Naivete

A/N: I just wanted to apologize for the lateness of this chapter – it took forever because
it will be told from Mike’s point of view. I can see it now – somewhere Joe is grinning and
rubbing his hands together in evil anticipation. Calm down, Sparky. Hopefully I didn’t rape
the whole “point of view of the opposite sex” concept. Let me know.


Chapter 12
A Slight Change of Pace

“I can’t believe she told him off like that,” Karen murmured, shaking her head slowly from
across the booth. Paul shrugged next to her, throwing his hands in the air slightly.

“Who knew that our sweet little innocent Sam knew so many dirty words?”

Mike grinned and looked down next to him, where Sam dozed lightly against his shoulder.
His arm, wrapped around her back, was completely numb, and had been for a while, but
for some reason it didn’t bother him too much. ‘Some reason,’ he thought sarcastically.
‘I know exactly why.’ The four of them sat in the coffee shop, a few hours after the talent
show had ended, and a few minutes before they would officially get kicked out for the night.

“I’m quite proud of her,” he said plainly, allowing an uncharacteristic flash of fondness pass
across his face. Only about a half hour earlier, Sam had hung up from a very long and
uncomfortable phone conversation with Brent, during which he apparently called her every
nasty name in the book. She had sat right next to Mike the whole time, clutching his hand
tightly, something Mike found strangely endearing. She’d kept her cool the whole time –
until the very end of the conversation, when Brent had begun attacking her character directly.
Mike had heard the words “slut,” “tease,” and “whore” a few times, and had tightened his
grip on her hand considerably. Whether this was in comfort or anger, he wasn’t entirely certain.

Sam had then proceeded to verbally kick his ass all up and down the street, finally uttering
some final, finishing words before hanging up abruptly. She’d been silent for several minutes,
during which Mike just sat, holding her hand and staring straight ahead. Now, obviously
exhausted, Sam rested on the shoulder of who he hoped was still her best friend.

“I’d wondered if she’d had it in her,” he added.

“Of course she did,” Karen said a bit too loudly, wincing when Sam stirred against
Mike’s shoulder.

“Did what?” she asked sleepily, blushing a little. She tried to sit up, but Mike’s arm
purposely kept her from getting too far away. He wasn’t quite ready to release her yet.

“You had it in you. Where did you learn such language?” Paul asked eagerly, leaning
across the table a little.

Sam looked confused for a moment, then smiled. “Come on, Paul, I lived in Katy,
not the moon.” Paul grinned in apology. “We had movies, you know,” she grumbled,
illiciting a startled chuckle from Karen.

“Hey, guys! Time to go. We’re not going to start paying you just because you’re
here all the time, you know.”

Mike rolled his eyes at the commanding voice of the young woman who managed
the coffee house. She was an intense and robust girl, with more spunk and energy
than most 2-year-olds he’d met. He gave her a flirtatious grin and tipped his hat
gallantly. Sam slapped him on the arm in gentle annoyance and he felt very, very
happy about that.

They left the coffee house in contented silence, Paul and Karen squabbling gently
behind them.

“You guys want a ride?” Paul called to them as they reached the parking lot.

“No, thanks,” Mike called, just as Sam said, “Sure!” The two looked at each other a
moment, and Mike shoved his hands in his pockets. “Let me walk you home,” he
whispered. Sam blushed again and nodded.

“We’ll walk,” he said, waving at Paul and Karen before placing his hand on the small
of her back and leading her away. He wondered if she noticed this gesture – many
of his previous female friends had confided that this was a romantic and thrilling thing
for a guy to do. He didn’t see the big deal, but he hoped it had the effect on Sam
that he was going for.

“So…” she started. “Where the hell did you learn Hungarian Rhapsody?” she asked
incredulously. Mike grinned, pulling his first place medal out of his pocket. Just after
his performance of said song, Sam had approached him and given him quite the
impassioned kiss, then had dropped the bomb about Brent’s eavesdropping habit.

He remembered briefly the circumstances surrounding his decision to learn that incredibly
challenging piece, and shrugged, unwilling to get into such trivial details about the past.

“High school. I mostly learned it so I could shut someone the hell up.”

Sam smiled, apparently satisfied with this answer, and moved a little closer to him as they
walked. He could feel her shoulder brushing against the side of his chest, and every time
it made his stomach jump a little. He came to the conclusion that this was why he hadn’t
fallen in love before. It’s like being nauseated all the time. ‘Horrible feeling,’ he thought
as his stomach quivered again. He wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to handle her
being so close to him at the moment. He never had been a fan of walking around with a
great big erection in the middle of the night on the streets of Boston.

“You okay?” she asked timidly, snapping him out of his thoughts. He realized they’d been
walking in silence for several minutes, and that he probably had a very strange look on his
face. He dropped his hand and stepped away almost instinctively and nodded shortly.

“I’m fine, you?”

Noticing her hesitation, he winced and stepped closer again, shoving his hands in his
pockets. He was trying so hard to convey an attitude of experience, that he knew exactly
how to handle himself in these situations. Unfortunately, he had no fucking clue. Now
that she was free, of course, he was desperately hoping that their few kisses would lead
to something more substantial between them, but there were some problems with that.

In particular, he didn’t want to give her the impression that Brent had not lied about him.
He had adamantly denied everything Sam had accused him of on the phone, and Mike
worried that some part of her still believed Brent. If it did, then asking her to commit
herself to him now would only support that belief. He didn’t want Brent to be a wedge
between them anymore.

A rather secondary concern was that through his observation of other relationships gone
sour, he’d noticed that women who have just broken up with someone they’ve been with
for awhile usually aren’t exceptionally eager to start another relationship right away.
There was, of course, the fear of him being nothing more than a rebound boy, but more
than that – in spite of his impatience, he wanted to make sure that everything was right
between them and with her when – if – they started a relationship.

“Hey,” she said gently, grabbing his hand and halting suddenly. He groaned inwardly as
he realized that he’d lapsed into thoughtful silence again, and it was likely to be taken the
wrong way.

“Sorry,” he said, unable to find much more to add. He looked at her sheepishly, and she
furrowed her brows at him. Her grip on his hand tightened and she pulled him toward the
wall of a closed restaurant. She placed his hand around her waist, then grabbed the other
one and put it on the other side. Mike’s pulse sped up and his testosterone threatened to
spike embarrassingly as she draped her arms around his neck and brought his forehead down
to meet hers.

“What’s wrong?” she asked plainly, looking him directly in the eyes. He gulped. He couldn’t
stop it. He was not going to be able to bullshit her now. And she knew something was up…

“I want to take you out,” he finally said, his voice not betraying a drop of emotion one way
or another.

“Out where?” she chided jokingly. He closed his eyes and shook his head a little. “Why don’t
you just ask?” she said then, a more serious tone to her voice.

“Because I don’t think you’re ready to go out yet.”

She got a stern look in her eyes. “Don’t you think that’s my decision? Shit, I just ended a
controlling relationship, and I’m about to enter into another one?”

His eyes snapped open and he looked at her suspiciously. “Are we entering into a relationship
now?” He had meant his tone to be more teasing than serious, but her eyes widened and she
looked panicky for a moment.

“A-are…are we not?” she asked timidly, her arms visibly tightening.

Mike smiled a little, lifting his head and pulling her into a hug. He loved the way her head fit
perfectly under his chin and he rocked her back and forth dramatically. She giggled and he
tightened his grip in response. Soon she was squirming against him and laughing outright, and
he pulled back and gave her a goofy smile.

“Oh, Sue!” he said in a high-pitched voice. “I’ve got legs!” He released her and danced
around a little. She was almost in hysterics as he recited Eddie Izzard lines to her. “Do you
like…bread? I’ve got a French loaf! BOOOSH!” He mimicked whacking her on the head with
a loaf of bread and began to walk again, laughing a little to himself. Normally he didn’t get
so silly with people, but making Sam laugh was a pretty big deal for him at the moment.
She deserved it, after a rough night.

“Byyee…” he called, waving as he jogged off, continuing the bit. He stopped here. He’d
already let the words slip twice, and even if this time would only be in jest, he was terrified
of saying it again. He slowed down a little to let her catch up.

“I love you!” she called back in the same high-pitched voice, finishing the joke. He
grinned and stopped. After a moment, he felt her hands on his back, then her cheek
pressed against his shoulder blades. Her arms slowly slid around his waist and clasped
each other in front of his stomach, which was already threatening to eject its contents
if something didn’t happen here. “I love you,” she murmured, in a normal tone.

A number of unusual things happened then. His stomach gave one final flip, and the only
thing that kept it from emptying itself entirely was his throat, which suddenly went
completely dry, and his head, which detached itself from his body and was effortlessly
catapulted several stories up, then flung back down to earth. The entire anomaly was
capped off by a slight tingle down his arms, causing his fingertips to feel as though they’d
been electrocuted.

“That…that was odd,” he murmured, once he’d regained his ability to speak. She released
him quickly and took a step back. Mike refused to turn around. He wasn’t sure he was
going to like the look on her face. He concentrated on a piece of trash in front of him.

“I just…I don’t know what to say- “ he started, but Sam cut him off.

“Forget it,” she said quietly, her voice taking on a surprisingly embarrassed tone.
“I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Why not?” he asked, desperately hoping the answer was not, “Because I didn’t mean it.”

“Because I…you weren’t ready to hear that.”

He spun around and looked at her. She looked painfully sheepish and shy, and for a moment
he was almost disgusted. This wasn’t her at all. Why was she acting like this? He forced himself
to ignore it and lifted her chin gently.

“Don’t you think that’s my decision?” he asked, challenging her with his eyes. Her gaze met
his with little effort, and he knew that whatever poor little girl act she’d put on for him was
over now. She looked at him hard, her expression undecipherable, and finally spoke.

“Maybe we should talk about this tomorrow, after we’ve both had some sleep,” she said firmly.
She smiled briefly and linked her arm through his. The two headed for her building, and
the whole time he was quiet. The way they were walking, her breast was pressed uncomfortably
against his arm, and his stomach was begging for mercy.

When they reached her door, Mike looked at her fiercely, trying again to indicate that he knew
what he was doing. She smiled at him a little, and it was obvious by the teasing wink she gave
him that she saw right through this little act. She wrapped her arms around his neck again
and drew him down toward her. Even though she had been the one to initiate it, she let out a
small gasp when their lips made contact. Christ, it felt so good to kiss her. It didn’t take
very long for their kiss to reach the intensity it had just a few days earlier, on the other side
of the wall against which Sam was leaning. His hands took on minds of their own and began
to slide up her sides, passing over her breasts and reaching the top of her neck. His fingertips
stroked her jaw line and she shuddered under his touch, causing a small surge of pride.

Quite suddenly, the dorm room door flung open, and Sarah stepped into the hall, scowling at
the both of them. Mike retreated quickly, trying to calm the flush that spread across his neck.

“Hey, Sarah,” Sam said nonchalantly. Mike’s eyebrows raised and he grinned. Sarah continued
to scowl silently. Her hair was messy and her eyes were puffy, indicating that Little Miss Social
Life had turned in early tonight. He leaned forward and kissed Sam again briefly on the mouth
and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. He tipped his hat at Sarah, who stuck her tongue
out at him.

“Don’t worry,” he said happily. “You’ll hear all about it.”

With that, he turned and headed down the hallway. He must have floated home, because by the
time he got to his room, he couldn’t remember walking at all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Jesus, it’s 5:30 already. Where the hell is she?” Paul demanded, glaring at Mike accusingly.

“I stuffed her in my trunk,” Mike responded dryly.

“Well, I guess let’s start without her,” Karen said, shrugging and pulling out her textbook.

“I’m sure she’ll show up,” Mike said reassuringly, although a tiny voice in the back of his head
was quietly disagreeing. “I just got done rehearsing with her for three hours. She was just running
up to her dorm to take a shower. She’ll be here. Let’s get started.”

Paul and Karen focused intently on their notebooks and quibbled over a few trivial facts about the
material, but Mike found his heart wasn’t in it at the moment. True, he’d just spent a remarkable
time with Sam, full of cheesy music and infuriating teasing. Things had seemed happy and light-
hearted. It seemed the passion and confessions from the night before had been forgotten, making
room for the kind of behavior they were accustomed to, with a slightly sexier edge. Which was,
of course, fine with him. He hadn’t been joking when he’d told her that falling in love with her was
terrifying him. And the fact that she’d said it back – a nagging feeling kept asking him, ‘Is this it?
Is this the end of the search?’

He shook his head quickly and tried to refocus. His mind had been far from studying for days, and
the prospect of this test was beginning to worry him. Still…she’d said she’d be there as soon as she
was done.

It was nearing six, and Mike was beginning to panic. He’d left her almost an hour and a half ago, and
he hadn’t heard from her yet. Seemingly on cue, his cell phone rang, and he lunged for it, ignoring
the startled looks Paul and Karen gave him. Sam’s name showed on the caller ID and he answered
it quickly.

“Where the fuck are you?” he said, a bit more angrily than he perhaps had intended. There was a
long pause, followed by a shuddering sigh.

“Mike?” Sam’s voice sounded small and scared, and Mike’s heart leapt into his throat.

“What’s wrong?”

Sam hesitated, and he could practically hear the tears in her voice. “Will…will you just come
to my room, please?” she asked, her voice taking on a pleading quality. Mike wanted to
assume that she was overreacting, but something told him that whatever had happened was
serious enough for him to at least go take a look.

“I’ll be right there,” he said before hanging up and bolting from the room, continuing to ignore
Paul and Karen completely. He vaguely heard them coming after him, but didn’t really care.
Her voice had scared him. The first thought that popped into his head was that Brent had done
something to hurt her…he certainly wouldn’t put it past him.

Mike wasn’t a violent man by nature, but if that was the case, Brent was in for a great deal of pain.