you've reached sam

you've reached sam [ Chapter-3 pg 5 to 8 ]

I remember a trick my mother told me she used back in her day. “Dump it out and fill it with cranberry juice,” I hear her voice in my head.

Sam leads me through the crowd toward a red couch in the back where a girl in a white sweatshirt is sitting with her legs crossed.

“This is my cousin Mika,” Sam introduces us. “This is Julie. She just moved here.”

Mika stands to shake my hand. “Nice to meet you,” she says. “Where are you from again?”

“Seattle.”

“Right. I can tell.”

“You can?” I ask, unsure of what to make of that.

Sam looks at her then back at me. “So how do you like Ellensburg so far?” he asks. I can tell he’s already had something to drink.

“I don’t know yet,” I say. “There isn’t really a lot to do around here.”

Sam nods. “Yeah, I guess. You’re probably used to like, what, laser shows and holograms and 3D arcades and stuff like that.”

“She said she’s from Seattle, not the future, Sam,” Mika says. “No, we have some of those things,” I say.

Sam looks at Mika. “See.”

Someone bumps into me, almost knocking over my drink, so I step out of the way.

“This is a senior party,” Sam says to impress me. “I had to ask Spence if you could come. He’s the one that lives here. It’s his older brother’s party.”

I can’t think of anything else to say but, “Cool.”

A minute passes without saying anything. Sam tries to make small talk. “So, what do you like to do for fun?”

“Uh, I like to write,” I say.

“Like books?”

“I guess so. I mean, I haven’t written one yet. But someday.” “What’s your favorite book?” he asks.

“I like The Buried Giant.”

“That’s my favorite too,” Sam says.

“He’s lying. He’s never read that,” Mika says. Sam shoots her a look.

Mika mouths, “I’ll leave you two alone,” and disappears through the crowd.

“Okay—maybe I haven’t read that yet,” Sam admits. “But I know the author. He’s Japanese, right?”

“Yeah. Ishiguro.”

“I knew it.” Sam nods. “My mom has all his books in our living room.” The loud music slows down to something more palatable. The blues of an electric guitar with a Lennon-esque voice swaying through it. “It’s Mark Lanegan. Do you know him?”

“Of course,” I lie.

“He’s from here, you know. Ellensburg. My dad ran into him at the gas station once.”

“How cool,” I lie again.

“Yeah, see, exciting things happen here, too. Ellensburg is a great place. You’re really gonna like it,” he says with some confidence. “I’ve been to Seattle, and it sucks. You’re so lucky you left.”

“I love Seattle,” I say.

“Oh … yeah? I’ve heard good things.” He tries to smile. “This is a good song,” I say.

“It’s ‘Strange Religion,’” Sam says, nodding to the melody. “One of my favorites.”

We listen to the song, nodding along, awkwardly looking at each other from time to time, while others in the basement have coupled together, slow-dancing. When Sam nearly stumbles, I catch his arm.

“You should sit down,” I say, and help him to the couch. Sam rests the back of his head against the wall, and I can’t tell if he’s about to fall asleep. He seemed fine a moment ago.

“You don’t drink often, do you?” I ask. “No,” Sam says.

“Me either,” I say.

“I’m really glad you came tonight,” he says. “I wasn’t sure if you would.”

“Well, I did,” I say. I take the cup from his hand and place it on the table.

“Maybe we can hang out sometime. Like, after school or something.” “I’d like that.”

“Do you drink … coffee?”

“No, but I’m teaching myself to,” I say. “I’m really glad you came tonight.”

“You just said that.”

Sam smiles at me and shuts his eyes.

Suddenly the music cuts off. Someone flickers the lights on and off. A voice shouts down from the top of the stairs.

“Dudes—cops are outside! Back door—everybody!” “Sam, wake up, we have to go—”

“Huh—” He yawns as I wrap his arm around my neck and lift him up from the couch. A stampede of bodies races toward the backyard as I limp and stumble, trying to follow them out. Eventually, I make it through the door and emerge into complete darkness as the weight of Sam vanishes from around my shoulders. The scene changes again, and I find myself somewhere else.

A breeze blows against my skin, and when I look up through the dark, I see I’ve made it outside. I blink and a baseball diamond emerges through the moonlight. A telescope stands in the middle, angled toward the sky. Leaning down beside it is Sam, who is trying to adjust something.

“This isn’t going to work,” he says. “What’s wrong?” I ask.

He looks up at me, his eyes flashing with disappointment. “It’s too cloudy out. You can’t see anything. I thought this would work. I wanted to surprise you,” he says.

I squint at the sky. “Surprise me with what? Stars?”

“No. I wanted to show you Saturn’s rings. For that story you’re writing in class. You said you wished you could see it so you could describe it better.” He leans down, checking the lens of the telescope again. “Dang it.”

“I can’t believe you went out of your way to do this.”

“I emailed the astronomy department at the university and everything,” he tells me. “And they’re only letting me borrow the telescope for tonight.”

“Sam…” I whisper, and touch his back. He looks up from the lens. He and I have never kissed before. I’ll never forget his look of surprise when I pulled his face up slowly with my hands and pressed my lips to his, and we felt a slight shock of static from the metal of the telescope.

“Thank you for this,” I whisper. “But you didn’t even get to see it.” “I’m good with my imagination.”

We both smile. Sam puts his hands around me, and pulls me in for a longer second kiss beneath the cloudy night sky and bars of moonlight breaking through it.

I remember he said later, “I’ll show you them another time. I promise.” He never kept that promise.

CHAPTER THREE ENDS HERE***