This is part 6 of the Disguises series. Please let me know what you think at [email protected]!
* * *
Sam felt an aching sensation in his chest as he glanced over at Josie's sleeping form in the seat next to him. She was so beautiful, so innocent... so drunk, he reminded himself. And now his seventeen-year-old student was passed out in his car and he had no idea what he should do or where he was going to take her.
After pausing at a red light at the intersection for a minute, Sam veered the car off to the right and parked it on the side of the road, leaving the engine running. He unfastened his seatbelt so he could lean toward Josie to study her more closely. Her heavy lids fluttered slightly, indicating that she was in a deep sleep.
"Josie," he whispered, in a feeble attempt to wake her. She didn't stir. Sam inhaled deeply, feeling helpless in this situation. Sitting before him was the woman he knew he loved, and his heart ached knowing that his actions tonight were partially responsible for her being in this condition. "I'm so sorry, Josie," he said out loud, "I never meant to hurt you." After getting no response, Sam turned in his seat to face forward. He needed to think about what to do next.
Resting both hands lightly on the steering wheel, it occurred to Sam that he could find out Josie's address by looking at her license. He turned to see if Josie was carrying a purse and saw her lacy handbag resting in her lap. Feeling slightly guilty for going through her private things, he reluctantly reached over and retrieved the bag, pulling open the drawstring that held it together. Sifting through some of her things, he found a small wallet at the bottom and pulled it out. Opening it, Sam smiled as he spied a picture of two turtles, which was tucked into one of the picture slots. Flipping through other various pictures and library cards, he spotted an Illinois license and slid it out.
As Sam studied the license, a look of confusion washed over his face when he focused on a picture of a somewhat plain looking, brunette woman with straight hair pulled back behind her face. How strange, Sam thought, that this woman didn't really look like Josie at all. His eyes shifted to her address, which read
Josephine Geller 202 N. Bissell Street Chicago, Illinois 60614
At first, Sam was amused at seeing Josie being referred to as Josephine, but slowly his confusion began to intensify when he recognized her address as being in the city: Lincoln Park, to be more specific. Why would she go to South Glen South if she lived in the city? Sam looked over at Josie, who was still sound asleep, breathing deeply. He returned his gaze to her license, when something else caught his eye:
Birthdate: 10-21-73
Sam's heart raced when he saw the last number. 73. 1973! That would make Josie... 25 years old! Sam looked up again at Josie as he tried to swallow the lump in his throat. Josie 25 years old!? How could that be!?
In his anxiousness, Sam gripped Josie's license in the sweaty palm of his right hand while he unconsciously placed his left hand back on the steering wheel, rapidly tapping his thumb on it. What was the meaning of this? What was going on?
As he stared out the window focusing on a lone vehicle making a left turn down the street, it finally came to him. Of course! It was so simple. Josie had a fake ID. That was the only explanation. The woman in the picture was probably her sister or someone else.
With a sigh of relief, Sam's grip loosened on the card in his hand and he turned to Josie once again. "You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" he whispered to her. Josie moaned softly in response and turned her head in the other direction. Putting the fake license back in Josie's wallet, he continued searching for her real license, but didn't find it.
Sighing heavily, he put Josie's wallet back into her purse and laid it softly back into her lap. Shaking his head, he pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. Without knowing Josie's real address, he was back to square one.
Turning back in his seat, Sam sighed heavily as he fastened his seatbelt and put the car in drive, heading off to the only place he knew they could go.
* * *
"Josie... Josie, wake up." With the passenger door open, Sam leaned inside the car and lightly squeezed Josie's shoulder, hoping that she would wake up from her deep sleep. She breathed in heavily but her eyes didn't open. "Josie, can you wake up for me?" Still no response.
Knowing he had no other choice, Sam reached in and slipped his left hand behind Josie's back, while tucking his right arm under her legs. He scooped her into his arms and lifted her sleeping body out of the car. As he pulled her close to him, he turned and gently shoved the car door closed with his backside.
As Sam walked slowly up the sidewalk leading to his apartment, his heart began racing when he felt Josie's hot breath on his neck. He remembered fantasizing about Josie being this close to him the other night when he was with Lara, but the fantasy was nothing close to the real thing.
He knew he shouldn't be having these feelings now, when everything was wrong -- the timing, the situation -- but Josie had such an intense effect on him that he couldn't seem to help it. Closing his eyes for a moment to savor and then to shut out the sensation, Sam stood in front of the door, slipped in the key, and opened it.
Still carrying Josie in his arms as he walked into the living room, Sam paused in front of the sofa, looking down at the threadbare, malformed cushions. In true bachelor fashion, he had never replaced the sofa he inherited from his grandparents years ago. He knew that he should have replaced it when the springs started poking through the fabric, but he had just never gotten around to it. Lara had complained incessantly about his taste in furniture, but it hadn't really bothered him. Not until now.
As Josie stirred quietly in his arms, Sam turned and carried her into his bedroom, knowing that she would be more comfortable there. He gently lowered her onto his bed, and Josie sighed deeply. With her head against the pillow, she slowly opened her heavy lids and looked up at Sam, with a dreamy, glazed look in her eyes.
Sam felt a sudden heat burn in his gut in reaction to her, and his heart pounded and his breathing went shallow. She was here with him, in his apartment - in his bed, just like he'd dreamed so many times before�except that it wasn't. He never dreamed of her being drunk and helpless like this, and he felt guilty at the intense feeling stirring through his body.
"Sam� You're here�" Josie said huskily, barely above a whisper.
Sam swallowed past the huge lump in his throat and soothed, "Shhh..." as his hand unconsciously went to Josie's forehead to move a loose strand of her blond hair out of her eyes. "Get some rest."
Josie nodded slowly and her heavy lids closed. "Where am I?" she asked with her eyes still closed.
"You're safe. We'll talk about it when you wake up in the morning, okay?"
After a long moment, Josie nodded again.
Sam turned to the closet and reached for an extra blanket on the top shelf. Walking back to the bed, he unfolded it and gently covered Josie with it. Hearing her heavy breathing, he knew that she was again in a deep sleep. "Sleep well, Josie," he whispered.
* * *
Closing the door softly behind him, Sam walked back into the living room and sat in his leather recliner. He rolled his head backward to rest on the back of the chair and looked up at the ceiling.
With the impact of what happened tonight beginning to wash over him, he exhaled deeply. "What have you gotten yourself into, Sam?" he said to himself, out loud.
Recounting the day's events, Sam realized that: one, he and Lara were through. Two, the woman he spent the last five years of his life with was nothing but a manipulative, self-centered bitch. Three, Lara knew about Sam's feelings for Josie, his seventeen-year-old student, and she could potentially hurt them both. And then, a smile slowly formed in the corners of Sam's mouth. Four, based on Josie's actions tonight, Sam knew that she had feelings for him. Of all that had occurred, that was the most important thing to Sam. The rest would work itself out. It had to.
With the last thought swimming in Sam's head, he let his mind wander to the vision of Josie sleeping in his bed. Feeling his heart beat faster, he shook his head and got up off the chair. "Get it together, Sam."
Sam entered the bathroom, closed the door, and looked at his reflection in the mirror. Aside from noticing his flushed complexion, he realized for the first time since seeing Josie in the garden that he was still wearing his Lancelot costume. Unhooking his cape, he let if fall to the floor. He then reached for the bottom of his tunic and pulled it up over his head, letting it fall next to the cape. Taking the rest of his clothing off, Sam turned on the shower and stepped into the cold stream of water.
* * *
Feeling sufficiently numb from his long, cold, shower, Sam grabbed his small towel and quickly towel-dried his hair before wrapping the blue terrycloth around his waist. Looking down at the clothes on the floor, it occurred to him that he didn't have anything to change into. He would have to go back into his bedroom to get some clothes to sleep in.
Tucking the ends of the towel in around his waist, Sam walked out of the bathroom and slowly turned the doorknob of his bedroom door, trying not to make a sound. As he walked through the doorway, he glanced over to Josie who was curled up asleep in her blanket, just as he had left her. He tiptoed across the room to his dresser and slowly slid a drawer open, getting a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. Closing it slowly, he heard movement behind him and turned toward the sound.
Sam's breath caught in his throat at what he saw.
With her eyes barely open, Josie had gotten up and was now standing at the side of the bed mumbling to herself, "Why am I still in my dress?" Her voice sounded low and husky, and her hair was mussed up from having slept on it. She looked and sounded much as she had in many of Sam's more erotic dreams about her.
As much as he knew he shouldn't be there, that he should get out of there, Sam found himself glued to his spot on the floor; he was unable to take his eyes from her, let alone move. He watched in a daze as Josie reached for the hem of her sundress and then pulled it up over her head, dropping in a heap on the floor next to her.
Sam audibly gasped. Even in his wildest dreams, he hadn't imagined this: Josie stood before him in nothing but a drop-dead sexy, completely touchable looking red silk slip.
Sam's heart began to pound and he suddenly felt lightheaded. 'Oh my God�So much for that cold shower�' he thought. He hadn't realized that Josie looked so�so�incredible. He was in such a state of shock that he almost didn't realize that the towel around his waist was coming loose. But at the last moment, he felt the tucked in piece give way and he grabbed the two ends tightly with his left hand before the towel fell, readjusting it and tucking it in even more securely.
Looking back up in relief, he studied Josie's face to determine if she had noticed anything. But indeed, it seemed as if Josie did not even realize he was there.
Sam felt as if he were caught in one of his own dreams. After all, how absurd did it seem that they would actually be standing in his bedroom, he in nothing but a towel (and a too small one, at that), and she in nothing but that heavenly confection of a red slip?
But Sam's feeling of complacent surrealism ended abruptly with an ice-water shiver of horror. For as he watched, unable to move, Josie was reaching for the hem of her slip.
Falling quickly back into reality, Sam was finally spurred into action. He quickly strode across the room and put his right hand firmly on Josie's shoulder to deter her. "Josie, wait! No, no� Don't do that�"
In response to Sam's voice, Josie straightened and let her hand fall limply back to her side. She looked up at him, as if only just realizing he was there, and then looked him up and down once very slowly, almost as if she were memorizing the sight. She raised her heavy-lidded, questioning eyes to his, and Sam blushed furiously even though he realized she was more asleep than awake and most likely would never remember this very embarrassing moment.
Sam cleared his throat and then said in his firm teacher's voice, "Okay Josie�back to bed for you. Come on." After a moment, she nodded, and he gently guided her back to the bed and covered her with the blanket once again. "Now, get some sleep."
With that, he turned and walked back across the room to gather up the clothing he'd dropped on the floor when he'd rushed over to Josie. Going over to the closet, he grabbed a spare blanket and pillow and tucked them under his right arm.
Looking back over toward the bed, he was relieved to see that Josie was once again asleep. Sam couldn't resist the urge to tuck the blankets around her and to take one last look at her. "You really are something, Josie Geller," he whispered, more to himself than to her. He brought his fingers to his lips, kissed them, and then gently brushed them against her forehead, his fingers lingering in one of her golden curls.
Sam turned and walked to the doorway. As he exited the room and closed the door, he muttered to himself with a sigh, "This is going to be one long night."
* * *