AN: You guys are great. I just wanted to tell you that. Keep on reading and reviewing because it makes me write faster. Seriously, my brain is writing this story WAY faster than my fingers at this point. I'm always thinking of something and never finding enough time to get what I want written done well enough. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm writing A LOT for this story, but it's gonna keep coming until my brain stops completely. (Unlike We Danced which will be finished. I'm just not sure when because my brain doesn't work that fast for that one. But I am excited for you to read what I've got so far. That's a good sign, right?) Anywho... Seriously, thank you for reading this major time suck. I'm glad it's not going to waste :)
School was taking over Andy's life. She went from class to class to the library and back to her room to finish homework. The first week had been a whirlwind of syllabi and Sam, but they were both neck deep in work and she'd gone two days without even seeing him once. Now that he wasn't a TA for any of her classes, she didn't even have that fifty minute forced time with him. To top it off, he was TAing three classes instead of two plus keeping up with his full coursework of four classes. Essentially, he had work for seven classes.
Late on her third day of not seeing Sam, she looked up from her spot in the library—surrounded by notes and books and homework—and she saw Sam sitting alone at a desk against the windows. He head was down and his hand was in his hair and he was very focused on whatever work was in front of him. He was there, though, so Andy pushed her own work away and sat back to watch his profile. His hand that wasn't in his hair went between tapping the desk to turning the pages of his book. She could see the muscles of his forearm with every move. His red Henley was tight across his chest and the buttons—almost all of them—were open. The sleeves were pushed up to his elbows like they always were. His jeans, from what little she could see, were a tighter pair—just the way she liked it—and, from the bottom of the desk where his foot was peeking out, she could see he was wearing his black boots.
There was nothing particularly special about his outfit. He wore different variations of it almost every day, but she hadn't seen him or his outfits in a couple and she just missed him. It hadn't been continually running through her mind—the fact that she missed him—because she was so busy with classes and homework. But when they texted or when she called him the night before and they spoke, it hit her hard.
Her bed was small and her room was cramped. She never would have complained about that before she started sleeping with Sam, but now that it had become a regular thing, she noticed the inadequacies. Her friends, thankfully, were just as busy and stressed as her, so the five of them were usually together doing their work and going to class. Tonight, though, Dov had a date with some girl. No one knew who because he didn't want to jinx it, but he was excited. Chris and Gail had decided, since it was Friday night and they had the room to themselves, they were spending time together—takeout dinner and movies. Same for Traci and Jerry except they went home to Traci's so he could meet her mom. They wouldn't be back until Sunday.
At the time, when Andy found out that everyone actually had plans, it motivated her to finally catch up with her work. She was doing it, too. If she had the rest of the weekend, there was no way she couldn't finish it all. Then, she saw Sam—focused, busy, Sam. The same Sam who closed his book and stretched his neck from side to side and finally saw her. She smiled at him and wiggled her fingers in a wave. Within seconds, his bag was packed, his jacket was on, and he was moving across the room to slip into the seat across from her.
"Hi," he said, a small smile curling up one side of his face.
"Hi," she breathed, reaching across the table to brush her thumb over his knuckles. "Looks like we had the same idea tonight."
"Believe me," he laughed quietly. He looked around at the other students scattered around the room and leaned his head closer to hers across the table. "I'm open to other ideas."
"You've been busy," she said and he nodded, swallowing. "Me too."
She closed the book in front of her and stacked it with her other one and her work, her eyes never leaving his, and they both smiled. "You sure you want to do that?" He asked, nodding at her things and she nodded.
"I'm sure I want to spend some time with you before this all starts piling up again," she promised. He leaned closer and kissed her. As he began to pull away—intending it to be a short, thankful kiss she was sure—she put her hand against his cheek and kept his mouth against hers. She just needed to revel in the time they had before one, or both, of them got too stressed to enjoy the simple pleasures.
"You hungry?" He asked when she finally pulled away from him. He was smiling and his fingers were running over the back of her hand on top of the table. She wanted to kiss him again.
"Yeah," she nodded, smiling herself.
He let go of her hand and she quickly packed up her things and pulled on her coat. As she was twisting her scarf around her neck, she watched him get up and walk around the table to her. She smiled when he was in front of her and he put his hand out for her to take. With their hand intertwined, they left the library together and got into his truck. It was filled with takeout wrappers and paper coffee cups. She craned her neck over the front seat to see if the back looked similar and she saw it covered with the same.
He started the truck and she moved from one end of the bench seat to sit directly next to him—moving the trash in the process—and he nuzzled the side of her face quickly before leaving campus and heading for a diner down the street from his apartment.
"Spending a lot of time in your truck?" She asked.
"I'm living out of it," he admitted. "I've only been home to sleep and make sure Boo has food."
"It's only been three days," she said as her hand fell onto his thigh. "It didn't look like this when you dropped me off."
"Three days, at least six meals, McNally," he laughed. "Speaking of meals, Oliver wants me to stop by the new place for dinner tomorrow. You interested?"
"Yes," she said without hesitation. Sam smiled and kissed her cheek quickly before pulling into a spot near the door.
Sam sat with his back against one armrest while Andy did the same on the other end of the couch. Their feet were tangled in the middle cushion and their food
was in their respective laps. He could see her falling asleep as her head fell against the back of his couch. He let her, knowing she was exhausted from school, and when she was finally out, he stood up and too her food into the kitchen.
As he wrapped it up again for her to eat later, he kept his eyes on her over the back of the couch. It took no time at all for Boo to climb into the spot he had been in and join her in her nap—his body lined the back of couch and his head rested on her lap. In seconds, the dog's breathing matched Andy's and Sam smiled to himself.
He was exhausted, too, more than he had been in a long time. He thought the beginning of first semester was rough, but second semester was proving to be much more difficult. He was assisting in three classes instead of two and they were all still with Boyko. Plus, none of them had Andy. The work for his own classes was more difficult and time consuming as well, so he really just felt like he was stretched a little too thin.
Seeing Andy was becoming an irregular occurrence, too. Which, if he had to be honest, was the worst part of the whole ordeal. Her stresses on top of his own made for very little time for them to spend teasing each other in bed. It's when they were at their best and their most vulnerable, he thought, and it was always the first thing he thought of when he thought about her. Sam wasn't one to be vulnerable—not usually—but Andy had a way of bringing down his walls. It was those damn eyes of hers.
When he finished cleaning up his food and putting hers away, he left her and Boo alone in the living room to sleep while he went into his bedroom to work on a paper. It was lucky he ran into her at all, but now they were in separate rooms—still not spending any real time together. It was good enough, for the time being, just to be in the same place as her, though. He could hear her breathing through his open door and if he craned his neck enough, he could see her sleeping face. It was enough.
He worked, Andy and Boo slept, and his phone started ringing in his pocket. He refused to answer it, though; he knew who it would be. Sarah had called him that morning—like she could sense his busyness from hours away—and told him he needed to talk to their mother. After months of living rent free, Sarah was being kicked out or forced to pay rent. She thought it was up to Sam to make their mother change her mind. In reality, Sam agreed 100% with his mother. Sarah needed to take some responsibility. She had a rough childhood, he respected that abundantly, but she was twenty-eight years old now and had a college degree. She had no reason to be living at home, making their mother clean up after her or take care of her.
He'd told her to take care of it herself if she really thought it was worth the argument and she had hung up on him, exactly as he expected she would do. And now, just as he expected again, she was calling back to ask him to talk to their mother. He knew Sarah's routine like he knew the back of his own hand. As much as he loved her, he wanted the best for her, and mooching off of their mother was not the best for her. Nor was it the best for their mother.
The phone finally stopped ringing and he was able to concentrate on his homework again. He honestly just wanted to rest his head back against the pillows and let his eyes fall shut. With Andy in the other room and his work right in front of his face, though, he knew that was not the right decision. He was glad she was sleeping, but he knew that if he were to fall asleep he wouldn't wake up until morning. Andy, though, she was a serial power napper. She'd be up and ready to do something in twenty minutes. Her body had its own schedule and he was still learning some of it, but her naps were something he was attuned to.
"Sam!" Andy whisper yelled from the other room, probably trying not to wake Boo up. "Sam!"
"McNally," he said at normal volume.
"What are you doing?" She asked, still whispering loudly enough for him to hear.
"Homework, I'll be right out."
He saved his work and left his phone on his bedside table before going to join Andy again. "Why is he the cutest thing in the world?" She asked when he entered the room, eyes on the dog asleep on her lap.
"He's a dog," Sam shrugged, sitting on his coffee table. "Aren't all dogs cute?"
"Yeah, but Boo is cute," she insisted. "Like, too cute. Like, should be illegal level of cuteness over here. You're the luckiest guy in the world to have a dog this cute."
"Yeah," he smiled, shaking his head. He leaned over and kissed her quickly. "He's pretty damn cute."
She looked at him with a knowing smile, completely aware that it wasn't the dog he thought was pretty damn cute. Though, he really was, Boo wasn't at all who he was referring to.
"Sorry I fell asleep," Andy said, soft hand on his cheek. "I usually feel my power naps coming on. That one snuck up on me."
"You've had a long week," he sympathized. "You needed it."
"Well, I'm awake now and I've, you know, kind of missed you," she said with a sharp glance toward his bedroom.
"Jeez, McNally, you're as subtle as ever," he laughed, standing up from the coffee table with a hand extended for her.
"I don't have the patience to be subtle," she reminded him when she was standing in front of him. "If you know what I mean."
To be honest, neither did he.
With one of her legs strewn over his, Andy played with the smattering of hair on Sam's chest while his hand moved across her back in mindless patterns. His lips rested at the top of her head, pressing into her scalp every couple of seconds, and her breathing started to slow back to normal. Moments with Sam, silent ones, were just as important to her as the ones filled with conversation and teasing. The two of them had a way with each other where they could talk all night one night and lay in each other's arms quietly the next.
She liked the quiet ones more than anyone who knew her would imagine—she had this way of talking in circles that made peoples jaws drop when she stayed quiet for more than ten minutes. But, after three days apart, she wasn't sure silent was the way to go. So, she pushed herself up onto her forearm against his chest and he moved his head to look at her.
"My dad called me earlier today," she told him and he nodded for her to continue. She liked that his hand never stopped making patterns of the bare skin of her back. "He wants to come visit me soon."
"That's good," he said with a solemn nod. "That will be good for the two of you."
"You should meet him whenever he gets the chance to get up here," she told him quietly. Sam was supposed to meet her father before winter break, but she told him it was best not to do it when things were weird between them. Even though they weren't seeing each other as often as they were used to first semester, things between them were the best they'd ever been. "He wants to meet you."
"Then, yeah, I'll definitely meet him," he smiled and she leaned forward to kiss him. "How's he doing?"
"I think he's good," she said, resting her chin on the back of her hand. "We went to, like, three AA meetings before I left and he only complained on the first one. So, that's a good sign."
"You know, he's lucky he has you," Sam told her and she tilted her head to look up at him. He looked at her with a sharp gaze, making sure she understood how much he meant the words, and she finally smiled.
"I'm lucky, too," she said. "He stuck around when my mother wouldn't."
"Well, that's her loss because she has no idea what she's missing," he said and she kissed him on the chest.
"Just promise me that if things don't work out with us, you won't just walk out the door like she did," she said quietly. The thought of him leaving—especially now that they were 100% going in the right direction—made her heart stop and her breathing hitch. "You know, let's promise to work at it."
"Hey," he said, calling her attention back to him and she slowly turned her head to look at him again. "You won't get rid of me without a fight."
She smiled at that, knowing he meant it, and kissed him. He held her head against his and used his other arm to pull her completely on top of him. "Same here," she said, pulling her head back just enough to say the words before her mouth took his again.