "We don't have to talk. Just know when you need someone to talk to. I'm here for you."

"I'll keep that in mind, thank you," Sami said as EJ settled down further in the seat and before she knew it he had fallen asleep resting his head against her shoulder. It felt like her heart had skipped a beat and she admonished herself, EJ thought of her as a sister nothing more, nothing less.