“So what’s it going to be? Being independent or being happy?” he said.
“I’m hoping for both,” she said.
* * *
Clean-up was faster than Sam had anticipated. Otto and Zelda had a system. Zelda had refused to let Sam help and had placed an espresso in front of her when the pizza was finished and the wine gone.
Rather than jolt her awake, the coffee added a cheery brightness to the overall comfortable fuzziness taking over her body.
After she’d finished cleaning, Zelda hugged Sam again and said goodnight.
Sam waved good-bye to Zelda as Zelda walked out the front door of the restaurant to drive home to her house on the hill. Sam let out a long sigh and settled her body onto a stool at the counter. She sat in silence for a while watching Otto sweeping behind the counter. A small grin crept over her face. She couldn’t help but enjoy Otto’s backside. She was almost a little disappointed when he turned to face her.
“I just need to head upstairs and grab my coat, and then I’ll walk you home. Do you want a jacket or something?” Otto said.
Sam shook her head. She stood, preparing to leave. Otto brushed past her. He climbed the first three steps on the staircase next to the front counter.
Sam looked up at him. Otto looked down at her from the third step. A lock of hair fell into his face. Her whole body began to feel prickly. It was most likely the wine. Maybe the fact Otto happened to be very handsome, especially when he served her warm pizza. She was thoroughly enjoying herself, and the new option of letting things go too far for the fun of it added to the excitement.
“Otto, don’t tell me you live in the apartment above Zelda’s,” she said.
Otto shrugged and gestured with his hands.
“I think Zelda sees me as some sort of human guard dog,” he said.
Overcome with curiosity Sam made a dash for the stairs. The surprised look on Otto’s face was totally worth the sudden move.
“Well, come on. I’m dying to see your place,” she said as she brushed past him.
He simply stared at her. Sam took a deep breath.
“You give me a hard time about not being myself. You’re enough of a mystery as it is. Maybe if I saw where you lived, you’d make more sense,” she said.
Something in his eyes stopped her on the stairs.
His hand reached for her cheek. She didn’t move. Sam felt her body relax while sparks of electricity dotted her body all at the same time.
He brushed the pad of his thumb over her bottom lip. Sam shuddered. She looked down. Something in her belly forced her to ground her body on the stairs. She listened to the feeling and looked him square in the eye. She gasped at the lightning she saw. It matched the sparks shooting through her.
She lifted her face toward his, and Otto put his mouth over hers. Sam melted into his kiss, letting Otto hold her tight. Something in Sam was delightfully surprised as she sank into the kiss. She had not expected it to feel so all encompassing. Another part of her seemed to know it was going to be like this all along. Sam’s body shivered in the release of the realization.
She gasped for breath and jerked her mouth away from Otto. She looked at the closed door of his apartment.
She wanted him to pick her up, carry her across the threshold and ravish her anywhere: the floor, the bed, the dining room table really any type of furniture Otto might have in his apartment. Dangerous, delicious thoughts danced in her head.
Suddenly something inside her shunned her devilish thoughts. Fear crept into her body. She wasn’t quite sure why. She'd decided to have a pleasurable fling. Why should it cause her alarm to be kissing her boss when she had plans to leave anyway? She was ruining her own fun. Sam cursed herself for complicating things right when she’d allowed herself some simplicity.
“I need to go,” she said, not meeting Otto’s eyes.
“Okay, let me get my coat,” said Otto putting his key in the door.
Before Sam could protest, he disappeared into the apartment.
Sam edged closer and closer to Otto’s doorway. She was still buzzed from the wine. This had tipped her into the bad decision she’d just made, and why not add to the disaster? It wasn’t like she was going to start stripping in the entryway or anything.
The studio sized apartment was divided into a living space and a kitchen space. The kitchen donned square and diamond tiles. The main living space had a dark blue couch in the center of the room. The walls were lined with bookshelves. The bed was in the back corner of the space, adjacent to the window.
Sam was surprised by how homey it felt. It was lived it, but still neat. All of a sudden she felt tired, and would have been perfectly happy cuddled up on the couch with a cup of tea, or snuggled under the covers of the bed with a book. Otto’s presence made both actions all the more desirable.
He met her where she stood, his coat was on, and his eyes hard to read.
The walk back to her and Layla’s place was quiet. Sam’s seventeen-year-old self was jumping for joy for lip locking with the older, hotter Otto Harrison, while simultaneously yelling at her for not being the hell out of Grover.
“You enjoyed going to a school board meeting at town hall. I think there might be something wrong with you,” her younger version said, genuinely concerned.
“But you just kissed Otto Harrison, and now I really hope you have sex with him, as soon as possible,” seventeen-year-old Sam said. She was as much of a contradiction as twenty-nine-year-old Sam.
Sam couldn’t help but grin. She enjoyed blowing her younger self’s mind.
The problem in the present was she’d loved sitting next to Otto at the meeting tonight, and she loved walking next to him in the crisp fall air. She had a hard time keeping her eyes off him with his stride and the way his broad shoulders hunched a bit against the wind. She attempted to give him quick, discreet glances.
“Here we are,” said Otto.
Sam turned to face her bungalow. The little wooden house snuggled into the ground. She couldn’t help but love it too. Tonight, everything was love. She especially couldn’t help but love this strangely crazy but cozy moment she was in.
“Yeah,” Sam’s response was almost in a whisper.
“I’ll see you tomorrow?” said Otto.
Sam laughed.
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to quit and run off with the school principal,” said Sam. Her eyes widened and stomach clenched as soon as she said it. She wanted to dash into her house as soon as possible. Her mouth was getting her in trouble again.
To her surprise, Otto laughed. He turned toward her.
“I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing,” he said.
Before she knew what she was doing, Sam grabbed the front of Otto’s shirt collar and pulled him forward into another kiss.
Otto obliged, drawing her into his coat. She may have started the kiss, but he kissed her long and hard to let her know he was the one who was going to finish it.
She began to feel airy and lighter. She couldn’t help but grin into the kiss. She hadn’t known such a thing was possible.
Seventeen-year-old Sam was going wild in the background.
“Okay, that’s enough you two,” Holly’s voice called from the porch.
Sam and Otto jolted in surprise, mid-kiss. Their eyes met and they could only laugh at being found out. Sam caught a case of incontrollable giggles.
“Don’t laugh. This isn’t funny. No one’s getting knocked up on my front steps tonight,” Holly called out dryly.
“Those aren’t your front steps,” Sam called back.
“What are you talking about? Get in here,” said Holly.
Sam gave Holly a sideways look, Layla’s attitude was rubbing off on her. Sam never thought such a moment would come to fruition. She looked back to Otto.
“Excuse my friend. She’s the new resident cat lady,” said Sam, trying hard to contain her giggles.
“And busybody,” Holly called out.
Otto gave a jolly wave to H
olly. He seemed to enjoy every second of having been caught.
“Goodnight,” said Otto. Holly’s razzing only seemed to encourage him. He reached in for another kiss. This one was followed by wooing from both Holly and Layla, who had come and joined Holly on the porch.
Sam whispered goodnight in response. She walked toward her friends on the porch.
“What just happened?” Sam asked the two of them when she reached the foot of the stairs. She slowly began scaling each step. Her whole body was tired, yet energized, and each atom of her being ached with the exhilaration of her night.
“You’re back, thank God. You’re back to being the kind of trouble this town needs,” said Holly. She raised her hand above her head to high five Layla.
Sam walked into the house, ready to crash into her bed, and fall asleep with thoughts of the night. She could contemplate being trouble tomorrow.
* * *
The morning brought Sam still wandering in a glittery haze from the previous night's escapades. There was a tiny amount of dread following her around as well. The possibility of rejection from Otto was trailing her as a witchy shadow. Maybe he’d realized sometime between kissing her goodnight and getting ready for work he’d made a terrible mistake. Sam wouldn’t be completely surprised if Otto came into work in a bumbling state of avoidance.
Sam quietly snuck into her chair that morning. She was uneasy that Otto wasn't already at work in his office. She rested her head on her desk replaying the scene from last night.
No.
She shook her head. She let her forehead rub against the wood. No, Sam was fine. She had to believe she was enough. There was a little voice inside her telling Sam things had gone wonderfully, and a bigger, scarier voice continuously squishing the smaller one. It told her that her feelings were all in her head, and Otto had only kissed her because he could. She knew the small voice spoke the truth. It was just harder to listen to.
Sam heard Otto’s footsteps approach her desk. She felt his energy shooting off his body. It was frenetic, and made worse by the fact he was trying to rein it in for work. It was hot, and she didn’t need to see him to know it was there.
She looked up. He appeared stiff, agitated. Yet he watched her with a new knowing in his eyes. Sam couldn’t help but grin at him. This, whatever it was, was going to be okay.
“Hey boss, is there something I can do for you?” Sam said. Holly and Layla’s words from the previous night rose to the front of her mind. She was back to being trouble.
“I was wondering if you wanted to get dinner again tonight,” said Otto.
Sam paused. She let the small moment soak in. She nodded.
“That sounds great,” she said, trying to sound as calm as possible.
Otto nodded at her. He walked toward his office.
Sam stood to make coffee in the kitchenette. She did a short but joyous victory dance as soon as Otto closed his office door.
* * *
The week continued with many sidelong glances, excuses for small talk, and cozy coffee breaks, either with Sam sitting in Otto’s office, or Otto making himself comfortable in a chair by Sam’s desk.
At night they snuck away for dinner. One night, to Otto’s amusement, Sam lit candles around Otto’s living room, and the two of them enjoyed a bottle of wine and piping hot pizza Otto had thrown himself while watching The Princess Bride.
Another night they talked over old country music in Otto’s fading pickup truck as he drove Sam into the city. He took her to one of San Diego’s hip neighborhood’s newest restaurants, recommended by Zelda. They sat in a corner booth made for two on the back patio by the outdoor fireplace.
Otto also introduced Sam to his yacht, Jane, which was smaller than Sam had anticipated. On the drive over to the bay she’d had visions of Otto seducing her in the cabin. Upon stepping into the yacht all Sam could think about was the possibility of tipping the tiny boat and falling into the dark water. She was also struck by the name.
“I still can’t believe you named your boat after Jane Austen,” said Sam.
“Well Lady Jane was taken,” said Otto. He walked around the boat, checking knots, examining sails. They weren’t going anywhere, and Sam enjoyed watching how he still tended to the boat with the upmost care.
Sam shook her head.
“No, that you named your boat after her in the first place. Is it a ploy to get girls on to your boat?” she said. She teetered along the deck, determined to get her footing.
“Zelda always had a tattered set of paperbacks of the works of Jane Austen. One summer I teased her about reading them, and she told me that I was much more likely to get laid if I read Austen’s works,” he said.
Sam laughed into the night wind.
“So I take it you dove in?” she said.
“Finished Pride and Prejudice in just a little under a week.We had a conversation about it around the time I finished,” he said, watching her.
“We did?” said Sam. She frantically searched her memory.
Otto nodded.
“You said you thought Mr. Darcy was a pain in the ass, and not worth the time Lizzy gives him,” he said.
Sam gulped. Otto was looking good in the wind, and the man wanted to talk about Mr. Darcy.
“He’s cranky and moody. What woman needs that?” she said. The conversation was coming back to her.
“Maybe he’s cranky and moody because Lizzy sets him off,” said Otto.
Sam shrugged.
“Maybe, but I get the feeling it’s just kind of the way he is, you know, privileged,” she said. She watched Otto to see if she’d gotten a rise out of him.
Otto didn’t flinch. Instead he met her eyes. His look told her he wasn’t taking the bait.
“Lizzy’s smart. She knows what she wants. Why does she fall for Darcy at all then?” he said.
“Well there’s Pemberley. She sees how well he fits into that environment, and she loves that he fits somewhere, and then she starts imagining how she could fit there too, how she could make it her own. I used to think of it as her being kind of materialistic, but now I get it. It’s very sexy when a man gives you a space where you can be yourself,” Sam said. She looked out to the dark ocean. She couldn’t bring herself to look at Otto. The words she’d been speaking had been urgent yet hard to say at the same time. She knew they rang true for Lizzy and for her.
Otto didn’t say anything. The silence made Sam’s stomach turn. She couldn’t sit with it. Words tumbled out of her mouth.
“Also, obviously Darcy and Lizzy were going to be amazing in bed, and when it all comes down to it, that’s the most important, if not right there in the top three,” she said.
“Why would it be in the top three?” said Otto. He had somehow moved closer to her. Sam's stomach continued to flutter, but she stood her ground.
“Well, the tension was there really from the beginning. The mutual respect and caring came through later,” she said. She could feel him standing right next to her. What was she doing? She was supposed to be having a fling. You did not have conversations like this with someone you were having a fling with you had sex.
“That’s a tall order,” said Otto.
Sam looked up at him, worried he’d read her mind, and realizing he was referring to her thoughts on Lizzy and Darcy.
“Well, you were smart to listen to your aunt,” said Sam.
Otto grinned and pulled Sam close. She couldn't help but pout.
“What’s wrong? You were the same way after we had this conversation the first time around,” he said. Sam perked up to the fact that Otto remembered how she'd reacted to their conversation years ago. Back then, she was probably in angst over the fact that he really just wanted to talk Lizzy and Darcy, and there was nothing more to it.
Sam rested her forehead on his chest. She let out a long sigh. The scheming was over. She obviously had never been very good at it. Otto was the last person anyone should ever pick for a fling.
“Lizzy wants the best thing for h
erself; she doesn’t settle. I love that about her. She also doesn’t like change, and I get that,” she said.
Otto kissed her. The cold wind swirled around them making his warm mouth taste sharper, and sweeter. He pulled away and left Sam yearning for more.
“I really love it when you’re honest, when the sarcasm goes away,” he said. The vulnerably in his voice made Sam’s heart hurt a little.
“I’m never sarcastic,” she said. She wanted to smack her forehead. There she went, putting her guard back in place.
Otto raised an eyebrow in response. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and began to kiss her again.
Practice, she told herself. The kissing came easy. Other things would take some practice.
* * *
Otto didn’t say much during the drive home. The radio played old country music, and Sam was left alone with her thoughts.
So maybe Otto isn’t fling material. If he had been I would’ve kissed him years ago.
The problem was he left Sam in a melted puddle in some moments, fiery in others, and also brought out the playful quirky version of herself she’d left behind a few years back. She wasn’t quite sure what was going on, but she knew it was a good thing. Good in an “it felt like her heart was leaping off a cliff, and everything was going to be okay” kind of way.
In the dark of the night, cliff jumping felt more exciting than scary. Otto was the one thing in her life she wanted to become more complicated. She leaned over toward him. She lifted her face toward his.
“Don’t take me home please,” Sam whispered in his ear.
She waited a beat for his answer. Her heart was free falling, screaming about how this had been a terrible idea.
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Otto said. His eyes stayed on the road, but his voice was filled with anticipation.
Relieved, Sam nodded and scooted closer to him. She kissed him on the cheek, and then on the neck to show her approval.
“You need to stop it, or I’ll have a hard time getting us home,” he said.
She kissed him again, this time on the corner of his mouth.
“I’ll just pull the truck over,” he said, settling.
Be My Friday Night Page 7
