Chapter Ten
...
"Is that okay or do you want me to look for something else?"
Sam tugged at the sleeves of her, or Danny's, oversized white dress shirt and shook her head. "This is fine. It's comfy." She stiffly took a seat on the guest bed and slowly worked her way to a flat position, managing to ignore the sharp, but now somewhat tolerable, pain that lanced through her body while doing so. "Now I'm just going to lay here forever."
Danny frowned and took a seat beside her on the bed. "Well, you can't lay here forever," he replied. "Are you sure you don't want me to take you to the hospital?" She groaned and looked over at him with a look of exasperation.
"For like the seventh time, I'm fine. I promise." He still appeared skeptical, but he seemed to dismiss the matter rather than press her about it. "I just know David's going to come after me," she continued. "There's no way he's not going to, especially after what went down tonight."
He snorted. "He's not going to see you without seeing me first and that's a fact." He then lowered himself onto the bed, facing Sam once he was fully lying down on his side. "I know you're perfectly capable of protecting yourself, but don't forget you'll always be safe with me. Always."
She smiled gently at him and nodded. "I know that." Despite the fact that they were apart for years, he still made her feel safe in all aspects: physically, emotionally, verbally, and even mentally. "It's crazy what we're both going through with these people."
She heard him sigh and empathized with the sorrow that was underlying it. "Yeah, it is. When I first started having problems with Brianna, I always tried to talk to her about them and work on it with her. She never wanted to, so I recently gave up and walked away. I guess I wasn't in love with her the way I wanted to be."
"I take it that she's not a very nice person."
"She's not. Well, she was nice to me at times, but to others, she can be a little rude." He rolled onto his back and his eyes drifted towards the ceiling. "We ordered pizza one day and the delivery girl smiled at me and thanked me for the tip I gave her, telling me to have a nice day. Brianna didn't like that very much and really tried to get the girl fired."
Sam cast a sideways glance at him and slightly slacked her jaw. "Really?" He leisurely nodded his head in confirmation. "Wow. I shouldn't really be surprised." She somewhat already pinned Brianna as a rude person the day Danny admitted that she punched him in the chest during their argument.
"I can't say I wish I never met her, though. I'm glad I met her because I've learned things from our time together, like what types of relationships are worth fighting for and which ones are not. I've learned to put myself first and walk away from anything or anyone who may be detrimental to my well-being. I don't see that relationship as a waste of time."
She remained speechless for a minute and just stared at the side of his face, as his gaze was still glued to the ceiling. She closed her eyes afterwards and asked, "What did you learn from our relationship?" She felt like it was a stupid question, but she chanced asking it anyway.
His expression fell much more solemn, which struck a chord of regret within her. She was just about to apologize for asking him that when he answered, "Love. I learned love." That made her open her eyes again and a fluttering sensation swept through her stomach. "True love. That's the one feeling I've never felt with anyone but you."
The blood rushed to warm her cheeks when he shifted his body to the side, now facing her, and then drilled his eyes into hers. His pensive look melted into a tender expression, which caused her to smile sweetly at him. "So what are you going to do about it, Casanova?"
His lips curved upward into a charming smile, enticing her. Their gazes battled each other for about six seconds before he moved his head forward and kissed her gently. She was surprised at first, but then she relaxed and let her eyes roll shut.
The kiss was slow and sensual, but it was enough to leave her wanting more. She felt the spark the moment their lips touched, but the feeling of his fingers gently sliding into her hair turned the sparks into a fire that melted her heart.
Still, they kept it short and sweet, pulling their heads back about six seconds later. Danny's fingers were still tangled in her hair, but he slightly dragged his hand downward so that he was now cupping her cheek ever so delicately. "So that just happened," she murmured.
"Yeah, it did." He smirked at her and lowered his eyelids partially. "Do you want it to happen again?" She rolled her eyes and playfully pushed at his shoulder, making him chuckle in response. "I'm totally kidding, but that was... wow."
"Yeah, it was."
They lounged there on the bed for an hour, talking about both serious and humorous subjects before binge watching one of Sam's favorite television series. Danny wound up falling asleep around the sixth episode, so rather than wake him up and make him sleep in his own room, she decided to call it a night as well.
When she woke up the following morning, he wasn't there anymore. She started to wonder if the kiss they shared last night actually happened or if she was just dreaming that it did. It certainly felt more like a fantasy, but when she noticed that she was still lying in the same position that she was in last night, that fantasy instantly became reality.
She faintly heard the sound of the kitchen faucet running, so she figured he was out there and didn't want to wake her up. There wasn't a clock anywhere in the guest bedroom, so she guessed that it was somewhere around eight in the morning.
She shambled out of the bedroom and made a beeline for the kitchen, but once she entered the living room, she saw an unfamiliar girl standing near the kitchen sink. She appeared to be washing a dish, but as soon as she was finished, she turned around and caught Sam's eye.
"What the hell?" Her lips curled and her face contorted into a scowl. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" She stared Sam down for a good minute before her mouth fell open and her eyes grew as wide as they could stretch. "No way. You're the home wrecker."
Sam's face crumpled; she didn't understand how one look at her stirred a whole insult from Brianna. "Uh, excuse me?" She was wondering why the woman called her that name and why she was even there in the first place. "I don't even know you."
"But I know you." Brianna paused before turning over her shoulder and marching over to the wall near the kitchen sink. She grabbed one side of a Polaroid photo that was taped to the wall and carefully peeled it off before snatching it away completely. Then, she brought it back to Sam, whose eyebrows dipped.
"Yeah, that's me in that picture," she admitted, "but that was taken of me, Danny, and Tucker when we were in high school. How am I a home wrecker because of that?"
"Not because of that. He's been secretive with me ever since you came into the picture. He's been meeting up with you behind my back and I don't appreciate it, Sam." Brianna briefly glared down at the picture in her hand before tearing it into two halves. "Just because you don't respect your own relationship doesn't mean you can disrespect mine."
Sam blinked a few times, taken aback, and then raised her hands defensively. "Whoa, whoa. Back the crazy-ex-girlfriend train up." Her arms crossed over her chest and a look of bewilderment clouded her features. "What are you even talking about right now? I thought you guys were broken up."
"That's neither here nor there. You've been meeting up with him, hanging out with him, and probably even hooking up with him while you knew we were together." With a scoff, Brianna spread her arms outward. "Don't you have a whole boyfriend of your own?"
Sam growled and slightly raised her voice. "I've never done anything like that with him!" Well, they kissed, but she didn't think Brianna needed to know that because that happened while she and Danny were supposedly broken up. "We're literally just friends."
"Yet you're standing in our apartment wearing a shirt that I bought for him."
"Wearing a shirt..." Sam trailed off as she looked down at the shirt she was wearing. She then realized that Brianna had a point; standing in the middle of his apartment wearing his shirt looked completely suspicious. "Wait, it's not like that at all. I—"
"Save it," Brianna cut in. She started to put her hair into a bun while laughing almost bitterly. "I knew I'd run into you one day. I always have something for girls who don't know their place." When she was done, she clasped her hands together and tilted her head to the side. "Come here."
"What, so you're really trying to fight me right now?" Sam didn't condone fighting, especially over something so silly, but all she knew was that if Brianna initiated a fight, she was going to defend herself. First, she wanted to try and de-escalate the situation. "Don't you think this is a bit ridiculous? Fighting me isn't going to solve anything."
"It'll definitely help me blow off some steam." Brianna lowered her brows and tapped the side of her eye. "What happened here? Did you shack up with someone else's boyfriend and have to deal with his angry girlfriend?"
Sam could only glare at the woman in disbelief as she wondered how someone could possibly be that childish. "No, that didn't happen," she clarified, "but what actually happened isn't any of your business."
"That's fine. I can even out your face for you." And then Brianna charged at her like a madman, arm drawn back and ready to swing, but Sam shoved her back so forcefully that she stumbled right into the kitchen table. That caused the table to rock, and as a result, a glass candle that was sitting on the surface got knocked onto the floor.
Brianna's glare intensified as she sat there on the floor and leered up at Sam, who was now standing at a distance looking shocked. Danny came racing down the hallway and rounded the corner just as Brianna stood up again. When she made another angry dash for Sam, he stepped in front of her and grabbed her, restraining her immediately.
"Let me go!" She thrashed around in an attempt to break free from his grasp, still hurling derogatory remarks at Sam. "You promiscuous little home wrecker! I promise I'll get you back for that!" Danny hastily towed her over to the front door before releasing her, but luckily, she made no further attempt at getting to Sam.
"You know what?" Sam shook her head and brought her hands to her chest. "I'm not going to sit here and kiss your ass. I've tried telling you that I'm not like that and Danny's not like that, but honestly, you can think whatever you want to think. Just know he's your loss."
Brianna started howling with laughter, which actually made Sam feel awkward. When Danny turned his head to glance back at her, she saw that he looked uncomfortable as well. "I never take losses, babygirl. Just know this isn't over. I'll see you again."
He reached over Brianna and unlocked the front door, but he didn't open it for her. "You need to leave, Bri. Seriously, leave." When she scoffed, he held up a finger and raised his brows. "I already told you that we're done. We're over. If I have to take the legal route to get you out of my apartment, I will."
That seemed to somewhat calm her down, as she exhaled sharply and rolled her eyes. "There's no need for all of that. I'm only here to pack up my things so I can fully leave." Her eyes drifted towards Sam and her tone sharpened. "I'll go for now and come back later, but I highly suggest that she not be here when I come back."
Sam took a step forward. "Is that supposed to be a threat?"
"Be here when I come back and you'll see." The two women scowled rather darkly at each other before Brianna twisted around and opened the door, slamming it on her way outside. Danny was quick to lock the door before moving briskly towards Sam, but before he could get a word out, she held her palm outward.
"Not now, please. We'll talk later. I want to be alone." The apologetic look on his face and the hurt that flickered in his eyes almost made her stay, but she fought against that urge and turned over her shoulder. She then paused for a few seconds before whirling back around. "But first, I'm going to change out of this shirt."