I have been inspired by all the other writers on this webpage - so here's my take on the developing relationship between Sam and Josie. You can email me with comments and criticism (please be kind) here. I hope you enjoy it!
Sam had just dropped Lara off at O'Hare airport for an early morning flight back to New York. Thank goodness she was gone, he thought, although a part of him felt guilty for thinking it.
Bringing his mind back to driving, he realized it was Friday, the last day of his workweek. He sighed heavily. He didn't like weekends much anymore and this was going to be a long one, with Monday being a holiday. Three days without seeing Josie... Today, at least, he'd probably see Josie in class and maybe tonight at Senior Nite at Navy Pier as well. Sam smiled as he thought of her, and then shook his head ruefully. What had happened to him? He had never been this�well, preoccupied�about anyone, including Lara.
Reluctantly, his thoughts drifted back to Lara. Well, this weekend would have to be an improvement over the last three days, he decided. Lara had arrived Wednesday for what they had hoped would be a long weekend together. She had constantly nagged and criticized him, but that he was used to; he knew that she felt he was severely lacking in ambition and taste. She hated his friends, hated his "lowly" teaching position, and hated the fact that he quietly resisted her efforts to "improve" him. Yes, he was used to all that, and five years was a long time�so he felt he owed it to her to try to get along. He had started out Wednesday with the idea that he would at least try. They had a long history�
Lara had been his first real longtime girlfriend. They had met at college. She was four years older than him and she'd known her way around in more ways than one. Lara was ambitious. She was going places and she let everyone know it. She had supreme confidence in herself and in her ability to get what she wanted and determined enough to use whatever means necessary to achieve her goals. She was obsessed with her appearance and with dressing for success.
Sam was a shy, introverted guy who loved sports and loved to read. He'd considered himself a late bloomer and thought of himself as an okay, if somewhat awkward looking, goofball. He was a long way from his home in Wisconsin�having won a full scholarship to Yale�and was still relatively na�ve about life. He was an easy target for someone as worldly as Lara. Lara had set her sights on him and spent a year making sure Sam thought that she loved the same things he loved. Sam liked and was attracted to the person that he thought she was and was amazed and flattered by her attention. But even then, there had never been any great passion between them.
After that first year, Lara moved on to NYU Law School and after graduation, got a job in a New York firm. They had continued a comfortable long distance relationship as Sam graduated college and got his first teaching job at South Glen South High School outside Chicago.
They talked on the telephone several times a week and saw each other about every two or three months.
Their telephone conversations, though�especially lately�had consisted of Lara complaining about the people she worked with and her clients for about 20 minutes, after which time she would get around to asking Sam about his teaching. But when he would start to tell her about his students, she would yawn and suddenly remember something important she needed to do. He was lucky if she would listen to three sentences of what he had to say.
In truth, he looked forward to her visits to see him, but was relieved when she would leave. As long as their visits weren't too lengthy or too frequent, they got along fine, mostly because Sam usually gave Lara her way. It was a relationship where he definitely had to go along to get along.
Lara continued her constant campaign to change Sam and move him to New York. Sam politely resisted. He hated going to New York and had avoided it for some time now. He would much rather stay home and play hockey or golf with his friends than dress up in a monkey suit and go to the opera.
However, Lara was getting more and more insistent. He knew that he needed to do something soon, but change was difficult for him; especially change of the magnitude that she was asking him to make. So, for the past six months he had even begun to dread her visits.
And now things were even more complicated. He couldn't seem to get Josie Geller out of his mind. He knew something was wrong when he realized he missed seeing Josie after less than a day more then he missed Lara after being apart for two months.
Sam felt a strange, stirring warmth fill him whenever he was near Josie, and felt cold and bereft whenever he was not. He never knew he had it in him to feel this way about anyone, much less for one of his students.
Sure, he loved romantic poetry and literature; and no one was a bigger sucker for a romantic movie than him. And Sam was a passionate teacher - he truly loved his work. He had a great sense of humor and got a big kick out of the antics of the high school crowd - and he loved when he could encourage a student who loved to read or write. In short, he loved his job and loved helping and motivating his students. That was business as usual for him. But that had all changed on that fateful day in March.
He remembered that first time he saw Josie. He had thought his life was complete until that day, that he had everything he needed to be happy. Until then, he never believed he would find a person he could connect with on so many levels; indeed, he didn't think she could possibly exist. He never thought he would find a great love. That only happened in movies. That was, until lightning struck him: Josie in her eccentric, feathery outfit. Josie with her huge, wondrous, dark blue eyes defining the root of the word "pastoral" for him. Josie, who enjoyed literature as much as he did and loved Shakespeare enough to memorize it.
Yes, he had definitely noticed that she wasn't reading from her book when he'd asked her to read from Rosalind's speech in Act 5 of As You Like It. She'd looked him straight in the eye and recited it word for word - and it was magic. It was as if she were not reciting, but actually felt and meant every word.
He could see that she understood his sense of humor, and she saw the humor in little things in the classroom, just as he did. It was evident by the way she'd look at him and smile or roll her eyes. Her eyes and face were so animated. And he and Josie shared a connection: it was as if they had their own private language, spoken just by looking at each other. He was amazed at how she affected him.
And her writing! For every assignment he gave, she wrote at least two papers. It was like she couldn't get enough of writing for him, whether it was character analysis or poetry or an essay about everyday life. Sam found himself bursting with excitement to read Josie's work in a way he had never before imagined.
Now he found that he looked forward that sixth period English Lit class more than anything else in his life. Just seeing her and being in the same room with her seemed to make him happy. He'd begun to miss her the rest of the time and he spent a lot of his spare time reading her papers over and over to trying to read between the lines; to get to know the real Josie. Josie was someone, he could tell, who saw life the way he did and he felt that he could share things with her in a way he'd never been able to do with Lara.
Sam sighed, staring at the line of traffic ahead of him on I-190. His thoughts drifted back to Josie. If only she wasn't his student�
Sam knew how inappropriate it was for him to have feelings for Josie and he tortured himself daily about the fact that she was his student. Seventeen was really too young for her to know her own mind�or her heart. He felt that he would be abusing her trust if he expressed his growing feelings to her, no matter how much he might want to.
Those feelings aside, he had resolved to encourage Josie's writing, since he truly believed she had a gift. But she was unsure of herself and her talent, and he sensed that she needed encouragement from him; encouragement he was all too happy to provide. He felt that he could help Josie blossom into a more incredible writer�and an even more incredible woman. He resolved to help her in any way that he could. He cared for her enough to want the best future for her whether or not that future included him as something more than simply her mentor.
This was the state of turmoil he'd been in when Lara had arrived for her visit. Sam was trying to be fair and give Lara a chance. After all, five years was a long time, he kept telling himself. Sam had been faithful to Lara during their entire relationship, and�up until now�had never even looked at another woman. But now his heart was elsewhere, and he couldn't seem to control it.
Sam finally reached the I-94 exchange from I-190. 'Good, I might just make it to work on time after all,' he thought. After a moment, he thought back to the events of the night before that had precipitated Lara's earlier-than-planned departure from Chicago.
It had been just his luck, of course, that, with his feelings in such turmoil, he would run into Josie while he was with Lara. "What a night," he thought with a sigh.
At first, Sam had been surprised to see Josie at Delloser Hall. It was the first time he'd seen her out of the classroom and somehow the smoky bar didn't seem like it was her style. But she seemed to be genuinely enjoying herself and he was pleased to see her. So pleased, in fact, that he didn't realize Lara had returned from the bathroom until she'd latched herself onto his arm, forcing him to introduce them. He had been flustered, and although he introduced Lara to Josie, he'd forgotten to mention that she was his girlfriend. He wondered belatedly if this was a Freudian slip. Lara, of course, quickly corrected this error, and he saw that Josie backed away from them a step. She was obviously intimidated by Lara in her expensive business skirt suit. In hindsight, Sam had no doubt that it had been Lara's intention to intimidate Josie.
Sam had seen Josie flinch when Lara had casually announced that he would be moving to New York. It was as if it really mattered to her that he might be leaving. That gave his foolish heart at least a little hope. Gosh, the way Lara had predatorily clawed him made him recoil just thinking about it.
He had admired Josie's pluck, though, when, after Lara's haughty brag about having season tickets to the Met, she'd come back with the reply "Oh! I love baseball!" He couldn't help himself; he'd had to laugh. He and Josie had laughed together while one look at Lara showed that she was not amused�In fact, Sam wasn't even sure if she had gotten the joke at all.
After that, Lara rudely dismissed Josie with a terse, "Nice to meet you," telling Josie that it clearly wasn't. Sam read the hurt in Josie's eyes as she mumbled, "Nice to meet you, too," before Lara had dragged him off into the crowd. Just thinking about Lara's rude and obnoxious behavior toward Josie made his stomach turn. What Josie must think of him for being with someone who acted the way Lara did!
This had all happened before Josie got up and danced on stage. Again, Sam was surprised that this was the same quiet, unassuming Josie from his classroom. But he also knew she wanted desperately to be accepted by the popular crowd. He sensed that Lara's rudeness and insensitivity also played a part. It was almost as if she didn't care what happened to her.
Sam thought that Josie looked a little wild-eyed, even possibly under the influence of something, although that seemed too remote a possibility for him to consider. Josie would definitely never do something like that. He was sure of it. In any case, he thought she looked adorable up there on stage. He couldn't quit smiling while his eyes were on her.
"Wow, what a spectacle!" Lara snorted, her eyes on Josie as she gyrated across the stage with a pink feather boa between her legs. "So that's one of your precious students!"
Sam lashed out before he could think. "Actually, that's my most precious student!"
'Now, where had that come from?' he wondered to himself�
Lara glared at him momentarily and then quickly huffed off to the Ladies Room that so disgusted her. In the meantime, Sam was momentarily distracted as the waiter brought the bill. When he looked back at the stage, Josie was gone. He looked around, but saw no sign of her anywhere.
He was so worried about Josie that he didn't notice Lara until she flounced up to him, clawed her arm through his, and announced, "Well sweetie, looks like your precious little student ate a pot brownie!"
Sam's heart stopped. "What did you say?" he breathed.
"Yep, that's right," Lara confirmed, smiling maliciously. "On the way to the Ladies Room, I overheard those Rastafarians laughing about giving her a big old pot brownie to eat! Guess she's not too bright after all, huh Sam?"
The color drained from Sam's face.
"Oh, my God, where is she?" Sam tried to swallow his panic.
Lara shrugged a shoulder. Obviously, Josie's safety was of little consequence to her. "Relax, Sam. I just saw a nice looking older black couple carry her out the door."
"Are you serious?" Sam asked incredulously. "Don't you realize she could be in trouble?" My God, he thought to himself, who were the people who took Josie, and where were they taking her?
Lara waved her hand dismissively. "Aw, Sam, I'm sure she's fine. I feel sorry that she's so na�ve and stupid as to be duped into that, but, hey, I guess now she'll learn the hard way�"After a moment, she continued, "Let's go home so you can stop thinking about this girl. After all, you aren't her father, Sam."
Sam couldn't believe Lara's callous attitude. How could anyone be so heartless? Personally, he was beside himself with worry about Josie and livid at Lara.
"Okay, fine, let's go," he said sharply. He knew what he had to do.
He was silent and brooding as they drove back to his apartment. Lara tried to stroke his leg to calm him down, but he pushed her hand away.
Lara sighed. She had hoped tonight she could placate Sam so they could really be together tonight, for a change.
It had been more than six months since they had last been intimate, or at least since she'd been intimate with Sam. Somehow, one or the other always had a headache. Either that or they ended up fighting. She was thankful now that she had continued to date and sleep with other men in New York. She was always on the lookout for an upwardly mobile man, while Sam continued to be loyal to her. Their lovemaking had never been anything to write home about, or at least she didn't think so. He was sweet, but boring. She liked excitement and a challenge. In her opinion, Sam was just a little too nice for her taste, but she would settle for him if no one else turned up. But even she could sense the deterioration in their relationship of late and knew that she'd have to do something soon to patch things up and keep Sam hanging.
No, Lara thought as they drove along that night, she figured she'd find a way to calm Sam down and get him back under her thumb. Her mind thought back to that little student of his from the club� What was her name, Josie? Sam's reaction to her was certainly something new. She'd never seen Sam act, well�so passionately about anyone or anything. And that girl was beautiful, even she had to admit that�beautiful, but goofy. Lara shook her head and shrugged off her suspicions. 'Sam was just feeling fatherly, that's all,' she decided. 'He'll get over it,' thought Lara, confident that she knew how to handle him.
Meanwhile, Sam was seething. How could Lara just ignore someone "taking Josie away"? If he had known what had happened to Josie, he would have seen her home safely himself, to hell with their teacher/student relationship!
Well, he knew what he had to do now. He was going to call her house and make sure she got home all right.
He'd pulled into the driveway and tossed the car into 'park.' He unhooked his seat belt, jumped out of the car, slammed the door, and ran up the steps to his apartment, completely ignoring Lara. Sam had only one thing in mind�he had to know that Josie was okay.
He threw open the front door to the apartment and hurried inside, leaving the door gaping open in his haste. He walked over to his desk and popped open his briefcase. He pulled out his Student Roster and quickly scanned down the list of names, looking for Josie's name and telephone number.
Lara finally entered the apartment and shut the door behind her. Seeing Sam frantically searching for something in his briefcase, she demanded, "What is your problem, Sam?"
"Be quiet," Sam snapped, and then realized what he'd done. More evenly he said, "Could you give me a minute? I need to make a phone call."
"Fine." Lara huffed, and retreated to the bedroom. Maybe, she mused, her new sexy nightgown she'd brought might be the answer to getting Sam's attention back where it belonged - on her.
Sam walked over to his leather chair and sat, roster in hand. He picked up the receiver and dialed. He hoped Josie would answer, but he was ready to deal with her parents if he had to. Anything to make sure Josie was okay.
The phone rang six times. Josie herself answered. She sounded groggy and barely awake. "Hello," she said quietly.
Sam almost fainted with relief. "Josie! Hi. Sam Coulson here. I saw you were not yourself at the club earlier and just wanted to make sure you got home okay."
"I'm okay, just sleepy," she said softly. "It's so nice of you to check on me."
God, how he loved her voice�especially with the sleepy, sexy tone it had now.
"No problem. I'm sorry I disturbed you. Go back to sleep, okay?" Sam urged quietly.
"Thanks for calling�"
Sam thought for sure that she was about to hang up, but instead, she yawned and then murmured, "�but I'm sure this is just a wonderful dream I'm having� You wouldn't really call me�" she yawned again, "�you have that beautiful girlfriend."
Sam wanted to say, 'Yes, I would�I care about you,' but instead he closed his eyes, swallowed hard, and whispered into the receiver, "Goodnight, Josie."
"Goodnight, Sam." She sounded as if she were already drifting back into sleep as she hung up.
Sam felt as if he'd been struck by lightning. A jolt of warmth shot through him as he realized she had called him by his first name. He chalked it up to her half-awake and partially drugged state, and so he was not offended. In fact, he had loved the way it had sounded coming from her. He placed the receiver back into the phone cradle. Then he rested his elbow on the armrest and his chin in his hand. He replayed the sweet sound of her voice saying his name, and suddenly happy, he smiled. "Oh , Josie�" he whispered. "Thank God you are safe." And at that moment, he finally started to realize just how much he felt for her.
Suddenly Lara reappeared in the bedroom doorway, asking sweetly, "Is everything all right, Sam?" She was wearing a nightie that left precious little to the imagination.
Lara's honeyed voice broke Sam from his reverie. He looked up and took in her risque attire. To tell the truth, after comparing this display to Josie's sweet innocence, he was repulsed. He sighed. "It's fine, Lara. Go to bed."
"Aren't you going to come with me?" Lara cooed.
Sam replied, "No, I'm not." After a moment's pause, he continued, "You know, I think you should go home tomorrow instead of staying for the rest of the weekend. I need time alone to think about things."
Lara was shocked and angry. "What? You want me to leave!? But I just got here!" Then Lara decided to try another tack. She walked over to Sam and ran her hand along his shoulders enticingly, "Why don't we just go to bed and talk about it tomorrow?"
Sam could barely stand the sight of her by this time. Every word out of her mouth only turned his stomach more. Why hadn't he realized before now what a manipulator she was?
"No, Lara, I'm going to call the airline and then sleep on the couch," he said firmly, removing her hand from his back.
"Fine, Sam, but you're paying the extra charge for changing the ticket!" she huffed.
"Fine." Sam replied.
Lara gave up and stomped off into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her. These fights were actually was not an unusual scenario in their relationship, especially lately. And Sam's near avoidance of her physically in recent months was not that new either.
Lara wondered again about Sam's preoccupation with this student, Josie. That was new, she thought.
Sam knew two things for certain: he would find a way to break up with Lara once he had calmed down, and he would never allow anyone or anything to hurt Josie again if he could help it.
The more Sam thought about it, the less guilty he was becoming over the impending breakup with Lara. Actually, it made him feel as if a weight were about to be lifted from his shoulders.
Whatever might happen in the future with Josie (after all, she was only 17 and his student, he thought), he would always be grateful to her for helping him see the truth about Lara.
And yet, Sam mused, as he turned off the highway and onto a surburban street that would eventually bring him to the high school, Lara had still found a way to put off the inevitable�
As he'd drove Lara to the airport a little while ago, she apologized profusely for her behavior the night before and told him she loved him.
"I accept your apology," he'd replied coolly.
Then Lara decided she should try another approach. She said gently, "You know, Sam, I am four years older than you. We've been going together for five years and my biological clock is ticking. Come to New York and we can get married and have kids, and you can still teach�at a higher level though, college maybe? It's time for you to grow up and be a man and quit focusing on other people's children, like that girl last night. She is obviously a hopeless case. I mean, isn't it frustrating to teach someone like that?"
Sam felt a little guilty about Lara's ticking clock, but he now knew he would never marry this woman or have children with her. And the remarks she'd made about Josie gave him the irrational urge to push her out of the car into oncoming traffic.
"Maybe we should just split up so you can find the right guy," Sam said honestly.
Lara was shocked; she didn't realize he was this close to ending everything�and she was not about to let five years of hard work go down the drain. She pulled another trick out of her bag: she started to cry. She knew how softhearted Sam was and how crying affected him.
"Oh, Sam, you are so mean to say that! You know I love you. We just had a bad visit, that's all. Can't we just give it a week, and then talk?"
The tears worked (as usual) and Sam reluctantly agreed to give it some time. After all, he thought, what was the hurry? Still, he silently thanked God that he hadn't had sex with Lara in over six months. At least there was no question of her trapping him that way�
Lara had hugged him goodbye at the airport. He hadn't responded at all. As soon as she was out of his sight, he regretted not sticking to his guns and breaking up with her before she left.
Sam shook his head ruefully at that thought as he pulled his car into the main parking lot of the high school and dodged cars, buses and tons of milling students.
He was already dreaming of his next meeting with Josie outside of school. He hoped he could really talk to her and learn more about her. Everything he knew so far drew him to her a little more each day.
He knew that whatever this thing was between them, he couldn't even consider pursuing her romantically until she turned 18 and was no longer his student. The fact that he was considering it at all scared him to death. But he knew he was already in too deep where Josie was concerned. He was in the process of trying to arrange an interview for her with the Admissions Director from Dartmouth. He had connections there, and it was a school worthy of Josie's talent. He felt sure that if he could only get the director to look at her writing, they would want to have her as a student.
He wondered what she would say if he told her he had mailed his resume to all the schools he could find within an hours drive of the New Hampshire college? He was not even sure why he did it�he was just so driven to be prepared to be there for Josie to support her; if she wanted him to be there, that was.
Sam shook his head in disgust at his train of thought as he pulled into a parking space in the faculty parking lot and turned off the motor.
He knew his job for the time being was to encourage Josie in her writing and studies to help her fulfill her dreams. Josie was a sweet, wonderful girl, and most of all, he just wanted her to be happy.
Sam hopped out of his car and then grabbed his briefcase before slamming the door shut. Just as he did, he heard the warning bell echo in the courtyard, signalling that school was about to begin. Rushing up the walk and into the school, he sighed. Another workday had begun.
To be continued�
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