We've Learned to Run from Anything Uncomfortable

Tuesday, May 24th

I walked through the front door and closed it quickly behind me with a grin on my face, “’Ey Lynn?”

“Yes?”

“It is alrigh’ if I go out for a couple ‘ours tonigh’?

She came out of the kitchen, drying her hands with a cloth, “Why?”

“Cause I asked Sam to go out fer some dinner with meh, ‘n she said she woul’.”

“Oh, that’s ace Olleh. Yeah, of course yeh can go.”

“Alrigh’.” I said, walking towards my room, “Oh wait, Lynn?”

“What?”

“Did meh mum call by any chance?”

“No, she didn’t. ‘m sorry.”

“’ts not yer fault.”

I quickly walked into my room and closed the door behind me. I looked all around my room, searching for my wallet, which I knew had to be in here. I lost it about a week ago and I couldn’t find it anywhere. I even cleaned up my room, put all my clothes on my hangers, made my bed, and all.

Lynn thought I was doing it to be nice. I let her think so, because I wasn’t about to tell her I lost the little bugger.

That’s beside the point. The point was, I was supposed to be picking up Sam in an hour, and I still needed to shower and find my wallet. So, to clear my mind, I walked into the bathroom and shed my clothing. I stepped into the shower and quickly washed myself. I stepped out and pulled a towel on. I grabbed my dirty clothes and threw them in the laundry room on the way to my bedroom.

Once in my bedroom, I pulled on a pair of black jeans, a black and white striped shirt, and a button down black shirt over it, just to look at least nice. I made my way back into the bathroom and combed my hair out. I blew it dry quickly and turned to see Lynn in the doorway with a smirk on her face.

“Wha’?”

“How much yeh wanna bet, yer spendin' more time gettin' ready then yer date is?"

I grinned, "I jus' wanna look nice fer 'er."

She leaned against the door frame, smiling, "You really like this bird, don't cha?"

I thought about it for a second, "Yeah, I do."

"Well, I'm real glad yeh found someone fer yeh Olleh."

"Yeah." I grinned, "Me too."

"I want yer arse back in this house by 8 o'clock tonigh'. Yeh've got school tomorrow."

I laughed, "Alrigh' Lynn. I'll be back."

"Oh." She grinned, throwing something black at me, "Yeh migh' need this."

I caught it quickly and looked at it, "Lynn! Where'd yeh find meh wallet?"

"Yeh lef' it in the livin' room." She said, walking away.

I smiled and ran into my bedroom to make sure that I had everything I needed. I grabbed my car keys and put my shoes on before walking out the door. I sat down in my car and checked the time. I was about 20 minutes early.

I pulled out my cigarettes and lit one, hoping that smoking one would decrease the time that it would take me to get to Sam's house.

Unfortunately, I showed up over there fifteen minutes early. I quickly put out my smoke and thought about going up to the front door. Sam had told me that it was fine to come to the front door, but I wasn't sure if that was the best idea. I didn't want her getting in trouble and having to deal with her foster mom.

Nonetheless, I grew some balls and stepped out of my car. I hit the doorbell softly, hearing quite a few little voices dancing around the entire house. The door was thrown open by a small kid, with black hair and big brown eyes.

"'Ello, is Sam 'ere?"

He turned around and yelled up the stairs, "SAMMYYYYY!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming." She said, running down the stairs quickly, a coat at hand.

Her foster dad walked up to the door, "Hello. I'm Robert." He smiled, sticking his hand out.

"'Ello. 'M Oli."

"That's a funny name." One of the little girls said.

"Are you Sam's boyfriend?" The little boy asked, squirming to fit himself between Sam and Robert's legs.

I laughed nervously looking at Sam, "Yeh ready ta go?"

"Yeah. I'll be back at eight, is that okay?" She asked.

"Fine. I'll see you at eight." Robert grinned.

She quickly squeezed herself outside and closed the door, "Hi." She smiled, breathlessly.

"'Ello Doll. 'Ow're yeh?"

"I'm alright." She smiled, "I've been waiting for you to come and get me for like two hours now."

"Whadda ya mean two 'ours?" I asked, opening her door, "Yeh said to be 'ere at five. I showed up twenty minutes early."

She waited until I got into the car and started it, "I know. But, I just hate being at home.. With that psycho."

I looked at her, "She didn' hit yeh again, did she?"

"No. But, she just sits around making me feel like a giant piece of shit, all the fucking time. It's ridiculous. And I'm sick of it."

"I'm really sorreh, Doll."

"You know what?" She asked as I turned a corner.

"No. I don'. Why don' yeh tell meh?"

"I'm done talking about this, okay? It doesn't matter. We're going to have a good time tonight." She paused slightly, “Oh! Turn right here!”

I grinned as I screeched into the parking lot she was pointing at, "Okay."

“Fuck Oli. Do you have to drive like that?” She laughed nervously.

“It depends. Yeh wanna eat tonigh’?”

I turned to look at Sam, who had a playful smile scattered on her face. I knew that she was working hard at being happy tonight. And that’s what tonight was about for her; being happy. But I just couldn't get the thought of her being beaten for no apparent reason out of my mind.

Sam had way too much to deal with. From everyone at school, to trying to be a better person, to losing her parents, and on top of that, she had to get stuck at an abusive foster home?

And is she the only one? Is there other kids who are being beat for no reason? Is that house even safe for a child to be in?

"Oli? Oli!!" Sam yelled outside of my window, trying to get my attention.

"Oi!" I laughed turning to see an irritated expression cross her face, "Sorreh Doll."

She pulled my door open and waited for me to get out, "What the hell were you doing?"

"Just thinkin'."

"About what?" She grinned, pulling me towards the doors to the pizza place.

"About how delicious this pizza is gonna be."

"That makes two of us."

"Well, 'm glad yeh didn' 'ave too much of an issue with meh being vegetarian 'n all."

"Its really not that big of deal, Oli. Honestly. I only looked through the phone book for two hours." She smirked, looking at the person who was to sit us, "Table for two?"

“Oi. Yer killin’ meh Sam.”

She ignored my comment as she gripped my wrist, pulling me towards the table that we were being guided to.

We arrived at a small, round table, covered in checkered vinyl, with two tall chairs set up on either side. Our menus were small scraps of paper with three types of pizza listed on them, and we got watered down Pepsi and Sierra Mist to drink.

She looked at me and grinned slightly, "Wow. I didn't think this place would be so friggin' cheap."

"Oi, wha's that 'spose ta mean? We're yeh lookin' fer somewhere expensive, cause I'm buyin'?"

"Now why would I do that?"

"'Cause, yeh wanna waste all meh moneh." I grinned, picking up the paper menu, "What the 'ell is this? We get three choices?"

I heard a giggle from Sam, "I guess so. You want the spinach, broccoli, or squash?"

"Why don' we share somethin'? Those pizzas look rather big ta meh." I said, pointing towards a pizza perched on someone's table.

"Okay." She laughed, "Which one do you want?"

"Yeh choose, yer the lady."

"I think the spinach one sounds pretty good." She said, looking up from her scrap of paper and meeting my eyes.

Her eyes were sky blue, they reminded me of Tom's, only her's were bigger and wide open all the time. They were gorgeous. I took in all of Sam, she was dressed nicer than she usually does for school. She had on a pair of jeans, a long sleeve red t shirt, covered by the button up coat she had come running down the stairs with. She had on small amounts of eyeliner and mascara, making her eyes sparkle.

The only thing that really threw me off guard were the black eye and cuts along her face. She must've noticed me staring, because she looked down at her lap, playing with her napkin.

Suddenly, the waitress, a girl that could have only been about two years younger than Sam and I walked up, "Can I take your order?"

Sam looked up, took in the girl's face and quickly looked back down. I took liberty and ordered for us, "Oi, can we get one spinach pizza?"

"Of course." She smiled. She picked up the two scraps of paper and walked off quickly.

"Sammeh?" I asked.

She spoke with her head still down, "Yes Oliver?"

I stuck my head under the table, and grabbed her knee. I quickly moved back up to face Sam, seeing a confused expression on her face, "What're yeh lookin' at down there?"

She laughed loudly, then covered her mouth, "Nothing."

"What're yeh laughin' at?"

"Nothing. You just make me laugh."

"Oi, I'm becoming quite the comedian, aren't I?" I chuckled, leaning back in my chair

"Why yes Oliver. Yes, you are."

Once the pizza arrived, Sam and I continued to have short, snarky banter, keeping the serious stuff to a minimum tonight. We'd both had enough of each other's family issues and we just wanted to be together and have a good time tonight. So, that's what we did.

"Well." Sam said, consuming the last bite of her pizza, "We've been here for almost two hours.."

"'Ts seven already?' I asked, looking behind me at the clock Sam had her eyes fixated on.

"That it is."

I looked at the empty pizza tray, slapped a twenty on the table and looked up at Sam, "Well, you wanna go for an after-dinner smoke?"

"Sure." She laughed.

We both walked out to the car and drove to a park, missing all it's kids. I walked over to the swing set and sat down, Sam followed suit and I handed her a smoke and the lighter. She lit her cigarette and flicked the lighter sharply.

"Fuck." She laughed, "It's near impossible for me to light a cigarette without burning myself."

"Yer a twat, yeh know that?" I said, taking my lighter from her.

"Shut up." She smiled, sucking on her cigarette, "I am not."

"Oh Doll." I laughed.

We both sat there, quietly breathing in our cigarettes and exhaling softly. Only about a minute later, Sam dropped her’s on the ground and rubbed her hands together mindlessly.

“Oi, what’re yeh doin’?”

“I’m fucking cold.” She sighed.

“Well, then let’s get back in meh car.”

We quickly made our way back to the car and I turned the key in the ignition, taking one last drag from my cigarette and dropping it on the ground. The car roared to life and Sam’s eyes shot towards the green letters on the dashboard.

“Um, can you get me home? I don’t want to upset anyone…” She mumbled.

“Anyone?”

“We’re doing family games tonight.”

“Oi, I see.”

I drove away from the curb and in the direction of Sam’s house. Once we arrived in front of her yard, she turned to me and grinned.

“Wha’?” I laughed, throwing my hands up.

“Thank you. For taking me out. I had a really good time.”

“No problem.” I smiled.

“Well, I’m going to go now.”

“Wai’!” I said quickly, grabbing a hold of her forearm.

She whipped around, looking at me, “Yes?” She asked, losing all her breath.

“I was wonderin’ if maybeh,” I sighed, looking down at my lap and then bringing my gaze up to her’s once more.

“Yes Oli?”

“Never mind.” I mumbled.

Then, she leaned over and kissed my cheek softly, grinning like mad as she stepped out my car. I heard the door shut and I reached a hand up to touch my cheek.

I could still feel the soft touch of her lips and the small wet spot she left on my face as I pulled away from the curb and drove towards my own house. I still had a smile plastered on my face as I barged through my front door and bothered Lynn for the phone. Who, in return told me that it was nearly a seven hour time difference.

I groaned slightly, knowing I was going to have to listen to Tom whine about how just cause I moved halfway across the world, it doesn't mean he ain't my damn brother anymore.