Feeling

A/N: It’s been a long time…years, really…since I’ve written anything, so I decided to start slow. This is the set-up, and there will definitely be sex in the next chapter. I haven’t decided how long this story will be yet. It might be two chapters…it might be more…I guess that it really depends on the kind of reviews I get.

So read it and review it! PEACE!


Sam sighed as he played with the straw in his coke. He stared across the restaurant at the couple sitting in a booth a few feet away. The ditzy blonde girl was laughing at something the boy sitting in front of her was saying. She was in Sam’s math class and he had seen her around school several times. She was pretty. What was her name? Laurie? Lilly? Apparently, though she was pretty, she wasn’t exactly memorable.

The boy was turned facing the other direction, but Sam didn’t need to see his face to know who he was. The blonde girl started laughing again. Sam sighed and looked in disgust at the hamburger in front of him. He didn’t know why he came here.

That was a lie. He knew exactly why he was here. The same reason that he was here every Friday night. He was here to see Derek’s new girl for the week. Derek took whatever girl he was seeing that Friday to the same restaurant, in the same booth, every week, and every week, unknown to him, Sam sat behind him watching the entire date.

Sam wasn’t sure what he was watching for. To see if anything was different, he guessed. It never was. The girl was always some random airhead from school who laughed at all his jokes and added nothing to the conversation. At the end of the date Derek took her home. They only kissed when he walked her up to her door. Then he wouldn’t talk to her again.

It seemed sort of strange to Sam. Didn’t most guys lose interest in girls after they had given up a little more to them?

“Do you need anything, honey?” Sam was staring so intently at Derek and his date that he jumped when the waitress asked him the question.

“Oh, no, thanks,” Sam answered flashing her a wide smile. The waitress smiled back and then sat down in the booth. Sam felt himself move back in surprise.

“Listen, darlin’,” the waitress said quietly. “I’ve seen you in this booth every Friday night for four months. Every week you sit here and stare at that boy and his date like it’s the only thing you know how to do. You order a hamburger and coke and you don’t eat or drink. At first, I couldn’t figure it out, but after a while I picked up on it.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sam said with a hesitant laugh.

“I’ll admit, I was thrown off for a while. But that was just cause I seen you in here with that brown headed girl so much once upon a time. Now I get it real good, and I think that maybe you need some help gettin it yourself.”

“No, I…” Sam started.

“The first part is no easy task, but it is the most important. You have to admit to yourself why you’re here,” she interrupted.

“I’m just…” Sam started again.

“Look,” she interrupted again. “It clearly ain’t the food.” Both of them looked down at Sam’s burger. It was completely untouched. “And it ain’t the company.” She looked from side to side in the booth to emphasize that they were the only two there. “So either you’re here to see me or you’re here to see him. Are you here to see me?”

“I don’t even know you,” Sam said with a nervous smile.

“Name’s Lizzie,” the waitress said, pointing to her name tag. Lizzie! Was that the girl’s name? No…

“Now, why do you come here?” she continued. She stared at Sam impatiently.

“I just…” Sam started. He had never thought about it himself. It was just something that he did. “I want to see if it’s ever different,” he said finally.

“You mean, you want to see if he’s happy,” she said, pinpointing exactly what Sam meant.

“You don’t think that he is?” Sam asked cautiously.

“You’ve seen as much as I have,” Lizzie added simply. “Is he ever the one laughing? Does he ever look really excited? He’s never even brought the same girl in here twice. How happy could they really be making him?”

Sam thought for a minute. “He’s my best friend,” he said finally. “I don’t…I mean…I dated his sister. I’m not…”

Lizzie stopped him quickly. “I never said anything about that. But I don’t think that you come here every Friday night because you’re his best friend.” And with that, the waitress got up and turned to leave.

“Wait!” Sam said quickly. “Why did you do this?”

“Because…” Lizzie said slowly as she turned back to face Sam, “not a day goes by that I don’t wish that someone had done it for me.”

“You…?” Sam asked in shock.

“Short dark hair, beautiful white skin, and a smile that no one has surpassed since. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of her and what could have been; Nora.” Lizzie looked lost as she stared off into the distance for a while. She caught herself after a second and looked back at Sam. “Between you and me, I think you got a better shot than I did. Think of it this way: could the pain of rejection possibly be any worse than the pain of not knowing?” And with those words she left.

Sam sighed and turned back to Derek’s table. He and…Laney?...were gone. Sam paid for his meal and left a generous tip before leaving.

As he was walking in his front door, Sam’s phone rang. He looked down at the call I.D.-it was Derek. He quickly answered.

“Hello?” he said carefully.

“Hey,” came Derek’s voice from the other end. “I just got back from my date with Carrie.”

Carrie! That wasn’t even close to what Sam had been thinking. “Think that you’ll go on another one?” Sam asked, walking into his bedroom. He sat down on his bed.

“Not likely,” Derek replied. “What did you do tonight?”

“I went to a movie,” Sam lied.

“Which one?” Derek asked. Damn. What was with the questions?

“Ancient Indian Burial Ground of Doom III,” Sam answered, thinking quickly. “It’s that new slasher movie.”

“Right,” Derek said casually. “What did you do after that?”

“Nothing. Came home,” Sam said. He felt like he was being interrogated.

“Then why did I see you talking to a waitress at Al’s?” Derek asked.

“Huh?” Sam asked, shocked.

“When I got up to pay our check, I saw that you were sitting behind us, talking to one of the waitresses,” Derek continued.

“Oh, yeah,” Sam said, flushed. “I went to get something to eat after the movie.”

“Don’t lie, Sam,” Derek said sternly, “you’re not good at it. I know what’s going on.”

“You do?” Sam croaked. He swallowed hard.

“If you liked Carrie you could have just told me,” Derek answered. “I would have backed off, you’re my best friend.” He sounded like he was smiling.

“Oh, yeah,” Sam said with a nervous laugh. “It’s cool.”

“No, it’s fine,” Derek continued. “I figured it all out. I didn’t like her much anyway. And after I figured it out it was kinda awkward. We didn’t even kiss at the end of the night.”

Sam was floored at how Derek had changed his pattern for him. He couldn’t speak.

“How about you come over tomorrow and play some video games?” Derek asked after a minute. “Casey won’t be here. The whole family is going to Lizzie’s Tae Kwon Do tournament.”

“Okay,” Sam said finally.

“See ya then,” Derek said quickly. Sam heard a click on the other line as Derek hung up the phone.

Sam smiled as he laid back on his bed. That waitress was nuts if she thought he was Derek how he felt about him.