It was funny, the way his stomach did backflips the entire flight over, during the car ride, and now at her doorstep, but an assured confidence kept his head on his shoulders. Sam had planned it for weeks all summer, wanted to get things just right, even planned it out with her mother who he’d been introduced to over FaceTIme once and had somehow lucked out enough to get on her good side. He knew it was crazy, to fly to her home state just to see her, to get a chance to take her out, but he knew without a doubt that he’d do it in a heartbeat. He’d given her a bit of space after the school year had ended, wanting to allow her the time and energy to make sense of the relationships troubling her at the end of the year. But his feelings for her had only grown as the balmy summer days went by, and any chance he got to talk to her, to slowly— to be honest, quickly— open up to her had made him sure that he had to see this through.
Sam stood now at her front door, dialing her number before bringing the phone to his ear and taking a steadying breath. It was funny the way his nerves melted as soon as he heard her voice on the other end, and a broad grin spread on his face just as a merciful, Florida breeze swept cool air past him, shuffling his hair for a moment. “Hey, Martina,” Sam replied into the speaker, voice so bright you couldn’t even tell he’d been on a plane. “Can you do me a huge favor? I sent something over to you and I think it arrived— do you mind checking your front door?”