Sam held his old jeans in front of him. He hadn't expected this to be so hard. At his feet were the rest of the clothes he was donating to Goodwill after his mother had been pestering him for weeks to clean out his closet before he went away to college.

"Goodbye old friend," Sam said, smiling at the pants, "we had some good times."

"Sam are you talking to your jeans?"

He didn't need to look away to see who was talking to him but he did anyway so he could see her face. "These were my absolute favourite pants when I was fourteen," he told her. "I've never been able to throw them away."

"Surely they don't fit you anymore," Stacey giggled looking at the ratty old jeans then she continued in a way that suggested she had just comprehended something. "Sam, weren't you wearing these when we met?"

He shrugged, "probably, I practically lived in these things back then."

He turned away from his jeans again and gave her a small smile. "Now your giving me an extra reason not to throw these away."

Stacey rolled her eyes. "Oh my god Sam you were horrible when I was twelve. Do you have any idea how heartbroken I was when Kristy told me you'd taken some Tamara girl to the movies."

He laughed. "Oh my god I remember that, but Stacey do you have any idea how weird it would have been for me to be dating a twelve year old when I was fourteen. No matter how cute she was."

Stacey shrugged. "Yeah I guess," she agreed, "but I liked you so much, it was unbearable."

It was Sam's turn to roll his eyes, "Stacey I am well aware of what you were like at that age," he reminded her. "You've told me before you had a thing for your teacher and some creepy ass lifeguard. I'm surprised you liked me at all actually, wasn't I a little young for you?"

Stacey laughed again and he winked at her.

"When are you leaving?" Stacey asked, suddenly looking down at her shoes. "Kristy said it was this week."

"Tomorrow," he answered her, dropping the jeans back in the bag so he could reach out and give her a hug. "I'm gonna miss you Stace."

"I'll miss you too," she replied, "and your going to New York."

"Mhmm," he replied, "your old neighbourhood. You'll have to come visit me sometime."

"I will," she agreed sadly.

Sam pulled away from her to see her looking at him with those amazing eyes of hers. God she was killing him. With a final sigh he stuffed the jeans into his bag and slipped it all into the donation box before slipping his arm around Stacey's shoulders.

"I'll buy you lunch," he offered. "Where do you want to go?"

"No that's okay," she said wriggling out of his grip, "I better get going."

She turned around quickly and started walking back down the road. He let her go for a while before he narrowed his eyes and chased after her. Something was wrong.

Sure enough when he caught up with her and grabbed her shoulder to turn her around he seen she was in tears.

"Oh Stacey, come here," he said pulling her into his arms. "Don't cry baby."

This time though he realised what he had said. "I'm sorry," he said dropping his arms. "I didn't mean to say that."

"Sam," Stacey sniffed, "do you still love me?"

She was trying so hard to look nonchalant but her eyes betrayed her hurt.

"I...I mean," he didn't know what to say. He'd tried so hard not to that he thought he'd managed to convince himself that maybe he didn't love her anymore but the way she had asked him so directly left no doubt in his mind that he did. "I do love you," he said, his voice turning hoarse. He instantly regretted it. It didn't matter how they felt. It was too late for all this.

"Why did you dump me," she asked, tears still gleaming in her eyes.

Oh god how could he tell her this without seeming like the worlds biggest ass. The fact he was leaving tomorrow was the only way he managed to gather the courage to say it.

"I wanted to have sex," he told her blatantly, "and I was afraid if we stayed together that I would force you into it and you'd hate me."

"Oh," Stacey said taken aback, this was clearly not what she had expected to hear. "That's what you meant when you said I was too young."

"Yeah," he said uncomfortably. He had never wanted her to know any of this.

"But we had..."

"I know," he cut her off. "I'm so sorry Stacey. I never meant for that to happen. Especially not like that."

She just nodded.

"Do you hate me now?" he asked.

"I think you were very selfish," she said slowly, tear tracks still streaking her face.

"I know I was," he said pulling her into his arms again. "God, if I could take it all back I would."

"I don't hate you Sam, I love you," she sobbed suddenly, "but it doesn't matter because we'd only have to break up now anyway."

"Baby please don't cry," he felt a pain in his chest. He hated that he had made her so sad. "We could get back together?" he suggested, just wanting her to smile again.

She stepped away from him and wiped her eyes. "No we shouldn't," she said firmly. "You're leaving. It'd be too hard."

"New York isn't far away," he said.

"It's far enough," she replied. She wiped her eyes again and smiled, "and besides you're going to want to get with all those college girls."

"Yeah and you're going to want to get with some 30 year old banker," he teased her making her laugh.

"Don't be gross," she sniffed before punching him in the arm.

"Have lunch with me?" he asked her again.

"Okay," she agreed.

AN: Thank you Jenna for reviewing, I'm really glad you like it. The next two chapters will be posted together as they are part of the same scene, I hope you all enjoy them.