A blast from the past

Sam found the situation amusing, Zoe didn't though, she stared at the ground for a long time and her face was very red. "Life on the line as in the chance of me getting seriously hurt or the even smaller chance of me getting killed... that's what I mean" Sam wanted to explain to her that she did not need to be so embarrassed about the previous situation, but before he could say anything, he was dragged once again, he found that Zoe did that to him a lot, his wrist was starting to hurt from all the dragging.

Sam slammed into a store window he was dragged so hard, it appeared to be a technology store, one specialized in selling televisions. When Zoe asked what she was looking at, she was staring at a 42 inch flat screen television. "It's a Television, I'm surprised you haven't seen one of these before, its a big screen that shows programs and in this case... the news" The television was showing a news story about the New York crisis, the city was still in ruins, but there were rumours of groups sprouting up to help with the rebuilding process. "I have one of these at home, I watch stuff on it all of the time." Sam felt weird answering that question, technology had revolutionized the world and has been a big part of it for some time, he never dreamed he would have to explain what a Television was.

Zoe saw the funny look on Sam’s face and she offered him a tiny shrug.
“I’ve been out of the loop for a long time, I ran into a sliding glass door the other day. That is how technologically challenged I am.”

The demon had been in the underworld for the last ten or so years so She was a little bit on the slow technology side of things. Zoe felt the wave of exhaustion hit her again and she shook it off, not wanting to take a nap anytime soon. Instead she decided it was Sam’s turn to lead her around, see what he wanted to see.

Zoe would ask questions and stop abruptly, causing Sam to stop too because their hands were still linked. But before long they would continue again. She didn’t seem to mind holding Sam’s hand… maybe it was because she was in a childlike state of mind… maybe it wasn’t. Whatever it was Zoe didn’t seem to care at the moment.

The pair continued walking down streets, stopping and looking through shop windows at the many items Sam probably couldn't afford. They were still holding each others hands, Sam figured out they were doing it a short while after it had started, but he decided not to let go, he wasn't sure whether Zoe was playing some kind of mind game and trying to make him go crazy with thoughts, but it felt comfortable and it had been a long time since he had held someone else's hand like they were, besides child Zoe a few hours earlier.

Sam led Zoe into one of his favorite areas in the city, the Los Angeles State Historic Park. It was quiet as usual, not a lot of people would go there during the day, it was a small park with pebbled pathways that snaked between many different kinds of flowers and trees, the whole park revolved around a large fountain, a fountain that Sam would visit regularly, he found it to be a great place to relax and unwind. He took Zoe straight to the fountain and he looked around at the flora that surrounded him, he dug his hand into a pocket and dug up two British one penny coins, he released his grip around Zoe's hands and placed one of the coins in it. Sam looked Zoe in the eye as he lifted the penny up to his face and said "Make a wish" he flipped the penny up into the air and watched it as it landed in the fountain, slowly drifting to the bottom and saw it rest on top of several over wishes that may or may not have been fulfilled.

Zoe looked around avidly at the park, the flowers and the trees were gorgeous. She had only ever been to this park in the dark and it had never occurred to her to come and look around in the daylight. Birds chirped and darted from branch to branch, seemingly relaxed as the people milled about. There was a family of four having a picnic not far off as well as a bunch of teens playing a game of American football. Other than that there wasn’t much activity going on. That was when Zoe got a glimpse of herself in the water, no freckles.

“Shoot, I knew I was forgetting something.” Zoe said and the freckles reappeared on her face. Not reappeared, more like they faded back in. Sam dropped her hand; she hadn’t even realized that she had been holding it again. She lifted her hand up to examine the British penny, rolling it between her fingers.

A wish? Zoe hadn’t wished since she was a little girl… so a long time. For a brief moment they made eye contact before Zoe tossed her penny in. There was a soft plop, before it sank down to the bottom. She made a wish… but it was a rather small one. Nothing to major.

Sam had only just noticed that Zoe's freckles were missing when she made them reappear on her face, then later he watched as she studied her coin before flipping it into the fountain just like Sam had done. Sam looked across the fountain to see a small boy making waves with his hand in the water, his mother soon came over seconds later to tell him not to do that as it isn't exactly drinking water. Sam looked back into Zoe's eyes but noticed something else out of focus behind her, he peaked around her shoulder to see the American Football that a group of boys were playing with, flying towards the back of her head. Sam quickly wrapped his left arm around her and maneuvered her so she was looking away from the fountain, Sam lowered her down slightly too, if he would have lost his grip, she would have fallen into the fountain, and that is something he wouldn't hear the end of...

Sam managed to balance her with one arm whilst catching the American football with the other hand, the teens actually sounded quite sad that he had done that, they would have found it more entertaining for it to hit her in the head. Sam tossed the ball back to the teens who all yelled "Thanks dude!" back to him, the youth of today... Sam looked back down to Zoe and remembered he still had her dangling over the fountain, the idea of letting go of her and watching her fall into the fountain was starting to sound like a good one, but he could see in her eyes that she really didn't want him to do it, so he didn't, he lifted her back up onto her feet and she looked quite shaken up, "Sorry about that, you had a "football" flying at your head..." he used quotation marks when saying football, because it isn't a football when you play it with your hands, one of the few things Sam disliked about the country he lived in.

Zoe noticed Sam was looking at her again when he suddenly grabbed her, dipping her backwards like the dance move. Zoe made a noise of shock, grabbing him around the arm so she wouldn’t fall backwards into the very large fountain. She glared up at him, the look on her face clearly stating, ‘Don’t you Dare drop me!’ Also while maneuvering Zoe away from the football Sam caught it, before tossing it back. He then looked back down at Zoe.

She could totally see the idea of dropping her on purpose cross through Sam’s brain and her eyes widened slightly. Uhh no thanks? Then he brought her back up and made sure she was steady on her feet.

“You seem to be developing this habit of moving me around don’t cha?” Zoe asked, trying to calm herself. The demon was referencing the alleyway situation when she and Sam had first met. She was very grateful to avoid being beaned in the head by an American football. Zoe couldn’t help but smile slightly at Sam and his sarcastic way of saying football. Obviously he didn’t like the term. It annoyed Zoe slightly too but clearly not to the extent it annoyed Sam.

Sam had a habit of moving her around?! Sam lifted up the sleeve of his hoodie to reveal how red and sore his wrist was from Zoe dragging him around everywhere, he looked at her and said "You're not so bad at it yourself Zoe" with a cheeky grin.

"I come here most of the time at the end of my walks, its a nice place to relax before I have to get all intense during the night time, it's a good place for me to think about my life and where it's going. At the moment there isn't much to think about, but with each day that passes, there is always something new." Sam was ready to go home or to wherever Zoe wanted to go, he took a step forward and leaned around, holding his hand out by his side, he wasn't sure if the hand holding thing was still a thing they were going to do, neither of them seemed to mind doing it, but Zoe might have been put off it by now, but his hand was still out there, in case she still wanted to do it.

The skin was red and Zoe pressed her lips together, trying to hide a smile. So she swatted at him lightly with the back of her hand before darting away a few steps.

“It is a relaxing place,” Zoe agreed, looking up at the sky suddenly struck by how blue it was. It smelled nice too; the air was perfumed with flowers. She looked over at Sam to realize he was offering her his hand. Hesitantly she took it before they started walking off again.

“What did you wish for?” Zoe asked, curiosity getting the better of her. The wind picked up slightly, battering strands of her hair lazily. Zoe had wished for something stupid, chocolate. The girl didn’t know what other thing to wish for so she went after the extremely addicting mortal food. Chocolate wasn’t something Arae were supposed to eat… they couldn’t get drunk off of Alcohol… but they could get drunk off of chocolate. Oh, the irony.

Zoe seemed to reluctantly take his hand and they made their way towards the exit of the park. Sam took one last look around and appreciated all of the colours and smells that came from this place, it certainly did work wonders for the senses. The pair of them exited the park and made their way back to Sam's apartment when she asked him what he had wished for, "Well if I tell you what I wished for it wouldn't come true now would it, your curiosity will have to continue to build I'm afraid." That wasn't the answer she wanted to hear, but that is the way wishes worked, always keep them to yourself.

On the way back, Sam found himself slightly hungry, but unfortunately he did not have enough money on him for a full meal for the two of them, so he stopped off by a news stand and looked around the merchandise, noticing several New York hats for sale as well as many kinds of newspapers, Sam glanced at the bin to the side of him and saw a newspaper in there too, he glanced at the headline and picture out of curiosity, it took him a few seconds to realize it was an old newspaper explaining the story of how a gang of bikers had been assaulted in a bar out of self defence and the people that did it were not found at the scene, Sam smiled to himself and looked down, remembering everything that had happened one day, funny how that was the day the two of them had met, and they were still keeping in touch.

Sam leaned down and grabbed a Galaxy bar (clearly the best kind of chocolate bar) and placed it on the counter, he took in a deep breath as he looked to Zoe, her eyes were fixed on the Galaxy he had just picked up and she was biting her bottom lip, she clearly seemed intrigued by his choice, Sam laughed quietly to himself as he threw a second one on the counter. It only came to a few dollars, no big deal, Sam handed Zoe her bar as he tore open his and began to slowly devour the amazing treat.

Zoe scowled at him, not particularly mad. “Well then,” She stated. “Guess we will both be stubborn individuals.”

She continued to pester him on the way back, determined to figure out his wish. But he just smiled and brushed her off. Soon after leaving the park… so about halfway between the park and Sam’s apartment, Sam stopped and bought himself a chocolate bar. Zoe stared at it hard, chewing her bottom lip as she did so out of habit when thinking. Wondering why this stuff was illegal in the underworld anyway. Well… Zoe guessed she would find out. That’s when she spotted the headlines of an old newspaper. Sam had apparently noticed it and was smiling to himself. Then the guy paid for two bars and handed one to Zoe before digging in to his.

Zoe looked at it hesitantly before opening it, sniffing the dark brown substance… it smelled normal… What if it was poisonous to her kind? Zoe could see it now, explaining how she had died in whatever world was after this, ‘Yeah, I died of chocolate.’ She sighed, it was worse than saying one had died choking to death on a gummy bear.

Hesitantly she took a small bite. The sensation was amazing; Zoe swallowed and looked at the stuff. Not bad… not bad at all… So she took another bite. After several minutes Zoe realized she seemed to be having issues walking in a straight line. So she nibbled on the bar a little bit more…
**

Suddenly, Zoe woke up with a pounding headache in Sam’s apartment.
“What happened?” She groaned softly.

(Smoke, I am going to let you choose what happened because I’ve got nada. Massive writers block)

Sam took a bite of his Galaxy bar, it melted in his mouth and he tried to think of the last time he had eaten one, it tasted like heaven. He noticed Zoe had taken a bite of her bar and she began acting very strangely, she was shifting from side to side as she continued to nibble on the treat. They continued walking together until Zoe stopped with her arms out by her side, training to keep her balance. "Are you alright?..." Sam asked, Zoe waved him off, she seemed to think she was fine. They was edging closer to Sam's apartment when Zoe slipped and landed on Sam's shoulder, she used him to keep herself up, she really did not seem normal, unless she was doing it on purpose and just trying to be awkward like when she was being her child self. She kept her hand on his shoulder for balance, it might have been the same as the hand holding, she might not have realized she was doing it, but this strange behavior was making Sam uneasy. Sam felt her grip tighten and he noticed her leaning over to him out of the corner of his eye, she leaned up to his ear and whispered "Sam... My wish was to have some chocolate" she then leaned away from his head in a fit of giggles, Sam grabbed her lightly on the arm and put her back to a wall. "Ohh, Hello!" she yelled as he put his face closer to hers, he studied her eyes and noticed she didn't seem to be in control of her actions. "... You're drunk aren't you..." he asked, she stood silent and stared at him for a few seconds before blowing on his hair and flicking it up slightly, yep, she's drunk.

Sam had a grip on her arm to make sure she did not do anything else stupid on the way back, or run away and get herself lost in the big city. It was a challenge to get Zoe to co-operate and go up the stairs, Sam was angry he hadn't slapped the chocolate bar out of her hand earlier, he had never been drunk, which meant he was usually the one that took care of the people that did get drunk. He placed Zoe beside the door as he fumbled with his keys, he felt a light kiss of the cheek as he finally figured out which key he needed to get in, he turned to Zoe who was slightly red and said "Your lucky I know you don't know what you're doing" he said as he wiped the lipstick off of his cheek.

"I really like your hair..." She said and then laughed as Sam herded her through the door and onto his couch. Amber backed away slowly as Zoe laid down on the couch, thank goodness she fell to sleep rather quickly instead of pestering for the rest of the day.

Sam went around his own business whilst Zoe was laid out on the couch still, it seemed like whenever the two met, she would always seem to find her way into his apartment. She awoke and pushed herself up slowly whilst holding her head, it seemed any kind of loud noise would hurt her head even more. "What happened?" She asked after noticing Sam standing close to her whilst slipping a cup of coffee, he swallowed his sip and went onto explain "Well, you couldn't walk without me holding you up, you then told me that you had wished for chocolate, I put you by a wall and you thought i was making a move on you, then when i took you here you kissed me on the cheek, told me that you really like my hair and then passed out on the couch. So did you enjoy yourself?"

Zoe blinked at him bleary eyed and it took a couple seconds for what Sam had said to fully hit her. Oh! Zoe turned red faced and buried her face in her hands.
“So did you enjoy yourself?”

The Demon glared at him from between her fingers, growling faintly in frustration. “I am so sorry Sam. I didn’t think- Sweet Isis now I know why that stuff is illegal…”

It felt like a hammer was banging around on the inside of her skull so instead of continuing the mortifying conversation she flopped back onto the couch, with her eyes shut. It was unfair that humans could have this delectable stuff called chocolate but she couldn’t. Zoe wouldn’t be after chocolate anytime soon… unless something came up… like a wedding… or Sam got drunk… that would be interesting. But Zoe doubted that Sam would ever be drunk.

Zoe opened her eyes again to see what Sam was doing, “So, what was your wish? I told you mine.”

She was not going to let Sam drop the conversation she faintly remembered having.

Sam seemed slightly pleased with the results of her strange addiction. She seemed slightly ashamed of yourself, which amused Sam. Sam turned and walked away to his dining room table and sat down on it. She then asked once more, what she had asked many times already, what was it that he had wished for. Sam sighed again, he didn't really want to tell her just by the fact that it would seem that she had won, but he did it anyway.

Sam sighed, took a sip of coffee and said "It wasn't quite was I was expecting, but I wished... for you to kiss me..." Now Sam's face was going red! Amber's head shot straight up and she stopped playing with her toy, her eyes were wide as they could be. Sam found it all slightly amusing to be honest, he wasn't very ashamed of it, even though it could possibly ruin the friendship that the two of them had. Sam was waiting for Zoe to flip out and scream at him for what he had wished for, but it seemed that Sam's personality was changing just as much as his appearance, he didn't really care about what people thought of him anymore. He was just looking forwards to Zoe's response, whether it be good or bad for him.

Zoe’s eyebrows shot up, kiss him? Well… that certainly made things interesting. Slowly she sat up and got off the couch, wincing slightly as her head throbbed. The cat watched her warily as she moved across the room and leaned against the table, almost sitting on it. Taking care not to spill the coffee, she picked it up and moved it to the other side.

“Well then,” She stated. “Why would you wish for that?”
Sam had started to turn red in the face, good to know he had the decency to blush. Upon hearing his response she sighed, uncrossing her arms. The cat as if sensing what was coming made a b-line out of the room.

“In that case, it was a rather pathetic kiss don’t you think?” Zoe asked arching an red eyebrow. Then she leaned forward and kissed him, resting one hand on the table to keep her balance and the other, lightly, on his cheek.

Sam watched as his coffee was moved and Zoe sat down on the table next to him, it appeared she wanted to know more information about his wish, he would have gone into my detail and told her why he wanted it until she stood up directly in front of him, he looked up underneath some of her strands of hair into her eyes as she leaned down, placing one hand on the table next to him and the other hand caressed his cheek, she slowly moved forward and kissed him lightly on the lips. This was one of the outcomes to the situation that Sam was thinking of, more than the others. Whilst still sitting down, he placed both of his hands on her back slowly as the continued kissing, Sam could hear the bell around Amber's neck jingle down the hallway, she was probably curious as to what was happening and she darted away again when what she was imagining was true.

The pair had been kissing for several seconds now, the reason why she was doing this continued to run through his mind, was she doing it because she wanted to? Because she had not shown any romantic interest in him other than the two holding hands earlier, or was she just doing it because it was fun... the more likely the answer, but Sam did not want to jump to conclusions until he knew the actual answers, he didn't want to ruin what was going on. The two slowly pulled away after they deemed it necessary to do so, they were still quite close to each other as Sam was still getting over what had just happened, his heart rate had just stopped rising as he looked back into her eyes, "It was a very pathetic kiss if you compare it to that" he said with a small smile.

"And what came over you to do that?" he asked quietly and slightly stuttering, as if the kiss almost had him lost for words.

Zoe could feel Sam’s hands resting on the small of her back as they continued the kiss. She could feel his heart beat accelerate underneath her fingertips and it gave her a small thrill that she had this affect on him. After a minute or so it ended and Sam seemed to be having issues recovering from the kiss, he stuttered and sounded breathless.

His arms were still around her and his eyes were intently searching her face.
“I kissed you because I haven’t quite made up my mind about you Sam Locke,” Zoe said honestly, running her fingers lightly down the side of his neck before moving the hand back beside her. “Besides, I think we scarred your cat for life.”

She was telling the complete and honest truth, the silver ring glinted on her hand faintly in the dim light. “Now, why did you kiss me back?”