Chapter 4:

The next morning Andy woke up with a headache. Apparently 4 beers in 3 hours was not the smartest move for her last night. She did drink water though and eat snacks… Oh well… drinking wasn't really her thing and this just made that more obvious.

She gets up and goes to get another bottle of water, some dry cereal and some acetaminophen.

She then crawls back into her cozy bed and turns on her TV. Today is Saturday so she planned on lounging around anyway and now with a hangover she had no plans to go anywhere. She finds a movie and curls up to watch.

Meanwhile a few blocks away.

Sam is just waking up too. He is not hungover but is hungry and thirsty. Typical teenage boy.

He throws on some sweat pants and a clean t shirt and goes to the bathroom then heads to the kitchen.

"Morning dear!" Mrs. Brenda says.

"Good Morning Mrs. Brenda!" He says.

She is plating up some of his favorites. Bacon, eggs, fried potatoes.

"That looks and smells great." He says getting a glass for some grapefruit juice.

She smiles.

"I thought you might need some fuel for your day."

She hands him a plate and sits down.

"Thank you." He says politely.

He still isn't quite used to someone caring and just doing nice things for him. His parents always gave him food to eat but it wasn't always something he liked and it wasn't always hot.

When he arrived, Mrs. Brenda asked him to write down some of his favorite things to eat and drink and he made her a small list and she gave it back and demanded he seriously put his favorite things not the cheapest things. She was persistent for sure.

"You're welcome dear. So how was your party?" She asks.

Sam can't help the smile that appears.

"It was good. Fun. Met some new people."

"Oh I can tell from that smile…"

Sam schools his features.

"No no, Sam it's a good thing. Be happy. Be a teenager. Have fun… but not too much fun." She implores.

He smiles again.

"I had fun. It was on Queens Quay by the water."

"I'm glad you had fun Sam."

"Me too." He replies after swallowing a huge bite of eggs.

"Plans for the day?" She asks.

Sam ponders for a moment.

"I haven't made any… might check in with Jerry and Oliver." He smiles thinking he might text someone else too.

Mrs. Brenda smiles too.

"Okay dear, I'm going to the Ryerson Farmers' Market today with Paula and Abigail. I'll probably be out most of the day since they will likely turn it into some kind of adventure."

Paula and Abigail were her two grown daughters who liked to get away from their own families on Saturdays by spending time with her. Sam met them last Saturday.

"Okay."

"Do you have anything special you want from the market?"

"No ma'am."

"Alrighty. Well you can have the boys come here if you want, I just got some more of those frozen pizza's yesterday. I put them in the deep freeze." She offers.

"Okay, I'll text them and see what they are up to. Um…"

She pauses. "Um?"

Sam tries to think of the least awkward way to ask this.

"If I uh… if I wanted a girl to come over… is that an issue or rule or anything?" He can feel his cheeks turning pink. He didn't know if Andy would want to come over but he figured asking permission first was a good idea.

Brenda thinks for a minute.

"Well… I hadn't thought about that Sam." She says with a smile.

"I don't have to… i just don't want to cause trouble." He says pushing the idea out of his head.

"Sam, I didn't say no. Let's talk about it okay?"

"Okay…"

"I think having a friend who is a girl over is okay even if I'm here or not here. Is this girl a friend or more than a friend?"

"I don't know yet. I met her last night. I thought maybe I could invite her for a pizza and a movie something low key." He answers honestly.

"Okay…" Brenda is thinking. Sam is an 18 year old sure but should she allow sex under her roof.

"She's a cop's kid… or detective's kid actually."

Brenda's eyebrows shoot up.

"Oh yeah? Charlie know her?" She asks.

Sam hadn't thought of that.

"I don't know. Her dad is named Detective McNally. I'm not sure what division he works out of."

"Sam… I don't know what the right answer is here. I think its fine to have her over if you want but well to be honest I'd rather be kept in the dark about any of your… um… physical activities with her."

Sam is feeling really red and embarrassed now.

"Um… okay."

Brenda thinks for a second then takes her plate to the sink and while faced away she blurts out.

"I'll get you some condoms while I'm out."

Sam is mortified.

"No! No! you don't have to do that…"

She turns and raises her eyebrows.

"I think that's better than diapers."

Sam stands up and is very unsettled.

"I just mean… I uh… I can get my own… if… if I need them. I know you may not believe me but I haven't really… um… this is awkward. Just pretend I didn't ask and I'll just go away." He says turning towards his room.

"Sam?" She calls.

He turns with his head hung low.

"Yes?"

"It's only awkward because we made it awkward. She can come over if you want to invite her. I have no objections to the two friends I've met so I think you can pick the right type and I trust you not to invite the wrong type to our house."

"Okay." He likes Mrs. Brenda a lot and wants to respect her home.

"But… I was serious, I can get some condoms for you…"

Sam shakes his head and walks away. The only good part of that conversation for Sam was that Mrs. Brenda said she trusts him and she said he could invite Andy over.

When he enters his room he grabs his phone. It is a little after 10 so he figures she is awake. He decides to send some texts.

"Morning Andy. Hope you aren't feeling too bad this morning. : ) - Sam"

Andy is curled up under the blankets when her phone dings from its charger on her nightstand.

She groans and untangles herself assuming its her dad or Traci.

She smiles when she reads the text. She saves his number then writes a reply.

"Goodmorning Sam! I have a little headache to be honest but I'm fine. How are you?"

She smiles when his reply is quick.

"I'm good. Can't complain… uh… do you have plans for the day?"

"Not really. My dad is out of town so I am on my own."

She isn't sure she should have mentioned her dad but it was too late.

Sam wasn't sure if he should do this over text. He pressed the green button to call her.

Andy nearly died when her phone started ringing.

"Hey Sam!"

"Hey Andy. Uh I didn't want to ask over a text but do you want to hang out today? Ya know… with me?"

She could tell he was nervous. She smiled.

"Yeah, Sam. I think that would be fun. What do you have in mind?"

He clears his throat.

"I thought maybe you would like to come over and watch a movie and make a pizza?"

She bites her lip.

"Did you say make a pizza or order a pizza?" she giggles.

"Make. My uh… foster mom got these dough sheets and then she bought all these great toppings. It would be fun to do together."

She smiles again.

"I'd love too, Sam. Um… let me take a shower and then I'm good. I'll have to walk so what's the address?"

"Walk? No...it's freezing out. I can pick you up if you want…" he offers.

"Sure! I'll text you my address. How about 11:30?"

"That sounds great Andy! See you soon."

"Bye."

Sam hangs up and lets out a huge breath. Alright this should be fun. He thinks.

Andy hangs up and smiles a huge smile. Awesome! This should be great! She thinks as she heads for her shower.

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