Chapter 5

Of course the answer to my offer was yes. The Junior Prom was a blast, with Sam and I dancing the night away and sharing many of our private jokes. The beauty of our friendship allowed for merely a glance, or a wink, sending us into a gasping-for-air-giggle fit. Since we had made a promise to each other about not saying something mean about others, we had become quite adept at the wiggle of the eyebrows and the occasional fake cough for punctuation.

At the end of the evening, we went to my parents' car and headed for home. Our curfew that night had been relaxed, but we had no "after dance" parties to attend, so Sam suggested we delay going home right away and that we have our own little party. We stopped at 7-11 and picked up some sodas and chips and headed out toward the dam, a few miles south of our town.

It was a wonderful moonlit evening, and it was warm since the spring weather was more like summer this year. We walked by the shore of the reservoir, talking over the events of the evening and how pleasant a time we'd had. Sam and I stopped by the picnic area and sat at one of the tables and had our after prom feast. I looked over at Sam and said, "Who would've thought that this prom would have turned out so nice? It was just a couple of days ago that we both thought that it was going to be a disaster, but it all worked out."

"I'm so glad to have you as a best friend. Imagine if we didn't have each other, how difficult life would be?" she sighed. I didn't pick up on the sign this time, either. I still have to be the slowest guy on the planet when a beautiful girl throws a slow pitch right over the center of the plate. We turned around and leaned against the back of the picnic table, looking out over the calm waters before us. Sam shivered a little; although it was a warm evening, occasionally a hint of a cool breeze would come off the water. I put my arm around her shoulders to warm her a bit, and she leaned back into me in comfort.

For a while we didn't talk, just enjoying the quiet evening. Sam cuddled up to me, put her arm around me and gave me a kiss on my cheek and thanked me for making this evening so special for her. I returned her kiss, aiming for her cheek, but she turned her head at the last moment and I planted one on her lips. The kiss became heated and lasted for about 30 seconds.

I gasped for breath as we broke the kiss. I really hadn't had much real kissing experience but Sam didn't seem to mind. "That was nice," she murmured and I took that as a sign to continue. (I was starting to become aware.) With a racing heart, I connected with her lips again and opened my lips a little, only to find her lovely tongue poised and ready for an all out assault on my mouth. Not one second of her tongue popping into my mouth had passed before I returned the favor and entered into the duel. We broke the kiss a few moments later and both started giggling.

"Well," said Sam. "That was certainly fun. Why haven't we tried that before?"

I gave it a little thought and said, "Because best friends do not kiss like that, but that was sure fun."

We looked at our watches and, realizing that it was well past midnight, headed back to the car. The trip home took about 15 minutes and was quiet. I can only guess what was going through her mind, as mine was reeling at the recent events of the evening. I had kissed her. What did that mean? Were things going to change with us? Had I blown it somehow? She was being so quiet, had I hurt her feelings?

I was jarred from all of those thoughts as we arrived back at our neighborhood. Porch lights on at both of our homes. Back to normal? Time would tell.

"Sam", I said, "How about our Junior Prom? Wasn't that one of the most enjoyable times we had ever had?"

Sam was starting to connect the dots with my little talk. "Do you mean the evening overall," she replied, "or the party we had at the dam?"

"All of it", I laughed. "What fun that kiss was." I grabbed her hand and told her our walk needed to continue. We headed back on the trail towards the center of town. She was the girl of my dreams and the one who had always been there just waiting for me.

Our senior year was filled with one activity after another. The school yearbook was one of the things that both of us had signed up for at the beginning of the year. That gave us plenty of time together, and we both enjoyed picking the photos and making up some of the captions that would accompany them. Because we had made so many friends, our ability to get great quotes from students and teachers alike made the work seem so fun. My favorite quote was from one of the guys in our class named Grant: "When in doubt, go for the groceries." I guess this made sense for a real thin guy like Grant, as he could shovel HUGE quantities of food into his mouth on a regular basis and yet still not seem to gain a pound.

Christmas that year was very special. I had more mobility because I had purchased a used car, with help from my parents, and that made shopping much easier. I could now go by myself and not have to wait for my parents' annual trip to the mall, an event that would generally take all day and go well into the night.

That year I was able to plan out all of my purchases, plot the path to success on the mall map that I had acquired, and hit the mall running. Start to finish I was done with my entire shopping list, grandparents and all, in one hour and fifteen minutes. I was proud of myself. Here it was December 4^th, and the shopping had been done, and all I had left to do was the gift-wrapping.

I had made my trip when the mall first opened, and was taking my time on this lazy Saturday, coincidentally the day of my parents' marathon shopping trek, to do the wrapping. I was interrupted when Sam knocked at the back door. I waved her in, and continued to work on my poor excuse for wrapping. I don't know what it is about us guys, but, to this day, I have yet to meet a man, short of some of my gay friends, who can wrap a box anywhere like a woman. Of course, my problem with wrapping was immediately a source of ridicule from none other than Miss Samantha Morse.

"Here let me show you," she teased. "You know that sharp corners and proper paper management make this an easy thing to do." No, I didn't know that, and no, I had already resigned myself to sloppy wrapping and good gift choices being my lot in life.

"Sam, why are you trying to teach me this? Don't you agree that the presentation of the gift with pretty wrapping is not as important as the spirit in which the gift is given?"

"No, I don't agree," she replied. "Why is it every guy I know is like this? My daddy either can't or won't learn to wrap properly, and I'll be darned if I let you go along in life without being able to master this simple task."

The next half-hour was spent with me trying to take instruction on this very important task from my best friend. I would do well on some of the packages, and on others I would fail miserably, causing the "Professor" to "tsk, tsk" me into starting over, carefully lining up the edges, taping things nice and tight and trying not to skimp on quality.

After that harrowing experience, I resolved never to let this wild woman into my house again. Like that was gonna work. There was a method to her madness. Madness, I tell you.

"Now Tom, since you have completed your wrapping tasks and have learned your lessons well, I will give you the chance to pay me back for all of the difficult instruction that I have given you this day."

Pay her back? I would love to pay her back. How can I count the ways? To start I would like to take some ice cubes and put them down the back of her sweater. I would follow that by taking her out into the back yard and squirting her off with the hose. She had something entirely different in mind, of course.

"Tommy?" Wait a minute, had she called me Tommy? Nobody and I mean noBODY, called me Tommy and lived to tell the tale. I was all ready to relax my "Mr. Nice Guy" rule and let her have it when she continued in the little girl voice. "My mom and dad have gone out for the day to go shopping, and I really didn't want to go with them. So would you be a nice best friend and take me over to the mall to pick up a couple of gifts? I promise you it won't take long."

Famous last words from a girl who had no sense of time: "It won't take long." Like a lemming heading for the cliffs, I had no choice when she used the "best friend" card with me. I was like putty in her hands when she did that and she knew it. "Okay, I'll take you. But you have to promise me that you are going to go and buy and not just shop all day. I can't stand the crowds at the mall and I don't want to spend all day there."

"I promise it will only take a little while. I already know what I want to get and I have a list all made out right here," patting her pocket.

We hopped into my little car and headed over to the mall. The dreaded mall. Where parking was a nightmare and the crowds were massed. We finally found a parking space at the outer edge of the parking lot, and started our journey into the mall when it started to rain. Now normally, I don't mind a little rain, but this thunderstorm opened up the clouds, and just poured on us, as we ran towards the mall entrance.