Punch Drunk Crazy

It was eleven forty eight on a Thursday night and Samantha was pacing the floor in front of the couch in her living room, holding a wine glass. She bit down on her lip as she paced, and she nearly jumped out of her skin when someone knocked on the door. She walked over to it, opened it without looking in the peep hole and let Lauren into the apartment before she left her standing in the doorway to go back to pacing the floor.

As Lauren dropped onto the couch Paula, from the computer screen on the coffee table, told her, "She's been at this for like an hour, maybe longer."

"Will someone please tell me why I dragged myself out of bed and across the city for at almost midnight? In case anyone failed to notice I am pregnant." Lauren said.

Both Paula and Sam said, "We've noticed."

Lauren scowled, and again said, "Someone tell me what I'm doing here."

"I need some advice. Big time. Huge advice." Sam told her, and when Lauren raised her eyebrow Sam brought her wine glass up to her lips and downed the rest of the glass.

Paula informed her, "Spit it out already, it's seven AM here, I have to work in an hour."

She set the glass on the coffee table and finally asked them, "I am considering having sex with my neighbor who is considerably younger than I am. Slutty or not?"

"Depends. How much younger?" Paula asked her.

She hesitated, and then admitted, "Five years give or take… another four."

"Nine years?" Lauren asked in surprise.

"So it does make me slutty?" Sam asked them.

Paula informed her, "I say as long as he's over eighteen who cares."

"You would." Lauren said.

Paula rolled her eyes chose not to argue with Lauren, who turned and grabbed Sam's sweater, pulling her down to sit on the couch beside her. Instead Paula chimed in from their Skype call, "Look, the way I see it is; you're single, you haven't had sex in almost a year, so if some twenty one year old kid gets you all hot and bothered what's the issue with getting hot and heavy with the cute neighbor? Obviously he wants you as much as you want him."

He was cute, in fact, Tom was extremely gorgeous. He was tall and broad and all muscle and between his blue eyes and dark hair sometimes Samantha could actually forget that he was almost a full decade younger than her. Sometimes.

Lauren sighed and asked Sam, "Look, call me old fashioned but… don't you think sleeping with your twenty year old neighbor just because you miss sex… is a little… desperate?"

Sam sighed, put her head in her hands and exclaimed, "It is. But it's been so long and he's so…"

"Gorgeous? Hot? Has incredible sex appeal?" Sam groaned and Paula continued with a grin, "Plus with how young he is he's probably very, very eager to please."

"You're not helping me."

"Just do it." Paula told her, before she said, "Goodnight, I'm going to work, don't forget to use a condom when you bang the gorgeous neighbor."

Once the Skype call ended Lauren asked Sam, "Are you really gonna go through with this?"

"What does that mean?" Sam asked her in both surprise and confusion. She and Paula had been friends since college, but she and Lauren had been friends since grade school, she was the whole reason she moved closer to DC.

Sighing Lauren explained, "It's just... do you really think it's a good idea to get involved with someone so much younger than you? I just think maybe you're not thinking this through, what if you end up developing feelings for this kid? You know that can't work, right?"

"Who says it even has to go that far? And even if it does, who says it can't? Age is-"

"Not just a number. You're a thirty year old lawyer, be smart Sam. You know this can never work and that nothing good will come from it. I mean, this kid is just that, a kid, you can't expect him to want to get married and have a family any time soon and I just don't understand why you would want to waste your time." Lauren stated.

Sam wasn't sure why but she got defensive, "You know what? Maybe not all of us were lucky enough to meet a guy in college and fall in love and get married and have kids before we're thirty. Maybe some of us don't want kids, not everyone does, maybe some of us want to focus on our careers Lauren. I did the engaged thing once already, wasn't for me. Or did you forget that?"

"You left him, not the other way around." Lauren reminded her, as if Sam could forget the mortifying public break up two years ago.

"He was sleeping with his secretary Lauren."

"Do whatever you want Sam, but when this blows up in your face don't come crying to me." Lauren told her, getting up from the couch and leaving Sam in her apartment alone.

She had barely been sitting on the couch alone no more than five minutes when her phone buzzed. She picked it up and her brows furrowed at the unfamiliar number that sent her a text, until she read the text and then she laughed.

I'll have you know, I now have to take our landlord out to dinner when I get home because of you.

And why is that my fault?

Because that's what it took for her to give me your cell phone number.

Ms. Gibbons isn't bad, you'd look cute together.

She drives a very hard bargain, but it was worth it.

Sam smiled at his text.

You really must have a thing for older women.

If I'm being honest I much prefer 30 to 50.

Well you can always just bring Mike, you two are attached at the hip all the time anyways.

Not all the time. Like right now. In my hotel room. In my bed.

She was trying to think of something to say when he sent her a second message.

I'm a little lonely.

Her cheeks flushed.

I hear sleep fixes loneliness.

So does something else, but seeing as I'm alone I guess that won't help me. I guess I could just think of you in those heels.

Go to bed.

Sure you don't want to hop on a plane to Edmonton? I hear it's very romantic.

Goodnight Tom.

- - -

Tom had been glued to his cell phone all morning, though team breakfast and even now on the bus on the way to the airport. They were heading back home and he had been texting Sam all morning thus far. At least until someone snatched his phone from his grasp on the bus.

"Dude not cool." Tom stated as he turned to find Andre staring at his phone, no doubt reading the texts between himself and Sam.

A big grin spread across his face as Andre read, "Maybe I could take care of that problem when I get home? Tommy do you have a girlfriend you aren't telling us about?"

Tom snatched his phone from Andre's hand but it was too late, almost all of the guys were staring at him. Apparently there was nothing more interesting to this group of guys than Tom's social life. He rolled his eyes, "No, touch my phone again you'll lose a hand."

"Those texts seemed pretty intimate man. Who are you texting at midnight to say you're lonely?" Andre asked with a smirk, he was trying to push his buttons and it was really working.

Mike stated, loud enough so everyone on the bus could hear, "Leave him alone, he's got puppy eyes for our neighbor."

"Who wouldn't?" Brooks asked, and when everyone turned to face him he shrugged, "What? She's pretty."

"Dude you've met Tom's mystery girl?" Tom wasn't sure who had even asked that but he let out a loud groan that caused the attention to come back to him.

"Will everyone shut up about her? This is why I didn't say anything, I barely can get her to even talk to me, I don't need you assholes fucking it all up for me before I even get a chance." With that he slid his headphones over his ear and shut his phone off. He didn't want to take the chance of one of his nosey teammates reading his texts over his shoulder.

Instead he opted to sleep and Mike had to wake him up when they landed. The two pulled themselves off of the plane and into Mike's vehicle, where Tom immediately pulled his phone out of his pocket.

When he started texting again Mike asked him, "You really think you have a shot with her?"

"She likes me. The only time she'll admit it is when she's been drinking, but I can work with that." Tom told him, and Mike chuckled.

"Well for what's it's worth, I like Sam." He said as he pulled away from the parking lot.

"Yeah?" Tom asked him curiously. Tom didn't date much, at least not seriously, he was cocky and confident in all the ways a twenty one year old millionaire should be. But he didn't date. He went on dates, he brought girls home and he came home early in the morning wearing last night's clothes, but he didn't date. He had only dated two girls in the time Mike had known him. One lasted for two months, the other lasted four and it ended with Tom sulking all summer and right through training camp. In fact, he only stopped sulking when he met Sam.

Mike nodded his head, "Yeah, she's a real upgrade from Ari."

Tom groaned, "Dude not again. I told you, that's long over. She's gone. Probably off playing house with some DC power figure."

"Yeah well, at least it's not you. She was crazy." Mike stated and Tom nodded his head in agreement.

As they pulled into the parking lot Tom asked Mike, "You think I have a shot?"

"Doesn't matter what I think, the only thing thay matters is if you're willing to make her give you a shot." Mike told him as they got into the elevator.

Tom nodded his head slowly, but he didn't say anything. Mike glanced at him as they stood in silence as the elevator brought them up to their floor but he too said nothing. As they approached their door at the end of the hall Tom stopped short of walking into the apartment when Mike opened the door and walked inside.

He thought about it for a moment, unsure of whether or not he should really even be considering this before Tom said, "I'll be… I'll see you later dude."

Mike let out a laugh but nodded his head and let their apartment door close on its own as Tom stood in front of Sam's closed apartment door. He stared at the little golden numbers on the thick white door for a minute or two before mumbling, "Come on Tom, grow a pair."

So he shook his head and then he brought his hand up, closed it into a fist and knocked twice. He waited a few seconds and when he didn't even hear feet approaching he held his fist up to knock again and as he motioned it forward the door swung open and he nearly hit Sam straight in the face.

He flushed and let out an awkward laugh, "Sorry."

"It's fine." She told him with a smile. Curiously, and in amusement, she asked him, "What did you need this time? Milk? Sugar?"

Tom chuckled and admitted, "Nothing. I thought if you had some free time maybe you'd like to… I don't know… hang?"

And there it was; that one moment when she was reminded yet again of his age. She nearly said no, but then she remembered Paula's words; what's the issue?

So she smiled and asked him, "What did you have in mind?"

"Frozen yogurt and a walk around the area?" When he asked this she chuckled and raised her eyebrow at him, amused and also a little bit confused by his words.

"Frozen yogurt?" She asked him in surprise

He shrugged and shot her a smile, "Don't knock. It's the perfect warm day, out and about snack. Plus there's a really amazing place around the corner."

Sam surprised him by smiling and nodding her head, honestly he had been expecting her to refuse, Tom was expecting much more of a fight. He didn't think she would agree so easily. He watched her as she pulled on a pair of runners, slipped her keys and wallet into the pocket of her light zip up sweater and followed him out of the building.

It wasn't until they had a cup of frozen yogurt each and were walking out on the sidewalk that Tom glanced at her and asked, "So…how was your weekend?"

"Short." She told him, and when he raised his eyebrow at her she explained, "I worked most of it."

"I am very sorry to hear that." Tom said, chuckling a little as she bumped her shoulder into his arm. When their conversation lulled Tom glanced down at her again, and he made the ballsy move to brush his hand against hers, and when she didn't recoil from his touch he very gently slipped his hand in between her leg and her hand, pressing his palm against hers. He watched as Sam glanced down at their hands for a moment, and as she did that he slipped his fingers through hers, and he was grateful when she didn't pull away.

Sam finally pulled her eyes away from their hands, and as they walked she asked him, "Do you ever take no for an answer?"

"Only when I know the person saying no really doesn't mean it." He informed her with a sort of arrogance that for some reason Sam found incredibly attractive on him. She had, recently, learned her lesson with men who were full of themselves but Tom was different. He was sweet, and shy, but he was also confident in himself and knew what he wanted, something she admired because even at thirty she felt like she still didn't know what she was doing with her life.

She sent him a soft smile as she asked, "And how do you know I don't really mean it?"

He shrugged his shoulders, squeezed her hand and informed her, "Even if your head and your mouth are saying no at least I know your body is on my side. I can work on the other two."

"Oh yeah? You think so?" She asked him in amusement.

He nodded again and he told her, "I'm very patient and very persistent."

"Oh I've noticed."