Wrong Time (19 page)

Shortly after everything was settled,
everyone broke off and left the house.
 

* * * * *

That night, when Sam and Nathan’s
flight landed, they went straight to their friends’ house to discuss what had
happened. Jess filled Nathan and Sam in on their meeting with Campbell.

“Great. We just barely got out of
France, and now we’re going back. I don’t think that I can take another fourteen
hour flight,” Nathan said.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be there to keep you
company this time,” Michael said proudly.

Nathan couldn’t help but feel a little
scared. Sam had surprisingly turned out to be quite the handful in France. How
much worse was Michael going to be?

“That’s great,”
Nathan
said to try to appear excited.

Even if he had his doubts about Michael
coming with them, he was still glad that his friend was apparently much better.

“So did anything else interesting
happen while we were gone?” Sam asked everyone.

“Well, there was an incident involving
a feature film,” Michael said.

“Yeah, that film was pretty good, if I
do say so myself,” Lee said with a smile.

“Hey, now don’t get too cocky. It was a
nice film, but there was still room for improvement,” Trish said.

“Well, maybe with a little feedback the
sequel will improve, but honestly, I don’t know how. The leading man was
amazing,” Lee said with a wide grin.

Nathan and Sam were in an absolutely
confused state by now. Sam tapped Nathan on the shoulder and put her lips next
to his ear.

“What are they talking about? Is this one
of those things that is confusing to me but to no one else?” Sam asked.

“No, this is definitely strange. I
honestly have no idea what’s happening.”

“So did you guys see any good movies in
Paris?” Michael asked while winking at Nathan.

“No, but we went to the Eiffel Tower,”
Nathan answered.

“Oh, and how did that go?” Michael
asked.

“It was so much bigger than I thought
it would be. It took forever to be done with it, and by the time that we were
done, we were both out of breath,” Sam answered.

The room burst into laughter.

“Wait a minute. What exactly is going
on here?” Nathan asked.

“Maybe we’ll let you in on it someday,
but for now, this is just too much fun to let you in on,” Lee said while
patting Nathan on the back.

 
Nathan turned and looked at Sam and
wondered if this was how she felt all the time. She walked up to him and
grabbed his hand.

“Well, at least if we have to be
clueless, we can be clueless together for once,” Sam said.

Chapter 18

The next morning, Sam and Nathan woke
to the sound of the phone ringing.

“Hello,” Sam said sleepily.

“Well, hello there. I heard that you
had quite the time in Paris,” Jason said with a certain chipperness in his
voice.

“Ugh, I don’t want to even think about
that. Why are you calling so early?”

“First of all, I’m just calling to tell
you that Campbell has passed everything along to the French government, and
barring any unforeseen problems, you two will be heading back to France in the
next few days. Second of all, it’s not early. It’s 11:30.”

“You’re lying,” Sam said and then
looked at the clock.

 
It really was 11:30.

“No, I’m not. I guess that long flight
really kicked your butts.”
 

“I guess it did. Well, let me wake
Nathan up and catch up with you later on,”
Sam
said,
and the two said goodbye.

“Nathan, wake up. We overslept,” Sam
said while gently shaking him.

“I’ll have a hamburger, but I don’t
want anything but ketchup on it. I’ll have some fries with that, too,” Nathan
said while still sleeping.

Sam could only laugh at his sleep
talking. Well, if he needs to sleep for a few more minutes, then so be it, Sam
thought as she made her way to the bathroom to take her morning shower. After
she was finished and she was dressed, she walked back out to the bedroom where
Nathan was just starting to stir.

“Well, good morning,” Sam said.

“Good morning. So what’s on the agenda
for today?” Nathan asked very sleepily.

Sam told him about their plan to go
back to France in the next few days.

“So today we pretty much have nothing
to do. Do you have any ideas of how we can spend the day?” Sam asked him.

Nathan thought for a moment, but no
matter how much he tried, he couldn’t come up with a thing.

“I don’t know. You have a little more
experience in this area. What is there to do here?”

“I have never explored the city, but
there’s a mall a short distance from here. Maybe we could get you some clothes
that don’t have ducks on them,” Sam said and then laughed.

“That would be incredible!” Nathan said
in relief.

 
Finally, he didn’t have to walk around
looking like an idiot.

“Also, I didn’t really want to make a
big deal out of it, but my birthday is tomorrow, so not that you have to, but
it would be nice if you thought to get me a little something,” Sam said.

“I’m sorry. I’ve never actually asked
when you were born. I should’ve known before now.”

“That’s all right. I never told you.
I’ll be twenty-five tomorrow.”

“My, my, you are going to be
twenty-five. I had no idea that I was jumping into bed every night with such an
old lady.”

“Shut up! You’re twenty-five,” Sam
said.

“Yes, but I don’t look a day over
twenty.”

 
“And I do?” Sam asked in offense.

Nathan didn’t know what to say to that,
and Sam was looking at him expectantly.

“Well, you see . . . what I meant to
say was,” Nathan said as he inched his way to the bathroom.

In a quick flash, he ran into the
bathroom and shut the door, locking it behind him.

“You can’t stay in there forever, you know,”
Sam said from outside the door.

I might just have to, Nathan thought as
he tuned the shower on. Once he had showered and was dressed, he walked out of
the bathroom. There, sitting on the bed waiting for him, was Sam.

“So I’m still waiting for the answer to
that question,” Sam said while crossing her arms.

Okay. You’re really going to have to
lay on the charm here, Nathan thought to himself. He reached down and pulled
her up to him and wrapped his arms around her.

“I think that you’re the most gorgeous
woman I have ever met, and of course you don’t look old. I was only joking, but
you should know that even if one day all of your outward beauty fades, I will
still love you in a way that no one else could. You have my heart,” Nathan
said.

Sam felt touched by his words, but she
wasn’t ready to let him off the hook just yet.

“Well, all I can say is that my
birthday present better be amazing, or this old lady is going to be very angry,”
Sam said while showing a hint of a smile.

“All right, but maybe we could get the
others to meet us there?”

“Why?”

 
“Well, I thought that I could get Michael
and Lee’s opinion on what I had in mind to get you, and if I’m busy picking out
your birthday gift, then you won’t be left alone to pick out some clothes for
me.”

 
“And why is that such a bad thing?”

 
Nathan wanted to shout from the rooftops,
“It’s bad because the last time you bought me clothing, I ended up looking like
an Elvis impersonator with a duck fetish,” but he contained himself.

“It’s not. I just thought that you
might like to have some company, too,” Nathan explained.

“All right.”

 
Nathan picked up the phone and called
Michael, and then he and Sam started out the door.

Once they arrived and met up with
everyone, the groups split up. The guys went one way, and the girls went the
other. They both agreed to meet back in the restaurant in the mall after they
were through.

“So where are we headed?” Michael asked
Nathan.

“I have no idea. What do you buy a spy
girl, exactly?”

Neither of his friends had an answer to
that question. They walked aimlessly throughout the stores, but they couldn’t
seem to find anything that matched her personality. Sam didn’t seem like the
type of woman who would want clothes or anything like that, but at the same
time, he didn’t know if she would want a grand gesture like jewelry. Besides,
she didn’t even wear any jewelry, other than her mother’s locket.

“Well, we’ve officially looked
everywhere except the jewelry store. We might as well try there,” Lee said.

“All right,” Nathan said while sounding
discouraged.

They looked through a collection of
bracelets, necklaces, and rings, but none of it really felt like Sam. Finally,
when he had almost given up, one thing caught his eye.

“Now that’s interesting,” Nathan said.

“You know that’s an engagement ring,
right?” Michael asked.

“I know, but it doesn’t have to be used
as an engagement ring, does it? I mean, I don’t want to freak her out, and I’m
definitely nowhere near ready for marriage, but this just feels like it’s it.”

“Man, have you looked at the price tag
on that ring?” Lee asked.

 
It was true that the ring was expensive,
but Nathan had enough money to buy it. Sure, he would pretty much be wiped out
after he bought it, but Sam did say that he better get her an amazing birthday
present, and this, in his mind, was definitely it.

“I don’t think that this is a good
idea. It sends the wrong message. No matter how you mean it, an engagement ring
is going to come off as odd,” Lee said.

“I’m getting it,” Nathan said.

The truth was that Nathan could care
less about the ring, but the inscription that was inside of it showed how he
felt about Sam perfectly. After he had paid for the ring and they left, the
three of them headed to a bakery to get Sam a cake. Then they went back to Lee
and Michael’s car to hide the cake and went to the restaurant.

Once they were inside the restaurant and
had located the girls, they all sat down and started to order. When the
waitress got around to getting Nathan’s order, Sam cut him off before he could
even answer the woman.

“He’ll have a hamburger with nothing
but ketchup on it and French fries,” Sam said.

After the waitress left, Nathan looked
at Sam in amazement.

“Okay. How did you know what I was
going to order?” Nathan asked.

“Oh, I know a lot of things that you
don’t know,” Sam said in a slightly disturbing way.

“Seriously, how did you know that?”

“Let’s just say that you talk in your
sleep. You’ve already told me plenty of things.”
 

“Really? Like what?”

“Like that embarrassing period in your
life when you were eight.”

 
“You know about the mean girl who used to
beat me up?” Nathan asked in shock.

“No, I didn’t, but now everyone does.
Just consider this payback for the plane,” Sam said while laughing.

Nathan looked over to his friends, and
both Michael and Lee were looking at him in a shameful way.

“What? That girl was gigantic, and I
held my own,” Nathan said in an ill attempt to defend himself.

Everyone at the table burst into
laughter.

 
“All right, if we’re going to play at
this game, I may just have to reveal a few secrets about you two,” Nathan said.

Michael and Lee immediately got quiet.

“Let’s start with Lee. He couldn’t
control his bladder at night until he was thirteen. Now let’s move onto
Michael. Do you remember Marty?” Nathan asked him.

“I have no idea what you’re talking
about,” Michael said while looking away.

“There was this guy named Marty, and
Michael and he became really close friends. They were such good friends that
they would always talk to each other about the most personal things. They did
everything together. They even slept over at each other’s houses as grown men.
I tried to tell Michael that Marty was different than him, but you know Michael,
he didn’t really get what was going on. Eventually, Marty and Michael became a
couple, and Michael didn’t even know it.”

“That is a lie!” Michael exclaimed.

“Dude, it is not. He changed his
relationship status online and everything.”

“Yeah, but anyone can do that. It’s not
like I changed my status or anything. After that, I distanced myself from the
guy, anyway.”

“That’s true, but that didn’t stop him
from sending you chocolate on Valentine’s Day for the two years following that,”
Nathan said and then laughed.

“Hey, the chocolates were good,”
Michael
said quietly.

“All right, if you want to spill the
beans on that story, how about I tell Sam about the time when . . .” Michael
said before Jess interrupted him.

“Anyway, let’s get back on track here.
This is what we got for you,” Jess said while handing Nathan a bag full of
clothing.

Meanwhile, Trish turned to Lee.

“I don’t need to put a pad down in my
bed or anything for you, do I?” Trish asked while laughing.

Nathan was amazed at what he found in
the bag. The clothes were normal.

“Thank you,” Nathan said to the girls.

The six friends ate and spent their
time laughing and joking for the rest of the meal.

When they were leaving, Sam turned to
Nathan.

“I don’t know if we’ll have this kind
of time off tomorrow. Why don’t we just celebrate my birthday today?” Sam
asked.

“Okay. We’ll meet everyone back at
their house and . . .” Nathan said before Sam interrupted him.

“I was kind of hoping to spend the rest
of the day with just you,” Sam said in a hushed tone.

“All right, but do me a favor, and get
in the car and look straight ahead. I have to put something in the back seat if
this is going to just be a me and you thing.”

Sam agreed to look straight forward,
and Nathan went and retrieved the cake from Michael’s car. Soon they were off,
and once they were home, Nathan asked Sam to go back in the bedroom for a few
minutes. When he finally told her to come out, she saw the most beautiful cake she
had ever seen. In fact, it was the only birthday cake that she could ever
remember being for her. The two spent time talking and eating cake before Sam
asked a question.

“So what did you get me?” Sam asked.

“Well, I hope that you’ll like this,
and just know that it’s a reflection of how I feel about you. You are my
inspiration, and you’re exactly what this says you are,” Nathan said and then
took the ring from his pocket.

As he gave it to her, he pointed to the
inscription. It read, “My light.” Nathan couldn’t tell if she loved it or if
she was in shock.

“So what do you think?” Nathan asked.

“It’s amazing, but Nathan, this is an
engagement ring!”
 

“Yeah, I thought that might be
confusing, but I just had to get it for you. It’s how I feel about you, but
don’t worry. I’m not popping the question just yet.”

The color started to return to Sam’s
face, and she hugged Nathan tightly.