Chapter Seven
Danny had tried to talk to Tucker, Sam had seen it, but it was useless. Tucker was so mad that Danny wouldn't listen to him Friday night and he spent the whole weekend and a great part of Monday completely ignoring Danny and - worse - spending his time with Valerie.
The last straw for Danny was when he saw Tucker going to his locker with Valerie. Danny saw that they weren't exactly talking so he tried to pull Tucker aside to talk to him (Sam was in front of her locker, watching him the whole time).
Tucker saw him approaching and immediately reached to Val and pulled her into a kiss, surprising both Danny and Sam. Danny walked away, hurt and disgusted. He completely gave up. If Tucker wanted to save what was left of their friendship he would have to come and talk to Danny, because he wasn't insisting anymore.
Sam was completely lost. She spent a few minutes with Tucker, then ran to Danny and from Danny to Tucker and back to Danny. By the end of the day, she felt tired and dizzy.
"I don't know if I can keep up with this" She said, panting while she waited for Danny to grab the books he needed before heading home.
"Neither can I." He answered, still sulking with the whole situation. He wanted so badly to get back at Tucker, show him how much it was bothering him, but he had no idea how to do that. Suddenly, the Techno-Geek himself showed up in the end of the corridor, looking for Sam.
Danny smiled devilishly. He knew how to get it back at Tucker. He was going to completely forbid Tucker to see Sam. Danny realized that Tucker hadn't seen them, yet. It was his chance.
"Sam?" He looked down at her and she stared back, confusedly. "I think I see Kyle." He didn't give her time to turn her head and look for him, he captured her chin between his thumbs and tilted her head up, coming down and crashing his lips into hers in a desperate kiss.
Sam's eyes were widened in surprise for a few seconds, before she closed them leaning into the kiss in complete surrender. He backed her up against the lockers. He held her by the waist, feeling the hot skin underneath his hands.
Their kisses before were tender, but this time he was forceful and demanding; needy. He coaxed her lips apart to welcome his raw passion in her mouth. Sam felt his lips turning into a smile against hers and opened her eyes to look around them. The corridor was completely empty.
"Danny, everybody is gone." She managed to say against his lips, while he took hungry mouthfuls of her.
"Just a little longer." He said, completely losing his mind. "What if he's hiding around the corner?" And he didn't wait for her to answer; he silenced her with his tongue and managed to keep her from saying coherent words for several minutes.
Danny admitted that day he had a problem. He was addicted to Sam.
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Tucker was pissed of. He understood that Danny didn't want o talk to him, but he had no right to drag Sam out of his sight every time he showed up. It was not like Sam was going willingly; she didn't even know she was avoiding him, because Danny would so cleverly kiss her to oblivion.
To Tucker, it was obvious that Danny liked Sam, that she liked him back and that they had already admitted it to themselves, even though they still haven't spoken about it to each other (they were stubborn like that). So, Danny had no reason to be angry that he had lost Valerie to his best friend. He had already gotten another girl.
Danny would kiss her everywhere, in the hall, during lunch, Nasty Burger, mall, movie theatre, park, streets. In two weeks, Tucker was sure they had kissed in every single spot of Amity Park. Danny was killing two birds with one stone, as he kept Tucker away, the gossips would grow and they'd have even more lines about them in the newspaper that infuriated Mr. Miles and Sam's parents.
Tucker's last option to talk to Sam was to visit her in her house, when he was sure Danny would be somewhere else. It didn't take long for Tucker to see Danny battling ghosts over the city after his curfew. It was his chance to talk to Sam.
Tucker walked to her house and knocked on the door. Mr. Manson answered it, looking very cheerful.
"Hi, Mr. Manson. I forgot to borrow Sam's book, can I talk to her?"
"Sure, she's in her room." Mr. Manson answered, immediately turning around and sitting across a man Tucker thought was Mr. Miles and resuming their conversation about their business returns of ten percent.
He found Sam lying on her bed, listening to Helloween's CD in a light rock song called Forever and One.
"Hey, Sam." He turned on the lights and she opened her eyes and sat up on her bed, surprised to see him there.
"Hello, Tucker. I thought you had forgotten about me." She joked, telling him to sit down. He chose to sit on her computer chair. He sighed in frustration. She hadn't noticed that Danny was the one keeping them apart.
What can I do?
Will I be getting through?
Now that I must try to leave it all behind
Did you see what you have done to me?
So hard to justify
Slowly it's passing by
"I tried to talk to you, but every time I approached you Danny would start kissing you." He crossed his arms over his chest.
"I'm sorry." Sam blushed. "But Kyle has been around school a lot."
"No, he didn't show up for three days now. Have you asked him?" Tucker asked.
"Not really, I didn't see him home for the past three or four days now." She frowned, confusedly. "Maybe he did that because of the journalists…"
"No, he didn't" Tucker said. "Wherever he sees me he kisses you."
"Are you saying he's trying make you or Valerie jealous? Using me?"
"No, I just think he's trying to keep me from you."
"Stupid boys and their egos." Sam laughed bitterly; "But it's fair, isn't it?" She asked, sadly. "He's using me and I'm using him. I have no right to complain." Sam felt like she could start crying any moment now. She thought that Danny's growing kisses were because he wanted her, not because he wanted to get to Valerie.
Forever and one I will miss you
However, I kiss you yet again
Way down in Neverland
So hard I was trying
Tomorrow I'll still be crying
How could you hide your lies
Your lies
"Listen, Sam, I came here to find out about Kyle. What happened? You guys are not telling me anything." He grinned. "Are you and Danny getting serious or is it just pretend?"
"It's just pretend of course." She answered quickly. "Kyle and I are hanging around just enough to satisfy our parents. He thinks I'm in love with Danny so he backed away and is respecting my decisions."
"But Kyle is off your back, then?" Tucker asked, still concerned.
"Sort of. We're friends, but I think he'd try something if I wasn't with Danny." Sam explained.
"When are they going away?"
"In two weeks."
"So, in two weeks you and Danny will break up?" Tucker asked, uncomfortably.
"Yes." Sam sighed. "You know, you should talk to him, he's still obsessed with Valerie."
"I know, I tried to explain everything to him." Tucker stood up, pacing around the room. "I was talking to her and it just happened, I don't know who kissed who, but there we were and enjoying every second of it."
Here I am
Seeing you once again
My mind's so far away
My heart's so close to stay
Too proud to fight
I'm walking back into night
Will I ever find someone to believe?
"Danny still likes her… but he has to understand that you like each other." Sam sighed. "You'll have go talk to him. Explain it to him."
"Sam…" Tucker watched her curiously. She liked Danny, she had never denied it, but there she was, still defending his interest in another girl. Instead of taking the chance to make him hers, she would let him choose, even if his choice wasn't she and she'd defend his choice and support him for as long as she could keep wearing her smiling mask. "You like him… you should show it to him."
"It's a silly crush and it shall pass." She smiled. "It doesn't hurt that much."
"He's torturing you." Tucker insisted.
"No, he's doing what I asked him to." Sam defended him once more.
Forever and one I will miss you
However, I kiss you yet again
Way down in Neverland
So hard I was trying
Tomorrow I'll still be crying
How could you hide your lies
Your lies
"I mean it, Tuck." She said, standing up. "You better go talk to him and don't think about me, I'll be fine."
Tucker gave her a helpless smile and messed her hair with a heavy hand on top of her head, making her laugh.
"You take care. I'll see you tomorrow." Tucker said, walking out of her room and closing the door behind him. He had made up his mind. He was going straight to Danny's house.
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Sam watched Tucker from her window. He was taking the street for Danny's house instead of his. She smiled sadly when she watched her friend go away.
She didn't know Danny was using her to make Tucker and Valerie jealous. She wouldn't mind if he had asked her, but he had gone and done it, not requesting it first.
It was like a cold shower. She was hoping he was finally seeing something in her, seeing her in a new light, like a possible girlfriend, but now Tucker made it clear that Danny wasn't thinking like that. He had Valerie in his mind the whole time.
Maybe she was asking too much of Danny. She thought that maybe someday he'd see her differently, but now when she looked over the situation they were in, she realized how stupid she had been. Danny wouldn't look at her differently because he had no interest in her. She was his friend and she'd always be.
He could kiss her, caress her, be tender, share the bed and everything they were doing lately, but it didn't change the fact that he was cuddling with his best friend and not with his girlfriend.
He wasn't attracted to her.
That was when all her hopes died.
That was when her heart started bleeding.
And she had no shoulder to cry on.
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Danny Phantom had just phased inside his living room holding the thermos with Walker inside when he saw Tucker sitting on the couch, waiting for him.
"What are you doing here?" Danny asked, taken by surprise.
"I'm here to set things right." Tucker said, not rising from his spot.
Danny took a deep breath; he really wasn't in the mood for conversation right now. Walker had almost beaten the crap out of him and he insisted he wasn't trying to capture him, but another ghost that had escaped.
"Fine, just give me a minute; I have to drop Walker back in his place." Danny said, walking down to the basement and empting the thermos inside the Ghost Portal.
"Listen to me, child," Walker threatened before going, "You better watch your back, I'm going to get you for this."
"I will." Danny answered, tiredly before closing the portal. "Walker will never learn." He became human again and climbed the stairs back to the living room. Tucker hadn't moved a muscle. "So, what is it that you want to talk about?"
"Don't play dumb with me, dude. You know what it is about." Tucker said, in his usual way, showing Danny he wasn't mad.
"About you and Valerie." Danny sighed, sitting down in the other ending of the sofa. "Okay, you can tell me, I will listen to you."
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Sam's heart was beating wildly and she knocked on the guest's room door. It waspast midnight and she needed to talk to somebody. Usually when she needed to talk she'd go to Danny or Tucker, but this time she couldn't talk to them. It was a matter of heart and she couldn't trouble them like that.
She never realized how lonely she was before. She had just two friends in the entire world! She had never talked to anyone else. Somehow just Danny and Tucker were enough to her. She felt complete with them.
Kyle was the first boy she talked after them. He wasn't exactly a close friend, but she really didn't have anybody else. She was desperate and so she went to him.
"Sam?" He opened the door, surprised to see her there. "What happened?" He saw that her eyes were red and tired.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?" She asked, timidly, twisting the edge of her skirt.
"Of course, come on in." He opened the door widely for her to pass and closed it when she was already inside.
"I'm sorry I disturbed you so late. Were you asleep?" She asked, waiting for him to tell her to sit down as if it wasn't her own house.
"Sam, sit down here." He pulled her by the hand until she was sitting on his bed. "You're not disturbing me. I'm just wondering what's going on."
"I…" She couldn't control her tears, for the first time, in front of somebody else than Danny and Tucker, she showed her weakness. She showed that she was a girl and that she had feelings. "I had a fight with Danny." She said. It wasn't true, but she was feeling like she had.
"Oh…" His eyes softened, allowing himself to embrace the helpless girl to comfort her. "I'm sorry."
"I found something out…" She sobbed on his shoulder. "He's interested in somebody else."
"What an idiot." Kyle said. "There's nobody more interesting than you."
"Oh, don't start." Sam laughed through tears. "I'm not in the mood."
"Sorry." He wiped a tear gently with his thumb. "I was trying to make you feel better."
"You know…" She gave him a small smile.She hadn't been fair to him. Kyle was really a nice guy. Maybe he was the one that was going to save her."Two weeks ago you said the opera Tosca was going to premiere in NY…"
She didn't have to finish the sentence to Kyle to understand. Five minutes later everything was settled. They were going to spend the weekend in New York and return late at night on Tuesday. They were going to spend four days together and Sam didn't think twice about skipping school.
Maybe it was all that she needed. Four days away from everything.
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"I asked her, Danny, I swear I did. I asked if she was still interested in you, but she told you agreed to be just friends." Tucker finished his explanation, seeing that Danny was feeling really crushed by the whole situation.
"Well…" He took a deep breath. "Then it was her decision." He said. He could feel his ego cracking somewhere inside him. So it was what rejection felt like. "I can't really blame you."
"I'm sorry, man, but you know that I have liked her before. Then you two had that thing going and I stepped back. She just came to me again, I couldn't say no." Tucker insisted, trying to comfort Danny the best way he could by apologizing, showing him that he was only human and couldn't resist a pretty girl.
"So you're dating now…" Danny sighed, laughing at how absurd it sounded, Tucker, the techno geek, was dating one of the most beautiful girls in school.
"Yeah… we're both are." Tucker grinned, giving Danny a playful punch in the arm.
"The difference is that you're dating for real." Danny answered. It was good to have his best friend back. It was like the air was easy to breathe again.
"Yeah; but you're pretending to date and it won't stop you from kissing Sam to madness." Tucker said, "Admit you're in love with her already."
"I don't know if it's love." Danny said, remembering Sam's beliefs. "I'm scared to be just leading her on because when we start kissing it's like we're going to another world. Our private world. But how can I know is it because I like her or because we're kissing? I mean, if I kissed somebody else, would it be as good as it feels with Sam?"
"I can't believe you're still that clueless!" Tucker stood up, frustrated. "How can you think that? I mean, how you can think of Sam just as a friend when you share a mind blowing kiss every five minutes!"
"It's more complicated than just admitting feelings, Tuck." Danny walked to the kitchen, grabbing two beer cans and throwing one to Tucker. "How can I go to her and say 'hey, Sam, guess what? I'm in love with you. I know you don't believe in that crap, but I'm an idiot and I do'."
"Danny, she meant it in a philosophic way!" Tucker couldn't believe what he was hearing. "She just doesn't think there is a deep meaning in love, you can still love her, kiss her, heck, you can even marry her and it won't change a single thing."
"I know, it's just that, I'm afraid she doesn't feel the same way." Danny said.
"Coward." Tucker laughed. "Now I understand perfectly. I won't tease you about it, but you know, you have to tell her before this pretend thing ends up hurting both of you."
"How can I?" Danny laughed. When he was going to complete what he was going to say, the phone rang. "Just a minute." He said to Tucker before picking it up. "Hello? Sam!"
Tucker smiled, and paid attention to the conversation. "You sound funny, were you crying?" Danny frowned, worried. "What are you talking about, Sam?" Tucker watched as Danny's face grew from worried to desperate.
"What do you mean 'a car to New York'? Have you lost your mind?" He yelled and Tucker ran upstairs to grab a spare phone to listen to the conversation better. "You can't start trusting him that much, Sam!" Danny said.
"I do now." Sam said. "I just need to go away for a while; I'll be back on Tuesday." Sam explained; her voice was cracking.
"Sam, you're insane!" Danny yelled. "You can't do that."
"Oh, really?" She yelled back, "Watch me!" She answered in anger. "You don't control me, Danny Fenton! I just called to tell you it's over and you need to start acting like that!"
"You're so infuriating!" Danny said.
"Yes, I am." She admitted. "And I'm sorry you had to go out with this infuriating girl for so long!" She sobbed and hung the phone on his face.
"What the hell was that!" Danny cried out in frustration. Tucker sighed and walked back into the living room. "Did you hear that? She's crazy!"
"I missed the first part," Tucker said. "You said she's going to New York?" He was confused, it was past midnight and she didn't know how to drive to NY, actually, her direction sense was so bad that she didn't know how to cross the city in her car.
"Yes, she's already out of town and she's going there with Kyle Miles for four fucking days." Danny's eyes were glowing green; his fists were glowing with ectoplasmatic energy.
"See? You're so possessive of her that you lose control when she's with somebody else!" Tucker said, knowing that it wasn't the best time. "You think of her as your girlfriend and not your pretend-girlfriend!"
"Yeah!" Danny spat. "And she just showed me that I was right all the time and that she didn't think of me like that!"
And the worse thing in the worse time ever, happened. Danny's ghost sense went off.
Both boys groaned.
A HUGE thanks to my friend Rae who checked this chapter for me. I'm still taking my tests, so I'm not sure when I can update... but you could help me write a lot faster if you review... a lot! Reviews! Reviews!