Strange neighbours
Chapter six: Dinner party
Samantha woke to the sound of Sarah vacuuming the floors outside her bedroom. Blinking sleepily she looked over to her clock to see it she'd slept in. Eventually getting out of bed she stretched as she walked over to her walk in wardrobe and found some jeans that had holes in the knees, a black tank top and a flannelette shirt after digging around in there. She left the flannelette shirt un-buttoned and the sleeves scrunched up around her elbows. Her curls were squashed and frizzy from sleeping on them so she flipped her head upside down and pulled her hair into a loose bun that sat on the top of her head. Samantha put on her shoes and some deodorant then went to help her mother clean the house for the dinner party they were hosting that night.
Sarah and Samantha worked for three hours cleaning the house and unpacking the last few boxes that sat hidden in corners around the house from when they'd first moved in. By 4pm they had begun cooking preparations. Sarah was making Pot-roasted Chicken; it was a recipe Samantha knew her mother could cook extremely well. After that the pair went outside and cleaned up the front garden. When they had finally finished cleaning Sarah put the food in the oven to cook while Samantha went to shower then Sarah left the kitchen to go shower herself.
…
At 6:30 Dave got home to find the house was spotless. Fairy lights had been put up outside and candles were lit in the hallway and dining room. Warm and inviting background music was playing, and the smell form the kitchen was divine. He walked into the kitchen where Sarah was fussing over some last minute preparations, he kissed her on the cheek and handed a bottle of wine and a bottle of sparkling apple juice for Sam and Samantha. As she was putting the bottles in the fridge Dave admired her outfit. She shooed Dave out of the kitchen to go get ready before he could compliment the black knee length lacy skirt. He passed Samantha's room and saw his daughter putting her hair into a long braid. She poked her tongue out at him and he blew a raspberry at her from the doorway before continuing on to his bedroom to get himself ready.
…
Samantha pulled at the braid to loosen it and tucked some loose curls behind her ear. She found some jeans and a cotton shirt then carefully put on some makeup. Makeup was something she didn't usually bother with unless there was a real reason to wear it. She looked herself over in the mirror and loosened her hair a little more then went to the dining room to find her parents were setting the table. Samantha followed her mother to the kitchen where she checked her teeth in the reflection of the toaster
"7:30, they should be here anytime now" Sarah said straightening up.
"I'm going to go wait in the living room cause that's where the music is." Samantha moved off to the living room and sat on the couch taking a handful of mixed nuts Sarah had put on the coffee table earlier. She'd decided that tonight she wasn't going to ask Sam about everything she wanted to know. She'd keep the evening pleasant. For their parents' sake.
The doorbell rang and the sounds of greeting echoed to the living room.
She stood up greeting Ron and Judy as they walked with her parents into the room. They went back to their conversation as her eyes fell upon the boy that followed the group in. He was dressed nicely and his hair was styled. He looked good, he looked handsome. Samantha smiled at Sam as he walked over and awkwardly ran a hard through his hair,
"Hey, How are you?" this was their first conversation they'd had alone since the accident.
"I'm pretty good, healing up pretty quickly too." Sam's smile fell slightly and he looked upset so Samantha quickly moved the conversation from that path
"how are you?"
"Sore, all the exercising is taking its toll." Sam seamed glad the conversation had turned.
"Muscle ache, that's the good kind. What is the bet you have going on at the moment? You mentioned it yesterday when I was with Judy."
"My friend Miles bet me one hundred dollars that I couldn't get fitter than him in one month." Sam was smiling as he spoke and Samantha couldn't help but smile back at him. Wow he has a nice smile.
"How will you know you're fitter than him?"
"I have to be able to beat his records for push ups, chin ups, 100 meter sprint, double crunches and a few other things, he gave me a list." Samantha's eyes widened as he recited the list,
'wow, let me know if you win." Sam chuckled,
"Yeah sure thing."
The oven timer interrupted the conversation and the group walked to the dining room. Samantha was just about to sit across from Sam when Sarah called her into the kitchen to help serve the meal. Dave excused himself to go get the drinks leaving the guests to chat to themselves.
…
"Sammy I think she likes you!" Judy whispered to her son reaching across and putting a hand playfully on his shoulder. Sam's head spun to look at her in embarrassment and shock.
"Please ma, don't say anything to make it awkward okay? Just shh!" Judy giggled and pinched Sam's cheek,
"I have a feeling that you just might like her back." Sam sighed and leaned back into his chair as Ron leaned over to his wife,
"Judy stop, I'm sure that's not something Sam wants to talk to you about, especially as we're sitting in his crushes house." The two giggled together and Sam sighed then smiled as the hosts' walked into the dining room holding dishes of food.
Sarah was holding a huge pot which she set on the table and removed the lid. Sam could smell chicken and his mouth began to water. Samantha set down a basket of hot bead rolls and a large bowl almost overflowing with salad. She sat down across from Sam and smiled before offering him the basket. He took a roll out and began to butter it. Dave walked out of the kitchen with a bottle of wine and a bottle of something else.
"Sam we weren't sure if you drank alcohol so we bought you and Thaya a bottle of sparkling apple juice to share in case you didn't."
Thaya blushed and looked down at her bread. Sam noticing this replied and took the bottle of apple juice that Dave handed him. Sam opened the bottle and filled Samantha's glass before filling his own. She looked up at him filling the glasses and smiled before picking up her glass and taking a sip,
"thanks."
Sam put the bottle down on the table,
"You're welcome, this food looks great."
"Yeah the chicken is so good, I helped make it." Sam liked listening to her accent,
"I can't wait to try some."
The group filled their plates and conversation began as they began eating.
"So Dave why did you all move from Australia?" Ron asked sipping his wine.
"My work, I got promoted and Sarah wasn't working at the time so we packed up and moved. So far it's been fantastic."
"oh wow, so what do you do exactly?"
"I'm a Pharmaceutical Researcher." Dave answered the question then Samantha piped up from across the table,
"it wasn't all that great moving. Changing time zones was horrible." Ron looked over to Dave chuckling then looked back to Samantha,
"no sacrifice, no victory kiddo." The adults laughed and Sam looked across at Samantha who was laughing with the adults,
"old Witwicky motto"
"wait seriously? You have a family saying?"
"Yeah it's been said for generations."
"Wow. That's pretty cool." Sam laughed and they began talking about Australia.
Soon enough Sarah asked Samantha to help her serve to dessert Judy had brought over. She excused herself and followed her mother into the kitchen.
…
"Dinner was so good. They're such an interesting family, they have a family motto!" Samantha babbled as she pulled out a stack of plates and got some dessert spoons together.
Sarah was slicing up the chocolate sponge cake Judy had made. It was triple layered, Sarah admired a person's ability to cook and Judy had great ability.
"I know, our family isn't interesting like that."
"They loved hearing about Australia though, I guess we're interesting like that." The two prepared and served the cake which was almost inhaled by the group. Sarah was sure to compliment Judy at her cooking skills which made the woman blush and smile returning the compliment about the chicken Sarah had laboured over earlier that day.
After dessert the adults had settled in the living room. Samantha and Sam found themselves outside sitting on the grass talking. Sam had his legs out straight, crossed over one another and was leaning back on his hands while Samantha was to his right, facing him. She was lying on her stomach, head in her hands and her elbows propping her up. They could hear laugher come from in the house every so often.
"Samantha?" Sam looked down at the girl
"Thaya, call me Thaya, and yes Sam?" She looked back at him.
"Okay, Thaya. Why are your eyes that colour? I hope I'm not being rude asking, I'm just curious" he looked away after speaking.
"Oh no it's not rude at all. Well, I was born with a mutation in my genes which changed what would be a light blue iris colour to a very, very dark blue. According to the doctor who studied my eyes it's a harmless mutation but he's doesn't know if it'll be passed on if I have kids." Sam was silent for a moment as he thought about what she said,
"cool. First time I saw you I thought you must have been wearing contact lenses." Samantha laughed
"most people think that, it does get annoying when people stare at me. It's like, hello? I can see you. I'm not blind you know." The pair laughed and Sam pulled his legs in towards him crossing them and began pulling at some blades of glass next to his foot.
"Saman- Thaya. I need to get this off my chest, I'm really sorry about what happened the other day. I'm really glad you didn't get hurt badly but I'm still so sorry." Samantha, a little surprised from the sudden change of subject looked up at Sam. He was looking down at the grass avoiding eye contact. She wanted to ask Sam all her questions but now she wasn't sure how to word them since Sam had just apologized. She thought for a moment them worded her reply carefully.
"It's okay Sam, honestly I'm fine. It was pretty scary at the time but as you said I didn't get badly hurt. I just…I need to ask you something about the accident." Sam finally looked up at her, a mixture of relief and apprehension on his face.
"yeah?" Samantha took a breath knowing she was breaking her rule she made earlier that evening.
"Well when I walked away after the accident I could hear you talking to someone. Except no one else was there, not even in the car. I want to know who you were talking to." Sam was silent for a while and she waited patiently for his response,
"Well…I was talking to someone on the phone." Samantha stared at Sam obviously not buying what he'd just said
"I remember what you said. The person you were talking to was going to see someone called Optimus Prime and you wanted to know why they were going without you. But there was no one there Sam! Who were you talking to?" Sam went pale when she mentioned the name. He stood up,
"Look Thaya I'm sorry but I just can't say, okay. I need to go, dinner was lovely and I've had a really nice time hanging out with you but I just need you to forget this subject." Samantha stood up and stood in front of Sam,
"you hit me with your car it's not something I can just forget about Sam, I think you owe it to me to tell me the truth." He sighed and looked down.
"I'm sorry Samantha but I can't" with that he walked around her and walked into the house.
Samantha knew for certain he was hiding something. She could easily tell it was a touchy subject and it was something that Sam was hiding from everyone. She stood outside of a few minutes listening to the guests leave then walked inside and up to the bathroom to wash the makeup off of her face.
While brushing her teeth she looked out the window, she could see into the Witwickys garden. By the light of the moon she saw a figure quickly walking across to the garage. It was Sam. Samantha knew he was up to something. She spat foamy toothpaste into the sink then ran downstairs grabbing her set of keys from the hook next to the door and she snuck out into the night.
…
Sam quietly shut the garage door then walked up to his car and stroked the cool metal,
"Bumblebee are you awake?" the lights flashed on and off then the driver's side door opened. Sam got into the car and relaxed into the seat. Bumblebee was not only Sam's guardian but was also his best friend, Sam went to him when he needed someone, now was one of those times.
"Bee I'm worried. Samantha's just asked me about the accident. She heard me talking to you when she was walking away. She knows that no one else was around at the time and didn't believe me when I told her I was on the phone. I didn't know what to tell her after that so I just told her to leave it. What do I do Bee?" the boy rubbed his face and sunk further into the seat.
"Time to go…somewhere safe….need to talk…face to face."
The engine started and Sam knew Bumblebee also needed to get something off his chest.
…
Samantha had heard the Camaro's engine roar to life when she'd just finished lacing up her roller-blades. The Camaro rolled past her house and she shot out onto street to follow it keeping a safe distance between herself and the car.
She followed the car for 15 minutes and her energy levels were dropping. She'd forgotten to grab a jumper so she was freezing and maintaining a speed to keep up with the car was slowly becoming harder but she pushed on. After another ten gruelling minutes the car turned away from the main roads and down towards some parkland.
She saw the car slow down and drive around into some thicker scrub. She slowed down and stopped next to a tree to take off her skates.
With the laces tied together and the skates slung around her neck she ran bare foot away from the road and into the thicker bushland where she saw the car lights through the bushes. Samantha stopped behind a fallen tree log and peered over to the clearing where she saw Sam pacing around in front of the car and talking to himself.
"Bumblebee, what do I do? She isn't going to leave it, she wants answers that I can't tell her."
Okay is he crazy, she thought.
Then something frightening happened. The car broke apart and began twisting and changing in an organised chaos of sounds and movements. Samantha's breath left her. The car had just turned into a robot. It crouched down and placed a finger on Sam's shoulder. It seemed to be talking to him. Samantha could hear a radio being tuned in and out of different radio stations again, then she realized it was the robot. It was tuning the car radio.
Sam was talking to his car in the garage, his car's the robot! Holy shit! My cute neighbour has a robot car sitting in his garage!
Samantha was breathing heavily and was pressed up against the log, hidden by the shadows. She pinched herself. The robot stood back up and began to pace, it acted human, showing stress and even worry though its posture.
As she watched Samantha felt her leg begin to cramp so she moved to change into a more comfortable crouching position.
Suddenly the robot spun into a defensive stance gently pushing Sam behind him. Lights flooded the shadows Samantha was hidden in and she ducked completely behind the log. The lights moved away from the log and Samantha didn't waste a second. She tore away from the log and ran in the direction she'd come, her shadow came to life as lights hit her and she cried in fear and ran faster knowing it had seen her.
There were thunderous footsteps followed by the revving of an angry car engine which to Samantha's increasing fear was getting closer.
She'd almost made it to the road when the car came up next to her then spun around and was blocking her path and facing her. Blinded by the lights she staggered hearing the noises and seeing the movements of it transforming through her blinded vision. It swung a hand out and tossed her. She screamed before the impact of hitting the ground left her breathless and she struggled for air while trying to get up and run again.
She'd made it ten steps before she felt something hit the back of her legs and she fell backwards. Samantha screamed when she hit the hood of the Camaro, she rolled onto her stomach and tried to climb over the top of the car but its tires span and it flew off. Samantha clung onto the side mirror and the windscreen wipers screaming as she felt her body slide around on the hood of the Camaro as it quickly swerved around trees angrily driving back to where Sam was.
Samantha's knuckles were white and her eyes were shut tight when the car finally skidded to a halt. She couldn't move out of fear, her breathing was ragged and her body was shaking. The engine revved loudly and angrily. Samantha still didn't move.
She heard the noises before she felt the movements. The car was transforming with her still holding onto it! Her eyes finally opened and she let go of the hood when it began bending and changing shape. She tumbled off onto the ground and she whimpered pressing herself into the ground when the giant robot was suddenly looming over her holding a massive yellow and humming cannon only a meter away from her.
This is a dream. It has to be.
A/N: Oh my freaking gosh! The new Transformers movie! Wow oh wow, doors were flying open for my fanfic inspiration, I mean wow. Go watch it. I'm not saying it was brilliant, there were bits I thought could have been better but it has really expanded Transformers, I'm not going to say how as I'll spoil it.
But I do understand why the old human characters weren't set into the new movie, I couldn't picture any of them fitting into the storyline, the whole thing just got bigger than them.
Go watch it!