"Wake up, Aaron."
The sensual feminine voice sounds like an underwater echo that wakes Aaron up to a hazy blur.
"Good morning, Aaron."
"Sam... Samantha?"
"No, silly! But you can call me that if you want..."
Aaron raises his head from his pillow and sits up on his bed. He is rubbing his eyes as his dark room lets in a single streak of sunshine through the curtain.
"Who are you? How did you get in here?"
"You let us in... Last night, remember?"
Aaron does not see the woman very clearly, so he gets up and turns the lights on. He sees a black haired petite girl sitting in the chair next to his bed, and in his bed, there is a brown haired girl lying down.
"What do you mean 'Last Night'? What's going on here? What happened last night?"
"Well, I suppose I could tell you, but I think she might have a better idea."
The girl that is on the bed now gets up and begins to slowly walk towards Aaron.
"A reenactment, perhaps?"
Aaron steps away from her.
"Don't come any closer. I have no idea who you are, or why I would ever let you in here, but I do know I want you out!"
The girl that is standing in front of Aaron looks back at the girl in the chair and they laugh at him. The girl in the chair flicks ashes off her cigarrette.
"You're SMOKING? In my house?! Put that out... You know what, no, don't put it out actually, just get out. Smoke it but take it outside with you and just leave, seriously."
The two girls once again laugh. The girl with the cigarette rises from her chair and walks toward Aaron. Both girls now approach him. They begin to caress him, to touch him, and kiss him. He is resisting and pushing them away, removing their hands and faces from his person as he steps back.
"Come on, Aaron. Stop playing around..."
"I am not playing with you, if you don't get away from me this will get ugly!"
"Oh you hear that? He said its gonna get ugly."
"Oh I heard. And that's good. We like 'ugly' don't we?"
Aaron pushes the brown haired girl away forcefully and she lands seated on his bed, but she laughs as she lets herself fall backward and massages her hair with his bed sheets. Aaron, now growing impatient, grabs the black haired girl by the throat and lifts her up.
"Look! I am only gonna say this once! Nobody, but NOBODY is ever allowed in my bedroom besides me! I'd never let you or anyone else in here, no matter how drunk or drugged I was! So tell me what the hell is--"
"Not even Samantha?"
Aaron's eyes squint in confusion. He mouths the name 'Samantha' to himself in question. As he looks at the face of the girl he is holding, he sees Samantha's face! So pale, still with her red lipstick, but looking extremely sad with tears running down her face.
"You're killing me, Aaron..."
"Sam?! What the..."
Aaron's eyes open suddenly to see his room is empty, and that he is still in bed by himself under his blanket. There is a hint of daylight sneaking in through his window's blinds even though it isn't sunlight, as it is still raining from last night. His room is not as dark as he thought it to be a few seconds ago. He has a bit of a puzzled look on his face as his eyes look around and he's yet to move.
"A dream..."
He breathes in deeply and exhales a sigh of relief. He now sits up in his bed and yawns. He runs his hand down his face while exhaling.
"It was just a dream, Aaron. A strange one. But at least you're awake now. It's over."
Aaron reaches to his nightstand where an alarm clock that sits next to a gold wrist watch reads "8:12 AM" and gets a hold of a remote control. He points the remote at his television and turns it on. The morning NEWS is being aired.
"--showers for Thurston County, but other than that, temperatures a little higher than normal for this time of year. Back to you, Kay."
"Thanks, Melanie. Coming up after the break, we take a look at what the best re--"
Aaron turns the television back off.
"Saturday morning TV used to be fun."
He gets up and stretches a bit. He walks over to his closet and starts scrolling through outfits trying to decide what to wear.
"Hmm... I think Sam might like the way this one looks."
He pulls out a suit and tie combination that looks so neat, it seems it just came back from the cleaners.
"Yeah, you can wear this and then just change into the tux before the party."
In an opposite side of town, sausage and eggs are served on a plate that sits on a wooden counter. Bethany Lawrence's kitchen is sizzling with the snaps and crackles of frying oils as she moves about from the counter to the stove. The occasional clink on the frying pan from the spatula serves as only a backdrop for the soothing harmony that Bethany is humming.
"Morning mom."
Bethany is shaken out of her concentration by Samantha's voice. She puts down the spatula and her hand immediately meets her chest.
"Good god, you scared the crap out of me!"
"Oh gee thanks mom, you don't look that great in the morning either but at least I don't call you zombie to your face."
Samantha has obviously just rolled out of bed. Her hair is wild and messy, which is very noticeable because she has so much of it. She is wearing a white V-neck shirt, which is not that much brighter than her pasty white skin. Bethany looks her up and down and chuckles.
"You're a hot mess. If I creeped up behind you looking like that you'd..."
"I'd probably be forced to shoot you. Gotta be prepared for the zombie apocalypse... Trust no one."
"And you say I'm the weird one."
Bethany turns back to the stove and picks up the spatula again to continue her cooking. Samantha pulls a chair and sits at the counter in front of the breakfast plate. She picks up one of the small sausage links and takes a bite from it.
"I'm assuming this is mine?"
"It is now, isn't it?"
"Sure is... Hey do you really cook three times a day, every single day? Or do you just do it to spoil me?"
"Oh, I just love cooking, you know that... But yeah, I guess I like to spoil you a bit, too. I was gonna bring that plate up to your bed if you hadn't come down here looking like Edward Scissorhands."
Samantha looks at her hands and nails confused.
"Edward who? What does that even mean?"
"I guess you're too young to remember that."
Bethany brings Samantha some toast and takes a seat beside her at the kitchen counter, creating a similar scene to last night's dinner. Shortly after they've begun eating, a humming vibrating noise is heard.
"What's that?"
"Oh! That's me. Sorry."
Samantha reaches into the pocket of her pajama bottoms and pulls out her cell phone.
"Seriously, Sammy? Do you sleep with that thing?"
Samantha flips her phone open and reads the text on the screen to herself. Bethany could see Samantha mouthing the words "Have you decided where we'll meet" with a confused furrow of her brow.
"Oh shhhhhhhoot!"
"What happened?"
"Michael!"
"Who the hell's Michael?"
"Nobody, he's... Just, uh... Well he's a friend. Just a guy from high school. I totally forgot, I bumped into him at the plaza, flagging down the cab yesterday."
"Okay, so he texted you now. What's the big deal?"
"We're supposed to get together tonight and catch up, because I haven't seen him in years..."
"I see. So you're gonna blow off Aaron again. Right?"
"Mom, I know where you're headed with this, but look... Both Aaron and Michael are just friends of mine, don't do that 'weird mom' thing right now."
"Sorry, doll. But it's true; you have to cancel on one of them... You hang out with Aaron almost every weekend or at least see him regularly. This Michael guy hasn't been in touch in a while, so logically..."
"Logically, I can kill two birds with one stone."
"... you can... I'm sorry, what?"
"You opted out of being my 'plus one,' so... Now Michael's gonna take your spot. That way I'll still go to Aaron's thing, and I'll still catch up with an old friend. I won't let either one of them down, it's perfect."
"Perfect? I don't think Aaron would like that."
"Mom, it'll be fine! Aaron knew him in high school too, they'll have some catching up of their own to do as well."
"And you're sure."
"Positive, mom. Trust me."
Samantha takes a big bite of her toast in a very unlady like fashion just to mock Bethany. Bethany scoffs and giggles a bit.
Samantha keeps trying to make Bethany laugh with this rude table manner. Bethany finally laughs as Samantha chews obnoxiously in her face. Bethany playfully pushes Samantha's face away from her.
Meanwhile, at Aaron's house, Aaron is in front of his full aize mirror again trying on different ties. He has a youthful grin on his face. It seems this party his company is holding is more 'party' to him than 'business.' He is humming a unique tune to himself, and then sings a low melody to the same rythm of the tune...
"Sam is gonna love you Aaron, she's gonna love you..."
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Author's Note**
I am very open to any questions anyone may want answered in future chapters, or anything that you would like me to explain or go into more detail as well. Please don't forget to vote and fan me if you like my work :) Thank You so much for letting me share this with you. -GB