I hadn't seen Sam in three weeks. No one had. He hadn't been to school or work. Even his mom had no clue where he was. She and I had been putting up posters every day. I was terrified. Sam was the love of my life and I didn't even know if he was alive.
Let me back up a minute. Or a decade.
Sam was my next door neighbor my whole life. We grew up together. Our moms were friends, the type that teased we'd get married one day. I always hoped it was true. He was my best friend when we were little. He was my first crush in middle school. He asked me to go with him to every dance at school but didn't make a real move until I was a freshman and he was a sophomore.
It was at the homecoming dance. He was on the football team so the dance was in his honor, at least partially. He could have invited any of the cheerleaders and I half expected he would. He was hot, hot, hot.
But he invited me.
Of course I said yes. I had butterflies in my stomach getting ready. We didn't spend as much time together as we did when we were kids but he still walked me to school every morning. He couldn't walk me home every day because of practice. He played sports in the afternoons for most of the year. He said it was the best way to get a scholarship. I ran track and played softball, so I understood. For me it was just fun, competing and forcing my body to do amazing things.
Anyway, that dance⦠I had butterflies getting ready. I chose a pastel yellow dress that my mom said looked great with my eyes. I liked how my butt looked in it. I hoped Sam did too.
Sam wore a black suit and tie. He wore a yellow button up shirt to match my dress. He looked so good!
My dad drove us to that dance. I think he had tried to intimidate Sam, but Sam wouldn't have it. He just wasn't scared. He was respectful, but not scared. I think even then he knew he would never hurt me.
Our first dance was a slow dance. "I've been wanting to talk to you, Lee-lee." He said seriously, his mouth close to my ear as he held me tight on the dance floor.
"You can talk to me about anything, Sam. What's up?" I pulled away from him a little and looked up at him. He looked nervous. I panicked a little. What could this be about?
"Lee-lee, willyoubemygirlfriend?" He asked hurriedly.
"What? Slow down, Sam." I thought he just asked me to be his girlfriend, but I couldn't be sure.
"Will. You. Be. My. Girlfriend." He slowed way down. I could feel his heartbeat racing in his chest. I wondered if he could feel mine.
"Yes, Sam, yes of course." I said, starry eyed, then pulled him closer into a hug. Then I shook out of it, pulled back and looked up at him again. "This isn't a prank or something is it? Like in those teen movies where the hot jock asks the loser out on a dare?"
"A prank?" he asked, incredulously. "God, no!" He cupped my cheek with one hand then lifted my chin as he leaned down to kiss me.
My eyes closed as his soft mouth met mine. His lips were gently biting mine, pulling them into his. It felt so good. This wasn't a prank. We kissed like that for over a minute, swaying to the song.
Then we heard a teacher yell, "Break it up, you two! Or we'll have to separate you."
We pulled our mouths apart but not our bodies. I heard a few whistles. They might be from his team mates. I didn't care.
I put my head on his shoulder. "Where'd you learn to kiss like that?"
"I asked Paul for some tips." He said, chuckling.
"Oh. Did you two practice together?" I asked, smiling.
"Ha ha. No. He just kind of described it to me." He said with a soft laugh. His hands were on my lower back, brushing the top of my ass. "You're so beautiful, Lee-lee. I've been wanting to do that for so long."
"I've been wanting you to do that too. I've had a crush on you since sixth grade."
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"Why didn't you?"
"I just did." Sam said.
"True. I didn't say anything because I didn't know what would be different. Like, if you didn't feel that way, would it ruin our friendship if I told you? And if you did feel that way, we already walk to school together and go to dances together. So what will be different?"
"A couple things will be different. First, I want to hold your hand when we walk to school."
I'm sure I was blushing when he said that. "Ok. I'd really like that."
He tilted his head so that his cheek was resting on my hair. It felt so intimate. "I'm glad. And I want to spend time with you on the weekends. I always miss you on the weekends."
"You do? So you want to go on a date or something?"
"Sometimes, definitely. Sometimes we could study together or watch TV or play a game or go to the beach. I don't want to have to come up with an excuse to see you every weekend. I want us to plan it so we can both count on it."
"I like that too. We'll have to plan it since both of our schedules are so busy."
"Exactly. And there's one more thing I want from you, Leah Clearwater, my girlfriend."
My whole body tingled when he called me his girlfriend. "What's that?" I whispered, looking up at him again.
"I'm going to want to kiss you. Every day."
"Ok," I squeaked.
I agreed to his terms and had been living by them for two and a half years. Of course we had done a lot more than kiss. We had done everything. But he still held my hand when he walked me to school every day, kissed me often, way more than once a day, and we always made plans for the weekend. Those were the cornerstones of our relationship. At least they were until three weeks ago when Sam disappeared.
o.~*~.o
AN: This is the intro for this story. When I am finished writing the whole thing, I will post more chapters. Follow if you want to be notified for that.
