As the sun slowly began to set over Casper High, a petite goth could be found hobbling and huffing her way to the long row of bleachers in front of the football field.
It was Danny and Tucker's final track meet of the season, and Sam had barely made it in time. She cursed at her twisted ankle, the bane of her existence; a check-up with her orthopedist almost made her miss the event!
The temperature was slowly beginning to drop, and Sam wrapped the thin black cardigan she was wearing tightly over her small frame. She grimaced as she finally reached the bleachers; they were all but full, minus the very last row at the top.
Letting out a sigh, she clutched the handle rail of the bleachers and began her ascent. Since she wasn't exactly unpopular anymore, a few students from her classes and teammates from her soccer team offered to lend a helping hand; but Sam was too stubborn to accept the support. By the time she reached the top row, her ankle was beginning to throb.
Taking a deep breath, she leaned back against the cool metal of her seat and began looking for her friends. She found them in a corner of the field, stretching and taking in some last sips of Gatorade before their portion of the meet officially begun. Her pain temporarily forgotten, she excitedly called out their names. Danny and Tucker both turned from the sound of her voice and waved, with Danny giving her an especially large smile. She suddenly felt warm inside.
Weird…
The sun was almost gone, minus a few strips of golden light being as stubborn as Sam to stay in the sky, and the meet was officially over. Danny had taken second place, with Tucker very close behind. Sam was so proud of them, she could burst!
"Danny! That was like, so impressive!" A shrill voice that irritated her to no end cut off Sam's train of thought and blocked her view. Paulina and her possy of cheerleaders had been sitting in front of her through the meet and were now all standing, blocking Sam's view of her friends.
Sam did her best to keep her emotions together, counting to ten in her head and waiting for the girls to begin their descent down the bleachers. But it almost seemed like they were purposely obstructing her view.
Losing her patience, Sam snapped. "Uh, Paulina? Can you please move?"
She was met with a hot-faced Paulina and suddenly had the entire cheerleading clan looking squarely at her.
"What makes you so special, goth freak? You think you're even worth moving out of the way for?"
An echo of snickers followed Paulina's comments, but Sam didn't waver with her eye contact and stone-like expression. She had learned long ago not to take Paulina's comments to heart, and she was damn proud of that.
What she didn't expect, however, was Paulina's gaze turning to her wrapped up ankle. "You still have this thing?" She laughed, unabashedly amused at Sam's disability. Crouching down and flicking a perfectly manicured finger at the layer of plaster, she sneered. "As if you couldn't get any more embarrassing. I can't believe those guys even want to be around you."
As she let her words of hate linger in the air, Paulina swiftly turned around and led the rest of the girls to the field. She took a moment to brazenly fix her hair and make sure her perky boobs were overflowing from her precariously low-cut top before waving her arms in the air and exclaiming, "Oh, Danny! Boys! You guys did such a good job!"
Sam swore at the girls under her breath, blinking back tears of hurt and anger that she was trying her hardest to deny. She was used to Paulina's bullying, but the pinpointed comments about her ankle were a little more than she could bear in her insecure state. She leaned over and covered her face with her hands, taking a moment to collect herself from all of the negative comments that had viciously come her way.
"Hey, you"
In the midst of her misery, she hadn't noticed the sound of soft footsteps coming up the bleachers. Peaking through her fingers, she saw that a very much shirtless Danny was in front of her. She was glad her hands were still over her face, to cover the annoying blush that was spreading all over it.
Composing herself, Sam brought down her hands and offered a bright smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Danny! Congratulations! That was your best meet yet! Also, uh, where's Tucker?"
Danny smiled down at her before taking a seat next to her. He knew something was off, but he wasn't going to push it. Sam would tell her when she was ready.
Nudging her playfully, he jokingly responded, "Well thanks, Sammy. And I'm afraid we've been abandoned by our dear friend—we just can't compete with a group of cheerleaders."
Sure enough, Tucker could be seen off in the distance, happily swarmed by girls. He looked so overjoyed that Sam almost let out a laugh.
While she was looking for him on the field, the last remaining ray of sunlight had found its way onto Sam's face. Danny suddenly found himself unable to speak. Flickers of gold were resting on Sam's delicate features, dancing with the hues of purple in her eyes and bringing out her natural beauty in a stunning way. He felt momentarily gobsmacked.
Noticing his gaze, Sam freaked out. "Do I have something on my face? I shoved down a really big cookie after the doctor's appointment and haven't checked how I look!"
Transported back to reality, Danny let out a chuckle and tried to mask the moment by playfully flinging an arm around Sam's neck and bringing her closer to him. "Oh really, Sammy? Anything else you need to confess?" he teased.
His comments and actions were met by laughter, as Sam halfheartedly swatted his arm away while he refused to lessen his hold. "Ew, Danny! You're all sweaty!" Her words didn't match her demeanor, as she found herself laughing and truly smiling from the unexpected situation. Their playful banter continued for another minute before Danny finally let go.
"Great, now I smell of track sweat. All thanks to you!" Sam retorted as she stood up and released a big stretch. Her mood partially plummeted as her focus turned to the bleacher stairs, eyeing them warily as she began to think about her descent.
Noticing her expression, Danny gently put an arm around her shoulders and nudged her towards the stairs. "C'mon, Sammy. I can't exactly go ghost in front of all these people right now, so let me help you get to ground level."
Scowling at his nickname for her, Sam reluctantly agreed. The trek up the hard metal had admittedly not been good for her ankle and the point was to recover from her injury, not to prolong it. She decided to be uncharacteristic for a moment and let Danny take care of her.
And that he did. Before she could finish getting the words out, Danny had wrapped his arm around her waist and began guiding her down the stairs as carefully as possible. They were side-by-side, with Danny holding her up just enough so that Sam could still contribute in a small amount. As much as he would have preferred to carry her entirely, he knew that her independent spirit would not allow for that unless absolutely needed.
They had barely passed a few rows when Sam's cardigan and tank top bunched a little higher on her waist, leaving Danny touching her bare skin there. Her breath punctuated from the feeling of his hand directly on her skin, and she was once again highly aware that a very shirtless, defined Danny was touching her.
His skin was still hot from the meet and felt good against hers. When she almost tripped on a step, his grasp on her waist tightened and hitched a few inches up; without meaning to, she shivered.
"Are you cold, Sammy?"
"Yes," she blurted out, refusing to admit to any other cause for the reaction than that. To her dismay and delight, her response resulted in Danny clutching her even closer to him. A blush radiated off of her face and she tucked her head closer to his chest to hide it from him and the world. She was so confused by her emotions.
Fortunately, their escape from the bleachers didn't catch too many wandering eyes. Danny released his grasp on Sam as they reached the ground level, mentioning that he would grab his track bag and be right back. Sam was grateful; she felt lightheaded and could use a moment to pull herself together.
"Sam!"
Tucker seemed to have come out of nowhere, standing in front of her with the proudest smile. Grinning back at him, Sam praised his performance and eventually rolled her eyes from his breakdown of the girls whose numbers he just got. She was saved by Danny, who returned with his track bag and a clean shirt on.
Why'd he have to put a shirt back on?
"So," Tucker's voice cut off the dangerous path her mind was going in. "Ready for some celebratory Nasty Burger?"
