White Washed

Chapter Seventeen | Boys

“Sammy!” I yelled, throwing myself at him. I wrapped my arms around his neck while he spun me in circles.

Jess walked over, a small smile on her face for the first time in days. Laurie laughed with us, her eyes shining with humour.

Sammy put me down gently and walked over to Jess, holding out his hand. She took it and he didn’t hesitate to sweep her up in a hug. “Guys are asshole.” He said and Jess and Laurie stared at him, dumbfounded.

I wasn’t in the least bit surprised that he had caught on in less than five minutes, since I knew him so well. I also wasn’t surprised that, even though Jess didn’t know Sammy, those three words made everything better. That’s just the way Sammy was. He was covered in tattoos, quite intimidating and he had a gruff exterior in general, but he was so sweet and cheery that he could make anyone happier. That, and he was extremely observant so he always caught on to people’s moods and problems without having to ask. He had a sixth sense for those things.

Jess smiled sincerely. “How’d you know?”

He grinned. “You looked upset. I figured someone as beautiful as you could only have one kind of problem.” He paused, before adding, “He must be someone special.”

Jess’ smile dropped “I thought he was.”

I grinned when I saw Laurie’s eyes darken for a second before she controlled herself and smiled, trying to seem happy for her friend. I looked back to Sammy, who was feeding another compliment smoothly to Jess. I knew he wasn’t flirting, he was just being the sweetheart he was, but Jess didn’t know that.

A knock came at the door and I walked over to open it. It was Gabe, Noah and Rory.

Gabe fist-bumped me, then went to give Jess a hug. Noah took my hand, brought me into a hug and gave me a quick kiss on the forehead before going to embrace Jess as well. Rory smiled and nodded shyly at me as he walked to Jess, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

I started closer to Laurie, so I could whisper in her ear, when I caught a look from Sammy. He was half-glaring in aggravation.

What was that about?

“What are you and Rory up to, these days?” I whispered to Laurie. I’d noticed that Rory didn’t so much as look at her as he walked in.

She shrugged. “I hang out with him sometimes...Not so much, anymore."

I laughed and ruffled my hand through her hair, which she immediately started fixing. Good ‘ole Laurie.

We all found a seat and sat in a relative circle while I introduced Sammy to everyone. We were all having fun, besides Jess, who tired very hard to look interested but wasn’t really fooling anyone. She kept shooting looks at the empty chair, Spencer’s usual seat when we all gathered here.

There was a very tangible edge to the joking and laughter, very clearly caused by the absence of our best friend. Before we could all get too comfortable, a loud noise came from the other side of the wall next to use, making us all still.

It started out quiet, but before long, we could all hear the muffled pants of “yes”, “right there”, “faster” and — my personal favourite — “Alix, you’re a God!”

Sammy was the first one to break the silence. He doubled over in laughter, probably at the whore in the next room and the awkward silence we’d all fallen into. “My first night here and the neighbors are already getting funky.”

We all cracked up, even Jess.

“Seriously, though. Who is that?” Sammy asked, looking half-amused and half-disgusted. As he should be.