by Amanda Morey
“Shhh . . . shhh . . . everything’s fine, everything’ll be okay.” He said softly.
Then, with Sam still in his arms, he laid back on the pillow she’d put next to her bed, pulling the blue sheet partially over them.
Sam, with the sound of Jason’s voice, and the feel of him stroking her hair, cried herself to sleep in his arms.
***
John knocked on Sam’s bedroom door the next morning. There was no answer. He knocked again. Nothing. He knocked one more time. Still no answer.
“Sam?” He opened the door slowly. “Sam?”
He looked at her bed, saw the sheets pulled down, but no Sam. Then he looked to the floor next to her bed.
Both Jason and Sam were lying there, with her blue sheet partially covering them.
Sam had her head and her left hand on his chest. Jason had one arm wrapped around her waist and one on the back of her head, over her blonde hair.
Damn it. John thought to himself. Did they-? He shook his head. If they did Craig’ll go ballistic.
“Sam?!”
Sam opened her eyes, looked up at Jason, who had begun opening his eyes; they looked at John and sat up. They sprung away from each other.
“John.” Sam said, but she stopped there. By the expression on John’s face, she knew he thought that she and Jason had slept together. Now she was lost for words.
“Sam-” John began, choosing his words carefully. “What’s Jason doing in your room?”
“Nothing.” Sam and Jason said in unison.
“Nothing. Really?” John asked.
“Well, no, not nothing . . . something.” Sam said. “But not the something you’re thinking of.” She added hastily.
“Yeah.” Jason said. “Nothing like that happened.”
“Uh-huh.” John said slowly.
“John.” Sam said, getting up and sitting on the edge of her bed.
“What?”
“You do believe me, right? Nothing happened.”
“I don’t know.” He glanced at Jason.
“John!” Sam threw her hands up in the air and let them fall to the bed.
“John-” Jason began, sitting on the bed, far away from Sam. “We’re telling the truth. Nothing like that happened.”
John pulled up Sam’s desk chair and sat in front of Sam and Jason. “Then what did happen?”
“Um, well, Jason was sleeping on a bench in the park outside.”
“So Sam came over to me and told me it was too cold outside and to come sleep at your house.”
“But it was still really cold in the living room, so I told him he could sleep in my room.”
“She would’ve asked you, or Craig, or Matt to let me sleep in one of your rooms, but you guys were already asleep.”
“Yeah, so I put some blankets and pillows on the floor next to my bed, so he could sleep there. Jason actually thought Craig would get mad, but I told him it was fine. So, don’t get mad at Jason.”
John looked from Sam to Jason. Both of their eyes were wide in something close to terror. Although, Jason looked much more terrified than Sam.
“So . . . why were you two . . . on the floor . . . together?” John asked, trying not to think about how weird that question sounded.
Sam’s face transformed. She bowed her head and her eyes fell to her lap. Jason glanced at her.
“I heard Sam moving in her sleep and when she woke up, I, noticed she was crying.” He said.
He glanced at Sam, who refused to meet his or John’s gaze.
“She had a nightmare.” Jason continued. “About your parents and her biological parents.”
“So, she sat next to me on the floor to tell me about her nightmare. And she got really upset and started crying again. I guess we must have fallen asleep.” Jason didn’t mention the part about his father.
“Which nightmare was it?” John asked.
Sam looked up reluctantly. “The same one.” She shrugged.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were still having that nightmare?”
“It’s not a big deal.”
John smiled a little. “You are the most stubborn person I’ve ever met.”
She rolled her eyes.
“So nothing happened?” He asked.
“Nothing happened.” Sam said again.
John looked from Jason to Sam, and then half-smiled, got up, kissed the top of Sam’s head and walked out of her bedroom. Blatantly leaving the door open behind him.
Sam got up to go help make breakfast. Jason followed her, but before they got into the living room, he gently grabbed her wrist and said “Sam, are you sure you’re okay?”
“Jason, I’m fine.”
He didn’t look very convinced.
She smiled. “Really, I am.”
“Oh, and-” she stood on the tips of her toes and kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks.”
***
***
They walked into the house at the end of Sam’s street. The country music was blasting.
“Do you see him?” Sam asked Jason. She had to nearly yell to make her voice heard.
They were looking for Chris. Shawn told them that he ran into Chris on the way to their house and he had told him about this party. Shawn was drunk on Sam’s couch when she and Jason came home from the movies (they liked to see movies when they could). His dad kicked him out again so of course he went straight to Sam’s house and then straight to their fridge to get the beer. He had heard Chris talking about that party and knew he would just get himself into trouble. He asked Sam and Jason to go look for him. They only went looking for him to keep him from getting arrested again.
“No. Wait, yeah, he’s over there. Sam, wait!” She had already started walking toward Chris.
“Sam!” Jason had just caught up to her.
“Sorry.” She said. Jason grabbed her hand to keep them together.
“Geez, how many people are here?” Sam asked as they wove their way through the crowd, most of which were drunk. Sam could feel her cheeks turning red, Jason’s hand felt warm on hers. She didn’t want him to let go. But as soon as that thought ran through her head his hand slipped from hers.
Someone had just wrapped their arm around her waist and pulled her toward them.
“Heeey.” A tall, skinny, messy brown haired, green eyed guy was standing in front of her, keeping a tight hold on her waist. Sam coughed and felt like she was going to throw up. His breath smelled so heavily of alcohol. He took a sip from the bottle of beer he was holding.
“Hey, baby.” He said.
“Get away from me.” She tried to break away, but he wrapped his other arm around her waist.
“What’s wrong?” He asked.
Damn it. Sam thought to herself. Where’s Jason?
“Don’t you wanna kiss?” He said, trying to pull her closer.
“No! Damn it! Let go of me!” She struggled to break free of his grasp.
Just as he was about to kiss her, Sam felt a different pair of hands on her waist, pulling her away from him. The next thing she saw was Jason, with his arms wrapped tightly around her waist.
“She’s with me.” He said, and they turned around to go find Chris.
“Yeah, I don’t think so.” They heard the messy brown haired guy say. He put a hand on Sam’s shoulder; Jason pushed it away. “Hey, lay off!”
He didn’t lay off. He tried to pull Sam back toward him. Finally, Jason turned around and punched him in the face. There was a sickening cracking sound and blood gushed from the drunken guy’s nose all over his shirt.
“You broke my nose!” He yelled, his speech garbled by his broken nose and the blood dripping down into his mouth.
“Come on.” Jason said, grabbing Sam’s hand once again and turning towards Chris, who was on the other side of the room.
Sam was blushing again. If they weren’t trying to get Chris back to her house she would’ve made them stop in their tracks, turned Jason around and kissed him full on the lips.
“
Chris!” Sam said, grabbing his arm.
“Hey, Sam! Jason! What are you two kids doin’ here?”
“Chris, come on, we’re going to go back to my house, okay?” She said.
“Nope, sorry, blondie.” He said smiling.
“Chris, come on man, please.” Jason said, looking around the room and at the guys eyeing Sam.
“No way.”
Jason grabbed Chris’s arm and dragged him into an empty hallway.
“Listen, you’re coming with us whether you like it or not.”
Chris looked at Jason, his eyebrows raised high. Jason never talked back to anybody like that. Then he laughed.
“Chris, come on, please just come with us.” Sam said, glancing behind her.
“No.” He said, clutching his bottle of beer like a baby clutches their bottle.
“Chris, I’m sure there’s beer at my house. If all you want is beer isn’t it better to get drunk at my house, so we can keep you from doing something stupid and getting yourself arrested?”
He just laughed again. Sam didn’t actually want Chris to get drunk; she hated seeing people drunk. It brought back memories of her biological parents. But it was the only way she could think of to get him to go with them.
Jason kept trying to get Chris to come with them, but nothing was working. Sam was getting tired of this, and she had a terrible headache and was starting to feel dizzy. She turned around and saw a door a few feet away. She could hardly move. She was losing her balance. But she walked over to it, opened the door slowly, saw no one was there and went inside, closing the door softly behind her. She sat down on the bed and then lay back holding her head in her hands.
Meanwhile, Jason was still trying to get Chris to go with them. Chris finally just walked away.
Jason turned and noticed that Sam was gone. He first looked back in the room where everyone was but Sam wasn’t there so he checked the rooms in the hallway.
Sam heard the door creak open and her shoulders tensed.
“Sam?” He said. She relaxed and smiled when she heard Jason’s voice.
“Hey.” She said sitting up slowly.
“You scared me.” He said sitting down on the bed next to her. “I turned around and you were gone.”
“Sorry.” She said.
“What’s wrong?” He pushed a strand of hair out of her face.
“Nothing.”
“Liar.” He said smiling. She smiled back.
“I don’t know. It’s just I’m so tired of having to do this. I’m sick of helping people who don’t want to help themselves.”
“I think Chris does want to help himself, he just . . . doesn’t know how.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m just . . . frustrated I guess. I mean, I really care about Chris; he’s been like a brother to me ever since I was adopted. So has Shawn.” She lay back down on the bed.
Jason noticed that he wasn’t included in that statement, and he wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. He lay down next to her.
Sam realized she didn’t say Jason was like a brother. But how could she? He wasn’t like a brother. He was . . . he was . . . what was he? All the guys said he’d liked her for years. And when she thought about it there were always little signs. Holding her hand, gently pushing a strand of hair out of her face, the way he looked at her sometimes. Then, of course, there was her seventeenth birthday where they almost kissed. Sam definitely liked him, and she was pretty sure that he liked her, but he never did anything about it. Except for when they almost kissed.
“What am I?’ He asked.
“What?” Sam nearly squeaked out.
“Well, Craig, John and Matt are you brothers. You’re not blood-related, but technically they are your brothers. Shawn and Chris are like brothers to you. So what am I?”
Sam sat up a little too quickly. The room spun for a second. She rubbed her temples and took a deep breath.
“I don’t know.” She said with her eyes still closed. Slowly she opened them and Jason noticed that today they were green.
Jason sat up as well. “You don’t know?” He laid his hand on top of hers. As soon as his hand touched hers, she felt the same way she felt the day of her seventeenth birthday. The day that they almost kissed. She didn’t know why, it’s not as if he’d never touched her hand before. But this was different somehow.
“Why not?” He asked.
“I don’t know.” She said again.
“Why don’t you know?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why do you keep saying ‘I don’t know’?” He smiled.
She smiled a little too. “I don’t know.”
“Why aren’t you looking at me?” He asked, putting a hand under her chin and gently turning her face towards his.
She looked directly into his dark brown eyes, slowly answering his question, and they leaned closer with every word. “I . . . don’t . . . know.”
Their lips met for the first time. Finally. They thought it would never happen.
Jason wrapped one arm around Sam’s waist, pulling her closer to him, and ran his fingers through her bleach blonde hair. Sam’s kiss tasted warm and sweet and Jason couldn’t believe he’d waited this long to find out.
Jason’s kiss was warm and it felt so perfect being in his arms. Sam was disappointed it had taken this long for them to end up together, but happier than she’d ever been in her life that it had finally happened.
They pulled away from each other. Not a word was said; they just stared into each other’s eyes and smiled. Jason leaned forward and gave her a quick kiss. Sam leaned toward Jason and did the same. They then leaned toward each other and started kissing again. They didn’t notice the door creak open.
“Oh.” They noticed the voice and broke apart. “Sorry.”
“Uh, it’s okay.” Sam said, blushing for the third time that night.
“What is it?” Jason asked.
“That guy you were trying to get out of here. What’s his name, Chris?”
Jason nodded.
“He just passed out.”
Sam rolled her eyes. “Thanks.” The guy nodded and left.
“I guess we have to go get him.” Jason said.
“Are you kidding? We can’t carry him.” Chris was a big guy. Not heavy set but large. He was about six foot two and at least two hundred pounds.
“We’ll have to call someone. How about Craig?”
“Yeah, he could carry him.”
“Come on. The sooner we call Craig the sooner you can go home.”
She smiled, stood up and swayed on the spot. Jason steadied her.
“Go home and take some aspirin.” She murmured.
Jason smiled, wrapped his arm around her waist and they walked back to where the party was.
Jason grabbed the phone and dialed Sam’s home number.
“Craig?” He said before Craig could say anything.
“Jason?” Craig asked.
“Yeah, it’s Jason.”
“Where’s Sam?” He talked over Jason.
“She’s with me.”
“Where are you?” Craig’s voice had a stern edge to it.
“We’re at a party. Well, sort of. We came to get Chris. He just passed out. Could you come pick us up?”
“Yeah, sure. Where are you?” He sighed.
Sam didn’t hear the rest of the conversation. Her headache had turned into a horrible migraine. All the voices and music from the party were blending together. She could hardly hold herself up.
“Sam? Sam?” It was Jason’s voice.
“What?”
“Are you okay?”
She shook her head and regretted it immediately. “No.” She said. She stumbled backwards away from him.
Someone was coming up to them. It was another guy. He was drunk, but nowhere near as drunk as the last one.
“Hey.” He said, eyeing Sam.
She couldn’t manage anything except a small smile.
“Do you wanna dance?” He took a swig of b
eer.
She slowly shook her head.
“Why not?” He made a pouting face.
Jason answered for her. “She’s here with someone.”
“Who?” The guy scoffed.
“Me.”
“What are you her boyfriend?”
“Yes.” Jason said. Sam glanced up at him, wanting to say something, but staying silent because: one—she could hardly talk right now and, two—even if she could she didn’t know what she’d say.
“Prove it.” The guy said.
“Excuse me?” Jason said.
“From the way she backed away from you I’d never guess she was your girlfriend.”
“Are you kidding me, man?” Jason said, his eyebrow arched in disbelief.
“No.”
“Fine.” He rolled his eyes. “How do you want me to prove it?”
“If you kiss her and she doesn’t smack you then I’ll believe you.”
Annoying drunk, Sam thought.
Jason laughed softly and shook his head. “Fine.” He turned to Sam, leaned toward her and their lips met again. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he wrapped one arm around her waist and with his other hand he stroked her soft blonde hair.
He pulled away, smiled and turned to the other guy. “Happy?” He asked.
The guy shrugged and walked away.
“Craig’s here.” Jason said, and he and Sam walked over to him.
“Hey.” He said. “Where’s Chris?”
“On the couch.” Jason pointed over his shoulder.
“Sam?” Craig said. “Are you alright?”
“No. She has a really bad migraine.” Jason answered.
As soon as the words came out of his mouth Sam lost her balance and fell to the floor on her knees.
“Sam!” Jason and Craig yelled together. They got down on the floor next to her. She was on her hands and knees now. She felt nauseated.
“Sam?” Jason rubbed her back. She tried to get up and when she couldn’t fell back down on the floor. Jason sat down next to her.
“Can you walk?” He asked.
She shook her head; she was too dizzy. Sam hated having migraines. The pain was bad enough, but she prided herself as being independent and her migraines prevented her from always being that way.
“Alright.” Craig said getting up. “You get Sam, I’ll get Chris.”