Previously Strangers (TFIL/Sam and Colby)

Chapter Thirty-One

As you can probably guess, both Elton and Sam were not very happy with me and both of them made it their personal goals to not let me out of their sight, like, ever. And of course Elton had to prove his 'incharge-ness,' so he grounded me until I got married, which obviously was a joke. But he did take away my phone for two weeks and kept me hostage in my own house during my very last week of highschool.

My dad was supposed to be home for my graduation ceremony which was the Monday after I graduated, but he pushed his return date back a week which also meant he was going to miss my birthday. Sure, it was upsetting, but it was typical of my dad to be unreliable.

-

"So, a big ole' highschool graduate, huh?" Sam said, nudging me as we played video games on the couch.

I rolled my eyes and continued staring at the screen, chuckling to myself. "At least I graduated high school." I sneered.

Sam paused the game and scoffed, a goofy smile spread across his face, "Hey, I graduated high school! And, actually, technically you haven't yet." he replied, staring at me with a devious grin.

"One more day, big deal." I said, twisting my body to face him.

He laughed, paused the game and pulled me closer to him, "I'm going to cheer so loud, the entire room is going to know how proud I am."

"Yeah, trust me with all five of you there, I don't have a doubt in my mind that I'll have the loudest cheering section in the ceremony."

Sam just laughed and nuzzled his face into my neck. I waited a few minutes, contemplating whether to bring up what I'd been avoiding all week.

To my surprise, Sam spoke up first. "So," He started, face still pressed into the crook of my neck, "you're...leaving in a couple days?" he mumbled, his hot breath bringing goosebumps to my skin.

I chewed on the inside of my lip nervously, "yeah, it sucks." I choked out.

"I'm going to miss you." he whispered. I could hear his heart breaking in his voice and it sent a pit plummeting into my stomach.

I sighed as he sat up and gripped my hand in his, "Sam, I'm scared. What does this mean for us? I'm going to be like two thousand miles away, and you'll be here with all these stupid LA girls and the stupid, crazy parties. And I'll be at home in Ohio with the corn and..."

"More corn?" he smirked, rubbing his hand on my outer thigh, "Hey, don't worry about all that stuff, babe. I love you and only you, and I'm not about to let any of this go. We've been through hell and back here in LA and I don't think a 3 or 4 hour plane ride is going to change any of that. I'll always be a call or facetime away and we can visit each other as much as humanly possible. So, please don't worry because our relationship is stronger than any of these issues. Okay?"

I smirked, "Did you just say...you loved me?" I asked giving him this goofy accusatory grin. I watched as his face turned red.

"Yes I did, and don't make me take it back." He laughed, giving me a kiss on the forehead before slinging an arm around my shoulder and pulling me on top of him as he laid back on the couch. "You know, you don't have to go back."

"Yes I do." I chuckled.

"No you don't. He's not forcing you to go back, he said it's your decision." He protested.

I laid my head back against the cool leather of the couch, trying to find the best way to avoid bringing up the fact that I had a semi-abusive father. "You don't get it, Sam. When my Dad says something is my decision, he doesn't really mean it. It means you do what I want, or else."

"Or else what? What's he going to do? Hit you?"

I inhaled sharply and pulled my blanket tighter around me, doing anything I could to avoid Sam's heavy glare. No words came out of my mouth but Sam knew the answer. The feeling of his tensing muscles as he sat up sent my stomach twirling in knots.

"He hits you?" He whisper-shouted, his eyes burning holes into my cheek.

Still avoiding his glance, I quietly answered, "It's not hard or anything...I've- uh gotten used to it."

Sam's face contorted in disgust, "Used to it? How long has this been happening?" He asked.

"A few years," I shrugged, "It's really not that big of a deal."

"Kate, it is a big deal! A really, really big deal. You don't deserve this! I seriously can't believe you're actually considering going back with him."

"Sam, he's my Dad! I haven't seen him in almost a year. Of course I'm thinking about going back...I care about him." I forced out as I tried to fight the urge to cry.

"Okay, well he obviously doesn't care about you!! he hits you for shits-sake!" Sam bellowed, tossing the blanket off of his legs.

I stared at him, my mouth slightly parted in disbelief. "I can't believe you said that?" My efforts to hold back tears failed and now my face was being tickled with trickling tears. I stood up, crossing to the doorway.

"Kate..." Sam sighed, "don't be like that."

I shook my head, chuckling at his ignorance and stormed off to my bedroom. My mind was racing. I was so angry, hurt and confused as to why Sam would say that, but the more I thought about it, the more I wondered if It was true.

If my dad didn't care about me, there was no use in going back home with him. At least here in Los Angeles I knew I was wanted and loved. Back home I'd just go back to sitting alone in my room twenty-four/seven. A knock on my door pulled me from my thoughts.

"Who is it?" I called, even though I had a pretty good idea of who it was.

"It's me." The voice said back in a clearly 'Sam' voice. "Open the door."

"Go away." I called back

After a few minutes of us arguing about whether or not I would open the door, there was a jiggling of the door handle and in walked Sam brandishing a hair pin.

I rolled my eyes, "Seriously, Sam, I don't want to see you right now."

"Then don't look, just listen." The room fell silent and I felt Sam sit on the opposite side of the bed as I faced away from him. "Kate, you know I didn't mean a single one of those words. Any one would be absolutely crazy not to love and care about you."

There was a long pause, and I took a quick glance over my shoulder.

"Kate, truth is I'm scared. I know I told you everything would be okay, and I'm like 99.9% sure that it will be but like...I don't know everything; I'm not God! I just really want you to be okay and you deserve so much more than a shitty man in your life. And here, when one of us is shitty you have 5 other guys to be a little less shitty and you won't have that with your Dad." Sam sighed and stood up. "Just...think about it, okay?"

I heard my bedroom door shut and I slumped back into my bed. Sam was right...he was totally right, but how could I just abandon my Father like that?