Chapter Thirteen: "Surprise."

"WHAT DID YOU DRESS up as last year?" Maddy asked me in the bathroom door. Sam was probably lying down on my bed, going through his social media and George was going to meet us there while we were waiting for Anmol to arrive.

"What do you think I dressed up as?"

"A soccer player."

"Which one?"

Maddy rolled her eyes. "Does it matter? It was pretty obvious you would dress up as that."

"Okay but I'm not going as that this year."

"Didn't you dress up as a soccer player for like ten years straight?" Sam yelled from the other side.

"No it was only in high school." I yelled back.

"That's not what Andrew said."

"You're going to believe Andrew over your girlfriend?" I asked him, poking my head through the door so he wouldn't see what I was wearing.

He looked over at me and raised an eyebrow. "Was it only high school?"

"Okay it was grade eight too."

"I figured." He mumbled, going back to his phone.

"Jerk."

"Remember that Hazel." He said before I closed the door.

I looked back at Maddy, what she was going as was completely ironic but I loved it. She was dressed up as Madeline from the show. She had the red wig on and the yellow coat and everything. She looked exactly a character from my childhood.

I stifled laughter as she was trying to fix the wig in the mirror and placed the hat on top. She rolled her eyes at me through the mirror. "Stop laughing."

"I'm not laughing." I tried to lie but ended up laughing anyway, stumbling out of the room.

"Whoa." Sam said as I turned around to face him.

I groaned and tried to pull down the damn skirt. This was one of the worst parts about being freakishly tall; skirts were hard to wear because the length could be so short. I could rant about this all day.

But here's the thing: I don't wear skirts.

I think this is the first time I have worn a skirt since I was a baby. I only knew that because there was a picture of me back home when I was three and I had been wearing a skirt. Other than that, I have absolutely no idea when I had ever worn a skirt.

Sam probably knew this too so when he was still staring at my legs after a long amount of time I couldn't help but snap my fingers in his face.

"Don't get so excited I'm wearing shorts underneath and I might wear tights."

"Please don't." Sam muttered under his breath as if I didn't hear him. I slapped his upside the head at his perverted comment and he laughed rubbing the back of his head.

"But doesn't she look great?" Maddy asked, her yellow hat finally on properly as she walked out of the bathroom and handed me my shield.

Okay so I may or may not have gone as a different soccer player for the past five years of my life but this year was different. It wasn't even that big of a deal. It was just a party but I decided to dress up as a superhero instead. I went as a female version of captain America, minus the mask but my hair was so wavy due to the tight braids Maddy had made me have on my head for about two hours before I was able to let my hair free.

But honestly, Captain America was one of my favorite superheroes and I was pretty happy to be him for Halloween.

"You look absolutely beautiful." Sam mumbled, removing his eyes from my legs and looking up at my face with a small smile on his face. "Then again you always do."

The door to our dorm room opened and Anmol walked in dressed as a angel, wearing . She took one look at the rest of us with a smile before she looked at Sam and frowned. That's how I knew she was finally comfortable around him instead of being flustered like she was when she had first met him.

"What are you supposed to be?"

Sam looked down at his outfit, dark jeans, leather jacket thrown over a shirt and converse at his feet. He shrugged. "I'm Sam Cahill. I'd say that's a pretty good Halloween costume."

"This is your costume?" I asked him, crossing my arms.

"Yes it is, you want to find out what's underneath?" Sam smirked, leaning closer to me but I pushed him back lightly, a stupid grin finding its way to my face.

"She probably already has." Maddy quipped, looking through her phone as I got my jacket and I could feel my face flame up.

That part of Sam and I's life is something I never discuss with my friends because it never really happened.

It's not like I don't want it to happen. It's a personal choice. I just want to be ready. I don't want to be way into the moment with him only for myself to regret it in the morning. I didn't want that.

But I'm pretty sure Maddy has assumed that Sam and I have already had sex. She's never asked me about it. We barely even discuss that. But I could figure out why she would assume we've done that.

He was Sam. And according to some girls I've overheard talking about him one day, 'he was the type of guy a girl would want to 'bang''. I get it. I do.

Trust me when I tell you that I was actually stuck on this topic when we had arrived at the building and Sam nudged me on the side, twirling the key ring on his fingers as the car chirped. "You alright?"

I nodded, feeling happy that I had decided to go with the tights underneath even though they made me feel uncomfortable, I wasn't cold. "Yeah I'm alright. Where's George?"

"Right 'ere." He walked over to us, dressed as ketchup.

Maddy looked up at him with a weird smile on her face. "Why?"

"I should be asking you that question...Madeline." He wiggled his eyebrows and they disappeared into the doors of the building.

I looked over at Anmol who was staring at something on her phone with a mad look on her face. "What's wrong?"

"I just hope Derek doesn't show up with all the nonsense he has to say to me. I don't think I want to speak to him and go back into embarrassment land." 

Sam coughed, looking a little bit uncomfortable. "I'm not one to give out relationship advice but-"

"No, no, no not relationship advice. Derek and I? Not a relationship. Never will be. Ever."

Sam put his hands up in mock surrender before shoving them in his pockets. "Anyway, I kind of think you should give the poor mate a chance."

I raise my eyebrow at the word mate and Sam glanced at me and shrugged before looking back at Anmol who shook her head, "It's just too much embarrassment." 

"He doesn't seem to care about the past, Anmol." 

But ducked her head, brushing it aside, "Let's just go inside."

I hooked arms with my friend and we walked into the lobby of the building. About three minutes later we were standing outside the door of Zach's apartment. Anmol was the one who knocked on the door and Zach dressed as the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland opened the door, a bottle of beer in his hand. "Hey guys, come in, come in."

My friends scattered after Zach as we walked through the party filled flat. I mean I can already see someone dressed up as a hot dog making out with a witch. I was about to step foot inside when out of the corner of my eye I see Sam tense up.

I laced his fingers with mine and squeezed gently. "You know I'm right here right?"

"I know." He mumbled, returning my gesture and pressing a light kiss to the side of my head before pulling me inside the place.

I found everyone in the kitchen once Sam and I had passed through the sweaty bodies dressed in costumes in the small living room. Rosaline, who was dressed in a bunny outfit-by bunny outfit I meant black tank top, leggings and bunny ears. She was standing near at a little bar on the side of their kitchen, a view of people dancing in the living room right in front of us all.

"Welcome to casa de Zachary and Rosie." Zach yelled over the EDM music playing taking his top hat off and placing it on the counter.

"Nice place." George added, grabbing the yellow cup that Rosaline handed to him.

Zach slid over to Sam and I. Sam was looking around the place with wary, careful eyes as if he was sure something bad was about to happen.

"Macy, Sam, how are you guys?" He said enthusiastically with a large smile on his face.

I could hear Sam mutter something under his breath when Rosaline offered a yellow cup towards us. I declined so she turned to Sam and stared at him with wide eyes. "Holy shit, you're Sam Cahill."

Sam raised an eyebrow at the greeting. "Uh, hi."

"Sorry," She said excitedly. "It's just you're parents are famous and you're kind of famous so..."

Sam shook his head. "I'm definitely not famous."

"Aren't you?" She asked confused. "I mean your dad was on the news the other day and he was talking about you. Remember Zach?"

Zach nodded. "Yeah, he was talking about your future and stuff. He mentioned you becoming a professional soccer player."

Sam looked conflicted by that information and I watched the conversation, wondering how he would reply to this. Instead, Sam sighed and opened his mouth to speak when suddenly Zach's eyes lit up. "Oh, some of our old friends are here."

The look of confusion on Sam's face morphed into blankness. "What? Friends?" His tone clearly showed that he didn't want to see someone he's seen before. Again.

"Yeah, c'mon man." He grabbed Sam by the crook of his arm and pulled him along in the living room. Rosaline followed along with me, us going through the small crowd in the living room and making it over the corner where people were lounging on couches and the ground.

By this point Sam looked extremely pissed off. Like really pissed off. He yanked his arm out of Zach's grip by the time we had gotten to the short destination and looked down at the people in the area, his eyes lighting up with recognition. "Sam is that actually you?" A girl asked, dressed as a supposed 'sexy police officer'.

All eyes were on him as he glared at Zach before looking back at the people in front of him. "Is everybody moving to Manchester?" I heard him mutter.

I don't think anyone really cared that he sounded displeased when he had said that because the way they were all looking at him. Rosaline looked up at me but not by much, she was tall, just not taller than me. But then again I rarely ever found girls who were taller than me.

"He doesn't look elated seeing old friends." She pointed out.

"Trust me, he isn't." I said back as we kept our eyes on what was happening.

"Not everybody moved to Manchester," Another guy said, who was sitting on the couch between two girls. He was dressed as the Joker, his face paint was horrible though. "Some of us just stuck together."

"Some of us closer than others." One girl beside him grumbled, eyeing the girl on the other side of him. Well, that must be complicated.

"But how are you man? We didn't hear a word from you once you moved back to America. Or was it Canada?"

"Canada. I moved to Canada." Sam said harshly.

"Cool. Is it colder there?"

"I'm not really here to answer ridiculous questions."

"Wow," The guy said, taking a sip from his beer bottle. "You really have changed."

"Yeah," another girl spoke up from her seat on the ground. "Appearance wise too. You got hotter Cahill."

Sam didn't react to that. He just shot the girl a dry stare. Zach rolled his eyes. "Lay off the man, Hannah. He's taken."

Zach nodded over to me and I tried averting my eyes from the girl, Hannah, who was sizing me up. "You're tall...cute costume." She said, acting as if she was almost taunting me with that accent of hers.

"I didn't think I would have to have someone tell me that I was tall to figure out that I'm taller than the average girl." I told her with a tight smile on my face.

I glanced at Sam to see him shaking his head with a knowing smile on his face when he looked back at me.

"Well someone has attitude problems." The girl said, leaning her arm on the back of the couch. She looked back at Sam. "But seriously, Sam, I remember the fifteen year old you; lanky, curly hair. I mean still hot back than but just-"

"We get it," The guy on the couch muttered. "You want to shag him. Go seduce another man Hannah."

She didn't even deny it.

Hannah rolled her eyes, looking at Sam one more time before walking away. I noticed a shift in Sam as her presence was gone. He relaxed a little, almost as if her presence bothered him more than it should have.

"Who's this?" The guy asked, looking directly at me.

Sam fists clenched and unclenched as he took steps back, standing beside me. "Don't worry about it."

"Is she The One," The guy said, looking as if him and Sam were sharing an inside joke. "Remember when we were younger and everyone thought that one day you were going to marry Hannah?"

I could feel my facial expression shift into a surprise at this new information. Sam could have possibly been with Hannah. The girl who had apparently wanted to 'shag' him, not caring that his girlfriend was right there?

Wow.

Sam didn't say anything but he regarded the guy with a blank expression. I think Zach understood that Sam didn't want to see these people because he coughed after a moment of silence. By silence I meant no one here talking, although everyone else seemed to be having a great time around us with the music going and the smell of alcohol and sweat. "Okay, we should go somewhere else now-"

"Why?" The guy asked, and then looked at Sam. "You look mad. Take the stress off man. You know what? Here."

He turned around and snapped his fingers multiple times. "Hey, hey, Jimmy, stop snogging the girl and get over here."

A guy came over, dressed like a vampire, his fake fangs showing every single time he smiled. He kept that smile on his face a lot. He looked over at Sam before grinning. "Whoa, Sam Cahill. Long time no see."

Sam still didn't say anything but I could see his jaw clench from this angle. The guy on the couch put his hand out. "Give it to me. Sam needs to relax."

Jimmy placed whatever it was in the guy's hand before walking away. The guy twisted the blunt in his hand before lighting it up. I watched as he took a smoke before offering the joint to Sam as he blew it out and the smell of the herb hit me in the face. "Here man. You want?"

I knew.

I knew Sam was used to this. To the whole party scene, the whole getting high and drunk scene. He was.

So when he hesitated and I saw his hand rise a bit, I wasn't that surprised.

But when he put his hand down as fast as it had came up, I let out a breath of air I didn't even know I was holding in.

He turned to Zach with his voice as hard as steel. "Where's your bathroom?"

"Down that hallway on your left-"

"Oh my God," Rosaline yelled out, looking at the kitchen from here. "Why the hell is Nick drawing a dick on my fridge?" She stomped away in one direction and before I knew it, Sam was pulling me in the other, away from the group of people and probably towards the bathroom.

He opened the door without knocking and I was happy that no one was in there. "Fucking hell." He muttered, closing the door and looking as if he wanted to kick it in frustration.

He almost did. By the time he reared his leg back to actually kick the door, I had turned him around to face me, forcing him to stop his actions. "What are you doing?"

"What do you think I'm doing?"

"Don't answer with another question. I know that guy over there said you needed to relax and I don't agree with his method but you actually do need to relax."

"Are you actually suggesting for me to go back there and smoke weed?"

"No, no, no, that is not what I am suggesting. I'm suggesting you take deep breaths. Please. And just calm down."

He doesn't seem to want to take my advice but he did as I asked, closing his eyes and taking deep breaths. I leaned against the sink of the tiny bathroom when Sam opened his eyes, leaning against the door.

"Friends? Those people out there were never my friends. They were Bethany's. A lot of them even Hannah were friends with Bethany."

"What's the deal with that Hannah girl anyway?"

Sam tilted his head to the side. "Hannah, kind of, maybe was probably the only girl I...this is weird."

"How is this weird?"

"I shouldn't be discussing my, uh, childhood crush with my girlfriend."

"That's not weird. You can tell me anything."

"Hannah and Bethany were good friends. But she and I weren't really friends. I didn't really consider anyone my friends besides my sister and brothers. And I, as a twelve year old, almost moving to Canada, starting to become hormonal kid, had a thing for Hannah. Before that everyone thought we would end up together. Then I moved and when I moved back she was a completely different person. But trust me when I say nothing-even if I didn't have you in my life- would happen with her of all people."

"Got that." I did.

"Good."

"But what just happened?"

"Huh?"

"What just happened? With the weed? You almost took it."

"But I didn't." He pushed himself off of the wall, walking slowly towards me.

"But you almost." My tone hushed to a whisper.

"But I didn't." He whispered back, cupping my cheek in his hand.

"I'm just worried about you."

Sam leaned his head back, looking up at the ceiling before looking back at me. "You have nothing to worry about."

"Sam..."

"Hazel..." He teased me, a glint in his eyes that made me feel warm inside. "I told you. It's a small world. I've seen two people before I was bound to see other people I knew anyway."

"Yeah." I agreed.

"I should get used to it. It bothers me but I'll get used to it. I'm back. I'm can't believe I didn't expect this."

I put my hands on his face to direct his gaze back on me and he leaned in, kissing me with assurance that he was okay. The sink that was digging into my back as he pressed himself closer to me faded away from my thoughts as I locked my fingers around his neck. Before I knew it, his hand had reached down and lifted my leg up and wrapped it around his waist.

There was no warning bells going off in my head as this was happening. Wait why was I letting this happen? Was I going to let it happen? Here? In a bathroom? I thought, pulling away from Sam.

He turned his head and laughed under his breath. "Yeah I wouldn't want to have my first time in a bathroom if I were you."

I joined him in laughter before it died away. "What's this about your dad on the news?"

"It was just an interview on the television. He told me about it the other day but never got around to watch it because it was the same time as practice. But according to my mum, I have an interview next week."

"An interview?"

"Yeah, it's here in Manchester. It wasn't just my mum who set it up. It was coach as well."

"Wow, soccer related."

"Mostly football but it's everything related. Modeling, my family and probably you."

"What?"

"Yeah," He said as if it was obvious. "Hazel, they're going to go on the topic of whether I am in a relationship or not. It'll be quick. I'm not going to lie. If I could I would let the entire world know I'm with you. But I don't want any trouble for you."

"I know."

"Good, it's just a little thing. I just want to be prepared if..." He trailed off.

"If they ask you any questions about your sister?"

He nodded. "It would be great if you came with me. I would understand if