Love isn't Easy Part 5
Josie walked into the biology classroom where they were holding the seminar. They chose this classroom because it was big enough to hold the junior English class as well as the senior. They combined the classes so that the speaker would only have to present once. Josie chose a seat in the front row on the left next to Tracie. She knew that Tracie had developed a growing interest in Rob and Josie wanted to make sure that Tracie didn't do something she would later regret. Josie wasn't afraid of what might happen because she knew Rob was smart enough to stop if things went too far. All she was doing was trying to ensure that Tracie didn't make a fool of herself.
About 2 seconds before the bell rang, Guy, Rob and the rest of the group walked in. Rob felt exhausted from being such a spokesman for Josie all day but he reminded himself that that was his main reason for enrolling back in high school. It wasn't the only reason but it was the most important one. After all, Josie's job was on the line. A few seconds after Rob, Mr. Coulson came into the classroom.
"Alright guys, I know this isn't English, but still very important. We'll get started once..the speaker gets here-" He said looking towards the door nervously. The fact that he might end up having to teach this was scaring him to death. No way would he teach sex to a room which contained Josie in it. He decided that he had nothing else to say and retreated to behind the counter. He glanced around the room and then snuck a peak at Josie who unfortunately was sitting in the front row. This was going to provide quite the distraction for him. He looked at her and thankfully she was busy involved in a conversation with Tracie. Sam watched as Josie remained calm and collected while Tracie bounced around like a bubbly teenager. This was another thing about Josie that Sam really liked. She was incredibly mature...and beautiful. Damn! This was going to be the longest month of his life. Spending 5 days a week with Josie and not being able to tell her the truth. Having to maintain the respectable distance from her was proving to be quite the task. Suddenly Tracie said something that made Josie laugh and Sam felt as if he was falling further under her spell. Her body shook from the power of the laughter and she then flipped her head causing her hair to flip around. At that point Sam decided that he had better gain a sudden interest in his feet or he would be in big trouble. Unfortunately, Sam was losing his self-control and he found himself to be staring at Josie again within a matter of seconds. To his surprise, she wasn't laughing anymore, or talking to Tracie for that matter. Tracie was writing in a notebook and Josie looked to be gesturing to someone at the door. Sam looked over to the door and almost ran over to greet who he assumed to be Pam Kitterman.
"Hi."
"Oh! Hi!"
"You're here for the sex talk?"
"Well, I like a man who gets right to the point."
What? Was this woman coming onto him in front of all the students? All Sam knew was that this was not what he wanted right now so he in turn got to the point.
"Are you Pam?"
"If you say so"
"Alright.....Juniors, Seniors, this is Pam Kitterman she's going to lead us in the sex discussion."
"What? No, no I'm not, oh.. Ok. Sex. Sex, what can you say really? You like a guy, you do it with him, sometimes he calls, sometimes he doesn't. He he he he."
What the hell was that? This is not proper instruction. Sam was starting to think that he could do a better job......No, that was pushing it. Sam was feeling weary and went to shut the door. This was going to be a long period.
A little while later, after some very interesting tutorial and an unfortunate incident with Josie, the class was interrupted by Sidney Anakowski over the P.A. system.
"Hey kids,. Sidney here, bad news about the prom. East Glen East is gonna do Millenium too!" At that second, the entire class jumped out of their seats in a mad fury. Even though it was tradition, the whole prom thing seemed a little extreme to Sam. Maybe it was because his own Prom wasn't all that great.
"All right guys! Calm down!" He tried to reason but to no avail. "SIT!!" Aaaaah, force always worked. "Ok, All we need is a new idea." Then Pam interjected " Oooh! How about under the sea?" Unfortunately she was shot down. He decided to try for himself. "H-How about the 80s?" Damn. Also shot down. At that moment, Guy Perkins, stood up and the shushed the class. Sam hated how Guy was so confident about his power over the senior class.
"Alright! Alright.....Josie." He said pointing slightly in her direction.
"That's not a theme!"
"Thank You." Guy said looking at Sara skeptically, "No! Josie - will have the answer." Guy thought he was being so generous by giving Josie an opportunity to show her worthiness of being a part of the group. Meanwhile Josie was extremely happy to have been chosen but terrified as well at the thought that she wouldn't be able to come up with something. She looked around the room at a furious rate and then looked at Tracie remembering their conversation from earlier.
"How about meant for each other, famous couples throughout history?" Everyone's heads turned to Guy for some sense of approval.
"Absolutely, absolutely!" Then, the whole class started to clap. Josie was overjoyed by this sense of belonging and importance. She looked around the room at everyone and then she glanced over her shoulder at Sam who was also clapping. Things were going great.
At the end of the school day, Josie stopped by the office to talk to Gus. Josie found it to be rather peculiar that Gus had asked to see her considering her assignment wasn't due for awhile. As it turned out, Gus had just wanted to go over the assignment and he was unusually nice to her she noticed. Gus suggested some ideas for her, he didn't demand them or insist on anything. As Josie walked out of the office she felt unbelievably happy with the turn of events over the past little while. Josie had a full make-over of herself, courtesy of Anita and Rhoda so that she would feel better about her appearance, especially for her assignment. Secondly, she got to be a reporter! Her dream was finally coming true! Lastly, she was being treated better at her work environment AND a handsome man flat-out gave her a compliment! It did occur to her that he probably didn't think twice about it but it meant so much to her. It would have meant so much more to her if it had come from Mr. Coulson but that was asking too much. Even Matt had said that Mr. Coulson had said nice things about her writing but NEVER about her appearance. Plus, he had that beautiful lawyer girlfriend. But wait? Didn't he say that they were broken up? No....she wouldn't push her luck, the truth was that handsome men like that don't stay single very long. He'll probably be taken the next time it comes up. It was a terrible thought but Josie knew that it was necessary if she was going to continue through her life without him.
Meanwhile Sam went home walking in the clouds. Josie had been the object of everyone's attention as she wowed them with the brilliance he knew she had all along. On the other hand, why had Guy singled her out like that? Was he interested in her? As the jealousy built up in Sam's throat, he could tell that he would go insane on that thought train. He quickly stopped in at his apartment and then went off to the airport to pick up his mom.
"Sam! Honey! It's so nice to see you! How was your work day? We have SO much to talk about? Let's go get my bags first. Oh! I have the funniest story for you! Guess what happended to your sister. Where do you go get bags?" Sam was laughing to himself under his breath. His mother never ceased to amaze him with her ability to ramble on and on and on. She just loved to talk which was one of the many things that made her so fun to be with.
"What are you laughing at?....Oh yes, I know I can ramble but you know that about me. I want to go talk! But first we need my bags and a form of transportation. Did you bring your car or did you come by cab?"
"I came with my car and the luggage pick-up is over there" Sam said pointing in the right direction. It suddenly occurred to him that he knew this airport really well. The reason being that he spent so much time here waiting for Lara to doddle off the plane. She never made any attempt to be on time for him. Recently, Sam found himself shudder everytime he thought of her. He was gaining some perspective on the way she treated him for so much time. Josie, alway treated him with nothing but kindness and they shared a mutual respect. Meanwhile, Gail was staring at Sam curiously.
"Sam, what are you thinking about?" Suddenly as her memory served about their last conversation she followed up with "Should I rephrase with who are you thinking about?" She said with a devilish grin.
"Actually Mom, I was thinking how I used to come here all the time to pick up Lara. She treated me like shit Mom. Why did I stay with her for so long?" Gail looked at her son sympathetically. She could see that he currently wasn't happy about this.
"Honey, you stayed with her because you are an extremely kind person who believes that everyone deserves a chance. Which is true. Unfortunately after awhile, you were with her so long that you no longer were giving her a chance, but you felt that you owed it to her to work things out because you had been together for so long. Am I right?" Sam just nodded. " Luckily, a new woman came into your life and opened your eyes to the possibiliy of new and happier love overall. Which brings me to what I want to talk about."
"Don't worry mom, we'll talk all about her. We'll talk about whatever you want. I am yours for the next four days so whatever you want to do."
After that Sam and Gail went back to his apartment where Sam made up the couch (for himself of course) Unfortunately Gail insisted that he take his bed and she take the couch considering she was the visitor and it was his home. Sam made them both a cup of coffee and brought them into the livingroom for the two of them.
"So any new developments since I talked to you last?"
"Yes! She is the sweetest, kindest person I have ever met. When I'm with her, I just feel overjoyed. She always puts in an effort to make others feel better about themselves and she's selfless and considerated of everyone. We were at seniors nite and I went with her on the ferris wheel which got stuck at the top."
"Oh that's harsh, you must have really flipped your lid."
"That's just the thing Mom, I didn't even notice."
"WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?"
"I was so wrapped up in staring at her. But the thing is she did notice, and she knew about my fear of heights and deliberately tried to distract me. Unlike Lara who would have told me immediately, just to see me squirm. She brought up some schoolwork and asked for my advice. That way I would be wrapped up in talking that there would be no way that I could notice. The weirdest part about it was I basically fell at her feet. I was making googly eyes at her all night and she didn't notice at all. Didn't look at me funny or say anything she just kept going on in her wonderful ways..." He finished dreamily.
"Alright that settles it. When is the soonest that I can meet her?"
"Ha ha Mom. It's not that easy. But I would love for you to meet her. You would definitely approve."
"I don't know Sam, no one is good enough for my boy."
"That's where you're wrong. I am not good enough for her. She's like a goddess who was sent down from heaven to make everyone's life better." Sam said smiling to himself.
"Ha ha ha! Oh my god Sam! I have NEVER heard you talk like this before. I mean don't get me wrong, I know you were exaggerating. PLEASE CAN I MEET HER? Isn't there any way?"
" Well, there is the teacher/student game happening but unfortunately you're flight is the next day so you could do rush packing later and then come to the game."
"Well then I guess that's what I'm gonna do."
* * * * * *
Meanwhile Josie was busy making shopping plans with her new "friends" She couldn't help but be mesmerized at their endless fashion knowledge. She rarely said anything about specific clothes because she knew that what she knew about it was nothing in comparison. She felt a little put down when Gus hung up on her about her clothes idea. Oh well. She was suddenly distracted when she was surrounded by the trio from every direction. Josie had to laugh at how stupid they all looked in matching cardigans. But overall the day was going great until they ran into David and Aldys on the escalators.
"Oh look! Like there goes another lemming!"
Shot down. Her giddy high was instantly replaced by horrible, horrible guilt. Josie couldn't help but feel bad but she knew there was nothing she could do about it. She just hoped that once the assignment was over and Josie had a chance to explain that Aldys would forgive her. For now, Josie had to focus on her assignment and unfortunately forget about Aldys for the time being. It was terrible but true.
Josie walked into the biology classroom where they were holding the seminar. They chose this classroom because it was big enough to hold the junior English class as well as the senior. They combined the classes so that the speaker would only have to present once. Josie chose a seat in the front row on the left next to Tracie. She knew that Tracie had developed a growing interest in Rob and Josie wanted to make sure that Tracie didn't do something she would later regret. Josie wasn't afraid of what might happen because she knew Rob was smart enough to stop if things went too far. All she was doing was trying to ensure that Tracie didn't make a fool of herself.
About 2 seconds before the bell rang, Guy, Rob and the rest of the group walked in. Rob felt exhausted from being such a spokesman for Josie all day but he reminded himself that that was his main reason for enrolling back in high school. It wasn't the only reason but it was the most important one. After all, Josie's job was on the line. A few seconds after Rob, Mr. Coulson came into the classroom.
"Alright guys, I know this isn't English, but still very important. We'll get started once..the speaker gets here-" He said looking towards the door nervously. The fact that he might end up having to teach this was scaring him to death. No way would he teach sex to a room which contained Josie in it. He decided that he had nothing else to say and retreated to behind the counter. He glanced around the room and then snuck a peak at Josie who unfortunately was sitting in the front row. This was going to provide quite the distraction for him. He looked at her and thankfully she was busy involved in a conversation with Tracie. Sam watched as Josie remained calm and collected while Tracie bounced around like a bubbly teenager. This was another thing about Josie that Sam really liked. She was incredibly mature...and beautiful. Damn! This was going to be the longest month of his life. Spending 5 days a week with Josie and not being able to tell her the truth. Having to maintain the respectable distance from her was proving to be quite the task. Suddenly Tracie said something that made Josie laugh and Sam felt as if he was falling further under her spell. Her body shook from the power of the laughter and she then flipped her head causing her hair to flip around. At that point Sam decided that he had better gain a sudden interest in his feet or he would be in big trouble. Unfortunately, Sam was losing his self-control and he found himself to be staring at Josie again within a matter of seconds. To his surprise, she wasn't laughing anymore, or talking to Tracie for that matter. Tracie was writing in a notebook and Josie looked to be gesturing to someone at the door. Sam looked over to the door and almost ran over to greet who he assumed to be Pam Kitterman.
"Hi."
"Oh! Hi!"
"You're here for the sex talk?"
"Well, I like a man who gets right to the point."
What? Was this woman coming onto him in front of all the students? All Sam knew was that this was not what he wanted right now so he in turn got to the point.
"Are you Pam?"
"If you say so"
"Alright.....Juniors, Seniors, this is Pam Kitterman she's going to lead us in the sex discussion."
"What? No, no I'm not, oh.. Ok. Sex. Sex, what can you say really? You like a guy, you do it with him, sometimes he calls, sometimes he doesn't. He he he he."
What the hell was that? This is not proper instruction. Sam was starting to think that he could do a better job......No, that was pushing it. Sam was feeling weary and went to shut the door. This was going to be a long period.
A little while later, after some very interesting tutorial and an unfortunate incident with Josie, the class was interrupted by Sidney Anakowski over the P.A. system.
"Hey kids,. Sidney here, bad news about the prom. East Glen East is gonna do Millenium too!" At that second, the entire class jumped out of their seats in a mad fury. Even though it was tradition, the whole prom thing seemed a little extreme to Sam. Maybe it was because his own Prom wasn't all that great.
"All right guys! Calm down!" He tried to reason but to no avail. "SIT!!" Aaaaah, force always worked. "Ok, All we need is a new idea." Then Pam interjected " Oooh! How about under the sea?" Unfortunately she was shot down. He decided to try for himself. "H-How about the 80s?" Damn. Also shot down. At that moment, Guy Perkins, stood up and the shushed the class. Sam hated how Guy was so confident about his power over the senior class.
"Alright! Alright.....Josie." He said pointing slightly in her direction.
"That's not a theme!"
"Thank You." Guy said looking at Sara skeptically, "No! Josie - will have the answer." Guy thought he was being so generous by giving Josie an opportunity to show her worthiness of being a part of the group. Meanwhile Josie was extremely happy to have been chosen but terrified as well at the thought that she wouldn't be able to come up with something. She looked around the room at a furious rate and then looked at Tracie remembering their conversation from earlier.
"How about meant for each other, famous couples throughout history?" Everyone's heads turned to Guy for some sense of approval.
"Absolutely, absolutely!" Then, the whole class started to clap. Josie was overjoyed by this sense of belonging and importance. She looked around the room at everyone and then she glanced over her shoulder at Sam who was also clapping. Things were going great.
At the end of the school day, Josie stopped by the office to talk to Gus. Josie found it to be rather peculiar that Gus had asked to see her considering her assignment wasn't due for awhile. As it turned out, Gus had just wanted to go over the assignment and he was unusually nice to her she noticed. Gus suggested some ideas for her, he didn't demand them or insist on anything. As Josie walked out of the office she felt unbelievably happy with the turn of events over the past little while. Josie had a full make-over of herself, courtesy of Anita and Rhoda so that she would feel better about her appearance, especially for her assignment. Secondly, she got to be a reporter! Her dream was finally coming true! Lastly, she was being treated better at her work environment AND a handsome man flat-out gave her a compliment! It did occur to her that he probably didn't think twice about it but it meant so much to her. It would have meant so much more to her if it had come from Mr. Coulson but that was asking too much. Even Matt had said that Mr. Coulson had said nice things about her writing but NEVER about her appearance. Plus, he had that beautiful lawyer girlfriend. But wait? Didn't he say that they were broken up? No....she wouldn't push her luck, the truth was that handsome men like that don't stay single very long. He'll probably be taken the next time it comes up. It was a terrible thought but Josie knew that it was necessary if she was going to continue through her life without him.
Meanwhile Sam went home walking in the clouds. Josie had been the object of everyone's attention as she wowed them with the brilliance he knew she had all along. On the other hand, why had Guy singled her out like that? Was he interested in her? As the jealousy built up in Sam's throat, he could tell that he would go insane on that thought train. He quickly stopped in at his apartment and then went off to the airport to pick up his mom.
"Sam! Honey! It's so nice to see you! How was your work day? We have SO much to talk about? Let's go get my bags first. Oh! I have the funniest story for you! Guess what happended to your sister. Where do you go get bags?" Sam was laughing to himself under his breath. His mother never ceased to amaze him with her ability to ramble on and on and on. She just loved to talk which was one of the many things that made her so fun to be with.
"What are you laughing at?....Oh yes, I know I can ramble but you know that about me. I want to go talk! But first we need my bags and a form of transportation. Did you bring your car or did you come by cab?"
"I came with my car and the luggage pick-up is over there" Sam said pointing in the right direction. It suddenly occurred to him that he knew this airport really well. The reason being that he spent so much time here waiting for Lara to doddle off the plane. She never made any attempt to be on time for him. Recently, Sam found himself shudder everytime he thought of her. He was gaining some perspective on the way she treated him for so much time. Josie, alway treated him with nothing but kindness and they shared a mutual respect. Meanwhile, Gail was staring at Sam curiously.
"Sam, what are you thinking about?" Suddenly as her memory served about their last conversation she followed up with "Should I rephrase with who are you thinking about?" She said with a devilish grin.
"Actually Mom, I was thinking how I used to come here all the time to pick up Lara. She treated me like shit Mom. Why did I stay with her for so long?" Gail looked at her son sympathetically. She could see that he currently wasn't happy about this.
"Honey, you stayed with her because you are an extremely kind person who believes that everyone deserves a chance. Which is true. Unfortunately after awhile, you were with her so long that you no longer were giving her a chance, but you felt that you owed it to her to work things out because you had been together for so long. Am I right?" Sam just nodded. " Luckily, a new woman came into your life and opened your eyes to the possibiliy of new and happier love overall. Which brings me to what I want to talk about."
"Don't worry mom, we'll talk all about her. We'll talk about whatever you want. I am yours for the next four days so whatever you want to do."
After that Sam and Gail went back to his apartment where Sam made up the couch (for himself of course) Unfortunately Gail insisted that he take his bed and she take the couch considering she was the visitor and it was his home. Sam made them both a cup of coffee and brought them into the livingroom for the two of them.
"So any new developments since I talked to you last?"
"Yes! She is the sweetest, kindest person I have ever met. When I'm with her, I just feel overjoyed. She always puts in an effort to make others feel better about themselves and she's selfless and considerated of everyone. We were at seniors nite and I went with her on the ferris wheel which got stuck at the top."
"Oh that's harsh, you must have really flipped your lid."
"That's just the thing Mom, I didn't even notice."
"WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?"
"I was so wrapped up in staring at her. But the thing is she did notice, and she knew about my fear of heights and deliberately tried to distract me. Unlike Lara who would have told me immediately, just to see me squirm. She brought up some schoolwork and asked for my advice. That way I would be wrapped up in talking that there would be no way that I could notice. The weirdest part about it was I basically fell at her feet. I was making googly eyes at her all night and she didn't notice at all. Didn't look at me funny or say anything she just kept going on in her wonderful ways..." He finished dreamily.
"Alright that settles it. When is the soonest that I can meet her?"
"Ha ha Mom. It's not that easy. But I would love for you to meet her. You would definitely approve."
"I don't know Sam, no one is good enough for my boy."
"That's where you're wrong. I am not good enough for her. She's like a goddess who was sent down from heaven to make everyone's life better." Sam said smiling to himself.
"Ha ha ha! Oh my god Sam! I have NEVER heard you talk like this before. I mean don't get me wrong, I know you were exaggerating. PLEASE CAN I MEET HER? Isn't there any way?"
" Well, there is the teacher/student game happening but unfortunately you're flight is the next day so you could do rush packing later and then come to the game."
"Well then I guess that's what I'm gonna do."
* * * * * *
Meanwhile Josie was busy making shopping plans with her new "friends" She couldn't help but be mesmerized at their endless fashion knowledge. She rarely said anything about specific clothes because she knew that what she knew about it was nothing in comparison. She felt a little put down when Gus hung up on her about her clothes idea. Oh well. She was suddenly distracted when she was surrounded by the trio from every direction. Josie had to laugh at how stupid they all looked in matching cardigans. But overall the day was going great until they ran into David and Aldys on the escalators.
"Oh look! Like there goes another lemming!"
Shot down. Her giddy high was instantly replaced by horrible, horrible guilt. Josie couldn't help but feel bad but she knew there was nothing she could do about it. She just hoped that once the assignment was over and Josie had a chance to explain that Aldys would forgive her. For now, Josie had to focus on her assignment and unfortunately forget about Aldys for the time being. It was terrible but true.