E-MAIL: eli @ popullus.net
ARCHIVE: Ask, please.
RATING: PG
POSTED: July 2, 2006
SUMMARY: A simple name, but he didn't look that simple.
AUTHOR NOTES: Katya asked for "Sam and Jess in Stanford (Jess POV)," and this is what happened. First of two pieces, followed by Unasked, Unanswered.
DISCLAIMER: Read
He's an odd one.
That was Jessica's first thought about the guy sitting twelve seats over from her, and it made her look at him again, because why? What made her think that?
She didn't figure it out in the rest of the hour, but she did make him blush. He caught her eyes when he finished making his point, and he ducked his head and didn't look anywhere but the chalkboard or his notes again.
Sam. That was what Professor Larden had called him. A simple name, but he didn't look that simple.
When Larden dismissed them, Jessica lost Sam in the mass move for the doors, and she stopped thinking about the guy who didn't seem like he should have a flush sweep across his cheeks just because someone was looking at him.
~~
Where is he?
Jessica realized she was thinking about Sam again when she couldn't find him. It was a relatively small class, but it wasn't strange, really, that she couldn't find him. All she remembered from yesterday was that he had brown hair, and that it was kind of shaggy but not deliberately, just like he hadn't gotten it cut in a while. Not really any different from a million other guys.
Well, there was also how he'd been slouched down in his chair, except for when he'd sat up to tell Larden in a deep, insistent voice that I can see how coercion isn't bargaining, but isn't bargaining sometimes coercion? Doesn't it depend on the perception of the people in the...the situation?
But that was it. And she didn't have time for more than a quick glance around before Larden was handing out tests, and then it was "eyes on your own paper" and all that.
It wasn't until she stood up at the end of class and turned, swinging her bag over her shoulder, that she saw him stuffing his things in his own bag several rows back, directly behind her.
She thought a lot about him for the rest of that day; about what he'd done, about whether she'd somehow made him do it. Karen finally nudged her foot at dinner and ordered, "Okay, girl, share what's got you daydreaming that sweet," threatening Jessica with a spoon.
~~
"Hey."
She said it as she dropped her bag into the seat beside him, keeping her voice easy, friendly. She hadn't needed Karen's advice not to spook him, but still, she'd spent a while longer watching him, wondering, before accepting that she really did want to know who this guy was, with his narrow face, big hands, careful eyes.
When she sat, he gave her a tight, closed-lipped smile and a nod; not startled at all and really not looking at her.
That wasn't going to work.
"So why are you avoiding me?" she asked.
That got his attention and a skeptical glance, slanted across the empty seat. "Why would I do that?"
She shrugged. "I don't know, but you are."
"I don't even know you."
He turned part-way around, facing her, and Jessica smiled at him and extended her right hand. "Jessica Moore. The person you've been deliberately sitting behind for the last three weeks."
His eyes dropped to her hand, and some thought twisted his mouth before he looked back up at her with a confused frown. "Okay, what?"
She'd been right, she realized; he was way to good at bluffing to normally blush. But when he hadn't been ready, she had made him blush. Which made her feel...good.
So she left her hand out, and said slowly, like when she'd tried to explain hopscotch to her little cousin, "You're supposed to tell me your name, now."
He let out a startled laugh at that, his eyes clearing to the most fascinating shade of dirty green. And when his smile kept expanding, she felt hers widen, too, totally without thought. They were both grinning when he finally took her hand, his skin surprisingly rough on hers. "Sam Winchester."
Everyone started quieting around them, which meant Larden was standing down front, hands up on his podium. Jessica didn't turn forward. She sat there with her hand almost lost in Sam's gentle hold and she said, "Hi."
##
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