Last Hope

Chapter 2

"I missed you!" Were the first words that came flailing down from Sam's mouth. I rolled my eyes at her exaggerated statement because really, it's only been a week since we last saw each other. She's just being overly dramatic and extra clingy, I thought. I met her halfway as she started brisk-walking. I gave her my usual fake smile and as soon as she was an arm's length away, she tackled me, burying herself to my arms.

"Oh, okay." I muttered and forced my arms to wrap around her petite frame, my hand awkwardly patting her back for her own sake.

"I missed you." She repeated when she pulled away a little, enough to look up at me with her sweet smile that reached up to her pretty eyes. If someone could read my thoughts, they'd question as to why I lost all heavy interests towards Sam. I mean, she's really pretty and all but.. it feels different now- everything feels different. I feel different. It just isn't the same anymore.

Ever since I kind of found out about my girlfriend's cheating innuendo that had been going on for an awfully long time, I lost all sense of trust towards her. But hey, I'm still dating her, right? In a way, I mean. You know that famous phrase, 'Fake it 'til you make it'? Well, that has been my daily mantra since I went back here. I've been faking everything. I've been acting as if church had 'healed' me from my 'wrong ways.' I've been acting as if I'm still in-love with Sam. I'm acting as if Vic never existed. It's a tough act to pull up every day but I could still cope, I guess. It's because I had to drag myself in to this and force my feelings to disperse into thin air. I have to do these. Hell knows what consequences I could get myself into if I go against my parents' wishes.

"Baby, hello? What are you thinking?" Sam pulled me back down to reality with her over-the-top sweet tone, her hand finding their way to my own warm ones, lacing our fingers together. I used to be that person who thinks and acts like those cheesy actors in those cliché chick flick movies; our hands fit perfectly, like we're made for each other- That kind of person. And as if some bossy director asked me to change into a different character, I did. It's surreal how your feelings and your entire perspective about something or someone could change because of the people and things that you encounter in the middle of your boring life.

"I missed you, too?" It came out as a question but I shrugged it off when Sam gave me a curious and somewhat knowing look. Sam isn't that stupid, we both know that; we both know that every waking day in this suburban town had been slowly and internally killing me.

I grabbed her bigger bag for her just to dodge any other possible interrogations or suspicions that she might give me. "What's in today's agenda?" I asked as we both hopped in my car.

"I was thinking of maybe going to the mall. I need to buy a teal dress for my boss' birthday party this coming Wednesday and also a CD from this artist called Weezer or something like that? I'm not really sure. Sandra told me that our boss is a huge sucker for that artist so I'm getting him that." She babbled on and on and I thought she wouldn't stop. The strong urge for me to repeatedly bang my head against the leather steering wheel was so pleasing but I needed to stop myself before I could get the both of us into a dreadful accident.

The drive to the mall was incredibly slow, to say the least. Since it's a Saturday, a lot of people were on the road, trying to get to different places with their families. Sam made the trip harder for me to bear since she never seemed to get the hint that I wasn't up for any sort of conversation, whatsoever. She kept on telling stories about how her week went, what she's planning to do tomorrow, her ideal dress, all that sort of stuff. I, on the other hand, kept on nodding and smiling just so that it would look like I was deeply invested with what she was blathering about.

"Where to?" I asked once the cold air of the establishment hit my face, causing me to scrunch up my nose to the abrupt change of temperature. Sam let out the girliest giggle that a girl could possibly muster up and laced her fingers to mine.