Outer Limits | ✓

◦ clueless

⠀⠀⠀ Oh. Of course.

⠀⠀⠀ Usama had always been at her beck and call since the moment he'd met her, he'd gone through extraneous lengths to just make her smile. In the beginning of the term he used to take the bus with her — despite having his own car — just so she wouldn't have to walk home alone. Usama was the sort of bloke to answer her call on the first ring at ungodly hours of the night. The kind who'd drive through town, pass its outer limits, just to make sure she was safe. The kind of bloke that she should have been with all along.

⠀⠀⠀ Thank you for coming.

⠀⠀⠀ I always will.

⠀⠀⠀ Of course. Of course. What a fool she'd been, wasting her time being jealous over Jude bloody Asher when Sam was right under her nose. Of course.

⠀⠀⠀ Darcy didn't lose a moment before her lips descended on Sam's. His mouth was soft and obviously skilled. It didn't make Darcy's knees weak or cause her heart to stutter, but Sam wasn't a bad kisser. The whole thing felt a little dirty, but she wasn't completely sure why. She'd snogged worse blokes at clubs and house parties, blokes whose names she hadn't known, blokes who wouldn't have been able to kiss their way out a paper bag. So why did this one make her feel so odd and wrong?

⠀⠀⠀ "Darce," Sam's voice was low and timid, embarrassed almost as he pulled away from her. "I wasn't...I'm not... It's not you."

⠀⠀⠀ Darcy clenched her jaw, doing her best not to snap at him. "Oh."

⠀⠀⠀ "I don't...I'm sorry, love," he said, "but kissing me isn't going to make you forget about Jude. Or Joanna."

⠀⠀⠀ An uncomfortable jolt of jealousy wormed its way into Darcy's heart. Which was ridiculous. It wasn't like she had any claim on Jude. Sure, there had been a few glances recently that Darcy thought might have been a little heated. And this morning, when they'd been trading barbs by the alley, Darcy could have sworn Jude was going to kiss her. None of that meant that she had any right to be jealous over who Jude took interest in.

⠀⠀⠀ She had wanted to smoothly pull away from him, but after a moment she decided the right move and words just weren't going to come, so hastily she blurted it out. "I'm so sorry, Sam." She said, her voice quiet as the hush of evening. "I don't know what I was thinking."

⠀⠀⠀ "It's okay," he finally said, a whisper in the thorny silence. "Water under the bridge."

⠀⠀⠀ "Thanks," Darcy said. She reflected a little then asked, "Why the hell did I just do that?"

⠀⠀⠀ He smirked at this, her inhibitions clearly amusing him. "Look, the facts seem to be these. You're realising you have emotional needs that are not being met. So as a friend, I helped you feed them a little, satisfy them somehow. Now if that's not friendship, I don't know what is."

⠀⠀⠀ She knew that Sam was just looking out for her, trying to be a good friend. And truth be told, he wasn't wrong. It may not have been a conscious effort on her part, but she hadn't wanted to get involved with some random bloke, not when she couldn't give her whole heart. But she trusted Sam, he made her feel safe. Though she knew nothing between them would ever exceed what they'd shared now.

⠀⠀⠀ Darcy felt herself starting to blush deeply, concerned at the impression that she must have made on her best friend.

⠀⠀⠀ "Look I'm joking, but only in part," Sam continued, noting her discomfort. "If you don't mind, as your friend I'd like to make a controversial admission."

⠀⠀⠀ "Of course," Darcy replied, without hesitation.

⠀⠀⠀ "While I was on my way to help you last night, after you called, I was worried. Partly because it was late and you sounded frantic, but mostly because you had told me you were alone with Jude." He ventured. "But then I got there and I realised that I had misread the situation completely. I had my suspicions, you know, that something was going on between you two. But they were confirmed when he went looking for you last night."

⠀⠀⠀ Darcy remembered it like a distant memory. It was her first moment shared with Jude where he was being civil. There were no insults, no back-handed compliments, just honesty between the two.

⠀⠀⠀ You're sad, too.

⠀⠀⠀ They had talked for awhile, long enough for Emma to be the one to cut their conversation short. But prior to that, it had been nice to just be with him.

⠀⠀⠀ Darcy didn't realise how much she craved a goodnatured conversation with him until then. She could have stayed there all day, she had wanted to, especially when he started to open up to her about things she didn't imagine he'd ever open up about. Despite the fact that he was slightly high.

⠀⠀⠀ "There's nothing between us, Sam." She said, not certain on who she was trying to convince. "We're hardly friends, nothing more."

⠀⠀⠀ "Do you want more?"

⠀⠀⠀ There's a lapse of concentration before Darcy decides to answer. "I don't know. I don't know what I want."

⠀⠀⠀ "Well, when you decide to sort that out," he said, starting the car back up, "tell me about?"

⠀⠀⠀ "I'll tell you everything," she promised.

⠀⠀⠀ Soon after, the drive to her home consisted of uncomplicated quiet, though Sam's words echoed in Darcy's ears. Long after Sam had dropped her off with a kiss on the cheek, she had stripped off the last of her clothes when she stopped and switched her mobile phone on. She was thinking about texting Sam a quick thank you message when the beeping started. Was it him? Heart in mouth, she clicked onto the message.

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A'W

What do you guys think of Alistair & Darcy? Team #Dude or Team #Dalis?

Yours temporarily, Avrielle