Punch Drunk Crazy

"Morning." Sam glanced up to find Tom stepping into the elevator after her. Michael followed in behind him but he kept to himself and minded his own business.

She smiled gently, "Morning."

"Working all day?" Tom asked her curiously and she looked over at him as he leaned against the elevator wall.

She couldn't help but poke fun at him as she asked him, "Does it look like I'm working today?"

He looked her up and down, and finally realized she was in work out gear and not her usual business attire. His cheeks flushed and Mike stifled a laugh at his roommates expense. Tom recovered well, he smiled and asked her, "So if I were to call you later and ask you to dinner you'd be free?"

As they all stepped off of the elevator and out of the apartment building Sam smiled and told him, "You can try."

Tom watched her put her ear buds in before she disappeared around the corner of the apartment building. He then headed toward the parking lot, following Michael, where he got into the passenger seat of his vehicle.

As he drove Michael glanced at Tom, finding him sitting in his seat with a grin on his face. Michael couldn't help but say, "Quit with the puppy love dude."

Tom turned to him, brow raised, and asked, "What the hell does that mean?"

"You make it so obvious that you like her." Michael explained to him.

Tom raised his eyebrow, "What's wrong with that? So I'm not into mind games, who cares?"

"There's nothing wrong with it, I just think you're biting off more than you can chew here." When he said this Tom raised his eyebrow again and Michael sighed. He scratched the back of his head as they came to a stop at a red light and then he told him, "It's just… you know… you've been trying to get with her for weeks and nothing has happened. Don't you think if she was really interested something would have?"

As Michael pulled into the Target parking lot Tom asked him, "Who says nothings happened?"

With that Tom got out of the vehicle, and Michael jumped out after him, tailing him into the store, "What does that mean?"

"Means that maybe something did happen and I just didn't tell you." Tom explained as he grabbed a cart, pushing it through the store as Michael pulled the list up on his cell phone.

"Well why the hell wouldn't you tell me?" Michael asked him, grabbing the first few things on the list and tossing them into the cart with ease. When Tom shrugged but didn't verbally answer Michael pushed forward, "I'm offended that you didn't tell me."

"You don't tell me everything about you and Kelly." Tom pointed out.

Michael shot him a look, "That's different, she's my girlfriend and I don't like sharing that kind of shit about my girlfriend with you guys."

Again Tom shrugged and as he grabbed a few of his own things and tossed them into the cart he told Michael, "Well maybe I don't want to tell you guys that kind of stuff about Samantha."

"Samantha?" Michael asked with his eyebrow raised, and he couldn't help but grin and turn to him long enough to give Tom's arm a punch before he said, "Puppy love."

Tom rolled his eyes and continued directing them through the store, stopping only long enough to grab items and throw them in the cart. The two barely went shopping for their apartment, most times it was because they never had any time, and other's it was just because they didn't feel like it. Today was one of those days where they didn't really feel like going, but they had the time and their apartment was damn near bare.

As they loaded their cart up Tom thought about Michael's comment. Was it puppy love? Or was it something more? Tom defined puppy love as going for it even knowing you didn't have a chance, and he knew that with Sam he did have a chance. He knew she had her apprehensions, and he sort of understood them, and what he didn't understand he at least tried to, but he also knew that while she might have been more inclined to say no to him she really didn't want to. He wasn't very lucky when it came to relationships, his looks got him enough luck for the occasional date or one night stand, but they didn't seem to get him very far in relationships. He had only really had three real girlfriends his entire life, the longest relationship he had ever had lasted a year and a half when he was in high school and since then he hadn't been able to make a relationship work for more than four months maximum.

However, he knew, he would have no issue with going there and trying that again with Sam. But that would take her actually figuring out a way to let go of what everyone might think and just going for it. Winging it and going with the flow came so easy to him, it was like second nature, but for Sam it was harder and he got that, at least as much of it as he could. He did wonder if that was a chick thing, because Kelly also seemed very anti-winging it, and when they had been together so did Ari. Or maybe it was just a thing for the women in Tom's life, relationship or not.

He hadn't really had the chance to talk to Sam since he went over for drinks, and that was four days previous. He had left her apartment around midnight, and had gotten a few not so great hours of sleep before having to get on a plane the very next morning for a three day road trip. Sure, he had made sure he let her know that so it didn't seem like he had gotten part of what he wanted and then he was going to disappear, but he also wondered if maybe, instead of trying to be gentlemanly and not push things too far between them too soon by going home soon after their little moment in the kitchen with nothing more than a kiss on the cheek that he should have picked her up and carried her down the hall and into her bedroom.

He was a guy, a young guy at that, he wasn't really used to taking things slow. He had, truthfully, never been required to before. Every girl he had met and been with up to this point in his life were more than eager to drop their underwear for him, it was like uncharted territory doing things this way but he couldn't lie, Tom didn't necessarily mind it. It was new, and almost refreshing having to work for it, he kind of liked having to prove himself for once when it came to a woman, and that was the biggest difference between Sam and every other girl he'd been with, she was a woman not a girl. It required him to be a little more grown up, a little more of a gentleman, it required him to be more of the man his mother had raised him to be. Something he knew would only do him good in the long run.

If he could just get Sam to see just how much of a man he could be.

- - -

By the time Sam arrived home from her run and had showered, blow dried her hair and gotten dressed again she was already exhausted. She hadn't been sleeping well the last few nights, though that was her own fault for letting Tom leave her apartment that night without demanding he stay and finish what he started. This fun with the neighbor was turning out to be taxing, physically and mentally. It took up all of her free thoughts, and she spent a lot more time thinking about him than she wanted to. She knew he was home, she had heard voices coming from behind their closed apartment door when she approached her own two hours earlier, and she had half the mind to go over there and pull him into her own apartment by his shirt if she had to.

But instead she opted to lay down on the couch and turn the TV on. It was rare that she got free time like this, so she decided to take advantage of the three days off she had coming up to maybe finally finish Dexter on Netflix. Still, as she started a new episode her mind continued to drift next door, to Tom, as it so often did lately.

It felt like she was being stretched in two very opposite directions. Her head and her body, Lauren and Paula, Tom or no Tom. Those where what she stood in the middle of and swayed back and forth in either direction at any given time. Every time she thought about it she had a different answer for herself, and it was beginning to feel like she was on one of those spinning and twisty rides at an amusement park that just never stopped.

She knew what she wanted deep down, really, really deep down, but getting to that point seemed like staring down the never ending rabbit hole to Wonderland too afraid to take the leap. It would be so easy to listen to her body, and if she was being honest, her heart as well, but it just wasn't that easy. It wasn't even close to being that easy.

Sam knew that Lauren had a point, going down this road probably wasn't the best idea and it would probably end in disaster, but Paula also had a point; what if it didn't? There was just something about Tom, she couldn't quite put her finger on what exactly it was but it was there. He was gorgeous, no one could say otherwise, but it wasn't just his looks. He was kind, she had seen it in the way he had practically dropped everything to take a picture and talk with a little fan when they had gone for frozen yogurt. It was so easy for her to remember how old he was, but even for someone as young as he was he did things that made her think maybe she could forget that little detail.

He held doors for her, he showed interest in her family and her life, he listened when she talked and he didn't seem like play games. He knew what he wanted and went for it, at least as much as he could without making her feel uncomfortable, which was another reason she found him occupying her thoughts more than he should have. For all intents and purposes, Tom was a real upgrade from every boyfriend she had ever had in her life.

Sometimes, when she had a few free minutes and allowed her mind to go there Sam wondered about what it might be like to just let go of all of her inhibitions and just go for it with Tom. See where and how things went between them, give it a shot even if it was just for the occasional hook up. Really, when she thought about it, it came down to his age. If he were older, or she were younger, this wouldn't even be a debate for her, if he were younger or she were older Sam would have dated Tom in a heartbeat. So why was his age such a big deal to her? That was what she couldn't quite figure out, but maybe she just hadn't given herself the option to figure it out.

As if they were on the same brain wave Sam's phone buzzed with a text from Tom.

How about that dinner?

She stared at her phone, trying to decide how to reply and she couldn't help but let out a laugh when a knock on her door interrupted her thought process. She got up from the couch when Tom's voice floated through the closed door, "I figured I wouldn't give you the option to say no."

With a smile she pulled the door open and moved aside, letting him into the apartment with a bag of groceries. He went straight into her kitchen and started emptying the bag onto the counter and with a raised eyebrow Sam asked him, "What are you doing?"

"Cooking you dinner." He stated as if him being in her kitchen with food was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Why?" Sam asked him curiously as she approached the kitchen. She crossed one arm over her chest, her hand holding into the bicep of her other arm as she leaned against the beam by the island counter and watched him.

He glanced over her shoulder and informed her, "Because I know you won't go on an actual date with me, you know, out and about like normal people, so I figured I'd bring the date to you."

She smiled softly at his words and asked him, "But should I be afraid of you in my kitchen?"

He rolled his eyes and shook his head, "I do most of the cooking at our place actually. Mike is hopeless in the kitchen... I'm just slightly less hopeless."

She laughed, and they fell into the grove of cooking together, Tom would ask where things were and Sam would get it for him and by the time he was done cooking he was sure he knew her kitchen better than he knew his own. Sam filled two glasses with wine and brought them to the table as Tom brought their plates and they sat down across from each other much like they had that very first breakfast they had together weeks ago.

Sam looked down at her plate which was filled with thinly sliced steak, still pink in the middle, with halved roasted potatoes and a mix of salad like vegetables. Tom watched her, almost a little nervous, as she brought a tiny bite of her steak to her mouth. He waited patiently while she chewed, and once she swallowed he asked, "So? What do you think?"

She made a thinking face just to prolong his torture, before she smiled and told him, "I'm actually quite impressed. This is pretty damn good."

He let out a loud, dramatic sigh, before he said, "Oh good. I was worried for a bit."

"Were you really?" Sam asked him curiously as she took a sip of her wine.

Tom nodded his head, having just finished taking a drink of his own glass of wine, he set the glass back down and admitted, "This is the first time I've ever cooked for a woman."

Sam stared at him in surprise for a moment, before her brow raised and she asked him, "Really?"

"I mean, my mom doesn't count so..." Tom told her, and she let out a small chuckle. He smiled and told her, "I'm glad you like it, and I'm also glad to have proven you wrong yet again."

"Well I mean... I do barely know you, how am I supposed to have that much faith in you?" Sam asked him curiously, watching him intently from across the table.

Tom smiled warmly and asked her, "Well how about we do something to change that, yeah?"