Helping
Author's note: Okay, sorry to all you Alyssa lovers out there… she just seemed a little too double-faced for me… so she's bad in here. Oh, and it moves quickly… it's just a piece to get rid of my writer's block… Enjoy! Ciao! :)
Alyssa frowned as her cousin Anika came down the stairs, wincing. "Why do you let him do it?"
"Do what?" asked Anika, settling herself slowly into a chair.
"Get off on you." She sighed as Anika stared at her in shock. "Oh, come on…the walls are paper-thin and you guys make enough noise for the whole neighbourhood to hear! At least when Josh and I have sex, we both get off. We're done. You just let him walk all over you, or rather control all of you. God, ever since you got into a shower together…"
Anika grimaced. "He's in pain, Alyssa…I thought you understood…"
Alyssa rolled her eyes. "You're kidding me. God, the guy wears eye shadow to school. I mean, that just screams 'kick my ass' or 'make fun of me' or whatever. He just doesn't fit in, Anika, and if you expect me to keep your social profile up, you have to get out and meet people. And you're not going to do that getting banged by that loser upstairs." The doorbell rang. "There's Josh!" she shrieked happily, and skipped out. "Bye Anika. Think about what I said!"
Anika made a face at Alyssa's retreating back then went into the kitchen and made up a breakfast tray. She knew Sam wasn't going to eat it but still…she had to try…
She slowly made her way upstairs to the attic room, which was hers and, for now, Sam's. Her aunt, Alyssa's mom, went out shopping two hours ago so no one was in the house at the moment. She put the tray down on the bedside table and sat down on the bed, waiting for him to fully wake up.
Sam slowly opened his eyes and saw Anika sitting beside him patiently. The tray was sitting on the bedside table, as usual. He slowly smiled. "Hey…"
She smiled back. He seemed to be out of his slump, or at least temporarily.
The hammering started outside and his smile instantly disappeared. She quickly went to the balcony and shut the doors. When she turned around he was right there. She didn't move, so used to him sneaking up on her. As his hand came up to her cheek, he kissed her, pushing her up against the balcony door. His kiss was hard and insistent as Alyssa's words ran through her head. You let him walk all over you… or rather control all of you…She wanted to push him away but part of her liked the feeling of not being in control. As he kissed the side of her neck, she blinked to get Alyssa's annoying voice out of her head.
She woke up with the curtains drawn and Sam curled up around her on the bed like a contented cat. She was wearing her pyjama pants and a tank top. He must have put them on her after she'd fallen asleep. She realized how tired she'd been. She'd stay up after Sam went to sleep, watching his face twist with torment, wishing she could do something to help…
But he was happy now so she closed her eyes and snuggled further back into his arms. She smiled sleepily as she felt them tighten around her.
Pauline opened the door and rushed to the phone as she heard it ringing insistently. "Hello…oh, hi Andy…No, she's still upstairs in bed…sure…yes I'm sure she'd love it…okay, bye-bye…" She hung up the phone then climbed the stairs to Anika's room. "Anika, honey, you need to-" She stopped in the doorway. "Excuse me," she continued icily. "Anika, your father just phoned. He wants you to go home tonight. Your father wishes it also, Sam." She gave him one last glare before walking out.
Sam opened his eyes. "How did she know I was awake?"
"Maternal instincts?" guessed Anika, frowning at the thought of having to stay with her father. She sat up slowly and dropped her feet off the bed. "You should get dressed and go home. Your father's probably worried…"
"Fuck him," Sam replied, moving to sit behind her and kissing her bare shoulder. "He lied to me and I don't want to live with a liar."
She patted him on the cheek and stood up, opening a drawer to get capris, underwear, bra and a tank top. "He misses you. I saw him looking up here this morning. He loves you, you know. He wants to be with you for his last bit of time. You're going to have to go home anyways… I'm leaving and I don't think you want to hang around with Alyssa…"
"He shrugged, lying back down onto the bed. "Tell you what. I'll go home if you come with me."
She stopped halfway to the bathroom. "Pardon me?"
"You come live with me and my dad for a while. There's only a few weeks before school starts…you can come here and get everything that you need and you can stay with me and my dad. You said that you hated your dad anyways…"
She studied him for a minute then replied, "I'll think about it… but I really want you to go home, okay? He misses you a lot. You're the only reason he's probably still trying to fight it." She waited for him to nod in agreement then disappeared into the bathroom.
"Hey Dad. How you feel today?" Sam asked, hesitantly as he stood in the doorway. He hated the hospital. It was so sterile and ugly and horrible. His dad was lying in bed, looking like shit. He'd gone into the hospital for testing and had to stay overnight. Sam had offered to pick him up.
George struggled to sit up. "Sam. You came …you're soaked…"
Sam jumped forward to help him. "Yeah, I went floating to Catalina. This is Anika Brown, Alyssa's cousin. New girl at our school in September," he babbled nervously.
"Pleased to meet you," she said, sticking her hand out. "Sam wouldn't change. He wanted to get here as soon as possible."
George nodded and took it. "You too… that's my Sam…" he said slowly, breathlessly as he studied her. She was different from Alyssa. Very different. Both girls were pretty but while Alyssa's hair was a reddish-brown colour, Anika's was a blond-brown colour. She was dressed modestly in a blue sweater and jeans, compared to the tiny halter top and short shorts he'd seen Alyssa exiting the house in during the summer. Her hair was swept up into a messy ponytail and she wore no make-up.
"…Anika's going to stay at the house with me for a while…" Sam was saying when George tuned back in. "Until you get better…"
George narrowed his eyes, despite the fact that Anika looked like a nice girl. "Where's she going to sleep?"
"With me," Sam replied, some of his old rebellion coming back as he raised his chin to his father, daring him to say something. When he didn't, Sam continued on with other stuff. "I really want to show you something, Dad."
George sat back down heavily on the bed. "Okay."
Sam let go of Anika's hand and they both reeled George to the window where he saw the house with a million lights on it.
"It's beautiful…" George said, taking Sam's hand.
"Mr. Monroe? Sorry to bother you but Sam wants to know where we can find a flat-headed screwdriver for the edging on the windows…"
George opened his eyes and saw Anika standing in the doorway. She had a work belt on over her khakis and a white tank top. She looked beautiful and he was glad that Sam would have her with him once George was gone. "Call me George, please Anika. It's in the workbench over there… second drawer." He wanted to sleep some more, the pain was almost unbearable. Reaching out, he grabbed his pills off the bedside table.
She went over to get it then looked over at him. "Are you okay, Mr.-George? You look really tired." She looked sheepish. "Sorry, that sounded really dumb."
"No, no. That's okay. I am tired. But I'm glad you're going to be there for Sam after I'm gone."
"Well, you might not-"
He shook his head, silencing her. "I'm going to die, Anika. Don't worry though. I'm happy. I'll be fine…"
She nodded. "I know that but Sam's going to be really wrecked. So'm I. I mean, I've only known you for a month and a half but I'm going to miss you…" She smiled sadly at him.
"Come here, Anika." He hugged her and kissed her hair. "Don't worry. People don't really go away. It sounds sappy but they don't leave you, not really…"
"I know…"
"Am I interrupting something?" Robin asked, knocking softly on the doorframe.
George looked up, blinking tears from his eyes. "No, no, we're fine. Anika was just sad."
Anika got from the bed. "Thanks Mr. Monroe." Then she left.
George wiped the tears away. "She'll be good for Sam…"
Robin nodded. "Is your back bothering you today?" she asked, noticing the bottle of pills in his hand.
Anika leaned back on her hands on the rocks and squinted up at Sam. "Your dad looked really sick today…I'm sorry."
"Here." He slid his sunglasses over her eyes. "He said that he wouldn't say anything before because he's afraid that I'd leave. I think he's still scared I will because he won't talk about it."
"But you won't…" she replied pulling off the sunglasses before they slipped off her nose. "Will you?"
"Of course not." He took them back and put them on before dropping down onto the grass beside her.
She wrapped an arm around his waist and leaned her head onto his chest. "Well, good. Because both your parents and I would miss you…"
Anika watched as Robin got out of her car, and walk towards them, a shocked look on her face. She squeezed Scotty's hand before moving off. He had to do this alone. Robin came forward and stopped in front of Sam. They said something to each other and then Sam threw his arms around Robin and hugged her, crying. It reminded Anika painfully of when he'd come over to Alyssa's house and asked for her. She leaned against a beam and stared out at the ocean. George was dead. Tears slipped out of her eyes. He was really dead. Even though he'd told her that he was dying she hadn't believed it.
He came back to the house after visiting Andrea, the girl in the car accident, and found her asleep in a sleeping bag inside the finished house. It was only nine but she'd been working hard on the house ever since his dad had gone into the hospital. She looked so peaceful. He turned back to Robin who was waiting in the car. "I'm okay. You can go home. We'll come over later."
"How?" Robin asked, worriedly.
"Dad's truck."
"Are you sure?" she persisted. "I can wait…"
He shook his head. "I'm sure, Mom. We'll come over later. We just have to finish up some things… packing up and stuff like that…" He leaned in the window and kissed her on the cheek. "We'll come over later, 'kay?"
"All right, but if you need anything, anything at all, you phone me okay?" she replied, even if it wasn't. He nodded and she pulled out of the driveway and drove off towards home.
Sam turned and walked slowly towards the shape of Anika's sleeping form. When he got to her, he didn't really want to wake her up. So instead, he sat down beside her and brushed a hand over her cheek, brushing back her hair. She shifted in her sleep reaching out subconsciously with a hand. He took it and kissed her lightly to wake her up slowly. Her eyelids fluttered and suddenly he was looking into sleepy green eyes.
"Hi."
He smiled, despite himself. "Hey." He kissed her and took her hand. "We're moving over to Robin's. Back to my house."
Her eyebrows came together cutely as she thought. "Okay," she said finally, slowly clambering out of the sleeping bag. "Okay."
The end