Sam couldn't help but stare at the motorcycle. It wasn't really anything special, but there was something about the sleek lines that excited her in a whole new way.
"She's a beauty, right?"
Sam just bit her lip, filled with a warm feeling she'd never had before. "Gorgeous."
Only then did she realize that someone had come up behind her, a student who she thought was in her brother's grade but not an associate with him,
She blushed as she looked back at the young man behind her. The spring breeze feathered through his light brown hair, and she was struck by his intense, dark eyes. She tucked a strand of the hair which had slipped out of her half-ponytail behind one ear, embarrassed. "Sorry. I'm just standing and staring."
She'd seen the guy around school here and there. They might even have had a class together once. Not that she could remember the guy's name. "You don't just have to stare."
She frowned as he raised a small keychain. "It's my bike. I'd be happy to take you for a ride."
"Oh, I couldn't." The hundreds of ways her father would disapprove of a motorcycle ride flashed through her brain. Ever since her mother's car accident, he'd been particularly strict about who Mark and Sam rode with. Had insisted that she come home directly after school, or any activities that had been discussed beforehand.
"Let me guess, you're the kind of girl who always follows the rules?"
She shifted, sensing that wasn't the right thing to be in this situation. She swallowed as she straightened, then scoffed. "No."
The guy leaned against the bike, laughing at her. "Right."
She toyed with the strap on her backpack. "How'd you guess?"
He gestured to her Catholic school uniform with the pleated, blue plaid skirt that went to her knee, the navy blue sweater vest, the white knee-high socks, and the white long-sleeve button down shirt. "Don't get me wrong. Following the rules has its uses, but don't you ever just want a little adventure in your life?"
Sam crossed her arms, taking the chance to really study his uniform with the collar unbuttoned and the tie sticking out of the pocket of his slacks. "I have plenty of adventure in my life, thank you."
"Let me guess, you want to be a cop or something, and you claim that it's because of the adventure."
Sam studied the guy, intrigued by his supposition. "Actually, it's the Air Force, and I want to be an astronaut. Adventurous enough for you?"
He bit back a smirk and shrugged. "I don't know. It does have a certain something, but is it actually adventurous? I don't know. It feels a little safe."
Sam gaped at him. "Safe? Have you ever actually watched a shuttle launch? There are literal explosions happening inside those engines. Controlled explosions, sure, but explosions nonetheless."
He offered her the single helmet he'd maneuvered into his hands. "Maybe, but it's nothing like feeling the wind in your hair going sixty miles an hour on the open road."
The ruffle that went through her hair sent a shudder of anticipation through her veins. She smoothed her hair with one hand. "I don't think you quite understand how powerful the thrusters on a shuttle could be. I imagine that would be a thrill that even your motorcycle can't match."
There was amusement dancing in the other teenager's eyes. "Yeah, but the motorcycle is here now. It'll take you at least fifteen years before you can get on the shuttle. Assuming, of course, that everything goes according to plan."
She took a step forward, eyes flashing at the unexpected challenge, but oddly enough that seemed to make her all the more attracted to this boy. After all, she'd enjoy the look in his eye when he finally saw just how determined she could be. "What's your name?"
He looked over his shoulder at the traffic in the high school parking lot after school that was just starting to let up. "Carter Wayne."
Her lip curled upward. "Carter, huh?"
He seemed intrigued by her amusement. "Why? What's your name?"
She almost grinned when she caught sight of her brother over her shoulder, sitting on the hood of Mom's old car.
Sam tapped her thigh as she turned her attention back to Carter. "How about I make you a deal?"
"I like the sound of that."
A plan started working its way in her brain as she tied her hair back in a ponytail. "Give me a minute to ditch my ride. Then, take me for a milkshake. Maybe then I'll tell you my name."
He pondered the offer before he stuck out his hand. "Deal."
Sam approached her brother, forcing herself not to look back at the motorcycle and the adventure ahead of her. "Hey."
Mark looked up at her. "We're going to be late, Sam. Dad's gonna lose it."
Sam dropped her knapsack in the backseat. "Dawn asked if I could come and help her with her science project after school today."
"Dad's not gonna like that."
Sam shrugged. "Well, what do you want me to do? If I don't help her, she's going to fail, and her project is due tomorrow. If I was sure this was only going to take an hour or two, I could wait to call Dad or talk to him after work, but from what she told me about her problem, it could take three or four hours... At least. I might not even be home in time for dinner."
Mark finally threw open the driver door. "Fine, but I'm not covering for you. 'Cuz Dad's gonna be pissed if he gets home and you're not there."
Sam nodded, expecting that. "Never asked you to cover. I think Dad will understand when I explain things to him."
He looked at the backseat. "You're not gonna need your textbook?"
Sam stopped for a second, her heart beating wildly. "My textbook?"
"Yeah, for reference?"
Sam's expression melted into a smile. "Oh, I'm in chemistry right now. Her project is a physics thing. My textbook wouldn't help at all."
"Okay, but if you don't call before dinner, I'm telling Dad where you are."
Sam nodded. "I got it."
As she walked away, she offered her new friend a smile. She was about to have an adventure...
Sam gripped Carter's torso, feeling alive for the first time in years. Bit her bottom lip as she looked up at the sky in total wonder.
She wasn't sure she'd ever felt as free as she did today. It was intoxicating.
Carter looked back at her, a grin playing on his thin lips. "Oh, enjoying yourself, are you?"
She nudged his shoulder as she tried to hide her pleasure. Then, she leaned her cheek against his back as she let her brain take a little vacation from the rigorous thought she usually demanded of it.
A strange sense of melancholy washed over her as she leaned into the embrace. Even in this moment of freedom, she had the sinking feeling that she was trying to make up for a void that would never be filled. Or perhaps that the only thing making this so exciting for her was knowing just how angry her dad would be if he found out.
Carter drove the bike into the local drive-in fast food place, almost the moment he dropped the kickstand, Sam dismounted and removed the helmet.
"What'd you think?"
She swallowed as she handed him the helmet. "It was great. Felt really free."
He seemed puzzled by her response. "Yeah, I can tell. You're just radiating enthusiasm."
She shivered in the cool, March air. "Really. It was fun."
Carter Wayne studied her closely. "You were playing me."
"No." The word emerged from her lips before she had a chance to think about it. "It's just complicated."
He looked toward the mounted menu before he extended the helmet back out to her. "Look, why don't I just take you back to the school. You can walk home from there, or I can drop you off at home, if you want."
She cocked her head to the side. There was a surprising amount of relief in her body as she looked at the guy across the car stall. "That's it? I haven't even told you my name."
"If you don't want to be here, I don't want to keep you. Besides, the deal was that I'd buy you a milkshake if you told me your name. I haven't exactly held up my end of the deal, either."
Sam tensed and stuck her hands in the pockets of her jeans. "You were right."
"About what?"
She waved between them. "This—this is the first time I've done anything like this. I told my brother that I was helping a friend with her science project. Which, clearly, I'm not."
Carter just smiled, like the whole thing amused him. "You're telling me all this like I couldn't guess..."
Sam looked at her hands, then looked back up at him. "Okay, so I'm a goody-two shoes like you thought."
He gestured to the call box. "So, am I ordering a milkshake, or am I starting this baby back up and taking you home?"
Sam took another look at the black and red motorcycle. Then, she laughed. "A little milkshake never hurt anyone, right?"
Carter Wayne smirked. "Okay, but one thing before I finally order your vanilla milkshake."
A playful smile played on her lips as she studied her date. "Now, what makes you think I'm going to order something as boring as vanilla?"
"Because you don't strike me as a blue raspberry kind of girl."
She considered the irony of his statement, given how she enjoyed blue jello. She climbed up onto the orange picnic table across from the car stall and rested her clasped fingers on her lap. "Okay, Cowboy... What's the last thing you need to know before you can order me that milkshake?"
He grinned as he hung the helmet from the handle bar of the bike. "All I need is to know who I'm buying it for."
She gave the boy a coy smile as he came up and sat beside her. "Samantha Carter."
"Carter, as in—" He gestured to himself.
She tugged the ponytail holder out of her hair and left it around her wrist. "Yeah."
He took her hand in his, interlocking their fingers, and a strange tingle ran up Sam's spine. "So, Samantha... What kind of milkshake am I ordering?"
She chewed on her bottom lip as she had the strange urge to give up on the milkshake as other images played through her mind. "Uh... strawberry milkshake. And it's Sam."
He gave her a lazy smile. "Then, I'll be right back, Sam."
She chewed on her cuticle as she watched him walk away. Fifteen was turning out to be an interesting year. She just hoped she could be brave enough to face it.
Then, she looked back up at the sky with a wry smile. Maybe she wasn't quite as alone facing this new chapter of her life as she'd first thought...
Sam ran a finger over her lips as Carter Wayne sped away from the house a few minutes after five. A secret smile played on her lips.
Before she could open the door, it was wrenched open. "Where the hell have you been, young lady?"
Sam's heart dropped into the pit of her stomach. "Dad... I'm sorry I forgot to call. Our project was just so interesting, and I was trying to get home before you did..."
"I saw the motorcycle speed away, Samantha." Her dad closed the door behind them. Dad looked into the dining room. "Mark, go upstairs while I talk to your sister."
Mark let his shoulder brush past Sam as he went up the stairs. "Your funeral..."
Sam sighed in exasperation. "Look, Dad, it's not what you think."
Her father shot her a look. "You do not get to speak first, Samantha. Not after you deliberately disobeyed me."
Sam's head snapped up as the words seemed strange to her. "So, you don't have a problem with the fact that I was gone? Just that you think I disrespected you?"
"How do you think your mother would have handled you being gone the way you were this afternoon?"
Sam stared at her father, her jaw dropping open. "You're dragging Mom into this?"
Her dad's jaw tensed like he was trying to figure out how to handle his frustration. "The rules are there to create a clear chain of command..."
"This isn't about your pride, Dad." She rolled her eyes. "You want to know what Mom would have done? She wouldn't have started yelling at me the minute I came in the door. She would have asked me where I was, who I was with. Maybe she would have suggested that I try something different in the future if she thought I was a little stupid..."
"Riding on the back of a motorcycle with a seventeen-year-old boy you hardly know isn't just a little stupid, Sammy. It could have gotten you killed."
"Because life after Mom died is really worth protecting." Sam's chest was heaving with emotion, even as her dad looked like she'd just hit him. Sam sucked in a breath as she chewed on her bottom lip. "I had my first kiss tonight, Dad. And I felt more alive on that motorcycle than I have since Mom—"
She pressed a hand to her lips to stop herself from speaking.
She brushed at her eye, flicking off a single tear from her cheek. "Ground me. Lock me in a tower. I don't really care. But don't pretend like you have a single clue how Mom would have done things."
Her father was visibly upset before he pointed a shaky finger up the stairs. "Go to your room. Assume that all of your after-school activities are canceled until further notice. If you can't handle having Mark drive you home after school, then I will come up with another solution."
Sam started going up the stairs. Then, she stopped and looked back at her dad. "Do you want to know what Mom would have done today, Dad? I think she might have stopped to wonder if I had a little fun today. Something that's been in short supply around here lately. And she might have at least wondered how my first date had gone. Even if she had been worried about me."
There was a long moment before her dad sighed. "Well, I'm not your mother, Sammy, and it's about time we all stopped pretending that I could ever take her place."
Sam just shook her head. "Yeah, well, there's something we both finally agree on."
Inspiration from "Learning Curve," 3x05
CARTER: Merrin, you're only eleven. Half the interesting things in my life didn't happen until I turned fifteen.
MERRIN: What kind of interesting things?
CARTER: (awkwardly) Oh, just, er…stuff.
