Girl in the White Dress: Sam's Story (10 page)

             
“Hey, you.” I turned around and saw Tim standing there with Stacy.

             
“Hey,” I said. I was all by myself at a bar, his bar. Could I be any more pathetic? “Hi, Stacy.”

             
“Hi, Sam. You look nice. Are you on a date?” Before I could answer, my savior walked over.

             
“Yeah, with me,” Danny said. I smiled.

             
“You’re late,” I said. I might as well go along with it.             

             
“I know. Traffic.” He kissed my cheek and I breathed in. He smelled so delicious again. “Hey, guys,” he said to Tim and Stacy.

             
“Wow, two nights in a row, Danny. Impressive,” Tim said.

             
“Well, what can I say? I’m an impressive guy.” He turned to me. “You want to go somewhere else?” I could not help but notice some tension between the brothers. Stacy appeared to be oblivious to it.

             
“Sure,” I said. Apparently, I was now on a date.

             
When we got to his car, I gave him a quizzical look. “What just happened?” I asked.

             
He looked at me and thought for a moment. “Tim and I have had some issues and we get a little competitive sometimes. “Besides that, what were you doing at the bar alone all dressed up?”             

             
Ok, we were back to me now. Hmm, how did I explain that I just had a fight with an ex-boyfriend and had a craving for some Danny time? We had only had one date so I was thinking that was going to sound crazy. “I was blown off by some friends and thought I would see if you were at the bar.” That sounded less crazy. Besides, he was holding something back about him and Tim and I wanted to find out what that was. Why did all the guys I like have secrets? Dude, seriously.

             
“Well that wasn’t nice of them. Wasn’t Trinity, I hope.”

             
“No, she’s out with Derek tonight. These were just some girls from one of my classes. Anyway, I am sorry. I’m sure you were doing something before you saw me there.”

             
“Actually, not really. I was going to shoot around a bit but I’d much rather be here.” Aw, how sweet. Change of subject was successful.

             
I smiled. “Me, too.” I was so caught up in the conversation that I had not realized we were driving. “Where are we going?” I asked.

             
“It’s a surprise.”

             
“I’m going to have to watch out for you and your surprises, Mr. Henry. Last time I was on stage singing. I can only imagine where this one will lead. Broadway, perhaps?” I joked.

             
He laughed. “Not today. That requires planning. This is a spur of the moment type of surprise that I guarantee you will like.”

             
I tried figuring out where we were headed but I was in unchartered territory. We finally stopped and I had no idea where we were. I should probably be scared but I was intrigued. “Ok Mr. Secretive, where are we?”

             
“You’ll see.” He took a flashlight out of the backseat. Interesting. We walked down a small path into a clearing. (What was with guys and dark wooded areas?) Once we were through the trees, I saw the most breathtaking view. The moon was shining down onto the water and it looked like it was glowing. We were at a beach. He found a beach. At home, there was a lake with an awesome beach and I missed that. For a spontaneous date, this was perfect.

             
He must have seen the look on my face because he asked me if I liked it. “Love it!” I replied.

             
“Come on, we can sit over here.” I did not realize he had also taken a blanket out of the car. I was so observant sometimes. “I missed the ocean and I found this place randomly one day. I come out here to think and clear my head.”

             
He laid the blanket down carefully and we sat and talked. He filled me in some more on how his dad and Tim’s mom split. It turned out that his dad was not always the nicest guy and had a drinking problem. When he drank, he would get verbally abusive with Tim’s mom and, though Danny never saw it, assumed it was possible that he hit her, too. After they divorced, he went to go live with his mom but he and Tim kept in touch. He actually spent summers with Tim’s family.

             
Danny was already attending WSC when Tim was looking for a job and decided to take one out here so they could still be close. When Danny moved in with his mom, his dad dropped out of the picture and, since Tim was a few years older, he always seemed like a father figure to Danny. It was a sweet but sad story.

             
I told him that my parents were divorced, too, but that they get along much better now as friends. Everything happens for a reason, he said. One of my least favorite sayings, mostly because it seemed to be true. I shivered and he put his arm around me. We sat in silence for a bit just enjoying the night. We chatted about everything and nothing. It was nice. Neither of us realized what time it was. It was nearly two in the morning...

             
He drove me back to my car because it was still at the pool hall. (I had flown home one weekend and finally came back with my car. Life was so much easier when you had transportation.) He made sure I got to my car and we said our goodbyes. He told me he would call me later that day. He was about to get back into his car when I told him to wait. This time I took charge and planted a kiss on him. It was a little different from the one the night before. It was a little sweeter, filled with more wanting.

             
“Goodnight, Danny.” I climbed in my car and headed home. What started as a horrible night turned into the best one in a long time.

Sunday was uneventful. I spent the day studying and then went shopping with the girls. I was beginning to wonder if Danny was ever going to call. I was also
kicking myself because I did not want this. I had empowered myself by telling Matt where to go and I had no interest in finding a replacement in the near future. However, I could not deny that I had a lot of fun with Danny and the past two nights had made me happier than I had been in a long time. We were deciding on where to eat that night because none of us felt like the cafeteria when my cell phone rang. It was Danny.

“Hello?” I tried to sound nonchalant.

“Hey, Sam.”

“Hey to you.” Apparently, my extensive vocabulary was out the window.

“I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” he asked.

“Nope. We were just trying to fig
ure out what to order. We are not really feeling like Suzy homemakers tonight,” I said.

“Ah,” he said. “I think the guys here were ordering Blue Bird Pizza. They don’t feel like cooking or going to the caf
eteria, either.”

“Hmm… I
have not had them in a while. Hang on a sec,” I covered the phone. “Anyone feel like Blue Bird?” A round of oohs followed. I went back to the phone call. “Looks like we’re getting that, too. They have really good ziti.”

“I haven’t tried that yet. I usually just get a pepperoni pizza. Boring, but delicious.”

“I like pepperoni.”

“Me, too. But I didn’t call to discuss pizza, even though it’s a very exciting topic of conversation,” he teased. “I wanted to let you know that I had a lot of fun the past two nights.”

“Me, too.” Definitely more fun than I had had in quite a while, I added to myself.

“Good because I was wondering if you’d like to do it again.” Yay!

“Yeah, absolutely. When did you have in mind?”

“Um,” he paused. “Is tomorrow night too soon?”

I laughed. “No, it’s perfect. I’ll see you at, say, six?”

“Perfect. I’ll meet you at your dorm.”

“Ok, I will see you then.” I hung up the phone. My roommates were all staring at me. “What?”

“What do you mean what? What did he say?” Miranda asked. Obviously, no one figured out what
they wanted to eat; they were all too busy eavesdropping on my conversation.

“He said he had a good time t
he past couple of nights and we are getting together tomorrow.”

“And you didn’t even want to go out with him,” Trinity pointed out.

“Yeah yeah… he’s a nice guy. I can’t just enjoy hanging out with him?”

“
Yeah that’s it. You just enjoy it because he’s such a sweet guy,” Trinity said sarcastically.

“He is and yes.”

“It has nothing to do with the awesome kiss you got at the end of your first date?” Kiley added.

“No,” I said. “Or the kiss
that I got yesterday,” I smirked.

“I knew it!” Trinity threw a throw pi
llow at me. Well, I guess that was how they got their name. “You really like him!”

“Ok, ok, I really like him. He is
a sweetheart,” Trinity started to say something but I cut her off. “But we all know that I thought someone else was a sweetheart and look where that got me. I am just going to take things slow and see what happens. And it is still weirding me out that he is Tim’s brother.”

“Oh
yeah, I forgot about that,” Trinity said. “Well, that’s a minor problem.”

I laughed. “Not that minor. I kind of need to make sure I get rid of the feelings I’m harboring for his brother for our relationship to even have a chance.”

“Relationship?” they all said.

“Well, whatever this thing is.” I grabbed the menu off the table. “Can we just order dinner now? I’m starving!”

“Sure, change the subject,” Trinity said.

“I can’t be subjected to the third degree on an empty stomach.”

“Fine, but this isn’t over,” she said. She was right, though. The Danny and Tim thing was far from over.

Danny and I went out the next night and the night after that and the night after that. We went to dinner, the pool hall, bowling and studying. He was amazing and the more time I spent with him the more I liked him. He volunteered at the senior center down the street from school a couple times a week and volunteered at the Boys and Girls Club once a week. I really was not sure how he found time for school and homework but he did. He wanted me to go with him the next time he went to the senior center. Fortunately, I was in class the time he went. Yes, I said fortunately. I was all for volunteering; however, I had to be honest, old people scared me. I did not know why exactly but they truly creeped me out. I was not ready to divulge that information to Danny quite yet, so I was glad class could postpone that awkward conversation.

After a couple of weeks of spending
pretty much every night together, Danny and I had the “What are we?” discussion. “Sooo….” I said staring at my iced coffee.

“
Yeah….” He played with his straw. “So, yeah… I guess I’ll just throw this out there.” He took a deep breath. “I really like you, Sam. I enjoy spending time with you and I hope you feel the same. I do not know about you but I have not been seeing anyone else and I do not want to see anyone else. What I’m saying is, do you want to be exclusive?”

I really did
not think there was any way to have this talk not be awkward. “Danny, I don’t have time to see anyone else. We’ve been spending so much time together, I’m lucky I’m still passing my classes.”

He smiled. “So…”

“So, yeah, silly.” He scooted next to me on the bench and kissed me. We were at the park so it was not a full on make-out kind of kiss as if I wished we could do, that would have to wait until later.

I still could not believe that I had feelings for
him. I was so determined not to let in another guy, at least for quite some time. Danny was so sweet, though, it was hard not to. Matt really screwed me up for a couple months and I was finally starting to get my head on straight. Sure, I had a small, harmless crush on Tim but that was minor. Right?

              “Sam, you have gotten yourself into quite a predicament,” Trinity pointed out.

             
“Thanks for stating the obvious,” I said. I had not been planning to date anyone but Danny was a nice guy. Why did he have to be Tim’s brother? I stomped my way to the bed and flung myself down. “Ahh!”

             
“I know. Is Tim still seeing Stacy?” she asked innocently.

             
“Oh, that’s the best part. He wants to freaking double date.” I still was not sure where I wanted this to go with Danny but now I was feeling thrown into something. Ok, I did agree to be exclusive and it had been a few weeks since we decided that. However, it had also been a few Wednesdays that I had seen Tim. I was stupid and could not get him out of my head. I would not be just hurting Danny, I would be hurting my friendship with Tim. And that was all it was, friendship.

             
This was unbelievable. On the plus side, I would get to hang out with Tim more; however, that was also a major con. How did you get over someone if you were spending more time with them? “Oh, I have an idea!” I exclaimed. “You and Derek can come, too. You are friends with Danny so that will make it far less awkward. Well, you and about five Cosmos.”