disclamer:I own nothing.
CHapter 8: Moment of Truth
Two days had passed since Sam was admitted to the hospital and Reggie had still not talked to him. She heard about his father's death and didn't think talking to Sam would cheer him up, after all the crap she put him through.
Both Otto and Twister had visited him, as well as Sherri, Trish and his teammates from cross country. And Rob and Jess were with him whenever they weren't at school. She talked to her friends who visited him, he was feeling better mentally and physichally. He had even been asking where Reggie was. Which was good, she hoped.
The days after Sam's "accident" had been a complete blurr to Reggie. People at school were always asking her if she was okay, expecting her to breakdown crying. Surprisingly, Reg had not cried since her night in the waiting room. Simply put, she was numb.
The days strangely became colder, weather-wise, it was only October and Ocean Shores never experienced much cold weather at all. Reggie pulled her sweatshirt around her body tighter as she trudged home from school, the wind had turned her hair into a bushy mess, and dark clouds spread over the town. 'Looks like another storm' she thought to herself.
She made it inside her house just in time as the rain poured down on the unexpecting citizens of Ocean Shores. Without acknowledging her father's presence, she ran up to her room and slammed the door. Ray Rocket let out an exasperated sigh and continued reading the paper with mild interest until his eyes ran over the headline- LOCAL TEEN SURVIVES SUICIDE. The article mentioned how Sam was found by his friends in his home bleeding to death. The article did not mention any names of the teenagers, but it did identify Paula Dullard as "the survivor's" mother and named the street where he lived.
"So much for confedentiality." Ray said as he angrily threw the paper down. He walked up to Reggie's room and knocked on her door.
"What?" an annoyed voice retorted. Ray opened the door without any permission; his daughter sat at her desk tapping away at her computer.
"What cha' doin'?" he asked casually.
"Working on the 'Zine. But its gonna come out a little later than usual." she said, not moving her eyes from the screen.
"Must be hard without Sam." Ray said. Reggie stopped typing and glarred up at her father.
"What do you want?" Ray was quite taken back by his daughter's tone of voice, and suddenly felt less authoritive.
"I-uh... just read an interesting article in today's paper." He said, trying to find his voice. Reggie said nothing. "Apparently, word of Sam's uh... situation has gotten out to the press. It didn't mention his name but it did give out his mother's."
"And why are you telling me this?" she asked in her "leave-me-alone" voice.
"Has anyone at school found out about Sam?" He asked defeatedly.
"Well, it has been the hot topic in gossip for the past few days." she said sarcastically.
Ray groaned and looked out the window to the storm that was occuring. A pair of headlights made it's way through the cul-de-sac and into the Dullard's driveway. Ray watched with unmistakeable curiousity that didn't go unnoticed by Reggie, as she had gotten up and stood next to him watching the car.
The car had been parked and turned off. The figure of a women stepped out of the driver's side, Mrs.Dullard. Surprisingly, another figure got out of the car. Even through the thick rain, Reggie could make out it's skinny frame that was dressed in familar black clothing. Both figures rushed into the house and out of view quickly. But Reggie knew what was going on, Sam had returned home.
"Reg? Reggie?! Are you okay?" Reggie snapped out of daze by her frantic father's concern.
"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine." Ray gave a questioning look.
"Honey, you know you're gonna have to talk to Sam eventually."
"I will dad, just not at this very moment, okay?" Reggie begged.
"Okay." Ray said pulling his daughter into a protective hug. "Dinner's in half an hour. Hopefully Otto will remember to come home." He said, walking towards her door. Reggie merely nodded and sat back down in front of her computer trying cope with her writer's block.Paula examined her son as they sat at the dinner table. His skin that had become lightly bronzed during his time in California had lost it's radience and was now as pale as it was when they first moved to Ocean Shores. He had lost weight during his time in the hospital causing him to look more skeletal than ever before.
But the most drastic change in his appearence had to be his eyes; what was once an electric blue was now dull and greyish. Which made his depression more noticable.
"You alright mom?" his voice interupted her thoughts.
"Of course Sam, why do ask?"
"Well, you've only been starring at me for five minutes and your soup's probably cold by now. But then again, I might just be jumping to conclusions." Sam joked. Paula looked down at her full bowl of soup to see that it was no longer steaming and had formed a thin rubbery skin on top.
"Oh, well I guess I'm just happy to have some company around here for a change." she said lamely. Sam raised an eyebrow and got up from his chair.
"Sam..." his mother started.
"Relax, I'm just getting more soup." Sam reassured her as walked over to the kitchen stove.
"Wow, already?" Paula asked.
"Yeah, the food they serve in the hospital sucks. I've been dieing for a home-cooked meal." Sam said, causing Paula to chuckle.
"Home-cooked meal? Sam, you know that soup came out of a can. All I did was heat it up."
"Your point being...?" Sam asked while hungrily spooning the hot liquid into his mouth. Paula could only laugh louder.
"Hey! What's all this racket?" Said a masculine voice. Paula and Sam looked to the doorway to see a tall, thin man with dark hair.
"Tom! What are you doing here?!" Paula shieked in surprise.
"Robbing your house, what else." He said sarcastically with a grin on his face. "Alctually, I missed you so I thought I'd stop by." he said while looking at Paula. He started walking over to the table with outstretched arms.
"That's sweet of you Tom." Paula said, turning towards him to accept his hug. But at that the last minute, Tom sidestepped her and embraced Sam in a fatherly hug, leaving a very confused and slightly jealous Paula. Both Sam and Tom burst out into laughter as they seperated. Paula put on a face of mock anger and glared at Tom, causing them to laugh harder.
"I missed you too, Paula." He said as he pulled his girlfriend into a hug. The three of them spent the next half hour talking and laughing at the table. To Sam it felt like he was part of a "real" family again; for the first time in days, he felt like nothing was wrong in the world."...and then I nailed a 720 McTwist! You should have seen it Raymundo, it was totally sweet..." Reggie blocked out her brother's egotistical drivel and poked at the uneaten food on her plate.
"Reg, what's wrong?" she snapped out of thoughts by her father's voice and looked up to see his concerned face. She put on a false smile-"Nothing, Dad." Ray gave her a questioning her look and turned his attention back to Otto.
"So, Otto... have you heard about Sam? He came home today." he informed his son.
"Really? Wow, he recovered fast! This is awesome, now that Shady's back, our hockey team won't suck! Huh Reg?... Reg?" Otto looked at his silent sister. "Oh, come on! Is he still not on the team? I thought you guys made up."
"I haven't talked to Sam since before the, um..."accident"." she said meekly. Otto jumped out of his seat.
"What!! But he's your best bro! Why haven't you talked to him? Are still mad at him for that stupid beach party thing? Or are you just being a shoobie because what you think he did to himself was like, selfish or whatever?" he inquired angrily. Reggie just looked at him, shocked.
"Just shut up! I'll talk to him when I'm ready!" she screamed.
"Now hold on you two-" Ray started.
"When you're ready? What do you mean when you're ready" Otto mocked.
"What I mean is-" Reggie yelled back
"Both of you be quiet!!" Ray yelled at the top of his lungs. Both teenagers stopped talking and looked fearfully at their seething father. "Reggie, as much as you may hate this, I have to agree with Otto. You should talk to Sam or else you're never going to stop being miserable."
Reggie glared at her father and left the table, as she stomped towards her room, Ray heard her mutter-"Whatever." Shortly followed by the slamming of a door.
Reggie threw herself down on her bed and screamed into her pillow. She did not shed any tears, she was too angry to cry.
'Why do they have to control my life? I'm not ready to talk to Sam! Dammit, why can't I just talk to him?' Reggie thought to herself as she flung her pillow across the room. The pillow knocked over a lamp near the window and Reggie angrily walked over to it. As she picked up the lamp, Reggie looked out her window to Sam's house. She could see that light shining through the basement window, Sam's room. The rest of the house was dark.
'Well... now or never, Rocket-Girl.' she said to herself. She quietly opened the door of her room and crept downstairs, not to get noticed by Otto or her father. Both were sitting in front of the T.V., she skirted by the living room, into the kitchen and out the back door.After an hour of talking with his mother and her boyfriend, Sam excused himself and went to his room. As soon as the door was locked, he turned on his stereo on a low volume and plopped down on his bed with a magazine. He wasn't reading for long when he heard a the sound of fingers tapping on glass. He looked up and almost fell off his bed when he saw Reggie.
She was crouched on her knees staring at Sam with a nervous look in her eyes. Sam got up and opened the window for his best friend.
"Hey stranger." Sam said with a slight smile on his face. This seemed to calm Reggie as she too smiled.
"Hey" she answered back. Sam led her over to his bed where both teens sat down. Sam turned off the stereo, allowing an awkward silence to fall over them. "So what's new with you Reg?" Sam asked casually.
"Sam, I'm really happy that you're still alive." Reggie said truthfully, not daring to look him in the eye.
"Okay...but that doesn't really answer my question." Sam said confused.
"I'm sorry I blew up at you at the beach party. I'm sorry I ignored tou. I'm sorry I treated you like dirt. I'm sorry I didn't visit you in the hospital. I'm sorry I drove you into killing yourself-" she rambled, but Sam interupted her.
"What do you mean 'drove me into killing myself'? Do you blame yourself for what I did?" Sam asked her. She lifted her head up to meet his eyes and nodded. "Well, don't! I'm the only to blame. I was being stupid, I'm the one who always screws up!" He said angrily. "Maybe my dad was right."
"Right about what?" Reg asked
"That I was destined to be a huge screw-up for the rest of my life."
"He really said that to you?" she asked. He nodded. "Don't believe that shit, Sam. Your father was wrong about you. And he was wrong for beating you."
"You found out about that, huh?" Sam asked quietly
"Your mom told us about it."
"I always had a feeling you guys would find out, What with the scars and everything. And when you did, you would shower me with pity and I would go fucking ballistic. Please don't by the way." He added.
Reggie smiled and said-"Don't worry, I won't."
Sam's face softened a bit, he suddenly realized that he was standing up but didn't remember doing so. He sat down besides Reggie, neither of them said anything for a few moments. Sam started running his fingers over the cuts in his arms in deep thought. Reggie noticed.
"How long?" she asked him.
"I started when I was like, thirteen. I didn't do it very often but, a couple of weeks ago I started cutting almost daily. I never intended to let it get this bad though." Reggie felt tears forming in her eyes.
"I should have noticed. I'm so sorry Sam, I'm a terrible friend." she sobbed. Sam looked up at her in surprise.
"Actually Reg, you're the best friend I ever had. Ya' know when I moved here, my plan was to stay locked up in my house in front of the T.V. for the next 7 years. Then I met you guys, and you were the only one to accept me for who I was. And I thank you for that." Sam said. Reggie smiled despite the tears in her eyes and pulled Sam into a hug. The embrace lasted for a few minutes; with Reggie crying on Sam's shoulder as he lightly rubbed her back. When they finally pulled away, Reggie looked down at Sam's arms, Sam, beginning to feel self-conscious, almost crossed his arms over his chest to hide the scars. But Reggie had already put her hands on them.
Her fingers traced over the old and new scars, being careful not to press down hard on the cuts that were still scabbed over. She looked up into Sam's blue eyes, it was then that Sam realized how much Reggie had changed since they were kids. Her tan skin was smooth and flawless, and her dark brown eyes that held so much depth, it was like she was staring into his soul. 'Damn, when did Reggie get so hot? What did I just say?! She's my friend stop thinking about her like that!' He cursed at himself and hung his head down in shame.
"Sam?" Reggie's voice brought him out of his thoughts as he looked up at her. "Promise me you won't do that to yourself again."
"I promise." Sam said rather shakily
"Are alright? You seem...nervous." she asked. Sam was doing his best not to blush but was failing miserably.
"I'm fine, just a bit thirsty. Do you want a soda or something?" he asked, hoping she would say 'yes' so he could leave and collect himself. Reggie looked at him in confusion.
"Sure." she said getting up to follow Sam upstairs.
"Uh... I'll get them. You stay here, my mom's a light sleeper, feel free to play a CD or whatever." He said hurridly. Reggie nodded and walked over to his CD shelf. Sam rushed upstairs into the kitchen and splashed cold water onto his face in an attempt to get rid of the blush. He also noticed that his palms had become quite sweaty. 'I haven't been affected by a girl like that since puberty' Sam said to himself as he wiped off his hands and face with a dish towel.
Meanwhile, Reggie was searching through Sam's CD's, trying to find one by a band that she recognized. She finally spotted a Blink-182 CD and popped it into his stereo. As the second track started playing, Sam emerged from the door and walked down the stairs.
"Blink, huh? Good choice." he complimented her as she accepted the can of soda.
"Well it was the only CD of your's that was by a band that I actually recognized." She replied while sipping the carbonated beverage.
"No offense Reg, but it wouldn't kill you to listen to some music that isn't mainstreamor on MTV 24/7." He joked. Reggie smirked at him.
"Well than "Shady", if those bands you listen to are so great than why aren't they on T.V. or the top 40 list?" she asked in mock sarcasm. Sam smirked back.
"Because the people who control T.V. and the top 40 list are cynical assholes who despise anything played by guys dressed in black with chains and mowhawks. And they insert sublimal messages into your so-called-music to control how you think and what you buy." He said in in false paranoia. Both teens burst out in laughter.
"You are something else Sam."
"Well, I try." Sam said modestly while running a hand through his hair, obviously joking. Reggie giggled at his antics.
"Never change, Sam. Promise me that." she said, in between giggles.
"Another promise Reg? Come on, I'm not a friggin' saint." he said in an effort to amuse her, but she didn't find anything funny in what he said.
"Sam-" she started, but Sam cut her off.
"I was just joking Reg, calm down."
"Okay, but it wasn't very funny." she pouted. Sam heaved a sigh.
"Sorry, but to answer your promise request, I would never think of changing myself." this caused Reggie to smile. She tried to look him in the eye but was distracted by the silver ring in his lip. Sam noticed her staring.
"What?" he asked
"Just admiring your piercing." she said truthfully. "I always wanted to ask you this, why did you get it?" she inquired
"'Cause I knew my dad would never let me get, but he was out of my life at the time so I figured why not? And besides making me look less like that bastard I think it looks cool. What do you think?"
"It's definetly...unique. But I've always wondered-"
"What? If it hurt getting my lip pierced? Because it didn't really sting, it just felt like someone was pinching my lip-"
"No." she interupted him. "I've always wondered what it would feel like for someone who was trying to-uh..." Reggie began to feel very nervous
"To do what?" Sam asked. Reggie remained silent, staring at Sam. A blush creeping onto her cheeks. "Reggie?" Sam asked, concerned with her odd behavior. Reggie gathered up every ounce of courage in her body and said-
"I've always wondered what it would be like to do this-" Reggie covered Sam's lips with her own. Sam's eyes went wide. He couldn't believe what was happening, he could feel Reggie tense up at his stiffness and began to pull away. He started kissing her back.
Reggie eagerly moved closer to Sam, wrapping her arms around his neck. His lip ring felt odd and cool pressing onto her lips, but she didn't care. She let out years of tension, longing, and secrets as she assaulted his lips.
Sam was shocked by Reggie's agressivness, and surprised himself with his own boldness as he thrusted his tounge between her parted lips. Somehow his hands had found the way to her hips, he pulled her even closer to him as their tounges dueled. Eventually they had to stop to breathe, as they breathed heavily. Reallity hit Reggie like a sack of bricks. She didn't know what to say and neither did Sam. She noticed him staring at her with a shocked expression and a very red face.
"Um...sorry. I should go." she said quickly and bolted up the basement stairs.
"Reg!" Sam called after her. But it was too late she was had already shut the door to his room and was now walking out the front door as quickly and quietly as possible. Sam was utterly confused. 'Should I follow her? Call her to ask what that was about?' he asked himself.
Sam sat on his bed and burried his face in his hands in frustration. 'Why did she do it? Does she like me as more than a friend? Do I like her as more than a friend?' he thought to himself. He decided to sleep on it. Luckilly, tommorrow was Saturday and he could confront her then, away from the prying eyes of their classmates. He turned off the stereo and the lights, and fell into a restless slumber.
A/N: Sorry it took so long to update. I hope this chapter was worth the wait, it's kind of corny though, I never wrote any fluff or romantic scenes before. Anyway, I'm at a loss of how I want to end this: Should I have a happy ending and get this story over with? Or should I add a little bit more agnst and make a sequel? Or should I just kill off Sam in a future chapter and then end the story? Please give me your opinion. And thank you to anyone who has reviewed this story.
CHapter 8: Moment of Truth
Two days had passed since Sam was admitted to the hospital and Reggie had still not talked to him. She heard about his father's death and didn't think talking to Sam would cheer him up, after all the crap she put him through.
Both Otto and Twister had visited him, as well as Sherri, Trish and his teammates from cross country. And Rob and Jess were with him whenever they weren't at school. She talked to her friends who visited him, he was feeling better mentally and physichally. He had even been asking where Reggie was. Which was good, she hoped.
The days after Sam's "accident" had been a complete blurr to Reggie. People at school were always asking her if she was okay, expecting her to breakdown crying. Surprisingly, Reg had not cried since her night in the waiting room. Simply put, she was numb.
The days strangely became colder, weather-wise, it was only October and Ocean Shores never experienced much cold weather at all. Reggie pulled her sweatshirt around her body tighter as she trudged home from school, the wind had turned her hair into a bushy mess, and dark clouds spread over the town. 'Looks like another storm' she thought to herself.
She made it inside her house just in time as the rain poured down on the unexpecting citizens of Ocean Shores. Without acknowledging her father's presence, she ran up to her room and slammed the door. Ray Rocket let out an exasperated sigh and continued reading the paper with mild interest until his eyes ran over the headline- LOCAL TEEN SURVIVES SUICIDE. The article mentioned how Sam was found by his friends in his home bleeding to death. The article did not mention any names of the teenagers, but it did identify Paula Dullard as "the survivor's" mother and named the street where he lived.
"So much for confedentiality." Ray said as he angrily threw the paper down. He walked up to Reggie's room and knocked on her door.
"What?" an annoyed voice retorted. Ray opened the door without any permission; his daughter sat at her desk tapping away at her computer.
"What cha' doin'?" he asked casually.
"Working on the 'Zine. But its gonna come out a little later than usual." she said, not moving her eyes from the screen.
"Must be hard without Sam." Ray said. Reggie stopped typing and glarred up at her father.
"What do you want?" Ray was quite taken back by his daughter's tone of voice, and suddenly felt less authoritive.
"I-uh... just read an interesting article in today's paper." He said, trying to find his voice. Reggie said nothing. "Apparently, word of Sam's uh... situation has gotten out to the press. It didn't mention his name but it did give out his mother's."
"And why are you telling me this?" she asked in her "leave-me-alone" voice.
"Has anyone at school found out about Sam?" He asked defeatedly.
"Well, it has been the hot topic in gossip for the past few days." she said sarcastically.
Ray groaned and looked out the window to the storm that was occuring. A pair of headlights made it's way through the cul-de-sac and into the Dullard's driveway. Ray watched with unmistakeable curiousity that didn't go unnoticed by Reggie, as she had gotten up and stood next to him watching the car.
The car had been parked and turned off. The figure of a women stepped out of the driver's side, Mrs.Dullard. Surprisingly, another figure got out of the car. Even through the thick rain, Reggie could make out it's skinny frame that was dressed in familar black clothing. Both figures rushed into the house and out of view quickly. But Reggie knew what was going on, Sam had returned home.
"Reg? Reggie?! Are you okay?" Reggie snapped out of daze by her frantic father's concern.
"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine." Ray gave a questioning look.
"Honey, you know you're gonna have to talk to Sam eventually."
"I will dad, just not at this very moment, okay?" Reggie begged.
"Okay." Ray said pulling his daughter into a protective hug. "Dinner's in half an hour. Hopefully Otto will remember to come home." He said, walking towards her door. Reggie merely nodded and sat back down in front of her computer trying cope with her writer's block.Paula examined her son as they sat at the dinner table. His skin that had become lightly bronzed during his time in California had lost it's radience and was now as pale as it was when they first moved to Ocean Shores. He had lost weight during his time in the hospital causing him to look more skeletal than ever before.
But the most drastic change in his appearence had to be his eyes; what was once an electric blue was now dull and greyish. Which made his depression more noticable.
"You alright mom?" his voice interupted her thoughts.
"Of course Sam, why do ask?"
"Well, you've only been starring at me for five minutes and your soup's probably cold by now. But then again, I might just be jumping to conclusions." Sam joked. Paula looked down at her full bowl of soup to see that it was no longer steaming and had formed a thin rubbery skin on top.
"Oh, well I guess I'm just happy to have some company around here for a change." she said lamely. Sam raised an eyebrow and got up from his chair.
"Sam..." his mother started.
"Relax, I'm just getting more soup." Sam reassured her as walked over to the kitchen stove.
"Wow, already?" Paula asked.
"Yeah, the food they serve in the hospital sucks. I've been dieing for a home-cooked meal." Sam said, causing Paula to chuckle.
"Home-cooked meal? Sam, you know that soup came out of a can. All I did was heat it up."
"Your point being...?" Sam asked while hungrily spooning the hot liquid into his mouth. Paula could only laugh louder.
"Hey! What's all this racket?" Said a masculine voice. Paula and Sam looked to the doorway to see a tall, thin man with dark hair.
"Tom! What are you doing here?!" Paula shieked in surprise.
"Robbing your house, what else." He said sarcastically with a grin on his face. "Alctually, I missed you so I thought I'd stop by." he said while looking at Paula. He started walking over to the table with outstretched arms.
"That's sweet of you Tom." Paula said, turning towards him to accept his hug. But at that the last minute, Tom sidestepped her and embraced Sam in a fatherly hug, leaving a very confused and slightly jealous Paula. Both Sam and Tom burst out into laughter as they seperated. Paula put on a face of mock anger and glared at Tom, causing them to laugh harder.
"I missed you too, Paula." He said as he pulled his girlfriend into a hug. The three of them spent the next half hour talking and laughing at the table. To Sam it felt like he was part of a "real" family again; for the first time in days, he felt like nothing was wrong in the world."...and then I nailed a 720 McTwist! You should have seen it Raymundo, it was totally sweet..." Reggie blocked out her brother's egotistical drivel and poked at the uneaten food on her plate.
"Reg, what's wrong?" she snapped out of thoughts by her father's voice and looked up to see his concerned face. She put on a false smile-"Nothing, Dad." Ray gave her a questioning her look and turned his attention back to Otto.
"So, Otto... have you heard about Sam? He came home today." he informed his son.
"Really? Wow, he recovered fast! This is awesome, now that Shady's back, our hockey team won't suck! Huh Reg?... Reg?" Otto looked at his silent sister. "Oh, come on! Is he still not on the team? I thought you guys made up."
"I haven't talked to Sam since before the, um..."accident"." she said meekly. Otto jumped out of his seat.
"What!! But he's your best bro! Why haven't you talked to him? Are still mad at him for that stupid beach party thing? Or are you just being a shoobie because what you think he did to himself was like, selfish or whatever?" he inquired angrily. Reggie just looked at him, shocked.
"Just shut up! I'll talk to him when I'm ready!" she screamed.
"Now hold on you two-" Ray started.
"When you're ready? What do you mean when you're ready" Otto mocked.
"What I mean is-" Reggie yelled back
"Both of you be quiet!!" Ray yelled at the top of his lungs. Both teenagers stopped talking and looked fearfully at their seething father. "Reggie, as much as you may hate this, I have to agree with Otto. You should talk to Sam or else you're never going to stop being miserable."
Reggie glared at her father and left the table, as she stomped towards her room, Ray heard her mutter-"Whatever." Shortly followed by the slamming of a door.
Reggie threw herself down on her bed and screamed into her pillow. She did not shed any tears, she was too angry to cry.
'Why do they have to control my life? I'm not ready to talk to Sam! Dammit, why can't I just talk to him?' Reggie thought to herself as she flung her pillow across the room. The pillow knocked over a lamp near the window and Reggie angrily walked over to it. As she picked up the lamp, Reggie looked out her window to Sam's house. She could see that light shining through the basement window, Sam's room. The rest of the house was dark.
'Well... now or never, Rocket-Girl.' she said to herself. She quietly opened the door of her room and crept downstairs, not to get noticed by Otto or her father. Both were sitting in front of the T.V., she skirted by the living room, into the kitchen and out the back door.After an hour of talking with his mother and her boyfriend, Sam excused himself and went to his room. As soon as the door was locked, he turned on his stereo on a low volume and plopped down on his bed with a magazine. He wasn't reading for long when he heard a the sound of fingers tapping on glass. He looked up and almost fell off his bed when he saw Reggie.
She was crouched on her knees staring at Sam with a nervous look in her eyes. Sam got up and opened the window for his best friend.
"Hey stranger." Sam said with a slight smile on his face. This seemed to calm Reggie as she too smiled.
"Hey" she answered back. Sam led her over to his bed where both teens sat down. Sam turned off the stereo, allowing an awkward silence to fall over them. "So what's new with you Reg?" Sam asked casually.
"Sam, I'm really happy that you're still alive." Reggie said truthfully, not daring to look him in the eye.
"Okay...but that doesn't really answer my question." Sam said confused.
"I'm sorry I blew up at you at the beach party. I'm sorry I ignored tou. I'm sorry I treated you like dirt. I'm sorry I didn't visit you in the hospital. I'm sorry I drove you into killing yourself-" she rambled, but Sam interupted her.
"What do you mean 'drove me into killing myself'? Do you blame yourself for what I did?" Sam asked her. She lifted her head up to meet his eyes and nodded. "Well, don't! I'm the only to blame. I was being stupid, I'm the one who always screws up!" He said angrily. "Maybe my dad was right."
"Right about what?" Reg asked
"That I was destined to be a huge screw-up for the rest of my life."
"He really said that to you?" she asked. He nodded. "Don't believe that shit, Sam. Your father was wrong about you. And he was wrong for beating you."
"You found out about that, huh?" Sam asked quietly
"Your mom told us about it."
"I always had a feeling you guys would find out, What with the scars and everything. And when you did, you would shower me with pity and I would go fucking ballistic. Please don't by the way." He added.
Reggie smiled and said-"Don't worry, I won't."
Sam's face softened a bit, he suddenly realized that he was standing up but didn't remember doing so. He sat down besides Reggie, neither of them said anything for a few moments. Sam started running his fingers over the cuts in his arms in deep thought. Reggie noticed.
"How long?" she asked him.
"I started when I was like, thirteen. I didn't do it very often but, a couple of weeks ago I started cutting almost daily. I never intended to let it get this bad though." Reggie felt tears forming in her eyes.
"I should have noticed. I'm so sorry Sam, I'm a terrible friend." she sobbed. Sam looked up at her in surprise.
"Actually Reg, you're the best friend I ever had. Ya' know when I moved here, my plan was to stay locked up in my house in front of the T.V. for the next 7 years. Then I met you guys, and you were the only one to accept me for who I was. And I thank you for that." Sam said. Reggie smiled despite the tears in her eyes and pulled Sam into a hug. The embrace lasted for a few minutes; with Reggie crying on Sam's shoulder as he lightly rubbed her back. When they finally pulled away, Reggie looked down at Sam's arms, Sam, beginning to feel self-conscious, almost crossed his arms over his chest to hide the scars. But Reggie had already put her hands on them.
Her fingers traced over the old and new scars, being careful not to press down hard on the cuts that were still scabbed over. She looked up into Sam's blue eyes, it was then that Sam realized how much Reggie had changed since they were kids. Her tan skin was smooth and flawless, and her dark brown eyes that held so much depth, it was like she was staring into his soul. 'Damn, when did Reggie get so hot? What did I just say?! She's my friend stop thinking about her like that!' He cursed at himself and hung his head down in shame.
"Sam?" Reggie's voice brought him out of his thoughts as he looked up at her. "Promise me you won't do that to yourself again."
"I promise." Sam said rather shakily
"Are alright? You seem...nervous." she asked. Sam was doing his best not to blush but was failing miserably.
"I'm fine, just a bit thirsty. Do you want a soda or something?" he asked, hoping she would say 'yes' so he could leave and collect himself. Reggie looked at him in confusion.
"Sure." she said getting up to follow Sam upstairs.
"Uh... I'll get them. You stay here, my mom's a light sleeper, feel free to play a CD or whatever." He said hurridly. Reggie nodded and walked over to his CD shelf. Sam rushed upstairs into the kitchen and splashed cold water onto his face in an attempt to get rid of the blush. He also noticed that his palms had become quite sweaty. 'I haven't been affected by a girl like that since puberty' Sam said to himself as he wiped off his hands and face with a dish towel.
Meanwhile, Reggie was searching through Sam's CD's, trying to find one by a band that she recognized. She finally spotted a Blink-182 CD and popped it into his stereo. As the second track started playing, Sam emerged from the door and walked down the stairs.
"Blink, huh? Good choice." he complimented her as she accepted the can of soda.
"Well it was the only CD of your's that was by a band that I actually recognized." She replied while sipping the carbonated beverage.
"No offense Reg, but it wouldn't kill you to listen to some music that isn't mainstreamor on MTV 24/7." He joked. Reggie smirked at him.
"Well than "Shady", if those bands you listen to are so great than why aren't they on T.V. or the top 40 list?" she asked in mock sarcasm. Sam smirked back.
"Because the people who control T.V. and the top 40 list are cynical assholes who despise anything played by guys dressed in black with chains and mowhawks. And they insert sublimal messages into your so-called-music to control how you think and what you buy." He said in in false paranoia. Both teens burst out in laughter.
"You are something else Sam."
"Well, I try." Sam said modestly while running a hand through his hair, obviously joking. Reggie giggled at his antics.
"Never change, Sam. Promise me that." she said, in between giggles.
"Another promise Reg? Come on, I'm not a friggin' saint." he said in an effort to amuse her, but she didn't find anything funny in what he said.
"Sam-" she started, but Sam cut her off.
"I was just joking Reg, calm down."
"Okay, but it wasn't very funny." she pouted. Sam heaved a sigh.
"Sorry, but to answer your promise request, I would never think of changing myself." this caused Reggie to smile. She tried to look him in the eye but was distracted by the silver ring in his lip. Sam noticed her staring.
"What?" he asked
"Just admiring your piercing." she said truthfully. "I always wanted to ask you this, why did you get it?" she inquired
"'Cause I knew my dad would never let me get, but he was out of my life at the time so I figured why not? And besides making me look less like that bastard I think it looks cool. What do you think?"
"It's definetly...unique. But I've always wondered-"
"What? If it hurt getting my lip pierced? Because it didn't really sting, it just felt like someone was pinching my lip-"
"No." she interupted him. "I've always wondered what it would feel like for someone who was trying to-uh..." Reggie began to feel very nervous
"To do what?" Sam asked. Reggie remained silent, staring at Sam. A blush creeping onto her cheeks. "Reggie?" Sam asked, concerned with her odd behavior. Reggie gathered up every ounce of courage in her body and said-
"I've always wondered what it would be like to do this-" Reggie covered Sam's lips with her own. Sam's eyes went wide. He couldn't believe what was happening, he could feel Reggie tense up at his stiffness and began to pull away. He started kissing her back.
Reggie eagerly moved closer to Sam, wrapping her arms around his neck. His lip ring felt odd and cool pressing onto her lips, but she didn't care. She let out years of tension, longing, and secrets as she assaulted his lips.
Sam was shocked by Reggie's agressivness, and surprised himself with his own boldness as he thrusted his tounge between her parted lips. Somehow his hands had found the way to her hips, he pulled her even closer to him as their tounges dueled. Eventually they had to stop to breathe, as they breathed heavily. Reallity hit Reggie like a sack of bricks. She didn't know what to say and neither did Sam. She noticed him staring at her with a shocked expression and a very red face.
"Um...sorry. I should go." she said quickly and bolted up the basement stairs.
"Reg!" Sam called after her. But it was too late she was had already shut the door to his room and was now walking out the front door as quickly and quietly as possible. Sam was utterly confused. 'Should I follow her? Call her to ask what that was about?' he asked himself.
Sam sat on his bed and burried his face in his hands in frustration. 'Why did she do it? Does she like me as more than a friend? Do I like her as more than a friend?' he thought to himself. He decided to sleep on it. Luckilly, tommorrow was Saturday and he could confront her then, away from the prying eyes of their classmates. He turned off the stereo and the lights, and fell into a restless slumber.
A/N: Sorry it took so long to update. I hope this chapter was worth the wait, it's kind of corny though, I never wrote any fluff or romantic scenes before. Anyway, I'm at a loss of how I want to end this: Should I have a happy ending and get this story over with? Or should I add a little bit more agnst and make a sequel? Or should I just kill off Sam in a future chapter and then end the story? Please give me your opinion. And thank you to anyone who has reviewed this story.
