Stragglers

Chapter XIV

Paige was going on a short run after what had happened those two days. She was running through the Rich People Neighborhood where Lila and Samson lived. She was listening to Unsteady by X Ambassadors when she thought she saw Samson sleeping in a small concrete tube. She paused her music and walked closer to the tube and saw that it actually was Samson. "Samson?" Paige said, trying to wake him up. She squirted the ice cold water from her water bottle into Samson's ear. *GAH* Samson jumped up and bonked his head on the concrete. Paige snorted. "Really? Really, Paige?" Samson said, feeling the bump on his head. "Why are you napping at the park? Wouldn't you rather be sleeping on your 3,000 dollar mattress in your overly expensive mansion?" Paige asked, helping Samson back up. She pulled him up to quickly and his face was right there. They backed away awkwardly and Paige cleared her throat. Samson grabbed his crappy bag and said, "Yes, if I had any of that". "What do you mean? Do you not have a fancy schmancy house in this neighborhood?" Paige asked Samson. "No. I don't have a house at all", he answered. "Don't you have anywhere to go?" She said, grabbing Samson's bag off of his back. "My dad and I have an extra room and he'd be glad to help you out", Paige said, walking towards the street that led to her house. Samson followed. "I can't let you go that", he said. "Well I don't care! When was the last time you slept I an actual bed, anyway?" Paige asked Samson. He paused. It had been a really long time. "It doesn't matter", he told Paige. She didn't say anything else, she just made Samson go with her.
Paige walked to her mail box and pulled out multiple letters from different colleges. She and Samson went into the Henderson's spare room. She dropped his bag onto the floor and showed Samson her small home. "It's not much, but it's home", Paige said, plopping down onto her couch. Samson sat down at the other end of the couch and looked around. "Nothing much? It's more than I could've asked for", Samson said. "My dad should be home soon, so we'll just have to chill out until he gets here", Paige said, walking towards the fridge. "Wanna soda?" Paige asked Samson. Samson shook his head. The screen door opened and in came Mr.Henderson. He looked at Samson and the screen door floated shut. Mr.Henderson approached Samson and stood above him, hovering. He stuck his hand out and grinned a big cheesy grin. "Nice to meet you, I'm Mr.Henderson. You can call me Dustin, Sir, Mr.Henderson or whatever you want to", he said. "You are?" Mr.Henderson asked Samson. "Samson. It's nice to meet you Whatever you want to", Samson said, shaking Mr.Henderson's hand. Samson and Mr.Henderson laughed at Samson's poke at Mr.Henderson. "Ah, so are you two...uh...how do I-" "DAD!" Paige yelled, cutting off her father. "We're just friends", Samson said. "Suuuuure, okay", Mr.Henderson said. "Do you wanna watch a movie?" He asked Samson and Paige. "Sure, Mr.Henderson", Samson answered. "What about Star Wars?" Mr.Henderson suggested. Paige snickered. "Nah, what about The Lord of the Rings?" Paige asked, sitting at the other end of the couch, across from Samson.  Mr.Henderson rolled his eyes.  "What about The Hunger Games?" Samson proposed.  "It's kinda like Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings", he said.  Paige looked at her father and he shrugged.  She heaved herself up off of the couch and shuffled over to the movie/book shelf.  She put the first Hunger Games movie into the old DVD player.  Paige shuffled back to her spot on the couch while her father dropped into the creaky recliner.  Mr.Henderson fell asleep in the middle of the second movie.  Paige made it to the third movie, but fell asleep during one of the biggest action scenes.  She was all curled up in a little ball.  Samson tiptoed over towards the TV stand to turn off the movie.  He spotted a family photo of a young couple and a baby. The man looked looked a bit like Mr.Henderson. He didn't recognize the woman in the picture and assumed the baby was Paige. He peeked behind the TV stand to see if there were any blankets in the blanket rack. Empty. He spotted a blanket on the end of Paige's bed-which he could only just see through the crack- , but he decided not to snoop through her room. He kept looking-aha! He saw a chest that had a blanket spilling out from inside if it. He carefully opened the lid and grabbed the blanket. He slowly let the lid close. He tiptoed back over to Paige and gently laid the blanket over Paige. He looked up and over to see Mr.Henderson was awake and smiling at Samson. He got up and shuffled off to bed in his koala bear slippers. Samson tiptoed to the guest room Paige showed him earlier and left the door open a crack, so he could see her.