All of the Lights

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

"That's a game!" Sam shouted. He wiped his face with his sweaty shirt.

"Damn you." Rob took a deep breath and walked over to where I was sitting. "Riles, cm'here." He put his sweaty arms out.

"Ew, Rob! Get away from me!" I laughed and stood up, trying to dodge around Rob's sweaty body.

"No, no, c'mon. Give me a hug. I love you, kid. Bring it in." The smile on his face was priceless. Sam laughed and joined in with Rob.

"Riley, I gotta' leave soon. I probably won't see you for a while. Can I get a hug?" He gave me his georgous smile. I rolled my eyes and laughed.

"Of course you can't." I winked. Sam laughed. "I'll be upstairs. Hug me when you're clean."

"Was that a wink? Sam, bro, did she just wink at you? Damn keeping this girl away from boys is going to be harder than I thought." Rob sarcastically put his hands over his head in disbelief. I bit my tongue and waved, doing a model walk back to the elevator. The best part? Sam couldn't keep his eyes off of me.

When both of the men had showered and gotten clean, they came upstairs into the kitchen. I sat at the table with a book and casually read.

"I'm clean now." Sam sat down next to me with a smirk.

"No touching." Rob pointed his finger, exaggerating his "dad" role.

"Hey, I totally agree with you, man. No touching. How about an air hug?" Sam stood up and put his hands in the air as if he were surrendering to the police. Rob laughed and shook his head.

"What do you want to eat?" Rob asked, changing the subject. I grabbed my book and shoved it in front of my face. I knew Rob was trying to joke, but deep down he was serious. And that bothered me. Who was he to decide who I could and couldn't talk to?

"Let me have your cell number." Sam pulled his phone out of his pocket.

I gave him my number and watched as he carefully punched them into his iPhone. He looked up at me and nodded his head.

"So, how long have you been living here?" He started some casual talk while Rob fixed up some sandwiches.

"Oh, gosh... Four years? It's been a long time."

"Yeah? Cool." He brushed his hand through his dark brown hair.

"Yup. I love it here. It's the only place where I'm hidden." I dog-tagged the page I was reading and set the book on the table.

"I bet. Man, the outside world will eat you alive. Some of the things these fan girls do... It's like people don't know how to behave like... people. You know? It's disgusting." He shifted his eyeballs towards Rob, wondering if he had heard.

"Must be fun for you, right? I mean, all of those girls. You could date anyone you wanted."

"Yeah, but would they love me for me? Or for my fame?" He took a deep breath. Sam was intelligent. Most of the men I knew would take advantage of the girls who worshiped them. Easy. Sam? He took the hard route. He actually tried to find a decent girlfriend.

"I feel you. I've had it all happen to me before. It's not easy knowing that you can't trust anyone." I bit my thumb.

"Alright, take a bite of this and tell me how it is." Rob came over with two plates full of food. Sam looked down at it, observing what Rob was trying to feed him. Sam squinted his eyes and looked at Rob.

"Man, what is this shit?" He poked at it with a fork.

"Don't ask questions. Just eat." Rob pulled his sandwich off of his plate and took a huge bite. Sauce smeared all over his face. I wanted to laugh and gag at the same time.

"You going to eat anything?" Sam looked at me.

"No. I'm not hungry. Enjoy your meal." I gave him a small smile and slipped upstairs. I could tell that Rob wanted me to leave. He was getting antsy and wanted to spend time with his friend alone. Surprisingly, I could understand why. If my friend was over, I would freak out at Rob if he would be flirting with her the whole time.

Upstairs, I shut my bedroom door behind me and sat on the couch in the middle of my room. I sprawled out and looked at the ceiling. My room was my favorite place of the house. Beautiful soft cream covered the walls. My lace bedding added a unique touch. My bathroom was always open, letting the scents of warm candles drift in. There was a walk in closet, filled with the prettiest clothes, shoes and accessories. I was living the dream. The only thing I needed to complete it was the gorgeous boyfriend... And I knew who I wanted that to be.

A light knocking on my bedroom door filled my ears. Quickly, I went to open it. There stood Sam.

"I better get going. My band's leaving on Tuesday for our tour. Gotta' get packing. It was nice meeting you." He gave me a pathetic smile.

"You the same. I hope you had a good time with Rob." I could feel myself blushing.

"Well, yeah... But I wanted to spend more time with you."

"That's sweet."

"You're just so real. I wish I got to talk to you more." He walked into my room, coming closer to me. My heart thumped.

"You've got my number." My voice sounded mysterious. Perfect.

"I know, I know. But there's something I didn't get." He put his muscular arms around me. He squeezed me tight. His face came closer to mine.

"Where's Rob?" I whispered into his ear.

"Waiting downstairs." Sam loosened his grip and took a few steps away from me. I wish I hadn't mentioned Rob. I wanted to still be embraced in Sam's strong arms.

"When will you be back? We should hang out." My voice was still quiet.

"Probably can't for a while. I'll be on the East Coast for a few weeks. I'm playing a show here tomorrow night, though... If you're interested, I could hook you up with some backstage passes." He looked behind him, almost as if he were checking to make sure Rob wasn't there.

"I'll think about it." Honestly, I wanted another day with him. The only thing keeping me from accepting his offer within two seconds, was my 'playing hard to get' attitude.

"Alright. Call me." He smiled and began to walk out of my room.

"Of course. I'll see you later."

"Alright. Cool. See you tomorrow, hopefully."  He winked at me, almost mocking me when I'd winked at him. I laughed and followed him downstairs. Rob was sitting on the steps, looking as bored as ever.

"You two done saying goodbye yet?" He whined. I nudged him in the back. Sam said his goodbyes to Rob and waved to us as he walked out of the house. Sam Bernard, I am very into you.