Winter's Lullaby

Chapter 1

By Danielle

There was nothing more that Samantha Carter dreamed of than being swept off her feet. She knew this would most likely never happen, judging by her glasses and her geeky appearance. She was putting of getting contacts and losing the extra pounds, because her job at the chemistry lab was so demanding, not to mention boring. The last date that she ever had was a year and a half ago. She wasn't too thrilled about that, because that made her dream seem too far to reach.

One day, as she walked to work ('Exercise, Sam! That's the key!', she would always tell herself), she stopped into Starbucks for coffee and a bagel. 'Well,' she thought, 'I've got 45 minutes before work. I might as well take my time.' She sat at a table, and ordered her breakfast mix.

A few minutes later, she was still munching away as a man came running into the store and sat himself in the chair across from her.

"Um, sorry to bother you. My name's Jack O'Neill. I was wondering, um, can you pretend to by my girlfriend for like, 20 minutes? My ex is in here and I don't want her to think I'm still single. Please!" He sounded so frantic that Sam couldn't not help him. He was hot, as well.

Apart from that, Sam still was in total shock. "Um…sure."

"Thank you so much! What's your name?"

"Um, Samantha Carter--" 'And I thought I was desperate…' thought Sam.

What appeared to be Jack's ex strolled over to the table at that point.

"Why, hello Jack. How are you?"

"I'm fine, Jane. This is Samantha Carter. Sam, this is Jane."

Jane and Sam shook hands.

"Hello, Samantha. Absolutely lovely to meet you."

'He used to be married to her?' Sam thought, but quickly pushed it to the back of her mind.

"It's alright, you can call me Sam."

"Alright. Are you two…dating?"

"Umm, yes. We've been going out for about two months."

"Well, are you two doing anything tomorrow night? Maybe we could have dinner. Of course, we being you two and me and my boyfriend."

"Umm, Sam, are you doing anything tomorrow night?"

Sam sighed. "I don't think so…"

"Then yeah, maybe we'll meet you at, say, La Gioia del Sole at eight?"

"Sure. I'll see you there," Jane replied with a smirk. She then walked over to the counter to order a coffee.

Jack turned back to Sam. "I'm sooo sorry about that. Can you please come tomorrow? "

"Oh…fine. You owe me, though."

"Yeah, I know I do. I just hope it won't be…weird because we don't know each other."

"Hey. Here's an idea. I'll call in work sick, and we can spend the rest of the day getting to know each other."

Jack wiggled his eyebrows.

"Not in that way just yet," Sam commented with a smile. "Anyway, I need to go shopping, so why don't we go to the mall?" Sam smiled, and then pleaded, "Pleaase?"

"No way," Jack said.

"Excuse me, aren't I the one who has to be your girlfriend so you're not completely embarrassed? And if you don't listen to me then I'll blow you off and you'll be all al—"

"Fine, fine. We can go to the mall," Jack said darkly.

"Thank you."

Sam finally decided to get contacts.

"Whoa… this is soo weird." Sam stared at herself in the mirror, her ugly square glasses gone. She couldn't be happier.

"Hey, I think you look great without glasses," Jack said as he walked over with Sam to pay for the contacts.

She paid for them and then went to Dolce & Gabbana to buy a dress. She finally picked out a short, black wraparound dress that shaped to fit her curves, and she bought a pair of black stilettos to match. Since this dinner date wasn't entirely formal, she decided to wear the dress over jeans. She also purchased a pair of diamond drop earrings. She didn't have the greatest fashion sense ever, but it was pretty good. She also purchased a pair of diamond drop earrings.

She wasn't just entirely concerned about the date outfit. She bought new clothes for everything—swimwear, pajamas, underwear, everyday, you name it, she bought it. But she didn't really care. She wanted to look H-O-T hot, especially with a guy like Jack next to her. She knew change had come, and it was all thanks to him.

She spent more than $400 in total during her shopping spree. But she was glad she did.