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I wanna tell her that I love her but the point is probably moot.
- Rick Springfield, Jessie's Girl
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Chapter Two
Sam drew the blinds, blanketing the window in front of them and blocking out the sight of the sheeting rain; for some reason, thinking about the constant rain and the beginnings of the floor that was slowly claiming most of Manhattan was starting to make him nervous. It was probably all of the weather nonsense he had been hearing from his father since the cradle, but Sam just figured he would feel a little bit more comfortable if he managed to at least block the weather from his sight. Neither of his friends complained and Laura turned away from the window, sighing and shivering, her damp coat still sticking to her body.
J.D. disappeared down the single hallway that led to several rooms and appeared again moments later, his arms laden with towels and a handful of heavy coats. He carried his bundle across the living room and offered a towel and an over-coat to Laura. "After you get dried off," J.D. began, speaking to all of them, "I'll show you the rest of the apartment."
Laura smiled as she draped one of the fluffy towels over her dripping curls. "Thanks so much for letting us stay here." She told J.D., every word out of her mouth sincere. "I don't know where we would have gone."
J.D. smiled as well and waved his hand dismissively. "Don't mention it." He assured her. "It's the least I could do."
Sam rolled his eyes as he took one of the towels from the pile. That prep J.D. was just trying to get in good with Laura and that thought made him want to scoff; he'd been trying to swing Laura's attention his way for months and it hadn't happened. There was no way some jerk-off like J.D. could catch her eye in a matter of hours.
Laura peeled off her wet coat and hung it on the back of one of the chairs that surrounded the dinner table, where she had dropped her hat moments earlier. Still shivering, she toweled off her hair, suddenly feeling self-conscious when she realized that both Sam and J.D. were staring at her and she looked up. "What?" She questioned, looking from one boy to the other, trying to figure out just what was so interesting.
Sam looked away, feeling slightly embarrassed and buried his face in one of the towels, as though his skin was that damp; Laura probably thought he was the biggest idiot for staring at her like that. J.D. remained silent as well and Sam wanted to hit him in the face; he'd best keep his eyes to himself.
Once they were as dry as they could be with only the assistance of a towel, J.D. led them on a tour through his spacious apartment. Down the hallway were two bathrooms and a total of six rooms, something that Sam found almost hard to believe; he couldn't even imagine what the rent on a place like this must be. Laura's eyes grew wider with every room they entered, amazed by the fact that every room was lavishly decorated in its own costly style.
As J.D. gave them the tour of the master bedroom, complete with its own Jacuzzi, Laura leaned closer to Sam. "I think this room is bigger then my entire apartment." She whispered and Sam couldn't tell if she was kidding or not so he didn't say anything in return. He'd only been by her house once, dropping her off after a decathlon meet a few weeks ago but she hadn't let him walk her to her door, deciding it was better for them to part ways in front of the apartment complex.
"So." J.D. said with a sigh once they had returned to the spacious living room. "That's about it, pretty boring, huh?"
Laura shook her head. "Are you kidding?" She questioned. "Your house is amazing." She grinned. "Thanks so much for letting us stay with you."
J.D. smiled as well and Sam wanted to wipe that flirty grin right off his lips. "No problem. Sometimes it gets a little lonely around here when it's just me on the weekends."
"Your dad's gone a lot, huh?" Laura questioned, giving Sam another sly look, attempting to prod him into the conversation. But Sam remained silent, standing beside Laura just in case J.D. got any ideas. J.D. nodded, answering her question. "Where's your mom?"
J.D. sighed, the smile disappearing. "Last postcard I got from her was from Barbados." He answered. "My dad sends her to all sorts of places far away from here, trying to keep her from taking him to court after the divorce, I guess."
Laura gave him a sympathetic smile and Sam almost wanted to start complaining about his own crappy family life just to get the same sweet expression. But his life wasn't so bad, aside from the fact that his dad was always out of the country and his mother was always off dealing with someone else's children; even though he hated to admit it, he knew what J.D. was going through.
Brian was pacing around the living room, either bored or worried, picking up the assorted gold picture frames on the tables and studying them before setting them down again. Pacing with busy hands was nervous habit of his, one that no one was too fond of. He picked up one photo and paused, studying it closely before turning it so that J.D. and the others could see it. "Is this you and your brother?" He questioned and J.D. looked over at the picture.
"Yeah." He answered. "That's when we took a bike trip together."
Laura studied the picture for a minute, which showed J.D. and a boy no older then ten, standing with two bicycles beside a tree. "He's cute; he looks just like you." She smiled at J.D. and Sam rolled his eyes again. He knew he should have begged his mother for a brother.
"That's what everyone says." J.D. remarked. "Do you have any brothers?"
Laura shook her head. "Just a little sister, Tessa." She answered. "She's a brat, but I love her anyway." For a moment, she looked lost, depressed and Sam could tell that she was wishing to be back home again, where things were at least a little more normal there. He couldn't blame her; he'd give anything at that moment to be putting up with his dad's lectures and his mother's constant scolding about how he shouldn't drink milk from the carton and when the phone rang you were supposed to answer it. That was a bad habit of his, unless, of course, it was Laura on the other line.
Brian set the picture down again and a silence settled over the group; for a moment, no one knew what to do, what to say, or how to act. For the first time, the events of the previous hours were really beginning to settle in and for the first time, Sam felt aware of just what was going on. They were trapped in New York City, their families were miles away and he had the feeling that things were just going to get worse.
After a moment, J.D. cleared his throat and looked over at Sam and Brian. "You guys wanna...play video games?" He realized how immature it probably sounded at that moment but it was the only thing he could use to break the silence.
Laura looked over at Sam for a moment and could tell that he was planning on agreeing with J.D.'s offer and so was Brian and so, she turned her attention on J.D. "Don't I get to play?" She questioned, raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms over her chest, feigning insult.
J.D. looked surprised. "You like video games?" He questioned, feeling like an idiot.
"Sure." Laura said. "I do things other then study." She shot a look at Sam, who stared at his feet. Apparently, she wasn't ever going to let him forget how he had somehow mercilessly teased her for burying her noise in books all of the time.
"Great." Brian said, taking Laura's attention away from Sam and turning it on him. "Now we can play."
With that matter settled, J.D. led them over to the flat screen television, opening an oak cabinet beneath it and revealing a Nintendo Game Cube. There weren't a whole lot of games to choose from, so J.D. quickly settled on "Bloody Roar: Primal Fury" and doled out the controllers.
Laura sat down on the floor beside Sam, leaning against the couch, her shoulder brushing against his; Sam acted like he was scooting closer to see the screen better just so he could be even nearer to her. She looked over at him and smiled slightly, almost self-consciously, but didn't move away.
The video game started up, offering a welcome screen with a list of options and the sounds of computerized people screaming and being beaten in the background. J.D. looked over at Laura, feeling like something idiotic was about to come out of his mouth, whether he could help it or not. "I don't know if you've played this sort of video game before, Laura." He began and she looked at him. "It's a fighting game, where the object is to beat the other person."
Laura sighed. "I think I got it." She mumbled, looking away from J.D. and to the huge television screen in front of her. Sam could tell that she didn't appreciate being talked to like a girl from the 1950's who had never heard of the idea of video games before and wanted to say something in her defense but couldn't find the right words.
J.D. decided it would be best to have a team battle -he and Brian against Sam and Laura- so that Laura could learn the ropes of the game and see how it was done. The characters were chosen -Sam the tiger, Laura the wolf, J.D. the bat and Brian the mole, something that had Sam teasing him for a good two minutes- before the game began.
Almost instantly, Laura transformed her character into a werewolf type man and tossed J.D.'s character across the arena with a combination that not even Sam recognized. J.D.'s mouth dropped and his eyes went wide as he looked over at her. "Good Lord, woman." He muttered. "Where did you learn how to do that?"
Laura smiled at him. "You never asked if I had played this game before." She reminded him. "My sister and I play all the time."
Sam smiled as well, smugly, and looked over at Laura. "Next time we play, you're on my team." He assured her.
Laura smiled.
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The novelty of video games wore off quickly for Sam and Laura and they decided to leave Brian and J.D. sitting on the floor, hitting buttons on the controllers and shouting at their video game characters. Laura rolled her eyes and she raised the blinds, peering outside; the rain hadn't slackened and she was beginning to believe that it had even gotten worse.
Night had fallen, though it didn't look any different from the cloudy day, aside from the fact that several street lights had popped on and were trying to chase away the darkness with a weak orange glow. Laura shivered and stepped away, wishing that Sam was standing beside her but he had vanished off down the hallway, disappearing into one of the rooms. That fact was just further proof in her mind that at times he just couldn't stand to be around her; sure, he'd been nice to her when they had been playing video games but they were team mates. You had to be nice to your team mates.
Laura dropped the blinds again, stepping away from the window and turning back toward Brian and J.D.; looking out the window at the darkness beyond was beginning to creep her out and she couldn't explain why. "J.D." He didn't look up when she called his name, too busy shouting and hitting buttons rapidly on his controller. "J.D."
This time, he looked over at her, hitting the pause button. "Do you have any candles or anything?" Laura questioned, feeling the desire to brighten up the room even the slightest bit. Candles were cheery and she needed cheery right then.
"Sure." J.D. told her. "They're in the cabinet beside the refrigerator." He gestured in that direction and Laura started into the kitchen. "There should be a lighter in there too."
Laura opened the cupboard door and found several scented candles and a single lighter; she picked out two lavender candles, the wax enclosed in a large glass holder and headed back into the living room. Setting one of the candles aside, she picked up the other and flicked the lighter with the other.
For a moment, there was no flame and Laura flicked it again, sparking the lighter to life and burning the ball of her thumb and index finger. She dropped the lighter and the candle, crying out in a pain and holding onto her hand, tears welling involuntarily in her eyes as she stared down at her throbbing hand.
"Laura?" Sam called from one of the rooms down the hallway, heading into the living room with a look of worry on his face before J.D. and Brian even managed to pause their game. His eyes settled on her and she could read the concern in them when she looked up from her hand long enough to notice him. "Are you all right?" He questioned. "What happened?"
"I burned myself." Laura answered, feeling like an idiot all of the sudden. She shouldn't have made a big deal, she'd burned herself before doing the exact same thing only now she was acting like a damsel in distress in front of Sam. "I'm okay." She assured him.
Sam took her hand without thinking and studied her fingers; Laura felt her eyes go wide and suddenly felt nervous, the way that she had the first time she had set eyes on Sam months ago. A part of her wanted to pull away but she couldn't bare to do so and so she stood, motionless, while Sam held her hand in his. "You should put some water on this." Sam said after a minute, looking up at her and suddenly letting go of her hand, as though he just realized what he was doing.
Laura swallowed and nodded, staring down at her feet and wishing that she could actually say something. Sam cleared his throat, feeling like a dork and found himself looking at the ground as well. "There's a wash cloth in the bathroom," he mumbled, "if you want to..."
"Oh sure." Laura nodded, looking up again. She stared at Sam for a moment, waiting for him to say something more but when he didn't she brushed past him, heading toward the bathroom. She wished that she had could up with something smooth and, God forbid, even sexy to say to him at that moment to let him know that she not only liked him but appreciated his concern. But no, she was just dorky Laura Chapman that could rattle off useless facts about the Russian Revolution but couldn't even tell a guy that she liked him.
Sam mumbled to himself as he watched Laura vanish down the sidewalk, feeling like an idiot. From the living room, J.D. and Brian were watching him with grins on their faces, something that Sam didn't exactly appreciate. "Just shut up." He mumbled.
"You know," J.D. began, "if you really like her that much, you should just tell her how you feel." He'd never had a problem in that department, after all.
Brian sighed. "I've been giving him that advice for almost five months now. Trust me, it doesn't work." He told J.D.
"Just shut up." Sam snapped again.
Laura was running her fingers under the cold water running from the bathroom sink when someone knocked on the door before nudging it open. She smiled slightly when she saw Sam, still standing in the hallway with a dish towel with something wrapped inside. "I thought you might want some ice." He said, handing her the towel.
Laura took the towel from him. "My hand's really not that bad." She said, then quickly changed her pace. "I mean, thanks a lot." She smiled and shut the water off. For a minute, Sam looked like he wanted to say something but remained silent and so she busied herself pressing the ice against her hand. She shivered and decided the ice wasn't a great idea, seeing as she still hadn't recovered from the chilly rain outside.
Sam smiled at her slightly, though the smile looked a little uncomfortable and forced. "I'm glad your hand is okay." He mumbled, feeling the urge to just stop talking and go back into the living room. If he let himself speak for a prolonged period of time around Laura, stupid things usually started coming out.
"Thanks." Laura muttered, dumbly in her opinion, and sat down on the edge of the claw-foot bath tub, pushing the shower curtain out of her way. She could feel Sam watching her closely, though she couldn't figure out if the attention was good or bad. He probably thought she was a freak who couldn't even light a candle and she wasn't at all surprised; she was beginning to think that herself.
For a moment, Sam couldn't get over how adorably sexy Laura looked, sitting on the edge of the tub, nervously and subtly biting the corner of her bottom lip. It seemed like the perfect time to tell her how he really felt, whether she returned his feelings or not, this was the perfect time to get them off his chest.
But, as soon as Sam opened his mouth to confess just why he had flown to New York in the first place, Laura made the attempt to cross her legs and tumbled backward into the bathtub. She nearly pulled the shower curtain down with her, groaning as she landed with a thud in the bathtub, knocking her head on the wall.
Even though he had just watched the woman he loved tumble into a bathtub, Sam couldn't keep himself from laughing, the whole scene seeming like something straight out of a movie. "Are you all right?" He questioned in between laughs. He headed over to her and took Laura by the wrists, gently helping her out of the bathtub. "Laura, are you hurt?"
Laura blinked, and shook her head, a little hurt by his laughter, whether she let it show or not. "No, I'm fine." She mumbled, pulling her wrists free and gingerly touching the back of her head. "I'm such an idiot."
Sam forced himself to stop smiling once he saw the embarrassment and hurt in Laura's doe-brown eyes. "Are you sure?" He questioned. "I'm going to get some more ice." He took the towel and headed out of the bathroom.
Once Sam had disappeared, Laura sighed and buried her face in her hands. Great, now she had really screwed things up with Sam, what a perfect time to have klutz attack. She leaned against the wall and slid to the floor, knocking her head against the wall and instantly regretting that action. "Ow." She mumbled, closing her eyes. "Smooth move Chapman."
So, thanks for all the reviews so far! You guys are so great; of course, Lilly, you're a great writer! Thanks to Wally and Muzzy for the sweet reviews (and that means you too, Lilly) and encouragement. And all the kind words from Ms. Aiken. Thanks again for the reviews!