* * *
The kiss didn't last that long, and once it ended, Josie looked down at her lap, reaching over and lightly pinching her right arm with her left hand. "I've already tried that, Josie," Sam told her. She looked up at him, seeing that he looked every bit as dazed as she felt at that moment. "I've pinched myself so many times since we met, but I never woke up�"
Josie giggled softly and smiled at him. She couldn't think of a single thing to say, but words weren't necessary at that moment. They leaned toward each other again and this time both of them were less timid about the kiss. Josie put her arms around his shoulders, letting her fingers glide over the hair at the nape of his neck. She felt her pulse quicken as he ran his hands through her hair, hesitantly sliding his tongue into her mouth at the same instant. She moved her hands to his cheeks and then trailed them down his chest and circled her arms around his middle.
When the second kiss ended, Josie sat back on the bench, closing her eyes. "What are you thinking about?" he asked her.
Josie opened her eyes, shaking her head. "I can't say�I mean, I don't know what to think. Everything's such a blur."
Sam chuckled. "Yeah, I know what you mean."
"You're a good kisser," she said softly, looking down at her lap.
"Hehe�Thanks. So are you�"
Josie looked up at him shyly. "Thank you."
Sam cleared his throat, shifting slightly on the bench. "Josie, there's something I have to tell you�"
He sounded so serious that it scared her. "What is it, Sam?" she asked, her eyes wide. "Is it something�bad?"
Sam shook his head, laughing. "No, no�At least�I hope you won't think it's bad. I don't think you will, but�Oh, dammit!"
Josie placed a calming had on his arm, seeing how flustered he was at the moment. She could certainly identify with his feelings of nervousness. "It's okay, Sam," she said. "You can tell me anything."
Sam nodded. "Yeah, I know I can." He slowly brought his hand up to her cheek, caressing it softly. "Josie, I�" He cleared his throat again. "I think I'm in love with you."
Josie's felt goose bumps spreading all over her body, and he took both of his hands in hers, squeezing them affectionately. "That's�definitely not something bad," she whispered. "I feel the exact same way, Sam. I'm�in love with you, too."
Sam stood up suddenly, letting go of her hands. "Wow. I don't know what to say�This is�just amazing. Do you want to�go for a walk?"
Josie nodded, standing up as well. "That would be really nice," she agreed. She reached for his hand and held it tightly as they walked. They'd only walked a few steps away from the bench when a boy of about eleven years of age ran up to them from across the street. He had reddish-brown hair and green eyes, and he reminded Josie a lot of Sam, or maybe of what Sam might have looked like at that age. She thought that it must be Matt, his brother, and it was.
"Hey, Sam!" he exclaimed. "What'cha doing?"
"Hi, Matt," Sam began. "We were just taking a walk. This is my girlfriend, Josie. Josie, meet Matt, my kid brother."
Although Josie's head was still spinning from when he had called her his "girlfriend," she looked down at Matt and smiled, "Hi, Matt. It's nice to finally meet you."
"Hi, Josie."
"So, Matt, what are you doing here?" Sam asked.
"Oh, Dad and I came to play catch, but I ran ahead of him. He should be here in a minute."
As if on cue, Josie heard the voice of a man call, "Well, Matt, I see you've found your brother." They all turned to the street where Matt had come from to see a tall man built like Sam approaching them with two baseball gloves and a baseball in his hands. Josie could immediately see where the brothers got their mysterious green eyes from, and Matt's oddly colored hair obviously came from their dad as well. "Here, son, you forgot your glove." Mr. Coulson tossed the smaller of the two gloves he held at Matt and he caught it and put it on.
"Hi, Dad," Sam said. "Matt tells me you guys are going to play catch."
Mr. Coulson was standing with the group now, and he noticed Josie immediately. "Yes, we are." Assessing Josie with kind eyes, he said, "And this must be the famous Josie Geller. It's nice to finally meet you." Mr. Coulson held out his hand to her, so she took it, smiling at him.
"Well, I don't know about the 'famous' part, Mr. Coulson, but I am Josie Geller," she told him.
Mr. Coulson chuckled. "Well, you're famous at our house at any rate. Sam never seems to stop talking about you."
"Dad�" Sam said, giving him an embarrassed look.
"All right, I know, Sam. I'll shut up. So, what are you kids up to?"
"Well, we were just going to take a walk," Josie told him, "but this looks like it would be a nice place to go over our lines. Don't you think, Sam?"
Sam nodded. "Yeah. I hadn't thought about it, but we could definitely do that. We'll let you guys go play catch in the ball field."
"All right. It was nice to finally meet you, Josie."
"You too, Mr. Coulson. Have fun, Matt."
Matt smiled at her. "Oh, I know I will. I love baseball! C'mon, Dad, let's go!"
With that, Matt and Mr. Coulson ran to the ball field, leaving Sam and Josie alone once again. "Well, what did you think of my dad and my brother?" Sam asked her.
"They seem really nice," Josie told him. "You all have the same eyes."
Sam laughed. "Is that good or bad?"
"Good. Definitely good," she told him. "So, what scene do you want to do?"
"Scene?"
Josie nudged him playfully. "Yeah, scene�You know� Shakespeare�? Hamlet?"
"Oh, right! Ha! I forgot. Hmmm�I don't really know. Well, we could do Act Three, Scene Two, the part where 'Hamlet' and 'Ophelia' are at the play together."
Josie nodded. "All right." She walked back over to the bench where they had been sitting before and sat back down again. "We'll start with your line, Sam."
Sam walked over to stand in front of her, smiling. "All right. Sounds good." He paused for a moment, as if trying to remember what to do first, and then knelt down in front of her on the grass, resting his hands on her feet. "Lady, shall I lie in your lap?"
Josie removed his hands from her feet and slowly pulled him up. "No, my lord."
Sam sat down beside her, smiling. "I mean, my head upon your lap."
Josie reached over and softly touched his cheek with her hand. Before she knew what was happening, he had leaned over to kiss her. Completely overcome, she pulled him close to her, responding almost hungrily to the kiss. Then, just as abruptly as he began this, Sam pulled away from her.
Josie giggled. "Maybe we should only rehearse at the regular practices, with everyone watching us. That way we can stay in character."
Sam shrugged. "I was completely in character," he insisted playfully. "If I were 'Hamlet' and my love was as beautiful as you, I'm sure he'd do exactly what I just did."
Josie laughed. "Well, anyway, I think that's enough rehearsing for today."
Sam smiled at her. "Whatever you say."
As they sat there together, Josie marveled at how now that they had kissed, both of them seemed to have let their guards down considerably. It was like magic, and it still felt like a dream to her.
* * *
Sam arrived home at six o'clock, just as his mother was setting a large plate of chicken on the table. He and Josie had stayed at the park talking for a while longer, then he'd driven her back to her car at school. "Are Dad and Matt home yet?" Sam asked as he went to the kitchen sink to wash his hands.
"Well, hello to you, too, Sam!" Mrs. Coulson exclaimed. "Where have you been all this time?"
"I was with Josie. I showed her the park and the ball field, and we talked for awhile," he replied.
His mother smiled and nodded knowingly. "That figures. So you saw your father there?"
"Yep."
"Well, he and your brother should be in anytime now." Just as she finished saying that, Bryan and Matt Coulson came into the house through the garage door in the kitchen. "And here they are now! Wash up, boys. It's time for dinner."
Once the four of them were all sitting around the table together eating barbecued chicken, green beans, and mashed potatoes, the subject of Sam and Josie came to the surface once again. "Maggie, Matt and I met Josie today," Bryan told his wife.
"So I hear. So�what did you think of her?"
"She was really nice," Matt offered.
Bryan nodded in agreement. "Yes, I agree. She seemed like such a sweet girl. And very pretty too."
Maggie turned to look at Sam. "So, Sam, when do I get to meet her?"
Sam shook his head, blushing. "I don't know, Mom�"
"I know!" she exclaimed. "I'll call up her parents and see if the whole family would like to get together with us sometime. What do you think, Bryan?"
Maggie Coulson taught English Literature at the high school that Sam attended, and she was known amongst the student body as a bubbly, enthusiastic teacher. "Sounds all right to me," Bryan replied.
"You know, it's a shame that I only teach freshmen and sophomores, Sam," Maggie said. "I never see any of the older kids. I never had Josie in class either. Of course, it is a big school�"
"She has a brother who's a freshman," Sam offered. "Maybe you know him, Mom."
"Really? What's his name?"
"Rob. Rob Geller," Sam replied.
Maggie's eyes looked as if they were about ready to fall out of her head. "Oh, I do have Rob in class this year!" she exclaimed. "Come to think of it, I believe I've sent him to the principal's office on several occasions. He's a sweet boy, but he has too much energy to sit still for long."
Sam laughed. "Actually, I've never even met Rob. Josie talks about him sometimes, and he was the one who answered the phone that time that I called her."
"Well, I think I will invite the Gellers over. I'll call tomorrow morning and set something up."
* * *
The phone rang at about ten o'clock that night. Sam had been sitting up on his bed reviewing Hamlet and writing down some song ideas for the scenes he was in. The moment he heard the phone, he threw his pen down and hastily reached for it on his bedside table. "Hello?" he said.
"Sam, is that you?" a female voice asked. "I can barely hear you."
"Yeah, it's me. Who's this?" It didn't sound like Josie to him.
There was a long pause, and then the girl on the other end of the line said, "Sam! It's me, Christina! I can't believe you don't recognize my voice!"
Christina? Sam searched his mind for a moment, and then a light went on. It had to be Christina Anderson. Sam had met her the previous summer when his family had vacationed in the Florida Keys. They had stayed for a week in a bed-and-breakfast in Old Town Key West, and Christina's family had been there as well. Sam remembered that he'd noticed her the first day they were there. She was about average height, with long brown hair and pretty blue eyes. She always seemed to be smiling, and she had the perfect tan, which she showed off by wearing tight miniskirts and fluorescent bikini tops. She had been the one to approach Sam that day, and by the time night rolled around, the two of them were all over each other. Christina had told him flat out that she wanted to have sex with him, but, as attracted as he'd been to her, he refused without hesitation.
Making out was harmless, not to mention fun. But in Sam's mind, sex was something that you didn't just share with anyone, attractive or not.
Although he enjoyed kissing her, they had absolutely nothing in common and he tried to avoid listening to her talk. She was one of those people who loved the sound of her own voice and just seemed to go on and on forever. At least when he kissed her, he didn't have to listen to her. And she was pretty�But after that week, they exchanged phone numbers, and Sam knew he'd never call her. This was the first time she had called him, actually.
"Uh�hi, Christina," he muttered.
"I can't hear you! Speak up!" she shouted.
Sam sighed. "So," he began, a little louder, "what's up?"
"Well, I have good news. I'm coming to Chicago for a couple days."
"Really? Don't you live in New York?"
"Yeah�But my dad has to go on a business trip to Chicago and I begged him to bring me along so that I could see you. Isn't that fantastic? Well, I have to get going. Just wanted to let you know. See you Monday, Sam."
"Wait! Christina?" But it was too late. She had already hung up. Sam sighed, setting the phone down. He was concerned about this turn of events for a moment, but then he remembered that Christina didn't know Sam's address and figured there was no way she'd find him in a big city such as Chicago. He decided not to worry. She wouldn't be a problem.