There's Too Much Green To Feel Blue

They all sat to eat at the white cloth covered table. Lily sat on one end of the table, Sam sat on the opposite end, Peter and Brendon sat opposite each other.
"Wow," Brendon surveyed the table, "you really went all out. There's food covering the entire table."
"I didn't know what you liked so I made everything. But don't eat alot because there's still the cake for desert." Sam said.
Brendon, Peter and Lily hungrily looked at the cake placed in front of Sam.
"Daddy, can I--?" Lily began.
"No," Peter cut in, "eat some vegetables first."
"Okay, let's eat." Sam said.
Everyone reached for the bowl closest to them and began to pour food on their plates. Peter loaded both his and Lily's plate. They all dipped their forks into their food and the door banged open. They looked up and saw Peter's mom walk in. Peter dropped his fork and spit out his moutful of potatoes.
"Mom, what are you doing here? How'd you get here?" he stood up and confronted her.
"I asked up front where you were and they told me you would most likely be here. You left in such a hurry, you left Lily's toys at my house. What kind of a parent are you? You go out and party with crazy people--"
"Mom!" Peter scolded.
"Crazy people?" Sam asked as Pete and his mom argued.
Brendon chuckled into his napkin.
"I don't care what they say, I like you, Brendon, you're not crazy because of your alternative lifestyle." Sam said putting a hand on his shoulder.
Brendon looked at her questioningly.
The door to across the hall opened and William poked his head into the apartment.
"What's going on here?" he asked curiously.
He looked at Sam, Peter and his mother arguing and then his eyes settled on Brendon.
"Princess, who's he? Is this your boyfriend?" he stormed into the apartment.
"Wha--no!" Sam stood up from her seat.
"Don't lie to me! I was just downstairs a while ago and Robert told me that some dude in a leather jacket was asking for you!"
"That was my boyfriend!" Sam tried to explain.
"How many men are you seeing!" Sam tried to explain.
"How many men are you seeing?!" William cried, "Do they all wear leather jackets? I've got a leather jacket, do you want me to put it on so you can sleep with me?"
"I'm not sleeping with anyone in this room!" Sam cried out horrified.
"Oh, yes, you are!" William cried.
He stepped behind her, threw everything off the table in one swipe with his arm, (just narrowly missing the cake) he slid his arms around Sam and pushed her down onto the table. Brendon stared at them alarmed.
"William, what are you doing?!" Sam cried trying to slap him away.
"You!" William answered bending over her.
"William, you can't do this!" Sam cried trying to slap him away.
"You're right, not here." he said.
Sam shrieked as he picked her up, in his thin but strong arms. He strode over to the couch, dropped her there and then jumped on top of her. Lily looked at her dad screaming with her grandma. Then she looked at the untouched cake.
Brendon stayed frozen in his seat, he didn't know what to do. Suddenly he saw Lily climb the table, trample over all the food and sit next to the cake. Admist all the screaming and yelling, Brendon could hear barking coming from the hallway. A small dog came bounding in dragging behind a leash. The manger peered through the doorway. His usually sleek hair was disheveled and his usually neat clothes were wrinkled and out of place.
"It's your problem now!" the manager yelled before running away.
The dog bounded around the room excitedly and then began to circle the table.
"Puppy!" Lily yelled.
She climbed off the table and chased the dog. They ran around the table a few times before Lily fell on her bottom. The dog stopped and pulled on the table cloth with it's teeth. It pulled so far back, the cake fell over the side and smacked onto the floor in front of Lily. She happily dipped her fingers into it and began to eat it while the dog began to circle the table again.
Brendon looked around at all the chaos around him, put his elbow on the table and sighed. He miserably stuffed a potato in his mouth. His eyes widened and he looked up.
"Wow!" he exclaimed.
Everyone quited and looked at Brendon. The dog even stopped barking and running around the table.
Sam pushed William to the floor and sat up, "What is it?" she asked.
"This is good!" he said scooping up more potatoes on his fork.
Sam grinned, "Everyone loves my cooking." She slid off the couch and clapped her hands once, "Okay, everyone who doesn't belong in my crib, out. That's you, momma," she pointed at Pete's mom, "and you, Mr. 'Jiggolo-Always-On-The-Go-Every-Time-I-Turn-Around-I've-Got-Another-Show." she said looking down at William, sitting up on the floor.
"Come on, mom, I'll escort you outside." Peter led his mom out, "Lily, stay here." he called, not looking at his chocolate covered daughter.
"Like what I did to you, honey?" William grinned.
Sam put her fists on her hips and leaned down closer to him, You didn't do anything to me, and, no, I did not like it. It was mostly struggling and slapping."
"I think I got to second base with you." William grinned wider.
"Out!" Sam pointed to the door.
William stood and exited the apartment. He stood in the doorway, "I'd like to do that again."
"What, you mean, have sex with my couch?" Sam asked, "I don't think you're my couch's type."
She slammed the door in his face and turned to Brendon, who was stuffing his mouth full of potatoes. Sam smiled and joined him. "Enjoying yourself there, tiger?"
"Yeah, they're really good." he pulled more dishes closer to him and sampled them, "Mmm, how do you do this?"
"Magic." Sam said, "I've got a few tricks. Peter loves my cooking."
Brendon looked at her and smiled. His smile was so adorable that Sam smiled back. In between chews he kept looking at her and smirking.
"What?" Sam asked curiously.
He showed her a cute grin, shook his head and went back to eating.
Sam giggled, "You're so cute," she gushed, "it's really too bad."
Brendon raised an eyebrow at her curiously. Peter came in at that moment and sighed.
"Sam, I'm so sorry." Peter raised up his hands in apology as he walked to sit with them.
"That's okay, Peter." Sam said.
"No, no, I'm sorry about that--"
"Daddy?" Lily pulled on Peter's pants.
Peter looked down at her and gasped, "Lily, did you eat all the cake?" he cried surveying her chocolate covered her face.
"I don't feel good." Lily said.
"You don't look good either." Peter grumbled.
Sam handed him a pile of napkins and Peter cleaned Lily's face and hands up.
"Daddy, I really don't feel good." Lily said grabbing her stomach.
"That's why you don't eat alot of cake." Peter scolded.
"Lily, there's an orange bean bag chair in my room, go lay down on it." Sam said.
Lily did as she was told. There was an awkward silence as Peter stood there, Sam sat and Brendon ate.
"Did we freak you out, Bren?" Peter asked finally.
"You know what," Brendon put down his fork, "I don't even care anymore. This food is just too good."
"Sorry that dinner was ruined because of my weirdness." Sam apologized while wringing her hands in her lap.
"No, no, it wasn't you." Brendon placed a hand on her shoulder, "It wasn't your fault some guy tried to straddle you on your couch."
"What?" Peter asked.
Brendon smirked at Peter and let go of Sam's shoulder.
"Whoa, what did I miss?" Peter asked himself.
"Shall we eat what we can?" Sam suggested.
"Let's see what we can dig up." Pete said sitting down.
They spent two hours eating what they could. Despite the state of the kitchen and the table, they had a good time. Sam hugged Brendon and kissed him on the cheek when he announced he was leaving. She gave him all of the dog's things and yelled kind words at him as he left. When Brendon left, Peter checked up on Lily, who had fallen asleep, and then helped Sam clean everything up after she changed into her pajamas.
"Well, this wasn't exactly the dinner I pictured." Peter said taking a wet dish from Sam and drying it.
"What did you picture?" Sam asked scrubbing a new dish.
"I don't know, something nice, it was a speacial day, after all." Pete answered.
"What was so special about today?"
Pete paused, "You were happy," was all he could say.
"Peter, you couldn't have been that miserable without me." Sam said.
"You'd be surprised." Peter said bowing his head.
Sam stared at him. She dropped the dish back into the sink filled with water and dried her hands with a towel.
"Okay, come on, let's go talk in my room." she said.
"What about the dishes?" Peter asked drying his arms too.
"Oh, I'll just put them in the dish washer." Sam said.
Peter looked at the sink and then at Sam, "Well, then, why did you make us wash them?"
"I like washing them by hand." Sam explained, "Come on, help me load the dish washer."
Weirded out, Peter helped her.
"Okay, let's get to know each other better," she grabbed his arm and led him to her room.
"What about Lily?" Peter whispered as Sam slowly opened the door.
"I'll turn on my lamps." Sam whispered back.
They quietly crept into the room. She went around and lit her low dim lamps that were located around the room. She lit a small red lava lamp next to her bed and then sat crossed legged on it and pulled up a funky looking green stuffed animal.
"Sit, Peter." Sam invited.
This was the first time Peter had really seen her room. It looked like a teenager's room. There were posters everywhere. Every bit of her room was covered in note pads, books and CD's. Her bedspread was pale orange with bright green circles. Half of the bed was filled with different colored, size and shaped pillows. It seemed a room fitting of Sam.
Peter sat crossed legged, opposite her.
"What do you have to say, Peter?" Sam asked.
Peter stared at Sam in her short orange shorts and faded yellow shirt. He took a deep breath and just began to talk about everything that had ever hurt his feelings. Immediately the conversation went to Hash. He hadn't even been thinking about her but when he opened his mouth, that was the first word out of his mouth. Everything that he had been keeping bottled up in his chest for the past two years was spilled out to Sam. She listened carefully, clutching the green rabbit to her. Peter felt both constricted and relieved talking about his wife and he was surprised at how easy it was to talk about it and not cry. After almost an entire hour, Peter quieted. He lowered his head and thought about everything he had just said about his wife, his daughter, his stress, his job, his bills, his loneliness and the guilt he carried everyday about not being there when his wife crashed. He had talked about everything so quickly and easily, he felt a little dirty and perverted. It was as if he had just done something completely wrong.
"Peter," Sam said quietly.
He looked up at her a little embarassed.
She cocked her head to the side slightly, "How are you not insane?" she wondered.
And suddenly, Peter felt a connection to Sam. He couldn't explain it and he didn't know why, but something about this atmosphere, this moment suspended in time, this feeling, made everything magial. It was a carefree, relaxing moment but it was also special. He felt warm inside, maybe it was because he felt Sam really understood him.
"You're not going to...say anything else?" Peter asked.
"What can I say, Peter? What you're feeling is normal. You're stronger than you think, you know. You can feel all of that but you still kept a level head. There's so many people that could never do that. Ever. And you're doing what your gut tells you to do. Nothing I can say can stop you from thinking and doing what you think is right." Sam said calmly.
Peter nodded and chuckled, "I feel so good right now."
"I'll make you feel even better." Sam said sliding off the bed.
She stepped to her window, pulled back the salmon colored curtains and opened the window. She stuck her head out the window and came back in and looked at him.
"Come here, Peter." she motioned to him.
Peter slid off the bed and joined her.
"Come on, stick your head out." Sam urged.
Theyy both stuck their heads out. Peter felt the wind whip in his face as he witnessed the Chicago city lights.
"Look at all the people in their homes down there on the ground." Sam said, "They're all just wasting time."
Peter never realized how beautiful this city was. Or perhaps he had been to busy working to notice what he was just witnessing. This was all opening his eyes. Looking at all the city lights among the dark buildings and streets gave Peter the best sense of magic Sam had ever given him.
"Don't you feel so small?" Sam asked.
He did. He didn't know how beautiful the world could be at night. He turned to Sam and was blown away. With the city lights reflecting on her face made Sam look so pretty. Sam felt him staring at her and turned to him.
"What?" she asked.
"It's so beautiful." Peter said astounded.

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Peter woke up the next morning and had to ask himself if what he had experienced the night before was a dream. He got up and checked the time in the kitchen, it was ten o'clock. He quickly changed into jeans and a gray shirt. No sooned had he stepped back out into the kitchen that the door opened and Sam came in dancing to her Ipod and playing on her purple Gameboy DS. It seemed that Sam was still a little sad because she was wearing purple skinny pants, a white shirt, a purple jacket and purple converse, but she seemed in high spirits.
" 'Sup, potato sack?" Sam greeted plopping down on the couch.
"Hey, girl!" Peter said searching his cabinets for food.
"Sam, Sam!" Lily bounded out of her room, sat next to Sam on the couch and watched her play the gameboy.
Peter bent over and got on his knees next to Sam, "Sam? Sam? Sam!" Peter grabbed the gameboy.
Sam pulled off her earphones and stared at him with wide eyes, "Did you--just break--my freakin'--gameboy?"
"I'm going to cook you breakfast today. What do you feel like?" Peter said ignoring her.
"I don't know." Sam said, "It's kind of hot in here, isn't it?" she slipped off her jacket.
"You think so?" Peter asked curiously.
"Yeah," Sam stood up and peered out the window, "look, the sun's way up."
"Well, yeah, its ten o'clock." Pete said turning off the gameboy and scooching closer to Lily to tie her hair in a ponytail, "So, Sam, did you make those clothes out of your blanket."
"Oh, he's got jokes now." Sam said staring at him, "Ugh, it is so hot!"
"Thanks." Peter joked as he tied up Lily's hair.
Sam didn't say anything.
"Sam?....Sam?" he turned to her.
She was staring straight ahead, her eyes were glassy.
Peter stood up and faced her, "Sam?"
Peter watched in horror as Sam's eyes rolled back and she collapsed.