Title: Beginning of Something Different

Fandom: Popular

Pairing: Sam/Brooke

Rating: PG

Prompt: 001 Beginnings; written for the fanfic100 challenge

Word count: 619

Disclaimer: Alas, I don't own the characters of Popular. They belong to Ryan Murphy, but hopefully he won't mind if I borrow them for a little while.

Summary: Brooke tries to deal with some new feelings.

A/N: This is an extension of a drabble I wrote a while ago.

A/N2: Thanks muchly to my betas, theagonyofblank and wolfemeister!

A/N3: I don't know if people are still reading/enjoying this (comments make me happy!)... Let me know what you think!

Brooke was miserable.

Well, maybe "miserable" was an exaggeration. Because really, there were a lot of things to not be miserable about. Sam was all right, they were still friends, and things weren't awkward with Harrison. (Okay, that last one was a lie. Things definitely were awkward with Harrison, but they weren't too awkward, Brooke supposed.)

Still, sometimes Brooke couldn't help but be melodramatic, and she would label her state of emotions as "miserable."

The cause of her "misery" lay in the fact that, with Sam back to consciousness, Brooke was forced to think about that emotional admission of love on prom night. Brooke had only meant it in a platonic you're-practically-family kind of way, right? So there was no need to freak out about it. Definitely not. Then why did Brooke feel like she had something to be embarrassed about?

And seriously, what was with the weird feeling she got in her stomach every time she looked at Sam? It was starting to get really annoying.

But somehow, Brooke had a feeling (a very scary feeling) that, in the heat of the moment, when she didn't know if Sam would be okay, she had meant those words in a way that was at least slightly more than platonic.

Sam gave no indication that she remembered what Brooke had said, though. Brooke wasn't sure which would be worse -- the mortification of having to talk about it, or the relief of getting it out in the open.

Brooke had barely given her words and the possible meaning behind them any thought while Sam was in the coma. Then, Brooke had been too focused on the guilt, fear, and hope. Now that Sam was getting back to health, though, Brooke was almost constantly confronted by the fact that Sam was vivacious, smart, loyal, and, to be perfectly honest, stunningly beautiful.

Obviously, those were all good things, but the problem was that persistent flutter Brooke felt every time Sam was around. That flutter made her feel... Okay, "miserable" really was a complete exaggeration, but "uncomfortable," "nervous," and "confused" were right on the mark.

And if she didn't do something about it soon, Brooke thought her head might explode from all the self-reflection.

* * *

Brooke had been acting strangely, Sam noticed. It was a different kind of strange than the remaining awkwardness with Harrison, though. But whenever Sam found herself alone with Brooke, she seemed to become excessively jumpy, and Sam had caught the blonde simply staring intently at her a number of times. It was odd, and Sam didn't know what to make of it.

She also kept asking if Sam remembered any details about the night of the accident, but no matter how many times Sam repeated that she didn't remember, Brooke just didn't seem to get it.

Still, continuing physical therapy and the process of catching up with schoolwork kept Sam so busy and tired that she couldn't find the energy to really figure out what Brooke's deal was.

Now, Sam prided herself on her knowledge of the English language. Her vocabulary, in particular, was obviously that of someone way beyond her years. A lot of things had gone wrong in Sam's life, but words never failed her.

Except when Brooke looked at her like that, in that way that Brooke was supposed to be looking at Harrison. And when they arrived home after the last day of school, celebrating the end to junior year... When Brooke followed up that look with a sudden kiss, all soft and warm and sweet... For the first time ever, Sam's mind, shocked, went completely blank; she couldn't think of a single word.

So instead of talking, she simply kissed back.