The Business Proposal

Chapter Seven

She lied.

She chickened out.

She couldn't bring herself to get the answers she knew she wanted but at the same time didn't.

She felt a little scared to turn her world upside down for something that didn't even really matter to her when it came down to it.

Her parents were and will always be her parents. They were the ones who raised her, they were the ones to watch her walk across the stage when she graduated high school, they put in the time and effort to call themselves her parents and she was perfectly fine with that.

And with that she decided that she wasn't gonna let what she learned to hinder her future. She got up out of her bed and began to get dressed. She was going to go to school like today was an normal day.

Heading to her kitchen she got out her lunch bag and began to pack herself some food for the rest of the day. She planned on studying till she was blue in the face after class. Once everything was ready to go, with her book and lunch bag in hand she proceeded to head off to have an amazing day.

*******

Five hours, three classes, and two study sessions later, Sam was exactly what she wanted to be, blue in the face. Sighing and gathering her things she got ready to go home. All Sam wanted to do was take a nice hot shower and curl up in her warm bed and let sleep take her to an happy place.
She waved goodbye to Ms. Penelope, the stern yet lovely elderly librarian who kept this place in shape, and went to her car. Sam was digging around in her purse looking for her keys while scowling, silently yelling at herself for not doing this inside.

This is how people get killed Sam, you've seen too many Criminal Minds episodes to know this! '

"You know you should've done that inside." A voice said behind her.

She spun around fast, with her compact size mace and prepared to give her attacker hell, only it was who she found that made her consider doing more than just pepper spraying the hell out of him.
There stood Bowden. As confident and calm as the day she met him. Many emotions ran through her as she took time to take in his appearance. There he stood 6'2',She felt anger mixed with a little bit of betrayal. The anger because of how he was acting, refusing to talk to her about someting that he obviously knows about her life that nobody should know, and then just showing up behind her in the school library's paking lot like its normal. The betrayal because despite the clear dislike for the man, he was starting to grow on her and she had let him into her life just to find out he might have put himself there for a reason, but why? What is his end game?

"What's your end game in all of this?" The words were out of her mouth before she knew it.

From the look on his face, Bowden was taken a bit back by the question, Sam could tell because his mouth was open just a tad bit and his eyebrows were knotted together like he was reading the hardest math problem in the universe. It took him about two full minutes to recover. In seconds his face showed no emotion, it was like he was able to shut his emotions off like he had his own personal button. And that angered her even more. How dare he? Acting as if she was the one in the wrong here, when they both knew the truth?

'Wait, why am I letting myself get worked up over him? You've never let a man get you out your comfot zone. Didn't do it then and I won't do it now, especially for this asshat here.' Samantha chestized herself.

And even though her consciene was confident, the real her wasn't so much. She knew that she had somehow let the bastard into her heart, he had gotten under her skin. She thinks about him and as much as she would like for it to stop, she knew it wouldn't. So she decided she was just gonna ignore the feelings.

"I asked you a question Bowden. Why are you here? Why did you put yourself into my life? Why did you kiss?" Sam repeated each question with gusto.

She meant it with every fiber of her being. WHY was he here? She honestly didn't think that she could keep moving if he didn't answer her.

Matthew didn't think he had ever been this nervous, he didn't know how to tell her what she waned to know without hurting her in the process. Somehow over the past few months she has caused him to have feelings towards her. It as the way she smiled when she was trying to stay mad at him. Or the way she became a completely different version of herself when she danced. It was like she had all the confidence in the world and nothing mattered to her but to show you that in the way she danced for you.

He tried so hard to keep her at arms length but he just couldn't. He kept putting himself closer and closer to her and he enjoyed it but now what he really was here for was about to ruin something that can be amazing if they both let it happen.

'I have to get her to listen to me and hopefully she will forgive me.'  Matthew thought to himself.

"I'll tell you everything, just let me take you home."