Title: Lies
Summary: Sam and Jessica had a relationship built on lies, lies that slowly start to unravel with one trip to the Moore family home. Slightly AU. Stanford-Era
Rating: T
Author's Note: I haven't written in a long time, but that's no excuse. Leave reviews. Advice is always loved and so are suggestions. The first chapter is short, but I think it will get a bit longer later.
Chapter 1
"Wait, wait, wait," I say, grabbing onto Sam's arm with a gentle but firm grasp before he turned away from me. When he reluctantly turns back, I feel a smile creeping on the corners of my lips that I can't stop from appearing. "You've never been on a plane before? Ever?" I'm not going to lie: it's a bit amusing. I think for a moment while he hides his embarrassment, and my eyebrows turn into a furrow of confusion. "Haven't you lived in, like, a million places? Didn't you fly at least once?"
"No. We always drove," he says, rubbing the back of his neck and turning his gaze at the ground of the airport.
"Well, why didn't you tell me before I booked the flight?" I ask with a laugh. "Mom and Dad would've been fine with paying for a Rent-A-Car. Hell, Tommy would've driven down here and picked us up himself if we asked."
A crooked, nervous smile tugs at Sam's mouth, but it's so half-hearted that he doesn't even bother trying to convince me. People bustle quickly around us. I can see our terminal filling up with people, families with children screaming with laughter, businessmen with cell phone glued to their ears, even a few military men leaning their heads back and getting some shut eye before they have to board the flight. And not a single one of them looks anxious. None except for my six and a half foot tall boyfriend.
"I didn't want to bother them. They're already making room for me for the whole break…" Sam says, putting his hands in his pockets and looking away. He already knows what I'm going to say, but I know it won't matter. He's too nice to ever do something that would put someone out. Not that he puts my family out. Which is what I always tell him.
"Sam, if they didn't want you to come this weekend, they wouldn't have begged me for the past three years to bring you along," I tell him with a roll of my eyes. "We can still cancel the flight and hitch a ride on a Greyhound or something." Mom used to be a travel agent before she retired. I'm sure she could get us some sort of discount on bus tickets.
"No, no, it's fine, really," he says with a shake of his head. He takes a deep breath and looks me right in the eyes. "I'm fine. I just… I didn't think I'd be so nervous."
"Most people are the first time they fly," a voice behind Sam offers. He turns around while I crane my neck to see around his gargantuan body. When I see past his gray Stanford sweatshirt, I see a petite chick with a brunette bob and enough make-up to cake a clown. And enough clothes to just barely make her outfit legal. "Flying to Sacramento?" she asks, flashing a perfectly white smile. My insides churn with jealousy.
It's always been a problem of mine, my jealousy. I don't like other women hitting on my boyfriend. No one does. But for me, it seems to happen a hell of a lot. I'll admit, if Sam hadn't been so adorable when he asked me to point him in the direction of a pay phone the day that we met, I probably wouldn't have a second thought about him. That and the fact that he didn't hit on me. That was a nice change from the horny boys I had met so far on campus. But the fact that he didn't seem interested in other girls never really stopped the other girls from making passes, even if I was standing right next to him. Like right now with this half-naked woman who seems to have no sense of a personal bubble.
"Yeah," Sam says, inching closer to me while the chick steps further into his personal space. "We're going to Jess's family's place for the holidays."
"Are you?" the girl asks, obviously not interested, while she bats her long eyelashes at Sam.
"Yeah, and we're going to tell them about our engagement. We're pretty excited," Sam says nonchalantly, putting an arm around my shoulder and giving me a squeeze. "I think that's probably what I'm most nervous about. But thanks for the advice."
The woman stops, scoffs, and turns on her heel to stride off to the sleeping military men. I grin at my boyfriend like the Cheshire Cat when she's gone. Even though the mention of an engagement makes my stomach do happy back flips, I ignore that and marvel at him. "Who knew you were such a good liar?" I ask, giving him a playful smack on his upper arm. "What else have you been hiding from me?" I joke.
"I'm gay," he deadpans instantly.
I laugh. "No wonder you're so awkward when we have sex."
It's his turn to laugh. He hitches his backpack onto his shoulder and shakes his head. "Touché," he says lightly. He glances up at the clock board behind my head. I turn around and look. We have thirty minutes before we board. I look back to his face. He's starting to look a bit pale, and I'm starting to feel nervous myself. Sam's never been afraid of anything before. Ever.
"Why don't we go get you some coffee and walk around for a few minutes?" I ask, taking his hand. "I promise you, Sam, flying is not that scary. And I'll hold your hand the whole time, all right?" I tell him with a grin. "I've never lied to you before. Why would I start now?"
"Because you want to see the look of pure horror on my face when the plane starts taking off."
"Yeah, you know, it's always been a dream of mine to have a crowded plane of people see my boyfriend wet himself," I say with a roll of my eyes. "Come on, Sasquatch. Let's find you a Starbucks."
LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES
As always, my boyfriend did not disappoint. He performed remarkably well on the plane. I had no doubt that he would. If he could watch an entire Stephen King movie without so much as blinking, I figured he could get on an airplane and not have an anxiety attack. Actually, when I got nervous when we hit some turbulence, he had the nerve to lean over and rub my leg and say, "Nothing to worry about. It's just turbulence." Then he flashed that stupid adorable grin of his at me.
I'm never going to tell him how rendering that smile is, even though I'm pretty sure he already knows.
"So the whole family is going to be there?" Sam asks as he buckles his seat belt to ready for descent.
I nod. "All my immediate family, and maybe my grandma. It just depends on whether or not she's playing bridge today," I tell him. Grandma Marie loved her bridge games. She and Bertie and Rose could play a game of bridge for a whole month if they didn't need to get themselves to the hospital for check ups once a week.
"Okay, so Tom is the oldest, right?" Sam asks nervously. I stop my eyes from rolling. I know that he knows that. We've been over this a lot. Actually, we talk about my family all the time. He probably knows more about my dad than he knows about his own dad. "Then you, then Sierra," he says, looking hopefully at me.
"Yes, Sam, but you're also forgetting Megan," I say.
"Megan? Who's Megan?" I resist the urge to laugh while I see him scouring his own brain for a name that I've never brought up before.
"My cousin who kills you in your sleep if you get my sibling's names wrong," I say. He doesn't look amused. "Oh, come on, Sam, lighten up," I tell him with a smile. "You're going to be just fine. You're practically family already. Grandma thinks you're cute."
"Oh, good. I attract old women."
"You think I'm old?"
"That's not what I meant!"
"Relax," I say with a laugh. "Seriously, Sammy, if the plane doesn't kill you, you're gonna give yourself a heart attack. Everyone," I say, leaning over and giving him a peck on the cheek, "is going to love you."
LIES LIES LIES LIES LIES
As promised, the whole family is waiting out in the terminal for us. I rush up and jump into my daddy's arms while Sam hangs back, smiling gently and waiting to introduce himself. "Jessie!" Daddy cries, spinning me in a tight circle while I squeal like a five-year-old little girl. "Oh, it's so good to see you, baby."
"It's good to see you too, Daddy," I mumble, burying my face into the crook of his neck and breathing in his scent of pine tree and a freshly burning fire. He's smelled like that for as long as I can remember. It smells like home. I hug Momma who spends a good minute or so sniffing and saying how beautiful I look.
"Hey, kiddo," Tommy says from somewhere beside Dad. I let go of Momma and take one good look at his cocky grin before my own smile breaks out, and I tackle him in a similar way as I did Dad.
"Tommy, look at you!" I squeal, taking a step back and giving him a once over. "No more goatee?" I ask with a laugh.
He laughs back. That goatee had been terrible, and he probably knew it. He just liked driving Momma up the wall. "No more goatee. I thought I'd go for a more… sophisticated look."
I laugh and give him another hug. "I missed you too, Tommy." As I pull away, I become acutely aware of my silent boyfriend. "Oh, gosh, guys, this is Sam," I say, grabbing Sam's hand and pulling him up to my family. "Sam Winchester. Be nice." I give a pointed look at my big brother. "He braved his first plane ride to come meet you all."
"First time on a plane, huh?" Sierra asks, eyeing my boyfriend. She looks so much older than the last time I saw her, which was just over Thanksgiving break. She has a new pink streak in her blonde hair and a wild look in her blue eyes. I already know she approves. She's my baby sister. I've made a point to know everything about her, and the look on her face is the exact same one she gets when she sees a guy she thinks was smoking. "Well, we feel special now, don't we? Welcome to the family, Sam," she said, jumping out and hugging Sam without warning.
Being five feet tall against Sam's extra foot and a half of height, Sierra is swallowed in Sam's shocked embrace, which just makes my family laugh. He has obviously been caught off guard, but in my defense, I warned him before we went on the trip: my family likes hugging.
"Thanks a lot," Sam said with a grin. "It's great to meet you all. I've heard a lot about you."
"And we've heard a lot about you too," Momma says, flashing Sam her soft smile. "Jessica's told us so much about you… Gosh, I feel like I could write a book about you."
My cheeks go red, but to my delight, Sam just chuckles. "You could try, but I doubt you could make a best seller out of it."
To be honest, I tell my mom everything, but when it comes to Sam, I only tell her the details. The ones that matter anyway. That he holds my hand when we walk to class and that he buys me chocolate and watches old chick flicks with me when I was on my period. That he knew every word to the "To Kill a Mockingbird" movie and could do a mean Mickey Mouse impersonation. That he knows how to make me feel better, even when I'm having the worst day of my life, and that I am totally and irrevocably in love with him.
It's taken three years, and the stuff I know about Sam is not only minimal and extremely depressing. Sure, I want to know all about him that I can, but it's hard when it comes to Sam's past. I hate to think that anything in the world had ever been bad for Sam, but the fact of the matter is, I haven't heard much from his childhood that is good. Which is something that I've decided to keep from my family, at least for now. I figure that if Sam wants them to know, he'd tell them. It would mean a lot to me if he tried to get close to them like that, but I can't expect that of him. That wouldn't be fair.
I can see Tom opening his mouth, ready to shoot out something nasty, so I interrupt. "Tommy, where's Melissa and Valerie?" I ask about his wife and daughter. Melissa has been part of the family since she and Tommy where eighteen. Most people said they would never work out, but they had never met a guy like my brother. He may be a grade A douche sometimes, but he's also one of the sweetest guys I know. Not only are Tommy and Melissa still together eight years later, but they have a five year old daughter who is the most adorable child in the world.
"They're back home watching Cooper and Vixen," Tommy says of our two Labradors, wrenching his gaze away from Sam to look at me. "And they're getting the house ready. Apparently Val has a surprise waiting for everyone."
Dad grabs my carry-on, and Mom gives Sam and me a smile. "Then we should probably get going, huh? We've got an hour car ride ahead of us, and we don't want to exhaust you before you even get dinner." I link my fingers with Sam's, and we all start down the terminal together. Before we even make it a whole ten steps, Sierra grabs Sam's arm and tugs him out of my grip.
"So, Sam," she asks, oblivious to my boyfriend's look of surprise over his shoulder. I laugh and urge him forward. "D'you have any brothers?"
"Sierra!" Momma gasps.
"Just kidding!" Sierra calls. I can hear the eye roll in her voice.
Author's Note: So... what did you think? Review, criticize, but don't flame please. Seriously, that's unnecessary. And I apologize for any grammar errors there were in that chapter. No one's perfect, y'know? :D