A Knight Comes To Bed (2 page)

Her biology midterm wouldn't be any easier no matter how hard she studied, and with so many names of creatures to memorize and different factoids to know, she really doubted she could cram much more knowledge into her skull before the test.

Pressing her lips together, Rachel finally dropped her books and dressed up for the party. It was either that or stare into meaningless pages for the rest of the night. Excitement filled her chest as she got ready to leave.

TOM MET HER at the edge of the lawn and walked with her into the party. The party was certainly busy and there were many people there, but it was under control. And even though Sam and Tom's house resided on one of the busiest streets in town, the party looked calm enough that the police would not think to interfere.

Tom and Rachel mingled throughout the party, dropping in and out of conversations and different party games as suited them.

Now that Rachel was out, she couldn’t stop the guilt from eating her conscience. She tried not to let the biology midterm weigh heavily on her mind, but in the end it did. What she wanted to do seemed to osculate from one opposed action to the other—go home and continue to study, or stay and party.

Rachel was having a hard time making up her mind until she saw Sam walk in. She instantly knew she wanted to stay and chat with him instead of going back to her empty apartment to pointlessly stare at her biology book again.

“Hey Rachel, I'm glad you made it!” Sam said, sounding genuinely happy to see her. She couldn't help herself but to look around and make sure there were no cheerleaders standing behind her.

They both made their way towards each other and it was only then when Rachel noticed how tall Sam was. He had a built that was toned to perfection with years of basketball training. Wide shoulders bulged out from under his shirt. His dark brown hair was tousled, but he still looked handsome. The angles of his face and his razor-sharp jaw made it impossible for any girl to resist a double-look.

Rachel had to clear her throat before answering him. “Thanks for inviting me, Sam. I really needed to get out of my house and away from my books for a second,” Rachel said with a shy smile.

“Oh, I know you did,” Sam said. “When you've got guys from your biology class stalking you while you study, you know you spend too much time around academia.”

They both laughed, although Rachel felt like maybe he had a good point.

“I know,” Rachel said. “I've been spending way too much time at school lately, but I can’t help it if I love what I’m learning.”

“Yeah, I guess I can’t agree with you more.” Sam replied.

“If it wasn't for school I never would have read any of the poetry by Larry Levis. “

“You like Larry Levis?!” Sam asked incredulously.

“We went over it in my English class and I instantly fell in love.” Rachel said with a smile.

“I can't believe it! I love Levis. His work gets so haunting. I also like Bukowski, but you can always tell that ole Chuck really believes, down deep.”

“Well of course Charles Bukowski believes,” Rachel said. “I mean, he did write the poem
Bluebird
.”

“Of course, of course,” Sam said. “I guess I am a sucker for nihilism, which Levis leans toward more often than not. His words are so powerful, but in subtle ways. What is your favorite work by him?”

“Well, as far has works by Levis, I really like
The Widening Spell of the Leaves,
which might be a bit corny to pick as my favorite work by him since it is the most popular collection of poetry he has out there. Well, at least in my opinion the most popular,” Rachel said.

“No, I agree with you on that count, for sure,” Sam said. “A lot of people like
Elegy
a lot though. Not that I'm saying that
Elegy
wasn't a testament to what writing, and especially poetry, can do. I'm just saying that…”

Sam trailed off and they looked at each other in surprise. It was obvious the foremost thought on both of their minds was how well they were both getting along. They smiled at each other, and shared a knowing look between them.

“What is your favorite play by Shakespeare?” Rachel asked Sam.

“For me, it has to be Julius Caesar. I love the way Shakespeare challenges you to think differently of patriotism and nationalism by making the heroes of the story assassinate their leader. I guess I'm one of those people that look at the senators that betrayed Caesar as heroes for not leaving the path of reason.”

“What do you mean?” Rachel asked.

“The way the senators all compared notes to see if any of them actually thought that Caesar was a God and they decide that a God doesn't get sick and doesn't get confused or make mistakes, and since Caesar got sick and made some mistakes, he must not be a God. Which, in and of itself isn't so big of a deal, but Caesar was establishing himself as a Godhead tyrant at the time, and the men in the senate saw it for what it was.”

When Sam finished talking, he smiled to himself. He couldn't believe that he was having a conversation about William Shakespeare at a college party. Sussing out the subtle nuances of the play Julius Caesar was a pleasure that he rarely got to enjoy anywhere except inside of a classroom run by a literary professor.

A small group had gathered around them to listen to them talk. Most of the people listening didn't look like they expected to talk, or even wanted a turn, only being there to absorb the knowledge being passed back and forth between people.

Rachel looked around at the crowd gathering and wondered if it hadn't been a mistake to strike up a deep conversation about something so nerdy. Not that there was anything wrong with being nerdy, just that sometimes it separated her from other people in ways that were hard to understand.

But it wasn't that way with Sam… that much had become apparent to her. Sam would more than happily carry on a conversation with her about whatever text she wanted to as long as she wanted, and apparently at his own party in front of all of his peers and guests. Rachel felt pleased with herself in that respect, but also felt something was amiss.

That's when she noticed the cheerleader from earlier in the day at the library just a few feet away from Sam, slowly swaying in a drunken stupor as she waited for a chance to break into the conversation. From what Rachel could gauge from her demeanor and posture, the cheerleader wasn't offended, just a bit miffed. There wasn't any rage or malice in the girl’s eyes, just a haughty arrogance born from having grown up around too many silver spoons.

Humility was an attribute hard to come by in college students, that was something Rachel had realized very quickly when she had moved to the university, and that was one of the reasons she liked Sam—he had it going on but also had a level head on his shoulders. The cheerleader shifted her weight from one foot to the other in impatience, then spoke.

“Sam, I want to go back to my dorm room,” the cheerleader said.

“Uh, well, you can if you want but the party’s still going on,” Sam said. “And it would be nice if you hung out with everyone for a little bit. I mean, midterm is a stressful time and people probably won't be congregated like this again for at least a month or so.”

“No, I want you to come with me,” the cheerleader said. “So… you know.”

The cheerleader ended her sentence with a sultry smile and leaned in close to Sam, quickly giving his neck a little nibble. Sam blushed a deep shade of red, which Rachel found interesting considering his reputation around school as a ladies’ man and expert in bed. The party was still in full swung around them, and even though there weren't frat boys hanging from the rafters or people screaming while someone did a keg stand, it was still pretty raucous.

Sam's date asking him to leave his own party so they could go back to her dorm room to fool around seemed a little childish of her.

“What are you two talking about?” the cheerleader asked as she drunkenly sagged against Sam. “You both seem to be enjoying some kind of precious secret.”

“We kind of are,” Sam said, casting a wide smile at Rachel. “Rachel and I both have a love for poetry that neither of us knew about before just now. It is kind of amazing really. You don't run into many people that can carry on a decent conversation about poetry.”

For a second their voices were drowned about by the pulsating bass emanating from speakers in the corner of the room, but quickly the volume was turned down to a reasonable level.

“Really,” the cheerleader said with a sniff. “Well, isn't that something? You made a special friend at your special party. What a surprise and treat for you.”

Sam's date wasn't having the fact that Sam would rather talk to Rachel about poetry than tangle in sheets with her, and it made Rachel a little uncomfortable. Even though it wasn't her fault, or anyone's fault that she and Sam had hit it off so well, she didn't want to become hated amongst the popular, pretty girls for stealing Sam away from one of the cheerleaders.

The girl Sam had come with walked off with a haughty look on her face.

“Aren’t you going to leave with your friend?” Rachel asked.

“I would, but I kind of feel like she is getting a little bit too much like a girlfriend,” Sam said. “She's alright, but besides being on the same sports team, we don't necessarily have a whole lot in common to talk about besides how practice went yesterday. Which is fine, don't get me wrong. I don't want to sound like an elitist asshole, but it would be nice to talk about something more than what uniforms we will be wearing for the big game, or gossip about people that we don't really know well enough to have an opinion on.”

“I know what you mean,” Rachel said. “Sometimes it's hard to get along with people outside of the superficial things that we all go through every day.”

Rachel stopped talking, wondering if she'd gone too far with her words. She didn't want to scare Sam off since he was obviously very much against the idea of having any kind of girlfriend. Sam didn't even like that the vacuous cheerleader he was with was trying to tell him he needed to go back to her place and have sex with her. That said a lot to Rachel about Sam's character and about the situation at large.

Sam obviously had a lot on his mind, and not just school stuff. Rachel had her own thoughts sometimes about what happened to her father, but he was already gone. She couldn't disappoint him because he was gone. It was something Rachel had made peace with long ago.

But Sam's father was still around, and because of what had happened to Sam's brother, his father still depended on Sam. He was going to have to rise to the occasion in a big way post college, and he knew it. Rachel knew it as well and thought about it for a second as she looked at Sam, who was looking over at his date with no small amount of concern on his face.

Rachel bet that Sam didn't want to hurt the friend he'd brought, even though he didn't want to be serious at all with her.

“I had better go, though,” Rachel said. “I mean, the midterm is soon and I should refresh my memory again tonight to make sure that I am prepared for the exam.”

“It's too bad you have to go,” Sam said. “Have a good night. Good luck with that test.”

Rachel turned and left as gracefully as she could manage, leaving Sam standing there among friends and with a cheerleader who wanted to sleep with him, wishing she had stayed.

WHAT DO I really have in common with these people?
Sam wondered to himself. It was nice to talk to someone like Rachel for a change, someone who liked things he liked.

Sure, it was okay that the people around him all went to his university and loved him for being a basketball player, but there was more to life than just hero worship.

Rachel had never once brought up how he was on the basketball team or commented on the varsity jacket that he wore everywhere. To her, it was like none of that mattered. This was somewhat of a new experience for Sam. Most people that met him knew all about him—who he was, what he did, what he liked, what he didn't like—or at least thought they did.

But Rachel hadn't made any of the usual assumptions about him. People loved to assume that Sam wasn't into nerdy things because, in most people’s minds, anyone who was a jock couldn't also love literature at the same time.

“Hey,” a voice called out over the general din of the party. “I just found someone's phone. Does anyone know who this person is?”

A short freshman in a striped sweater held up a phone. On the screen the phone’s owner had a picture of herself and an older woman. The two bore a striking resemblance and were probably mother and daughter.

Even from across the room Sam could see that it was a picture of Rachel with her mom.

“I know whose phone that is!” Sam cried.

In a moment he rushed over and had the phone in his hands. He pocketed it immediately as he maneuvered his way to the door.

“I need to go get this to the person who left it,” Sam said. Glancing at his date, he added. “I'd hate for someone to get stressed out so close to midterms. That could really hurt a person's grade.”

People around him agreed as Sam slipped on his jacket and was out the door. He knew he was going to have to move quickly if he wanted to reach Rachel before she made it back to her dorm. The walk back to Rachel’s apartment went right by the library, and fortunately, Sam had seen her stop there several times just to enjoy the sculptures that were out front. He loved the sculptures as well, and seeing her admire them was one of his first memories of Rachel. She didn’t know it, but before their “meeting” in the library, he already knew who she was.

With a spring in his step, Sam made his way out his door and across his lawn to the street. He looked at the phone in his hands and smiled at the cute picture of Rachel and her mom. They both looked so happy sitting side by side. Sam wondered if Rachel's mom was as smart as she was.