The Friend Zone

Chapter Twenty Seven: Ring The Alarm.

I don't know what demon possessed me that cause me to ditch with Sam, but I'm glad I did it anyway.

We were unconfident, we were awkward, we were like two strangers, just having met for the first time, and I couldn't have loved it more.

We didn't hold hands, we were friends after all, but the vibe, it changed, we were no longer the best friends we used to be, we were something else, perhaps more.

Sam stumbled from topic to topic awkwardly trying to fill the silence and I stumbled along, trying to distract us from the topic that we both wanted to discuss so badly, we talked about football, my studies, my dad, my mom, his sisters, his mom, his dad, and who Tyler's taking to prom, we did not talk about spring break, Luke, or the shadows under his eyes, those were subjects we both desperately tried to avoid, because for the first time in maybe two month we were almost like what we used to be.

Did he love me? I wanted to ask, did he really mean what he said? And did I even care? But those were things I shouldn't think of, so I stuffed my mouth with a huge bite of my burger and moaned in pleasure.

"Damn" he grinned at me "I forgot how much you can stuff in that mouth of yours."

I threw a piece of French fry at him in mock rage and said in the haughtiest tone I could manage "You should count yourself even lucky that I degraded myself to dining with a footballer."

His eyes went serious and in a quiet voice he managed "I do."

I couldn't stare into his eyes anymore so I took a loud slurp from my soda, and the loud noise seemed to break the tension because he suddenly laughed "Eat up, Lee, cause I bet that big boyfriend of yours can't take you to fancy restaurants like this."

I laughed and conversation flowed easy from there.

I think it was about seven when Sam finally drove me home, after we left the Bistro we checked the bowling alley, and of course I won, Sam may be a great athlete, but I had the magic hands on my side, then we drove around for a while, just talking, singing as loud as we can with the radio, before he stopped at my house.

It gave me hope, this day that the gap we made will be soon mended.

"Thank you for this day." I told him.

"No." he held my hand and I tried to ignore the tingling I felt, "Thank you."

We were so close, our faces so close and it would be so for me to press my lips to his, I didn't know that I craved him as such until this very moment, I wanted him to kiss me, so badly, but what did that say about me, and the fact that I had a faithful boyfriend who loved me, one that I really liked? Was this the true me? A cheater? I couldn't seem to think, Sam was so close, and his smell filled my nostrils, sweat, strawberry from his drink, and a hint of after shave, I've never smelled anything better in my whole life.

At that moment nothing mattered, only Sam, and he was looking at me in a way that made my heart break, all the emotions everything he felt and was feeling were in his eye, and I didn't want him to feel that way, I would do anything to erase that look of pain from his features, anything never to see it again, the moment seemed to stretch forever and there was only Sam, and he was looking at me like I was the only one, and our faces were so close, so close, so close.

My phone was ringing, and the shrill sound was enough to break me from my haze, startled jumped back before looking at Sam, his face was a mixture of shock, bemusement and pain and I bet mine was the same.

Hastily I broke my gaze away from his, and distracted myself by searching my bag for the phone, Mom, the screen said, with a picture of her face covered with chocolate and flour after one of her cooking attempts, at that moment I couldn't decide if I was grateful to her or really annoyed, I picked up.

"Leah?" Mom's panicked voice sounded in my ear accompanied by the sound of muffled cries and sniffles.

"Mom? Mom? what's wrong?"

It took her a while to answer but when she did, I wished she never did "Baby, it's your dad; he's had a heart attack."