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I can't believe I'm sitting in Sam Coulson's car. In fact, I'm still in shock from the events of the past half hour. It's hard to believe that it was only yesterday when I wrote my article, hoping and praying that Sam would see it and forgive me, but unable to ignore the very distinct possibility that he might not take me up on my proposition. After all, he had been furious with me at prom-- and rightfully so. But here I am. In Sam's car. Knowing what it feels like to kiss him, to have him hold me in his arms, to hear him tell me he is in love with me. After almost two months of sitting in his classroom, day after day, unable to keep my eyes off of him, wishing that he would somehow be able to sense that I wasn't really his student and act on the desires that I thought I could see burning in his eyes... I'm here. I sighed blissfully and looked over at him. "What are you thinking about?" he asked, taking his eyes off of the road for a second to smile at me. I could feel my face heat up with pleasure and my heart start pounding as our eyes met. I couldn't believe he had the power to produce such incredible physical reactions in me. Actually, I could believe it. He had been doing it ever since the first day I met him. But it was different now. Until today, I had never been 100% sure of his feelings for me. Until today I had felt my body react to him in class, felt my heart start throbbing when he spoke to me, but it had always been bittersweet since I knew he was out of reach. But now... I reached over and placed my hand on top of his, which was resting on the stick shift. I felt a jolt of electricity run through my body. God, it felt good to finally be able to touch him and not have to hold back. "I was thinking about how surreal this all is," I said honestly. "I mean, yesterday at this time I was only dreaming about the things that have happened in the past half hour." Sam grinned at me. "Believe me, I know what you mean," he said. It still shocks me to hear him say that. All my life I've experienced the exact opposite reaction with men, with people like Billy Prince who were repulsed at the thought of "Josie Grossie" having a crush on them. Sam Coulson is 150 times sexier than Billy Prince, and he seems to be as taken by me as I am by him. I can't quite get rid of the other emotion that keeps creeping through my body- the fear. I've never been in a relationship before. I've never even had someone like me before, as far as I know... and now it all seems to be happening so fast. I remembered how Anita had given me kissing pointers on the way to the stadium. I had listened halfheartedly, my mind filled with the sheer terror that I might never have a chance to use those pointers. Anita said she knew I had never really kissed anyone from the way I reacted that day at lunch, and had offered me some help. I smiled, recalling that when Sam had finally appeared I had been so shocked that I hadn't remembered a single thing Anita had told me. It all seemed to turn out okay, though- Sam seemed to be as taken by the kiss as I was. After all, he had kissed me for a long time. And more than once. I sighed. Even though I had gotten through that part okay, I didn't know how I was going to measure up in other parts of this relationship thing. Especially with the whole physical intimacy part of it. The thought of getting intimate with Sam sent shivers up and down my body, but the ever present problem remained-- I was clueless. And although I knew she would be happy to help me out, I felt strange asking Anita for advice. I guess I was just going to have to trust that Sam would be patient with me. He looked over at me again. "You know," he began, "I just realized that I know hardly anything about you. I mean, where did you grow up? Where did you go to college?" He grinned. "Dartmouth?" I laughed. He was so adorable. "I went to Northwestern. Majored in Journalism and English. I grew up here in Chicago, actually. Went to Lincoln Park High...you?" "I grew up in Chicago, too. Went to Whitney Young for high school, Yale for college. Majored in English Literature and minored in History. What year did you graduate from Northwestern?" "'91. When did you graduate?" "'89. What about your family? Do they live here? And when did you start at the Sun Times? Your article said this was your first story- what did you do before you wrote?" I marveled at how genuinely interested Sam was in my life. Just as I was interested in his. I wanted to know everything about him, to make up for the past 25 years of not knowing him. "Well, you know Rob-" I started, stopping at the puzzled look that came over Sam's face. "Huh?" He asked. Then I remembered that Sam had bolted out of the dance before I had revealed Rob's identity, and hadn't seen Rob at the game since he was coaching. Oh Lord. Then I remembered that he still didn't know that Anita was my best friend and wasn't Pam Kitterman. We hadn't run into her as we were leaving the stadium... Cynthia had gleefully told me that she and Gus had finally kissed and had gone somewhere to talk about everything. Sam had been too swamped by well-wishers to hear Cynthia. I took in a deep breath. "Rob... Risky Business Rob...you know, the new guy? The baseball player?" I started, unsure how to say this. Sam was going to think my entire family was crazy. And my friends. "Yeah...?" He still looked confused. "Well, you left the prom before all this came out in the open, but... Rob is my younger brother. Well, not much younger. He's 23. He's a great baseball player but got sick and didn't end up making a college team. He was working at the Tiki Post... you know, that store over by Na Na's that sells packing material...?" I paused, looking up to see if Sam was following me. "Yeah, I know the Tiki Post," he said, still looking puzzled. "Well, when Rob realized that I was at South Glen South, he came up with this idea to enroll and see if he could make the baseball team so the pro scouts could see him..." Sam laughed. "Wow. I can't believe all this," he said. I sighed, relieved that he didn't think I was a lunatic. "Well, then I sort of blew his cover at Prom... so to make it up to him I told Coach Romano that if he would let Rob be an assistant coach for the baseball team I would make sure that all of the sports people from the Sun Times would come out and cover the game." "This story just keeps getting better," Sam said, grinning and squeezing my hand. "The Geller family really had 'ol South Glen South thrown for a loop." "There's more," I said. I needed to get everything out on the table, needing for him to know the truth. "Do you remember Pam Kitterman?" Sam groaned. "Oh no. Your sister?" "Not my sister. Actually, my best friend Anita. She came by on her lunch break and then you thought she was Pam and for some reason that I'll never understand she went along with it..." "Your best friend...oh lord..." "I think she went along with it because she thought you were sexy..." I volunteered, hoping that he wasn't mad. Sam shook his head. "I probably should have figured it out when I saw you two motioning to each other- I mean, why else..." he trailed off. "Sam..." I began, feeling my stomach tighten. I knew that I had to tell him about the hidden camera, too. I wanted him to know about everything that had happened. He deserved to know about everything. "I'm sorry about all of this. I'm sorry that you were caught in the middle of everything..." Sam turned and looked at me. The expression on his face was one of amusement, rather than anger. "Josie, don't apologize. Like I said earlier, we didn't exactly have a traditional courtship. But all that is in the past now. I know that you did what you did in order to get your story. I also know that you wouldn't do anything to intentionally hurt me, just as I wouldn't do anything to intentionally hurt you." I sighed. I was so incredibly lucky.....* * *
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