:: Holly's POV ::
My eyes studied Sam as he stood across the way, the way his red t-shirt loosely hung from his broad shoulders and the way his shorts hugged his body in all the right spots. I watched as he laughed with Bobby and Trey, his laugh was contagious and his smile still brought the weak feeling to my knees; I couldn't help but to smile at the feeling seeing it again gave me.
His eyes landed on mine and the smile he wore quickly faded as he repositioned himself and turned his back to me. I felt my stomach drop at his reaction and it certainly didn't take long for my smile to burn out the same way his had. I hated the way he was making me feel but even worse, I hated the way I was so clearly making him feel. Sam wasn't Sam unless he was infecting those around him with his beaming smile.
I let out a soft sigh as I turned to look at Kyle who sat talking to Will, his attention occasionally fixated on Sam who was just yards away. I was still trying to figure out what happened at Sam's truck before I arrived, the tension in the air was so thick I could've cut it with a knife. I never told Kyle what happened between Sam and me after his gig that night. I never told him how Sam reacted to the news of us dating, I didn't want to. I tried so hard to forget how I felt that night but in reality, I was silently suffering. So I wasn't sure what was going on, obviously I didn't expect Sam to greet Kyle with open arms, but as naïve as Kyle was to the confrontation Sam and I had, I did expect him to greet Sam with open arms. It was almost as if he already knew and I was racking my brain trying to figure out how that was possible.
Kyle smiled at me once he noticed me looking in his direction and I forced one back. I couldn't help but to notice how disingenuous his smile seemed and it left me with a feeling of total discomfort. I pulled my gaze away from Kyle as I brought my red solo cup up to my lips and took a long swig of the liquor laced concoction that filled the inside; Trey's famous voo doo juice as he liked to call it. God help us all, Lord only knows what this mixture consists of and where it's going to leave my senses after its affects take their toll.
"I'm gonna go refill." I gestured to Kyle with my plastic cup as I rose to my feet, "I'll be right back."
Kyle didn't even acknowledge my announcement and I rolled my eyes as I walked towards the ice buckets. The old Kyle would've jumped to his feet and offered to refill my cup himself, not that I wanted him to, I welcomed this break to the coolers. Besides, I only hoped I could over hear the conversation Sam was having that was making him laugh so hard.
"Better take it easy on the juice. There's no tellin what the hell is in it." I jumped at the sound of the voice that broke my train of thoughts but my heart fluttered at the small laugh that accompanied it. I looked up to see Sam digging through his cooler for another beer, a smile growing on my lips.
"It's actually pretty good." I shrugged looking at the funny colored liquid in my cup before raising the rim to my lips once again. I had to give Trey credit, it wasn't half bad.
Sam reached for my plastic cup and I handed it over watching him as his lips met the rim mine had just hugged seconds before. I giggled at the face he made as he swallowed the gulp he had just taken and accepted the cup he was practically shoving back into my grip.
"Damn!" Sam looked at me with a funny expression and I grabbed my stomach in laughter, he was always so good at making me laugh and I'm not going to lie, it was a good feeling, "Trey! You tryin to kill these girls with this shit?"
Trey shouted back a response that I had a hard time understanding but I didn't care because it made Sam laugh. All that mattered to me was that I was able to share this small moment with him, that he was actually talking to me and allowing me into his world once again, even if it was just for a quick minute.
