Fallout

Chapter 14

Written by: Karen

EJ stepped back a few feet which caused Sami's bedroom door to almost close behind him. Damn if he wasn't already hard from inadvertently lying in between Sami's legs when they fell in the snow together a few minutes ago, he sure as hell was now. Although the current moment was tense, EJ suddenly wondered if someone could die from an erection that didn't ever seem to go away. This had been an ongoing experience whenever he was close to Sami.

Look up pervert, don't look at her chest even if you are dying to see what she looks like only clad in a bra, look in her eyes instead.

Deciding he better go the gentlemanly route, EJ forced his eyes upward and prayed he hadn't scared Sami to death with his sudden appearance into her bedroom whilst she was changing out of her wet clothes into drier ones.

Their eyes locked upon one another and neither one of them said a word, both uncertain as to what should happen next until EJ spoke first.

"Oh fuck, I'm sorry for barging in on you Sami," EJ claimed as he immediately turned to face the barely closed door instead of doing what he wanted to do which was go over to her and yank the shirt away from where it now partially shielded her body.

Sami stood still for a moment looking at the back of EJ's form wishing he would just turn back around and look at her... She was instantly torn between the flaming embarrassment of EJ catching her changing clothes and the sudden rush of desire that was ramped up higher than she what she felt while they were outside lying on the ground.

The truth was she wondered what EJ might do if she threw caution to the wind and dropped the shirt to the floor. Did she want to see some kind of verification that EJ was feeling the exact crazy attraction she was experiencing toward him or was it all in her head?

"Sami?" EJ asked when she hadn't responded to his apology yet. He wanted to turn around, but surely she would see he was more interested in her than beyond being considered her older brother. What if she was repulsed by him? What if she thought he was some kind of freak for feeling that way about her?

What if?

She had to decide something quick, she couldn't let him believe he was at fault for something she wanted too, if he actually wanted what she wanted.

"EJ, it's okay. You can turn around," Sami coaxed quietly. She hadn't dropped the shirt to the floor yet, but she was tempted to do so, all she needed was to see his face. If he looked at her like he wanted her, she was going to see where this might go between them.

EJ turned slowly, not knowing exactly what to anticipate and right before he was completely turned around to face Sami, he heard a loud commotion. It sounded like every one of his other siblings beyond Tony had decided to come in the house all at the exact same time.

"Eeej! Where are you? You've got a visitor!" Kristen's voice arose as he could hear them on the stairs heading their way.

"I'm not a visitor, I'm family!" Philip stated heatedly as their voices echoed as they were coming closer to entering the hallway where their bedrooms were located.

"Shit!" EJ exclaimed as he cast a quick glance to Sami before he swiftly headed out of her bedroom, closing the door behind them where she could put on something else before they all arrived. How could he even explain it to them if they hadn't been loud enough for him to leave her bedroom in time? What would he have done if she had dropped the sweatshirt to the floor like he desperately wanted her to do?

Sami's heart was racing; she grabbed another sweatshirt from the beautiful antique armoire that was situated in her bedroom. She hastily donned it and was ready to walk out into the hallway when she heard EJ greet them.

"Where did you find him?" EJ asked as Philip sauntered down the hallway in between Kristen and Lexie with Chad right on their heels.

Kristen explained, "Poor thing appeared out of nowhere claiming he would need to help you and Chad in our snowball war since Tony was off at school and we now had Sami on our team."

Upon hearing her name, Sami walked out of her door ready to meet EJ's best friend. She had heard about him and of course seen the big blow up in the cafeteria. While she had thought things were dramatic at her former high school, Salem High was already proving to her you didn't have to live in California to experience drama.

Chad asked sarcastically "You think we couldn't beat these girls without your help?"

"Please even if Knox now calls EJ Big D, there is no way you could beat these women."

Damn his best friend for exuding his charm on his sisters as they all begin to smile in his direction even Sami seemed to be falling for his lines.

"Big D? Seriously EJ, Knox has got to be kidding!" Kristen exclaimed as she gave her younger brother a look over as if she found him lacking to be extolled with such a nickname.

"Exactly what I said," Philip placed a hand on Kristen's shoulders as if they were long lost pals.

EJ was about to defend his new nickname when Chad brought up the latest scandal Philip had seemed to cause at their high school. "Was this before or after Chloe threw her lunch on you?"

Philip released his hold on Kristen and turned to face Chad, even though it aggravated him immensely that EJ's younger brother was already taller than him. "Fuck you Chadwick."

"Gentlemen, there are ladies present," Lexie admonished them before the boys got into a raunchy discussion that would be better suited for them to have without the girls being around them.

"Sorry Lexie," Philip apologized to her and cast his eyes upon the other two girls as well.

Lexie smiled at him, god knew the boy was an idiot especially after this last fiasco he had gotten himself into with Chloe Lane. "Apology accepted, now what actually brings you here Philip?"

"I couldn't stay in my house any longer with Lucas and the nerd herd that follows him everywhere he goes."

"Nerd herd?" Sami asked wondering who could be considered that at their high school. She didn't even know who this Lucas guy was that Philip was talking about either.

"Yeah, my brother Lucas and his penchant for World of Warcraft was too much for me to handle. I couldn't imagine being snowbound listening to him, Spencer and Connor talking nonstop about the fantastic world full of magic and adventure."

"Lucas is just different," Lexie began to defend him only to be cut off by all three guys at the same time.

At least on this they were in agreement upon, "Lucas is a geek."

"Apparently Lexie can see the good in all people unless you happen to be Knox," Kristen added as she folded her arms under her chest.

"That's not true," Lexie stated only to have everyone beyond Sami began to disagree with her. She listened to them argue against her for a minute until she held up her hands in mock surrender. "Well you may be right, but Knox is cruel."

"He's not Lexie, he's just misunderstood," Kristen ever the champion to Knox whenever someone said something bad about him.

"We all misunderstand that Knox is a jackass?" Chad asked as Philip and EJ snickered behind him when Kristen turned on her heel to face off with her youngest brother.

"Take that back Chad," Kristen pointed a finger into his chest.

"Or what Kristen? I can state my opinion about the guy. Most times he is basically a jerk to all the underclassmen on the JV and varsity basketball teams."

"Well I guess Big D over here is the new exception to the rule," Philip stated as EJ pulled him into a headlock to shut him up.

"I'll show you Big D," EJ tightened his grip on Philip.

"Damn it EJ! Let go of me!"

"EJ, let Philip go," Lexie came beside EJ casting him a pleading look.

"You're such a girl," EJ stated as he let Philip loose.

Chad asked, "Can we have Sami on our team instead of Philip? Even EJ said Philip is like a girl so…"

Lexie and Kristen immediately said no to Chad's request which made Sami glad that her newfound sisters wanted her with them. Also she was kind of hesitant to look at EJ and if he were on her team they would have to confer with each other on strategy.

Lexie suggested, "Let's go to the kitchen and get something to eat before we begin round two of the greatest snowball fight of the year."

They readily agreed since they were kind of hungry and of course Philip never turned down food when he was at the mansion. EJ kind of hung back from the crowd as they chattered amongst themselves and began to make their way to the first floor of the mansion. He casually held out his hand to stop Sami from going with them as he clasped onto her wrist.

Sami turned those questioning big blue eyes upon him over his action as EJ quietly asked her a question, "Can we talk later?"

The immediate flash of desire sparked up again within her as soon as he touched her. She nodded her head and tried to keep her voice from cracking, she gave him a simple one word answer, "Okay."

With her acquiesce to talk later, EJ dropped his hold upon her wrist and walked onward, not wanting to attract the attention of everyone around them. It wouldn't do for any of them to suspect he was attracted to Sami, even the girl herself.