What? Yeah? I'm updating. How about a review huh? HUH? A/N to follow.
Chapter Nine
Danny smiled and sighed happily as Sam cuddled into his arms. He didn't think about anything except how good it felt to hold her, how relieved he was that she was okay, and how glad he felt that things were finally close to being normal again. Danny paused at that thought. Normal. This was normal? Taking his friend out for an invisible flight? Well, he conceded that it was normal for him.
"This is so wonderful," Sam said as she stretched out her arms as if she were flying solo. They were flying so that he was above her with his arms wrapped around her waist, it wasn't their typical flying position, but Danny said it was to best feel the effects of flying. He sped up a little bit as he begun to feel a little more comfortable. His biggest hope was that they didn't run into a ghost. If they did, it would be the first time he'd ever run. Danny had no intention of engaging in ghostly battle with Sam in tow.
He landed on the roof of the school and looked at Sam who was smiling as she looked up at the sky and sighed.
"Are you feeling all right?" he asked.
Sam looked at him a moment in amusement. "I'm fine. How are you feeling?" Danny rolled his eyes.
"I'm not an invalid," Sam growled as Danny followed her to the edge of the roof, a nervous look on his face. "I'm really getting sick of being treated like one. Other than being a little weak, I'm fine." Danny watched her for a moment then backed away from her.
"So," she said as she turned and leaned against the wall. "How is Danny Phantom?" She looked him up and down and smirked.
"Still ghostly as ever," Danny replied as he spread his hands wide. Sam met his eyes for a moment then turned to look over the wall.
"You're making me nervous," Danny told her as he walked up beside Sam and put his hand on the small of her back.
Sam laughed. "You think I'm going to jump or something?" she asked as she raised her eyebrows at Danny.
"I don't know," he replied. "You're unpredictable. I never know what you're going to do from one moment to the next."
Sam shook her head and leaned into Danny who thought for a moment then put his arms around her. "It's my way of keeping you on your toes," she said. "Gotta keep those ghostly reflexes sharp."
"We'll wait to keep me on my toes until you're a little better," Danny told her. "I don't think my heart can take much right now."
Sam turned in Danny's arms and looked up at him thoughtfully. "And why is that?" she asked.
"Because having almost lost you once, I don't think I could handle a second time." Danny said seriously as he looked into her eyes. Sam let out a soft breath then leaned forward and put her forehead against his chest and looked down at her feet.
"You were never at risk of losing me," Sam told him. "I was fine the whole time."
"Liar," Danny accused and Sam looked up at him sharply.
"Don't call me a liar," She growled then smirked. "You're eyes really do glow when you're angry you know.."
"Sam," Danny said calmly.
"Danny!" She said still smirking devilishly. Danny narrowed his eyes at her then focused his gaze on her lips. Big mistake. Maybe if he hadn't been in ghost form, Danny wouldn't have been confident enough to even consider kissing Sam.
So many factors doomed him. The way her lips sweetly parted on a sigh, the way her eyes fluttered closed, the way he missed her, the way she smelled so uniquely Sam, the way she made him feel, and the confidence of being ghost were all a deadly combination. He bent down and placed his lips against Sam's. Her hands crept up around his shoulders and she tilted her face up toward him and Danny was a goner.
He told himself that he never intended on deepening the kiss. He had just meant to give her a friendly peck, but he was fooling himself, and it was no friendly kiss from the beginning. Danny held Sam closer as he ran his tongue along her lower lip causing her to open up to him. Her own tongue darted out and touched his shyly. He held his breath as an electrical warmth rushed through him. Danny warred with himself knowing that he shouldn't be doing this, but all thoughts were chased from his mind as she tentatively caressed his lips and tongue in her own inexperienced exploration. It wasn't until he felt her drawing away that the sensible side of him lost the war. Danny wouldn't let her go instead he pressed forward and kissed her deeply and lovingly, causing her to gasp and then relax in his embrace as he invaded the warm sweetness of her mouth. She moaned in response, which only caused Danny to hold her tighter. It seemed like forever, but not quite long enough when they finally broke apart, gasping for air.
Sam blinked at Danny dazedly then said teasingly. "Wow! Where did you learn to kiss like that?"
Danny opened his mouth then closed his eyes as a flood of guilt washed through him. He couldn't tell her that he'd been practicing with his girlfriend, Valerie. Even more so he shouldn't have kissed Sam at all.
"Danny?" Sam questioned. He looked at her a moment, her soft eyes were beginning to fill with tears and his heart squeezed painfully. He lifted her chin and kissed her again and again and again. He was digging his grave deeper and deeper, but at the moment he didn't care.
"We should get you back home," Danny finally told Sam who sighed contentedly and nodded her head.
"I'm feeling pretty tired," She admitted. He picked her up and she put her head on his shoulder as they flew away.
They didn't talk much as Danny returned Sam to her room. She was obviously worn out, but she had a glow about her which made Danny's heart ache. He should have told her about Valerie. He should never have kissed her. He was a rat, a dirty rotten, cheating on his girl friend, hurting his best friend, rat.
"I'll see you tomorrow?" Sam asked softly.
"Bright and early," Danny replied as he sat on the edge of her bed and held her hand.
"I'll see you then," She said smiling contentedly as she closed her eyes. Danny placed a kiss on her forehead then flew away.
XxXxXxXxX
The first thing he did when he got home wasn't calling Valerie to confess, no he messaged Tucker.
"How does she look?" Tucker asked
"Good," Danny answered. "Just like Sam."
"Did you tell her? Did she tell you?" Tucker questioned.
"No I didn't tell her about Valerie," Danny answered feeling a terrible ache in the pit of his stomach. "What was Sam supposed to tell me?"
"I guess it's not important," Tucker answered.
Danny swallowed hard and tapped on the keys. He needed to talk to someone, and Jazz wasn't an option. He frowned then typed, "I kissed her."
"Who?" Tucker asked.
"Sam," Danny answered.
There was a long pause. Danny tried to imagine what Tucker's reaction was. "You didn't tell Sam about Valerie and you kissed her. Isn't that cheating?"
"Yes," Danny answered. "I didn't mean to, but she just was so beautiful and sweet and I don't know. I'm stupid."
"You're going to hurt her you know," Tucker responded. "And then I'm going to have to kill you."
Danny hung his head. "I seriously didn't mean to. It just happened," he wrote.
"Maybe if you had told her about Valerie first thing, it wouldn't have happened." Tucker wrote. "But you were a chicken."
"If you saw her," Danny replied. "You'd understand. I just couldn't do it. I couldn't risk getting her all worked up."
"So you kissed her," Tucker pointed out. "Boy Danny you're a real jerk."
"I know," Danny replied. "But I was in ghost mode."
"Admitting you're a jerk doesn't absolve you and neither does the fact that you were in your ghostly form," Tucker said. "You need to figure out what you want Danny. Valerie or Sam. You have to be fair. One or the other. You can't have both. I have a personal opinion of who you should be with, but it's not my decision."
"There's no choice in the matter," Danny wrote. "I've been through this. Valerie is my girl friend. I love Sam. I really do, but I just can't be with her Tuck."
There was a long pause. A very long pause. Danny looked up and noticed Jazz standing in the doorway. He frowned at her and she smiled slightly as she slowly crept into the room.
"Why?" Tucker asked. "What's wrong with Sam?"
"Nothing," Danny typed as Jazz walked closer. He guarded his conversation with Tucker from Jazz's eyes. "She's just…not what I'm looking for."
"Whatever," Tucker answered. "You're pissing me off right now. I'm going to go cool off. I'll talk to you later."
"Okay," Danny wrote. "I'll figure this out. Thanks for talking."
"What else are friends for?" Tucker wrote. "Just don't try to kiss me or anything." Danny laughed out loud then put the messenger aside and looked at his sister.
"What?" he asked.
"Valerie is downstairs," Jazz told him. "She looks really mad."
"Oh crud!" Danny groaned as he rubbed his hands over his face. "Can't you tell her I'm not here?"
"No." Jazz answered.
"Tell her I ran away." Danny said as he covered his head with a pillow. "I moved to Patagonia."
Jazz smirked as she looked at her brother. "Do you even know where Patagonia is?"
"As long as it's far away from here," Danny replied. "I don't care."
"Not all is well in paradise I assume," Jazz teased.
"No," Danny said. "Because I'm a bad bad bad person."
Jazz gave her brother a sympathetic look. "Why do you say that?"
"I kissed Sam," came Danny's muffled reply from beneath the pillow. "And I don't mean I kissed her. I mean I kissed her."
There was a light gasp from the door and Jazz looked over her shoulder. She put her hand to her mouth and shook Danny's leg.
"Can't you just leave me alone Jazz. Tell Val I'm sick or something." Danny said.
Jazz sighed deeply then pulled the pillow off his head and looked him sternly in the eye. She pointed to the door. Danny followed Jazz's finger to the figure standing in the door tapping her foot, hands on her hips. He grabbed the pillow pulled it over his head and groaned.
"I'm just down the hall if you need me," Jazz whispered then stood. She paused for a moment as she walked past Valerie then shut the door as she left.
XxXxXxXxX
Danny took the pillow off his head and sat up and looked at Valerie. The look on her face wasn't angry. It was hurt. She bit her lip and stood looking at Danny for a moment.
"So that's why you hung up on me and never called me back huh?" Valerie asked. "You were too busy kissing Sam…"
"No," Danny said. "It wasn't like that. It was an accident…I…"
Valerie gave him an irritated look. "How can a kiss be an accident? Kisses don't happen on accident."
"What I'm saying," Danny tried to clarify. "Is that I didn't mean to…"
Valerie started shaking her head violently. "Again Danny," she interrupted. "A kiss doesn't happen like that it's not like oops didn't mean to kiss you. I'm sorry. No it's something everyone goes into knowing what's going to happen."
"It was just…" Danny stopped. He honestly had no excuse. He wanted to kiss Sam and so he did. Trying to find an excuse would just make him even more of a jerk.
"I'm sorry," he finally said. "I am a jerk. I'm stupid. I was wrong. There is no excuse." He felt so small and wretched. Not only had he hurt his girlfriend, he was going to hurt his best friend and in the end he knew he was going to lose.
"I can forgive you," Valerie said. "I mean after all she was sick. You were worried for her. She's been a part of your life for so long that you didn't even realize the feelings you have for her until you saw her again. You weren't even thinking about the consequences, just following your heart."
Danny blinked at Valerie for a moment. It was partly true, but he realized his feelings for Sam a long time ago, he just didn't want to have those feelings. "Seeing her was very overwhelming," Danny admitted. "You're right about everything."
"Like I said," Valerie continued. She was looking down at her feet. "I can understand. I can sympathize. I have a good inkling about your feelings for her, which is why I've been so jealous and upset."
"And I've been less than honest with you," Danny told her. "Because I kept saying she was just Sam just Sam when all along I knew how I felt."
Valerie nodded her head and wiped a tear from her eye. "I don't think you've been fair to me at all."
"I agree," Danny said as he hated himself. As much as he was relieved he didn't deserve Valerie's kindness. "I'm a horrible person. I'm sorry."
Valerie bit her lip and looked up at Danny. "Yes you are a horrible person, but your also a horrible person I care a great deal about. You need to make a decision. Who do you want? Me or Sam." Danny opened and closed his mouth. He couldn't answer that outright.
Valerie walked to the door. "I'm going to leave you alone to think about things. But if you chose me, like you should, then I want Sam out of your life. I can't trust you with her. I want a promise from you that you'll never be alone with her again." She sighed.
"I'm probably stupid for even giving you a chance Danny," Valerie said as she opened the door. "But I really, really like you Danny." She straightened her shoulders.
"I'm sorry Valerie," Danny said as he watched the expression on her face go from angry to sad to resolved.
"Decide what you want Danny," Valerie told him. "Then give me a call. Be smart about it though. I mean, yeah you have had a great friendship with Sam, but you and I have had a great relationship…at least up until now." Then, she was gone.
XxXxXxXxX
Danny frowned then waited for Jazz to come into the room. He knew she'd been listening in.
"You kissed Sam?" Jazz asked as she walked in, closing the door behind her.
"Yeah," Danny admitted.
"And now Valerie is giving you an ultimatum. What are you going to do?" Jazz asked as she leaned forward expecting Danny's answer right that second.
"I don't know," Danny answered.
Jazz looked at him thoughtfully. "Can you give up Sam?" she asked. "I mean how long are things going to last with you and Valerie anyway? I do recall you saying you didn't want a serious relationship."
Danny shook his head and looked out the window. The thing was, it was serious between him and Valerie. He did care about her. He was everything she wanted. A ticket to the A-list. Normalcy. Acceptance. And then there was Sam.
"I have no idea what I'm going to do Jazz," he answered. "I wish I didn't have to decide."
"But you do," Jazz pointed out. Danny covered his face with his hands and groaned.
"Look on the bright side," Jazz said cheerfully as she stood and started out of the room. "What you're going through is completely normal."
"Oh great," Danny growled. "That makes me feel a whole lot better."
Jazz smiled and laughed. "I'm glad I could be of assistance. My bill will be in the mail." Danny threw a book at her but she closed the door before it could hit her.
Danny laid back on his bed and sighed. He was in deep trouble and had no idea what to do. "I wish I had never kissed Sam. I wish I didn't have to decide." He said.
It so happened at that time three ghosts were in the vicinity. One was Skulker looking to finish his fight with Danny. One was The Box Ghost on his way to the post office and the other was Desiree who heard his wish and made it her command in the most horrible way possible, and it was unfortunate for Danny that the two ghosts other were happening by when his ghost sense went off, or he would have been alerted to Desiree's presence and could have thwarted her plans.
XxXxXxXxX
So I lied. I'm not in bed crying. It gave me a head ache. So I am here. Sorry if this chapter was lame. Things should get better now. I hope.
I know Desiree is rather cliche these days, but I like her so..thhhht :-p
Do me a favor and review. Hmm? Yes? Yes? Please? I know it's difficult but it makes me happy. I'm not happy right now. So just do it. It's even okay to tell me you don't like this chapter. Tell me how I can do it better just TALK TO ME!