Chapter 5:

The drive was a little awkward. Sam is trying to safely drive them while Andy is openly staring at him the whole ride.

Finally Sam pulls into the driveway and presses the garage opener. Brenda lives in a pretty nice area with many nice family homes.

The first thing Andy notices is that no other cars are there. She notices the cleanly cut lawn and the porch with fading white paint on the rails. She also notices Sam now staring at her.

She smiles and opens her door and grabs her purse. She doesn't usually carry a purse but she did put on some make up so she brought it in case she needs a touch up. She also brought mints and her phone charger.

They walk through the garage into the house.

Andy noticed in the garage their was a work bench with a bunch of tools and what looks like scraps of wood.

The garage led into the kitchen.

Andy loves this kitchen. It has an island in the middle. Stainless steel appliances and everything just looks shiny and clean.

Sam smiles. "Well welcome." He says.

"It's great! Um… are we alone? I mean you said you had a foster mom?" She questions nervously.

Sam has a look of shock. He didn't even think she might not want to be alone.

"Um… yeah, Mrs. Brenda. She uh… she went out to a farmer's market today."

"That sounds fun!" Andy said although she had no idea. Not really something her and her dad would ever do together.

"I wouldn't know… not exactly my scene." Sam said.

Andy smiled and put her bag on the table. "Me either honestly."

"Well grand tour… this is the kitchen."

She blushed a little. "Yep!"

He grabs her hand "Come on…"

"This is the living room. Nice comfy couch… TV… ya know…"

"This is the hallway. Bathroom is there." He pointed to his right.

"Laundry room there."

"My room in there." He pointed again and stopped walking

"Mrs. Brenda's room and 2 guest rooms. Down there" pointing again.

Andy stares at his door. "Can we?"

"Sure sure." He says opening the door.

"It's not much but it's good." He adds.

Andy looks around. This was obviously at some point a girls bedroom. The walls were mostly white but had a pink hue to them so it seems to have been a recent cover up.

Andy notices she doesn't see anything… personal. No photos, nothing that screams Sam to her.

"How long have you been with Mrs. Brenda?" Andy asks.

Sam shifts his feet.

"Um… two weeks... today actually."

Andy plops on his bed.

"Do you like it here?" She wonders out loud.

"Uh… Yeah I guess. I mean, way better than some places I've been."

Andy doesn't want to think about that. Her father has shared some facts about kids in foster care and how they are not always treated right and the TPS has to step in.

"Sorry, if my questions annoy you, you can definitely tell me to shut up. I have a tendency to just ask or say whatever I think."

He smiles. "You're okay… I just… it's hard for me with the family stuff. I like to push it all down and pretend everything is fine. My sister says it makes me an ass."

Andy was nodding. She understood the stuffing it down and pretending part.

"You got a sister?"

"Yeah… She's 22. Lives in St. Catherines."

"Are you two close? I'm an only child."

"Well… we used to be super close but… drama and life… we text a lot but it's gotten a little more complicated lately." He didn't want to tell Andy his sister blamed him for their father ending up back in prison. She didn't need that much detail.

"I always wanted a sister or brother to share my life with."

Sam shakes his head. "Not always a good thing." He smiles though letting her know he is not upset.

Sam realizes he's been awkwardly standing by the door and sits down next to her.

She blushes. He just seems to do something to her that she can't control herself.

She gets quiet for a few minutes.

"So uh… do you get to decorate?" She finally asks when the silence bothers her.

Sam looks around and chuckles.

"Uh yeah… I guess, if I want to. I don't know exactly how long I'll be here. I mean… I am 18 so I will probably have to leave after school gets out."

"That's still like 5 months Sam, You gotta have some kind of personal touch in here till then."

He smiles. "I guess that hasn't ever really been me. I'm a pretty simple guy, I could be somewhere for 8 months or a year and then they would tell me it was time to go and I'd have 10 minutes to get my stuff. Not really ideal for posters or lavish wall hangings." He said with a bump to her shoulder.

She bumped back.

"Okay… well maybe we can get you some pictures to put up."

He smirked at her. "Oh yeah? What kind of pictures?"

She blushed again.

"Like… with your friends. I have a cork board on one of my walls and I just put up pictures I like. I have ones of me and Traci and some of me and my dad and some with other friends. It's just like a wall of happy memories for me."

He shrugs. "Yeah I could do that maybe. Oliver and Jerry both have stuff like that too."

"Yeah? So tell me about Jerry. He asked Traci out last night. Did you know?"

"I've known him a week and he's great. Yeah I picked up a vibe that he likes your friend. Ya know, all the kissing and touching clued me in." He said carefully brushing her shoulder with his again.

Andy smiled. And put her hand on his knee.

"Yeah… us girls just can't resist touching when we like someone." She said with a smirk.

He nods and takes her hand and interlaces their fingers.

"Yeah… I see what you mean."

She's blushing again and Sam can't stop smiling.

Suddenly he stands up pulling her with him.

"Come on… let's start on the pizza so it can cook. I'm getting hungry."

"Okay… yeah me too!" She says.

20 minutes later

"WHAT? NO! Sam! No one likes those… NO NO NO! please don't put that on there."

He laughs. An amazing relaxed laugh that has Andy weak in the knees.

"It's just banana peppers."

"It will ruin it! We already have cheese and pepperoni and bacon and diced tomatoes and spinach…"

"Andy they are good!"

"NO NO! I won't eat them!" She exclaims with a pout.

"Fine…. Compromise? I can just put them on half."

She thinks it over.

"Fine."

Sam sprinkles some banana peppers on half and then adds more cheese to the whole thing and then looks down. They have a finished pizza to put in the oven and it looks like it will be great.

"This could be an amazing pizza Andy."

"Oh yeah… what do you normally put on it?"

"Well Jerry and Oliver came over a few days ago and we made some with all the meats and Jerry tried to sneak pickles onto Oliver's. Apparently Oliver hates pickles more than anything."

"What? Pickles are tasty!"

"I know. But he can not stand them and I mean on a pizza would be weird..."

Andy smiles. She's been doing a lot of that today.

Sam slides the pizza in the oven.

"Okay 13 minutes or so."

"Wanna pick a movie?"

"Sure." And she had every intention of doing so until Sam moved into her personal space and she grabbed his arm.

She bit her lip and stared between his eyes and his lips. She remembered his soft warm lips.

Sam is thinking the same thoughts.

He tucks her hair behind her ear.

They both lean in and then they are kissing. Hot kissing.

She wraps her arms around his neck pulling him closer.

He doesn't quite know where to put his hands. He settles for her hips making Andy giggle.

He pulls his face back.

"Okay girls don't usually laugh at me while I'm kissing them."

"I'm sorry, it was the hands… I felt like you didn't know where to put them." She said giggling again.

His cheeks pink up a little.

"Well… When you jump a guy in the kitchen…" He says with a shrug.

She pulls his face back.

Kiss.

"I did not jump you."

Kiss.

"Sorry if I have awkward hands." he said squeezing both of her hips.

Kiss.

He can feel her smile.

"You'll figure it out." She says.

He doesn't exactly know what she means by that but before he can figure it out, boom she's turned around and is pulling him by his hand to the living room.

"OOO I love mean girls." She says picking the first movie off the shelf.

Sam shakes his head.

"Nope… Sarah made me watch that one a ton."

Andy tilts her head. "Sarah?" She questions.

"Sister… Sarah Swarek."

Swarek. Andy thinks. Mmmm, I like that.

"SO both s names?"

"Yeah… Sarah was first then I guess they liked Samuel."

She grins.

"Does anyone call you Samuel?"

"Uh not really. I have a mentor guy who does it when he wants me to really pay attention and like at school the teachers will till I tell them I prefer Sam."

"Jerry calls you Sammy though…"

"Yeah Jerry has a weird thing for ending sounds. I mean Jerry, Ollie and Sammy… I guess your good you got the y… Andy and uh your friend is Tracy so she has it too,"

"Yeah but don't spell Traci with a y. She i and gets frustrated if people misspell it."

"but you have a y right? A n d y?"

"Yep. Originally Andrea but it's been a long time since I've been called that. Even at school I have it noted to be Andy. So… could I call you Sammy or is that special for Jerry?"

Sam smiles.

"You can call me whatever you want."

She lights up with a huge smile.

"Oh yeah? What about pookie?" She laughs.

"Okay… maybe not whatever you want."

She scoots closer on the couch.

"I think I'll stick with Sam for now. I like Sam."

She didn't exactly mean it the way it sounded and Sam knew that, but he thought he would play along.

"Sam likes Andy." He said

She blushed.

Sam leaned in…

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Andy sighed.

Sam went to check the Pizza and Andy turned on the TV. Thinking that maybe she should actually find something for them to watch instead of each other.

Sam came back with plates with 2 slices each.

He heads back to the kitchen asking, "What do you want to drink? I have Water, Ginger ale, Fanta, Cola…"

"Which Fanta?"

"Uh… Pineapple?"

"Yes! That's my favorite."

He comes back with a water and a Fanta and a bag of cookies for dessert.

He notices she's got a hockey game on.

"You watch hockey?"

She smirks. "Of course I do."

They spend the next hour eating, chatting playfully and watching the game.

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