Hope

3. Hope

By the time Kate had finished explaining the whole story to Sam, she realized that they were now parked by a cliff. When she looked expectantly over at Sam all the girl did was hop out of the car and motion for Kate to follow. Of course, Kate did, climbing out of the car before going to sit next to Sam who had already made herself comfortable on the rock edge.

It was just about to get dark and there was a beautiful sunset gracing the horizon. Both girls spent a minute or two just looking out into the distance, contemplating what to say. They sat close to each other, hands almost touching, but there was still space between them. As if there was this barrier just barely separating them. It was Sam who eventually broke the silence.

"I liked you, did you know that?" The confession hung in the air for a moment, breaking the bubble of silence they had. "I thought I seemed obvious, I was so captivated by you as a whole. You are indescribable Kate, I cannot put into words how much you fascinated me. There are so many hidden parts to you, secrets you keep, feeling you push to the side. I wanted to be there for you. You were struggling, I could see that. All I wanted was for you to let me in, let me help you. But you just couldn't do that, you couldn't let me in.

"I get it in a way, why you didn't tell me. You were trying to protect me from all of the baggage you carry. But that wasn't your decision to make, you shouldn't get to make that choice for me. I wouldn't have cared, Kate! So what your parents suck, that just means that you are a strong enough person to get through it. You are wonderful in more ways than I can explain. I just wish you had let me in before."

Kate didn't miss the fact that Sam was speaking in the past tense, liked, wanted, had. Kate expected it, she didn't expect anyone to put up with her after all the attempts to distance herself she made. But there was that small pang in her chest, caused by the 'what if's, or the 'could have been's. If she had just thrown caution to the wind and let herself be with Sam.

"Yeah, I wish I had let you in before too. I can't even imagine how things would be, but you're right. I just couldn't let myself bring you into the terrible world I deal with. I couldn't sacrifice your safety and well being just to give me happiness. I've dealt with having no one for so long it seemed like the better choice at the time. That pushing you away would protect you."

Sam nodded slightly as if she could at least understand where Kate's thought process had been. "I understand that Kate. I understand that you haven't ever had someone that cared about you and the idea was so foreign you didn't know what to do. But that wasn't fully your decision to make. As I said, I don't care about your parents or home life. Well, I care about your safety but you shouldn't let your parents define you. You are so much better than them Kate, you have so much potential and you shouldn't have to give things up just because they don't realize what an amazing daughter they have."

Sam turned to face Kate and took both hands in her own. "I still care about you Kate, it's why I picked you up this afternoon. Even when you pushed me away I never gave up on you. Even when I finally relented and stopped trying to talk to you I still cared. I've never stopped caring Kate."

Kate was surprised, to say the least, and all she did for a couple of seconds was stare into Sam's eyes that were swirling with emotion. She was a little shocked to hear that Sam still cared. It was a relief but at the same time also made her nervous. Kate had realized a lot in the past few hours and one of those things is that she should stop caring so much about the consequences and just live in the present. For so long, Kate had been so focused on the future, she hadn't been living in the present. She hadn't been taking chances and now was the time to start.

In a moment of courage and maybe even a little insanity Kate took a chance and leaned in quickly capturing Sams lips in hers. It was a passionate hurried kiss, making up for lost time, but all Kate was focused on was Sam. The feeling of Sam's face in her hands and the taste of her lips and the way she smelled faintly of perfume and fresh spring nights.