There's Too Much Green To Feel Blue

It was six p.m., the end of a long day. Peter trudged up the stairs he had fallen over earlier that day. He smiled at the thought. Sam had gasped, rushed down the stairs toward him, helped him up and then made him fall back again as she collapsed from laughing so hard.
"I told you not to worry too much, it's not good for you!" she had said.
"Don't laugh, I could've broken my neck!" he had said, pausing from his fit of laughter.
"Then, it would've been funnier!" And that sent her into another wave of laughter, "Do you feel better?" she asked once she had calmed down.
"Why?" Peter asked.
"Because you fell down. I always feel better when I fall down. Maybe it's because it seems like the weight of the world on your shoulders falls down with you."
He knocked on his door.
"Come in, Peter," he heard Sam call.
He opened the door and found her sitting on the couch, her legs stretched out, and doodling on a pair of jeans with a marker.
"Long day, hon?" she asked looking up at him.
Peter nodded, tired.
"I had a feeling you would be," she said placing her things aside and getting up, "Good thing I made you dinner."
"What, aw, Sam, no," Peter said surprised.
"Come on, you're tired. The last thing you want to do is cook for a kid."
"Where is the kid?" Peter asked.
"She's in her room. Lily, your dad's here." Sam called.
Lily came bounding from her room.
"Daddy!" she paused and looked at him, "Can I write on my clothes?"
"You better not." Peter warned.
"Well, you two have a lot to catch up on. I'll leave you to it." Sam walked to the counter and pulled out a giant plate covered in foil from the microwave, "Here's dinner." She went to the couch, stuffed the jeans in her peach tote bag and looked up, "Later, zebra." she called. She turned to leave.
Lily tugged on her father's pants, "Daddy, I don't want Sam to leave," she said sadly.
Peter remembered something, "Hey, Sam," he called. He opened a drawer, pulled out a set of keys and hurried to her.
"I know it's only your first day, but you've been a bigger help than I could've expected. And I hope I'm not moving too fast, but," he held out a single key to her.
"Peter?" Sam said confused, staring at the key.
"It's an extra key to the apartment, in case you ever need it." Peter said.
"Hmm," Sam said taking the key, "I may know the answer to this, but how was my first day?" she asked.
Peter smiled, "You did great, kiddo."
"Oh, I know I did great, I just wanted to know if you saw how incredibly talented I am. Don't doubt me, Pete, I'm always right."
"Oh, really?" Peter crossed his arms.
"Who was the one who told you not to worry so much?" she smirked.
Peter opened his mouth to answer.
"Uhu, that's what I thought." Sam said turning for the door, "Tootles."
"You're leaving already?" Lily's voice was sad.
Pete and Sam spun to look at her. Sam walked to her and went down on her knees. "Yes, I have to go to my house." Sam said gently.
Lily stared at her for a few seconds. She folded her arms, "I want you here earlier tomorrow," she said and turned to go to her room.
"Smart kid." Sam said, still on her knees, staring after her.
"She gets it from her mom." Peter answered.
"Hmm." Sam said as she stood up, "Well, later," she called heading for the door,
"Wait, why don't you join us for dinner?" Pete offered.
"No, thanks. I made that for you guys." Sam said, her hand on the bag that was slung over her shoulder.
"Please," Peter insisted, "It's the least I could do."
Sam smiled, "I'll take a rain check......Hey, Peter," she looked down at the key in her hands, then looked back up at him, "I think you're a really cool guy."
"Really?" Peter asked.
No one had ever described him as cool before. The compliment surprisingly meant a lot.
Peter moved forward, "Would you like a ride home?" he asked as Sam layed her hand on the knob.
"Peter, you're tired. Stay, sit." Sam said.
Peter lowered himself onto the couch.
"Good boy," she said and with that she slipped through the door and left.
By giving Sam the key, Peter expected to see her a little bit more often for whatever she needed, but he did not expect to see her so soon. Peter was cleaning up the dirty dishes they had just used and Lily was watching tv in the living room, when Sam burst in with two paper bags in her arms, full of groceries.
"Samantha?" Pete asked, caught off guard.
She rolled her eyes, "Don't call me that," she said as she stumbled through the door.
"What are you doing here?" Peter asked.
"I'm helping you out, playa." she said setting the brown bags on the counter.
"What's all this?" Peter asked motioning to the bags.
"Nice bod." Sam said staring him up and down.
Peter was suddenly self-conscious. He was suddenly very aware that he was wearing nothing but long black baggy shorts.
Sam laughed, "You should've seen the face you made when I said that," she put a hand over her mouth and giggled, "I bet you came out like that on your senior picture in high school, with your eyes wide and your mouth all open!"
Peter regained his composure. He folded his arms, partly to cover his chest, "What are you doing here?"
"Oh." Sam said. She extracted groceries from the bag and headed to the refrigerator. She opened the door and started placing things in.
"Sam, what is it?" Peter asked curious.
"You're fridge," she pointed celery at him, "is sad. I came to rescue it."
"It's not sad." Peter protested.
"Would you care to look at the evidence?" she opened the door wider.
Pete stepped forward and looked at the friedge. All she had it in was a jar of mayonnaise and cartons of milk and jucie."
"Let's make it pretty!" she said and began to pack the fridge, "You need to keep your fridge happy," she put on a high voice, "Feed me, Peter, feed me, feed me!" she put in more food, "Seriously, how do you and your daughter eat?"
"You didn't buy any, um, meat, did you?" Pete asked.
Sam looked up from the fridge, "Um, no. Why?"
Peter placed a hand on the counter, but then remembered that he was covering his chest, he folded his arms again and leaned against the counter.
"Did I fail to mention that I'm a vegetarian?" he asked.
She looked up from the fridge again, "No kidding?" she stood up straight, "A veggie head, huh?" she went to the counter and searched the bag for more groceries, "That's cool," she said, "Good thing I bought just fruits and vegetables," she grinned.
She finished stuffing the fridge, then leaned against the counter and munched on a candy bar.
"Happy now?" Peter asked, "You've got me stocked for the winter."
Sam looked down to her right and saw Lily looking up at her, "Here, kid," she said handing her the half finished candy bar. Lily took it and ran away happily.
"Is that a grocery list?" Sam asked going around the counter and pulling a yellow paper from the fridge.
"Yeah, I guess." Peter said.
"I'll bring these by for you tomorrow." Sam said putting the list in her pocket.
She caught sight of a beanie on the couter top. She swiped it, slipped it carefully on Peter's head stepped back and admired it. "There you go, Mr. Bodybuilder." She crossed the room and headed to the door.
"Sam?"
Sam turned to look at Peter.
"Thanks." Pete said gratefully.
Sam smiled. She always smiled. "Later, Superman."
Peter looked down at his chest and realized that his hands were hanging at his sides and although Sam had already closed the door, he crossed his arms again.
It was a few hours later, Pete had just put Lily down for bed. He was cleaning up the apartment and sorting the dirty clothes from the clean clothes in the living room. When he heard shouting coming from the ceiling. He looked up, as if he could see the source. He figured the shouting would stop so he continued to sort the clothes on the couch. But when ten minutes passed and obsanities were starting to be shouted, Peter threw down his clothes. He checked up on Lily very quickly, slipped on his black jacket over his bare torso, locked his apartment, pulled up his hood and went to go find the source. He climbed up one set of stairs and looked around the floor. People were sticking their heads out of their doors curiously and looking at the ceiling. The shouting seemed to be another floor away. Peter climbed another flight of stairs and looked around the floor. The shouting was coming from one of the last two apartments. The one on the right, apartment 102, opened up and a tall, white man with long brown hair walked out of it wearing a frown.
"Hey, Beckett," Peter called, "What's going on?" Peter motioned to the door across.
Beckett pointed a finger at him, "Wentz, right?"
Peter nodded.
"Our little inn keeper and this guy have been at each other's throats since the guy moved in. It's never been this bad, though. I think pretty soon, I'm going to have a new neighbor."
Peter peered at the door and saw that it had been thrown open and objects were flying out.
"No kidding," Peter agreed, "All right, well, thanks, man."
Beckett stared at Peter for a minute, "Nice bod." Beckett said looking at his chest through his half zipped jacket.
He turned and walked away. Peter zipped up his jacket fully and crossed his arms over his chest.