Stain My Rose With Scarlet Tears

I spent most of my night thinking about my plans for Sam and Bill’s date, most people would say that it wasn’t any of my business, but I knew how important a first date was to me, and I couldn’t see Bill and Sam going the rest of their lives without looking back at it. It was supposed to be special, and that’s what I wanted to do for them, they deserved it.

It was 2AM when my eyes snapped open, a wide grin spreading across my face. I could hear Tom’s heavy breathing beside me. I was about to wake him up, but I didn’t care. I elbowed him in the stomach, smirking as he shot up instantly.

I sat up straight, giggling at the confused look on his face. His eyes were only halfway open, his dreadlocks tied in a loose ponytail. He turned his head towards me, scratching the back of his neck and raised his eyebrows, attempting to open his eyes again.

“What?” He grumbled tiredly.

I didn’t answer immediately, giving him a few more minutes to wake up properly. I was feeling a bit secretive, and I didn’t think it was a good idea letting Tom in on my plans.

Tom couldn’t keep a secret, especially not from Bill, I accepted it, but I knew what was best. I took his hand in mine and got onto my knees on the bed. I leaned down and kissed his lips, feeling him smile as I did. I pulled away, biting my lip. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me onto his lap. It was dark enough that I couldn’t see my hand in front of my eyes, but it was impossible to miss Tom’s smile.

“How long do you think it’ll take for you to get Bill into a suit?”

Sam’s POV

Once again, I felt myself being woken up by Tom’s unusually loud voice. He was knocking on our door loudly, making it echo through the room. I didn’t know for what I was going to be mad at him for later, waking me up, or waking the kids.

“Bill, open the door.” I mumbled, rolling onto my stomach, pulling the pillow over my head.

“You do it...” He mumbled back.

I lifted my head and shot him a glare. Chances were, if Tom was knocking at the door as frantically as he was now, he probably didn’t want to see me, and Bill knew that. That was what annoyed me the most.

“Just do it.” I said angrily, burying my head in between my pillows once again.

I smiled as I felt Bill’s weight being lifted from the bed as he stood up. I heard him groan slightly, and then opening the closet to get out a t-shirt. I could hear Bill as he walked to the door, dragging his feet all the way there. He opened the door slowly, unlocking everything first. Not even here could I sleep without at leas two locks on the door, it took us a while to figure out how to unlock them again, but I was still very paranoid, no matter where I was.

When the door swung open, Tom became even more frantic from what I could hear, and Bill was trying to calm him down. It was hard for me to make out what they were saying because I was already halfway asleep again and the pillows were still covering my ears.

Tom spoke the last words from what I could hear, then I heard Bill storm into the room, pulling open the closet door again. I lifted the pillow off my head and saw my husband pulling on a pair of jeans.

“Bill?”

He glanced up at me and smiled his unusual crooked smile, one leg in his jeans, then looked away. It took him another 5 minutes to get into his jeans, zip them up and find his shoes, with me watching him curiously through half closed eyes. When he finished, he jogged over to me and kissed my cheek. He brushed my hair out of my face and kissed my head too.

“I have no idea what’s going on,” He whispered, chuckling, “but I guess I have to go. I’ll be back later.”

I nodded sleepily, but I sat up, I knew there was no way I was going to get back to sleep again. I could see the twins running out the door, Bill slamming the door shut. I looked over at the alarm, seeing that it was already 11AM, and Charlie and Lucy should be awake by now, so I couldn’t stay in bed any longer. I got up tiredly; rubbing my eyes, the feeling of curiosity about Bill’s sudden departure hit me like a rock. I sighed loudly, running a hand through my hair.

I started walking to the kids’ room when there was another knock on the door, but not quite as loud as Tom’s earlier. I turned around and headed towards the front door, I was a little irritated that Bill didn’t bother to lock the door this time.

The door swung open, revealing my best friend standing in front of me, bouncing on the balls of her feet, a wide grin spread across her face. I sighed once again, not really in the mood to hear whatever she wanted to tell me. I leaned against the doorframe and stared at her, waiting for her to start talking, but she didn’t. She grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the room.

“Wait!” I screamed at her, trying to pull her back, “where are you going?”

“You’ll see...” She answered mischievously, tugging at my hand again, but I still wouldn’t budge. I glared at her for a second, before pulling away completely.

“No! What about the kids?”

Bianca looked at me and groaned loudly. I hated the thought of leaving our kids alone, not only with an open door, but in a different country, a big city and people who would do anything from running into the hotel room and shooting them, to kidnapping them and throwing them into the ocean. An undesirable chill ran down my spine at that thought.

Bianca jumped up and down impatiently.

“I’ve got it covered, now come on!” She screamed, now using all her strength to pull me out of the room. I glared at the back of her head as she pulled me into her hotel room and locked the door so I couldn’t escape. I silently vowed that if anything happened to my child; not only would I hold her personally responsible, but I would get my revenge.

I was still in my pajamas, my hair was a mess, I hadn’t even brushed my teeth yet, but I knew I should have expected being dragged out of a room against my will by my best friend to happen soon. I crossed my arms as she started at me, still jumping slightly.

“Are you going to tell me what’s going on now?”

She looked at me for a moment, laughing loudly, and turned her back on me.

“No.” She answered simply.

If I had my way, I would have stormed out of the room without looking back, but I knew it wasn’t possible. But I tried to get in my happy place while Bianca forced me into a chair. Right now, my happy place was far, far away from Bianca and Tom. Either that or their funeral.

When she put a blindfold over my eyes, I got mad. I wanted to scream at her. She knew I hated surprises, and she knew what I did when people did things I didn’t like. She started singing “Reden” loudly in my ear as she ran a brush through my hair, obviously not paying attention to the fact that she was basically pulling the hair out of my head. Again, I found myself wanting to scream at her, but I bit my tongue. I would have my chance soon enough.

The minutes passed slowly as Bianca talked in my ear loudly, I was growing impatient, and sadly curious. My hair was being pulled back, and I smiled when Bianca took the blindfold off mere minutes later, but I still had no idea of what was going on.

The was now a small table next to me, carrying a small mirror which was turned around, making it unable to see anything, and different brands and colors of makeup I would have never used.

My eyes grew wide in horror as Bianca picked up a bright pink lipstick, smiling as she brought it up to my face. I shook my head frantically, if there was something I hated in this world, it was the color pink.
“Oh relax,” She said irritably as soon as she saw my expression, “it’s very light, you won’t even see it.”

“Do you want me to put the blindfold back on?” She retorted when my expression didn’t change. I shook my head quickly, deciding to keep my mouth shut. Even though I couldn’t see what my friend was doing to me, I shut my eyes, too scared to look in the mirror once she was done. I could not believe that I allowed her to do that to me, I had to be a complete idiot.

I was still tired; I could feel myself slipping into a light sleep once again, when I felt Bianca tugging at my hair, waking me up. She helped me out of my chair, handing me a long black dress with a smile.

“Put this on.” She commanded happily, now pushing me into the bathroom and shutting the door behind me. I glared at the door for a moment, before holding up the dress in front of me. I cringed. The dress was beautiful, but I just couldn’t see it on me, I would never do it justice.

I pulled it on anyway, first stripping down, leaving my clothes lying on the floor carelessly. It looked longer than it was, in reality it stopped at my knees, making me feel even more uncomfortable. I couldn’t stand dressing up, instead of making me feel beautiful, it made me feel absolutely hideous. I couldn’t even handle being in dressing rooms, I hated looking at myself in those mirrors. I pulled at the dress, which clung uncomfortably to my body, and opened the door, poking only my head out to find Bianca.

When her eyes found mine, she smiled encouragingly. I opened up the door further, stepping out self-consciously. I closed my eyes again, not wanting to look in the mirror Bianca held in front of her. I stopped a few feet away from where she stood.

“You look great, Sam, really. Just look in the mirror.”

I opened my one eye and peeked at the mirror, and then the other one followed. I glanced at myself in the mirror for a long time, but I had no idea who was the person who was looking back at me. She didn’t look like me at all. And one thing I learned in life was that if it didn’t look like me, I wouldn’t be able to be me. I shook my head slowly.

My hair was tied back in a messy updo, my makeup lighter than usual, I felt naked without my layers of black eyeliner, it just wasn’t normal for me. The only dress I’ve ever worn in my life was my wedding dress, and now I was being forced to wear one and I didn’t even get to know why. Bianca slipped a small golden bracelet over my wrist and stepped back to take it all in.

“I don’t know...” I mumbled sadly, “this really isn’t me.”

“It’s not supposed to be you!” Bianca shot back angrily.

I turned to look at her doubtfully, seeing her shrug carelessly. I gave up on the idea of running out once again immediately, after seeing her face, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Now that you’ve finished torturing me, can you tell me where I’m going?”

She shook her head quickly, taking the blindfold in her hands again. I groaned audibly.

“No! I’m under strict orders.” She said, approaching me, putting the blindfold over my eyes once again.