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Chapter Three - Month 1
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"I can't believe you have already been here a month," remarked Sam as she scanned her calendar.
"Yeah, it's flown bye," replied Martin, looking up at her from his desk, "I don't think I have ever survived on as little sleep as I am at the moment. I know that if Jack wasn't taking us all out for drinks tonight I would be in bed by nine."
"You and me both," She responded with a smile. Over the past month she and Martin had slowly formed a friendship, although the first week was a bit weird she noticed his effort to connect with her, and they had started to build a solid working relationship.
"Come on Marty catch up," called Elena from her desk, "I've got a babysitter waiting and want to at least get a few drinks in before I have to go and you promised to spin me around the dance floor remember."
"Yeah yeah," Martin called, "Just this one and I'm done," he continued motioning to the report he had started to print out.
From her vantage point Sam watched their little display, as much as she and Martin had connected, he had also connected with all the other members of the team. He always made Elena laugh and they were constantly niggling each other, he and Phil talked sport and he and Viv just got on right from the beginning.
"You coming Sam?" Martin called over his shoulder when he noticed she wasn't following the rest of the group.
"I'll come over in a bit;" she waved, "Got a few more things to do," she lied.
Walking back towards her Martin as the rest of the group waited by the elevator, he offered "Want me to wait with you?"
"Nah, it's ok," she smiled, "I'll drag Anne and Danny down with me when I'm done."
"Okay then," he replied, jogging back to jump in the elevator the group was holding, with one last wave he was gone and she was left with her imaginary paperwork and a general dull feeling.
- - - - - - - - - - -
"So what's wrong with you?" Anne asked as she linked arms with Sam as the elevator doors shut on them and Danny.
"Nothing," Sam smiled, "Just tied."
"Liar," Danny scoffed looking down his nose at her.
"What did he do?" Anne asked, her look mirroring Danny's.
"Anne!" Sam scolded, throwing a quick glance in Danny's direction.
"Oh, so its guy troubles," Danny pondered out loud, "It's not Brian, you dumped him; Toby was a long time ago; nothing happened with Keller, thank god…Martin…" he arrived upon with a gleam in his eye.
"Why would it be Martin?" Sam asked, hoping she was convincing two of her best friends.
"Ah, because you two have always had sparks," Danny replied with a laugh as they headed out into the cold night air.
"We have not…" Sam protested, catching Anne's eye to see if she had said anything to Danny about Sam and Martin's past.
"Don't worry, Anne hasn't said a word. I knew something happened with you two when we all went away together…I just don't know what"
"Not bothering to dismiss his comment, Sam asked, "How?"
"Because I had to live with Martin asking about you everyday throughout the entirety of freshman year," Danny laughed, "He was totally lovesick, didn't date anyone until halfway through second year and that was only because we were in a campus charity auction."
"Oh," Sam replied quietly.
Anne on the other hand smacked Danny in the stomach, grumbling something along the lines of, "Five years ago would have helped!" as they walked into the bar and looked for their colleagues.
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Martin had deliberately situated himself facing the door when the group entered the restaurant, he was sad that Sam had turned him down on his offer to wait; it would have given then a chance to talk. Because, although they had become closer over the last few weeks, he knew he still wanted to get to know her some more. He saw her enter behind a joking Anne and Danny; she seemed lost in thought, only vaguely following the pair as they headed for the table. He briefly wondered if she would bring Keller, assuming they were still dating, then pondered why he should care.
The night passed without incidence, Jack, Viv and Elena all left early, wanting to get home to their kids, with Phil not long after deciding to go and attempt to chat-up a lady at the bar; leaving a very tipsy Sam, Martin, Danny and Anne discussing the days of their youth. Danny had just launched into the sordid tale of how he and Martin use to sneak out of class to peek into the shower block at school in their final year, until they got caught by the fat Phys Ed teacher, who made them clean both the male and female showers with a toothbrush.
"Oh, I still get some pretty good images whenever I smell bleach though," chuckled a drunken Martin, causing the rest of the table to erupt into an encore of laughter.
"So Danny, you still ok to give me a lift home?" Anne asked as she stood up and grabbed her coat, causing the rest of the table to look up.
"Uh, yeah sure," a somewhat startled Danny replied.
"Oh, stay a bit longer- at least until I finish my drink," pleaded Martin, "Then we can all leave together."
"Nah, I'm sure Sammy here can get you home safely," Joked Danny, catching onto Anne's plan to force the other two to talk. She had noticed throughout the night that they were quite happy to talk to each other in a group situation, but as soon as it was just the two of them, they suddenly went silent.
"So…ever see anyone interesting through the bathroom cracks?" Sam asked, slightly desperate to find a topic of conversation after the Anne and Danny had headed home.
"Umm, yeah, I kind of got addicted to this one girl, the only thing is that the hole wasn't that big and we couldn't actually see anyone's face- so I don't actually know who it was," he chuckled as he swirled the last of his drink in the glass.
"Do tell," she smiled, enjoying watching his coyness over the situation. The Martin she had always observed at high school was baby-faced, sports mad and popular but with a geeky edge; this Martin was cool and confident, the fact that he now had a warm five o'clock shadow was definitely helping his image, 'and his sex appeal' a tiny voice in the back of her mind shouted, which she quickly berated before turning back to their conversation.
"Oh," he chuckled looking her in the eye, not quite understanding the power she help over him, that actually made him want to spill his secret, "Well we could only sneak out after lunch on Fridays, and she was amazing, she had curly blonde hair and this incredible figure," he gushed.
"Martin," she laughed, "You just described half the female population at the school!"
"Oh well…" he sighed, thinking back to the woman in more depth. Sam watched a smile tugged at his features; obviously a detail of his mystery woman had sprung to mind. "She had a moon shaped birthmark on her stomach, between her belly button and hip."
"Really?" She asked, seemingly intrigued.
"Hmm," he replied, thinking back to her again, "Any idea who she is?" he asked with a smile, shaking himself out of his first 'R' rated memory.
"None sorry," Sam replied, shaking her head slowly and avoiding his eye, her hand absentmindedly running over the area of the birthmark on her stomach.
