**Darren's P.O.V**
I just lay there with my eyes wide open and my mouth slightly parted in disbelief.
How could this happen?
I won' t be able to find that out looking like an idiot while staring at Angela.
This is weird, way too weird... How did she know that would happen?
The question fogged up my mind as I lay...comfortably...with Sam in my arms? My heartbeat quickens when I look down at Sam.
Gosh, she looks so peaceful, so...beautiful.
I break the silence, unwilling to go through this without knowing this is actually happening. "Angela..." My voice comes out sounding husky and way lower than expected. I cough and try to clear my throat.
Looking over at Angela once again, her countenance shows just as much surprise as I feel.
"Yeah?" she whispers.
"What the hell just happened?"
"I believe you just found your true love..."
"Wow..." I sigh as I try to soak in what she just told me. I have a true love? I always doubted it. What with all the flirting I pull off with a lot of hot girls, I didn't think I had one. I scoff at her and look at her with an eyebrow raised. "I highly doubt that."
Keeping her arms crossed, Angela shifted to one side. "Everyone has a true love, even a player."
At least she knows I'm a player.
"That can't possibly be true"
"You were pretty angry with the doctor..." she trailed.
"That could mean anything." I counter
"Exactly."
"C'mon, you can't possibly believe that laying on the bed next to the girl I always argue with and apparently soothing her pain on the spot means that I'm her true love and she's mine." Saying that all in one breath with a hint of annoyance seems harsh, I know.
Damn, she just won't stop will she?
She just looks at me as if I'd slapped her on the cheek.
Damn it, stop being an ass for no reason, Darren.
After internally scolding myself, I take a deep breath. I have to say something that'll distract her.
"How did you know?" I wonder out loud, feigning defeat in the argument.
"I don't know, I just... felt it." She quietly says.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
She shrugs, "Intuition, I guess." her mouth curls up in a smile as a realization hits her.
Furrowing my eyebrows in confusion, I ask, "What? Is there something else?"
"Oh, my gosh, YOU LOVE HER!" she whisper-yells.
"I-What? No, I don't know- I don't even- what you're talking about- maybe I just- huh...?" I stammer, my eyes blinking in astonishment.
"You said it yourself. You flirted with me just to get her mad, I think that counts as love."
"How does revenge count as love? Wouldn't that be considered hate?"
"Not if you apologize, which, let me remind you, you did. Like five minutes ago." she's practically jumping by now.
" Well what i-"
"AND, you practically jumped to her rescue when you heard her scream." she interrupted me, her voice a small whisper once she mentioned that scream. Angela looked down and her smile turned into a frown.
Oh, no. Here come the water works.
What can I say that will make her forget for just a little? I don't want to lie so... I guess I'll be manly and "confess it".
"You're right." Angela looks up at me, hurt and confusion in her eyes. Taking a deep breath, I continue, "I... do have feelings for her."
Feelings of hate...right?
She just looks at me and tells me to continue. "Do I have to?"
"No but I know you have more than just feelings." I look at her blankly, daring her in a staring contest.
Her eyes bore into mine again and I start to get uncomfortable. She narrows them and I start getting hot while I tap the bed. Then she crosses her arms one more time.
I can literally feel her aura pushing me to back down. It's like a gust of wind...minus everything flying around.
Damn, she's good.
I break eye contact, unable to hold it anymore. "Okay, jeez. You're like a Meerkat hunting it's prey."
"I only learned from the best." she says in a matter-of-fact tone. "And she's laying right next to you."
I open my mouth to say something but my breath gets caught in my throat.
Sam starts to shift onto her side and I look at her while she slips her arm over my chest, her knees slightly bending. I'm surprised to find that her movement triggered a yearning inside of me. One that wants to know everything about everything to do with Samantha Jones. That's when my white lie becomes truth. That's when it hits me.
"I love her, Angela." I say with emotion while looking at Sam's plump lips, wondering how they would feel against mine. Then I blanch, realizing what I just said.
The corner of Angela's mouth lifts a little. "Of course you do."
I surprise myself again by saying, "Hopefully she feels the same about me."
"She does, she just doesn't know it yet."
Why is she telling me this?
"Okay, you just made me confess my love for her and now you're telling me that she doesn't know she loves me? Isn't that a little... I don't know... harsh? And it doesn't even make sense."
"Sam has the feelings but is scared by them. Her childhood wasn't so great so it's hard for her to trust anything so easily," What happened to her when she was little that could make her afraid of her own feelings? "That's why she built a wall, to protect her emotions. The only way to show her about love is by caring for her."
I begin to feel my temper rise. The feeling I get when I think of Samantha getting hurt, in any way, makes me see red. I just wish I could go back in time and help little Sam, take care of her like I should.
Why does this have to be so complicated?
"Seriously? This situation just had to get complicated. I don't even know why I'm letting you see my soft side." I said, sounding angry and speaking more to myself than to Angela.
I can't believe I left my guard down. What the heck is wrong with me?
She just chuckles. "That's what love does."
"Oh, really? Why did I just so happen to fall into it?" I say, beginning to feel a little hysterical.
"It's the way the world works. We live, we love, we hurt, we lose, and we die. We just have to keep going until we get where we need to be, and right now, you need to be with Samantha. She needs someone to care for her because she's too busy caring for others and I know that I can't break her barriers; my love for her isn't strong enough."
Dear Lord, she's gone giving me love advice when she's only been here a day.
"I know for a fact that if you love her with all your heart, she will crack and eventually break with your name written across her heart as you already have hers on your heart." Angela lets out a small laugh then continues, "I know this sounds gushy and gooey and weird but listen to the one person who has experience with real, true love. I know it when I see it, and you definitely have it."
I don't reply to her, I just lay there in the silence that follows. Could Angela be saying the truth? Is this all real? I wonder if I have to sacrifice those relics of wannabe's and misguided, desperate girls and focus solely on the one girl I want to spend every waking hour with. I hope Angela's right and all she needs is some caring from a man. Yes, a man. Yes, say goodbye to the beautiful, flirty girls.
I'm going to fight for the heart of my queen.
She'll soon be mine.
**********
While listening to Coldplay I run through the woods. I follow the dirt trail around the trees and soon run into a clearing. A couple trees stand here-and-there proving a wonderful source of shade. The grass seems to be flowing in water with the way wind brushes over it.
Hmm, seems like I can use a stop and rest a little.
Moving over to an uprooted tree, I glance around and make sure nobody was following me. It's good to be alone once in a while. You can use the chance to relax, which is what I try to do but am only greeted with the thought of Sam needing me.
Crap, what if she wakes up and I'm not there?
Groaning, I turn around just as I begin to sit down. I run in full speed back to the lodge with a sense of urgency. At the rate I'm running, I get there in a matter of a minute. I run through the back door just in time to here Angela's voice.
"Sam?"
No, no, no...
As I try to prevent myself from panicking, I run up to the third floor (for sick vampires) and into the room where Sam is supposed to be. My breath gets hitched in my throat when I can't find anyone at first glance.
Shit, where is she?
Relief rushed through me as my eyes find Samantha tightly hugging Angela. I lean on the door-frame for support since I almost had a heart-attack. They break apart and a look of confusion crosses Sam's beautiful complexion. "How long have I been out? I feel like I can run through a thousand walls and still be perfectly fine."
"You've been asleep an entire week." Angela answers.
"Dang, that explains a lot... Who brought me in here?"
"I did." I chime in, barely making myself noticed.
"Are you serious? He came to my rescue? I don't think that's possible."
"Are you saying that I'm incapable of doing such a thing, that I can't possibly be scared half to death?" I question, storming to where they sat, on the left side of the bed.
Sam stood and crossed her arms. "Are you admitting to being a scaredy-cat?"
I was now so close to her that if I were to take one more step, I'd be able to feel her breath on my neck. "No, but I am admitting to you." And before she could retort with a nasty comment or I can process what I was doing, I hooked my right hand around her neck and snaked my left arm around her back. I crashed my mouth onto hers in a fierce and forceful kiss.
Samantha wrenched away as if I burned to the touch and looked at me with her eyes wide and her hands over her mouth.
"Crap." I mumbled, just before my cheek flared in the fiery burn that came from Sam's hand.