Sorry this took a little longer than I usually take, but I had an idea for the last chapter so I actually wrote that one before this one, because I'm weird. Oh well. Thanks for all the reviews and follows and favorites. I was stunned by the acceptance, so thank you.
I do not own Rookie Blue.
The rest of the morning had gone off smoothly, although, Sam now felt awkward around Andy. It was like he was intruding into her personal space, like he shouldn't be in her condo while she was getting ready for work. He felt like a stalker instead of her boyfriend. He suddenly felt like he was on awkward date with someone who had nothing in common with him at all, but for some reason they were still out together. She didn't seem to mind having him around, but she could definitely sense his new tenseness around her. He had put himself in this situation, so she had no problem with letting him struggle through it. He would either figure out how to deal or he would be the one ending their little game.
Thankfully when he had stepped out of the shower and walked into her bedroom with the towel wrapped securely around his waist, she was already fully dressed and hanging out in the living room. He threw his clothes on quickly and went out to join her, standing off to the side of the couch where she was sitting, and stared down at her.
She gave him a questioning look, possibly for the noticeable distance between them, or some other reason, he wasn't quite sure. "Ready to go then?" She couldn't exactly think of anything else to say, but he nodded in response, so she pulled on her shoes and grabbed her bag and keys, letting him lead the way out the door.
The ride to the station was silent, not that either of them had a problem with that. Andy was absentmindedly staring out the window, taking in the Toronto morning, while Sam kept his eyes forward, focused on the road.
The parking lot was busy with the flow of the new shift as they pulled in, leaving them no privacy to exactly figure out their new situation. Everything felt weird between them at the moment, but they both got out, wanting to start the day, or possibly just get away from the other and collect their thoughts for a couple minutes.
They walked side by side, still keeping their distance, Sam stepped up and held the door, letting his hand find Andy's lower back and guide her in, more out of habit than anything else. The simple gestures helped Andy relax a little, realizing that making it awkward was not going to help her win any sooner. She gave Sam a questioning smile, to which Sam choked out a 'bye', before heading off towards the locker room.
Traci followed Andy in, having the unpleasant fortune of witnessing their awkward interaction. As Andy opened her locker and dropped to the bench, letting her head fall into her hands, Traci laughed out a "What was that?"
Andy's head snapped up to see Traci striding over to sit down on the bench next to her. She let out a frustrated sigh before answering, "Did we really look that bad?"
"Uh…yeah. I thought you and Sam were good? What's going on?"
"We are good. This morning we were really good…"
"Nobody wants to hear about you and Swarek doing it McNally." Gail stated, popping out from the other side of the lockers.
Traci let out an exasperated, "Gail!" before looking back to Andy to let her finish. Gail took a seat on the other side of Andy, giving her, her full attention as well, encouraging her to continue. Andy sighed, "Well we were, you know, fooling around this morning," she gave Gail a playful glare as she said it, "and he made a comment, which led to him making up a little competition."
Traci was waiting patiently, letting Andy gather her thoughts before continuing, but Gail bluntly stated, "If you aren't going to tell us what the deal is then you owe me those two minutes of my life back."
Andy looked over at Gail again, "You are such a charmer, you know that?" Gail plastered a smile on her face, before becoming serious again and raising her eyebrow, encouraging Andy to spill the secret.
"First one to kiss the other loses." Traci's eyebrows creased in confusion, thinking to herself, that's it, but before she had time to give her thoughts a voice, Gail was voicing her own. "Really? I wasted my time for that? That is the lamest…" Andy gave Gail a hard shove, a little fed up with her constant outbreaks.
"First one to kiss the other on the lips loses, but up until then, we can kiss wherever else." Traci's eyebrows shot up with intrigue as Gail kept on a cool façade and stated, "You know you can still have sex without kissing each other on the lips right?"
"Yes Gail, I'm aware, thank you. I'm pleasantly aware of how it works." Traci chuckled at her friend's interactions, fully aware that they were both joking with the other. "So how are you going to get him to make the first move?"
Andy's gaze shifted back to Traci, shrugging at her question, "Haven't really thought about it yet, but he'll be the one to cave. I know that." Traci gave her a challenging look, "Really? You think so?" Andy nodded. "He waited two years for you and even then, weren't you the one to make the first move…both times?"
Gail knew about Sam's undercover operation that Andy had stumbled upon, but questioned, "Both times?" Andy, a little too shocked by Traci's question kept her eyes forward, as Traci answered, "Andy hooked up with Sam the night of the black out, but they didn't go all the way."
Gail just nodded taking in the new information. The conversation was halted as Andy got into uniform, Traci and Gail both thinking of strategies to help Andy win. As she was pulling on her belt, Gail looked up at her, thinking over if she would actually even do it. Probably not, but she voiced her idea any way. "You should just start making out with someone else in front of him. I'm sure he'd show you exactly who you should be kissing."
Andy finished with her belt and looked over her shoulder, "Oh yeah? And who am I supposed to make out with exactly?" Gail shrugged, "Just kiss Dov or Chris or someone." Andy immediately shook her head, "That's just gross." Gail shrugged again, "I taught Chris pretty well."
"Okay, nobody needs to hear about yours and Chris' glory days." They all started laughing at Traci's Gail-esque comment as they headed for parade.
"Sammy, brother, it's good to see you."
"Oh yeah? And why's that?"
"Love seeing those brooding brown eyes." Sam shook his head at his friend's humorous comment. "Stop. You're making me blush."
"So uh, you and McNally have been spending a lot of time together."
Sam's eyebrows creased together, not believing what his friend had just said. "You know we've been together for the last four months right? It's public knowledge."
"Yeah, yeah. I know, but uh usually when you say goodbye, you don't do whatever the heck happened out there. That was just….I'm sorry buddy, but it was painful. Even just watching it."
Sam nodded, aware of just how awkwardly painful it was. "Yeah well I made a stupid bet."
Oliver was silent, only commenting when Sam looked over at him, "Oh was that supposed to be news? You make stupid bets all the time."
"I'm pretty sure one of my stupid bets cost you twenty bucks just last week."
Oliver pretended to be hurt by Sam's statement "Okay, okay. I usually make the stupid bets. So what was yours? She beat you at an arm wrestle, belching contest, food eating?"
"I bet her that I could go without kissing her longer than she can go without kissing me."
"Oh a kissing contest, huh? Zoe and I had one of those. Longest day of my life."
"Excuse me? You only lasted a day?"
Oliver gasped at the question, obviously hurt by his friends thinking. "She only lasted a day. Thankfully. This was when we were young and I obviously had more hair. Back when I was irresistible."
Sam gave Oliver's shoulder a squeeze. "Oh yeah. Sorry buddy, of course you won. Shouldn't have assumed any different."
"So you want me to take McNally off your hands for the day? Give you some time to strategize, give yourself a pep talk, or whatever?"
"That'd be great Shaw. Thanks."
"No thank you. I was going to be stuck riding the desk with Peck, but it's all yours now!" He yelled over his shoulder as he hurried out of the room and out of Sam's grasp.
The day went relatively smoothly, both Sam and Andy ending shift on time. She had seen him walking into the locker room, but when she came out he was gone.
"Oliver! Have you seen Sam?"
Oliver glanced around, looking for him, before remembering, "Yeah I think he just went towards the parking lot."
"Thanks." She smiled warmly at him before heading outside.
Sure enough, there he was. Leaning up against his truck, head leaning up towards the sky, eyes closed, arms folded tightly across his chest. She smiled at the sight, knowing he hadn't had the most exciting day. She came to a stop in front of him. His head lowered and his eyes opened, taking her in.
"Hey." He smiled at her; the awkwardness had thankfully dissipated throughout the day, "Ready to go?" She nodded and made her way around the truck and hopped into the passenger's seat. He pulled out of the lot and started heading towards her condo, one hand resting on the wheel as his other arm settled on the arm rest.
Andy reached over, not thinking anything of it, sliding her hand into his open palm. His hand tensed underneath hers, and somehow snaked its way out of her grasp and gripped the wheel tightly. She pulled her hand back towards her, but looked over at Sam, a little hurt by his actions. "Sam?" He kept his face forward, and answered as if he had no idea what she was thinking. "Yeah?" She huffed out a frustrated breath, deciding to wait until they were parked.
He pulled into a space and went to climb out, but was stopped by her voice. "Sam?" She said it with an edge of warning, letting him know not to mess around. "Yeah?"
"If this little bet we have going on, is going to put a strain on our relationship, I will end it right now. You can win. I don't care; I just don't want us to stop being us, stop being comfortable around each other."
He nodded in understanding and took her hand in his. "Sorry. I don't want you to end just because of me. I want to win fair and square."
"Okay then. But we need to treat each other as if nothing is different. We do everything the same as usual."
"Except kissing."
She laughed. "Yeah. Except that."
"Okay. Let's go."
They got out of the truck and stepped onto the sidewalk leading to the front door of the building. She smiled up at Sam as he snaked an arm around her waist, sliding a finger into one of the belt loops of her jeans, giving her hip a squeeze and pulling her even closer to him, before dropping his lips to her cheek. She laughed at the turn around in his actions, thankful that he had assumed his normal cocky personality.
She turned her face towards him, kissing his neck lightly and mumbling, "Much better."
Sorry if this one didn't really have much in it, but I'm thinking of using flashbacks to their day at work and the pairings between Sam and Gail and Oliver and Andy, we'll see though. Thanks for reading and I hope you stick with me! Let me know what you think, or if you have any ideas feel free to let me know. THANKS!
