Keeping Me Hopeless

Waking up the next day, I had the only headache. The last time I had this kind of headache was when I got extremely wasted. And that hasn’t happened in quite a while.

Getting up from my dad’s bed was hard, it was just so comfy. Day 2 of my supposed vacation. I knew it was going to be crap. Everyone’s working and I’m stuck here.

Ever since the night those men broke into my house, also the night my dad was murdered, I had left a bat by the bed. Just in case.

As I walked towards my closet to grab clothes, I heard noises in the kitchen. I could’ve sworn Ryan had left to work. So, I took the bat and quietly walked towards the kitchen. Turning into the kitchen with the bat, I just swung in hopes of catching the intruder.

“Whoaaa! Sam! It’s Ryan!”

I opened my eyes to see Ryan holding my bat steady, and I breathed out in relief.

“Wolfe! Do you know how freakin’ scared I was?! I thought you went to work!”

His chuckle made me groan in frustration, he had given me a heart attack, and he has the nerve to chuckle.

“I did, this is my lunch break. You know, for someone who didn’t want to have a vacation, you sure do sleep a lot.”

“Are you serious?!” I looked at a clock and sure enough, it was 1pm. “Ugh, why did I sleep in so late?”

Ryan shrugged, “Beats me, but I didn’t have the heart to wake you up. So, I left you alone to sleep.”

“Thanks,” I smiled, “did the massage work?”

He nodded, “Yeah, a lot. So thank you.”

I grinned, “Anytime. Uhmm, being that there was no intruder, I’m going to take a shower.”

“Okay, if I’m gone by the time you get out, I’ll see you later, okay?”

I nodded and he handed me my bat. Back to my original plans. When I was done taking a shower and getting ready, I called up Horatio. I wasn’t going to sit in my house all day, doing nothing.

“Caine,”

“Horatio, it’s Samantha. I’m sure Ryan told you about the vacation I was given. And being that you said I needed protection. I was wondering if I could go shopping.”

I didn’t like how I had to pretty much ask him for permission to go out, but it was for the best.

“Sure, you could use some out of the house time. Would you mind having an escort?”

I couldn’t really say no, he was after all protecting me.

“Of course not.”

Horatio told me that my escort would be picking me up in a few minutes, so I just fixed up the house and waited.

The escort was one of the guys on patrol and as he drove to the nearest mall, I wished it was Ryan instead that was sent.

“So, Miss Vega, where are we heading to first?”

“Dan, please, call me Sam or Samantha. And I’m looking for new curtains, so let’s go to one of those old people stores.”

Daniel laughed and nodded, he wasn’t that bad. I actually had a good time shopping even though I was getting weird stares from people. I’m guessing most people don’t go shopping with someone on patrol. Their loss.

Dan dropped me off at my house around 6pm.

“Thanks so much, Dan. I’m pretty sure you didn’t sign up for this.”

He chuckled, “No worries, you need protection now more than ever.”

I smiled and he waved goodbye as he drove away.

I didn’t buy much, just a new set of curtains for my dad’s office. I also bought a few T-shirts.

Setting everything down and being too lazy to put everything away, I left it in the living room and went to the kitchen to get food. Sure enough, we ate, but I never get full.

Once I heard the door open, I grinned. Then I heard a loud thud in the living room. I held my laughs, knowing Ryan most likely tripped over the bags I left in the living room.

“Sammmm!”

I tried to regain composure, making sure I wasn’t laughing and pretended to be in shock.

“Ryan, what happened??”

He glared at me, “You know exactly what happened.”

I giggled, “I’m sorry, I didn’t think you’d trip.”

Helping him back on his feet, he pushed the bags closer to the wall.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

I went back into the kitchen, getting my fruit salad.

Knowing Ryan would be changing his clothes, I went to the living room and turned on the TV. I didn’t like how I was acting. Getting giddy whenever I saw Ryan wasn’t good. I knew that I was growing fond of him, but I couldn’t help it.

“Hey, what are we watching?”

Ryan sat next to me and took the fork out of my hands, soon began eating from my fruit salad.

“I don’t know, I’m very indecisive when it comes to TV.”

“Haha,” I handed him the control and he flipped through the channels.

He left it on The Unborn, “Yay! I love scary movies.”

Ryan laughed, “Good, I don’t.”

Pulling me closer, he put the plate on the coffee table and turned off the lights. I didn’t mind, I enjoyed what was going on.

The movie wasn’t as scary, it was okay. I looked at my phone and it appeared to be 8:57pm. I groaned, Ryan would have to be going to sleep soon.

He fell asleep halfway through the movie with his head on my lap. I couldn’t, I was too busy playing with his hair. Suddenly, a smile began to spread on his face and I playfully slapped his cheek.

“I thought you were asleep!”

“I was, at first, then you began to play with my hair and I wasn’t going to stop you. But then I fell asleep again. I just woke up a few minutes ago, that TV is really loud.”

I giggled, “You nerd. I thought you were sleeping.”

Ryan opened his green eyes, “Sorry babe.”

I looked away, why did we have these moments? Why must he do this to me? I shouldn’t be liking someone I met in a crime scene where my father was killed.

“Hey, Sam, you know how you’re a big CSI freak?”

Laughing, I nodded and looked at him again.

“Well, Alexx needs someone to help her out. I was thinking… Since you have a vacation this week and you don’t wanna be home. Maybe you could help her.”

I gasped, “Really?!”

Ryan just nodded with a grin on his face. He knows that I’m going to accept his offer.

“Of course! I’d love to! Finally!! No more being bored!”

He laughed even harder, “This is only your second day off.”

I just stuck my tongue out at him, getting up from the couch to go leave the plate in the kitchen.

“Does she know you’re offering this to me?”

“Yeah, actually, she kind of requested you. She said you have a good eye.”

My grin just grew even bigger and ran into the living room. Ryan looked startled but I just jumped on him.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!”

His laugh was contagious and it made me giggle, “No need to thank me.”

“I mean, I love my job, but for one week, I’m going to be able fulfill my dream.”

“Your dream is to work with dead bodies?”

“No, but as long as it has something to do with crime scene investigation, I’m happy.”

“Marry me.”

I laughed, knowing he was kidding and he did the same.

“Silly Billy, you’re a bit too old for me.” I joked and he looked at me with a shocked expression.

“I am not old. I didn’t know age was a problem in our relationship. Guess I was wrong.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck, “I was only kidding. Relationship? I guess you staying over here gave you the wrong idea.”

He smirked, “Yeah, we’ve been dating for quite a while now. Who said I was staying over? More like moving in.”

“Haha, you kill me, Wolfe.”

He shrugged, “As long as it puts a smile on your face.”

I just stared at him, wondering what was going through his mind. In my mind, images of me actually marrying Ryan were playing. I tried to shake them off, but they just turned into us either kissing or holding hands. Doing couple stuff in general.

That’s not the kind of images I want in my head, at least not now. It’s too soon.

“Can I get another massage?”

A soft smile appeared on my face and I nodded. Got up off of him and led him to where he moved in.

Following the same routine from yesterday, I went on with my massage. Once I was done, I was hoping Ryan was asleep. If he was awake and I gave him a kiss on his cheek like yesterday, it would make things very awkward.

I ran my hand through his hair softly, thinking that if he was awake, I didn’t want to wake him up.

“Goodnight, Ryan,” I whispered and leaned down to give him a peck on his cheek.

But the little joker tilted his face and my lips touched the corner of his mouth.

“Sweet dreams, Sam,” he mumbled against my lips.

Glad that the lights were off, I walked towards the door.

“Sam, we gotta be up and ready by six.”

I nodded and continued to walk out of the room.

Going to sleep that night, I touched my lips. If only he had tilted his face all the way.