A/N: So I was curious what everyone thought of the Sam character in this story...my wife loves her for various reasons but I wondered what others thought about her as well. No opinion is wrong.. feedback is welcome! Small reminder that there are only 3 more chapters left now so the next update will be the final one and the story will be completed! Enjoy!

Chapter 20 An Awkward Moment

A month later Simone found herself winding down a long dirt road out in the middle of nowhere searching for the house Annabelle had bought. She looked over at the GPS unit of her little blue Audi and frowned at the screen not knowing where the hell she was. She glanced down at the piece of paper Annabelle had given her and saw she was on the right road but hadn't reached the next turn off yet. She drove on a bit further and saw the road leading up to the house. As she turned onto the gravel driveway she noticed the hedgerows that bordered the property were neatly trimmed. She reached the end of the driveway and stared at the tri-level house in amazement. There were lights on inside several rooms of the house, but most were dark. Simone parked next to the little red Porsche and saw Sam's Nissan Frontier, and Jordan's Honda Accord parked there as well. She got out of the car and carried her small overnight bag up to the front door and rang the bell. Sam opened the door and grinned at Simone standing in the darkness.

"So you found the place alright?" Sam asked with a laugh.

"No I'm still out searching for the damn place!" Simone replied with a roll of her eyes and a shake of her head.

Sam laughed again and stood aside to allow Simone to come in the house. Simone could smell chicken cooking from the kitchen and headed that way to see if she could help out. Jordan stood behind the stove flipping pieces of chicken legs over so they could cook on the other side. She wiped her hands on the towel on the counter and headed for the island in the center of the kitchen to finish chopping up the vegetables she was preparing to cook.

"Hey Simone!" Jordan grinned as Simone entered the kitchen and extended her hand for Simone to shake.

"Need any help?" Simone asked shaking Jordan's hand.

"Nah I got it. Help yourself to anything you want to drink though." Jordan replied motioning towards the refrigerator.

Simone walked over to the fridge and got a bottle of water out. She surveyed the kitchen as she took a sip of water and noticed the stairs heading up to the next floor, and the door leading down into the basement. Something seemed off to Simone and she glanced at her watch to see what time it is. She saw it was seven pm and a frown slowly formed on her face.

"Where's Annabelle?" Simone asked looking up in time to see Sam come back into the kitchen.

"She isn't here. Why?" Sam asked scratching her head and looking puzzled.

"She gave me directions on how to get here and she isn't even here?!" Simone said to no one in particular and shook her head.

"She will be here soon. She had to go do something." Sam lamely tried to explain but stopped before she gave too much away.

"Like what?!" Simone demanded narrowing her eyes at Sam.

"Look, Annabelle will explain when she gets here…" Sam's voice trailed off as they all heard the car drive up outside.

It was too dark to see who the car belonged to, but they didn't have to wait long. The front door opened and the sound of laughter could be heard from the foyer.

"I can't help it if you have two left feet!" Annabelle laughed loudly at someone behind her.

"I don't have two left feet! You just keep going left when you're supposed to go right!" someone else teased her making Annabelle laugh even harder. She stopped laughing when she saw Simone walk into the foyer from the kitchen and smiled.

"Hey! When did you get here?" Annabelle asked walking towards Simone to hug her.

"About fifteen minutes ago." Simone replied not hugging her back.

"Ok. Who shit in your cheerios this morning?!" Annabelle frowned backing up to look at her girlfriend.

"Do you really have to ask?! I've barely seen or spoken to you in over a month and then you give me directions making me think we are actually going to be spending time together and you show up with him?!" Simone scoffed as she shook her head at Annabelle in amazement.

"Excuse us for a minute." Annabelle said to AJ as she grabbed Simone's hand and pulled her towards the living room and shut the French doors behind them. "First of all, this jealousy thing is getting old. I was not cheating on you in any way, shape, form, or fashion. AJ is my partner for that charity dance competition that was on that paper I showed you." Annabelle said as she spun around to face Simone.

"You tacked it to my bulletin board with a pair of scissors." Simone reminded Annabelle with a soft chuckle.

"Second of all, I did invite you here to spend time with you. It's just my life is extremely busy right now. I have a lot on my plate right now and could really use your support, but if all you're going to do is throw jealous hissy fits every time I turn around maybe it's best if we just forget whatever it was that was happening between us." Annabelle continued past Simone's brief attempt at humor.

"Is that what you want?" Simone asked quietly not looking at Annabelle.

"No it isn't! Haven't I told you enough time already?!" Annabelle said angrily unable to believe Simone would the nerve to even ask.

"Then I don't either. I'm sorry I acted the way I did. I don't know what came over me." Simone apologized and stepped towards Annabelle slowly.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you what was going on and for not making time for you the past month." Annabelle also apologized and stepped towards Simone.

"I'm sorry you're both lame and boring lesbians! Now would you kiss and make up so we can eat some time this year?!" Sam demanded from the doorway while rolling her eyes.

"Annabelle turned towards Sam and flipped her off before turning back to Simone and pulling her towards her for a deep and meaningful kiss. Now that they had kissed and made up, Annabelle led Simone back into the foyer to introduce her to AJ, but he wasn't there.

"Where did AJ go?" Annabelle asked Sam as they entered the dining room.

"He left. He wanted me to tell you to let him know when ya'll were going to practice again and that he was sorry for causing such an awkward moment." Sam replied from where she sat at the table.

"An awkward moment? That's how he sums up the evening?" Annabelle laughed looking over at Simone.

"It was pretty awkward for me." Simone nodded with a smile taking a sip of water.

"Not as awkward as it was for Annabelle when she found out he was a tranny!" Sam laughed and shook her head.

"A what?!" Simone gasped and choked on the water she had just sipped.

"Ass!" Annabelle hissed at Sam as she slapped her upside the head before turning to face Simone. "AJ is a pre-op transsexual. He used to be a female, but how he is transitioning into a male which is why I asked him to be my dance partner in the first place." Annabelle explained to Simone as Jordan walked into the dining room and joined them.

"What an interesting group of people you seem to attract here in America." Jordan commented in a snooty British accent as if nothing had happened breaking the tension and causing them all to laugh.