My Heart is Yours (8 page)

“Come on.” Jason said, grabbing Sam’s hand once
again and turning towards Chris, who was on the other side of the
room.

Sam was blushing again. If they weren’t trying to
get Chris back to her house she would’ve made them stop in their
tracks, turned Jason around and kissed him full on the lips.

“Chris!” Sam said, grabbing his arm.

“Hey, Sam! Jason! What are you two kids doin’
here?”

“Chris, come on, we’re going to go back to my house,
okay?” She said.

“Nope, sorry, blondie.” He said smiling.

“Chris, come on man, please.” Jason said, looking
around the room and at the guys eyeing Sam.

“No way.”

Jason grabbed Chris’s arm and dragged him into an
empty hallway.

“Listen, you’re coming with us whether you like it
or not.”

Chris looked at Jason, his eyebrows raised high.
Jason never talked back to anybody like that. Then he laughed.

“Chris, come on, please just come with us.” Sam
said, glancing behind her.

“No.” He said, clutching his bottle of beer like a
baby clutches their bottle.

“Chris, I’m sure there’s beer at my house. If all
you want is beer isn’t it better to get drunk at my house, so we
can keep you from doing something stupid and getting yourself
arrested?”

He just laughed again. Sam didn’t actually want
Chris to get drunk; she hated seeing people drunk. It brought back
memories of her biological parents. But it was the only way she
could think of to get him to go with them.

Jason kept trying to get Chris to come with them,
but nothing was working. Sam was getting tired of this, and she had
a terrible headache and was starting to feel dizzy. She turned
around and saw a door a few feet away. She could hardly move. She
was losing her balance. But she walked over to it, opened the door
slowly, saw no one was there and went inside, closing the door
softly behind her. She sat down on the bed and then lay back
holding her head in her hands.

Meanwhile, Jason was still trying to get Chris to go
with them. Chris finally just walked away.

Jason turned and noticed that Sam was gone. He first
looked back in the room where everyone was but Sam wasn’t there so
he checked the rooms in the hallway.

Sam heard the door creak open and her shoulders
tensed.

“Sam?” He said. She relaxed and smiled when she
heard Jason’s voice.

“Hey.” She said sitting up slowly.

“You scared me.” He said sitting down on the bed
next to her. “I turned around and you were gone.”

“Sorry.” She said.

“What’s wrong?” He pushed a strand of hair out of
her face.

“Nothing.”

“Liar.” He said smiling. She smiled back.

“I don’t know. It’s just I’m so tired of having to
do this. I’m sick of helping people who don’t want to help
themselves.”

“I think Chris does want to help himself, he just .
. . doesn’t know how.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m just . . . frustrated I guess. I
mean, I really care about Chris; he’s been like a brother to me
ever since I was adopted. So has Shawn.” She lay back down on the
bed.

Jason noticed that he wasn’t included in that
statement, and he wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. He lay down
next to her.

Sam realized she didn’t say Jason was like a
brother. But how could she? He wasn’t like a brother. He was . . .
he was . . . what was he? All the guys said he’d liked her for
years. And when she thought about it there were always little
signs. Holding her hand, gently pushing a strand of hair out of her
face, the way he looked at her sometimes. Then, of course, there
was her seventeenth birthday where they almost kissed. Sam
definitely liked him, and she was pretty sure that he liked her,
but he never did anything about it. Except for when they almost
kissed.

“What am I?’ He asked.

“What?” Sam nearly squeaked out.

“Well, Craig, John and Matt
are
you brothers.
You’re not blood-related, but technically they
are
your
brothers. Shawn and Chris are
like
brothers to you. So what
am I?”

Sam sat up a little too quickly. The room spun for a
second. She rubbed her temples and took a deep breath.

“I don’t know.” She said with her eyes still closed.
Slowly she opened them and Jason noticed that today they were
green.

Jason sat up as well. “You don’t know?” He laid his
hand on top of hers. As soon as his hand touched hers, she felt the
same way she felt the day of her seventeenth birthday. The day that
they almost kissed. She didn’t know why, it’s not as if he’d never
touched her hand before. But this was different somehow.

“Why not?” He asked.

“I don’t know.” She said again.

“Why don’t you know?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why do you keep saying ‘I don’t know’?” He
smiled.

She smiled a little too. “I don’t know.”

“Why aren’t you looking at me?” He asked, putting a
hand under her chin and gently turning her face towards his.

She looked directly into his dark brown eyes, slowly
answering his question, and they leaned closer with every word. “I
. . . don’t . . . know.”

Their lips met for the first time. Finally. They
thought it would never happen.

Jason wrapped one arm around Sam’s waist, pulling
her closer to him, and ran his fingers through her bleach blonde
hair. Sam’s kiss tasted warm and sweet and Jason couldn’t believe
he’d waited this long to find out.

Jason’s kiss was warm and it felt so perfect being
in his arms. Sam was disappointed it had taken this long for them
to end up together, but happier than she’d ever been in her life
that it had finally happened.

They pulled away from each other. Not a word was
said; they just stared into each other’s eyes and smiled. Jason
leaned forward and gave her a quick kiss. Sam leaned toward Jason
and did the same. They then leaned toward each other and started
kissing again. They didn’t notice the door creak open.

“Oh.” They noticed the voice and broke apart.
“Sorry.”

“Uh, it’s okay.” Sam said, blushing for the third
time that night.

“What is it?” Jason asked.

“That guy you were trying to get out of here. What’s
his name, Chris?”

Jason nodded.

“He just passed out.”

Sam rolled her eyes. “Thanks.” The guy nodded and
left.

“I guess we have to go get him.” Jason said.

“Are you kidding? We can’t carry him.” Chris was a
big guy. Not heavy set but large. He was about six foot two and at
least two hundred pounds.

“We’ll have to call someone. How about Craig?”

“Yeah, he could carry him.”

“Come on. The sooner we call Craig the sooner you
can go home.”

She smiled, stood up and swayed on the spot. Jason
steadied her.

“Go home and take some aspirin.” She murmured.

Jason smiled, wrapped his arm around her waist and
they walked back to where the party was.

Jason grabbed the phone and dialed Sam’s home
number.

“Craig?” He said before Craig could say
anything.

“Jason?” Craig asked.

“Yeah, it’s Jason.”

“Where’s Sam?” He talked over Jason.

“She’s with me.”

“Where are you?” Craig’s voice had a stern edge to
it.

“We’re at a party. Well, sort of. We came to get
Chris. He just passed out. Could you come pick us up?”

“Yeah, sure. Where are you?” He sighed.

Sam didn’t hear the rest of the conversation. Her
headache had turned into a horrible migraine. All the voices and
music from the party were blending together. She could hardly hold
herself up.

“Sam? Sam?” It was Jason’s voice.

“What?”

“Are you okay?”

She shook her head and regretted it immediately.
“No.” She said. She stumbled backwards away from him.

Someone was coming up to them. It was another guy.
He was drunk, but nowhere near as drunk as the last one.

“Hey.” He said, eyeing Sam.

She couldn’t manage anything except a small
smile.

“Do you wanna dance?” He took a swig of beer.

She slowly shook her head.

“Why not?” He made a pouting face.

Jason answered for her. “She’s here with
someone.”

“Who?” The guy scoffed.

“Me.”

“What are you her boyfriend?”

“Yes.” Jason said. Sam glanced up at him, wanting to
say something, but staying silent because: one—she could hardly
talk right now and, two—even if she could she didn’t know what
she’d say.

“Prove it.” The guy said.

“Excuse me?” Jason said.

“From the way she backed away from you I’d never
guess she was your girlfriend.”

“Are you kidding me, man?” Jason said, his eyebrow
arched in disbelief.

“No.”

“Fine.” He rolled his eyes. “How do you want me to
prove it?”

“If you kiss her and she doesn’t smack you then I’ll
believe you.”

Annoying drunk,
Sam thought.

Jason laughed softly and shook his head. “Fine.” He
turned to Sam, leaned toward her and their lips met again. She
wrapped her arms around his neck and he wrapped one arm around her
waist and with his other hand he stroked her soft blonde hair.

He pulled away, smiled and turned to the other guy.
“Happy?” He asked.

The guy shrugged and walked away.

“Craig’s here.” Jason said, and he and Sam walked
over to him.

“Hey.” He said. “Where’s Chris?”

“On the couch.” Jason pointed over his shoulder.

“Sam?” Craig said. “Are you alright?”

“No. She has a really bad migraine.” Jason
answered.

As soon as the words came out of his mouth Sam lost
her balance and fell to the floor on her knees.

“Sam!” Jason and Craig yelled together. They got
down on the floor next to her. She was on her hands and knees now.
She felt nauseated.

“Sam?” Jason rubbed her back. She tried to get up
and when she couldn’t fell back down on the floor. Jason sat down
next to her.

“Can you walk?” He asked.

She shook her head; she was too dizzy. Sam hated
having migraines. The pain was bad enough, but she prided herself
as being independent and her migraines prevented her from always
being that way.

“Alright.” Craig said getting up. “You get Sam, I’ll
get Chris.”

“Okay.” He turned to Sam. She opened her eyes. “Uh,
I’m gonna pick you up okay?” She smiled a little bit, blushed again
and nodded. Jason gently lifted her up. She wrapped her arms
loosely around his neck and laid her head on his shoulder.

“Sam?” John got up from the couch and went over to
Jason.

Then he saw Chris, who Craig had just put on the
couch.

“What happened?” He asked.

Jason explained what had happened at the party.

Sam’s eyes were closed. “Did she faint?” John
asked.

“No. She fell asleep in the car.”

“Does she have a fever?” John put a hand on her
forehead. “I don’t know.” Jason shook his head.

“No.” John said. “She’s fine. She just needs to
sleep.”

“I’ll bring her in her room.” Jason said.

As he walked to Sam’s room, he remembered that night
two years ago; the first time she laid her head on his shoulder.
He’d carried her into her room then, too.

The door to Sam’s room was open. He walked in and
gently laid her down on her bed. Glancing around her room he saw
the comforter her mom had made her for her thirteenth birthday. He
picked it up, laid it over her small body and tucked it in around
her.

Jason looked down at her smiling. He leaned over,
pushed her hair out of her face and kissed her gently on her
forehead.

He walked to her door, but before leaving he took
one last look at Sam. Her tanned skin, her small body. He knew
below those tanned eyelids were beautiful eyes; the ones that
changed colors every few hours. And he looked at her gorgeous hair.
More than anything he wanted to taste her warm sweet kiss again.
But he just looked at her sweet face, smiled, turned around and
closed her door behind him.