Another Shot - Chapter 1
Pairing - Sam Carpenter x Reader
Warnings - None
Word Count - 1.5k
Summary - Enemies to Lovers. An unexpected reunion throws you for a loop.
Chapter 2
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You heard the bell above the door ring and started making your way to the front counter. It was a slow day and Tara, your new coworker and friend, was already up there, but you liked talking with the customers. You saw she was already helping the group and planned on hanging back in case she needed anything. That was until you recognized the tall woman grinning down at her.
“Sam?” You approached the counter cautiously, and her face fell when she saw you. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”
“Y/N.” Her icy tone paired perfectly with the cold look in her eyes. You glared back at her. You couldn’t believe she had the gall to treat you this way; as if you were the one who-
“Wait, you two know each other?” Tara’s eyes darted between you, undoubtedly trying to decipher the tension that hung in the air.
“Yes,” you replied, without sparing her a glance. “We used to… hang out. Back in Modesto.”
“What are you doing in New York?” Sam asked, and you felt the pang of a long-forgotten hurt pierce your heart.
“I told you I was saving up to start classes at NYU,” you said, the bite in your voice sounding more like a whine. “You know moving here was my dream. We talked about it so many times.”
“Well, I must’ve forgotten,” she said unapologetically. “It’s been a long time.”
“Yeah,” you snapped back. “It has.”
“Woah,” breathed the guy standing behind Sam. The girl next to him slapped his arm.
“Why don’t you introduce us to your friend, Tara?” she blurted with a forced smile. “Since they’re already well acquainted with Sam.”
“Yes! This is my friend Mindy and my boyfriend Chad,” she said, and they waved at you. You smiled back at them, determined to leave Sam in the past where she belonged. “And this is Y/N. They were my trainer when I first started, and they’re my favorite person to work with.”
“Aww, thanks, T,” you smiled, placing an affectionate hand on her shoulder. Sam’s eyes flashed toward you dangerously, and you relished the fact that you could piss her off so easily. It was far from the comeuppance she deserved, but the small satisfaction almost took away the sting of seeing her again. “I’ll let you take care of your friends here. Let me know if you need anything.”
“Yeah, okay,” she nodded.
“It was nice to meet you,” you said, waving to Chad and Mindy. You couldn’t help but glare at Sam as you left, your emotions getting the better of you. “Of all the fucking people that could’ve shown up tonight,” you muttered to yourself, “why did it have to be her?”
You busied yourself with wiping down the trays, trying your best to keep your mind off of Sam. Fortunately, you were still an expert at that, and soon you were so engrossed in your task that you didn’t see Tara approaching you.
“Hey, what’s your beef with my sister?” she demanded. She didn’t sound angry, which was a relief, but she showed no intention of letting the matter go.
You shook your head, avoiding her eyes. “It’s nothing.”
“That was not nothing!”
“It’s in the past,” you declared. “If you really want to know, you can ask her what she did. But I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Okay.”
Her brows were knotted together in a troubled expression, her voice losing the loud confidence she always had. You didn’t have to know Sam to know she hadn’t told her little sister anything about the years she’d been away. But unfortunately for you, you did. You sighed.
“It was personal shit. You don’t need to worry about it. But it would be best if you take her order whenever she comes in here.”
Tara nodded and headed back to the front of the diner. Even though it was half an hour early, you decided to clean the bathrooms. Anything was better than having to face Sam again.
“Okay, what was that?” Mindy whispered loudly as they sat down.
“What was what?” Sam said, refusing to meet her eyes.
“That thing between you and Tara’s coworker! What did they do? I haven’t seen you that unhappy to see someone since Ghostface!”
Sam closed her eyes and shook her head. “What? No, that’s not… no.”
“Oh, c’mon! You used to “hang out” back in Modesto? What does that mean?”
“Hey, that’s Sam’s private business. She doesn’t have to talk about it if she doesn’t want to,” Chad said, ignoring his sister’s gasp of betrayal. Then he turned to Sam with the most adorable, pleading expression he could muster. “But I’ll buy you a milkshake if you tell us what happened.”
Sam raised an eyebrow. “Are you trying to bribe me? With a milkshake?”
“Is it working?”
“No, it’s not,” she replied, smiling in spite of herself. Mindy slapped Chad’s arm.
“Damn it, that totally would’ve worked when we were kids! Why aren’t you cute anymore?”
“Hey, I’m cute! I’m very cute, ask anyone! You think I’m cute, right, Sam?”
Sam just rolled her eyes. She was glad that after all these years the twins were still the same goofballs they’d always been, but that didn’t mean they weren’t a pain in the ass sometimes.
“-No, wait, shut up! We have to get to the bottom of this!” Mindy exclaimed, interrupting the argument she had started. She turned back to Sam, still far too excited considering what she was probing her about. “Please, you have to tell us! I’m literally going to die if I don’t hear this tea!”
Sam sighed and rubbed her eyes. She knew they weren’t going to stop. “We were friends, and then we had a fight. There’s really nothing else to report.”
“You are such a terrible liar, you know that?” Mindy smirked. “Fine, if you won’t tell us, we’ll figure it out on our own.”
Sam groaned, knowing she meant they planned to use Tara to get to her. But it wouldn’t work this time. Not even her beloved baby sister could get her to relive what had happened with you. At least, not for anyone to hear. That dreadful night had been replaying in her head from the moment she saw you, merciless in its vividity.
Luckily, the twins dropped the interrogation, and she didn’t see you again for the rest of the night. But the damage was done. You were in New York City and back in her life. Of all the places Tara could’ve chosen to go to school- to work- why did you have to be there too?
Sam tried not to think about you, she really did. But she’d never been good at keeping you off her mind, at least not on her own. She was thankful for the chaotic distraction the twins provided with their constant light-hearted bickering, but when they left for the bodega to get a midnight snack, she was left alone with her memories of you.
Before she could spiral too much, Sam heard the front door open. At first, she was relieved to see Tara. But she should’ve known better.
“Hey, how was the rest of your shift?”
“It was fine,” Tara replied with a tight-lipped smile. “What happened between you and Y/N?”
“What?”
“I asked them, and they told me to ask you what you did.” There was a look of apprehension in her eyes, but it wouldn’t be outdone by her morbid curiosity. “Sam, what happened?”
“It was nothing.”
“Don’t give me that “it was nothing” bullshit! I’ve never seen you freeze the way you did when you saw them, and I didn’t think Y/N could get that angry!” Tara took a deep breath and Sam shrank under her gaze. “You know I don’t judge you for whatever you did while you were gone, but the tension between you two was palpable. And you know the kind of tense shit I’ve seen.”
Sam swallowed, stuffing her hands into her back pockets and shifting her gaze to the floor. Tara waited patiently, and when she finally spoke, her voice was soft and shaking. “Let’s just say that when I knew Y/N, I was at a very bad point in my life. I did a lot of things that I regret. But there’s nothing I can do about it now.”
“That’s not an explanation,” Tara said, throwing her hands up exasperatedly. “I have to work with them every day now, I think I deserve to know what happened!”
“But you don’t, though,” Sam said, finally meeting her eyes and sounding as tired as she felt. “You can be friends with them if you want, I don’t care, but what happened between us doesn’t concern you, Tara! You need to leave it alone.”
“Sam-”
“I’m going to bed,” she stated, turning around swiftly and cutting off Tara’s attempted apology. She shut her bedroom door without a backward glance and leaned against it, covering her face with her hands. She wouldn’t cry for you. She refused to give you that kind of power.
A few miles away, in your own second-floor apartment, you didn’t grant yourself the same respect.
