Strangers, Friends and All the In Between

Chapter 8

We arrive at the address that Sam directed me to. I put the bike in park, letting Sam off before kicking down the kickstand. She removes the helmet, flipping her hair dramatically. I laugh at the sight.

"What's so funny?" she asks. I attempt to mimic what she did as an answer, failing horribly. She gives me a blank stare.

"I don't know. You looked all dramatic and silly," I say, walking up to her and placing a hand on her cheek. Sam pouts in response "Aw, baby." I laugh, wrapping my arms around her waist. I give her a kiss on the lips. "Come on, let's go in and have me meet your friends." She looks up slightly at me and nods, smiling.

Sam walks me up to the door of the one story house. She knocks on the door before grabbing my hand. We stand there waiting for a few seconds before a small latch on the door opens to reveal a small portion of a face around the right eye. Said eye looks at us before pulling back and closing the hatch again. As soon as that's done, the door flings open to reveal a kind of skinny guy with a white band t-shirt, blue jeans, somewhat shaggy longish brown hair and snake bites. He smiled at Sam before turning to me.

He extends his hand, saying, "What's going? My name's Jeyson." He has some sort of accent that I can't quite make out, but sounds really cool. I accept his handshake.

"I'm Aaron. Nice to meet you," I say in response. I look down at his forearm to see he had a tattoo on it. He lets go of my hand, taking a sidestep out of the way and gesturing for us to come in. As Sam walked by him, the two hugged.

"So, who is this guy, Sam?" he asks her as we walk into another room, headed to where I guess everyone else if.

"They're my boyfriend," she replies as I put my arm around her shoulders.

"Oh nice. Glad to see you've found somebody." He turns his attention towards me. "Her ex-girlfriend messed her up pretty bad. Wouldn't eat for weeks on end." I feel Sam lean her head on my shoulder. "We all were getting worried about her. When she said she was moving to a different school, we all told her to find someone that would make her happy. So, if you don't treat her right, you'll have hell on your hands."

"I wouldn't dream of it, man," I respond. He smiles.

"Good," I hear from a different voice in the room in front of us. We walk in and I see a girl and a guy chilling on the couch, playing video games. "I'm Samm with two m's, by the way."

"That's my girlfriend. Everyone here calls her M so we won't mix up the two Sam's," Jeyson informs me. He points to the guy next to her. "That's Mike. And Jack's in the kitchen making some snacks if you want any. Everyone," he directs to the group around the house. "This is Aaron. Sam's boyfriend. So they're off limits, okay Jack?" I hear a grunt from the kitchen.

"I don't hit on every person I see," he says as he walks out with a plate of assorted snacks and a pizza box that smelled fresh. "Nice to meet you, Aaron," he says as he looks at me before placing the food down on a table.

"Want a monster?" Jeyson asks me. I turn and look at him.

"Sure, you got assault?" I ask. He nods his head as he walks to a mini fridge and pulls out the exact flavour I had requested, handing it to me. I crack it open and take a sip.

"Enjoying yourself so far?" Sam whispers to me. I look at her and give her a nod as I smile. She smiles back in response.

"Aw, you've got to be shitting me! How many times have I lost to you now?" Mike asks Samm.

"I don't know. About fifteen, I think," she answers smugly. The group groans as Jeyson puts a tally mark on a blackboard with all their names on it. "Anyone else wanna challenge me?"