Drop Dead | Sam Fender

Chapter Twenty Three

Aurora

I was devastated when school started back up. It meant that my days spent solely with my best friends had come to an end and there would be days I wouldn't see them at all. With the boys having left and off on their own, it left just Harlow and me in school. It wasn't the same.

With the added stress of school, Sam began to grow more distant. He tried to spend as much time as he could with me, but trying to get any sort of insight into how school was was futile. Anytime I tried to ask, he would swiftly change the subject and in a month of starting at Whitley Bay, the only piece of information that I had was that he had made a new friend, Joe. Information I had only gained by accident, may I add.

It was routine that Sam, Harlow, Dean, Tom and I would hang out every Saturday. It was something we had done before we'd even met Harlow. So, when I traipsed over to Sam's house one bitter Saturday morning in October and saw an unfamiliar face, I was rather confused, to say the least. Dean, Harlow and Tom weren't due to arrive for another hour or two. Sam and I tended to use the free time beforehand to hang out, just the two of us before the others arrived.

"Hello?" I greeted politely, a light layer of confusion lacing my tone.

"Oh, hi! Ya must be Rory," he beamed, greeting me with a curt wave. "Sam's told us all about ya."

"That's me. I'm sorry, Sam's told us absolutely nowt about you, so, you'll have to tell me your name," I smiled with a hint of sarcasm that would be undetectable to those who didn't know me.

"I'm Joe. I'm in school with Sam," he told me. I heard the shuffle of footsteps behind me and the sound of a door opening and closing.

"Rory? What're ya doing here?" Sam asked as he slid an arm around my waist and pressed a kiss to my temple before seating himself on the sofa.

"It's Saturday?" I frowned. Had he seriously forgotten? It wasn't like it was a one-off thing, we quite literally did this every week.

"I know but ya didn't mention about coming over. I just assumed you were coming over with the others," he shrugged.

"I didn't think I'd have to," I muttered.

"It don't matter, you're here now," he smiled, grasping my hand to pull me down next to him. I forced a smile, allowing myself to fall beside him. I would bite my tongue, for now, not wanting to start a fight in front of Joe. It was different when it was in front of Harlow or Dean or Tom, but I had known Joe all of ten minutes. So, I would leave it.

I was quiet as Sam and Joe chatted with each other, lost in my own thoughts. It was clear that Joe seemed to be a good friend of Sam's by the way they interacted and that alone made my stomach churn. Not because he had made friends, but because he hadn't once told me about it. Surely it was something that would be brought up at least once?

I was relieved when Dean and Harlow showed up, soon followed by Tom as the tension was starting to get to me. Sam's hand that rested on my thigh felt as though it weighed a thousand tonnes and I was hyperaware of every movement he made, no matter how small. Immediately, I was up out of my seat and embraced my friends in tight hugs, for once, thankful that I was able to find a way to rid myself of Sam's contact.

"Who's this?" Harlow whispered in my ear as I embraced her tightly.

"Joe, friend from school. Apparently," I mumbled in her ear. I resat myself between Harlow and Tom, earning a subtle look of confusion from my boyfriend, but he was quick to shrug it off.

"This is Joe. Joe, this is Dean, Harlow, Tom and of course, ya've already met Rora," Sam introduced.

"Alreet," Joe greeted with a large smile, once that seemed to be constantly plastered on his face. It was something I would find adorable had I not been irritated by my lack of knowledge of his existence. Our friends greeted the boy, Dean and Tom slightly more enthusiastically than Harlow, but then again, that's how she was with everyone.