Okay, I'm just writing this story from a different perspective. Lets just say that Sam didn't get to read the article that Josie wrote. Also I'm not the best writer in the world but I thought I would give it a go. Please let me know what you think. Email me here.
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Sam sat, glancing around his silent apartment. Everything around him was either draped with a sheet or packed in a box. All that was left for him to prepare was the armchair he was sitting in and the rest of his hockey trophies.
All that could be heard above the beating of his heart was the newspaper scrunching as he wrapped his trophies. Although his hands were working, his mind was elsewhere. His head was full of different voices: some thinking of how horribly Josie had betrayed him and how he never wanted to hear her name again; others thinking that maybe he should have given her a chance to explain; and still others thinking that maybe he should pick his phone and call her�that was, if he'd had her number. He sighed heavily, wondering if the pain would ever get easier to handle.
He finished wrapping a trophy and placed it gently in a box beside him.
As he reached for the next piece of newspaper, the heading caught his eye. It read Never Been Kissed. Hmmm, interesting title for a story, he thought�
But before he could glance at the article itself, there was a knock at the door. He sighed again. It was probably the movers.
Sam pushed himself up off the chair to let them in. One of the movers, a heavy-set, graying man in his 50s, explained to Sam that there was some paperwork downstairs in the truck that Sam would have to fill out. Sam sighed and followed him downstairs to the truck, leaving the other workers to start packing his belongings into the back.
A while later, Sam returned to his apartment. He walked back over to his chair to pick up the newspaper article he had wanted to read. But the newspaper was not on the box next to the chair where he had left it.
"Hey guys," he shouted out to the movers. "Have any of you seen the newspaper I left here?"
"Yeah," said one of the movers. "I tossed it into the box of stuff you'd been wrapping. Hope you don't mind."
Sam just shook his head. Not a big deal. The news wasn't going anywhere. It wasn't even his news anymore. His news, his future was in New York now.
Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that he should have read that story�
* * *
Later on, Sam sat in the airport lounge waiting for his flight to board. He had quite a long wait. He was taking the red eye flight to New York, which was all he could get on such short notice. But being here surrounded by people (albeit strangers) was better than sitting in his empty apartment for hours thinking about Josie Geller. Now all he could think of was what the hell he was going to say Lara when he showed up on her doorstep. For about the one- hundredth time, he asked himself if he had really thought this through. Lara no longer made him happy� So why was he going back to her?
Because being with someone in New York who really wants to be with you is better than staying in Chicago and pining after Josie, he answered himself. He tried not to think about how cowardly that sounded.
He looked up from his beer to scan the room disinterestedly, then looked back down. All of a sudden, the room got hushed. Then there was a buzzing and people were pointing at the TV screen above the bar. Confused, he looked up just as the reporter said, "Josie Geller, undercover reporter for the Chicago Sun Times, did not get her man tonight. Her unorthodox story, Never Been Kissed, which included, along with a description of her experiences as an undercover high school student at South Glen South High School here in Chicago, an apology to and a declaration of love for a member of the school's faculty, left unnamed in the article."
Sam went completely pale and still as the reporter continued, "As described in her article, Geller stood out on the pitcher's mound for five minutes before the start of the Illinois State High School Baseball Championship game and waited for her mystery man to arrive to accept her apology in person, and to give her her 'first real kiss.' Thousands of people crowded the stands of South Glen High's Municipal Stadium and waited for a miracle. A miracle, it turned out, that did not come." The broadcast cut to a video of Josie in a pretty pink dress walking off the field with her head hung low, crying into her hands.
"Oh, my God�" was all Sam could get out from his slack jaw. He sat there for a moment in complete shock. His mind was screaming, 'You idiot! Get up and do something before it's too late!' He jumped out of his seat. "Shit!" he yelled, tossing a $20 bill onto the bar next to his near-empty beer bottle. "I've to get out of here!"
Everyone in the lounge turned and stared at him like he was a lunatic as he grabbed his cabin bag and ran towards the exit.
Standing out on the curb in front of the terminal, he hailed frantically for a taxi. He didn't have time to remember where in hell he had parked his car. He had to get to Josie. As the yellow car pulled over in front of him, he jumped in.
"Where to?" asked the driver, looking over his shoulder at Sam.
Sam realized then that he had no idea how to find Josie. He didn't know where she lived� The cabbie glared at him impatiently. "Umm� Oh! I know! I know! South Glen South High School� Municipal Field. "
Giving Sam a strange and speculative look, the cabbie turned around and began to drive.
Sam cursed himself all the way to ball field, "Sam, you're a complete and utter idiot! How could you ever possibly have believed Josie would hurt you like that?"
As the cab pulled into the empty parking lot, Sam grabbed his bag and got out. Taking the steps two at a time, he climbed the bleachers and over the crest to the top. As he witnessed the desolate scene, the handles of his cabin bag slipped from his limp fingers. The stadium was empty; nothing was left but rubbish and discarded signs reading GO JOSIE.
Sam walked dejectedly about halfway down the steps and sat down. At his feet, he noticed a dirty, crumpled page from the newspaper. It had the same Never Been Kissed heading that he had seen on his own paper hours ago. He put his head in his hands and shook his head.
"I was wondering whether you'd have the nerve to show your face�" came a sarcastic voice from behind him.
Startled out his misery, Sam turned around to see Aldys standing on the top step of the stadium next to his bag. He stared at her for a long moment before daring to ask, "Where is she?"
Aldys shrugged her shoulders and then said, "She's gone home." She slowly descended to where Sam was, brushed off the stair just above him and sat by his side.
"Was it really bad?" asked Sam worriedly.
Aldys' face fell to a disapproving frown. "Yeah, it was. She was devastated that you didn't come, that you didn't forgive her."
"Damn it!" said Sam, standing up and kicking a discarded can. He rubbed a hand down his face and then turned back to face Aldys. "I didn't even know about the article, Aldys. Not until just a few minutes ago. You've got to believe me. I would never have left her standing out there on that field if I had�Please�"
Aldys stared at Sam for a long moment, and he could see the emotions play across her face. First, she looked at him with total disbelief. But then, after really studying him, she realized that he was telling the truth, no matter how improbable it sounded. She smiled a little and then said, "It's not too late, Mr. Coulson," said Aldys. "I know where she lives�you could go to her�explain what happened�"
Sam shook his head sadly. "She wouldn't even look at me after this, let alone talk to me�and I don't blame her."
"Oh I wouldn't say that," chuckled Aldys. "If she loves you as much as she says she does, then I think she will talk to you�"
Sam lowered his head to look at her. "She really does loves me?" he asked, as a smile lit up his face charmingly.
"Well, that's what the article said�" Aldys replied. Then smiling, she remarked, "You really didn't you read it, did you?"
With a small laugh at himself, Sam shook his head.
Aldys reached into her pocket and pulled out a small white folded piece of paper. "Here is her address," she said, placing the piece of paper in his hand. Sam smiled at Aldys and looked at the address, nodding his head as if he knew where it was.
Then Sam felt a drop of rain plop on his arm. Oh, great, he thought. It serves me right�
Aldys placed a hand on Sam's arm. "I think it's going to rain� You need a ride?"
"No, truthfully, I think I'd rather walk," Sam said. "But thanks."
Aldys smiled at him as if he'd lost his mind. "But it's almost twenty blocks! You'll get drenched!"
"I know; it's okay�I really need the time to think," he replied.
Aldys shook her head. Men. They never made sense. She looked back over her shoulder at Sam's carry-on bag still sitting on the top step of the bleachers. "Well, at least let me take your bag for you� Where would you like me to bring it?"
"Well, if I'm really lucky, you can drop it off at Josie's place tomorrow�and if not?" Sam trailed off for a moment, not wanting to consider that possibility. Then he took the piece of paper Aldys had given him and ripped off a blank corner of it. Pulling a pen out of his pocket, he scribbled his phone number on it and pressed the paper into Aldys' hand. "Call me and I'll arrange to pick it up from you."
Then, Sam leaned forward and gave Aldys a quick hug. "Thank you so much," he whispered in her ear, knowing she would know what he meant.
"Hey, my pleasure� I just hope it works out," said Aldys, slinging Sam's bag over her shoulder.
* * *
The rain started to fall harder and harder as Sam neared Josie's apartment. By the time he arrived, it was pouring and had turned into a full-fledged thunderstorm. "This must be it," he said out loud, looking down at the now soaked slip of paper in his hand, and then at the small house with a black iron fence around it in front of him.
He looked up at the front window, which was still lit up.
"I wonder if she is still awake?" he thought as he glanced at his watch, which read 11:30pm.
Sam still continued to stand in front of the house in the rain. He couldn't bring himself to walk up the walkway to her apartment.
"Come on Sam," he said out loud, "you have to do this."
And still he just stood there staring up at Josie's apartment. He could picture her up there crying all alone in her apartment with no one to comfort her. The thought made is heart rip in two, strengthening his nerve. He opened the iron gate and headed for her front door.
Sam climbed the front steps and stopped at the front door. He swallowed hard and knocked twice.
As soon as he did, he started to panic. "What am I even going to say?" he asked himself. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Josie's front door being unlocked. Sam shifted nervously from foot to foot.
Josie tugged open her door. Her face was red and blotchy; her eyes, which had once sparkled brightly, were now red and bloodshot. Her mouth fell open in disbelief when she saw Sam standing on her doorstep, soaking wet. Josie couldn't help it; when she saw him, she burst out in tears all over again.
Sam stepped forward and took Josie into both his arms and held her as tight as he could. Josie wasn't sure whether her tears were of happiness or sadness; all she knew was at that moment, his holding her felt right.
"I'm so sorry," Sam whispered in her ear as he laid his head on her shoulder.
Josie broke the hug to look deeply into Sam's green eyes. "Where were you tonight?" she finally asked.
"It's a long story�" said Sam with a tentative smile.
Josie was only just noticing that Sam was soaking wet and now her dress was wet also from where he had hugged her. "Sam you're soaked!" she said with a small laugh.
"Yeah I have noticed that," Sam added. His teeth were chattering and he was shivering.
Josie ran one of her hands though his wet hair, slicking the water off his forehead. "Well, why don't you come in and dry off, and you can explain to me why you didn't come tonight�"
Sam clasped both her hands in his and looked down at her seriously. "Thank you," he said, and then he turned and closed the door behind them.
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