When I awoke, I found myself lying on my back, with Sam's body pressed up against mine, and her left arm flung across my chest. Tentatively and reluctantly, I opened one eye a crack...
...and was immediately blinded by the effusion of sunlight which was pouring into my bedroom. Squinting, I turned my face toward the alarm clock on my nightstand, blinking rapidly, until finally I was able to read the display.
9:38.
Turning my head to the left for the first time, I realized that, instead of Sam sleeping soundly next to me...
...she was looking at me...anxiously...but I had no idea how long she'd been lying there, wide awake...
...waiting.
"Carls?" she asked, her trembling voice brimming with anxiety...
...and, without her elaborating, I know exactly what she was asking...
...and, without hesitating, I shook my head.
"No? No what? It's not there anymore? It's not gone?" she asked, her questions coming in rapid-fire succession...and in an almost frantic tone.
"I...don't know," I admitted...
...and her eyebrows shot up.
"What do you mean you 'don't know'...can't you feel it?"
"Sam, I...I'm...too afraid to l-look!" I declared...
...and with an understanding nod, she sat up at once and began pulling the covers off me...
...and then I lay there, heart hammering, as she stared, silently and intently, at my crotch area...
...because I was much too afraid to look myself...
...but even more afraid of what her answer might be.
Finally, she spoke.
"Well, I don't see anything...there's no bulge in the front of your box-" suddenly, she stopped speaking and, reaching down with both hands, she placed them on my knees...
...and gently spread my legs apart...
...and then, leaning forward, she looked more closely...
...still without speaking.
"Oh, God, Sam! Is it still there? Tell me!" I gasped, after nearly a minute's complete silence...during which I was completely unable to read the expression on her face...
...only that she looked dead serious.
"It...doesn't seem to be," she answered...
...but doubtfully.
"What? Sam! What if it still is?" I demanded...
...and as her right hand moved slowly from my left knee to up between my thighs, I held my breath...
...and so did she...
...and then, after it had hovered over me for a long moment, she lowered it and gently placed her palm flat against me...
...directly on my crotch...
...hesitating for a moment...
...and then squeezing ever-so-gently.
"I...don't feel anything," she soon announced, now sounding fairly convinced...
...even though I still wasn't.
"How do you know for sure?" I asked, still terrified.
"Well I..." she began, and then frowned and continued, "...lift your hips."
Trembling, I did as she directed; and, seconds later, she'd pulled my blue and white plaid boxers down to my knees...
...and, after staring, open-mouthed, for an excruciatingly long moment, she answered, sounding highly relieved, "It's gone."
But still, I wasn't completely convinced.
"Are you absolutely sure, Sam? How do you know you're not...uh, overlooking anything?"
Shaking her head at my unrelenting insecurity, she answered, not with words, but with an indulgent smile...
...as she pressed two fingers against my vagina's outer lips...
...and gently spread them apart...and then leaned in...
...and smiled even wider.
"Cupcake, you're 100% girl...see?" she replied, gently inserting her index finger just inside the lips of my vulva, and slowly tracing it up and down...
...causing a series of incredibly-intense tremors...of both arousal and relief...to erupt deep within my core, and then ripple, outwardly and forcefully, through my entire body.
"See?" she repeated, "now do you believe m-oomph!" she stopped speaking abruptly...
...as, sitting up, I threw my arms around her mid-section and hugged her as hard as I could, knocking the breath completely out of her...
...but then I stopped short...feeling incredibly ashamed...as I remembered that I was being unbelievably selfish...
...because she's the one who needed attention at the moment...
...badly.
Releasing her from my vice-like embrace, I said, "Come here," while carefully rolling her onto her back...
...and then reaching over to the nightstand for my tube of Aloe Vera gel.
"Carls, I-" she began...
...but I cut her off.
"Shh...I know you're hurting, Honey, so just let me take care of you," I said softly, as I reached to her hips and pulled her panties down...
...and then stared in absolute disbelief...
...at her pad...which was completely dry.
"Sam, did you just...change this?" I asked slowly.
"No," she replied, looking down, "Why do you ask-What The...!" she exclaimed, staring also.
"Then...how?" I demanded.
"No idea!" she answered, sounding every bit as mystified as I was.
"But...I saw how badly you were bleeding last night...are you...sore?"
"No...not at all. I don't really feel anything down there," she replied as I pulled her panties back up.
Too confused to figure out what to ask next, I soon gave up trying and laid my head on her chest instead, sighing as her arms went around me. However, less than a minute later, I realized (reluctantly) that I couldn't linger there.
My bladder wouldn't let me.
"I'll be right back," I announced, untangling myself from her embrace, and then heading quickly to the bathroom.
Five minutes later, on my way back, I passed her in the hallway...with an unmistakeable 'Gotta Pee' expression on her own face...as she hurried by me...
...and toward relief.
Less than ten minutes later, as she walked back into the bedroom, she leaned against the doorjamb and stared in amusement as I...prompted by the familiar sound of the garbage truck coming up the street...was busily tearing through both the dresser and the hamper, collecting all six pairs of men's briefs that I'd bought two days ago, and throwing them into my wastebasket.
"Cupcake, you've read my mind; I don't ever want to see those hideous things again!" she remarked, tossing her panties into the hamper, and then pulling on a pair of white boxers and a pair of gray cargo shorts.
"Don't worry, you won't," I replied, removing the trash bag from the basket and then tying its top. Setting it down for a moment, I hastily ditched my boxers and put on a clean pair of panties; and then pulled on a T-shirt, sweatpants, and sneakers...which I didn't bother to tie. Grabbing the bag once again, I reminded her with a smile, "Breakfast is on the dresser," as I left the room.
Sitting on the edge of my bed and dragging a T-shirt over her head, she nodded slowly in acknowledgment, but judging by the expression on her face, her mind seemed to be elsewhere.
Less than five minutes later, as I rushed out of Bushwell Plaza's First Floor Service Entrance, the garbage truck was just pulling away from the curb; so I tossed the bag into the nearest empty trash can and then hurried back into the building, and to my highly-anticipated breakfast of Easter candy, hoping as I did that Sam had actually saved me some...
...but as soon as I entered the bedroom, I saw that, instead of hovering over my dresser enthusiastically stuffing her face, she was sitting all the way across the room...
...curled up in my window seat, her back against the wall...
...with her arms around her shins...
...and her forehead on her knees...
...and at that moment, I realized that the full magnitude of what we'd done for the past two nights...and all of its very possible, terrifying, future implications...had finally hit her...
...hard.
Crossing the room slowly, I sat down next to her on the edge of the seat.
"Sam?"
I waited for nearly a minute, but she didn't look up or acknowledge me in any way whatsoever; so leaning over, I wrapped my arms around her upper back and pulled her body as close to mine as I could.
As I did, she lifted her head a few inches and half spoke-half sobbed, "Carls, I'm s-so scared!"
And despite my best intentions to be the strong one here...
...and to reassure her...
...and to comfort her...
...I burst out crying anyway.
"Sam! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry for what I did to you...and also for what...what I might have done to you!"
At these words, her arms flew from her legs to up around my neck, and for the next five minutes or so, nothing could be heard but the sounds of both of us bawling...loudly...before, finally, I managed to utter, "Sam...no matter what h-happens, I'm not ever g-going to l-leave y-"
"Oh, God, what if I'm...wh-what if w-we're-Oh, God!" she interrupted...
...and something about the devastated way she said it touched me so deeply and so profoundly that, somehow, I managed to get a grip on myself and stop crying. Yanking the tail of my T-shirt upwards, I hastily wiped my eyes with it, and then, wrapping my arms back around Sam, I answered, "Shh...let's try not think about it at all for a couple of days...that'll give us both a chance to calm down a little...and then we'll be able to talk things over...rationally."
"Calm down? Talk r-rationally? That's impossible, Carls!" she exclaimed, raising her tear-streaked face to mine. "I'm going to b-be a complete m-mess for the next month!"
I shook my head.
"Don't worry, we won't have to wait a whole month to find out. Let's wait a few days, and then we'll both take one of those home tests...unless-" I stopped suddenly...
...unsure if I should continue.
"Unless...what?" she urged.
"Unless...I could...go to the pharmacy for you and then you could, you know...take...the 'Morning After' pill," I answered slowly...
...and she freaked out.
"You know I can't do that!" she yelled. "What if my...what if it grows back, because I copped out?" She was silent for a long moment. "But if you want to take..."
"You know I can't either!" I exclaimed, terrified that, if I did, her prediction would prove correct...
...but just as terrified by the realization of what my unselfish refusal to take it might result in.
With an apprehensive and exhausted sigh, I turned toward the window, looking out silently and numbly for several long minutes, while the sun streamed through it...washing over us both. Such a rare, beautiful, absolutely perfect morning...
...that neither of us could enjoy in the slightest.
Turning back to Sam I began, "Look, we're both incredibly stressed out right now...and this conversation is only making things worse. Like I said, let's wait a couple of days, until we can think more rationally, and then we'll talk this over...okay?
Instead of answering directly, she shrugged in a very non-committal way and, turning her face away from mine, she lowered her gaze to her knees...
...while I sat next to her in silent confusion, at a complete loss as to what to say next.
"It's a really nice morning...would you like to go for a walk?" I finally offered...
...but, still not looking at me, she shook her head slowly, and then lowered her face into her hands...
...and began to sob softly...
...which broke my heart completely...
...and, now desperate to take her mind off our predicament, I stood up and, gently taking hold of her wrists, I removed her hands from her face. Almost immediately, she stopped crying and turned to me with an expression of confusion as I took them in mine, but she didn't resist as I pulled her to her feet and then slowly led her over to the bed...
...and lowered her onto it.
After gently maneuvering her onto her back, I sat down next to her and then rolled over, laying my body directly on top of hers and smiling down at her...
...as she looked up at me in silence, with her eyes full of tears and pain.
"Sam, have I reminded you lately that I love you...so very much?" I asked softly...
...and to my surprise, after only a moment's hesitation, she murmured, "I love you too," with a very faint smile...
...and, encouraged by this, I leaned down and kissed her...fleetingly at first, but then, when I felt her lips begin to move tentatively under mine, I met their caress with my own...slowly and sensually...determined to devote the next hour (at least) to nothing else but trying my hardest to make her feel good...
...and hopefully, to help her...well both of us...temporarily forget what we'd soon be forced to confront again...
...but, less than a minute later, she turned her face away from mine and shook her head; and feeling both dismayed and disappointed, I reluctantly stopped. When she didn't move or respond further, I lay my hand against her cheek.
"Sam?"
No answer.
I hesitated for a moment and then asked, "You didn't sleep very well last night...or very long...did you?"
"Not really," she admitted readily...
...and I nodded.
"Well then, why don't we take a nap now...unless you'd rather I make breakfast for you?" I added quickly.
Closing her eyes, she shook her head again; so, rolling onto my back, I pulled her over onto my chest, and wrapped my arms around her...feeling slightly reassured as I felt her body settle into them.
I didn't bother to set the alarm, and when I did finally open my eyes (to the sound of Sam's loudly-growling stomach), the clock's display read 2:53.
I knew she hadn't slept well because, due to the way she had tossed and turned (almost non-stop) on my chest, I hadn't either. But that didn't matter, because I had much more important things to focus on at the moment than how exhausted I felt.
Since her stomach was now positively screaming in protest because we'd skipped breakfast, I decided that making lunch was my top priority; and so, after a few words of explanation, I slid out from under her and hurried downstairs...
...and, realizing that she was ravenous, I made four extra sandwiches...
...but when I set the heaping tray on the bed beside her, she barely ate anything...even though I did, while incredibly surprised at my huge appetite, considering the circumstances.
As I headed out of the bedroom door, taking the lunch tray back down to the kitchen, I looked over my shoulder...
...and saw that she was climbing back into the window seat.
Stopping only to put the leftovers in the fridge and stack the dishes in the sink, I soon returned to the bedroom to find her, with her feet up on the cushion and her knees under her chin, staring straight ahead, at nothing in particular.
Walking over to where she sat, I reached down and lay a hand against her cheek.
"Sam?" I asked hesitantly, and then, after a long moment of reflection, continued, "Maybe it was wrong of me to make you wait to discuss...things. We could talk right now...if you wan-"
"No" she answered at once, in a flat, detached voice, still staring blankly ahead...
...while I stood next to her, looking down at her motionless body, trying to figure out what it would be best to do next.
I soon had an answer...of sorts.
Even though...thanks to using towels while we'd been intimate...the purple sheets on my bed were still relatively clean, they were also a reminder...for both of us...of what had happened during the past two nights; and so I stripped them off, exchanging them for a set of gray and white windowpane plaid ones. Even though I took my time, when I'd finished, Sam still hadn't moved; and, at so, a complete loss as to what I should do next, I crossed over to the far side of the room, and then sat down, slouching in my desk chair...
...watching her in silence...
...trying my hardest to think logically...
...but still completely unsure of what to do or say...
...only aware of how much I hated myself...and of what my actions last night were now making her go through...
...while wishing with all my heart that she wouldn't have to suffer anymore for what she'd so unselfishly done for me...
...and praying that she hadn't been ovulating last night...
...while realizing...terrified...what might be happening...right now...inside my own exhausted, stressed-out body.
I'm not sure how long we sat like that...it had to have been at least an hour-and-a-half...but finally she moved. Shifting slightly in her seat and turning her head to the left, she pressed her forehead against the window, looking downward...
...and I knew why...
...it was because she was playing The Traffic Game, a favorite of ours, and one which we've played often, since we were about nine. Since then, the two of us have spent countless hours sitting in that same window seat, looking down and watching the cars that whiz past my building...
...while making up and sharing the most fantastic stories of who the drivers are, and where they're going, and what they're going to do once they get there. It's always been the perfect way for the two of us to escape (temporarily) from the Real World...and to pass the time on long, lonely, rainy days...
...but today there was no rain...just an abundance of breathtakingly-beautiful, late afternoon sunlight slanting in lazily through the windows.
Finally, with a quiet sigh, I glanced down at my watch.
6:18.
I knew that Spencer wasn't home yet, because he always calls up the stairs to me when he arrives; so, turning in my chair, I spent the next several minutes staring over at the huge display of Easter candy that was sitting on my dresser...
...still completely untouched...
...while trying to figure out what to make Sam for dinner; hoping that sitting down to a good meal would give her something else to focus on besides the horrible predicament we both were currently in. Unfortunately, no menu ideas whatsoever presented themselves, and so I decided to ask her what she wanted...
...but not wanting to rudely interrupt her reverie by calling across the room, I got up from my desk chair...
...and started to walk over to her...
...but, about halfway across the room, I came to a complete stop...
...and stood there, frozen in shock.
No!
It couldn't be...could it?
Changing directions abruptly, I sprinted across the room, through my door; and then, while ignoring the sound of Sam calling my name (worriedly and repeatedly), I tore down the hall.
Flinging the bathroom door open and rushing over to the toilet, I yanked both my sweatpants and my panties down together, with trembling hands, and as I did, I saw that my period had started again...
...from the very beginning...
...with a vengeance...
...and I welcomed it...
...as, sitting down, I began bawling in relief.
Not more than two minutes later, Sam came tearing into the bathroom. "Help! Tampons! Advil! Now!"
"Sam, come here!" I demanded quickly, while hastily wiping my eyes on the back of my hand.
"I can't!" she wailed, rushing at breakneck speed toward the vanity...
...and her stash of tampons.
"Now, Sam!"
"But I'm...leaking!" she protested.
"Sam. Here. Now," I insisted, giving her The Look...
...and, without further protest, she walked reluctantly over to where I sat...
...and as she stood in front of me, looking thoroughly confused...
...I reached forward, grabbed her hips, and pulled her as close to me as possible; and then I quickly unzipped her cargo shorts and pulled them down past her knees...
...and then I immediately did the same with her white boxers...
...because I needed to see for myself...
...and was incredibly relieved when, through tear-blurred eyes, I saw the huge period stain that was on them...
...and then, without a word, Sam leaned forward and reached down. Pulling the front of my panties toward herself, she looked down inside them...
...and when she saw how soaked they were...
...she sighed in relief; and, leaning over farther, she pressed her cheek against the top of my head.
"Thank God, Cupcake!" she exclaimed, with a noticeable catch in her very unsteady voice. "Thank God we're not knocked up!"
Before I could answer, she grabbed my wrists and dragged me up onto my feet; and as she wrapped her arms around me and held me tightly against her, I heard her say, "You're not going to believe this...but I was just wishing with all my heart that you weren't!"
"So was I wishing it for you!" I gasped...
...and then, without another word, she reached down and pulled my T-shirt over my head.
In an instant she had undressed me, and herself; and picking me up in her arms, she carried me over to the shower. Setting me down inside, she climbed in beside me, and adjusted the water...
...and then...very, very politely, she carefully washed me from head to toe. Once she had finished, she stood quietly,with her arms around my neck, allowing me to do the same to her; and, after drying me off, she hurried over to the vanity, but soon returned...
...holding two tampons.
"Sam, no!" I gasped.
"Shh. Come on, try it...just this one time," she urged.
I shook my head.
"I've never-"
"I know," she replied with a smile. "...but that's okay. I'll show you how."
I looked down as she unwrapped one and then held it out to me.
"It's not that I don't know how...it's just that...Super Plus? There's no way I'll be able to-"
"After what happened two nights ago...you shouldn't have any problem. Please? Just this once?" she asked again...
...and aware that, due to the tremendous sacrifices she'd made for me, it was the least I could do, I took it from her outstretched hand...
...and tried to insert it...
...gasping seconds later, "OW! I can't get it in!"
"Relax," she advised me.
"I am-OW!" I answered loudly.
"Why won't it go in?" she asked, looking confused. "Is it because you're sore?"
I shook my head.
"No. Not at all. It's just that I'm way too...it's way too big-OW!" I exclaimed...
...and, with an understanding nod, she reached over, took it from my hand, and tossed it into the wastebasket; and then unwrapped and inserted her own...
...slowly, and with an unmistakeable grimace on her face...
...which immediately morphed into one of elation as she exclaimed, "Oh, my God! Mine didn't go in easily!"
"Yeah...so?" I replied. "What's so exciting about th-"
"Don't you see, Cupcake?" she shouted. "We both got our wishes...again! Yours was that we could wait to be together. Mine was to not have sex with a penis. And now...since I'm having such a hard time putting one in, I obviously haven't been penetrated...and since you can't even get one in at all...it means that you haven't either!"
"Oh, my God, Sam! You're right!" I gasped, as the reality of the situation finally became clear. "We both did get our wishes! I guess each person is entitled to more than one-" I stopped speaking for a moment, before adding with utmost seriousness, "We're both going to have to be extremely careful what we wish for from now on."
She nodded vigorously, and then said, "I'll be right back," leaving the room and heading up the hall. Less than a minute later, she was handing me a clean pair of panties and a pad; and, after I'd put them on, she took both of my hands in her own.
"Carls...are you a virgin?" she asked.
"Yes," I answered with a smile...and with confidence. "Are you?"
"Yes." She paused. "Do you still want to...wait for us to be together?"
"Will you...let me wait?" I asked shyly.
"Of course, Cupcake...for as long as you want me to," she assured me...
...and I rested my hands on her shoulders and replied, "We will be together, Sam...someday...I promise."
"I know we will," she answered, wrapping her arms around my waist. "And it'll be the Right Way...I promise."
As she pulled me close I asked, "So, those two nights that we...they didn't...count as our first time?"
"Of course not," she mumbled, with her mouth against my shoulder...
...and then, without another word, she released me and headed back down the hall...
...while I stood with my hands flat against the top of the vanity and my head bowed...
...saying a fervent prayer of thanks.
Less than five minutes later, as I was walking into my bedroom, the first thing I noticed...
...was the long trail of candy wrappers on the floor...which stretched from my dresser all the way over to my bed, where she sat...
...stuffing her face.
"Sam!" I yelled.
Sitting cross-legged, and wearing only a pair of red and white striped boxers she looked up, her eyes partly obscured by her damp bangs, which hung down limply over them.
"What?" she asked defensively. "I saved you some!"
Deciding that attending to my empty stomach was way more important at the moment than scolding/tidying up after her, I hurried over to my dresser, quickly pulled a clean T-shirt over my head, and then joined her on the bed, to help polish off the rest of the candy.
It didn't take long.
Immediately afterward, I picked up all of the debris from the floor and the bed. After throwing them away, I brought a damp washcloth back from the bathroom and cleaned Sam's unsurprisingly-chocolate-smudged face; and then, sitting down on the bed, I turned to her with a smile.
"Feeling better now?" I asked.
Returning my smile, she flung her arms around my neck and answered me with a kiss...
...one which lasted so long that I lost all track of time.
When we finally came up for air, I lay down, pulled her over onto my chest, and tangled my right hand in her hair; realizing as I did that, since she was currently so well-fed, stress-free, and content, that it was probably the best time to bring up another important issue.
Pushing her hair off her forehead, I began, "Sam, speaking of kissing, can we talk about something...without you, uh...freaking out?"
"Of course. Nothing could possibly freak me out more than what we just went through," she declared...
...and feeling somewhat reassured, I took a deep breath.
"Well, okay. There's something I need to tell you. It seems that Freddie-"
The instant I said his same, her body stiffened in my arms and she yelled, "The next time I see that son of a-oomph!"
"Just listen to me for a minute," I demanded...
...with my hand now firmly across her mouth...
...while ignoring the violent way she shook her head in protest...
...as I continued, "The night that we came back from the beach, I'm almost positive Freddie was looking through the peephole of his front door and saw us kissing in the hall. That's why he's been acting like such a-"
Jerking her face away from my hand, she vowed, "I'm gonna strangl-"
"No...you're not!" I corrected her, tightening my grip on her body with both of my arms and attempting to hold her still as I continued, "Look, Sam, I absolutely agree with you that he did at the pharmacy was incredibly rude, but just put yourself in his place for a second. Try to remember how badly he's suffering right now...because we're together, instead of with him...suffering just as badly as we just did...so can't you cut him some slack...just this once?"
At these words, she stopped flailing her arms and legs, and then was silent for a very long time.
"Okay, okay! I won't make him pay...just this once!" she (finally) agreed...
...and I soon felt her body relax again...
...and her lips press against my neck...just for a moment...
...and I spent the next ten minutes lying there in silence and in perfect contentment, with her head on my chest...
...until, suddenly, I sat up with a gasp...
...as I realized that, due to everything we'd been through for the past two days...or maybe in spite of it...that I'd never even told Sam the story of The Bonsen Shaman.
How could I have forgotten that?
"Carls? Carls...are you okay?" she asked, sounding worried...
...and, realizing that my sitting up so abruptly must have scared her, I immediately lay back down and tightened my arms around her once again...
...and then I spent the next twenty minutes relating the entire story of the Bonsen and Peckutt tribes...
...every bit as dramatically as it had been told to me two nights ago...
...watching in amusement the look of stunned bewilderment on her face as I did.
When I had finished, she was silent for a long time.
"What are you thinking about?" I finally asked, unable to contain my curiosity any longer.
"Well," she said slowly, "it's just that...that story seems kind of...familiar...like I've heard it somewhere before. Do you think it's possible I..." she hesitated for a long moment, "...that I somehow managed to wake up during one of Mr. Devlin's History classes?"
"No! No way could that have happened!" I assured her...
...and, looking incredibly relieved, she shifted on my chest and then lifted her eyes to mine.
"Carls?"
"Hmm?"
"Is it just me or...well, does it seem to you like...none of this really happened?" she asked slowly.
"Yes," I agreed without hesitation. "I feel the same way...now that everything is...back to normal...and especially since we were standing in that empty lot at the park."
She lay there in my arms for a long time without speaking before adding, "Then, did we dream it...all of it?"
"I'm not sure...but I think we must have," I answered...
...and she nodded, looking fairly convinced...
...but less than fifteen seconds later, she gasped...
...loudly...
...and, untangling herself from my arms, she jumped off the bed...
...and tore across room...
...over to her backpack.
Grabbing it off my desk, she ran back to the bed, unzipping it as she did; and then, reaching inside...
...she began flinging random items out of it...
...and I watched as a large saute pan, a broken pocket watch, two textbooks, a partially-eaten bag of potato chips, a chrome-plated police whistle, and half a dozen mismatched socks went sailing around the room in all directions...
...until, plunging her hand deeply inside and scrabbling around in the bottom for nearly a minute, she finally pulled it back out...
...with something grasped tightly in her fist.
As she fell down next to me on the bed, I sat up and watched as she opened her hand...
...and then we both stared down in amazement at what was lying on her open palm...
...a large, slightly-battered bronze disk...
...one that we'd both seen before...
...with the name *Oswell's Oddities* embossed in high relief on its face.
I'm not sure how long we sat staring down at it, but finally, with shaking hands, Sam flipped it over...
...and, on its back, we saw a large, engraved question mark in the center, with raised letters surrounding the rim, spelling out the words:
Were You There?
A.N.: Stay tuned...