Chapter Eight

Sam puts the conversation on pause for at least forty five minutes before the credits role for the movie I think we were both only pretending to watch. When she picks up the remote I expect her to search for another movie, but instead the power to the television is clicked off.

"Do you want to put one of my movies in?" I ask casually, not sure what she wants to do because it's too early to sleep.

She shakes her head and sets the remote down.

"Can we fix this?"

I turn my head and our eyes meet.

"What exactly is broken, in your opinion?"

I'm really curious to know what's been going on in her mind.

"I dunno. Being mad at you for lying to me made sense. Ending our friendship over honesty doesn't."

"Whatever I can do to make you feel comfortable around me again…" I trail off, wanting to know if she already had solutions in mind.

"You don't make me that uncomfortable. Being trapped in janitor's storage is a fair excuse to attack someone's lips. I trust you in public."

We both laugh awkwardly.

"The loft isn't public," I find myself pointing out before giving much thought to how it could be received.

I look away, embarrassed. There's a good chance that comment will be taken the wrong way, but maybe we've made enough progress that I can get away with it.

"Tell that to the people who like to barge in here without warning on a regular basis," she replies, apparently unaffected by the tension that could have built up.

"You're the only one who never knocks besides Spencer," I accuse.

"I wouldn't say never…" she reasons with a grin.

I respond with one of those 'come on, yeah right' type of looks. She surrenders.

"Alright, you win. I fail at having manners. It's just, this feels more like home than when I'm with my mom."

I see her lips tilt into a slight frown, signaling that she is ashamed of the confession. I instinctively reach out and place my hand over hers, the left one that is lying limp off to her side. Surprisingly, she lets me keep it there.

"Trust me; I'm just as used to having you here as you are to being here. It must have been awkward for you to be home for over a week. What did you mom think?"

"She asked if you moved…or kicked the bucket. I made up some lie about Spencer putting on an art show here and how all the food had to be saved for the guests. Speaking of…what did you tell him when he noticed I wasn't around?"

Uh oh. I told Spencer what happened. He knew why she was gone the whole time. She expected me to make something up? Please don't get mad…

"Uhm, I kinda mentioned the kiss to him when he caught me out of school early."

She looks shocked rather than angry.

"You really told him?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry. He took it well, said he knew we'd work it out. And here we are…"

"So this whole…thing…whatever it is that you've been feeling. Is it more like the Jake Crandall lust or Freddie's obsessive crush?"

Please stand by while I grab the 'How to Answer Questions You Never Expect Your Best Friend to Ask for Dummies' book.