Ash could barely muster the energy to walk up the stairs to her bedroom where she knew Sam was fretfully waiting for her return. All she wanted to do was curl up and sleep for a week.
No, first I want to shower, then sleep for a week.
Sam was pacing along the strip of sunlight streaming in from the windows. He looked like he’d been punched in the gut. Seeing her, he didn’t waste any time. “What happened?”
She toppled onto her bed like a felled tree.
“Well? What happened? Did you find Veronica?” His voice warred between excitement and terror.
The bed springs squeaked under her. “No problem.” Her terse response got the expected result, and she smiled. Giving Sam a hard time always rejuvenated her.
“What do you mean ‘no problem?’” He practically vibrated with tension.
She sat up and shrugged. “No problem.”
“You were gone for hours.”
“You can’t rush these things, Samael.”
He deflated. “It took four hours to convince her?”
“Well, no. It only took about ten minutes to convince her to give you a shot.”
“What did you do the rest of the time?”
The question bounced around her head. Part of her wanted to—needed to—tell him what happened with Scott and Mr. Pinkett. Unshed tears stung her eyes, but she clamped down on the bubbling emotion. Sam was kind and gentle, but he carried a darkness within him. Buried deep, he only let it out when he was protecting someone he loved. The last time she’d seen it was on their eighth-grade trip to Arkham when some creeper on the subway grabbed Ash’s ass. It took two chaperones and a morning commuter to pull Sam off the guy. That had put a stop to their end-of-year field trip to the big city. The assistant principal called Sam’s mom, and when Alice got there, Ash insisted on leaving with them.
Alice had been distraught when she discovered what her son had done, but that only lasted until Ash told her Sam had been protecting her. The mom didn’t exactly say she was proud that her son assaulted someone, but Ash remembered the look on Alice’s face, the pride. Then Alice took them out for a night on the town.
That was a long time ago, when Sam was still a skinny boy, before he was serious about fitness and got jacked. Ash shuddered to think what Sam would do to Scott, and even Mr. Pinkett, if she told him. So, she didn’t.
“Well, I couldn’t just leave right afterwards. That would’ve been weird. Like I was your pimp or something.” Her eyes lit up. “Hey, we could totally do that! What was that HBO show with the guy who played Two Face? Aaron Eckhart?”
Sam blew out his lips in exasperation. “You’re thinking of Thomas Jane.”
“Whatever, they’re the same person.”
“I…don’t disagree, but we’re not doing it.”
“Come on! Instead of a washed-up teacher reliving his glory days, it could be a high school nerd realizing his potential. A nerdy boy’s struggle to discover self-worth.”
“Nope.”
“CUMMING OF AGE, Sam. That’s what we’ll call it! CUMMING. Get it?” She splayed her hands like she was unveiling the car of the future to a bunch of yokels. “The Sam Dyer Story.”
“I think the name’s too long for a TV show.”
Ash gasped, and her hands flew to her mouth, eyes wide with excitement. “It’s too long for TV. I think we just found the title of our pilot episode!”
“Are you done?”
“Just consider it, I think it will grow on you.” She smiled mischievously and bobbed her eyebrows.
Sam looked at her with dead eyes, face slack. “Just tell me what happened already.”
She deflated and pouted. “You’re no fun.”
“Details. Now.” He was getting frustrated, and despite her teasing, she understood. He had spent years admiring Veronica from afar. Ash had encouraged him to say something, but he was just so damned shy, not to mention stubborn, and nothing ever came of it.
“Okay, okay. I’ll tell you what happened, just chill. I found her at the mall hanging out with Amber and some girls from Dunwich.”
“That’s all very fascinating, but what about me?”
Ash rolled her eyes. “God, you’re so vain.”
“Need I remind you what’s at stake here?”
“Fine. At first, she said no.” Ash held up her hand to stop Sam before he said anything. “She said you blew her off the other day when she asked you to the dance.”
“She didn’t ask me to the dance.”
“She said she did.”
“No, she asked me if I was excited for the dance.”
Ash gave him The Look. The look you gave to boys when they were being utterly clueless. “That’s the same thing.”
“In what world is that the same thing?”
Ash held up her hands to stop the conversation before they could go off on another tangent. “I don’t have the time to educate you on how much a bonehead you are.”
“Thank god,” he muttered.
“We’d be here all night.” He growled, and she smiled sweetly at him. “But that wasn’t the hang up. She said you gave off total SDE.”
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“What’s SDE?”
“Small dick energy.”
“Is that… Is that a thing?”
“Totes. But don’t worry, I cleared it up and told her what you’re packing.”
Sam’s face drained of color and then, like a mood ring on a bipolar toddler, scarlet with embarrassment. “WHAT?”
“Well, not like Konstantin big. I mean, there’s a reason his nickname is ‘Bear’ and it isn’t because of how hairy he is, if you know what I mean.”
Sam sounded like he was gagging on a chicken bone. “How would you know!?”
“Oh, please. He’s making his way through the upperclassmen. And he’s such a perv, he’ll show it to anyone.”
That derailed Sam’s train of thought. “Wait, what do you mean upperclassmen?”
“I’m pretty sure technically he goes both ways, but he’s pretty entrenched on the other team. At this point, I think he’s banged half the soccer team.”
Sam pinched the bridge of his nose. “We’re getting off-track again. What do you mean you ‘told her what I’m packing’?”
“You know…” She gestured at him.
“No, I don’t know.”
“You know…that you’re carrying heat. That you’re taller lying down. That—”
“How would YOU know?”
Ash paused and gave him one of her best eye rolls. “Sam, do I need to remind you of the whole bit we just did about Aaron Eckhart?”
“Thomas Jane.”
“They’re the same person! The point is that we already established that you’re a fucking tripod. Hell, even my neighbor's kid knows about it now.”
“First, it’s too soon to be joking about that. Second, that’s…circumstantial.”
“This isn’t a courtroom, Sam.”
“You know what I mean! It’s…speculation…third-hand, whatever. It’s not like you’ve seen it, so why would you tell Veronica that?”
An expression of shocked incredulity contorted her face. “Seriously, Sam? After all the times you spent the night, you don’t think I noticed your morning wood? After all the times you went swimming in my pool? Those swim trunks are super thin.”
Sam’s mouth fell open, and his hands dropped to his cover himself like he was wearing the trunks now. “You said they were fine!”
“Yeah, fine.” She looked him up and down with exaggerated lasciviousness. Sam gasped and turned beet red. “Don’t be such a baby. Remember when Rhonda Miller gave you a handy at her birthday party?” Sam didn’t respond, just stared at her in horror. She flourished her hands toward his nether region again. “That was two weeks after I bought those trunks for you. And why are you complaining? It seems like every time I buy you clothes you get lucky. Now…are you done being such a little bitch so we can get down to business?”
They spent the next hour talking about what Sam would do on the date. Where to go for dinner, what to order, and what to say. Despite his recent run-in with Mrs. Murray, Sam wasn’t experienced, so she tried to give tips on what to do after dinner, but he kept plugging his ears until she stopped talking. Oh well, he’d figure it out.
More likely Veronica will figure it out for him.
After she’d given him strict instructions on what to wear and what to do with his hair, Sam left to get ready.
After the frenetic ball of nerves that was her best friend left, Ash dropped onto her bed and stared at the ceiling. She wondered if she should have told him the truth. That it hadn’t been that easy to convince Veronica to go on a date with him. It took a little more than she’d let on. Veronica may have a reputation, but she wasn’t a total slut.
Sam had really pissed Veronica off when he didn’t ask her to the dance. So, Ash had to explain that while Sam may look like a man on the outside, inside he was really just another dumb boy with no idea how to talk to women. She also told Veronica that Sam was the kindest and most considerate guy she knew. That he always thought about his friends, and in all the years she’d known him, he’d never once forgotten her birthday and had even willingly gone to every chick flick she’d ever wanted to watch at the theater.
Then there was the time in Arkham where he almost beat that creeper to death… A shiver had run around the table of girls when Ash told that story. Yes, it was the 21st century, and they were supposed to be strong, independent women who didn’t need no man, but there was just something about a protector that was just so panty-meltingly hot.
After a moment of silence, one girl from Dunwich volunteered to go on a date with Sam if Veronica didn’t agree. But Veronica turned to Ash and had said something that pulled the rug out from Ash’s feet.
“If he’s so perfect, then why aren’t you with him instead of Randy?”
In retrospect, Ash shouldn’t have spent so long extolling all Sam’s virtues. She should have talked about how he was a terrible cook, that he complained when she made him break his nutrition plan, or that he was woefully uninformed about women. But it was too late for that.
Veronica’s question was harder to answer than it should have been. She should have been able to say because I’m not interested, because he’s my best friend, or because he’s basically my father’s son.
But those excuses weren’t good enough.
“Because he likes you,” was what she said, and she almost choked on the words.
Yeah, maybe she should have told Sam that Veronica took some convincing, but the Lord knows the guy needed a confidence boost. Even with Veronica’s proclivities, she and Sam hooking up tonight wasn’t a done deal.
But we need it to be.
Ash groaned and rolled over, burying her head in a massive pile of pillows. Since Veronica had asked that damned question, it was all Ash could think about. She barely remembered saying goodbye and leaving the food court. She had told Sam that she hung out with the girls for a while, but the truth was she spent the time walking and mulling over the question.
Why hadn’t she and Sam ever hooked up? On paper, he seemed like the perfect guy. God knew she dated worse, much worse. Ash had practically made her way through the rugby team. And the basketball team. She’d like to say that she had a thing for jocks, but she’d dated a handful of band geeks, too.
So why haven’t we ever dated?
The thought sent a thrill of fear through her. If they ever dated, what would happen if they ever broke up? Sam seemed like the perfect guy, but let’s be honest, Ash was a mess.
I mean, look at my track record. My longest relationship by far has been with Randy. And that wasn’t saying much.
A more supportive part of her psyche rose in her defense. It’s not just my fault, though. What do you expect when you date some of the biggest jerks in school?
Hmm. Maybe there was something to that. Maybe she hadn’t dated Sam because he wasn’t a jerk. If she created a wordcloud listing the personality traits of her former paramours, “douchebag” would probably be the most prominent characteristic.
Yikes, Ash.
This was why she didn’t like introspection. She was much more comfortable doing and not thinking. It was much more fun and didn’t leave you feeling like shit or questioning your life choices.
With a concerted effort, she shunted aside whatever character development epiphany she was verging on and got back to what was originally torturing her.
Did she want to date Sam?
The two-hour-long walk hadn’t yielded any answers, and she wasn’t any closer to answering it now.
Walking up the steps to her room was one of the hardest things she had ever done. She wanted to tell Sam that she struck out with Veronica, but that would have doomed her dad, Alice, Judy…and everyone else. Because there were people, a lot more. While Sam was getting the car ready at the hospital, she overheard Dottie talking to the nurses about the influx of coma patients.
Sam already had enough to worry about, so she hadn’t told him. The last thing they needed was for him to hit it off with Veronica and strike out because of performance anxiety.
Her eyes found the painting across the room. It was finally on the wall where she could see it from bed. For the first time since discovering it at Heavenly Treasures, she didn’t find it pretty. The two lovers embracing didn’t fill her with the thrill of love, nor did it send shivers of anticipatory delight when she thought about Randy holding her like that.
The urge to toss it out the window was almost too strong to fight. Almost.
There may not be a curse. All this could be for nothing, and she could be spending her dad’s last hours playing matchmaker for the clueless guy she might be in love with and the girl that he was in love with.
She almost laughed. For the first time in her life, she had found not one but two things she feared: destroying the painting that might be the key to saving her family…and confronting her feelings for her best friend.