Jack of Clubs (BxB)

24: It Felt Like A Promise

"Who was that?" The sudden unrecognizable voice caused my thoughts to be torn from sleep and returned to me. Groggily, I wondered where I was. Then a sudden panic caused me to open my eyes, fearing that I was back in my own bedroom.

But that wasn't the case at all. I was lying comfortably in Sam's bed, tangled in his sheets as though they were once meant to be wrapped around me. My gaze found the barely cracked opened doorway, where I could vaguely make out the shape of Sam on the other side. He was talking in hushed tones with someone, and I didn't dare to move in case of them finding out that I was awake.

"Just a friend." I heard Sam answer, since I could barely tell what was being said if I strained to listen.

"Usually when it's just a friend, you don't have to immediately specify that fact." The other person replied. It was clearly a woman, her voice coming across as mature and lyrical. Perhaps she was an angel with a voice as smooth as that.

"Well it is, Mom." He argued. So that was Sam's mysterious mom who I often questioned the existence of. I wasn't sure if I should have been relieved to know that she was real, or disturbed that she nearly walked in on us sleeping in each other's arms. Not that I was entirely disgusted by people learning about Sam and I, since we were now officially boyfriends, but I didn't want that moment to be stripped away from us. Especially not Sam. He deserved to tell people on his own time.

"Now I wish I got a better look. Do you secretly have a girlfriend?" She giggled, clearly excited by the idea. That was a bit disheartening, because she was sorely mistaken for hoping for something like that.

"There's no girlfriend, I promise." Sam told her sternly, and it took everything in me to not snort at that comment. At least he was telling the truth. "It's just a friend who really needs some sleep. They've been struggling recently."

That seemed to be effective in lulling his mom's attempts to learn more about why Sam was cuddling someone in bed, and rather focus in on the conflict that was occurring with me. "Are they alright?"

"Yeah, they'll be okay. Just a lot of stress and all that."

"Is there anything I can do to help? Would they want to stay for dinner?" She lightly pressed, but all I could really focus on was the fact that she was going along with Sam's use of gender neutral pronouns. There was no way that using those didn't leave her curious. I knew that if it was my mom having that conversation, she would have immediately wanted to know why I was saying them instead of her. But not Sam's mom, which was oddly nice to know.

"No, they really just need to be left alone right now." He explained. I let out a breath, glad that Mrs. Warner wasn't about to barge into the room and learn exactly who her son was laying in bed with. Once again, she was far different than my mom. She would have broken the door down just to catch a glimpse of what was on the other side.

"I hope there's nothing too serious going on with them. Don't hesitate to let me know if there's any way I can help." She insisted, and I nearly felt myself smile. She sounded so incredibly caring and loving, and I was beyond elated to know that Sam's perpetual love for his parents — no matter how much time he was left entirely on his own — actually had some real world standing rather than pure delusion.

"Of course."

I could hear her kiss his forehead. "I love you no matter what, Sam. Don't forget that."

"I know. I love you too." I had a feeling that she was trying to carefully tell him that it was alright to tell her about me. After all, most kids didn't use gender neutral pronouns when addressing the strange person they got caught lying in bed with. It left me wondering what the hell my parents were going to say when they inevitably found out about my boyfriend. Because we were official now, so it was bound to be found out eventually.