This story sort of combines the ideas in Sara's "Interlude" with what Sam and Josie do next. Please drop me an e-mail at [email protected] and let me know if you like it. I have more in the works, but I want to make sure you guys like this first. Thanks.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters�I am just taking them out for a test drive�
Sam had never felt anything like this. If his first kiss with Josie had healed his heart, this second one left him breathless and speechless. After what seemed like forever, but was probably only a minute or so, he pulled back slightly to break contact and rested his forehead against Josie's, his eyes still closed. He stayed like that for a moment, trying to regain some semblance of control.
He opened his eyes and started right into Josie's. Her beautiful, expressive eyes that had captivated him from the start were telling him all he needed to know: that whatever else had happened over the last two months, their love was real.
As reality started to settle back into his consciousness, Sam heard the frantic cheering of the crowd, saw the glare of hundreds of flashbulbs, and felt the presence of South Glen's starting pitcher. He was standing just off the mound, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, looking a little embarrassed.
Sam smiled and wrapped his arm around Josie's waist and guided her off the field. She fell comfortably into step with him and snuggled into his embrace. It felt wonderful to be able to hold her and kiss her in public after weeks of hiding his feelings (although kissing Josie for the first time in front of thousands of people, not to mention several camera crews, wasn't exactly what he'd had in mind when he'd envisioned the moment�).
As they got to the steps leading from the dugout into the bleachers, Sam and Josie were buried in microphones, video cameras, and questions. Lots of questions�mostly about Sam's identity. Not quite knowing what to do, he looked to Josie for help.
Pride swelled in his chest when he saw her slip out of his embrace, place a reassuring hand on his arm, and tug him through the crowd of reporters. She smiled enigmatically for them, but did not answer a single question. Neither did he.
Many people shouted out their good wishes to them, but no one else attempted to stop the couple from disappearing down the main tunnel and out into the parking lot below.
Now that they were alone, Josie stopped walking abruptly; Sam almost ran into her. She turned to look at him with huge, soulful eyes and Sam sensed that she was afraid. He smiled softly and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her right ear. "Josie, what? What's the matter?"
Josie looked down shyly and said, "What do we do now? I mean, where do we go from here?" Her obvious self-consciousness now that they were alone tugged at Sam's heartstrings. He cursed himself three shades of fool for ever believing this sweet, wonderful woman was capable of using him to get a story.
He tipped her chin up to make eye contact with her and said playfully, "Hopefully we can go someplace a little more secluded�like say�the El during afternoon rush hour?" She had to laugh at that. Good, he thought, because he didn't like the sadness he'd just seen lurking.
"No, really�" she trailed off, but she was at least holding his eye contact this time.
"How about we start with my car, and we'll figure it out from there?" Sam suggested.
Josie placed her hand in his and replied trustingly, "Okay." She looked around the parking lot overflowing with cars and asked, "Where did you park?"
Oh my God, he thought, as her question registered. The he grinned sheepishly and replied, "Assuming it hasn't been towed, I double-parked it about two blocks that way." He pointed up the street. They walked out to the edge of the street and looked.
Sam heaved a sigh of relief when he saw his car still sitting there in the middle of the road, hazard lights on and the driver's side door a little ajar. Josie could not stifle a giggle at the sight. Seeing the absurdity of the situation, Sam also laughed and pulled her against him as they started down the street toward his abandoned car.
When they reached the car, Sam gallantly opened the passenger side door for Josie first and allowed her to get in before jogging around the front of the car to get in the other side. As he buckled himself in, he turned to Josie and inquired, "What about your car?"
Josie, who had been staring at her lap fidgeting, looked up and smiled. "My friend Anita from the Sun-Times brought me. She figured that if you showed up, I'd be leaving with you; and if you didn't, I'd be in no condition to drive."
Sam noticed that Josie was looking distinctly uncomfortable about something, although he wasn't sure why. He tried to comfort her. "Josie, I know that there's probably a lot about the last two months that we still need to talk about. And that's okay. We'll get through it all in time. In the meantime, try not to worry so much. I realize now that you went undercover at the school to do a simple job and then everything suddenly became complicated. I'm sure you never expected to find someone to love there. I know I didn't. You found yourself immersed in a situation that you had no idea how to get out of gracefully." Thinking of how he felt when he thought Josie was his student, he said, "Trust me, I can relate." He smiled encouragingly and continued, "And if you're worrying about what I'll think of your family and friends, don't. If you love them, then I'm sure I will, too."
Unshed tears were glittering in Josie's eyes. She laid her hand against Sam's cheek and said, "How did I ever get so lucky?" After a moment, she sat back and confessed, "Actually, you've already met Anita."
Sam, who had just started up the car and put it in drive, looked over at Josie for a moment before turning out onto the street. "Oh?"
"Yeah. Anita was 'Pam Kitterman' from that Sex-Ed class. She had been on her lunch break from the paper and thought she'd stop by and say hello. But then you saw me motioning to her, and assumed she was the real Pam Kitterman. She had no choice but to play along with the ruse, or else blow my cover."
Sam chuckled at the memory of the attractive brunette blatantly flirting with him and then her rather distressed reaction to his introduction of her to the class as the instructor. "Well, she did an admirable job, considering she's not an expert, " he commended.
"Let's just say that Anita has had lots of 'hands-on' experience in the subject," Josie returned wryly, smiling. Josie took that moment to look out the window of the car and realized she didn't know where she was. "Sam, where are we going?"
"Well, if you don't mind, I'd like to stop by my apartment for a minute. I kind of left in a hurry and want to make sure everything is okay." Sam was starting to feel a little guilty. He knew that it would hurt Josie to know that he was planning to leaving town; to see the physical proof of just how close they came to losing each other forever.
Meanwhile, Josie hadn't noticed Sam's thoughtful silence. "I'd like to see where you live, " she replied shyly.
"I've got to warn you, it's sort of messy right now." That was an understatement. There were moving boxes everywhere and most of his furniture had been shoved into the dining room in preparation for the movers.
Sam slowed the car and then pulled over in front of an old Victorian house, which had since been converted to apartments. As he turned off the car and pulled the key out of the ignition, he reached over and grabbed one of Josie's hands, stilling her.
"Josie�I don't quite know how to say this, but I've got something to tell you before we go upstairs."
"Yes?" Josie asked, curious.
Sam hesitated. Better get it over with, he thought to himself. "My apartment is a mess because I was packing�to move."
"You were leaving Chicago?" Josie asked, stunned. "Why?"
"I just couldn't stay here with the memories of you all around me. Any time I picked up a newspaper, I'd think of you. Any time I went into my classroom and saw your empty seat, I'd think of you. It seemed that everything reminded me of you. I couldn't go on that way; it would have been too painful," Sam explained.
"But, school isn't even over. What about the rest of the semester? Were you just going to disappear?"
Sam shrugged and replied, "I assumed that I would no longer have a job after you published the article I had expected you to write about us."
Josie was afraid to hear the answer, but she had to ask, "Where were you going to go?"
Sam sighed and looked at Josie with a pained expression, but did not answer.
And suddenly Josie knew. "New York. You were moving to New York. You were going back to Lara?"
Sam nodded solemnly. "If she would take me back, that was." He let out a big sigh and continued, "After the prom night fiasco, I was nearly insane with pain, grief, depression, and anger. I never wanted to allow myself to feel that kind of pain again. And so I decided that true love was not all it was cracked up to be; that it was nothing more than so much romantic nonsense. "
"Sure, I knew that I wasn't in love with Lara, but it was safer, and I knew what to expect from her. No big surprises, if you know what I mean."
Josie's eyes welled up with tears, "Oh, Sam�." She could only imagine the heartbreak he must have felt. If hers had been horrible, then his must have been unbearable.
Sam continued, "Not exactly the brightest idea I've ever had. I don't know how I could have thought of that as a sane thing to do. I should have at least given you the chance to explain before throwing it all away. "
"I understand why you didn't. What George said sounded pretty damning."
George? Must have been the black man Josie had been talking to that night, Sam realized.
Sam got out of the car and came around to let Josie out. They walked up the stairs to his apartment. He continued, "But I was so afraid that if I had given you the chance to explain, that you would have found some way to convince me to forgive you. Because I wanted you to convince me. I wanted it to be some sort of bad dream that I would wake up from and find that nothing had changed between us. But I hardened my heart just long enough to get away from you. I could not allow myself to be played for a fool twice." He gave Josie a reassuring squeeze.
"You know, I've been wondering�Why did George say that about me if that wasn't the story you were working on?" Sam turned the key in the door lock and pushed the door to his apartment open.
Josie didn't answer. She was staring over his shoulder through the door of his apartment, shock and horror apparent on her face.
"Josie, hey, it's okay," Sam said, cradling her head in his hands and wiping away her tears with his thumbs. She smiled up bravely through her tears. "I know, it's just that seeing this place so barren and empty makes me hurt inside, because I realize that that was how you must have felt. I almost lost you for good."
Sam pulled her into the apartment and closed the door. Then he held her close and kissed the top of her head, wanting to ease the pain. "But you didn't. I'm right here, and I'm not going anywhere. Never again. You're the woman I always hoped I'd find, and now that I've found you, I'm never going to let you go."
Then Sam tilted Josie's head up and kissed her. Softly, gently, trying to erase the pain and sadness they had both gone through during the last two days. Even so, when they pulled back, his heart was pounding furiously and his breathing was labored. Josie took an extra moment before she opened her eyes. When she did, Sam thought he would faint dead away from the sight. Her love for him blazed in them as he'd never seen before. He stared back, helpless, unable to tear his eyes away. But then he noticed the rather obvious effect she was having on him, and he stepped back, breaking the eye contact between them.
If tonight had been her first real kiss, then she could not have much experience with the physical aspects of love, Sam realized. He certainly didn't want to scare her. Better that she be initiated slowly. This was one teaching job that he was very much looking forward to. After all, if just kissing Josie felt this good, then what would�.
Whoa, Sam thought, let's not go there right now. He cleared his throat and walked over to his overstuffed leather chair, one of the few pieces of furniture that was not stuck in the jumble of items in his dining room. He pulled Josie down to sit across his knees. (Not a bad way to hide his condition, either, he thought.)
He reached over and picked up his unwrapped Pee-Wee hockey trophy and used it to point to Josie's newspaper article, which was sitting open on top of a moving box beside them. "I was using the newspaper to wrap up my hockey trophies. I was about to grab this page to wrap this" � he held up the trophy � "one when the movers arrived. After I opened the door for them, I sat back down here to finish the job. I saw your picture � or pictures � staring at me from the page. I was stunned. It shocked me how much it could hurt just to see your face again. I didn't want to know what you would say about me, about us, but I couldn't help myself."
Josie was listening avidly to Sam's narrative. Sam pulled her back against him, putting down the trophy to wrap his arms around her. Then he continued, "Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. I was enthralled. I could feel your emotions pouring off the page. Then everything sort of clicked into place. It became clear to me that even though you had been in disguise, the person you were revealing to me was actually your true self. And I realized that you really are the woman I fell in love with." He paused to place a kiss behind Josie's ear. "When I got to the part where you announced to the whole city that you loved me, I was floored. And then, when I read that you would be waiting for me to forgive you in front of everyone at the game, I could not believe my good fortune. I couldn't believe that tonight I'd be holding you in my arms and getting to kiss you the way I'd longed to kiss you for weeks."
At that, Josie laid her head on Sam's shoulder, smiled dreamily and sighed.
Sam's stomach did a flip-flop at the sound and the whisper of her breath across his cheek. He closed his eyes for a minute to regain control. He wanted to finish the story. He wanted Josie to understand.
"But you can't imagine my horror and panic when I looked at my watch and realized it was 15 minutes to game time. I was determined to get there, to get to you. I drove like a complete madman, and when I hit traffic near the stadium, I abandoned my car and ran the rest of the way. I was not going to lose you twice in the same lifetime," Sam smiled.
"The clock must have just counted down to zero as I arrived, because there had been all kinds of shouting and cheering and then just�nothing. I raced up the stairs to the top of the bleachers just in time to see you drop the microphone. God, it killed me to see you standing there alone believing I wasn't coming." He shuddered.
Josie turned a little in Sam's embrace to put her arms around his neck. She said, "But everything worked out okay." She smiled.
Sam smiled back. "Better than okay, I think." And then he kissed her, really kissed her, like he had on the ball field. When they finished, they clung to each other, waiting for the wondrous emotions swirling around them to recede enough for them to speak.
Once Josie was reasonably in control, she took another look around Sam's apartment. Behind them was a small dining room attached to a kitchen, and off to the right side was a closed door that she assumed led to his bedroom.
"Gosh, Sam, it's going to take a lot of work to put all this to right again. Would you like me to help?" Josie inquired.
"Yes, I'd like that�but not tonight. I don't even want to think about it tonight," Sam replied.
Josie was smiling as she said, "Then I think you've got a bit of a problem."
"What?"
"Well, if I'm not mistaken, that" �she said, pointing into the dining room�"looks like a bed."
Sam looked over his shoulder to see what Josie was pointing at and groaned. Damn, he thought, how could he have forgotten that he had broken down the bed for the movers? In fact, the pieces were leaning against the back wall behind practically everything else in his apartment. It could take him days to be able to reach it.
"Well, I could always sleep here in the chair until I can get it out," he said, not wanting to think about the stiff muscles he'd have in the morning.
"Or you could stay at my place," Josie said, and then blushed a little at the thought.
She was so adorable when she blushed. "Is that okay? Really?"
"Yes, it's fine, " she said.
Sam was thrilled at this turn of events. He had secretly been dreading having to say good night and be without her again, however temporary a separation it might be. "Okay, let me get a few things together and we can go." Sam got up and headed toward the bedroom.
Josie was soon missing Sam's presence, so she got up to busy herself. She grabbed a box marked "Kitchen" and took it in there to unpack. She unwrapped the plates and placed them in a neat stack on the side of the sink, not knowing where he kept them. Then she took the paper, put it back into the empty box and put the box aside. She reached for a second, smaller "kitchen" box and opened it. It was almost empty. There were a few school bulletins, some outdated coupons, and some magnets for the fridge. And a picture. One rather crumpled picture, lying face down in the box. Curious, she reached in and picked it up.
Tears pricked at Josie's eyes at what she found. It was a picture of her and Sam, taken just after they had finished painting the sunset backdrop for the prom. They were standing in front of it, a friendly arm around each other. They were both grinning like idiots because they were covered head to foot with multicolored splotches that they'd "accidentally" painted on each other.
Just then, Sam put his arms around Josie from behind and asked, "Hey, watcha doing?"
Josie held the picture up higher so that Sam could see it. He smiled into her neck. "I had such fun that day; more fun than I'd had in a long time. I must have thrown that picture out at least a half a dozen times in the last few days. But, in the end, I decided to keep it."
Josie placed the picture down on the counter and turned into Sam's embrace. "Ready to go?" she asked.
"Yep." Sam reached down and grabbed the handles of his small black duffel. "Let's go."
* * *