Chapter 3: Thank God for Smoothies
The next time I saw the girl known as Sam (you know the one that punched me in the gut and left with that one girl right after she caused me physical harm) was at the Groovy Smoothie. I didn't know why but I looked for her in the classes at Ridgeway, hoping she was a student there but with no such luck. So then I looked for her Splashface, and that too came up with no results as well. There were no leads as to who she was. It was like she had no Internet life, like so many out there do. Finally, after not seeing her for weeks I assumed that she was just visiting family from out of town so I tried forgetting about her and her blue eyes. But it was not easy. I had dreams about her. It was like her shiny blonde hair and her salty sea smell hypnotized me, all in a matter of seconds. I would sometimes wake up and I could swear I felt a breeze of air come inside my room when all the windows were shut tight due to my mom and her phobias. But time came and went. And the dreams were slowly disappearing into the back of my head. I had to keep going with school and stuff, so the less I saw her the less interested I was in who she was.
Mostly I was just occupying my time with Carly to keep my mind off of Sam. Usually I loved hanging out with her, but now, it just seemed like something I should do to stop thinking about her blonde hair and her bright mischievous blue eyes. But it was a neutral engagement since I could remember. We would hang out in school together only when she wasn't hanging out with the Clique, which was rare, especially with prom coming up (well, it wasn't actually coming up, but they liked to plan their whole year around this one event). So when it wasn't her that I was hanging out with, I would go and hang out with Gibby, who was always happy to spend time with me. He was part of the football team (due to his size) and he was the only one of the jocks that I could stomach. All the others were either retarded or just liked making fun of me. Plus he liked the same type of movies that I did. We would discuss the latest movies and planned on seeing the next Surge of Power and Galaxy Wars together. We were close buds and I thought about telling him about Sam, but in the end I didn't, because for one, I didn't know anything about her to talk about her. The other reason: I just didn't want him to know about her and my newfound fascination.
When it was around the third week that I didn't see Sam, it was around the same time that I went to the movies with Carly and Gibby to go see The Surge of Power; an action/robot film that Gibby and I have been waiting forever to come out. We both had tickets from a month ago in advance. When Carly's "girls" were unavailable, she decided to tag along with us instead. It was fine and all, neither of us disagreed to having Carly come along although we were worried that she wouldn't get the idea behind the story, so after a few quick explanations, she went in with the both of us and really enjoyed the movie. At least so she says, but that look on her face told me differently. But in my opinion it was great! The robot tried taking over the world and the nerd that created him saved the day by destroying his creation: a deadly virus that he implanted wirelessly. The CGI graphics were stunning, the actors' portrayal was convincing. And the robot was very advanced in movement. And the story line was also very tight and form fitting. He saves the day and gets the girl. I would be happy enough just to get the girl, and anybody else could save the day.
I opened the door to our favorite hang out and I was attacked by a salty sea breeze. I didn't see how the people didn't notice it. It was so palpable that I had to close my eyes and open them again to make sure I was at the Groovy Smoothie and not at the beach. My eyes started looking all over the place for blonde curls and when I saw them, right in the corner of the building, my feet started moving toward her. It was like she was a magnet that was pulling me toward her.
"Sam?" I said, surprised to have seen her there. It had been so long since I last saw her and I had to make sure that she was indeed real. She turned around and my eyes clashed with her deep sea blue ones and I knew it was her. She disappeared from my life and now, here she was, sucking on a smoothie through the straw that was in her mouth. She first looked at me with a puzzled look and when she saw it was me, she didn't say anything. At first, I thought she forgot who I was, but at the same time, she gave me a once over and that gave me a assurance that she didn't forget. It made me give out a sigh in relief. I was happy that I was still in her thoughts, as strange as that sounded. But I knew that she didn't expect to see me here. Either that or she just didn't expect to have seen me a second time. After that look she gave me, I thought it was safe that she wasn't going to pummel me so I pulled out a seat and prepared to sit down. I felt comfortable around her. Comfortable enough to sit down without her permission.
"What are you doing?" she asked me quickly. Her voice rang out and captivated me, like it did the first time she talked to me directly. For some weird reason I felt confident in ways I never had before. She was giving me a reason to be cocky, to try and impress. I was never the one to be that way, but here I was, trying to be cool and not a nerd in front of someone I came in contact with just once.
"Sitting down. You look lonely." I smiled in her direction, trying to be friendly. She just shifted a bit away. Suddenly, I felt two hands fall down on my shoulders and rest there.
"That's my seat." A voice rang behind me. I turned around and saw a guy that was pretty tall. He sure was taller than me. His hair looked dirty blonde under the light, much like Sam's, and shaggy; the likes of a surfer dude. His arms showed muscles, but not like those dudes that do steroids or anything like that. And his face was long, and hard looking. He stared at me with an intensity that matched only Sam's fierce but playful one. This guy's face was just fierce, and it scared the chizz out of me.
"Mark, don't." Sam said. I looked at her to see that she was annoyed with the whole situation. Like she knew that he wasn't going to do anything to me. I gulped and hoped that she was right about that.
"You know this person?" He said, almost in a disgusted tone. I looked in Sam's direction to see that she was unfazed by what he said. She showed no emotions when she looked at me. And even less when she looked at him. Like if she was bored with the whole situation. She rolled her eyes in frustration.
"Marina knows him. He's a friend of hers." She quickly lied. His grip was loosening on my shoulders as she kept explaining. "This nub came looking for her and he was going to wait for her here so I told him to sit. Now just leave him alone okay?" The guy called Mark was still a little suspicious of who I was and to tell you the truth, he looked like he wanted to punch me with as much force as Sam did a few weeks ago, or more.
"It's okay," I said, getting up from the chair. "Just tell her I'll see her later?" I told her, hoping she would get the message that I wanted to talk to her. She looked in my direction and it made me turn away. The ferocity she held in her blue orbs was more than I could handle.
"Don't count on it dork." She teased. I could tell, without even looking at her, that she had a smile on her face. I took the hint and decided to rejoin my gang, but not before taking one last look at Sam and her tan face. She wasn't looking at me, but she wasn't looking at the guy Mark across from her either, who took one sip of her smoothie and spit it back out. I was shocked; all the smoothies here were delicious! I guess she noticed that I was still gazing at her, because she snuck a quick look at me, and I blushed and turned away.
"Who was that?" Carly came up to me, my favorite smoothie flavor in her hand. I took it and started drinking it through the straw as I sat down away from Sam and the other blonde haired guy. She sat across from me and Gibby (who took off his shirt) sat beside me.
"Some girl I met when we went to the grand opening for Robin's Wieners." I told her. She turned around and looked at her, then at the guy that was beside her and turned back to look at me, a disapproving look on her face.
"I don't remember her there." She said. "And is that her boyfriend? And why would you be talking to her?" she said, sucking on her smoothie. She was asking a ton of questions that I wished I could answer her, but to tell the truth I knew just as much as she did.
"She was in front of me when you came over to tell me about wanting to go here instead and no, I don't think that's her boyfriend." Or maybe he was by the way he kept trying to get close to her. I hoped not. It was weird that I barely knew her and already I was feeling a bit uncomfortable that she was seeing someone. I could see that Sam was not enjoying that attention he was giving her (like how he tried holding her hand, reach to touch her hair, even his smirk was annoying her by the way she would be scrunching her nose) and at times she pushed him back to his seat. All he did was just smile at her rejections, making me feel angry for some reason. Finally, I saw her get up and smack him, and walked out the door. I found the guts to get up and leave Carly and Gibby, and chase after her.
After exiting the Groovy Smoothie, I looked all over for her, thinking that she didn't go far. I couldn't be more wrong. She was halfway down the block, ready to cross the street. How did she run that fast?
"Hey! Wait!" I yelled after her, trying to keep up. Sam turned around and saw that it wasn't that jerk that was chasing her, but me, and actually did wait before crossing the street.
"What do you want now you nub?" she said, almost the same way she did around three weeks ago. Again I had to step back and take in her voice. It was just so melodious.
"It's Freddie, remember?" I said as I was panting for air. Man, I was just as tired as if she knocked the wind out of me.
"Yeah I know, but nub suits you better. Especially when you're hunched over like that." She said, pulling out a leg of fried chicken from her pocket.
"What's that?" I asked as she munched on it gracefully, if munching the way she was could be called graceful.
"A leg. And no, I'm not sharing." She said, taking another bite. She sat down under the lamppost, enjoying her greasy chicken leg, and I found myself sitting next to her, mindful of keeping a space just in case.
"So, where you been?" I asked her casually. I couldn't help but know how come I haven't seen her in weeks. And I had my chance this time to ask more than a simple where have you been. I could ask her so many questions, but for the moment, not seeing her in so long was what I wanted answered more than anything.
"Around. Just because I haven't seen you means it's the end of the world." She said smartly. I smiled at that. At least she was talking to me.
"Well, does that mean that you don't live around here?"
"Beach side." She replied, her finger pointing toward the rich side of town. Or the beach, I couldn't be sure, seeing as how I was looking at her devour the last of her chicken leg.
"So that's why you smell like-" I stopped when she threw me a death glare. I coughed, "I mean that you have a tan."
"Better." She said, throwing me a punch on my arm. It hurt a bit, but not as strong as the other time that she hit me in my stomach. "So what are you doing following me like a lost puppy Freddork?" she asked me, throwing the bone into the street and picking her teeth with one of her nails. It disgusted me, but at the same time fascinated me.
"I'm not." I said defensively. "I just wanted to know what- I mean why you left-"
"You mean why I ran out on Mark?" she completed my sentence. I gulped and slowly, I nodded. "None of your business is it Fredlumps?" she said simply.
"Doesn't hurt to let out feelings you know." I concurred. Maybe that could get her to start talking. I wasn't a stalker or nothing but I wanted to know more about her.
"Lips are sealed." She said. I frowned. Couldn't she see that I could be someone that she can trust? "Although you look like you could keep a secret." She reassured me. "It's nothing personal I just need to keep things to myself."
"But what could be so secretive about something like saying how much of a jerk that guy is? That's no secret. Anyone with eyes could see that." I inquired, hoping to get something else out of her besides her name and where she lived. She brought her legs up to her chest and wrapped her legs around them. She closed her eyes, as if she was trying hard to decide whether or not to tell me something and then stared at me again, making my cheeks hot and my stomach uneasy. Normally it was Carly that would give me these kinds of feelings, but something about her eyes, her smell that just made me feel even better than when I would spend time with Carly.
"Well-" she began to explain. I felt myself inching closer to her, both emotionally as well as physically.
"Samantha!" Marina's voice made me stand up abruptly, breaking the eye contact with Sam. I suddenly felt guilty to be under a lamppost with Sam, alone. "Mark said that you ran off and-" she looked at me again with that same facial expression that she had when I saw her last time: confused and disapproving. "I've seen you before." She said. I nodded mutely in her direction but she ignored me as she dropped down to Sam, and picked her up. "Why did you run Sam? He was just being playful and-"
"That jerk is a stubrag. I don't want to see him again."
"Well that's going to be hard to do since he is your father's-"
"Marina!" Sam covered Marina's mouth with her hand. I raised my eyebrow in suspicion as she looked at me. "Let's just go okay?" she said, uncovering her friend's mouth and not turning around to say goodbye to me. I started to follow in the direction that she was going with her friend but she turned around and stepped right in front of me. "And you, leave me alone. It's bad enough I have one jerk in my life. I don't need two."
"I-I uh-" I stammered. She thought of me as a jerk? I thought I was being friendly. I never thought I was being anything more than a person keeping her company. Maybe a bit invasive, but not as far as to be called a jerk.
"Just stop bugging me." She looked at me with a stern but sad look "It'll be better for all of those involved." She said, turning back around and holding onto Marina's shoulder, as if in support. I stood there dumbfounded because I couldn't believe that I was acting like a jerk to her. Nothing that I did could be labeled as being a jerk. I just followed her to make sure she was okay. I asked if she would like to share a secret, but not forcing her to.
As my explanations were roaming through my mind, my phone began to vibrate and I pulled it out and saw that Carly was calling me. I pushed the talk button and placed the phone close to my ear.
"Hello?" I answered.
"Freddie? Where did you go?"
"I went to catch up with that one girl."
"The blonde one?" she asked me. "So you do know her?"
"Well, no but-"
"Then why did you go after her if you don't know her Freddie?" she asked me. I wish I could answer her that question. But I didn't have an excuse. I just wanted to talk to her. And now, well she just got up and left and told me to buzz off. Now I would be lucky to even try to see her again.
"Freddie are you still there?" Carly's voice rang through the other side of my phone and into my ear.
"Uh Yeah. I'm on my way back to the Groovy okay?"
"Actually, Gibby walked me home, so I'll just talk to you tomorrow, I just wanted to know where you were because your mom was looking for you when you wouldn't answer your phone."
I wasn't answering my phone when my mom called? "She didn't call me." I told her "Hang on." I looked at my phone and saw that, true enough, I had five missed calls from my mom, each one minute apart. Oh chizz!
"Carly, I'll call you back!" I said, hanging up on her and dialing my home phone. I knew I wouldn't hear the end of this when I would get home.
A/N: Chapter 3 done and the next one by the end of the week. On a roll! Reviews are greatly appreciated! :)