A Knight Comes To Bed by Sweet and Special Books Page B

second Allen stopped talking to dig around his pockets, then triumphantly pulled out two tickets.
    “I got us the best seats in the house for a silent theater going on. I think it would be fun. Silent theaters haven't really caught on around here yet but I'm hoping they will soon. Maybe we could grab a cup of coffee after the show, have some time to talk.”
    “Sorry to interrupt,” Sam said. “But Rachel and I are attending a meeting of one of the school clubs we’re in, so I doubt she’ll be able to join you. Sorry to ruin your plans, man, but I just thought that would make things a little easier for both of you.”
    “Oh, really,” Allen said. “What club?”
    “Rock climbing,” Sam said with a smile. “Now if you don’t mind, Rachel was helping me study.”
    Defeated, Allen slunk out of the room with a dejected look on his face. Rachel felt a little bad for Allen, but was relieved that Sam had saved her from what could have been an awkward date. She couldn't believe how cool Sam had been about the entire thing, he could have fooled her back there.
    “Thank you so much,” Rachel said with a sigh of relief. “That was awesome of you,”
    “No worries,” Sam said. “It seemed like the right thing to do.”
    Rachel looked at her text book for a few seconds before smiling and looking up at him. “My name is Rachel, by the way, I don't think we've ever been introduced,” she said.
    Sam let out a chuckle and extended his hand across the table, reaching to shake hers.
    “Nice to meet you Rachel,” Sam said. “As you heard Allen say, my name is Sam, I'm on the basketball team and evidently I am, as he put it, cool.”
    He spoke in a way that made Rachel really comfortable with him. She couldn’t help but giggle.
    “Sucks how he can't keep his mouth shut about letting you look off of his paper,” Sam said as he shook his head. “I know how hard that biology class is, and you know what? I looked off of a few papers myself when I was taking it.”
    “Really?” Rachel asked. “It was tough for you, too?”
    “Super tough!” Sam exclaimed. “I couldn't for the life of me keep from falling asleep in that class, and then the instructor had that thick accent that was hard to understand. It was all just a little too much.”
    “The professor's accent is so hard to understand!” Rachel agreed. “It kills me that there isn't some kind of captioning service provided by the university. And you can completely tell when he has been hitting the bottle the night before because it’s extra thick when he's hung over.”
    “Ooohhh! That's what she said!” Sam said before bursting out laughing.
    Rachel couldn't believe that Sam had said that. She liked his sense of humor, and the way his eyes lit up when he laughed seemed to make her smile.
    “So, Rachel, if you get sick of studying for biology and need a break, there’s a party at my place if you want to come and hang out,” Sam said.
    “Sounds like fun, but I don't go out a lot and don't know too many people,” Rachel said. “I'd hate to end up the person weirdly standing by themselves at the party.”
    “Don't worry ‘bout that,” Sam said. “Brian and Felicia will be there, you know them from some of your classes. I'm pretty sure I've heard them talk about how well you guys get along. Tom will be there too, and I think you two know each other from growing up in the same small town?”
    “Oh my God, you know Tom? No way!” Rachel said. “We grew up in the same little town together—nothing to do but tip cows. And I know Brian and Felicia from class.”
    “See! It's that simple,” Sam said. “There will be other people you know for sure. And it would be great to talk to you more.” Sam finished his sentence by flashing a smile at Rachel.
    “Well, if I have time, I’ll try my best to be there,” Rachel said.
    Just as Rachel was about to excuse herself to leave and find a less distracting place to study, one of the basketball cheer leaders