Just My Luck (boyxboy)

Ch21. Sam

Sam's POV

The house was beautiful inside as Steven showed me around. I could tell everything was completely remodeled with all new things and nothing looked used or worn as we walked into the kitchen. Someone definitely took their time to make sure this place look the best it could be.

"And the basement is just down there. Sorry, if we had another room up here you would be up here with us. I kinda feel bad that you will be down there all alone," he told me as Baxter walked into the kitchen, looking a little tense.

"That's fine, really. I'm used to being alone and it's better than the park or in some random alley where I would be waking up all night long to any noise I heard."

"That's true. I honestly can't tell you how much better I sleep at night now without having to worry about someone attacking us in our sleep. It's really-," He cut off his own words as he looked past me.

Suddenly, I jumped as I felt arms wrapped around my waist, and looked down to find little arms hugging me tightly.

"Lexi!" I said turning around and hugging her back tightly with a smile. I missed her a lot these past few weeks.

Lexi was only 13 years old with long light blonde hair and blue eyes. The light freckles across her cheeks looked just like Steven's.

Her grip tightened quickly with my hug. "I missed you too," I said.

What made Lexi different from other girls her age was that she didn't speak. She was pretty much mute, I wasn't sure what happened to make her that way. Steven told me once that she could speak but before they ran away she just started talking less and less until one day she just stopped altogether and hasn't said a word since.

She pulled away and smiled at me happily until she caught something in her eye and looked past me. With a gasp, her smiling face quickly turned to fear, before pressing against me tightly to hide as she started to shake.

I looked behind me to see the pain and sadness on Baxter's face as he stood from the table and cleared his throat. "Well, I'll go for a walk and let you guys catch up," he told us and started for the back door.

"Wait! Please stay," Steven told him as he grabbed his arm to stop him.

He smiled at Steven softly and kissed his forehead. "I'll... be back later," he said as Steven looked a little panicked before he walked out the back door.

Steven quickly looked over in anger at Lexi like he was about to say something but then sighed to himself as he walked into the living room. I could clearly tell it was frustrating him but he was trying hard to control it. It did feel weird because Lexi and him were always so close but whatever was going on was affecting their relationship in a bad way.

"How about you show me your room, Lexi?" I asked her, pulling away slightly and she nodded before taking my hand and leading the way into her room.

The walls were a soft shade of purple with a big bed that had a darker purple blanket over it and was filled with many different stuffed animals. Then she pulled me over to the wall next to her bed and pointed to a picture. My eyes widened. It was a picture of the alphabet with the hand signs underneath them.

"Wow, Lexi! This is amazing," I told her.

She lit up a little and nodded her head then looked at the pictures and slowly, for both of us, spelled out the word "LEARNING".

I didn't know any sign language but it was nice to be able to speak with her like this even if I had to look at each letter on the wall.

"I guess I will have to learn too now huh?" I told her and she nodded with a small giggle.

"Wow, that's great though. It just shows that someone cares for you and wants you to be able to communicate with others again too. We can all learn together just for you Lexi." I smiled big and hugged her. "So what do you think about this Baxter guys so far?"

She took a moment looking out at nothing as her bright face faded to dark before she looked up at the picture again and slowly signed the word, "SCARY".

I took a moment trying to think of the right words. I didn't know Baxter all that well either but with the way he looked at Steven with so much love and caringness, I couldn't keep seeing him as a bad guy.

"I think he is a little scary looking at first but I think he is a big softie inside." She just looked at me as I sat down on the bed but made sure I could still clearly see the picture. "I think this is a good new start for you and Steven both. He cares for Steven, and you too. He told me himself and I truly believe him. To be honest, I think he's a big teddy bear on the inside if you give him a chance."

She looked around the room a little nervous like she wasn't sure.

"I'm going to be staying here for a while. Maybe you can tell me what's going on. I can help."

She sighed deeply and looked at the ground thinking for a moment before looking up with a soft smile.

She signed to me again. 'LEARN THEN TALK' and pointed to other pictures. I didn't even notice they all had signs under them too and she even started grabbing books and showing them to me as well.

We hung out for a while longer learning a few signs together and practicing them before I noticed she was getting tired so I let her go to sleep while I walked out of the room to find Steven in the kitchen drinking something hot in a mug.

"I'm sorry I got mad earlier with Lexi. Baxter told me before that he could, um, scents her fear when they were close to each other so he leaves to make her feel comfortable. It just upsets me because they are both really important to me and it seems like she won't even give him a chance at all," he told me as he looked at his mug before he started to bite on his thumbnail, a bad habit I noticed he had.

"I don't know. Just give her more time. It's only been a few days since you came here. Just try and understand that everything just changed for her again and it's harder on her than most," I told him. "She's not like other kids her age."

"I know. Did she tell you anything yet? Is there anything I can do to help her?" He asked, looking at me in hope.

I felt really bad for not knowing what to tell him. "It seems like she just wants someone to learn sign language with right now so just give it some time. I'm sure she will tell me or you when she's ready but I'm really sorry Steven. Can we talk more tomorrow, please? I'm just really tired and exhausted. The basement is down this door right?" I asked, feeling so tired and irritated all of a sudden.

"Oh yeah. Would you like me to walk you down and show you around?"

"No, it's okay. I can do it myself. You going to bed?"

"I'm gonna stay up for Baxter. He should be back soon. I mean he said he would be back later so... I just want to wait for him," he said, looking a little sad again. "Oh, the lights are on the wall as soon as you open the door, and then you can shut them off downstairs as well whenever you're ready."

"Okay. Thanks. Goodnight," I told him as he looked down in his mug again waiting for Baxter to get back. I would have waited with him but I just wanted to sleep and hopefully regain some of this energy that seemed to just keep draining out of me at random times.

It was a weird feeling that's been happening since I left Emmett's house. I would feel fine one minute but then the next I felt like sitting down from having no energy at all or felt like taking a nap because I would be really tired. I hated it.

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Well, Sam at least has a warm bed to sleep in, food in his stomach, and at least two people he trusts with him.

*next 4 chapters are side chapters between Steven and Baxter. Enjoy if you would like to learn more about them and their story or skip them if you don't.