Before leaving parade, I walked up to Sam who was talking to his close friends Noelle, Oliver, and Jerry. "Hey Sam, can I talk to you for a minute?" He almost looked annoyed by my simple request, but said his farewells to the others and followed me out into the empty hall.
He leaned against a wall, and waited for me to talk. When I didn't start talking he sighed and said, "Make it quick McNally, I don't have time to play twenty questions with you right now."
His voice was dripping with annoyance which just made me mad. "I was just wondering why we weren't paired up today, but never mind, it's not like it matters. We haven't really been partners in about a week. Goodbye Sam." I turned to leave and meet Chris.
Before I took a step Sam grabbed my arm and turned me back around. "What the hell is that supposed to mean."
I yanked my arm from his grasp. "You know exactly what that means; you haven't said more than two nice words to me since I told you about me and Luke moving in together. You have been more of an ass than ever. Just like now; I just wanted to ask you a simple question and you turned it into a pissing match. Forget I even said anything, I have to go. Chris is waiting for me by the squad car."
I turned to leave again, but this time it was his voice that stopped me, and I couldn't believe the words that came out of his mouth. "I'm sorry." I turned around and said the only thing that I could think of.
"What?" At first, I thought he was being sarcastic, but when I saw his face, he looked completely serious.
"Your right, I have been an ass, but I can't stand you and him together. I don't think he is right for you. I haven't been mad at you, I have been mad at myself because I pushed you into that relationship. I thought that's what you wanted, and I tolerated it even though I hated the thought of you with him."
He paused, and when I didn't say anything, he continued, "I know you, even if you make it impossible for anyone to get past the wall you created; I have. I found I crack in the wall. And, seeing what I see, I know you don't love Callaghan. Right now, you are faking it in hopes that you will somehow start loving him after a while, but you won't; it doesn't work that way." He paused and gave me a sad but hopeful look.
At this point I couldn't even think. His words hit so close to home, and I knew everything he was saying was true, but I still didn't know what to do with them.
He continued. "I know you Andy, and I know that you won't break things off with Luke because you don't want to hurt him. But Andy, if you don't tell him what's going on, it's going to hurt both of you a lot more in the long run. I don't want to see you hurt. Just think about what I've said. I know I just threw a lot at you, and you may hate me for what I just said, but as a friend, please just think about it."
I just stared at him. I was in shock at what he just said. This isn't the Sam I know. He was waiting for me to respond so I said the only thing that came to my mind, "You're right." Now we both shared a look of shock.
He spoke with a flabbergasted tone, "What?"
The heck with it. I'm just telling him what he apparently already knows. "Your right Sam. You're right about you knowing me better than anyone else, even Luke. You are right about me and Luke not being right for each other, and about me being too afraid to tell him. You are right about everything." Saying all of that out loud for the first time has lifted a huge weight off my chest.
All that revelation put us into stunned silence. We were interrupted by Boyd calling over to Sam. He turned and said he would be there in a minute then he turned back to me and said, "I have to go, we can talk about all of this later, after shift is over. Just don't shut down on me later. We need to finish talking about all of this."
I nodded and said, "Okay, I have to go meet Chis anyway, see you later."
I turned to leave but turned back when Sam called my name. "Just be careful today. I won't be around to save your ass, and I don't want to beat up Diaz because he didn't keep you out of trouble." He wore a serious but equally goofy expression, one that I haven't seen in a while. I smiled and then turned and walked out of the Barn.