| The Search Is Over By Ladybug |
| Chapter 4 The next week went by fairly quickly. I had dinner with Sam that next night as planned and he was so sweet. By then I was angry at Tony for having left without saying goodbye and Sam listened patiently as I went on a tirade about it. When I was finished, Sam said, “Sounds to me like we accomplished what we wanted.” “How’s that?” I snapped, still miffed. Sam laughed at me and reached out and squeezed my hand. “Because he got pissed off, that’s how. If he was pissed off enough to leave without saying goodbye, that means he was jealous and afraid that if you two talked it would be revealed. His coming to you and sleeping next to you during the night was his way of reconciling that. In his mind, it was safe. He could have you, yet not be confronted with it.” Sam picked up his iced tea and took a long drink. “You should have been a psychologist instead of an actor, Sam.” I smiled at him and he laughed. “Funny you should mention that. Psychology is what I majored in in college before I decided to try acting.” I shook my head and took a drink of my own iced tea. “Tell me about the two of you. Growing up together and everything leading up to now.” “Well, I’ve known Tony all my life. He and his family lived next door to us. I was an only child; he has two sisters that are much older than him. Tony was unexpected. His parents had thought they couldn’t have anymore, so when he came along, Margaret, who was the youngest daughter was ten years old.” “I imagine Tony was spoiled rotten.” I nodded. “Oh yeah! He was definitely spoiled rotten, but he also became my best friend. As we got older, we were inseparable. At around age ten, he began sneaking into my room through the window at night. He’d do this two, maybe three times a week. We would talk for hours about anything and everything then fall asleep. He’d wake up around dawn and sneak back home.” “You’re parents never discovered him there?” “No, never.” “What about when he began dating other girls? Did he still come over in the night?” “Not as often, but yeah, he still came. Especially if he was having trouble with a particular girlfriend or his parents were nagging him about something.” Sam nodded, then indicated with a motion of his hand for me to continue. “Tony was my champion, he defended me when I got picked on at school, and when we got into high school and began dating, he would threaten to clobber any guy who tried to break my heart. Then when we headed off to college, we naturally went to the same one.” “What did your parents think of your friendship with Tony? Didn’t they think it strange that you two were so close? Did they ever accuse the two of you of having sex?” “No, actually they didn’t. Even though Tony and I were so close, we dated other people regularly. Regularly enough that no one ever accused us of being more than friends. Yeah, they thought it strange that we were so close. My mom on more than one occasion tried to encourage me to find more female friends, but neither my parents or his, that I know of, ever tried to prohibit our friendship. “So anyways, we went off to college. We had our own lives there, but still remained close. If a girl he was dating didn’t like him having a female best friend, he dumped her. I did the same with any guy I was dating that didn’t like Tony being my best friend. We had decided long ago that if you wanted one, you got the other too. Then we took a drama class one summer for extra credit and Tony was hooked. He didn’t return for the fall semester and moved here.” “And you came with him?” “No, I stayed. I didn’t come here until a year later when Tony called and asked me to share his apartment with him.” Sam thought a moment, then asked, “So how long have you been out here?” “A little over a month.” “And when did things begin to change between you two?” “A little over a month ago.” I laughed and Sam smiled. “Truthfully though, for me, it was the day I arrived. It was very subtle. In fact I didn’t even notice it really, but I can look back now and remember thinking how good-looking he was and why hadn’t I noticed it before. But it wasn’t until early last week that it really changed.” “Oh? Something happened?” Sam asked. I nodded. “Tony was going to audition for the role he’s filming now. He had brought home the audition script and asked me if I’d rehearse with him. We used to rehearse together in drama class all the time, so I said sure. First though, I ran over to the store and got a bottle of champagne to celebrate. Even though he didn’t have the role yet, I was confident that he’d get it. So we drank champagne and went over the script.” “And?” Sam prompted. “It called for a kiss.” My hands fidgeted and I took a deep breath remembering the kiss. “We talked about it first. Discussed whether or not we should just skip the kiss, but then decided that we could do it. We would just keep it simple and not take it to the level that called for in the script.” “But you did.” I nodded. “We were both buzzed, or I think we would have stopped, but when we reached the kiss and his lips touched mine, it was like an electrical current zapped us. We both jumped back in surprise, then suddenly we were all over each other. I think we would have ended up with our clothes off and screwing each other on the living room floor if Tony’s friend Jack hadn’t shown up when he did.” I blushed a little after revealing that, but Sam didn’t seem to notice so I didn’t make an issue of it. “What happened after that?” “Tony ran. He left with Jack rather than face me with what had nearly happened between us,” I answered. “It really hurt me.” “I can imagine. I take it though that the two of you eventually talked?” “Yeah, sort of. He came to me one night a few days later and told me he’d nailed the role for the movie. I was asleep after working a double shift. He crawled onto the bed next to me and apologized for running and for the way he had treated me and promised it wouldn’t happen again.” “But I take it you had already made the transition in your heart about him?” “Yeah,” I sighed. “But when he made it clear he wasn’t interested, I locked it away. Things went back to the way they had been over the next few days, then I met you.” I flashed Sam a smile. “And now here we are.” “Tony was upset that I called yesterday, wasn’t he?” I laughed. “Yeah, pretty much. He demanded to know if I had a date set up with you and when I said yes, he demanded to meet you and you know the rest from there.” “Sounds to me like Tony is struggling with his feelings for you. He’s thought of you as a friend for so long that he is struggling with suddenly having sexual thoughts of you, etcetera.” “So then, oh great psychologist, what do I do now?” I asked, playing with the condensation built up on my glass. “Be patient,” he answered. I laughed. “That’s it?” Sam smiled and rubbed his jaw. “Well you could just confront him with it, but I have a feeling that Tony would just run again. If you give him time to work through his feelings, though, I think he will come to you on his own.” I sighed heavily. “Well at this point I don’t have much choice as he isn’t here, but I’m sure you are right.” Sam took me back to the apartment and walked me to the door. He hesitated a moment, then said, “I want you to know that I’m still interested in you, Tessa. If it should not work out with you and Tony . . .” He let his statement hang unfinished. I smiled up at him. He really was a great guy. “I appreciate the offer, Sam. If my heart wasn’t already so wrapped up with Tony-” Sam cut me off with a kiss. He kept it simple, sweet and friendly. “Good night, Tessa. I’ll see you tomorrow at work.” “Good night, Sam. And thanks for listening and being so great about this.” He caressed my cheek with his fingers. “Tony is a lucky guy.” With that he turned and left. |
| The Search Is Over - Chapter 5 |