Chapter 12: So, Who's the Hunk?

"So what are you going to do?" asked Sam, as she slid her hand into Jake's. Jake looked down at her, confused.

"What do you mean, what am I going to do?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowing over his gentle mustang eyes.

"You can't very well just go to the hotel and tell your mom that you skipped school and decided to take a break and head up to London." Sam told him.

"Oh, but Sam, I can. She will be slightly angry. But I'll play it off… I'll play it off so that it looks like I really need her." Jake smiled, raising his eyebrows.

"So you're gonna like, lie? But what is your mom gonna think when she finds out the truth. She's not gonna trust you anymore." Sam stopped walking and looked Jake in the eye. Jake was usually the soul of discretion and honesty. All the adults trusted him.

"People and adults especially, trust me, Sam. And usually I am pretty honest about things… so they have a good reason to trust me. It's just this one time that I'll lie to my mom. She'll never find out that I came here to see you. And I did miss her." He grinned for a second, and then spoke quietly in her ear "Just not as much as I missed you." Sam felt a warm feeling surge run through her body. She wasn't used to this kind of attention from anyone. She squeezed his hand and they continued walking. It was then that she remembered who had come to the airport with her.

"Rjay!" she gasped, absentmindedly. Jake snapped his head in her direction, his eyes looking slightly suspicious.

"What?" he asked, his voice sounding low and gruff.

"Rjay… he was the one who brought me here in the first place. He was in the airport somewhere… I'm not sure where he went." Sam told him. His eyes softened a bit from the sharpened "weapons" that they had been just a second ago.

"Do you remember where he parked his car?" he asked. Sam thought for a moment and then remembering, she nodded.

"Uh, yeah, I think I remember where it was." She told him, nodding again.

"Okay, well, he probably realized what happened, and went back to his car after a while. We can meet him there." Jake told her, with a comforting squeeze of the hand. Sam laid her head on his shoulder for a moment.

"You tired?" he asked her, looking concerned.

"No, no, I'm fine… It's just that this week has been really trying for me. I was thinking it'll be nice to go home…" her voice trailed away to nothing.

"It'll be nice to have you home." He told her with a sincere smile.

---

When Sam and Jake arrived at the hotel with Rjay, whose car they had found quiet easily, they were met by an astonished Mrs. Ely.

"Sam! Where have you… Jake what are you doing here?!" she asked, her eyes widening as if she wasn't really sure if it was her son standing there, or just a wild delusion of her mind.

"I missed you, Mom." He said softly, looking at her in a very endearing sort of a way, and wrapping his arms around her in a hug. It was then that Sam noticed just how much bigger Jake was than his own mother.

Mrs. Ely shot Sam a confused but happy smile.

"Did you know he was coming, Sam?" she asked. Sam froze for a second, wondering how she could answer this question without lying through her teeth. Well… actually, she hadn't had any idea that Jake was coming.

"I didn't have a clue." was what she finally blurted out, with a smile.

Mrs. Ely just raised her eyebrows, but she didn't say anything more to Sam. She then let go of Jake, and crossed her arms, looking at him seriously.

"Does your father know you're here?" she asked raising her eyebrows even further. Jake's eyes narrowed slightly, and the twinkle left his eye.

"Uh, yeah… about that… well, I kind of missed you so much you know, I kind of forgot to mention it to him." He looked sheepishly down at the ground. Mrs. Ely's eyes widened in utter surprise at her usually responsible teenage son's completely irresponsible behavior.

"Jacob Ely! Your father is probably worried sick. Call him, now, Jake. And I'm not planning on doing any of the explaining for you… after all, I have no idea what's going on." She told him, rolling her eyes.

She pulled her cell phone out of her back pocket and handed it to him.

"Go. Now." She told him strictly. He looked down at the ground, but took the phone, and quickly walked a little ways down the hallway.

---

Jake, finished with his call, walked back down the hallway towards Sam who was sitting on a bench in the hallway.

She didn't notice that he had come back until he touched her on the shoulder. She jumped.

"Sam?" he asked quietly. "Oh, sorry, did I scare you?"

"Uh, no… you just surprised me. So, what did your dad say?" she asked. Sam knew that Jake's father was very quiet and old-fashioned as most cowboys are. He and Jake were so much alike, and Sam couldn't really imagine a phone conversation between the two. She'd bet there wasn't too many jokes being cracked in that conversation.

"Uh… he was, disappointed in me." Jake said, looking down at the floor.

"Oh, that sucks." Sam said, with a small smile. Jake smiled back, as he sat down next to her on the bench. He squeezed her hand, and was opening his mouth to say something when a certain dark haired boy with blue eyes decided to stick his head out of Ryan's hotel room.

"Hey, Alex." Sam muttered.

"Hey, Samantha." He flashed her a smile. She noticed that his teeth were blindingly white. Then he proceeded to make a completely unneeded comment.

"So, who's the hunk?" he asked, smiling again, this time, mockingly.

She glared at him, attempting to bore her eyes right through him. If only, I was Clark Kent, she thought with a sigh.

"This is my friend Jake, from back home in Nevada. He goes to my school" She said, gritting her teeth. He smiled for the third time, and she could feel his sarcastic comment coming on.

"Oh, so this is the incredible Jake…" He raised his eyebrows and glanced back and forth between the two of them, "Do you usually hold hands with your friends? Wait… then again; we were friends, weren't we? And you made out with me, so I guess holding hands with him really isn't all that big of a deal." he said. She looked down at the bench and realized that her hand was, in fact, still entwined with Jake's. She rolled her eyes at him, even as the blush spread across her face. She tried to slip her hand out of Jake's but his hand only gripped hers tighter.

"I don't really have time for this, Alex." She told him, hoping that he would take the hint and go away. He didn't.

"Too bad, Sammy, cause I've got all the time in the world." Sam looked across at Jake and saw that he was clenching his jaw. She didn't say anything, and just held his hand tighter. Alex stood there for a moment grinning, and then he spoke again.

"Okay, I can see that you don't want to talk to me? So I'm just going to leave. Tell you boyfriend that he's not going to be able to keep you for long, seeing as he can't even stick up for you when you're being insulted." He smiled one last time, and spun quickly around and begun to march his way back down the hallway.

Unfortunately this is where it gets messy.

So what did you think? I know, I said only two more chapters, but I guess there's a lot to wrap up so I can extend it a LITTLE bit more. I just liked ending it on the note that I ended it on. That was fun  Anyways, the update should be relatively fast because after this I'm just going to start writing the next chapter. Thanks for reading, and I'll get back to you guys soon.

Thanks again,

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