Fiction, Part I, Section IV...

Monday morning loomed bright and sunny. Sam rolled over and felt a surge of energy. She'd finished the two articles she'd needed to turn in and emailed them to her editor last night. Then she'd cooked a nice dinner for herself and Ty, and they'd spent the evening drinking a bottle of Merlot and going over everything he could remember about Johnny, Lynn, the band and the events of the past few weeks. At some point they'd wound up in bed, the sex simultaneously energetic and gentle. Ty had always been a bit reserved in the bedroom with her, and she'd chalked it up to the fact that he wasn't in love with her, but last night had been almost ground-breaking for him. This morning, she was still high from the after-glow.

She glanced over at him, quietly snoring, his face mostly buried under her pillow and his hair, and she smiled. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and squinted at the clock. 10:35. Not bad, considering they'd been up until after 3 a.m. She made a pot of coffee, paid a few bills that were sitting on the counter, and checked her email.

She'd eaten a bagel, changed into her gym clothes and was brushing her teeth when he padded up behind her and slid his arms around her waist.

"Good morning," he whispered against her hair.

"Hmph," she said through the toothpaste in her mouth. She spit it out and then leaned up for a kiss. "There's coffee in the kitchen, bagels in the microwave and my neighbor's newspaper on the table. I'm going to the gym and the grocery store, and I should be back in about two hours. Think you can stay out of trouble that long?"

He gave her a grin. "Sure. But what can I do around here while you're gone?"

Her eyes widened slightly and then she frowned. "Okay, who are you and what did you do with Ty? The guy I know is only good for one round in the bedroom and is usually gone before I wake up. Last night was way more than one round, and even if he did stay the night, he never, ever offered to help around the apartment. What's wrong with this picture?"

He rolled his eyes. "You really know how to ruin the moment for a guy who's trying to change," he muttered.

"I'm sorry." She leaned over and playfully kissed his cheek. "You can make the bed and clean up the coffee pot and stuff when you're done."

"Okay." He moved towards the toilet and she decided they weren't ready for that level of intimacy yet, so she yelled good bye and headed out. The minute she got in her car, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed Liz's number as she turned onto Burbank Boulevard.

"Girl, where have you been?!" Liz demanded when she answered.

"I've had a house guest," Sam laughed.

"And you've been gettin' it on," Liz sighed dramatically. "When are you going to learn that casual sex with pretty musicians is only going to get your heart broken?"

"Oh, I know it, but it's so much fun while it's happening!" Sam chuckled. "Besides, Ty's being really different. I mean, he offered to clean up while I was out today. Does that sounds like the insensitive musician I occasionally get naked with?!"

"No..." Liz was truly startled. "Wow. He must be really freaked by whatever's going on with that band of his."

"Yeah." Sam sobered. "Liz, Johnny came to my apartment lookiong for him--and after I told him I was busy working on a story and hadn't seen Ty, he stood outside my door listening for a while. I saw him through the peephole!"

"He stood outside?" Liz frowned. "Girlfriend, you'd better be careful what you get yourself into. Ty's a decent guy, but you don't know what those buddies of his are capable of."

"I know. That's why I'm letting him stay for a while." Sam turned onto Ventura Boulevard and headed towards Universal City. "Anyway, I'm going to the gym--you wanna meet me?"

"I've got a casting," Liz said. "Some new TV show. I think they're looking for a five-foot white girl, but my agent said a six-foot black girl might surprise them so much they hire me!"

They both laughed before hanging up. Sam pulled into the parking lot of the gym and grabbed her towel and water bottle. She felt better after a night of good sex and some shared laughter with Liz; maybe things weren't as serious as Ty made them out to be.

After 45 minutes on the treadmill and 30 minutes doing strength training, she got a smoothie at the juice bar and then headed to the grocery store. Ty had spoken to his mother yesterday and she was sending him $200 to give Sam for groceries, so Sam had mentally planned out some healthy but inexpensive meals. Ty was still too skinny for his own good, and though his mother didn't know what was going on, Ty had told her that his rent money had been stolen so he had no money for food and that Sam would force him to eat better. Sam wasn't sure if eating well included beer and wine, but she put it in her cart anyway. After she picked up some staples like skim milk, coffee, peanut butter and pasta, she threw in a loaf of French bread, sharp Wisconsin cheddar cheese, grapes and a pint of Haagen Dazs ice cream.

She'd just put everything on the check-out counter when a deep voice breathed in her ear. "Hello, Sam."

She jumped, her hand on her chest as she spun around. Her eyes widened and she stared at Johnny in shock. "You scared the shit out of me!" she sputtered, glaring at him.

"Sorry." He gave her a small smile and shrugged. "I guess you were so lost in thought you didn't hear me calling you."

She frowned. "No, I didn't."

"Cooking tonight?" he asked lightly, his eyes taking in the items laid out before them.

"I don't know," she shrugged. "But if not tonight, certainly a few nights this week."

"Do you have a boyfriend?" he asked, leaning forward.

She took an involuntary step back. "No one serious. I'm dating, though. Why?"

"You're real pretty," he said softly, reaching out to brush back a curl that had escaped from her ponytail during her workout. "I always wondered about you and Ty."

"Ty and I are good friends," she said, turning towards the cashier. "But it's not really any of your business, is it?"

"Well, only if he's your boyfriend." His eyes glimmered dangerously. "But if he's not, I was thinking you might want to go out sometime."

She raised an eyebrow and cocked her head. "Ty and I are friends, but we date on and off, so I don't think that would be a good idea. Two guys in one band could cause problems, you know?"

"I think you'd be worth it," he said, reaching for her again.

She turned away, smiling at the cashier. "How much?" she asked, ignoring Johnny.

"It's 49.66," the teenage cashier said mildly.

Sam put fifty dollars on the counter and waited for her change. She willed her hands not to shake even though there was no doubt that they were. It took all of her willpower not to leave her groceries and take off full speed for her car, but she managed to put them back into her cart and start making her way out.

"Need help?" Johnny followed her.

"Johnny, what's going on?" Sam's temper overruled her fear and she spun around, one hand on her hip. "You've never said more than ten words to me, in two years, and suddenly you're showing up at my place without an invitation and then stalking me at the grocery store. Tell me what you want, because I don't buy this 'I-think-you're-pretty' crap. I know you dated Ty's old girlfriend Lynn when they broke up in high school, so don't play innocent with me."

"Whoa, there, little lady!" Johnny held his hands up in mock surrender. "Don't get your panties in a bunch. Maybe I went about this all wrong, but I do think you're pretty and I do want to take you out. I've always wanted to, but I thought you and Ty were together. Then when he got all pissy about the rent money he lost and missed rehearsal, I thought maybe he'd be with you. When he wasn't, it occurred to me that maybe you guys either weren't together anymore or were never together, so maybe this was my chance. I didn't mean to scare you and I'm not stalking you." He gave her a conciliatory smile. "Really. I just realized how hot I thought you were when I saw you yesterday, even without make-up and all." His voice trailed off and he looked to her for a comment.

She shook her head. "Johnny, I've seen you in clubs all over town with two, sometimes three girls at a time. I don't play that way, and really, Ty and I aren't serious, but we are together sometimes. I don't think I need you complicating my life. Especially now that you guys have an album coming out. If you have some kind of hit, you're going to have girls coming out of the woodwork, and that's not where I'm at in life."

Their eyes locked for a long moment and she could swear she saw the wheels turning inside his head. Whatever he was after, it wasn't a relationship with her, and he knew that she knew it.

"You're too smart for your own good," he said quietly. Then he turned and walked away. "But you haven't seen the last of me, Pretty Samantha," he called over his shoulder.

Sam took the long way home, driving north on Ventura, east on Van Nuys and then south on Lankershim. When she was relatively sure she didn't see any sign of Johnny or his red pick-up truck, she stopped in the parking lot of the library she frequented and called Liz's cell phone. She filled her in on what had happened and asked her to come over after her casting. Then she headed home.

Ty was sitting on the couch playing guitar when she came in, and she paused to smile at him, enjoying the picture he made with his handsome face half-covered by his hair, his long fingers caressing his acoustic guitar, and his voice strong but soft in the dimly lit apartment. The spell was broken as he looked up and put down the guitar.

"Let me help," he said moving towards her.

"Johnny was following me today," she said quickly. "Stay here. I'll be back with the rest of the groceries. You can start putting them away."

He was pacing when she returned. "He followed you?!" he demanded. "Jesus Christ, Sam! I shouldn't have gotten you involved! You have no idea how--"

"Stop!" She put a hand on his chest. "I'm fine. See? I'm all here, safe and sound. I told him that even though you and I weren't serious, we were still involved enough for me to not be comfortable dating him."

"He asked you out?!" Ty gaped at her.

"Yeah, but he's not my type." She moved against him purposefully. "You're my type."

"Sam, we need to talk--"

"Nope." She kissed him, digging her fingers in his hair and pulling him close to her. "I felt violated just talking to him--he made me feel dirty. Now I need you to make that go away. Please."

His answer was to pull her towards the bedroom.