Rendezvous: A Lost Chapter of Sam Drake

Chapter 9: Kitchen Dances

We all got a little drunk after celebrating our small win tonight with the cross and our next lead. Sam turned on some music and we decided to play penny poker. I had a full house, but the trick to this game is knowing when to call a bluff. Sam raised me by a dollar. Sully folded and Nate met the raise. It was mostly silent for this last round. Everyone just focusing on this last game. I bit my lip and met the bets. Sam scratched his temple, which I knew was his tell. Nate laid is cards out. They were trash. Sam looked at me and laid his out. Sam laid out a royal flush. He looked at me with a smile. "Go on, sweetheart". I smiled and laid out my full house. "Damnit!!! Fuck this game." I laughed and took the pot. "Alright, I'm gonna turn in for the night. You kids can stay up, just try not to break anything, huh?" Sully said stepping out of his chair. "Awww ok.. night night Sullyyyy" I said a little drunkenly. I hugged Sully and he laughed "Night, kid". Sully moved to his room and shut the door. "I think I might turn in too. You two should stay out here and just catch up. Enjoy eachother's company and whatnot." Nate smiled and hugged me goodnight. He hugged Sam and went to the far guest room. Sam had his playlist on shuffle and a slower song came on. "You know, we didn't get a dance tonight." He smiled and held his hand out to me. "May I have this dance?" I smiled and took his hand. I met his gaze, and he placed his hands on my lower back. I had my hands behind his neck as he pulled me in closing the gap between us. He tried to push a hair out of my eyes but ended up poking my eye. I laughed and he laughed too "I'm too fucking drunk for this." We laughed even more to the point that we were crying laughing. We finally collected ourselves and he smiled at me. "you're so beautiful, you know that?" He said looking down at me once again. His crooked smile returned, and I felt at home. "Sam, you're drunk" I said giggling. "So are you, dumbass, but it doesn't mean I'm wrong." He smiled and held my face in his hands. I pulled his chin down and our lips closed the gap between us. I ran my hands through the back of his hair as he pulled my body closer to him. We both smiled through the kiss and began giggling. We were both a little drunk, so tensions were running high. He ran his hand down my waist to my hip. He pulled on the belt loop of my jeans as we were kissing. He pulled back and kissed my cheek and then my forehead. "As much as I'd love to continue, this isn't how I want to do it. I don't wanna be drunk... or in Sully's apartment with these thin ass walls." I laughed "Yeah, I agree. It's not that I don't wanna do this cause trust me, I do, but I don't want our first night together to be a drunken one. I want you to want me sober." I was blushing and I looked away from him. "Aw, sweetheart, ... look at me, honey". He held my chin and pulled my face up to look at him. He moved his hand to my cheek. "I can't emphasize this enough... I have wanted you every second of every day since I met you... we can't go through the 15 years of hell that we went through to not end up together. I know you like I know the back of my hand, Sky, and I know with every bone in my body that this is going to work out." He smiles shaking his head. His eyes were glossy with tears, but he held them back. I had tears rolling down my cheeks. I have dreamt of Sam saying these words a thousand times but hearing him actually say it beats everything I could have imagined by a landslide. "Sam.. I have thought about this moment every day since I met you. This moment where we finally talked about these feelings that we have for eachother. I couldn't tell you how many times I've played over and over what I would say. I love you Sam. When I-... When we thought you died... everything reminded me of you. I thought about you everyday. every. day. I played over and over the last things we said to eachother. I hated myself for fighting with you before we thought you died. Everything I said was the opposite of how I felt. I wanted so badly for you to know how much I loved you. Everything shattered within me when you died, Sam." At this point I was still crying, even more so. "I love you, Sam. I loved Sam Morgan at 17 and I still feel like we're 17 when I'm with you, Sam. I love every version of you. I've always loved you." Sam was fully crying now, and we were a hot mess of emotions. Sam kissed me. This kiss was so different than before. This was a kiss that had so much love. He loved me. I needed him to say it. Sam was afraid of commitment so for him to say he loves me is a big step for him. Sam doesn't like anyone getting too close. I needed him to let me in. I wanted nothing more than for Sam to let his guard down for me. I needed him to love me. I wiped Sam's tears and he wiped mine. We smiled at each other as he grabbed my hand intertwining our fingers. "I feel like an underdog from a movie that finally gets the girl in the end right now." I smiled and dragged him to our room for the night.