Samantha chewed her food slowly, listening to the conversation around her and pondering developments in her own way. When they entered the house it seemed like everything was suddenly flipped upside down and topsy-turvy. Caleb stopped being incredibly rude to her (he probably felt bad after making her dress up like a whore). Suddenly he was polite and quiet. He laughed with her and joked with her, and even made a point of making more conversation with her than was required.

However, the look in his eyes was saying he wasn't enjoying his sudden decency to her in the slightest.

Weird.

Her pale green eyes glanced over at Edward as he silently picked at his food. There was the other odd thing about this dinner. From what little time she'd known him, Ed had always been rather talkative and couldn't resist a good intelligent conversation. But he hadn't said a thing all evening and wouldn't even look at her. Granted she was still holding a grudge against him at the moment but dammit, she went through all this crap with Edal, dressed up and even put on makeup for God's sakes. The least the asshole could do was look at her.

Allowing her gaze to drift, she watched Roy flirt shamelessly with Riza. Poor woman. Really it was a shame that he didn't pause to appreciate her a little more, they'd make a really cute couple-

"-right Sam?"

She blinked and looked at Edal, who was smiling ever-so-cheerfully. Dear God, it was so weird.

"Huh?"

"I said, while we're here we should visit your grandparents."

"Oh! Yeah, that'd probably be a good idea. They haven't seen you guys in a while—hey Dalec, since you guys left Central, who's watching the ki-"

"The kittens are fine, we left them with my brother to look after." Dalec answered quickly.

"What? When did you get kittens? The only cat you guys ever had was that big fat tomcat you picked up on your ho-"

"Who wants more mashed potatoes?" Dalec asked with a smile. "We made plenty!"

Sam gave him a confused look and glanced around the table. The only one who seemed to share her expression was Ed; and that made absolutely no sense. Because surely everyone at the table noticed how he cut her off, so why were she and Ed the only ones confused by it? What the hell was going on?

"So, Edward," Roy began, toying with his drink, "I understand you and Samantha had quite the argument the other day."

Edward twitched visibly. "Your point being?"

"It must be awkward sitting here for you two."

"Mustang, shut up."

"But you two are really ruining the mood of the table. Why don't you just kiss and make up?"

Edward slammed his utensils down, stood up with a curt "Excuse me," and exited the room. Immediately all eyes turned to Samantha. She tried to keep eating, but the silence and stares was too much to take.

"Gee, he seems really upset, I guess I'll go talk to him," She said flatly before getting up and leaving the room. She caught a glimpse of him going outside and strode after him. "Hey fathead, come back here."

Ed whirled around with an angry snarl plastered to his face. "What?"

"Apparently we need to talk."

"I don't want to talk."

"I don't either, but I can't go back in there without at least trying or I think someone will shank me in the eye." He snorted.

"It's what you'd deserve."

"Excuse me?"

"You are being completely unreasonable about this whole damn thing!" He shouted, face red. "So I won't say I like you, so what?"

"For starters, I'm not some tramp who will just kiss any guy, I'd like to know if you like me or not first, okay?"

"You still have no goddamn right to be mad at me-"

"Not only will you refuse to admit you like me, Edward, but you punched one of my best friends in the face, not two damn seconds after he walked in the the door! On top of that, you've completely ignored me for two days."
"You threw me out of your house!"

"You punched Dalec in the face!"

"He wouldn't answer my goddamn question!"

"You won't answer mine!"

"How can you expect me to be honest with you when you aren't honest with me? When were you going to tell me about Caleb?"

Sam was floored. "What? What about Caleb?"

"You let him call you 'babe', he's been making passes at you all goddamn night, and you got dressed up like this for him!"

"I have no obligations to tell you about anyone, in my life—and Caleb's gayer than a rainbow!"

"The hell you d—he's what?"

"Read my lips you fucking idiot. Caleb. Is. Gay. He and Dalec have been married for years. They have three adopted children together." The look on Edward's face was priceless. She thought his eyes were going to bug out of his head, and for a moment she was so pissed she hoped they would. "I didn't dress up like this for anyone, Edward! If you knew me at all you'd know I hate this skirty girly shit! He made me dress like this because his inner stylist couldn't let me out of the house in my street clothes."

"Then why the hell didn't you tell me that?"

"Because I wasn't aware you were my nanny!"

You know what?" He seethed. "If I'd known you were going to be this much trouble to deal with, I would've never even spoken to you in that damn bookstore."

"Well. The feeling's mutual." She turned and began to walk away. "When Dalec and Caleb end their visit, I'm going back to Central with them!"

"Fine then, I don't need you!"

"Good because I'm leaving!"

"Good!"

"You're such a douche—I hate you!"

"I hate you too! And you know what? I never liked you in the first place!"

Sam's feet began to move faster, and her eyes stung with tears. The latter surprised her. "I didn't like you either!" She turned and faced him, and wished she hadn't. The look of anger on his face made her eyes threaten to actually leak and her throat to tighten uncomfortably. "I never liked you!" She turned away again and stormed off.

Edward was breathing heavy. Good, she was leaving. Too much goddamn trouble in the first place, with her crazy disappearances, talking in riddles, stupid obsession with books. He was better off without her; everyone in Risembool was.

...But for some reason, he hurt deep inside.

Colleen stared out the window. "Fuck."

URRHURR UPDATES TAKE LONG TIME. Had some family medical issues, blahblahblah I suck I know. But DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN... What's going to happen here? IDK. :D