Chapter 9

The strains of rock and roll music greeted Sam as she entered O’Malley’s. As she stood in the small vestibule, she looked around curiously to see if her date had arrived yet. Upon finding no one save a girl in her early twenties sitting on an overstuffed chair, she sighed.

“Hi, can I help you?” a girl standing behind a podium smiled.

“Hmm? Oh, uh … I’m just waiting for someone,” Sam replied sheepishly.

“Okay,” the girl nodded.

Sam smiled and made her way to one of the other overstuffed chairs. It felt soft and comfortable as she sat down. She glanced down at her watch and noticed it was about ten minutes to 6. Her eyes widened slightly as she realized it had only taken about ten minutes to get there. She hadn’t exactly raced down there, but she didn’t expect to arrive so early. She considered killing some time in the bookstore a bit further down, but in the end decided she’d stay put.

She glanced around every so often; especially when she heard the doors swing open. U2’s “Everlasting Love” began playing over the speakers, and Sam unconsciously began to hum along to it. Her humming soon faded as she listened to each of the lyrics, and her face reddened slightly. For some reason, they seemed to remind her very much of Daniel. Her throat suddenly felt quite parched and she swallowed hard.

Suddenly, she shrugged herself out of it. Why should she agonize over Daniel right now? She was here to have fun, not to be glum and dwell on things. She sighed as she glanced at her watch again. It was 5:54 PM.

She was about to head for the Ladies room and do some last minute primping when she heard the doors swing open again, and saw a man enter. She couldn’t quite recognize him due to the fact that he was quite a distance away, and was nearly a silhouette against the door where bright sunshine was streaming in, in contrast to the darkened atmosphere of the vestibule area. She quickly unzipped her purse and reached for the photo of Joe.

She frowned slightly and her brow furrowed in confusion as she noticed that the man remained in front of the doors, and was now chatting animatedly on his cell phone. There was a bounce in his loose gait as he paced in front of the doors, totally engrossed in his conversation. Sam shrugged and realized that this couldn’t have been her date.

She was about to place the photo back in her purse when the man suddenly ended his call and made his way in her direction. As he drew closer, she could finally make out his features in the more well-lit area in which she was sitting. She shoved the picture back inside her purse and zipped it as she recognized him. He stopped as he was standing directly in front of her and grinned.

“Sam?” he asked.

A slightly reddish hue appeared in Sam’s cheeks. “Uh … yeah,” she confirmed as she stood up.

“Joe,” he smiled as he proffered his hand to her. She smiled back and shook his hand, feeling just a bit repulsed at how clammy it was.

“Nice to meet you,” she said softly.

“Likewise,” he replied as he gave her a brilliant smile.

Sam took a moment to look him over. He was definitely taller than he seemed in the profile. He had a large, athletic build, although it was a bit hard to tell from the way he was dressed. He wore a vertically striped blue and white buttoned shirt, which hung outside of a pair of loose fitting jeans. Sam wondered if this was how he normally dressed for dates. His nose, which was quite prominent, was the feature that helped her recognize him. The smile was one that seemed very disarming in nature, but not all that genuine. She began to wonder if her initial impression of his smile was correct – that he thought he was God’s gift to women. She carelessly let a small snicker escape her lips.

“What?” he asked curiously.

“Nothing,” she said, blushing slightly and covering her amusement with a small cough.

“Sorry about that, I was just checking my phone messages and I got a call from my supervisor,” he said with a touch of regret.

“I thought you were a manager,” Sam said curiously.

“Yeah, I’m a regional manager,” he confirmed. “But I still report to people. I don’t think I could deal with being the actual head manager of a company like this!” he laughed.

“I can imagine,” Sam laughed nervously.

He laughed and gave her another winning smile. “So, wanna go eat?” he suddenly asked, rubbing his hands together.

“Oh, yeah, sure,” she nodded. She looked back down at his cell phone. “Uh, look, if you’re busy tonight, we –“

“Oh, no!” he insisted. “I’m gonna leave this thing on mute the whole time. I told them I was going to be busy tonight. If they call and don’t get me, that’s their problem.”

Sam nodded and as Joe looked away, she furrowed her brow in confusion. He told them he’s going to be “busy” tonight??

“Okay, let’s get something to eat,” he repeated. Sam nodded and walked over with him to the podium where the hostess was standing.

“Two for dinner?” she asked brightly.

“Yeah,” Joe replied.

“Right this way,” she smiled as she grabbed two menus and led them to a booth set far back from the bar area.

Sam looked at Joe as he opened up his menu and began to scan the contents. As his glance edged upward, she suddenly directed her eyes down to her menu.

“So, what should we get?” he blurted out, breaking the brief silence.

Sam found the statement to be a bit odd, but she merely shook her head.

“I think I’m going to get the fish and chips basket,” she finally replied. “That sounds pretty good.”

“Yeah, that sounds good to me,” he agreed.

Sam gave him an odd look.

“I haven’t been to this place in a while, but fish and chips sound good.”

Sam shrugged slightly and went back to the menu.

Finally, the waiter came and took their orders: two fish and chips, a diet soda for Joe and an iced tea for Sam.

“So, you were telling me that you teach?” Joe asked once the waiter had left. “Which subject do you teach again?”

“Astrophysics,” Sam replied. “I’m an associate professor.”

“At UCCS, right?” Joe interrupted.

Sam seemed a bit annoyed at his interruption, but she nodded. “Yeah. I was an adjunct professor at George Washington University before I came here.”

“Oh yeah, I remember you said you lived in D.C., didn’t you?”

Sam nodded. “My dad still lives over there, and my brother lives in Friendship Heights, Maryland.”

“Oh, right, dad the congressman,” Joe smirked.

“No, he’s a General in the Air Force,” Sam said in a slightly incredulous tone.

“Oh, that’s right, sorry.”

Sam nodded.

“My family – most of them, anyway – lives in Pueblo. I have three brothers and one sister. They’re all married except for me. I’m thinking I better get married quickly before they have something to say about it!” he said jokingly.

Sam nearly choked on her iced tea after his last sentence.

“Hey, you okay?” he asked with a grin.

Sam caught her breath and nodded.

Most of the conversation leading up to their dinner arriving went well, with the two of them discussing their jobs and their families for the most part.

“I hope you don’t mind if I put you on the spot,” Joe suddenly blurted out between bites of fish.

Sam looked at him expectantly.

He waited until he swallowed his food before continuing. “What do you think so far?” he grinned widely.

Sam raised an eyebrow curiously. “About …?”

“About this evening?” he elaborated.

Sam shrugged slightly and raised her eyebrows thoughtfully. “It’s a nice evening … so far, anyway,” she said truthfully.

“What do you think about me?” he continued, flashing the thousand-watt smile at her once again.

Sam stopped herself from rolling her eyes and then smirked faintly. “You seem like a nice guy, but I really can’t say honestly what I think of you or how the evening is going until later on. I mean, it’s only a quarter to 7 …”

“Okay, I’ll ask you later, then,” Joe said playfully.

Sam forced a smile and nodded. She admitted to herself that a few of the things Joe said made her feel a bit awkward, but she decided she would give him the benefit of the doubt and see how the evening progresses.

“Well, I’m done,” Joe sighed dramatically.

Sam looked at him curiously, as he’d eaten only about half of the fish and chips. It certainly wasn’t a big portion, and Sam had finished hers.

“I eat like a bird,” he clarified.

“Ah,” Sam said quietly as she nodded.

The waiter came back and took their plates after Joe requested to have his wrapped to take home. When he came back with the check, Sam immediately reached for her purse so she could pay her share.

“Nah, I got it,” Joe said nonchalantly.

“Oh,” Sam said, a bit surprised. “Well, uh … thanks.”

Joe grinned at her as the waiter accepted the money from him. “I hope you don’t mind if I put you on the spot again.”

Sam looked at him curiously. Now what? She thought.

“There’s a bowling alley right down here. It’s still early, want to play a few games?”

Sam’s cheeks flushed. “Oh, uh, no thanks. I … I stink at bowling,” she replied, laughing sheepishly.

Joe grinned and shook his head. “Hey, don’t worry about it. I haven’t bowled in ages, so I stink too. And, besides, what else is there to do around here?”

A thought occurred to Sam. “The bookstore is over here. They have a little coffee shop if you want to get coffee and some dessert –“

“Nah. Those places really aren’t my speed,” he said dismissively. “Come on, let’s bowl. Don’t be a party pooper!” he joked.

Sam rolled her eyes and grinned. “Okay, but I stink. Gutter balls are my forte.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said as they eased out of the booth. As she walked past him, he patted her back. Sam flinched slightly, as it was something she was not expecting in the least.

As they made their way out of O’Malley’s and walked over toward the Springs Lanes bowling alley, Sam sighed. She looked over at Joe and began to reassess her opinion of him. Perhaps she was wrong all along. Perhaps her first impression of him and Daniel’s impression were correct. Perhaps she was making a mistake.

Shut up, she admonished her inner voice. The evening wasn’t over yet, and maybe Joe would redeem himself – not that she thought he really needed to. But, maybe more of his true nature would be revealed, and Sam wouldn’t feel as awkward as she did now.

“Damn,” Sam exclaimed as she watched her ball veer off to the left of the lane and land in the gutter with a thud.

She made her way back to the table where Joe was sitting and laughed nervously. They were almost halfway through the game, and she was trailing way behind. Her first ball had been a good one, but after that, it seemed to be just luck if she knocked a few pins down. Sam hadn’t been bowling in more than 8 years, and it certainly showed, although she wasn’t a very good bowler to begin with.

“See?” she said grimly.

Joe grinned and shook his head at her. “It’s all in your stance and your follow-through. Here, let me show you,” he began as Sam’s ball came back up. He motioned for her to pick it up again, and he took hold of her to guide her to the lane. Sam looked at him awkwardly, finding the position she was in slightly uncomfortable.

“You have to remember to keep a relaxed grip on the ball. Don’t squeeze your fingers,” he said as he held Sam’s ball up from the bottom with one hand, and tried to fix the fingers inserted into her ball with the other hand. Sam winced slightly.

“Now, you swing the ball from your shoulder, and use the weight of the ball,” he continued, taking hold of her right arm and swinging it back to show her.

“Huh? The weight of the ball??” she said, confused as she furrowed her brow. For a moment she thought she couldn’t hear him, as the background noise was quite loud, mostly from 80s music blaring from the speakers.

Joe laughed. “I mean, you want to have a long, loose arm swing, so you have to use the weight of the ball, and keep your fingers relaxed.”

“That’s kind of hard to do when the holes are so big and the ball is so heavy,” she replied.

Joe shrugged. “I don’t know why they don’t have any smaller balls. What size is that ball, anyway?”

She opened her mouth to answer, but he interrupted her incredulously. “A fourteen?? This ball is a fourteen and it’s too heavy for you??”

“Yes, it is! Why is that so hard to believe?” she laughed.

“You must really be a weakling. Don’t you exercise at all?” he joked.

Sam glared at him briefly and he realized he made a mistake.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m just surprised that that ball is too big for you.”

“It’s okay,” she said half-heartedly, still sounding annoyed.

“Well, getting back to what I was saying … make sure that your arm swing and your elbow are close to the side of your body – like this,” he said as he positioned her arm with one hand and put the other hand around her shoulder. Sam looked down at her shoulder uneasily.

“Are you paying attention?” he asked.

She looked back at her right arm and nodded.

“Okay, so make sure it’s close to your body. Try to picture your elbow being as close to your side as possible the whole time you’re swinging.”

“O … kay,” Sam said awkwardly as she copied the movements he made with her arm.

“Now, on your approach, you have to use your lower body on the last step to give you some balance. Watch me,” he began.

Sam watched him with minimal interest. She wasn’t exactly having much of a good time anymore, as the game had turned into a bowling lesson. She realized Joe was only trying to help, but she wasn’t planning on bowling again anytime soon, so she found his instructions pretty much useless.

“See, you need to bend your knees and just slide into it,” he continued, holding out the word “slide.” “And then you sort of stretch your right leg out to the left side of your body. See?”

Sam nodded.

“Okay, now try it,” he coaxed as he gave her an encouraging pat on the back.

Sam nodded and tried to reproduce the actions he showed her. A small smile crept across her face as she managed to knock down six pins.

“See? I told you it would work!” Joe said jubilantly as she made her way back to the table. “All you have to do is just think before you follow through – think about how you want to be positioned in order to get the ball to go where you want it to!” He threw his arm around her and began to rub her back in circles.

Sam coughed quietly, clearly not used to the constant displays of affection. She could no longer wait for the game to end, and looked desperately up at the computerized scoreboard to see how many frames they had left. Hopefully the game would be over soon.

Daniel sighed heavily as he made his way to the checkout line inside the bookstore. After an early dinner, he decided to head over there to look around and get a cup of coffee in the little café inside. It wasn’t quite as good as the coffee from the Java House, but it was pretty decent.

He heard “Missing” by Everything But The Girl playing out of the speakers, and his mind started to wander. For some reason, the lyrics made him think of Sam, and he wondered if she’d “found some better place” with Joe. He thought back to himself sitting alone in the café at a table for two near one of the windows. He thought back to the last time he saw Sam two days ago, and what had taken place then. If only he’d kept his big mouth shut and refrained from making it clear that he was questioning her judgment, maybe he would have been sitting there with Sam.

Oh, sure, what good would that have done? She would have went out with him tonight anyway, he thought to himself. Forget it, Daniel; she’s gone.

Just hope that he treats her well.

He was brought abruptly out of his agonizing thoughts when the cashier at the far end of the checkout counter called out, “Can I help the next person?”

Clarity filled Daniel’s eyes as he shrugged himself out of it and made his way up to the cashier.

“How are you doing?” she asked, smiling genially.

“Ah, not bad, thanks,” he fibbed, forcing a little smile.

The girl smiled back, and Daniel swallowed hard as he briefly took in her appearance. With her blue-gray eyes, fair skin and blonde hair, she greatly resembled Sam. If it weren’t for the fact that she didn’t look a day over twenty, and her long hair was pulled up in a bun, she might have actually been mistaken for the woman whom he’d befriended. Actually, he began to wonder if this was what Sam looked like when she was younger.

Daniel shook his head slightly in an attempt to clear his mind of these heavy thoughts as she handed a plastic bag containing a book about the Boundary Stelae of Akhenaten to him. He nodded, smiled and thanked the girl as he walked away from the counter and toward the doors.

As he exited, he began thinking again about the girl’s remarkable resemblance to Sam. He sighed and wished he could try to forget about her. A part of him hoped that her date would end up a disaster so that she could see the error of her ways and realize that Joe wasn’t the one for her. He couldn’t believe he’d be that selfish. She was his friend – at least he thought she was – and she deserved to be happy.

As he was about to step off the curb and head in the direction of his car, the sound of a woman laughing stopped him in his tracks.

The object of his thoughts was right there in front of him with another man, presumably Joe, and laughing gaily. Daniel’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. He seemed to be doing a good impression of a fish. As he realized he had been staring, he abruptly shut his mouth and blushed furiously. They appeared to be coming from the direction of the bowling alley one store over, and were heading towards the left – virtually in Daniel’s direction.

He quickly turned his back and made his way over to his car. He couldn’t let them see him. He had made a trip to the bookstore without any knowledge of where she was going on her date, but if they’d run into him, it might appear as though he was stalking them, and she’d hate him even more. Luckily there was a large pickup truck parked next to his blue Pontiac sedan, shielding him from their view. As he entered the car, he gazed out the windshield and watched as they continued walking down toward O’Malley’s.

He folded his arms on top of the steering wheel and put his head down. When he first saw them, Sam’s face was lit up and she was laughing, presumably at something Joe had said. She really seemed to be enjoying herself, and it only disappointed Daniel further. He was totally at odds with his feelings once again. On one hand, he couldn’t believe he was being so selfish as to wish that she wasn’t enjoying herself; but on the other hand, he thought this guy sounded like a jerk and he cared for Sam so much that he didn’t want to see her get hurt.

It was then that he began to wonder if he cared too much. This is what happens to people who care too much – they only end up getting hurt. For a moment he was aware of how irrational that may have sounded, but he didn’t care; it was how he was feeling right now. Maybe he did care about her too much. Sam was a big girl who could take care of herself. She didn’t need him to watch out for her like her big brother, even though he was actually a few years younger than her.

But, he couldn’t let it go. Something was holding him back. Could it be that his feelings for her were so strong, that he really thought of their friendship as something so valuable that it could not be broken? He had to admit to himself that what they had was something very unique. They hadn’t known each other for very long and their friendship was so strong, it was as if they’d known each other for years. It would be a mistake to let go of something so treasured.

He hoped she felt the same way.

He lifted his head and looked out the window once more. He could no longer see Sam and her date, so he assumed that they already left or had gone somewhere else. He sighed, turned the ignition on and backed out of his space.