“It’s a peppermint roll-on. It’s my favorite scent. Bonus isthat it helps with calming and relaxation when you are stressed.” She opened it and rolled a generous amount on her wrists and neck with a smile. “Which is something I’m going to need more of now that I have to seeyouon a regular basis.” She cocked her head to the side, a smile filled to the brim with utter disdain plastered across her freckled face.
Jess was wide-eyed and she not-so-subtly stifled her laugh under a cough as Sam walked away and headed for the door, not giving Newbie-Asshole the satisfaction of looking back his way.
Chapter 5 - Sam
“Could this be any more boring?” Kristin rolled her eyes as Dr. Jennings rambled on.
“Stop it, she’s going to hear you!”
Kristin never paid attention. How the hell she maintained a 4.0 GPA was beyond questionable.
She nudged Sam once more. “Hey, listen, I need to stop by Micah’s on the way back. I left my planner there last weekend.”
Kristin was forever leaving things at his place. Sam figured it was her way of constantly having an excuse to see him. And since they had the same three classes today, she had ridden in Kristin’s car instead of having to use the bus. She was thankful for the air conditioning and general lack of people bumping into her, but not so excited about the pit stop on the way home.
“Yeah, as long as you shut up and let me pay attention,” Sam said with a humorous glimmer in her eye.
Kristin rolled her eyes, but didn’t say another word for the rest of the lecture.
*******
“Want to come in? I’ll only be a minute and you haven’t seen Micah in weeks!” Kristin was wearing the same smile that always tended to appear when she brought up Micah.
Sam knew that smile. She had kinda-sorta dated a few guys in college (if you can call meeting up at a bar or coffee shop one or two times and then being ghosted dating). She’d had one serious boyfriend in highschool, but she didn’t talk, let alone think, about him anymore. Boys were off her radar. She told herself it was for the best. There was no way she would have time for a relationship with her current chaotic life. So she appreciated them from afar, and in her nighttime thoughts, and promised herself that one day Mr. Perfect would make himself known, or at least decide to stop seeing her as an annoying sister he loved to pick on.
She most certainly liked them, but at no time had she ever been what some would call boy-crazy. Well, unless you counted Christian. But they had never been a thing, and they never would be.
Sam was about as far from clingy as one could get. Kristin, though, was her absolute opposite. One might feel like that would normally push a guy away, but Micah was right there with her. They couldn’t seem to stay away from each other for very long.
“Sure, why not. Only for a minute, though.” She didn’t really want to go in, but sitting out in the car during this random March heat wave might just have been a worse version of hell.
As they walked in, they quickly spotted Micah bent over and busy cleaning up what she was sure were the leftovers from last night’s party. And, of course, the place reeked. Sam wasn’t really sure how Kristin could stand to spend the weekends here, let alone random nights in the week, with the gag-worthy odor that seemed to be permanently burned into every piece of furniture. If there was ever a definition of bachelor pad in the dictionary, a picture of this living room would be right next to it.
“Sam! Long time no see!” Micah said as he walked over and gave her a hug. “You decided to step foot out of that library for a few minutes, huh?” He laughed a little at her expense.
“Yep, but I’m due back shortly, so we can’t stay long.” She smirked back.
“Seriously, though, you should come out of your dungeon and come over tonight. It’s just going to be us, no big party or anything. We’re going to grill out at the pool and then watch thegames.” Sam’s nose scrunched in response, but he continued, “It's March Madness. I promise, low key. I’ll even order you a pizza from Dianne’s. I know it’s your favorite.”
And there were the magic words.
“Kristin has divulged my greatest weakness, I see,” Sam said with a hesitant smile. “Maybe. It’s just not really my thing, and besides, I know nothing about March Madness.”
“Me neither, I just pick the brackets based on the color jersey I like!” Kristin laughed as she walked downstairs to Micah’s room. “And I even got to the final round last year picking that way, so I’m guessing it’s a solid plan to stick to this time!”
“You would.” Sam started to laugh, but was quickly cut off.
“It’s fucking 10:30 in the morning. Why are y’all screaming down here?” growled a rather aggravated looking man as he walked down the stairs. She assumed that he must live there merely based on Micah’s reaction to him, and how he stalked directly to the fridge and chugged milk straight from the container.
“Shut up, man. I’m cleaning up your shit from last night, so stop whining. Sam, this is Mr. Can’t-Wake-Up-On-The-Right-Side-Of-The-Bed Drew. Drew, this is Kristin's roommate, Sam.”
“Hi.” Sam moved to reach out her hand, but Drew just did a weird head nod, then silently went to the coffee maker. His deep brown eyes seemed to match the hue of his skin and she became momentarily fascinated by the intricate design his shoulder-length dark hair was braided into.
It was an awkward few moments of silence as Micah took out the trash and Kristin was downstairs scouring what Sam assumed was a partially destroyed bedroom for her long lost planner, but she busied herself by staring at the hastily painted walls and shuffling on her feet. These kinds of uncomfortable situations just further solidified Sam’s preference for solitude.
“Found it!” Kristin screamed and then quickly made her way back into the living room. “Hey, Drew.” She waved toward Mr. Bad Mood. “So, Sam, does tonight sound good? We could hang for a few hours, nothing big.”
Sam internally groaned then promised to ask her friend why she always had to put her on the spot. This conversation would be much better suited for the car where Sam could decline and not feel shitty about it. “Sure. Yeah. I don’t see why not. I have to be at work by 10 a.m. tomorrow though, so I can’t stay too late.”