Everlasting Love

everlasting love [18]

one year later... (january, 2011)

**Samantha's POV**

"Happy birthday my sexy bitch!" Tabby screamed at the top of her lungs while we both held up shots of tequila, celebrating the fact that we were both now of legal drinking age!

I laughed, licked the salt off my hand then downed the shot of burning alcohol. Tabby was standing there holding my lime for me and stuffed it in my mouth once she saw me make a disgusted face from the after taste of the liquor. 

It was a year after I had taken my much needed break from New York- I had spent a total of 2 weeks in my grandfather's "cottage"- I use that term loosely since it's a huge mansion- in Connecticut. It was so quiet and boring out there, that the first two days I thought I was going to lose my mind. But, as I was getting used to the peace and quiet- it got me to really discover who I was and what I wanted in life. And all I wanted? Was to be happy. So once I came back to my little apartment in Tribeca, I had a totally new mindset and had put on a healthy 10 pounds plus I got some of my curves back. Which Tabitha was of course happy about. She herself has been living a healthy lifestyle all thanks to her charming new hunk of a boyfriend. He some super smart, super sweet marketing exec who moved her from Canada so of course Tabby had to be the one to sink her fangs into the sweet, innocent guy. 

Today was the first night her and I were "splurging" on something that wasn't considered healthy but come on- it was my 21st birthday!

We were at some club in Manhattan, it was super loud, super crowded and super late at night. Tabitha and I were dancing together with her new beau behind her when my cellphone begin to ring in my clutch. It was a Wisconsin number, I didn't recognize the number number but in the back of mind I was thinking it might be something to do with my grandfather. 

I motioned to Tabby that I was going to go answer my phone and she just gave me a thumbs up, then proceeded to make out with her boyfriend. How jealous I was of their relationship. I've had a couple of guys ask me out on dates that I thought were super cute and sweet, but I would always find something wrong with them that I could go out with them.

"Hello?" I screamed into my phone while trying my best to block out the noise with my other hand pressed against my head. 

I could hear something on the other line but couldn't make out what they were saying or who it was. I tried telling them to hold on while I was heading for the outside door but once I had finally got outside where it was quiet- I looked down at my phone to see they had hung up. I tried calling back a couple times but it would just tell me the caller had a voicemail box that wasn't set up yet, so I didn't know who it was or what they wanted. I shrugged my shoulders and turned around to head back inside- but I ran into somebody when I wasn't paying attention. 

"Oh sorry, wasn't looking." I shrugged them off and went to go walk inside when they grabbed my arms, a little too hard for my liking. 

"Hey! Watch yourself! I said I was sorry!" New Yorkers, they were relentless. "You should be lucky enough that I even said sorry in the first place buddy."

I looked up to see a guy with darker long hair and a beard. He was what someone would consider an attractive man, but with the way he was acting right now- I would rate him a -5 on the hotness scale. 

"What's a cute little thing like you doing out here all alone? It is a pretty big city." 

I was not having any of this. I stomped on his foot with my 6 inch heels causing him to grovel over  and then proceeded to kick him in the balls when he then finally fell to the ground. 

"Yeah well aren't you lucky that you picked a girl who's been living in 'the big city' for quite some time now- so I know how to deal with creeps like yourself! You should be ashamed, what would your mother think?" and with that, I turned around and went back inside to find my best friend and tell her that my party was over. I was exhausted and wanted to just hit my lovely white down comforter on this chilly winter night. That sounded like the best birthday present ever to me. 

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**JJ's POV**

I chickened out. When my mom had come down last weekend to bring me some more of her home cooked food, I went through her phone and found Samantha's number. I stared at the screen for a good 20 minutes before I actually hit the little green button. It was late- especially in New York. I just had to call her and tell her happy birthday. Her 21st, it was a big one and I wanted to be one of the first people to wish her a happy birthday. 

But when she picked up and I heard her giggle with the loud music in the background- I knew she was out having fun with her friends and maybe even a boyfriend. 

My mother wouldn't tell me whether she was dating someone or not, but I had seen pictures of her in her shows and would even look up her performances on YouTube. Up until last year, she was great but she had just didn't look the same. She was skinny, a lot skinner than I remembered. I missed the curves of her body, but it's not like I was the one touching her curves. 

But ever since she started staring in Wicked a year ago, she's looked great and performed even better than ever. I've kept up with all of the awards she's won too. I just wish I was there to take all of those steps with her. 

It was midnight in Wisconsin and I was at a football party but had snuck away in the laundry room to call Samantha. 

"Hey babe? What are you doing in here?" Madelyn peeked her head in the door and her black hair was cascading down. I looked at her and gave a quick smile. I felt guilty- I loved spending time with her and we have been casually dating for a while now.  I had changed my mind about maybe dating her about two months after dinner with my parents a year ago. I thought that I had to eventually get over Samantha and I liked Madelyn enough to spend time with her. 

But recently Madelyn seems like she has had enough of me and wants this relationship to excel into something more. I just couldn't fall in love with her. She wanted a lot more stability in a relationship and wanted to physically take the next step but I couldn't do more than make out with her. 

"Hey sorry-" I bent over and kissed her quick on the lips, "my brother was just calling me asking me some stupid question." 

"Was he asking you some stupid question about the NFL Draft in a couple months?" she glared up at me, clearly fed up with me talking about going into the draft in April. The combines are next month, and I had already made up my mind to join them but Maddy didn't want me dropping out of school at the end of this year. She thinks I should finish my degree and then go into the NFL but that wasn't her choice to make. 

I softly wrapped my hands around her arms and looked down at her. "Maddy, I'm going to the combines next month and then I'm going into the draft. I'm sorry."

She looked up at me, looking annoyed- "Well, then I think you and I need to move one. But, then again you never really moved on from Samantha so I guess technically what we had never really counted right?" she said. 

"Don't say that Maddy, you're one of my best friends here on campus-" she cut me off.

"Yeah, that's it- just friends. I'll see you around JJ, good luck with everything."

To be completely honest with myself- it felt like there was a 100 pounds lifted off my chest. I liked Maddy, but just couldn't see myself with her in the long run. Besides, I needed to focus on the combine now- I have to be the best that I can be so I can drafted to a team come four months from now. That was the end goal.