Fools

35- Noah

Noah

Waking up, I realized why I was cold; Sam stole all the blankets. Cocooned himself in his comforter, leaving me exposed. I rolled over, so that my chest was against his back, "Sam?" I whispered into his ear.

"Hm?" He murmured, not fully conscious.

"Give me the blankets," I demanded then kissed his neck. He rolled over, covering both of us with his comforter, and nuzzled his head into my chest with his arm carelessly thrown over my stomach.

A few things I noticed while sleeping in bed with Sam: 1.) he was a blanket hog, 2.) he muttered different words in his sleep, and 3.) he loved having a body part over mine rather it was a leg, or an arm, or his head. Not that I minded (well, maybe the blanket jacking I minded).

I fell back to sleep with Sam in my arms for another couple hours before we both woke up. "I could get used to waking up like this," Sam whispered before leaning in to kiss me and pecked me on the lips. As if we didn't have a bad argument last night.

I felt guilty for lying to Sam and for the way I talked to him last night, so I told him in a soft tone, "I'm sorry... for last night."

"Me too, I'm sorry. Just..." his hand laid on my cheek then stroked my hair behind my ear, "please don't lie to me about things like this."

"I know, but I didn't want you to worry."

"When I see you hurt, I'm gonna worry. You can't ask me not to." I looked at Sam for a moment- my Sam- and wondered how long it would be before he stopped worrying. Because that will happen eventually, right? He'll stop caring, maybe even get exhausted with worrying and move on. That would be best for him.

And it was in that moment that I realized I didn't want that. I didn't want Sam to move on because I was in love with him.

Instead of responding, I kissed his forehead, and rolled out of bed. "I'm not really one to celebrate holidays, so I figured, I'd leave for a bit while you guys eat your Thanksgiving turkey or whatever. Text me when you're done then I'll come back" I told Sam and I kneeled down to dig through my bag for my toothbrush.

When I stood back up, Sam's hands were on my waist. "Stay. You can eat dinner with us. My grandparents are coming over and my Aunt and uncle just had a baby so you could meet them."

His whole family's coming over just for Thanksgiving? "Uh..." I hesitated.

"Please? It would mean a lot to me if you met my family."

Fuck. "Okay," I tried not to sigh. I definitely wasn't used to having someone care about this. Kaitlyn talked- well, complained- about her family, so I knew of them. But, besides meeting her parents, I never met anyone else in her family. Though, Kaitlyn claimed her family members were 'psycho freaks', so that was probably why.

Sam smiled, how could I say no to him? "Thank you," and he kissed me on the nose.

We both got ready for the day; taking turns in the bathroom, changing to- what Sam called- 'Thanksgiving appropriate attire' (him in a sweater with a turkey on it. I laughed). I sat on Sam's bed, my legs crisscross, and watched as my boyfriend blended an ivory toned foundation into his skin.

"So, I've been thinking-" I started.

"Don't hurt yourself," my boyfriend joked.

"Ha. Funny," I said sarcastically. "I was thinking I'm ready to tell our friends about us."

Sam's green eyes widened as he turned away from his body mirror to look at me. He smiled brightly. "Really?"

"Yeah, I just- it's unfair of me to ask you to lie to them and I wanna' be able to, ya' know, hold your hand and stuff, while we're out," I explained.

Sam's smile grew, if that was possible, as he got up- foundation on only half of his face- and kissed both of my cheeks then my lips. I grabbed him and pulled him down with me on his bed. I rolled over him and started kissing his neck. Sam giggled, "that's ticklish" then pushed me off of him, but was smiling. "When should we tell them?"

"I figured tonight possibly? I don't know. I'm gonna tell Kaitlyn first, if she even goes, then I'll tell everyone."

"Sounds perfect," He pecked me on the mouth.

*

I supposed dinner with his family wasn't horrible. A bit overwhelming like when the rapid questions started firing at me in the middle of dinner that I had no idea how to answer.

"So, Noah, Sam told me you're a senior?" His Aunt Molly spoke. I nodded. "What are your plans for college?"

"Oh! Yes, what do you want to major in?" Anna, Sam's mom, jumped in.

"What colleges did you apply for?" Sam's dad asked.

"Um..." I hadn't even thought about it. My social worker, Miss. Adams, had spoken to me about applying and that she would meet with me in a month to 'discuss the possibilities of my future', but I never thought about my future, let alone if I had possibilities. And then, all eyes were on me. I felt Sam's hand on my thigh for comfort, "I... I don't think I'm gonna go to college," I said honestly which apparently was the wrong choice. Every adult in the room glanced, worriedly at one another. Painfully obvious about their disapproval.

"Oh," Anna spoke, "what do you plan on doing without college?"

"Mom, it's not a big deal," Sam defended me. "Plenty of people don't go to college."

"Sweetheart, I know that. We're just having a conversation," the mom said.

"I mean, I applied to a few," I lied. I hadn't applied to any, but I suddenly felt like I had to prove myself to Sam's mother. Let her know I was good enough for her son. I didn't know what going to college had to do with that, but Sam's family made it seem like if I didn't go to college, I wasn't going anywhere in life. "And if I go through financial aid, then I'd probably major in... business," I just threw that out there. I had no clue what I'd actually major in.

But, the conversation changed and Sam's mother and Aunt looked pleased, so maybe I said the right thing.

That was the worst of it and when Sam, Haven, and I were in the car headed to Jason's, Sam brought the college conversation up again, "Sorry about my family being so nosy. I don't care if you go to college or not, just so you know. It's not going to make me think anything less of you."

"Thank you," I said, "but, it's really fine, you don't have to apologize."

Then after a pause, Sam asked me hesitantly, "if you did go, um... would you go... far?"

"I don't know. I guess if I did go to college, I'd like to go to UIC to be closer to my brother, but..." I shrugged and left it at that.

"University of Illinois Chicago... that's an hour away," Sam stated like he was lost in thought, then added, "worse if there's traffic."

I leaned forward in the seat, placing my hand on his arm, "Hey, that's not too bad, and I probably won't go. You don't have to worry about that right now," I assured him. Sam nodded, but still looked anxious, probably thinking if we could make it long distance. I thought we could. Plus, it would only be for a year until Sam graduated.

"Zach and I are applying for Illinois State University," Haven said smugly as she drove. Sam looked back at me from the passenger seat and rolled his eyes.

"Oh, great," I said sarcastically, Sam making a 'Pfft' sound at my dry tone.

We pulled into Jason's driveway. Kaitlyn was there, loading her bag into Emily's car. Fuck, I was really hoping she wasn't going. This should be fun.

**
A little college talk as a teaser for the second book 🤭

Thank you for reading! Vote and comment how you think their vacation will go!

-Xoxo, Bert