𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀 ∙ 𝘀𝗮𝗺 𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘀

𝟳. 𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗶𝘅𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗻

Running to catch up with Charlotte, Sam grabbed her hand causing her to stop walking and turn and see his smiley face looking straight at her. Despite how much she wanted to hold his hand, she quickly pulled hers out of his with an apologetic expression before she looked around cautiously.

"Hey!" Sam exclaimed with a pout, holding out his hands in front of her. "My hands are clean!"

Charlotte chuckled, shaking her head at him with an amused expression. "That-That's not why I can't hold your hand, Sam"

Tilting his head to the side, he tried to think of other reasons. Was she not interested in him? Was she mad at him for not mentioning that he had come back? Had Finn or Rachel told her that he hadn't really been working at Dairy Queen?

"Did I do something wrong?" Sam asked nervously.

"No, not at all!" She quickly assured him because- really- he was perfect. Charlotte had been trying to suppress her feelings for him ever since summer and now all she could think about was him.

"I have a boyfriend." She muttered, feeling strangely ashamed of herself now that the one boy she truly ever really cared about was stood in front of her, wanting to know why she wouldn't hold his hand.

"You do?" He asked, his face falling slightly, but Charlotte didn't seem to notice, too distracted by the weird feeling of guilt in her stomach. Sam shook his head quickly, hoping his surprised tone didn't come off as rude. "I mean, I'm happy for you. He's a lucky guy."

Charlotte frowned a bit, looking down at her shoes before looking back up to Sam, forcing a smile onto her face. "Yeah, his name is Jack. We dated in Freshman year. I think I told you about him."

"Yeah, you told me about him." Sam offered her a small smile. "And you're happy with him?"

Charlotte stammered a bit, unsure why she couldn't just nod and say yes. "Y-yeah."

"You hesitated." Sam pointed out with a teasing smile.

"He does make me happy." Charlotte nodded, but it sounded quite unconvincing to her so she guessed Sam would see straight through it.

However he didn't see right through it, and he just simply smiled. "I'm glad you're happy."

"Yeah...Anyway." Charlotte quickly took a deep breath after a small awkward silence. "How long are you staying here for?"

"Until I graduate, I hope. Your Mom and Burt said I could stay with you guys." Sam shrugged and Charlotte's eyes widened which kind of freaked Sam out. "That's...that's only if you're comfortable, otherwise I'll just go back to Kentucky after sectionals."

Charlotte shook her head at him again, stopping his nervous rambling with another question. "Why would I be uncomfortable?"

"You know..." He started, gesturing between them as if it were obvious. "We kinda had a thing...me and you...last year."

"We were just friends. Nothing happened between us." She sent him a look and he just sighed.

"Lottie, when have we ever been just friends." He said to her in a teasing tone just like he did in alcohol awareness week in Rachel's basement, but she just avoided his eyes as she began walking with him close beside her.

"You look great by the way." He smiled, changing the subject to make sure she knew he was done talking about last year.

She looked down at her uniform as she firmly gripped the straps of her rucksack. "Oh thanks, I joined Cheerios as a distraction from everything else, but it turns out I'm actually quite good at it."