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It happens all the time.
Josh is the first one to notice, because Sam started sleeping over at their house a little too often, always staying in Deena’s room. In the mornings, Deena would stand by the open door, car keys in her hand and she would wear an expression of frustration and call out “Sam! Come on, we’re going to be late! Why do you take so long to get ready?”
Then Sam would walk out of the bathroom, all ready to go. She would place a kiss on Deena’s cheek, immediately soothing the other girl’s temper, and she’d reply, “Oh, I don’t know, maybe because I have to make breakfast by myself because otherwise you’d poison us.” Deena would try to protest, but her smile gave her away.
Josh would look away from the scene and quietly follow them to the car, saying nothing about it.
At school, it was more of the same.
Heather approached Deena before class started and invited her to a party. Deena replied, “I’m not sure, I think Sam has a thing on Friday. But I always tell her she needs to relax more, you know? We’ll try to make it.”
The other girl blinked slowly, considered inviting them to her aunt’s babyshower instead, something more their style, but decided to drop the subject.
It happened to Sam too, but she never thought twice about it. Other students would approach her in the hallways and tell her, “Hey, have you seen Deena?” “Hey, can you give this to Deena?” “Can you tell Deena band practice was canceled?” On one occasion even one of the teachers approached her to tell her, “You should get Deena to work a little harder on her assignments, I’m sure she would listen to you.” Never mind that she didn’t even share that many classes with Deena. People made assumptions, she just… didn’t know, apparently.
When they were going out with their friends it was more of the same story.
They were all in line to buy movie tickets, Deena started frantically checking her pockets. “Sam, have you seen my wallet?” She wondered distractedly.
In response, Sam silently opened her bag and pulled out Deena’s wallet for her, which she had previously agreed to carry in her bag. It was something that happened very often. Kate and Simon exchanged a knowing look every single time.
When Deena was driving, it was more obvious than ever.
“Did you get lost?” Sam asked her. “Did you get lost in your own hometown, Deena?”
“I swear they changed the signs!”
“It’s Shadyside Deena, our grandparents saw those old signs.”
“We’re not lost,” Deena insisted.
“Pull over,” Sam instructed her, “We have to ask for directions.”
“Are you crazy? I know where I’m going!”
Then they would turn the car around when they caught sight of the Sunnyvale sign, with Kate and Simon sitting in the back of the car laughing the entire time.
Even when nobody was watching, Sam and Deena’s dynamic was unchanged.
Before going out for a party, Sam arrived earlier to Deena’s house. “We’re going to miss that show I like on History Channel,” Sam complained.
“I know, I’m sorry,” Deena kissed her cheek and added, “But what do I wear?” Silently, Sam picked a good outfit for Deena, who watched her with an easy smile on her face. “Hey, don’t forget your dentist appointment on Monday,” Deena said while getting dressed.
“Right,” Sam sighed, “That cavity is going to kill me. Did you see it?”
“Of course. It’s gross,” Deena replied without hesitation or judgment. “Do you think it’s going to rain today?”
“It’s not supposed to,” Sam shrugged, “But… you never know, there might be nine clouds today.”
Sam’s words immediately caused Deena to burst out laughing, and she couldn’t help but join in. None of their friends understood their million little inside jokes, and sometimes not even they could remember the origins of the joke, but they still laughed until they cried.
There were so many little things too. Sam asking Kate to take her shopping because she was having dinner with Deena’s dad. Deena knowing the answer to what is Sam’s blood type. Sam having a key to the Johnson’s house and occasionally being there even before her friends arrived. Then there were silly, stupid things. Deena being upset an entire morning after Sam didn’t laugh at one of her jokes. Sam burning Deena’s breakfast a little when she was mad at her. Kate and Simon having to intervene because Sam and Deena hadn’t spoken in a day because they had a disagreement about adopting a dog or a cat. That’s without even mentioning what they did in their free time. Josh wasn’t unfamiliar to seeing Sam planting flowers on their garden while Deena mowed the lawn. And Kate Simon didn’t let them live down the day they skipped a party because they had to “run errands.”
Eventually, one more Valentine’s day arrived, and everyone was forcibly reminded that they were all still hormonal teenagers in their last year of high school. During lunch, Sam and Deena arrived, sat down on the same spots as always, never interchanging their seats, but occasionally exchanging their food, and greeted their friends.
“So, what are we going to do for Valentine’s Day,” Sam asked her friends.
Simon genuinely laughed at the question. “Oh, you know I love you, ladies, but I’m out,” he replied.
“Boring,” Deena said. She threw a balled up napkin at him and turned toward Kate. “What about you? Or are you going to ditch us too?”
“Uh, no, thank you,” Kate grinned, “Not in the mood to third wheel this year.”
Sam and Deena frowned a little, but decided not to overthink it. “But we always do something together,” Sam complained. She pouted a litte, Deena looked at her adoringly, and the other two rolled their eyes. The usual.
“Yeah, but that was before the two of you started dating,” Simon pointed out. “How long has it been now?”
There was a long, tense silence. For the first time, Sam and Deena couldn’t look at each other. While Sam turned tomato red in the face, Deena gripped her fork with a little too much strength. “What?” she scoffed. “We’re not… I mean, we… we’re not dating, ” she said, stuttering uncharacteristically the entire time.
“Come on,” Kate rolled her eyes. “It’s been years, hasn’t it? Don’t bother hiding it from us. I’m almost offended right now.”
Sam took a deep breath, and straightened a little, she was visibly freaking out a little. “Guys, it’s true we are not… uh, you know… we aren’t… not like that, ” she whispered.
Simon laughed again. “Oh really? So you guys act like an old married couple just for fun?” Kate laughed along with him, and they barely noticed when Deena took Sam’s hand and practically dragged her out of the cafeteria, dropping her hand along the way because somehow it didn’t feel like the most natural thing in the world anymore.
Finally, the two girls made it to the girls bathroom and started pacing along the small space.
“Oh my God, oh my God,” Sam repeated again and again. “How? Why? Since when? Us? ”
“Did you know about this?” Deena asked her. “Did they ever tell you something?”
“Yes, Deena, of course they did, I just wanted to embarrass you this entire time,” Sam replied and crossed her arms.
“Okay, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Deena rolled her eyes.
For a moment, they just stood still and quiet. But when they finally looked at each other, their laughter just exploded. The situation was entirely too funny not to laugh about it together. Instinctively, they drifted closer, Sam placed a hand on Deena’s shoulder and they shook with laughter for another minute until they calmed down.
“Oh my God, were we seriously arguing about this?” Deena asked. She noticed Sam’s eyes had watered with all their laughter, so she reached out to delicately wipe a small tear away. She kept her hand on Sam’s cheek.
“Apparently,” Sam sighed. Despite her initial panic, once she found herself alone with Deena again, she was at home.
In contrast, Deena was feeling her heart beating a little faster than usual. “Are we an old married couple?” She asked Sam with a playful smile.
Sam hesitated. Something in her eyes had changed, and Deena was acutely aware of it. “ Well , we aren’t old and married,” Sam replied slowly.
“Are we a couple?” Deena asked her, she was noticeably breathless, but Sam heard her perfectly.
“I don’t know,” Sam replied honestly. She was leaning her head to the side a little, making the most of the contact they were sharing.
Deena nodded. Her thumb was instinctively caressing Sam’s cheek. She took a step closer to the other girl. “Is that something you would like?” Deena whispered.
“I mean,” Sam took a deep breath, “I like what we are right now…”
“But?”
This was the moment. Everything could change. For better or for worse. But they trusted each other and they knew each other well enough to hope for the best. So, Sam licked her lips, looked down, and reached out with her fingers for Deena’s belt loops. Then she tugged her a little closer and looked back up at Deena.
“Don’t you ever… think about… kissing me?”
Deena felt her heart skip a beat, and all the air leave her lungs. She moved even closer to Sam, their bodies colliding in a completely new way. She moved her other hand to gently hold Sam’s face between her hands. “All the time,” she finally replied in a whisper before leaning forward and finally kissing Sam.
Kate entered the bathroom twenty minutes later, and found Sam and Deena making out against one of the sinks. Nobody ever believed they hadn’t been dating already.