Naivete

Chapter 8

Reveal


After another full day of classes, Sam spent a good forty-five minutes wandering around campus, looking for Paul\'s building, where the study group was to meet that night. She had been excited about their first session all day, and her excitement bled over into nervousness as she checked her watch.

\"Dammit,\" she muttered. \"I\'m going to be late if I don\'t figure out where the hell this place is...\"

Just as she was turning to go back the way she came, she bumped into a solid form. Looking up, she met the smiling eyes of Mike, who regarded her with an amused smirk.

\"Lost, kitty?\" he asked, a hint of mirth apparent in his voice. Sam rolled her eyes. She bit back a biting retort and decided to swallow her pride. Bringing her hands up in front of her like little paws, she gave him the saddest face she could muster and said, \"Mew.\"

Mike\'s eyebrows shot up and his smirk transformed into a full-on grin. \"Oooh,\" he gushed. \"Nice.\"

He sighed, then grasped Sam by the shoulders and turned her a full one hundred eighty degrees. \"Right this way, pussy cat.\"

As the two walked towards the correct building, Sam began to wonder if their conversation would ever progress beyond witty banter and gentle teasing. She looked at him sideways, wondering if he was like this with everybody.

\"Hey, I know I\'m adorable, but you\'re going to run into something if you keep looking at me like that,\" he said, his eyes never leaving the building in front of them.

Sam blushed a little and looked away, an abashed smile on her face.

\"Don\'t be embarrassed, honey,\" he said in a goofy voice. \"It happens all the time.\" She responded with another eye roll as they ascended the steps.

Silence reigned again as they boarded the elevator, but just before the doors opened again, Mike rather swiftly broke it.

\"So, did you end up getting any from Mr. Nice Guy?\"

Sam started a little, then regained her composure. \"That, my friend, is none of your fucking business.\"

His eyebrows raised again, and he chuckled slyly. \"That\'s an acceptable answer...for now. But just keep in mind that if we are to study together on a regular basis, I will need to know all the details of your personal life.\" Looking at her in mock seriousness, he patted her on the shoulder reassuringly as they reached Paul\'s door.

Before Mike\'s fist reached the door to knock, however, Paul flung it open sharply and glared at them both.

\"Never...EVER...leave me alone with her for any amount of time ever again,\" he growled through gritted teeth.

Sam and Mike looked at each other in surprise before they heard the culprit.

\"Tell him that I\'m never coming back here if he plans on behaving like a chauvenistic, sexist BIGOT!\"

Paul sighed and closed his eyes, looking as though, had he the powers, he was about to morph into a werewolf at any moment. Sam could practically see the fur growing on his hands as they rubbed his temples in agitation.

\"I told her that I\'d be glad to open her soda bottle if it proved to be too tight for her to deal with herself. Sometimes, those things can be a pain in the ass, and I wanted to be a GENTLEMAN...\" he called over his shoulder at Karen, who was sitting on the couch, her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes practically rolling back into her head.

Mike brushed by Paul without another word, then went and sat next to Karen. After a few hushed words and a few whispers back and forth, Karen burst into giggles and punched Mike rather hard in the shoulder. Sam and Paul merely looked at each other and shook their heads. Things were certainly going to be more than interesting in this group.

Several more minutes of diminished squabbling and teasing went on before things got underway. Sam and Karen both produced snacks from their backpacks, and once bowls were filled and appetites curbed, they began to discuss their first test, coming up on Friday.

\"Okay, so let\'s talk about The Republic,\" Mike finally began, which immediately launched the group into a ridiculously involved hour-long discussion about the true meaning behind the shadows on the wall.

At around that time, conversation had become so animated, and had grown so dangerously close to veering off topic, that Paul halted them and sagely suggested that they all take a small break to do some personal reading of the work. Everyone reluctantly agreed, and settled into comfortable reading positions. About ten minutes into this break, however, a tinny, mechanical fugue broke through the silence. Karen visibly jerked, then rolled her eyes, trying not to laugh at her own jumpiness. Paul\'s head snapped up from its downward-facing position and his eyes immediately landed on Sam\'s purse, from whence the offending noise drifted. Mike didn\'t appear to notice at all, but slowly and lazily turned the page, pretending there had been no interruption to speak of.

Sam moved quickly though, removing her cell phone from her purse and checking the Caller ID. There, written in bold letters which she felt deserved little hearts and flowers next to them, was the name \"Brent.\" He\'d apparently forgotten that study group was tonight. She smiled a little, touched that he felt so impatient to speak to her that he\'d barely waited 24 hours to call. She hesitated then, trying to decide if she should answer or turn off the phone. After a second, and realizing that everyone\'s (Mike excluded) eyes were on her, awaiting that very decision, it was made for her. The phone stopped ringing of its own accord, and Sam shrugged and tossed it back down on top of her purse.

When it rang again a few minutes later, however, her study companions were far from silent. Karen groaned and rolled her eyes, slapping her book down on her lap. Sam picked it up again and stared. Brent again...she really didn\'t want to just leave him hanging...

\"God dammit, Sam!\" came Paul\'s impatient voice. \"Answer or turn it off! We\'re all trying to work here!\"

A quick glance around the room told her that the other two felt the same. Karen was eyeing her with a raised eyebrow, obviously wondering who could possibly be this important. Mike, on the other hand, merely looked curious, as if to ask, \"Oh, and what are you going to do, then? Blow off your new chums for your other new chum?\" Sam shook her head quickly and pushed the off button.

\'I\'ll call him later,\' she thought distractedly as she tossed her phone back into her purse and picked up the book again. \'It\'s not a big deal, after all. I told him I had study group tonight.\'

The rest of the evening went splendidly. After another two or three hours, the snacks were gone, pizza had come and been consumed, and favorite movies and music had been discussed (or rather, perhaps, argued over). Sam, Mike, and Karen left Paul\'s dorm at around eleven, happily chattering about the professor and the habits they\'d already noticed about him.

Just as Karen split off from Mike and Sam, Sam was recounting her favorite tale. \"Did you notice that as soon as Emily came in this morning he immediately popped an Aspirin?\"

Mike chuckled a little and sighed, shoving his hands deep into his pockets. Sam sighed as well, revelling in the full feeling in her stomach and mind.

\"So, I think this is a pretty damn good group, if you ask me,\" she said to him, itching to break the silence.

Mike just grunted in agreement. Sam glanced over at him, her brows furrowed in confusion. \"You okay?\"

He stopped walking and looked at her for a long moment, as if trying to decide if he was going to tell her something. After the moment was over, he shook his head and smiled, heading down towards his building.

\"Night, pussy cat,\" he called, waving without looking behind him.

Sam just waved, confused, and headed back to her room. She instanty fell into an untroubled sleep.


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

Thursday was a frighteningly dull day for Sam. Her thoughts kept drifting back to the two previous nights...her romantic first kiss with Brent played itself over and over in her head, in between reproduced snippets of conversation from study group the night before. She honestly couldn\'t say what she was more excited about - her next date with Brent, or her next meeting with her new friends.

She smiled to herself as she watched Sarah bounce around the room, chatting with someone on the phone. She wished she could gather the courage to ask her roommate to keep it down, but she could understand where the excitement was coming from: Sarah had just been asked to play the lead in the fall musical being put on by the drama department at the prestigious school. Sam had been shocked, frankly. She was certain that Sarah was a fine actress, but she knew the competition to be incredibly stiff, and Sarah had, apparently, won the role by a landslide. She listened with a smile as Sarah bubbled over her role as Maria in the West Side Story. Currently, she was excitedly detailing the audition, beaming with pride when she mentioned that the girl who went on right before her was, in fact, of Latin descent. Before Sam could hear anymore, however, her own cell phone rang. She leaned over to pick it up, and grinned broadly when she saw who it was.

\"Hey there,\" she purred into the phone in a husky voice. There was a silence, followed by a low growl. She laughed. \"Hey, Brent, what\'s up?\"

\"Not much. Hey, where were you last night? I tried to call you after my shift was over.\" His voice held hints of concern.

\"Study group,\" Sam responded quickly. \"Didn\'t I tell you?\"

\"Oh yeah,\" he sighed dejectedly. \"Study group. How\'d that go?\"

\"Pretty good,\" she answered. \"I think it\'s a great group of people.\"

\"Good,\" he answered, perking up a little. \"Well, listen. One of the reasons I was calling last night was to see if you were available tonight for dinner?\"

\"Damn, that sounds really great. But sadly, I have my first test tomorrow morning. I\'m afraid I\'m going to have to spend the evening cramming.\"

\"Oh,\" he said, the disappointment apparent in his voice. \"Well, what if I come by and keep you company while you study?\"

Sam laughed. \"I\'m not sure that\'s a good idea, Brent. If you come over tonight, I don\'t think I\'d get very much work done.\"

\"Well,\" he purred seductively. \"Maybe that wouldn\'t be such a bad thing.\"

Sam laughed in spite of the slight surge of annoyance. \"Yes it would! I can\'t afford to fail my first test. It\'s my hardest class. Tell you what, are you open tomorrow night?\"

Brent sighed again. \"I\'m working. Saturday night?\"

\"Study group again,\" Sam answered, feeling a bit of disappointment herself.

\"Okay...\" Brent responded, sounding a bit annoyed. \"How about we just keep in touch?\" His last question, which seemed more like a declarative statement than anything, seemed sharp and almost angry.

\"Look, I\'m sorry, Brent, but you knew that I had a full schedule this semester. There\'s not really anything I can do about it.\" She tried to keep her voice calm, but could detect the hint of anger that slipped out with it. There was a pause.

\"You\'re right. I\'m sorry. How about I just call you tomorrow night when I\'m on my break? We can work something out then.\"

Sam smiled. \"Okay, that sounds great. I\'ll talk to you then.\"

\"Great,\" his voice sounded much happier. \"Good luck on your test. Night.\"

\"Night,\" she replied before hanging up the phone and collapsing backwards onto the bed. \'That was intense,\' she thought exasperatedly. \'I hope every conversation doesn\'t progress like that.\'

Sarah, who had by now gotten off the phone with her friend, was sitting on the bed and calmly painting her toenails, behaving as though there was nothing in the world to be excited about.

\"You okay, babe?\" she asked curiously, witnessing Sam\'s dramatic motions.

Sam sat up and looked at her with a small smile on her face. \"Yeah, I\'m okay. I think Brent must have had a tough night last night or something...he was acting weird.\"

Sarah nodded sagely, then offered her advice:

\"Just remember that even though you\'re entering a relationship with this guy, it doesn\'t mean you really know him. That may not be weird behavior for him.\"

\"But I really don\'t think - \" Sam began, wanting to defend Brent.

\"Stop, don\'t worry. I\'m not trying to tell you that he\'s a psychopath or anything. Just remember that part of the deal with relationships is learning about each other as you go. He may not be the prince charming you had in mind.\"

As shocked as she was to hear such wise and self-restraining advice from Sarah, Sam couldn\'t help but feel a little shiver up her spine. Sarah had used the word \"relationship\" twice. Was that really what they were starting together? A relationship? She smiled and bent her head back over her textbook, highlighter in hand.

She worked for half the night, the goofy smile hardly ever leaving her face.


A/N: So, there you have it. A bit more insight into all the characters. Again, and as always, I hope everyone is enjoying my story, and if you are, please review! If you aren\'t, review anyway, and tell me what I need to improve. I can take criticism, I swear!

foamyfan1050: Actually, I took a U&D class in college, and it was the best class ever, particularly for creating discussion and making friends. Also, the professor is also based on my senior year english teacher...weird! Thanks for your reviews, and again, for your shameless plug!

Tirch: Thanks so much for your read and review. It means a lot to hear such nice comments coming from a writer I have so much respect for. Thank you, thank you.