Seeing Shadows (Shadows 1)

"Hi Samantha," Marcus said in greeting. She came up between Marcus and Simon, and looked at Simon as I imagined a wolf would look at a sheep.

"Who's this?" she asked breathily, leaning towards Simon.

"That's Simon, my cousin," Grant answered. "He just transferred here."

"Simon," Samantha cooed. "It's so nice to meet you. I'm Samantha."

Simon stood and smiled, nodding his head. "Hey. Nice to meet you." I guess he really was a gentleman, standing up to greet her. I couldn't help but feel a little twist in my stomach to realize his chivalry wasn't reserved just for me.

Samantha grasped his outstretched hand, shaking it slowly. Simon politely extracted his hand after a moment and sat back down, glancing over at my glass. "Looks like you need a refill."

Samantha pouted as she glanced over at me. She was used to getting a lot of attention from men and Simon's lack of interest grated on her. I couldn't lie that it didn't make me extremely happy.

I covered the top of my glass with my hand as Simon picked up the pitcher. "I still have a few sips left. Besides, early night, remember?"

Simon grabbed the glass from beneath my hand before I could stop him. "Early night means a couple of drinks. Couple of drinks means two. Besides, I'm trying to impress you, remember? Maybe buying you two drinks instead of one will do the job."

I tried to suppress a smile, and then glanced up at Samantha, who was now glaring at me.

"I don't think beer is going to impress me but I'll take a second one. But that's it." I tried to sound stern but I couldn't deny the little bubble of giddiness I felt at Simon's attention.

Simon passed the glass back to me, now full of beer. Marcus turned around to look up at Samantha. "How'd you do on the developmental psych exam today?" Marcus was getting a degree to become a teacher and the profession really suited him. His gentleness and patience would make him an excellent teacher.

Samantha pulled her gaze to Marcus. "Okay, I guess. Half the questions didn't even make sense. After a while, I just started guessing."

Jenny rolled her eyes. Even though Jenny claimed that she didn't feel anything towards Marcus, I couldn't help but notice that she disliked Samantha more than Sarah and I did. I think it had a little something to do with Samantha's friendship with Marcus.

"Hey Sammy!" a guy called out from across the bar. "Get your sweet ass over here."

Samantha giggled. "Excuse me, my prince awaits." She looked down at Simon. "It was so nice meeting you, I'm sure we'll bump into each other again."

Simon smiled and nodded. "Sure. Nice meeting you."

Even though Simon was just being polite, I couldn't help frowning. It wasn't nice to meet her. Was it?

I banished the dangerous thoughts bordering on jealousy from my head. Simon was going to be a friend. Friends could be interested in whomever they wanted. I told myself the only reason I was concerned was because Simon deserved better than Samantha. I wondered if her tight clothing cut off her circulation and that was the reason she was unpleasant to be around. Although the unpleasant side of her only seemed to be reserved for the female persuasion.

"God, Marcus," Sarah groaned once Samantha was out of earshot. "Why do you even like her?"

"She's okay," Marcus said generously. "I don't think she has a lot of friends."

"Oh, she has friends, alright," Jenny said, her voice uncharacteristically dripping with sarcasm. Jenny was usually as kind as Marcus but Samantha seemed to hit a sore spot. "She has lots of friends. All male."

Grant laughed and drained his glass. "You girls are crazy. Girls make everything so complicated."

"We don't make it complicated," Sarah defended. "She makes it complicated. Ever since Jonathan started following Caitlin around-"

"Okay, okay," I interrupted, waving my hands. "Enough talk about Samantha. Who cares about Samantha."

Simon looked over at me, a frown on his face. "Who's Jonathan?"

"He was obsessed with Caitlin," Jenny breathed out dramatically, leaning forward. "I mean, everywhere we would go - there he was. I swear, he was like a stalker. Thank God he graduated last year. If not, he'd probably be here hiding behind the bar, peering at her."

I laughed awkwardly. "You'll have to excuse Jenny. She has a vivid imag

ination." I glared at Jenny and kicked her under the table.

"Ow," Grant exclaimed, bending down to rub his shin. "That hurt."