Love Isn't Easy Part 9
The game was over. Students won by just barely inching over the tie-line. Sam had to admit that it was a slight disappointment that the teachers lost. Sam had gotten revved up for a game he somewhat expected to win. His disappointment, however, was quickly replaced when he saw Josie leaving the field, arm in arm with Rob and a big smile across her face. She was happy, and he loved to see her happy. Sometimes, when he saw her in class she seemed to have a worried expression which made him curious. He knew that her personal life was absolutely none of his business but, still, he was dying to get inside her head. To see what was making Josie have no faith in herself. To see what was making her sad.
At that point, Guy and a few of his friends approached Josie and Rob.
"Hey Guys, great game! Rob, you are THE best coach. Man! I really would have screwed up in there without you yelling at me! And Josie, yeesh! WHAT a hit! Right over Mr. Coulson's head!" Guy Perkins started, he was always the one who initiated conversations. He wasn't too fond of that but knowing that everyone else was just following him, he felt he had a position to withold. {-correct spelling?}
Josie, meanwhile tensing up at Mr. Coulson's name could only manage to nod in thanks. Immediately after, Rob kicked her calf, telling her that she was NOT going to retreat into herself as she so frequently did.
"So, Jos...you gonna come to this party? Sounds like it's gonna be great!" asked Guy.
That's when it finally hit Josie. She was accepted. *popular*. She had friends that were cool.....
"Yeah! It sounds like it'll be very thrilling!" Josie said, immediately regretting her choice of words.
"Well, I don't know about THRILLING...but it sure will be FUN...." Guy joked around with her, already having figured out her amazing use of words.
"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it, where is it anyway?" Josie asked.
"It's at Rob's house." Gibby cheerfully chimed in. Josie, meanwhile started to panic. ROB'S HOUSE?!?!?!? Was he CRAZY???? These teenagers would destroy it! Unfortunately, Josie had not remained subtle in her panic.
"Geez Josie, what the hell's wrong with you?" Rob asked, in no way sparing her dignity.
"Well....um....don't you remember Rob? Ou-..Your parents HATE when you have huge parties." Josie replied. Feeling more at ease seeing that she managed to satisfy everyone's curiosity.
"Oh, Josie...Don't worry, I'm gonna clean everything up....My Mom and Dad aren't gonna know the difference."
Josie just nodded in response. Rob had said that she should trust him, so she would. She believed in him enough trust the fact that he said he knew what he was doing...even if it sounded crazy.
Eventually, the group dissipated and they went their separate ways. Josie went to the office, for her meeting feeling totally great about herself.
As she bounced in through the office, Sheila cautiously approached her.
"Uh, Josie...splendiforous?" Sheila, expecting a correct spelling was blown away by Josie's unusual response.
"Totally!" Josie knew that she was acting completely out of character but it didn't bother her. She was in an excellent mood and wanted to stay that way. Unfortunately, in the meeting, she was quickly and abruptly pulled back into the reality that she is not a teenaged student but a 25 year old reported when her boss gave her a 2-week deadline for a story otherwise she AND Guss would be fired.
That was it. The end of her fun. Now was time. Time to shape up or ship out. HOW was she possibly going to find a story in time? Her good mood was completely ruined and thoughts of popularity were quickly overrun by thoughts of how she was going to keep her job.
After work, she went home. Home to her house and her turtles. A constant reminder that she had no one to share her life with. Just one more thing to add to her newfound misery. For the party, Josie decided to put on a loose-fitting v-neck shirt and her fitting jeans. She finished her make-up and off she went.
"Hey Josie! Glad you're here!" Rob greeted her warmly as she approached her former home. Also, to Josie's surprise, the 3 girls greeted Josie as one of their own. Josie thought that that was what she wanted. To be popular and fit in. But now she realized that this wasn't real. They didn't REALLY know her. All they knew was that Rob told them to like her so now they do. But she decided to not let it bother her. She would enjoy popularity while she had it.
"Hey girls! How long have you been here?"
"About 20 minutes..Josie you've gotta come shopping with us tomorrow! We're gonna go to the mall and pick out some cool stuff!" Cried Kirsten.
"Okay! Sounds great!" Josie said, unable to contain her laughter. They sounded so uneducated when they spoke.
The rest of the party went really well, Josie sparked up conversations with lots of different people and felt like her shyness was disappearing ever so quickly. When she wandered into the kitchen only to discover that Rob was taking Tracy to the prom. She made sure that Rob knew that she didn't approve.
"Hey." Guy. RIGHT behind her.
"Hi!" Josie giggled.
"Um..I need to talk to you."
"I'll see you around the cell block Mrs. Robinson!" Joked Rob. Josie flashed him a look to show that she was not amused.
To Josie's complete and utter shock Guy Perkins asked her to prom! She actually had a date. A REAL date! Josie knew that this was a breakthrough in her life. And for once it wasn't career-wise. This was a turning point and nothing was going to take away from Josie's joy. The fact that it wasn't the right guy was a slight problem but she knew everything would work itself out in due course.
*************
The next day Sam Coulson had arranged his day perfectly.
10:00a.m. - Drop Mom off at airport. Assure her that Josie will find out about his feelings for her.
11:00a.m. - Leave Airport. Go home, Re-arrange desk as a way of keeping busy
1:00p.m. - Meet Jon, Jo, and Matt for Lunch at food court in mall.
4:00p.m. - Pick up tux for prom tomorrow.
6:00p.m. - Go home and panic about prom, speech, Josie, job, life.
The hard part was going through it.
"Alright Sam, I'm going to go into my terminal now but before I do, I want you to listen to me very carefully. Take my advice. Tell Josie how you feel. You clearly love her a lot and life is just too damn short to waste on 'what ifs'"
"Alright, I'll find a way. Bye Mom. Call me when you get there."
And she left. Sam headed off to the mall not in the mood for anything. He felt like he was in a rut. No more work to correct. No more Lara to worry about. And there was absolutely nothing he could do about Josie. He would just have to wait that out. See how things happened. He had learned the hard way that planning ahead of time was a big mistake. He just sounded like a blundering idiot and that probably wasn't the best way to win Josie's heart.
"Mr. Coulson!" Sam spun around shocked to find Josie standing right in front of him.
"Josie! Hey! What are you doing here?"
"I'm supposed to meet Kirsten, Kristen and Gibby and we're gonna shop around."
"Of course, I'm so stupid, what else would you do in a mall?" Sam said sarcastically.
"Actually, there's lots of stuff that I could have been doing. Like eating, or I might have been going to that dentist on the first floor. Or going to a movie! For example. See, you WERE right to ask."
Wow. Josie was the most amazing woman in the entire world. She would always go to the extra trouble to make the people around her feel comfortable and at ease. It was so easy to talk to Josie. It also didn't hurt that she was so drop dead gorgeous.
"Oh. Thanks Josie. You're a wonderful person." Was all Sam could manage to say without giving away that he was completely in love with her.
"Actually, I'm a little scared. I'm not the best marathon shopper. Back in high-...um, I mean at my OLD high school, my friends would go to the mall and spend ALL DAY there. I mean how do you do that? Shop for so long? I just can't do it. I go to the stores that I know I like, I spend 10 minutes there and I'm out of the mall in one hour flat. Do you know if these girls are crazy shoppers, Mr. Coulson?"
Once she was finished, Josie realized that she had been rambling and immediately regretted it. She always did that. When she was nervous she would talk non-stop and giggle a lot. Josie really wouldn't be too surprised if Sam knew about her undeniable love for him.
"Well, judging from their, um....for lack of a better word....*VANITY*...and the fact that prom is tomorrow, I would have to say that you're going to be here for a while Jos."
Josie was in heaven. The same place she always was when Sam spoke to her. Not to mention the fact that he spoke to her like a human being, not just another student.
"Well, thanks a lot Sam. For my part now...what are YOU doing here?" Josie asked jokingly.
"I'm meeting my friends for lunch actually. We do it about once a week to discuss the current status of different aspects of our lives."
'God, I'm such a geek.' Sam couldn't help thinking.
"Wow! That's actually a good idea. That way you get free advice for problems."
Sam was relieved to find that Josie wasn't judging him on his nasty habit of telling her the wrong things.
"Actually that's true. Which reminds me! There's something I wanted to tell you-"
"Sam!"
Sam was just about to try and start hinting around the truth of his feelings toward her when he was interrupted by Matt.
There, Matt, Jon and Jo were coming up to Sam and Josie from the escalator.
"Hey Sam! Hmm! And Josie! Looking ravishing as usual."
"Hey Matt, cut it out. Alright?"
Josie's head whipped around at Sam's sudden defensiveness. Why was Sam upset about Josie receiving a compliment? Was it because Matt was one of Sam's friends? Or was it the age thing? Because if that was the case then Sam clearly had a problem with age differences and probably wasn't even looking at her on a romantic level.
"Oh, it's okay Mr. Coulson. Don't worry about me." Then, she turned around to Matt. "Thank you for the compliment. But I must be going, I have to meet my friends." Then, she waved goodbye and went to meet the girls she could see coming from the jewelry store. Josie was starting to get aggravated. She didn't know how much more teenager-life she could handle. She was just counting the hours until prom. At prom, she would find her story, and then she wouldn't have to go to school anymore. Better yet, she wouldn't have to lie anymore.
Meanwhile, Sam just stared at Josie as she walked away. A little baffled as to why she left so quickly. Was it perhaps his quickness to defend her, against a COMPLIMENT?!?!? He had to admit that it was quite possible that she had misinterpreted what he meant by that. He was just so shocked at how quickly it came out. Sam just couldn't accept the idea that Josie might actually date someone other than him.
To be continued.....soon! I promise!
The game was over. Students won by just barely inching over the tie-line. Sam had to admit that it was a slight disappointment that the teachers lost. Sam had gotten revved up for a game he somewhat expected to win. His disappointment, however, was quickly replaced when he saw Josie leaving the field, arm in arm with Rob and a big smile across her face. She was happy, and he loved to see her happy. Sometimes, when he saw her in class she seemed to have a worried expression which made him curious. He knew that her personal life was absolutely none of his business but, still, he was dying to get inside her head. To see what was making Josie have no faith in herself. To see what was making her sad.
At that point, Guy and a few of his friends approached Josie and Rob.
"Hey Guys, great game! Rob, you are THE best coach. Man! I really would have screwed up in there without you yelling at me! And Josie, yeesh! WHAT a hit! Right over Mr. Coulson's head!" Guy Perkins started, he was always the one who initiated conversations. He wasn't too fond of that but knowing that everyone else was just following him, he felt he had a position to withold. {-correct spelling?}
Josie, meanwhile tensing up at Mr. Coulson's name could only manage to nod in thanks. Immediately after, Rob kicked her calf, telling her that she was NOT going to retreat into herself as she so frequently did.
"So, Jos...you gonna come to this party? Sounds like it's gonna be great!" asked Guy.
That's when it finally hit Josie. She was accepted. *popular*. She had friends that were cool.....
"Yeah! It sounds like it'll be very thrilling!" Josie said, immediately regretting her choice of words.
"Well, I don't know about THRILLING...but it sure will be FUN...." Guy joked around with her, already having figured out her amazing use of words.
"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it, where is it anyway?" Josie asked.
"It's at Rob's house." Gibby cheerfully chimed in. Josie, meanwhile started to panic. ROB'S HOUSE?!?!?!? Was he CRAZY???? These teenagers would destroy it! Unfortunately, Josie had not remained subtle in her panic.
"Geez Josie, what the hell's wrong with you?" Rob asked, in no way sparing her dignity.
"Well....um....don't you remember Rob? Ou-..Your parents HATE when you have huge parties." Josie replied. Feeling more at ease seeing that she managed to satisfy everyone's curiosity.
"Oh, Josie...Don't worry, I'm gonna clean everything up....My Mom and Dad aren't gonna know the difference."
Josie just nodded in response. Rob had said that she should trust him, so she would. She believed in him enough trust the fact that he said he knew what he was doing...even if it sounded crazy.
Eventually, the group dissipated and they went their separate ways. Josie went to the office, for her meeting feeling totally great about herself.
As she bounced in through the office, Sheila cautiously approached her.
"Uh, Josie...splendiforous?" Sheila, expecting a correct spelling was blown away by Josie's unusual response.
"Totally!" Josie knew that she was acting completely out of character but it didn't bother her. She was in an excellent mood and wanted to stay that way. Unfortunately, in the meeting, she was quickly and abruptly pulled back into the reality that she is not a teenaged student but a 25 year old reported when her boss gave her a 2-week deadline for a story otherwise she AND Guss would be fired.
That was it. The end of her fun. Now was time. Time to shape up or ship out. HOW was she possibly going to find a story in time? Her good mood was completely ruined and thoughts of popularity were quickly overrun by thoughts of how she was going to keep her job.
After work, she went home. Home to her house and her turtles. A constant reminder that she had no one to share her life with. Just one more thing to add to her newfound misery. For the party, Josie decided to put on a loose-fitting v-neck shirt and her fitting jeans. She finished her make-up and off she went.
"Hey Josie! Glad you're here!" Rob greeted her warmly as she approached her former home. Also, to Josie's surprise, the 3 girls greeted Josie as one of their own. Josie thought that that was what she wanted. To be popular and fit in. But now she realized that this wasn't real. They didn't REALLY know her. All they knew was that Rob told them to like her so now they do. But she decided to not let it bother her. She would enjoy popularity while she had it.
"Hey girls! How long have you been here?"
"About 20 minutes..Josie you've gotta come shopping with us tomorrow! We're gonna go to the mall and pick out some cool stuff!" Cried Kirsten.
"Okay! Sounds great!" Josie said, unable to contain her laughter. They sounded so uneducated when they spoke.
The rest of the party went really well, Josie sparked up conversations with lots of different people and felt like her shyness was disappearing ever so quickly. When she wandered into the kitchen only to discover that Rob was taking Tracy to the prom. She made sure that Rob knew that she didn't approve.
"Hey." Guy. RIGHT behind her.
"Hi!" Josie giggled.
"Um..I need to talk to you."
"I'll see you around the cell block Mrs. Robinson!" Joked Rob. Josie flashed him a look to show that she was not amused.
To Josie's complete and utter shock Guy Perkins asked her to prom! She actually had a date. A REAL date! Josie knew that this was a breakthrough in her life. And for once it wasn't career-wise. This was a turning point and nothing was going to take away from Josie's joy. The fact that it wasn't the right guy was a slight problem but she knew everything would work itself out in due course.
*************
The next day Sam Coulson had arranged his day perfectly.
10:00a.m. - Drop Mom off at airport. Assure her that Josie will find out about his feelings for her.
11:00a.m. - Leave Airport. Go home, Re-arrange desk as a way of keeping busy
1:00p.m. - Meet Jon, Jo, and Matt for Lunch at food court in mall.
4:00p.m. - Pick up tux for prom tomorrow.
6:00p.m. - Go home and panic about prom, speech, Josie, job, life.
The hard part was going through it.
"Alright Sam, I'm going to go into my terminal now but before I do, I want you to listen to me very carefully. Take my advice. Tell Josie how you feel. You clearly love her a lot and life is just too damn short to waste on 'what ifs'"
"Alright, I'll find a way. Bye Mom. Call me when you get there."
And she left. Sam headed off to the mall not in the mood for anything. He felt like he was in a rut. No more work to correct. No more Lara to worry about. And there was absolutely nothing he could do about Josie. He would just have to wait that out. See how things happened. He had learned the hard way that planning ahead of time was a big mistake. He just sounded like a blundering idiot and that probably wasn't the best way to win Josie's heart.
"Mr. Coulson!" Sam spun around shocked to find Josie standing right in front of him.
"Josie! Hey! What are you doing here?"
"I'm supposed to meet Kirsten, Kristen and Gibby and we're gonna shop around."
"Of course, I'm so stupid, what else would you do in a mall?" Sam said sarcastically.
"Actually, there's lots of stuff that I could have been doing. Like eating, or I might have been going to that dentist on the first floor. Or going to a movie! For example. See, you WERE right to ask."
Wow. Josie was the most amazing woman in the entire world. She would always go to the extra trouble to make the people around her feel comfortable and at ease. It was so easy to talk to Josie. It also didn't hurt that she was so drop dead gorgeous.
"Oh. Thanks Josie. You're a wonderful person." Was all Sam could manage to say without giving away that he was completely in love with her.
"Actually, I'm a little scared. I'm not the best marathon shopper. Back in high-...um, I mean at my OLD high school, my friends would go to the mall and spend ALL DAY there. I mean how do you do that? Shop for so long? I just can't do it. I go to the stores that I know I like, I spend 10 minutes there and I'm out of the mall in one hour flat. Do you know if these girls are crazy shoppers, Mr. Coulson?"
Once she was finished, Josie realized that she had been rambling and immediately regretted it. She always did that. When she was nervous she would talk non-stop and giggle a lot. Josie really wouldn't be too surprised if Sam knew about her undeniable love for him.
"Well, judging from their, um....for lack of a better word....*VANITY*...and the fact that prom is tomorrow, I would have to say that you're going to be here for a while Jos."
Josie was in heaven. The same place she always was when Sam spoke to her. Not to mention the fact that he spoke to her like a human being, not just another student.
"Well, thanks a lot Sam. For my part now...what are YOU doing here?" Josie asked jokingly.
"I'm meeting my friends for lunch actually. We do it about once a week to discuss the current status of different aspects of our lives."
'God, I'm such a geek.' Sam couldn't help thinking.
"Wow! That's actually a good idea. That way you get free advice for problems."
Sam was relieved to find that Josie wasn't judging him on his nasty habit of telling her the wrong things.
"Actually that's true. Which reminds me! There's something I wanted to tell you-"
"Sam!"
Sam was just about to try and start hinting around the truth of his feelings toward her when he was interrupted by Matt.
There, Matt, Jon and Jo were coming up to Sam and Josie from the escalator.
"Hey Sam! Hmm! And Josie! Looking ravishing as usual."
"Hey Matt, cut it out. Alright?"
Josie's head whipped around at Sam's sudden defensiveness. Why was Sam upset about Josie receiving a compliment? Was it because Matt was one of Sam's friends? Or was it the age thing? Because if that was the case then Sam clearly had a problem with age differences and probably wasn't even looking at her on a romantic level.
"Oh, it's okay Mr. Coulson. Don't worry about me." Then, she turned around to Matt. "Thank you for the compliment. But I must be going, I have to meet my friends." Then, she waved goodbye and went to meet the girls she could see coming from the jewelry store. Josie was starting to get aggravated. She didn't know how much more teenager-life she could handle. She was just counting the hours until prom. At prom, she would find her story, and then she wouldn't have to go to school anymore. Better yet, she wouldn't have to lie anymore.
Meanwhile, Sam just stared at Josie as she walked away. A little baffled as to why she left so quickly. Was it perhaps his quickness to defend her, against a COMPLIMENT?!?!? He had to admit that it was quite possible that she had misinterpreted what he meant by that. He was just so shocked at how quickly it came out. Sam just couldn't accept the idea that Josie might actually date someone other than him.
To be continued.....soon! I promise!