WestFiction- "If You Love Something" by Mary

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If You Love Something...> chapters 3-4

“Happy birthday,” said Ashley, giving her a present, which was quite heavy, “This is for you.”

“Thanks,” Samantha said, “it’s nice to see you again.”

“You too. But you’ll be leaving again,” Ashley said sadly.

“I don’t have a choice,” Samantha replied. Today was Samantha’s thirteenth birthday. A few of her friends came over for the party, Ashley and her parents managed to drop by.

“Hey there, birthday girl. Many happy returns,” interrupted Mark as he handed Samantha a blue box tied with white bow. Then he turned to Ashley, “Hey, I didn’t know you were coming” he said as his face turned slightly pink.

It was also a going away party as Samantha was leaving back to KL the next day. Her grandma was very ill and she is going back to help her aunt take care of her grandma.

She didn’t want to leave but she looked forward to going home. Home? Which was home? KL or Sligo?

~ ~ ~

Samantha looked around, everyone was having a good time. She had cut her cake and opened her presents and frankly she was tired. She wondered where Ashley was. It wasn’t fair that they had to part again. She was hoping she could talk to her before she left. Who knows when they might see each other again?

Joshua was getting on her nerves. He was sticking to her like glue and videotaping the whole party. He claimed he was going to watch it everyday when she’s not around.

Samantha made her way to the back of the house. There was a small garden where Samantha’s dad would spend his free time. She smiled to herself when she saw Ashley there. And so was Mark. Halfway to the garden she saw Mark kissing Ashley. That caught her completely off guard. She quickly regained her composure and walked back to the house. After all they didn’t see her coming down the pathway.

She went back to the party and tried to forget what she saw. At that moment she saw them, walking towards the house, through the window. She suddenly hated both Ashley and Mark.

~ ~ ~

“It’s called a crush,” said Joshua. Samantha turned to see him standing at the door his hands in his jeans pocket.

“What?” she asked.

“You liking Mark. You liking him, a lot,” Joshua said. Samantha just kept staring out of her window into the night. Ashley had to leave back to Dublin that evening, truthfully she wouldn’t know how she would have reacted if Ashley stayed over. Joshua sat beside her, “It’s one of the things that happens to all of us as we grow. You find that you like someone and it makes you want to spend more time with that person. Or that you think of that person most of the time. It’s like when that person becomes even special than a friend.”

“I don’t like it,” she said as tears welled up her eyes. So does Mark have a crush on Ashley? Is that why he keeps asking about her?

“Hey, come on, let’s not cry,” said Joshua, he put his arm around her shoulders, “If the feeling is returned by that person, you’ll like it. But if it’s not, well…it hurts a little. You just remember that you can’t control that feeling and the pain will go away one day.”

Samantha looked at him and gave him a small smile. The thought of leaving Ireland appealed to her at the moment.

“Get some sleep,” he said getting up, “You have an early flight tomorrow.”

~ ~ ~

CHAPTER4

Samantha looked out of the plane window. She wished she could touch the clouds and as the sun was setting, it looked like golden cotton candy. Her heart was beating fast, she was going back to Callry, after 2 years of being away. She wondered if everything changed. She missed Joshua and her dad. They e-mailed each other everyday and talked through the phone at least once a month. But it wasn’t the same.

Grandma died a month after she got to KL, it was hard on her aunt, so she stayed with her and partly also she didn’t want to see neither Mark nor Ashley so soon. She had gotten over it in time and the distance made it much easier. Ashley never found out. Even if she did, not from her. She smiled to herself, having a crush on her neighbor. Naïve. She wondered if he had changed. She missed Mark too later on, he was after all, her best-friend. She just couldn’t pick up the phone at the end of the day and talk to him as if he’s still next door. Anyhow they all kept in touch through mail.

At first it was hard readjusting but she settled in quickly. Public school was tough, it was in the national language, which she hadn’t spoken for a very long time. Her aunt managed to get her into an international school. She settled in that school very quickly too. A few of her friends, who also happened to be her neighbors, took her around town and she was amazed by the development it went through in such a short time.

She was happy, she felt like she belonged there. She didn’t want to leave KL. A week ago, her aunt decided to move to Australia where her son was staying. She prepared herself for that day ever since the plane touched the ground. The day she had to go back to Ireland. She left KL with a heavy heart, but she knew she would be back again, someday. But today she was looking forward to see her family again.

~ ~ ~

“What did you do? Pack everything in the house?” Joshua asked as he saw Samantha’s luggage. Samantha however was in too good a mood to feel offended. So she teased him, “Nah, that’s just my room.” Joshua shook his head in mock disbelief. They were waiting outside the terminal building for their father to bring the car around.

“Man, I’ve missed you,” she said giving him another round of hug.

“Okay, okay I get the message,” he said, “I’ve missed you too. Look at you. All grown up.”

“Is daddy okay?” she asked him, getting serious.

“Yeah, Why do you ask?” he asked confused.

“I don’t know, he seemed like he was not happy to see me.”

“Are you kidding? That was all he could talk about for the past week!” he reassured her. She still didn’t seem convinced. It didn’t add up. She was sure her dad was looking forward for her coming home when she spoke to him two nights ago. But today she felt like she got a cold reception from him. “Come on, dad’s here,” he said as he motioned to an oncoming car and picked up two of her luggage.

~ ~ ~

Mark paid for the paper ‘The Weekender’ and he made his way to an empty bench not far away from him. He flipped the paper to the page he was looking for. He was reading it when a voice broke his concentration.

“Thought I recognized you.” Mark looked up. A girl who was right in front of him jogging in one place. Her hair was tied into a ponytail and it was swinging from side to side to the rhythm of her movement and her face was flushed. And familiar. It took him a minute or so before he recognized her.

“Sam! You’re back,” he said with a smile.

“Good it’s you. For a moment there, I thought I got the wrong person,” she said to him after stepping out of his embrace.

“Why didn’t you mention you were coming back?” he asked.

“Thought I’d surprise everyone here,” she gave him a smile, which tugged his heart.

“Isn’t it too cold for a jog?” he asked. The morning was unusually cold.

“It’s too warm me up. Can’t seem to get used to this whether,” she said between breaths, “Wanna join me?”

“Nah,” he replied. She would probably leave him so breathless and very far to catch up.

“Catch you later, then?”

“Yeah,” he replied. He looked at her as she jogged to the distance. She was a little different from the Samantha he last saw. She had grown her dark brown hair. She had lost her rake-thin frame, which was good. At second glance, he even found her pretty. Certainly different from the tomboy he used to know.

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