The Thing About Samuel

Chapter Forty-Five - Samuel

Samuel - August 2019

Sam took a moment to observe the room. Everything inside him had lifted. Everything was right.
To one side of the room his grandma sat, a small glass in hand, and a wide smile across her face which Sam returned as their eyes met. On the dancefloor, his dad and Ryan had moved in closer to each other and pressed their foreheads together as they move around to the music. Billy's mum and dad continued to sway around, connected, the lights falling over them as they twirled effortlessly across the floor.
​'Ladies and Gentlemen, please join the dancefloor with your nearest and dearest to celebrate with Mr. and Mrs. Brown for the final sixty seconds of their first dance, as a married couple.'
​Sam and Billy stood as those around them elegantly glided onto the dancefloor, including Joe and Isla, with their partners or friends. Michael and Donna looked over to Billy as they passed again and gestured frantically for him to join them.
​'No, no! You two dance, we can't dance as a three!' he shouted, jokingly. But as they closed back into their small circle and continued to dance, Sam watched Billy's shoulders fall and his smile falter.
​'Thanks for helping me sort the plan out for my dad, with Ryan,' Sam offered.
​Billy shrugged. 'You're welcome. Do you think they will... you know... be together?' he questioned.
​Sam smiled. 'I don't know. But at least they have a chance now if they did want to.'
​'And you're okay with that?'
​Sam nodded. 'I am. I really am. I know Mum was fine with it. And if Dad was to move on with anybody, I feel better knowing it's someone he already knows, or knew, and that Mum already knew, too. I can't really explain it. I just have a good feeling and know it feels right.'
​Billy smirked. 'Good. That sounds...perfect.'
​Sam turned to see his friend staring at the floor as the bright pink, blue, and white lights broke the darkness of the disco ballroom and passed over his feet.
'I have something for you,' Billy grinned, almost nervously.
​'You do? But this is your day, not mine!' Sam laughed.
​'I know, I know. It's only a little something. Come outside?'
​Sam nodded.
​Billy excitedly ran ahead and gestured for Sam to follow. He quickly followed his friend and shrugged at his grandma who eyed them suspiciously as they moved to the side of the room and out of the doors that led to the gardens of the venue.
​As Sam burst from the sweltering heat of the dancefloor and out onto the outside patio, he noticed how cold the evening now was. The inky blue of mid-evening had taken hold, and stars glimmered down on them from above. And there, sat on the side of a fountain was Billy with two glasses of amber liquid next to him.
​'You got me a beer?' Sam laughed.
​Billy mischievously shrugged. 'Got to try everything once, right? Or twice.'
​Sam joined his friend on the edge of the fountain. He felt the icy cold of the glass against his palm as he raised it to clink against Billy's.
​'To us,' Billy smiled, widely.
​'To us,' Sam returned, and then they drank.
​Sam felt the pang of the beer against the insides of his cheek, and then swallowed, feeling the fizziness of the drink pass all the way down through his throat. He then ran his tongue around his mouth and looked to Billy who looked as dissatisfied with the taste as he was. They laughed.
​'Still a no from me,' he giggled.
​'That's not really the thing I wanted to give you.' Billy reached inside his jacket pocket. 'I meant to give you it at the start of the day, but I got roped into everything else and never got chance. I got us one each and even if you can't wear it today, maybe we can wear them to the sixth form parties we go to.'
​Billy revealed a small square leather box from inside his jacket and passed it to Sam.
​Sam eyed it suspiciously and then cautiously opened the box to reveal a small handkerchief, decorated with Squirtle, Charmander, Bulbasaur, and many other Pokémon in various different bowties and smart attire.
​'It's a pocket square,' Billy grinned.
​'It's amazing,' Sam laughed.
​He looked up to meet the warm eyes of his best friend. For a moment, they sat smiling, and surrounded by the dangling glinting fairy lights that decorated the gardens outside the venue. The fountain water behind them was illuminated in a bright aqua, and the ballad of 'A Thousand Years' half-muffled by the doors to the party inside hummed around the air between them.
​Sam neatly took the pocket square from the box, folded it into his jacket pocket, and then stood up in front of Billy, offering him his hand. 'Want to dance?'
​Billy eyed his hand, and then looked up to Sam nervously.
​'I know what I said on the camping trip, Sam. But we don't have to... you know.'
​Sam grinned. 'It's funny, but the whole time we were on the camping trip there was something I really wanted to tell you. And now, something about being here tonight, with you, makes it seem easier to say.'
​'What?'
​Sam grinned, offered his hand to Billy who took it tightly. He pulled his friend up to be closer to him and as the music surrounded them, they began to move together. Their feet narrowly missing each other's, apart from once when Billy had stepped on Sam's big toe and they both laughed at the typical clumsy nature of Billy's dancing.
​'So, what is it?' Billy asked nervously, looking directly into Sam's eyes.
​Sam wasn't sure if it was the fantastical scenery around them, the glee and happiness that his dad's and Ryan's smiles had instilled in him, or if it was that he would gladly shout his secret out loud to everyone in the wedding party right now, but he felt himself moving in closer to Billy.
​His heart pounded, their eyes both arched into smiles, and a small laugh left both their mouths before their lips met. And they kissed.
​Eventually, they gently peeled back away from each other but stayed close, still swaying to the music.
​'Wow... I wasn't expecting that,' Billy giggled.
​'I know you might not know yet,' Sam grinned at his best friend. 'But I do. I'm finally glad there are no secrets between us.'
​Sam watched as a huge grin pressed Billy's cheeks up into his eyes. 'Me too.'
​They pulled back into a hug.
​And as Sam continued to hold Billy tightly, he could feel the pages of his mum's notebook square against his chest. She would always be there, always, and this was just the beginning of a whole new story that now was up to him to write. And this thing he had been scared of for so long, had now opened up a whole new chapter for him. A new start. A thing that was his to know, and share, from here on out.

The End.