68 Days And Counting

Chapter Twelve: Understand.

Chapter Twelve: "Understand."

I WAS ABOUT TO open the door when I heard the thump against it. The sound of something hitting the bottom of it.

I opened it anyway only to be partially blocked by toilet paper on the ground. It looked like it had been filed up into a pyramid. I looked down the small hallway to find Peter holding a tennis ball in his hand and a stack of tennis balls on the table next to him.

He stopped that look of concentration on his face before smiling at me. "Hey Macy. You mind getting out the way so I can get a spare?"

I didn't even question it. Instead I walked down the small hallway to stand beside him. I watched Peter bit his lip in concentration and hold the tennis ball as if he was about to throw it like a baseball before he swung it roughly underhand and the rest of the toilet paper rolls fell to the ground from the impact.

He raised his arms up in victory. "Yes! Sam your turn." He yelled, going over to the toilet paper and setting them up.

I watched Sam come out of the one room and I didn't even hesitate to jump into his arms. He laughed and felt him envelop me in a hug, burying his face in my hair. "Hey Hazel."

I couldn't even say anything before I heard Peter speak. "And the lovebirds are reunited."

Sam flipped him off with a finger before pulling me to the living room. "Wait what about our game?"

"You can take my turn." Sam yelled back.

"Great." Peter agreed.

The second he stepped into the living room, I found myself laying on my back on the couch with Sam over me on his forearms to take most of the weight off of me. "Did you just have practice?"

"Yeah." I told him. "Practically ran over here."

He didn't kiss me. Not yet. He used his index finger to trace under my eyes, the curve of my top lip, my chin and jaw. Almost as if he was memorizing me. I smiled under the ticklish feeling and twirled a lock of his curly hair around my finger. "How was the shoot?"

"Stressful. The photographer just kept yelling until the point where I got a headache. He was like 'stand there', 'you're doing that wrong', 'holy are you serious? Why are you making that face', or 'you look constipated'."

"He said that all to you?" I asked, not believing this.

"No, he said that to other people. Definitely not me." Sam said smugly and I rolled my eyes at his cockiness.

"Any other troubles?"

Sam eyes flickered around my face as he was in thought. "When I went out to get from one location to the one down the street, I was walking on the pavement and suddenly I was bombarded with cameras."

"What? Really?"

Sam nodded. "I don't really get it. I mean, I come from a wealthy family where my mom and dad are famous. But they live in a town where no one really bothers them, you know? I mean the only huge problem was... remember they had to install that fence around our compound since our family did that shoot for the national magazine back in the summer and the gossip magazines and that guy that tried to break into the place?"

I nodded and Sam sighed, getting off of me and sitting down properly. "Ever since then it's been complicated."

This was new. "What do you mean?"

"There would be once or twice people taking pictures of our family specifically mum, dad or even Ivan because he's going to be taking over one of the biggest companies in the world soon. According to my mother, they've been trying to get info on our family to see if there's any drama going on but nothing so they go after a person that used to be the problem child in the family. Me."