Hi, everyone! I hope you like the latest installment of my story. It's always great to hear what you think, so please don't hesitate to email me at [email protected], or post on the message board. Thanks! You guys are awesome!
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A week later, Josie waited in the living room of Sam's apartment for Matt and Jen to arrive. Sam was at school, finishing up grading final exams. It was the last day he'd have to spend at school until the end of the summer.
Since Josie's initial conversation with Matt, she had learned a great deal about him and the rest of Sam's family, and she and Matt had spoken on the phone on two other occasions as well. Evidently, Jen was the first real girlfriend that Matt had had. Although he'd attended a large private school in Detroit, just as Sam had, he'd never really been popular. He tended to keep to himself a lot, and he took his mini video camera and his skateboard with him wherever he went.
As it turned out, the story of how he and Jen had finally gotten together was quite an intriguing one. He'd met her in the cafeteria at school and liked her instantly, but for a whole semester he didn't do anything besides say "hi" to her. They weren't in any of the same classes, and he didn't know her phone number or where she lived, since he'd been too shy when they initially met to ask her.
When the second semester came around, Matt found out that he and Jen were in the same science class, so he made sure to sit beside her every day and eventually got up the nerve to ask her out. They had been together ever since then.
Matt was Sam's only sibling. Their parents lived in a comfortable house in a wealthy suburb of Detroit, and their father had had a high-paying job with Ford for thirty years before he retired. Their mother was an English teacher at the junior high that both of the boys had attended. Sam credited his mom completely for his love of reading and writing.
Josie thought about all this as she rose from Sam's couch and went to the window, watching for Matt's car to arrive. Sam had told her to expect a blue Dodge Neon, which Matt had bought himself with money he'd saved between working at school and in a mall close to their home during the summer. He had bought the car used from a dealer that happened to be a friend of their dad's.
Sure enough, Josie hadn't been standing in front of the window for more than five minutes when she saw the car she was expecting pull up next to the sidewalk. She watched as Matt and Jen climbed out of the car, Matt making his way to the trunk. He pulled out two large suitcases as Jen came to join him. Josie saw them talking, and then Matt shook his head, kissing Jen on the cheek before the two of them made their way up to the front door.
When the doorbell rang, Josie waited a few seconds before she answered, not wanting to seem too eager. Finally, she opened the door and saw the young couple standing there in front of her. Josie could definitely see a little of Sam in Matt. He had the same green eyes, the same crooked, almost shy, smile. But Matt's hair was a somewhat peculiar brownish-orange color, and it reminded Josie of the leaves changing color in the fall. Also, Matt was shorter than his brother, maybe 5'8" or 5'9" instead of Sam's six feet.
Jen was little more than five feet tall, with shoulder length dark blond hair and small green eyes. She was certainly pretty, Josie thought, although she seemed like the type of girl who wouldn't notice it or try to flaunt it. Oddly, though she had never even heard this girl speak, she saw a little bit of herself in her.
"You're here!" Josie exclaimed as Matt set the two suitcases that he'd been carrying at his feet. She stepped closer to him and drew him in for a hug. Next, he smiled at Jen and gave her a hug as well.
"Where do you want our suitcases?" Matt asked her.
"You can put them in the guest room, although I think Sam has you sleeping on the couch, Matt."
Matt chuckled and smiled at Jen, who blushed and looked away. They seemed like such a sweet couple! Josie could hardly wait to really talk to them. "Well, I left my skateboard and my video camera in the trunk, so I'll be right back," Matt announced, kissing Jen on the cheek once again before moving back out the door.
Once Matt had gone, Jen looked up at Josie and smiled. "I told him I'd carry those inside for him, but he wouldn't let me. He's always so concerned about being a gentleman."
Josie couldn't help but laugh at that. "Sounds just like his brother," she observed.
Josie helped Jen move the two suitcases into Sam's guest room and soon Matt was back with his skateboard and video camera, which he set in the room before joining the girls in the living room. Josie sat on the couch while Matt and Jen squeezed into the recliner beside it. They let the chair recline back and Matt put his arms around Jen, her head resting against his chest. He whispered something in her ear, and she giggled. "So," Josie began warmly, "how was the ride down here?"
"Not too bad, actually," Matt replied. "The worst traffic was leaving Detroit and then coming into Chicago, but the bit in between was actually kind of peaceful."
"Well, that's good. There are some crazy drivers out there, so it's important to be careful."
* * *
Later on that night, after Sam had made dinner for the four of them, Matt and Jen decided to take a drive around the neighborhood. They rode along in Matt's car for about ten minutes in silence when Matt pulled up impulsively at a small party store. The building was set back away from the main street a little bit, and looked old and rather run-down. Jen noticed a large sign inside one of the front windows that read "All Cigarettes Half-Price! Today ONLY!!!" She drew in a breath, thinking about all the people who had died from smoking and how that one act had taken over so many people's lives. She'd become even more aware of this in college, where she had been alarmed at the number of people her age that smoked. Although the stench of the smoke bothered her and she thought those kids looked stupid smoking, she really felt more sorry for them than anything else. "I just remembered something I need," Matt explained to Jen, bringing her back to the present. "Do you want anything?"
"No, I'm fine," she insisted, smiling at him.
"Okay. Be right back." He leaned over the seat and kissed her on the cheek before climbing out of the car and jogging into the store. Through the window with the cigarette poster in it, Jen could see Matt standing at the checkout counter talking to the clerk. Matt took out his wallet, producing his driver's license. Suddenly, a queasy feeling began to develop in Jen's stomach. She swallowed hard and watched as the two of them conversed for a few more seconds, and then the man behind the counter handed Matt a pack of cigarettes.
"Matt, what are you doing�" Jen muttered under her breath. Nervously, she began chewing on her bottom lip and continued to watch as he shoved the pack of cigarettes in his pocket, paid for them, and then made his way back out to the car. He smiled at her as he sat back down beside her, as if something completely normal had just happened. "What did you buy, sweetheart?" Jen asked him, playing it innocent.
"Oh, nothing�Just�a�nothing�" He nervously pulled his shirt collar away from the back of his neck, not looking her in the eye.
"Matt, why can't you tell me what you bought?" Jen whispered, her voice trembling. Not only had he just bought cigarettes, but he obviously had no intention of admitting this to her! If there was one thing she hated, it was being lied to.
"It's not important, Jen, honestly," he insisted, almost sounding angry this time.
Suddenly, Jen unfastened her seatbelt, climbing out of the car and slamming the door shut as hard as she could. Alarmed, Matt got out of the car as well, staring at her in disbelief. "Jen, what are you doing?" he asked her with all the composure he could muster.
"You jerk!" Jen shrieked, anger and disappointment in her eyes. "I saw what you bought in the store! You know how I feel about that! Why are you trying to hide it from me?"
"Because I knew you wouldn't like it," he told her. "I didn't want to disappoint you."
"Well, it's too late for that now, isn't it?" she asked, a stray tear sliding down her cheek. "I don't even know why you would want to do that!"
"Jen, can we go someplace else and talk about this?" he whispered, noticing that their shouting had attracted the attention of people around the store. A man who had come out after Matt had stopped just outside the door to watch, along with a group of kids about their age who had been walking down the street minding their own business.
Jen folded her arms across her chest. "No, I don't want to talk to you," she insisted, nearly sobbing at that point. "I can't even look at you right now!"
"Jen, please!" he cried, looking incredibly hurt. "Just listen to me!" He walked around the car to where she was standing, gently touching her shoulder. She pushed him away abruptly, as if his touch had burned her.
"I said no, okay?" she yelled, walking past him and heading toward the party store.
"Where are you going?" he called, starting to go after her.
"Go back to Sam's house," she insisted, turning around sharply to look at him. At that point her face was stained with tears, and he just wanted to hold her and make the pain he had obviously caused her go away. "I'm going to call Josie and see if I can stay with her tonight," she told him before she turned around and walked into the store. Matt followed her, standing beside her at the checkout counter. "Excuse me, sir, but may I use your phone?" Jen asked the man calmly, wiping her eyes.
The man was about to pick it up and hand it to her when Matt shouted, "Wait! That won't be necessary, sir, but thanks."
"All right," the man shrugged, obviously confused by Matt's sudden outburst.
Jen glared at Matt. "Why won't you leave me alone?" she asked.
"Jen, just listen to me for a second," he insisted. "Josie is still at my brother's house. At least let me drive you back there. It would be a lot more practical."
Jen sighed and left the store, Matt following close behind. He was relieved when she got into the passenger side of the car. He got in the car as well, starting it up and driving back to his brother's house. He glanced at Jen and sighed, seeing that her body was turned to face the window.
"Why do you have to be so stubborn?" Matt asked after a few minutes of silence lapsed between them. He was sorry as soon as the words came out of his mouth, but at least it got her talking again.
Abruptly, Jen turned to look at him, anger and hurt in her eyes. "I am not stubborn!" she insisted. "How dare you say that to me after what you did?"
Matt drew in a breath. "Okay, fine, you're not stubborn," he said calmly. "So talk to me."
Jen sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "What do you want me to say?" she asked him.
"Tell me what you're thinking," he replied softly, placing one of his hands over hers. He was relieved when she didn't try to push it away.
"You don't want to know what I'm thinking right now," she whispered, looking down at her lap.
"Yes, I do," he insisted. "Whatever it is, I can take it."
Finally, she looked at him. "All right�Well, frankly, Matt, I don't think I've ever been so disappointed in anyone in my whole life. And although the fact that you bought a pack of cigarettes bothers me, what hurts even more is that you felt like you had to hide it from me. It makes me wonder what else you're hiding from me. Do I really know you? Right now I feel like I'm with a complete stranger, and that scares me."
Matt let her words soak in. Luckily, at that point they had reached Sam's apartment, and he pulled the car up to the curb, turning off the ignition. He unbuckled his seatbelt, turning to face her. "Okay, now it's my turn to be honest," he said, looking into her eyes. "A couple of my friends from home started smoking while they were in college, so when I came home at the end of the semester, they kept bugging me to try it. I didn't really want to because I didn't like the smell of it, and plus I knew that you didn't like it, so I kept refusing�but then one day I decided to try it to see what the fuss was all about. I didn't like it. It was nasty. But they said that it gets better, and it did. I got used to it, I guess. It's kind of�relaxing. I'm not addicted or anything. I only do it with them, and I saw that the party store was having a sale, so�"
Matt stopped talking in order to try to read Jen's expression. She wasn't smiling, but she didn't look as upset either, so he continued. "I guess when I saw the sign about the sale, I acted on it out of habit."
Jen shook her head vigorously, staring at her hands as she twined them together in her lap. He watched in horror as a fat tear fell from her eye and landed on her hands. He heard a sob escape her, and her shoulders shook violently. Slowly, Matt leaned over and tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her ear, placing his thumb under her chin to make her look at him. He had never seen her so distressed before, and it scared him. "Jen?" he whispered. "I won't ever smoke again, I promise. And I won't ever try to hide anything from you like that. Never again."
"Do you want to know why smoking bothers me so much?" she asked him, her voice so low he almost thought he'd imagined her saying the words. Without waiting for a response from him, she continued, "Last year, something happened to my uncle because of those terrible things. His arteries were clogged, his lungs almost completely shot. The doctor told him that he'd have to quit smoking right away or he'd only have a few months to live�So he quit�He did everything the doctor told him to do, but he died! It was too late! He got addicted to those things when he was not much older than we are now. The damage had already been done."
"Oh, Jen, I'm so sorry," he whispered. "C'mere." Gently, he placed his arm around her shoulders and pulled her up close to him so that her head rested on his shoulder.
"I want to believe you, Matt, I do, but�"
Jen slowly lifted her head so that she could look into his eyes. She knew him well enough now to be able to tell when he was lying to her. "Jen, I'm so sorry about what I did," he whispered. "I didn't know why you were so sensitive about it, and I guess I didn't really stop to try to figure it out. I never want to hurt someone I love like that ever again."
"Wha�What did you say?" she whispered, sliding back in her seat a little.
"I love you," he whispered, his voice wavering slightly. "I haven't felt this way about anyone before, not ever. You're the most important person in the world to me. If you're not happy, I'm not happy."
Once again, tears began to stream down Jen's face, but this time they were tears of happiness. Of course, Matt had no way of knowing this, and he became concerned. "Oh, Jen, please don't cry," he whispered.
"I love you too," she told him wiping her eyes. She slid forward in her seat and placed her arms around his neck, pulling him in for a kiss.
"We should probably go inside," Matt whispered once the kiss ended.
Jen giggled. "Is your brother really going to make you sleep on the couch?"
* * *
Meanwhile, inside, Josie and Sam were snuggled together under a quilt on Sam's couch, watching Robin Hood: Men in Tights, which Sam had rented. Both found that they couldn't seem to stop laughing at the crazy antics of the main characters in the film. "It's always nice to be able to sit back, relax, and a laugh a little," Josie observed, lying her head on Sam's shoulder.
"Yeah, I know what you mean," he agreed. "I think I'd be content to just sit here with you for the rest of my life."
"Oh, Sam�" Josie blushed, snuggling closer to him under the blankets.
"It's true, though. This is what it's all about."
"Wouldn't you miss your students if you just sat here with me all the time though, Sam?" she whispered, smiling.
"Nah. Besides, it's summer. Not a problem."
Just then, they heard what sounded like a car pulling up. "Sounds like Matt and Jen are back," Josie announced.
"Odd. When Matt said they were going to drive around, I guess I thought they'd be gone a little longer."
"That's terrible, Sam!" Josie exclaimed with a laugh. "Are you trying to get rid of your brother?"
"No, not at all, but I rather like sitting here with you watching this movie. Now that Matt has a girlfriend, I have to keep my eyes open."
Josie giggled. "You sound like you're his dad or something! What are you worried about? Matt's a good guy."
"Yeah, but he's a guy, Jos," Sam emphasized. "I know he really loves Jen. I wouldn't even be too surprised if he ended up marrying her someday. He's like me in that respect. He was never interested in a shallow, surface relationship, which is a big part of the reason why he never had a girlfriend before Jen. He always wanted more."
"Did you date in high school?" Josie asked, growing more curious by the minute.
Sam nodded. "Yeah, a little. But I was always more interested in reading and playing hockey back then. I dated a few girls, and I had one long-term girlfriend."
"Tell me about her," Josie probed.
Sam sighed and sat up a little on the couch. "All right. Well, her name was Sara Davis. She was one of the smartest girls in my class, as well as one of the most outgoing. During our junior year, word got back to me that she liked me, so I decided to ask her out, since I'd always thought she was a nice girl. We dated for four months. She was very interesting, very intellectual, but after a while our relationship fizzled. I wanted more of a commitment than she did, so we broke up."
"Was she your only girlfriend before Lara?"
Sam nodded. "Yeah. I met Lara at a party that one of my buddies was holding my junior year of college. She had been dating one of my good friends, but they broke up about three months before we got together. I was attracted to her because she seemed so confident and I thought she was beautiful, and she showed interest in me right away. Truthfully, though, I knew that she was wrong for me after we'd been dating for only a year, although I wouldn't admit it to myself. I guess it became easy just to go along with her. It was better than being alone."
Josie was surprised to find that Sam's talking about his past loves didn't bother her one bit. She was secure enough in herself and in their relationship to know that she didn't have anything to worry about. She knew that he and Lara had slept together, and even this thought didn't bother her. In fact, it prompted her to ask the next question. "Lara was your first, wasn't she?"
Sam seemed a little stunned by the question. "Josie, if talking about this bothers you at all, we can stop," he insisted.
"It doesn't, Sam, really," she insisted. "Lara is in your past. I'm the one you're with now, and I know that what happened between you and Lara happened before we even knew each other, so it would be silly for me to be angry with you about it."
Sam smiled and kissed her on the cheek. "I don't deserve you," he whispered.
"Yes, you do," she insisted, resting her head on his shoulder again. "Now answer my question."
Sam sighed. "Yeah, she was. I waited for six months before I let us do anything. I wasn't in any hurry, and I wanted to be sure it was right. I thought I was truly in love with her then, and she with me. I guess that's why I'm a little antsy about this whole situation with Matt and Jen. They've been together for about five months now, and I can see that he is as in love with her as I am with you, and how I thought I was with Lara."
"Speaking of Matt and Jen, shouldn't they have come inside by now?" Josie wondered, remembering that they had heard the car pull up a while ago.
As if to answer her question, the front door opened and Matt and Jen slipped inside. Both Sam and Josie could tell that Jen had been crying, but both of them were now smiling. "Back so soon?" Sam said.
Matt smiled. "Well, we had a few little problems, but everything's all worked out now, isn't it, Jen?"
Jen smiled at him, nodding.
"Well, that's good," Josie piped in. "What are you two up to now?"
"Actually, we wanted to talk to you about something," Matt announced. He took Jen's hand and took the pack of cigarettes out of his pocket with the other.
"Matt, what are you doing with cigarettes?" Sam demanded, his voice stern.
"Just let me explain," he insisted. "Well, when I came back home after school let out, I found out that a few of my old friends had started. After awhile I gave in and tried it too, but I only did it around them. So when Jen and I were driving along, I stopped at this party store because they were having a sale on these�but I honestly don't know what I was thinking. Anyway, to make a long story short, I'm never touching another cigarette again for as long as I live, and that's a promise to all of you."
Sam looked a little concerned, but he took the pack of cigarettes from his brother. "Well, I'm glad you have it all worked out," he said. "Everything okay, then?"
Both Matt and Jen nodded. "Yeah," Matt replied. "Actually, Jen and I are kind of tired, so we thought we'd go to bed."
"Okay. Well, Josie and I are just going to finish up this movie, and then the couch is all yours, Matt."
Matt shook his head. "Ah, don't worry about that. I was planning on sleeping in the guest room with Jen anyway."
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