“What are you talking about, Sam? You and Kristy have been seeing each other for almost the entire school year. And you've been through so much together. Anybody can see how the two of you feel about each other. She was a wreck when your parents were keeping her away from you after the accident and she thought that you wouldn't ever speak to her again. And since then you guys have been so happy together. I don't see how anyone could think it's moving too fast. You guys are so good together.”
“But what if she does think it's moving too fast?”
Brad shrugged.
“Than just respect her wishes and move on. It's not like she's gonna want to stop seeing you or anything. Tell her you don't want to go the whole summer without seeing her and you thought a two week trip would be really nice. If she'd freaked out by it, then just go with someone else. Not another girl. I don't know, take your mom or cousin or something. If that happens, you'll see Kristy again in September and everything will go back to being the same.”
“I hope so,” Sam said. “I mean I am really excited about showing her the tickets and seeing her reaction, and part of me is sure that she's gonna say yes. But then I have this doubtful side of me that's worried maybe I'm going to freak her out and our relationship will be too damaged to recover.”
Brad shook his head.
“I don't think that's gonna happen, man. At the same time though, I guess it is a possibility. But I don't think you can live your life worrying about stuff like that. You just gotta be honest with this girl and tell her where your head is at. If she can't handle how you feel, then that's life, and it sucks but you can't always be worrying about how other people are gonna take you.”
Sam nodded.
“You're right, Brad. This is why we've been best friends for so long. You always have the best advice.”
“So you are gonna go through with it, then?” Brad asked. “You're gonna ask her to go with you?”
“I didn't spend all year fixing toilets and saving money to not ask her!”
“That's right dude!” Brad cried. “All right then, let's get a move on!”
Brad handed the tickets back to Sam and jumped to his feet.
“What are you doing?” Sam asked.
“We've got at least another mile to run,” Brad quipped. “You gotta look hot if you want Kristy to say yes to you!”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“I am so relieved to be done!” Kristy exclaimed.
She dropped her pile of books and notebooks down onto the table and collapsed into the kitchen chair.
“Agreed!” Sam laughed.
He dropped his own pile of books onto the table, and his papers fluttered and scattered, his books intermixing with Kristy's. He threw his body into the chair beside Kristy's.
“Hey!” Kristy giggled. “I can do that! You can't. You're gonna break my chair with your muscle-man body!”
“Hey!” Sam cried.
Kristy giggled and placed a hand over her mouth.
“Your last final went okay?” Sam asked.
Kristy nodded.
“Yeah, it was my “History of the Constitution” class. I think that I did really well. I enjoyed the class a lot more than I thought I was going to. I feel like high school made History so boring, but a lot of it was actually really cool. Especially everything about the Federalist Papers and trying to get different states to ratify.”
“I don't know about any of that,” Sam said. “I haven't had to take that class yet.”
“Is it a requirement for your degree, too?” Kristy asked.
Sam nodded.
“Yeah. I think it's one of those classes that everybody has to take. I think it's either that or that class on the Revolutionary War.”
“Oh yeah,” Kristy said. “I remember, I did have that choice. I kind of feel like my tenth grade history class beat the Revolutionary War to death, but I didn't know that much about the Constitution, except for the first few amendments. I thought it would be more interesting to learn about a new topic.”
“So, you think you passed?”
“Oh, I definitely did,” Kristy said. “I studied really hard, so I don't think that I failed any of my tests. The only one that I'm a little worried about is my Algebra final. I'm sure I passed it, but I'm hoping that I got higher than a C. I did okay with the regular equations, but you know how fractions confuse me. Probably like a third of the test was equations with fractions and I got so confused. I did all the work by hand on scrap paper, but there were a bunch that I got stuck on for awhile. I was the last person to finish.”
“That's okay,” Sam said. “You took the time that you needed. I bet you did great. You were working really hard.”
“Hope so!” Kristy said. “What about you? You're finished with all of your finals now too, right?”
“Yeah, I finished last week with the tests.”
“Oh, I thought that you still had your Art History final?”
“Nah,” Sam said. “That professor didn't do an actual test. I just had to turn in that paper that you were helping me with, and I had to do a PowerPoint presentation that I've been working on in class all semester.”
“You must be so happy to be done,” Kristy said. “It must have been so overwhelming doubling up your course load to stay on schedule to graduate.”
Sam raised his eyebrows and nodded.
“You could say that again,” he laughed. “I'm glad that I decided not to take any summer classes. I could really use the break.”
“You deserve it,” Kristy said. “Take a break and relax. This year has been something else!”
“It hasn't been all bad though,” Sam said, seriously.
His eyes locked on to Kristy's and his expression softened.
“I mean, I didn't get to meet you, after all,” Sam said. “That's probably one of the best things that's ever happened to me.”
Kristy's eyes widened and her lips parted.
“Really?” she whispered. “Meeting me has really been that important to you.”
“Of course,” Sam said. “I mean...don't you feel the same way?”
Kristy felt a heat searing across her cheeks and fuming up the back of her neck.
“I do! I just.....I'm sorry..”
“No, what is it?” Sam asked.
A crinkle began to crease the space between his brows.
“I do feel that way,” Kristy said. “You are so, just so absolutely important to me, but I've been trying to...I don't know...like play it cool so that I didn't scare you off or get too serious too quickly. Especially after everything with your accident and your parents. I thought that maybe I was too dramatic running to your house and crying and telling you how much you mean to me...”
“Kristy that was so long ago. You can't possibly think that I was bothered by that and still stuck around this long?”
“I don't know,” Kristy said. “I guess I just wanted to be a little more chill after all that. I just didn't want to come at you with all of my feelings too quickly, especially if you didn't feel the same way yet.”
“Well, let's just talk it out,” Sam suggested. “How do you feel? If you can open up to me, I'll open up to you. I'll be honest I was having a lot of the same thought. Just wondering if it might be too soon to tell you just how much I've started caring about you.”
“I'm so glad to hear you say all that,” Kristy said. “Okay, I'm just gonna lay it all out there. You promise this isn't gonna send you running out the door screaming?”
Sam chuckled.
“No, Kristy. Never. Even if we're on different pages, we'll work it out together.”
“It's so nice to be with someone so mature and pragmatic,” Kristy said. “All right, let me just get it all out there then.”
Kristy closed her eyes and took a deep breath, balling her hands into loose fists in her lap and then raising them slightly to shake them out.
“Sam,” she said. “I know that we've said the words 'I love you' to each other a few times now, but
what I want to tell you is that I really mean that. I really am in love with you and I've never had this feeling towards anyone. I feel like you just align with me so perfectly. I have fun with you and I feel so comfortable with you. More than anything, I feel so incredibly happy with you. I feel so light and easy around you, like everything in the world can be sorted out and there's just so much hope for everything. And here's the part that I worry might scare you...I don't think that I want to be with anyone else. Ever again. You're the man for me and I could see myself with you for a long, long time.”
Kristy searched Sam's face for the anxiety or disgust that she feared would be there, but there wasn't any. His face exuded only joy and warmth.
“I feel the same way, Kristy,” Sam said. “I don't want to get too ahead of myself and I know that we've only being seeing each other a little less than a year, but I don't think that I want to ever date anyone else. At least, I can't imagine doing that. I think that if I ever did end up dating someone else, I would always be comparing her to you and looking for your qualities in her. If we don't stay together, I think that you would end up becoming the standard that other women would have to meet. Obviously that isn't fair to anyone else....so I think I'd like us to become a bit more serious and start looking at this thing we have as something that could be long-term..”
“I'm so happy to hear you say that, Sam! I was actually dying to tell you how much I'm going to miss you over the summer. I was worried that might sound too needy, but I also couldn't leave for the summer without saying it. It's going to be absolute torture to be away from you so long.”
“I'm really glad you brought this up,” Sam said. “There's something that I want to ask you. It's the reason why I wanted to walk you home from campus today. I've been trying to work up the courage to ask you the entire way here.”
“What is it?” Kristy asked. “What have you been so afraid to ask me?”
“So, I know that you want to go home for the summer and spend time with your family, and it's not like we need to spend the entire summer together or anything. But I was hoping that maybe we could get together towards the middle of the summer? Then we won't go such a long stretch of time without seeing each other.”
“I love that idea!” Kristy said.
“Great!” Sam said. “Then I hope you're going to like the gift that I got you.”
“You got me something?”
Sam grinned and pulled the tickets out of wallet, laying them on the table in front of Kristy.
Kristy's jaw dropped.
“Sam! You got us cruise tickets? Two weeks? That must have cost you a fortune!”
“No, it wasn't that much,” Sam said. “I saved up money from my job and I waited for the cruise line to have a sale. You don't think a cruise is lame, do you?”
“Not at all! Two weeks on a big fancy boat and going to Mexico! This is going to be so much fun, and I'll get to spend part of my summer with you!”
Sam leaned over and Kristy returned his kiss. He stroked her hair softly, as she pressed her lips against his. When they parted, Kristy's smile was buoyant.
“I'm gonna need some new bathing suits! I can't wait for you to see me in a bikini!”
She gave Sam a mischievous wink.
“I can't wait to see that,” he said.
They came together and kissed once again.
“I can't wait to see you become an even more important part of my life.”
Kristy looked up into his eyes and returned his smile.
“I can't wait to see what we become.”
Chapter Thirty
Sam stuffed his bathing suits and shorts into his suitcase. It had been over a month since he'd seen Kristy and today was the day that they would leave for their trip together. They had kept in touch via email and three or four times a week they spoke on the phone. Kristy told Sam about all of the books that she was reading and how she was spending her free time working part-time as a lifeguard down at her parents' country club. She liked the kids, but she was sick of the creepy dads undressing her with their eyes. Sam had felt a pang of anger and jealousy when she'd told him this, but he'd quickly brushed it aside. Kristy didn't have any control over whether or not guys looked at her, and she was a gorgeous woman. It was bound to happen. So, he'd just listened and agreed that those guys were creeps.
Sam had kept Kristy up to date on how he was spending his summer. He was staying with his parents and things were as tense as ever. He had tried to talk to them about what had happened with Kristy. He had moved past anger, and was now really just trying to understand what had happened. But his parents became irritated and changed the subject each of the times he broached the topic. In the end, they settled into an awkward sort of avoidance. Sam tried to stay out his parents' way, and they rarely spoke to him.
Kristy had listened with compassion when Sam told her these things.
“It's going to work out,” Kristy said. “And if it doesn't, you can feel good knowing that you've done everything right. You're trying to connect with them. You want to understand them. What else can you do?”
Sam knew that Kristy was right. His parents didn't see the world in the same way that he did and still they wanted him around. Through all of the conflict and disagreements, Sam knew that his parents loved him, and he loved them.
Still, it was going to be wonderful to have a couple of weeks away from them. The cruise would be leaving in just a few hours, and he was going to be meeting Kristy down at the docks soon. He had managed to book a cruise that would be leaving right from the New York City harbor. It had been tricky. Most cruises left from Texas or Florida. But Sam had never been on a plane before and he didn't want to risk looking like a scared little baby in front of Kristy. It was their first trip together and Sam knew that if he ever did get on a plane, he was going to be a wreck of nerves. Maybe one day, Kristy would see that side of him, but he planned to keep it tucked away for as long as possible. It wasn't because he felt that Kristy might judge him. He knew that she wouldn't. She was much too kind and understanding to do that. It was only for his own pride and ego. He'd be embarrassed to act in fear in front of the woman he loved.
Sam zipped his suitcase shut and tossed it on the ground next to his bed. He had already ordered an Uber and just had to wait for it to get here now.
There was a light tapping on his door then.
“Yeah?” he called.
The door to his bedroom cracked open and his mother's face appeared in the door frame.
“Sam?” she said. “A car just pulled up outside. The driver said that he was here to pick you up?”
“Yeah. He's here to give me a ride into the city.”
His mother held a hand up.
“Sam, stop,” she said. “I just thought it was important to tell you that I sent the driver away.”
“What? Why did you do that, Mom?”
“Just come out to the dining room and I'll explain everything.”
“Mom, seriously. I'm gonna have to order another Uber. I mean, I have time but can you tell me what the deal is please?”
“Trust me, Sam,” she said. “Go wash your face and put some of that body spray of your on and then come out to the dining room.”
“What?” Sam asked in confusion.
“Just do this for me,” his mother insisted.
Sam shrugged.
“Okay?”
“Great,” she said. “I'll see you in a minute.”
Sam walked across the hall to the bathroom and freshened up as his mother had asked him to. As he came back out into the hall, he heard the low hum of voices drifting down the hall from the dining room.
At first he thought it was just his parents talking, but then he heard something else. A third voice. His parents were talking to someone; a female someone, and Sam swore that he recognized the voice. He quickened his pace and hurried down the hall, lurching through the living room, and then bursting through the dining room entryway.
Three people sat at the
dining room table. His mother. His father. And seated between them was a beaming vibrant face. It was the face of the woman he loved.
“Kristy!” he exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”
Kristy's lips crinkled up into a lovely smile and her eyes were bright with excitement.
“Your parents invited me,” she said. “They wanted it to be a surprise.”
Sam watched as his mother gave a sheepish smile and his father coughed and looked away, even with a mischievous smile creeping across his lips.
“You guys really did this?” Sam asked. “I thought you were upset about me seeing Kristy?”
Sam's father cleared his throat.
“All right, Sam. Sit down,” he said. “We're gonna talk this out.”
“Okay.”
Sam sat down across from Kristy. She sent another smile his way, flashing her dazzling white teeth.
“Your mother and I feel badly about the way we treated Kristy. We feel badly for trying to keep the two of you apart and lying to you. We didn't do it to be cruel or malicious. We were just a bit shocked by the two of you and your relationship. Maybe that's a good excuse and maybe it isn't, but we were raised in a certain way. I'm never gonna feel alright with what's happening here, but you will always be our child and we love you. We want to have a relationship with you. I still don't know exactly how I feel about the two of you, but I've decided it doesn't matter how I feel. It's your choice. It's your life.”
“Dad,” Sam said thickly. “Thank you. It means so much to me to hear you say that.”
Sam's mother reached across the table to clasp his hand.
“Now, I hope you won't be too upset with us for this next surprise, because we did have to be a little sneaky to get this done.”
“What is it?” Sam asked.
His mother smiled and blinked back tears, as she slid two pieces of paper across the table.
Sam picked them up and glanced over the text.
Shape Of Love Page 12