AN: A lot of back and forth in this one. A lot of Sam and Andy. Anyway, let me know your thoughts...
Sam stayed behind in Boyko's class so that he could answer any last minute questions about the paper due on Wednesday. No one was stopping to ask questions and he was sure that a few of them would regret it when they got their grades back. It wasn't a difficult paper, but Boyko wasn't the easiest grader. In fact, he was one of the tougher graders Sam had in his undergraduate career. As he sat at his desk, watching people walk past him or pack up, he remembered the weight of Andy's hand on his shoulder when she walked out of the classroom with her friends. He remembered the flirty smile she threw at him when she entered the classroom in the nick of time.
She had bid farewell to her friends before she turned toward the bathroom to change and Sam was going to stay in class just long enough to make sure they'd have to walk to the dining hall together. Because, why the hell not? And when Andy peeked her head in on her way to the stairwell, she caught his attention with a clearing of her throat. When he looked up at her, he smiled back before looking at the last two students in the back of the room. He was pretty sure they were waiting for him to leave so they could make out in the back of the class without an audience. He accidently walked in on the exact scene when he left his backpack behind the week before.
"Hey," Sam said when he joined her in the hallway.
"Hello," Andy said softly. "How was brunch on Saturday?"
"Oh, you know," he shrugged. "Brunch-y…"
"Brunch-y?" She laughed, throwing her head back. "How do you feel about lunchy?" She teased and he rolled his eyes. "I am starving."
"Let's go," he nodded. She shook her head, amused, and walked out in front of him. Sam watched her shoulders bounce under her baseball-t as she walked down the steps, he could see the definition of her calves through her skinny jeans, and he wondered what the hell he was getting himself into with everyone of his own steps.
Andy was already outside, holding open the door, when he got to the bottom of the stairs and he hurried to meet up with her. She was especially smiley and he couldn't stop himself from smiling back at her. "So, do you have any questions about your paper?" He asked when they started walking across the lawn toward the dining hall.
"Hey, you don't have to be my TA right now, you know. We can be friends who are just walking to lunch," she reminded him and he laughed. "But no, I don't. Thank you."
"Friends," he tried the word out on his tongue and she was watching him with an amused look on her face.
"Of course we're friends," she shrugged. "Friends who are five years apart and just happen to have an abundance of chemistry."
"I thought the age thing didn't bother you," he said, ignoring the topic of their chemistry. She was right, it was there and there was a lot of it. Talking about it would just make him want to kiss her again. Which he already did, so he didn't need to be reminded of how badly.
"I just don't understand how it doesn't bother you," she said quietly and he stopped her with a hand on her wrist. It took a little while for her eyes to find his, but when they did he could see the uncertainty in them.
"Why would it?" He asked, letting go of her. She rolled her eyes with a certain exaggeration that made him laugh quietly to himself and take a small step toward her. "Hey, it's not like we're getting married, Andy. We've made out, we're… friends," he smiled and she bit back her own smile. "At least, we are according to you."
"You don't want to be my friend?" She asked, taking her own step closer.
Andy didn't care that they were standing in the middle of the lawn that sat between three different academic buildings and the cafeteria. She didn't care that there were people all around them. All she'd thought about in class was kissing him again. It was bad enough when he was nowhere near her, but sitting next to him for 50 minutes made her itch.
"I don't… not want to be your friend," he said after a long minute of staring at her lips—something that made her feel awfully good about herself.
"Now you're just talking in circles, Sam," she teased him and he slowly raked his amused eyes up her face from her lips.
"McNally," he said, his voice rough and quiet. "Do you ever stop talking?"
"Only when somebody makes me," she challenged. He nodded quickly, like he was really considering his options, and put his hand at the base of her neck to pull her in for a kiss.
Andy didn't hesitate to kiss him back or to run her arms around his waist and beneath his backpack. Making out with backpacks was not an easy feat, but she was determined to make it work. She'd known he was going to kiss her, it's not like she wasn't angling for him to do so, but she was a little shocked at how much want there was behind his kiss. He wasn't being gentle with her, which she didn't mind one bit, and he seemed to forget that they were out in public as his hand ran the side of her body and slid into the back pocket of her jeans. She moaned against his mouth before pushing him away lightly.
"Sam," she breathed keeping a slight grip on his shoulders.
"I don't know what that was," he admitted quietly, letting his hands fall from her body.
"Hey, I'm not complaining," she laughed, looking around to see that no one seemed to mind their little public display. Sam looked off to the side, like he was embarrassed, and she took one of her hands off his shoulder to guide his head up so he'd look at her again. "You just have really bad timing," she teased. "You always kiss me in public, in the middle of the day."
"Right," he laughed, fingering the thin hem of her shirt.
"I really am starving, though, so do you want to actually get lunch and actually eat it without any distractions?" She asked as she finally let go of him. He took the hint and put his hand on her back to walk to the dining hall together.
"By the way," he said, spreading his hand as wide as he could on her lower back, while they were walking in the building together. "You're a constant distraction."
"Oh, good," she said thoughtfully. "I'm glad I'm not the only one."
She looked up at him and he was trying—and failing—to keep his smile in check. She could see his tongue in his cheek and the squint of his eyes. She had to stop him and kiss his cheek. The smile erupted and she smiled triumphantly.
"Since we're headed in the same direction from here, would you mind walking me to class?" She asked and she felt like she was back in high school asking her ex-boyfriend, Tanner, to walk her to class. She almost rolled her eyes at herself.
"Yeah," he nodded slowly. "I know where you sit, I'll, uh, meet you there after I eat with Oliver."
"Perfect," she nodded. "Enjoy your lunch."
Sam sat down with Oliver, who only had a few minutes to spare after Jerry had already left, but, for some reason, he wasn't in much of a hurry. "I heard an interesting rumor about two minutes ago," he told Sam, who nodded as he put his sandwich to his mouth. "Interested?"
"Sure," Sam shrugged when he swallowed down his first bite. Sam didn't care for rumors or gossip, but Oliver always got a kick out of it.
"I heard there was a TA making out with a freshman in the middle of the quad," he said now, leaning onto his crossed arms on top of the table.
"Huh," Sam said, annoyed now. He especially didn't like rumors and gossip when they were about them.
"Yeah, apparently it just happened and some girl who just got out of her CJ 101 class saw it when she was walking in here," Oliver continued and Sam let out a slow, deep breath. "She described it as very… graphic."
"Oh my god," Sam said, pushing his food away. "It was hardly graphic. And who I kiss in the quad is no one's damn business."
"I never said it was you," Oliver laughed and Sam rolled his eyes. "It is interesting that you dated Monica for a year and I never even saw you touch her."
"Well, that's probably not true," Sam told him. "And Andy isn't Monica. And I'm not the same person I was junior year."
"So, you're saying you like her more than you liked Monica?"
"I dated Monica for a year, I've known Andy for two weeks," Sam argued.
"You do, I can see it," Oliver enlightened him and Sam sighed, turning his head to look at Andy and her friends. "Right now! I can see it right now."
"It's different," Sam admitted, scratching the back of his head. "She's different. I don't know why."
Oliver smiled, clapped Sam on the shoulder, and stood up from the table. "Don't hurt her," he warned. "She's young."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Sam snarled, pulling his plate toward him again.
"I'm just saying that I like her and I don't want to see her get swallowed up by her feelings for you," Oliver continued. "This is a whole new ballgame for her, Sammy. Maybe you should take it slow. For the both of you."
"Yeah," Sam nodded and Oliver finally left him alone.
He was wrong, Sam had it under control. And he wasn't worried about Andy. She was an adult. Just because she was a little bit younger than him didn't mean he was going to go and break her heart. He'd known her two weeks and all that had happened between them was a couple of make out sessions. He had no doubt in his mind that Andy had dealt with her fair share of guys. In the little amount of time that he'd spent with her, he'd seen at least three out of every five guys stop and watch her. Therefore, it wasn't her first time in the ring and he had no problem believing that she could take care of herself.
He looked back at her table again to find her laughing at something one of her friends said. She was laughing so hard that he could see a couple of tears and he smiled to himself. She would be fine. He would be fine. If things went any further, they would be fine.
Andy didn't wait for Sam to join her; instead she sat down with him. "You and Oliver looked like you just had an intense conversation," she said as soon as she sat down. He looked up at her, surprised to even see her, and she continued before he could say anything. "And I can't help but think that it was about me. I only say that because Gail and I had an intense conversation and it was definitely about you."
She watched as he digested that information. He looked back at the table where her friends were, the girls were both pretending not to be watching them and Andy rolled her eyes. "Sam," she said and he finally looked back at her.
"It was," he admitted.
"About us going too fast? About us making out on the quad?" She asked even though she knew the answer.
"Yeah," he nodded. "How did you know that?"
"Gail saw us, she told Oliver," she explained. "They think I'm going to get hurt."
"News sure does travel fast around here," he laughed humorlessly.
Andy didn't necessarily think Sam would hurt her, but only because the two of them barely knew each other. She thought that was more the point to their friends' concerns. And she was starting to understand them. She didn't know him; hell, she'd only met him two weeks ago.
"They might be right," Andy said and she immediately saw the hurt on Sam's face. "No, sorry. They're not right about you hurting me, or, at least, I don't think they are. I think they're more worried about us not knowing each other. They're right about that."
"That's true," he admitted. "I mean, we don't."
"No," she laughed. "We don't. And you were right outside, we're not getting married. Obviously. But if this goes any further, which I want it to, maybe we should be friends first."
"I thought we were already friends," he smirked and she laughed again. "I know what you mean. That's fine because this will go further."
"You're awfully sure of yourself," she joked and he shrugged. Andy looked at him, knowing he was probably right—wishing he was right—and she knew she liked him. She knew she didn't want to take it any slower. She also knew, though, that they should. "I've never kissed someone I didn't know my entire life," she admitted. "Well, now I have, I guess."
"Wait, seriously?" Sam asked, laughing and she glared at him until he stopped.
"I may be from the city, but I went to school with the same people my entire life. My ex-boyfriends have all been people I met in, like, first grade. Isn't college supposed to be my slutty phase?"
"I mean, we don't have to call it that," Sam laughed and she smiled graciously. "Do guys have slutty phases?" He asked and she shrugged. "Well, if they do, mine was definitely in high school and it may have spilled over into freshman year here. But, I haven't dated in a while. A long while."
"Why?" Andy was sure there were plenty of women that would have loved to date, kiss, and sleep with Sam Swarek. The dimples alone made her palms sweat.
"I'm not great at it," he admitted. "So, while I figure that out and we get to know each other a little better, we'll be friends."
"But if we make out again, I wouldn't be terribly disappointed in either of us."
"No," he said quickly. "We should definitely keep that on the table, you know, just in case?"