Birdhouse In Your Soul - Chapter Seven
Chapter Seven
Freddie decided to pull into a diner in Port Gamble to grab something to eat. Sam didn’t function well without something in her stomach, he knew this. The moment the thought crossed his mind he could hear two stomachs grumble loudly. Sam’s father was also hungry, something else the two had in common.
Sam had started talking after twenty minutes of silence. Her first act was to pinch him hard and the followed it up by commenting about what a horrible driver he was. It wasn’t the worst thing she’d ever done, but darn it he was a great driver!
So after passing by Discovery Bay, he jumped onto the 20 and took it until he reached Anderson Lake Road. He followed it for a while, remembering a nice little restaurant/diner type establishment near there. Once he reached Rhody Drive and made a right until he came upon ‘Chimacum Café’. The sign outside was lit up; it had become quite dark out; due to the storm rolling in. It had a neon flower in the left corner while half the sign was dark blue and the top half, white. The building itself wasn’t much to look at but he’d heard that it was a great place for pie.
Sam raised an eyebrow as he parked and got out. She also got out and went over to him.
“What are we doing here?” she asked him, pulling her coat around herself.
“Food.” He grinned down at her. “You must be starving after that drive.” He smirked and started for the door. She followed and Roger joined them after realizing that they were staying at this spot. Freddie held the door open for the both of them and then stepped in. An older woman with a messy bun came over and asked how many there would be in their party. Freddie seemed to be the only one out of the three who was able to speak. The two Puckett’s stood by one another, glancing at each other cautiously.
“It’ll be three.” He informed the woman and she grabbed three menus, the proceeded to lead them to a booth to the left. Sam made sure to sit next to Freddie, which might not have been a good idea, but it was better then the other option. The booths weren’t that big which caused the two to be squished together. Roger took the booth across from them and wasn’t sure what to do. He’d been silent for a while and was trying to figure how what he should say.
“Look Roger,” Sam started with a sigh. Freddie wondered when she’d start to talk to the guy. He had his opinions of the guy, since the talk with his mother and still felt he should protect Sam, even if she didn’t need it. “I don’t know what you want from me and I don’t know what I want from you.” She was about to continue when the waitress came back to their table to get their drink order. They all ordered tea and then Sam turned her attention back to Roger, to avoid the closeness of Freddie. “It’s supposedly my choice, but I realized during the drive that it’s only half mine.”
Roger looked puzzled by this and raised an eyebrow.
“What do you mean it’s only half yours?”
“For all I know you don’t really want anything to do with me.” She said as if it were a fact. Though it bothered her to have to say it like that she pressed on. “Even if I wanted to forego a ‘relationship’ with you it still doesn’t change how I feel about you.” Her eyes narrowed a bit.
“I understand what you mean.” He nodded and just looked at her as if she were the most interesting thing in the world. Freddie could tell from that look that he still loved his daughter. That didn’t change anything though, he still left her. He wondered what his blond friend would have been like if her father had stuck around. No good could come from playing the ‘what if’ game.
“So what are we going to do?”
“I honestly don’t know. I know that there’s no excuse for leaving, at least not for you. I should have stayed for you. Leaving you was the biggest mistake of my life. You have to know that.” His eyes were pleading with hers to understand and for a second Freddie felt sort of bad for the guy.
“That doesn’t change the fact that you did leave and didn’t come visit, call or anything.” She snapped. “I would have even been fine with a good-bye from you but all I got was you walking away without a word.” Her voice was filled with rage as she said this. She didn’t want to freak out right there at the diner because she was having trouble controlling her emotions.
“I can’t fix what happened but I want a chance to be here for you now. I’m not going anywhere.” He had a determined look in his eyes as he said this. It reminded Freddie of many times when Sam would make bets with him.
“That’s what we’ll have to figure out. I don’t want anything from you and I can take care of myself. But what could come from us being on good terms? Do we even want a relationship?”
“I do, Sam. I don’t deserve to be in your life but I’ll wait for as long as it takes until you decide.”
She went silent and Freddie couldn’t see her face behind her mass of hair, but it seemed like she was thinking.
“Look here Roger, I’m not a little girl anymore and I won’t be. You’ll have to deal with me as I am ‘cause that ain’t changin’.” She pointed a finger at him and gave him her classic Sam face. The one that said ‘I mean business so don’t mess with me’.
“I can live with that.” He agreed.
“Good.” She said and then picked up her menu. “Mama needs some meat.” She grinned over at Freddie and he rolled his eyes.
“Where do you put it all Puckett?” he asked do the same.
“A lady doesn’t give away her secrets, Fredwardson.” That was new.
“I see no lady here.” He smirked as she glared over at him.
“I do!” she countered eyeing him.
“I’m probably more of a lady then you are.”
“Probably.” She laughed.
“Darn, I fell into that one.” He sighed. It was good to have her back.
“They have meatloaf sandwiches!” she grinned at him and their eyes locked for a moment.
“They also have the best pies around.” He commented.
Roger watched on in silence as the two bickered then got over it quickly, it was surreal to him how like Sarah and Nathan they were. Yet something was definitely different about these two. He still felt a pang in his heart whenever he thought of the events that had taken place all those years ago. But he wasn’t about to ruin his new chance with Sam.
“I’m getting this and this and some pie with vanilla ice cream!”
“Seriously Sam I have to know where it all goes.”
“Give it up Benson.” She rolled her eyes.
“It’s just amazing how much you can eat in one sitting.”
“When you go without food for long periods of time you tend to scarf up food when you are near it.”
“Your mother never fed you?” Roger found himself asking.
“Eh, she had her moments but otherwise I’d bum it at Carly’s.” she shrugged.
Soon their waitress was back to give them their drinks and get their orders.
“I’m having the meatloaf sandwich with an extra helping of mashed potatoes. For dessert I’d love a nice size of your apple pie with a chunk of vanilla ice cream on top.” Sam stated happily to the woman before her. Food always put her in a good mood.
“Goodness young lady, you’ve got a healthy appetite.” The woman, whose name tag said Betsy on it stated, chuckling.
“Mama loves her some food!”
The woman wrote it down and then came to Roger who ordered pretty much the same thing as Sam. Freddie got a huge burger and fries.
They stayed at the diner for an hour and enjoyed ‘dinner’ since it was about two almost three. Sam had devoured her meal while the other two ate at an appropriate pace.
Freddie found it almost cute how she ate her pie and ice cream. She looked like a little kid as she scooped happily at her ice cream. He had to continually remind himself that it wouldn’t last, she’d turn back into Sam anytime soon and he’d want to take that thought back.
Roger paid for his mean and offered to pay theirs too but Freddie had it covered, he knew Sam didn’t carry cash with her. He’d grown used to paying for her meals and snacks over the year. He would usually do it without even thinking about it.
Once they got back to the car and on the road again Sam was much better. She fiddled with his CDs again and pulled out the other Mae album ‘Destination Beautiful’. She flipped through a few tracks until she landed on one that caught her attention. Track number eight ‘Soundtrack for our Movie’ filled the car. He remembered this one well. It caused him to clam up again as he listened to it. Sam on the other hand enjoyed it by dancing randomly in her seat. At least she hadn’t been affected by the worlds. Maybe he was the only one who ‘ached’ when he thought of her? Which happened to be the first line of the song.
“Well I'm a wreck. I really can't explain it but I, I hear the music when I look at you. Orchestrating the song to accommodate the moment. Well, I'm so in love with you. Are you looking for an answer? Because I could really use a friend tonight. We can make this last forever. We don't have to fear the sunlight.”
She continued to dance along and he felt himself relax a bit. At least she was distracted by it enough not to notice how uncomfortable he felt.
“I'll take a chance and steal away this movie moment. Well, I'm in deep whenever I'm with you. I'm directing the scene that has you and me forever. Well, I'm so in love with...” it finished and he felt himself calm down a bit. No other song caught her ears so she switched it out for another Mae CD, which seemed to please her.
He thought he’d be fine with this CD, but then he remembered that one of the tracks was another one of ‘those’ songs and gulped. Sam was happy with it though and even tried to follow with the words a bit while dancing in her seat.
He focused on the road and got on the 104 again and took it through Port Gamble. The sky was still dark and little droplets of rain it the windshield.
The track ‘On Top’ started to play and he sucked in a breath. He didn’t know why he kept associating Sam and himself with songs. It was getting on his nerves though and he wished for it to stop.
After forty minutes they reached Kingston and pulled the car into the ferry. They all got out and leaned against the railing to enjoy the wind and rain. Freddie stood close to Sam, despite the little voice in his mind telling him not to. Sam didn’t seem as bothered anymore and just closed her eyes and enjoyed the weather.
Sam on the other hand was aware of Freddie, which she had been a lot more lately. But there was nothing she could do about it other then beat the crap out of him. It was the only way to chase him away far enough. She didn’t want to lose him though so maybe beating him up to the point where he’d leave would be bad. She could settle for mild beatings every now and then.
She felt his eyes on her and looked up, he was looking at her right in the eye. He was a brave young lad, she’d give him that.
His eyes drank in every detail of her face. How had he never noticed how attractive she was? Not that it really mattered if she was or not, she was still Sam after all. But her eyes were amazing, the different shades of blue blending together, like a perfect cloudy sky. He loved how wild her hair was too, it reminded him of wheat fields when it got caught in the wind. Maybe he was just being sappy for thinking these things but he couldn’t stop himself.
She grinned at him and bumped him with her shoulder.
“This rocks my socks Freddington!” she laughed and held onto the railing, the wind was blowing a little bit harder but she welcomed it. Roger was off talking to someone; he wasn’t sure who though and didn’t really care at the moment.
Could he really be interesting in the girl before him? Sure she was being less abrasive right now but what would happen when things got back to normal? Would those same feelings be there? Would those swirls of good feelings still be there?
He tried to think of Sam when she was yelling at him and found that he liked her that way. Just like he had the night he kissed her. It’s the only time that he can see her raw passion. Maybe he was a masochist? Did he really enjoy pain?
It started to rain and she looked up at it with a grin.
She was amazing.
He found himself in a daze as she allowed the rain to fall onto her face.
“Fredweird stop it!” she turned her head toward him and gave him a glare. “You’re creepin’ me out with that look on your face.”
He blushed and looked back into the water. From his left he heard her sigh and lean toward him. He held back a smile and enjoyed the moment, it wouldn’t last.
They didn’t speak again as they reached the shore and got back into his car.
The Bushwell Plaza came into view when he turned the corner. This trip had been interesting to say the least. Sam jumped out of the car once he parked and she and Roger stood off to the side awkwardly. They weren’t sure what they should say or do as they looked at each other.
“So…” she started looking up at him.
“Yeah…”
This conversation wasn’t going anywhere.
“How about we just go out to eat or something next weekend?” she finally said, throwing it out there to the universe. Freddie was sort of surprised by her bold question. She was at least trying to make it work.
“That would be great.” Roger grinned and the whole situation in the parking relaxed by many degrees.
Once their good-byes were said Roger got into his car and left. Freddie and Sam headed up to the Shay’s apartment, no words spoken.
Sam was smiling to herself though, which Freddie had noticed the whole way up.
“Don’t ask me.” She told him before exiting the elevator. He just rolled his eyes at this and followed.
Carly still wasn’t home and Spencer had said he wouldn’t be back until after nine. She unlocked the door [Spencer had made her a key] and stepped in. Freddie followed and flopped onto the couch.
“So what should we do? Everyone’s off somewhere. Even my mom’s out, she called me like twenty times today!” Freddie prattled on. “She was at some market outside Seattle.”
“You know…” Sam started glancing over at the box on the floor that she’d brought a while back. “I have more videos you could convert.” She was looking over at him expectantly.
“Let me guess, you want me to use my super nerd skills to take down old video tape formats?” he asked slightly annoyed.
“You would be right, sir!” She looked like she was ready to burst, from the excitement. When had she ever become excited by tech things? “I want to watch those tapes I gave you now too.” She added and started up the stairs. “The box is right there.” She pointed and then disappeared behind the corner of the stairs.
He sighed and got up to grab the box on the floor. It wasn’t too heavy but he still wasn’t going to take the stairs.
In the iCarly studio he found her in one of the beanbag chairs ready to watch the videos. He placed the box next to his cart and pushed a few buttons on his laptop. The TV came out and after a few more buttons the videos started to play. As much as he didn’t want to watch he found himself glancing up more times then he could count. While she watched though he plugged in the camcorder to the laptop and uploaded each video to it. When the one she was watching finished he turned it off and looked over at her. She was sitting still and hadn’t moved an inch since he started it.
“Sam?” he called. “You okay?”
She looked over her shoulder and nodded.
“Are the others ready?” she asked getting up and coming over to his cart. He took a slight step to the right so that she wasn’t too close. It was so ridiculous how he was acting towards her. She hadn’t changed all that much over the past year and a half. Maybe he was the one to change?
“Almost, one more to go and then we can watch them.” He answered watching the little bar on the upload screen move along. It was easier then allowing his teenage boy brain to take over.
“Come on already.” Groaned Sam who was doing what looked like an impatient dance or the ‘I have to go to the bathroom’ dance, he wasn’t sure.
“It’s going as fast as it can, Sam.” Grumbled to her, sounding like his annoyed self, which was just fine with him.
“Don’t you have super techy nerd powers to hurry this up?”
“It doesn’t work that way, I can’t make the upload go any faster then it-” He was cut off by a beep from the laptop signaling that it was finished.
“Yes! It’s done!”
He laughed and pushed play on the first, making sure to play a whole loop of them. He then walked over to the beanbag chairs and sat down. Sam joined him as the screen displayed an unfamiliar living room.
Sam looked over at Freddie confused. He looked at it for a bit as if trying to figure out where it was that he’d seen it before.
“As you can see this is our humble abode.” started a man’s voice.
“Yeah it’s humble alright.” interjected a woman’s bubbly voice, filled with laughter.
“Aw shut it Sarah, it’s going to be a great house, once it’s fixed up.”
“Please tell me you’re going to hire someone, because if you’re going to do anything that requires repairs this place is doomed.” She laughed some more.
“That’s so my mom.” laughed Sam.
“I couldn’t tell.” retorted Freddie.
“I know how to repair things, must you always insult me!” he snapped as the light hairs girl came into view. She looked about nineteen there and she was grinning at the man behind the camera.
“Of course, how else would I have fun?” she then proceeded to take the camera from him and turn it on his face. “So Mister ‘I hide behind the camera’ what do you have to say to your fans, well the imaginary ones.”
He glared at her and folded his arms.
“You’re a jerk, Sarah.”
“I thought guys were called jerks?” she asked.
“Exactly.” He smirked. He stopped though when a hand flew from behind the camera and punched him. “Kidding! Gosh you’re worse when you’re pregnant!” Another punch flew out and got his arm. “I mean you’re glowing.” he laughed nervously.
“Say, where’s your pregnant woman?” she asked looking around the house.
“She’s at our apartment relaxing.”
“Oh so you drag me all the way out here, in my condition. Jerk.”
“I didn’t drag you! You tagged along”
“You promised me cheese, how could I refuse!”
He walked into the living room and inspected the fireplace.
“Well I suppose so.” He turned back and looked at her. Sam noticed something in his eyes when he looked at Sarah but chose not to mention this to Freddie. She’d seen it in Freddie’s eyes a few times in the past week. “Maybe you should sit down and rest.” He told her shifting his eyes.
“Fine.” She grumbled taking a seat on the couch that had been brought to the house. “So why are we video taping this anyways?”
“Does it really matter why? You like filming.” He rolled his eyes at her.
“I suppose.” She sighed. “So have you two crazy kids decided what you’ll name your offspring? Poor kid, has no idea what gene pool he’s come into.”
“Don’t talk about my family like that, Sarah. I thought you loved Granny Ella?”
“Oh I do, but that father of yours is a piece of work.” He looked like he was about to argue with her but changed his mind.
“I know. He means well though.”
“I doubt it dweeb.” He glared at the camera again. “Oh stop glaring!”
“Stop calling me names then.” He countered.
“These two are as bad as we are.” Freddie stated folding his arms. Sam looked over at him and found that he looked a lot like his father.
“Where’s Roger?” Nathan asked with a weird look on his face. The way that he said the name reminded Sam of how Freddie used to say the names of boys he didn’t care for. Freddie didn’t seem to noticed it though and just figured it was a normal tone for his father.
“Workin’ like always.” She sighed.
“So he just leaves you at home alone all the time? Is that really safe in your condition?” he began fiddling with random things in the background.
“I wouldn’t get my panties in a bunch if I were you. Things will be fine. If something goes down I can just call you. Like tech service twenty-four seven!” she laughed.
“That’s not funny Sarah.” He gave her a stern look.
“You never answered my question about what you’re going to name your son.”
“How do you know we’re having a son? We didn’t find out the sex.”
“I just know.”
“Well I like Nathan Jr. for a boy and if it’s a girl then Samantha.” He stated which caused the two teens watching to look at each other.
“You’re not having a girl buddy. It’s going to be a boy. Hopefully he doesn’t look like you. Hopefully he get’s Marissa’s good looks.” She giggled.
“Well Marissa wants a girl and that’s what she has her heart set on.”
“What about you Nathan? What do you really want?” there was seriousness to her tone. He looked up for a moment and it seemed like their eyes had connected. Sam was seeing something completely different then Freddie.
“I…” he started.
“It’s not a hard question, especially for the king of nerds to answer.”
“A boy.” He grinned.
“Then you’ll be getting exactly what you want. You shouldn’t name him Nathan though. I like Freddie.”
“But Fred sounds weird.”
“What about Fredward?”
“Isn’t that a little old fashioned?”
“Well Freddie sounds just right, so say go with it.”
“Maybe.” he sighed.
“It’s a cute name though. Freddie! It’s like that song from Grease The Musical.” She must have been moving around or dancing because the camera was jiggling around.
“What are you doing?” Nathan asked trying not to laugh.
“Dancing!” she yelled.
“There isn’t any music.”
“I can hear the song in my head.” She laughed.
“Freddy my love, I miss you more than words can say. Freddy my love, please keep in touch while you're away. Hearing From you can make the day so much better, getting a souvenir or maybe a letter. I really flipped over the grey cashmere sweater, Freddy my love, Freddy my love, Freddy my love, Freddy my love.” She sang rather well. Nathan grinned at her silliness and took the camera away from her.
“You’re ridiculous.” He laughed.
“So is your face.”
“So is yours.” They both began to laugh like idiots.
“Ah!” Sarah shrieked.
“What?” Nathan came over to her and put the camera down, it was still pointed towards the two. He looked at her with worry on his face.
“She kicked.” Sarah said in awe holding her stomach.
“Really? Can I…”
“Of course.”
He bent down and pressed his ear to her belly. The baby inside kicked again and he pulled back with a grin.
“I bet she knows you’re a dork and she already wants to kick your sorry butt.” She stated laughing.
“Or she’s trying to escape your womb, what with all the disgusting things you eat.”
“She wants those things!”
“Your eating habits having changed since your got pregnant.”
“Lies!”
The film cut off there and started up a new one. In the next one it was Nathan and Sarah with two little babies. One was a little bigger than the other.
“Told ya!” Sarah cheered as Nathan cradled Freddie in his arms.
“Yeah, yeah, but now there’s a Samantha too.” He grinned.
“We did bet on it.”
“Sammy is going to be a knock-out, I can tell.” He commented looking at the little girl.
“Freddie just fight have a chance, if he doesn’t end up looking like you.”
“Do you always have to be so mean? Moment ruiner!”
“Will you two stop that fighting?” Marissa stated coming into the frame. Roger chuckled from behind the camera. “Do you want the kids to pick up your bad habits?”
Sam and Freddie looked at one another and laughed. It was too late for that.
“They’ll be the best of friends Mars, you’ll see!” Sarah grinned, hugging her baby close to her.
“You look…right as a mom Sarah.” cooed Marissa coming over to her best friend.
“Thanks?” the woman wasn’t sure if she should take that as a compliment.
“It’s a good thing.” laughed Marissa.
“Samantha and Fredward.” sighed Nathan.
“I can’t believe you actually named him Fredward.” giggled Sarah.
“You said I should.” Nathan snapped.
“Do you always listen to me? I told you Freddie was a nice name.” she corrected him.
“Freddie is a nice sounding name.” he agreed.
“Let’s introduce them to each other.”
Sarah lifted Sam up toward Nathan who lifted Freddie as well.
“Sammy, this is Freddie.” baby Freddie giggled at this and baby Sam tried to kick him.
“Freddie this is Sammy,” Freddie pouted at her and then tried to kick her back with his little feet.
“Aw isn’t that cute!” stated Sarah looking at the two.
“Oh geez, do we really need another Sarah in this world?” Nathan asked out loud with exasperation.
Everyone laughed at this and then the film cut to yet another clip.
“Wow, I’m still weirded out by this.” Sam found herself saying laying back into her beanbag chair.
“You were a bully even in baby form.” he received a fist to the gut.
The scene before them was of a park, which looked really old. Even the film looked odd in color. A girl about thirteen popped up into the camera and grinned into it.
“How’s this? I’m ready for my close-up Mr. Deville.” she said cheekily. The girl had light brown hair and dark raven eyes. She sparkled in the sunlight and did a twirl. “I’m so excited about today, aren’t you?” she asked the camera person.
“I am! We’re going to have such a great time.”
“Just as long as you can keep your cool today. We can’t have you nerding up the whole thing.”
“I can be cool!”
“Could’ve fooled me.” she laughed and went over to him to take the camera. She then squished herself up against him and pointed the camera toward them both. “These are the faces of happy teenagers.” they both grinned.
“Until the man takes away our right to feel joy.” added Nathan frowning, Sarah did the same and nodded.
“Wait!” she looked as though she had a brilliant idea. “If we continue to be happy then wouldn’t that be like going against ‘the man’?” she looked up at her taller friend who nodded in agreement.
“I like the way you think, sometimes.” he smirked.
“Bah!” she smacked him upside the head. “I’m brilliant and you know it.”
“If only you’d apply yourself more. I mean I personally know that you could have the highest GPA in school but you choose to act like a hooligan.”
“How do you know what my GPA is?”
“I don’t, but I’m just assuming so.”
“You know what happens when you assume don’t you?”
“Uh, no what?”
“You make an ‘ass’ out of ‘u’ and ‘me’, get it.” she laughed at her own joke while he tried to control his own laughter at her randomness.
“That was the stupidest thing I’d ever heard.”
“You know what’s stupider?” he raised an eyebrow. “You being madly in love with poor Marissa Benson; I mean seriously, the day she falls for you is the day that your tattoo is awesome.”
“My tattoo is awesome and it could happen!” he glared at her.
“Sure it could, in another universe. She’s never going to love you Lewis, get over it.” she rolled her eyes.
“You’re just jealous because she’s classier than you and prettier.” he countered getting angry.
“I’m classy!” she yelled balling a fist.
“Classy people don’t bite their toenails.”
A fist few out and hit his face, he then proceeded to fall to the floor. The camera swirled to his body on the ground, hand holding his cheek. He still managed to glare up at her.
“You can forget about us going together now you…you….ugh! Nerd!” she then placed the camera down at his feet and walked away. He picked it up and pointed it at her retreating form.
“I’m a jerk.” he stated sadly.
The clip cut and Freddie decided then to pause it.
“Well that was interesting.” he stated looking over at Sam.
“You have no idea.” She stretched and then curled back up into her beanbag. Her eyes scanned his face, trying to find any clue if he connected the things that happened in the clips. She found that he hadn’t, he looked totally relaxed.
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing.” she brushed it off and got up. Looking at the clock she found that it was only seven at night. “Are you hungry?” she asked heading toward the door.
“Sure.” he shrugged and followed her out.
They gathered in the kitchen and went through the cabinets, fridge and freezer. She started grabbing things from different places and sitting them on the counter. There was some chicken that she must have taken out the night before, because it was thawed out. There was a thing of broccoli, alfrado cream sauce and fettuccine.
“What should I do?” he asked her rolling up his sleeves.
“First go turn on some music, Mama loves her some cookin’ music!”
He plugged in his PearPod into the speaker dock. Mae started to fill the loft with their awesome tunes. Freddie then went back to join Sam at the counter.
“Now what do I do?”
“Go find a nice sized pot and fill it with water, place it on the stove on medium.” she instructed as she cut up the chicken into strips.
“Okay, done.”
“Okay take this broccoli and chop off the parts that are stemming off the large piece, so that we’ll have little bits of it.” he nodded and grabbed a knife and started to cut off little mini trees.
Once all the chopping was complete and everything was cooking up on the stove Sam took a break and enjoyed the music. The fettuccine had just been placed in and needed time to get soft. Freddie washed and dried his hands and joined her, leaning against the counter.
“Let’s dance!” she said suddenly grabbing his hand and moving him to the center of the kitchen.
“What? Dance? Together?” his face was starting to get red again and he had to remind himself where he was, this was not the time to have a wandering brain.
“Oh come on this is a great song and my feet want to dance, so dance with me!” she snapped at him and held onto both of his hands and moved to the beat. He seemed to get into rhythm with her random dancing soon enough and was actually smiling. “I love this one! What’s it called?” she asked as he spun her around.
“On Top.” he replied pulling her back into him.
“It’s a great song.” she laughed allowing him to put his hand on her waist as they moved around the kitchen faster than in a normal ‘slow’ dance. As he turned them she continued to move her shoulders and bob her head around happily.
Soon the song changed to another track but it was a little slower. He was about to let go of her but she stopped him by moving in a slower motion, yet still putting energy into her moves.
“You dance like a dork.” she jabbed as he spun her. Hearing this from her, he spun her back into his chest and then back out and let go of her hand. “Touchy!” she punched his arm with a little less force then she usually did.
“Are the noodles done yet?”
“Let’s see.” she grabbed a fork and pulled a strip of fettuccine out of the pot. Once the water had stopped dripping she flung it at the fridge. He looked down at her strangely, wondering why she did this. “That’s how you tell if they’re done, or you can eat one and be grossed out. It stuck though so they’re read. Get the strainer and put it in the sink.” he grabbed it and did as she asked, standing out of her way when she brought over the fettuccine and started to pour it all into the strainer.
The alfrado sauce had the broccoli as well as the chicken added to it previously and was simmering on a lower heat. With the fettuccine in a bowl she added a bit of butter to the fettuccine and set it aside.
Freddie watched on in amazement at her skills in the kitchen.
She grabbed two plates and distributed a bit of the fettuccine onto each, then ladled some of the sauce onto the top. With two plates complete she headed over to the table and set them down.
They enjoyed a quiet meal together, which can’t be said a lot for the two.
It was amazing though.
“This is delicious, Sam.”
“It’s simple to make.” she shrugged. “Motion City Soundtrack!” she blurted out upon hearing the song playing.
“Yeah, I have it on a playlist.” he took another mouthful of the fettuccine.
She started to dance a little in her seat while eating.
“I can’t believe that Spencer and Carly aren’t back yet.”
“I’m sure that Carly is on her way, it’s getting late out and she doesn’t like to drive at night.”
Just as this was seat the front door opened and Carly stepped in. She stopped for a moment upon seeing the two at the table, not killing each other. Her thought process left that and went straight for the amazing smells coming from the kitchen.
“Sam, you cooked!” she cheered and went into the kitchen to make a plate. “It smells amazing!!” Carly gushed and headed over to them sitting across from Freddie.
“I thought you’d never get back!”
“Sorry but Granddad needed my help with moving and other random things I’d rather not even go into.” she sighed and took a bite. “What did you guys do today?” she asked offhandedly scooping up a piece of chicken.
The two shared a look and wondered if they should even go into it.
“We ran a few errands.” Freddie offered.
“I saw Roger today and we agreed to ‘hang’.”
“That’s great Sam!” Carly smiled at her blond friend.
“Our ‘errands’ were a little more than errands.” Sam confessed giving Freddie a shrug.
“Oh? What did you do?” Carly gave Sam her undivided attention.
“I had to take my mom to the ocean.” she started and Carly understood what she meant right away. “Then we stopped for food. Then we came back here and watched the videos I found at home.” she finished.
“Oh, you saw those?”
“Yeah, I figured it was time to.” she said nonchalantly.
“Weren’t they weird?”
“Meh, I learned a few things about my mom so it’s cool.”
Silence filled the room as the three ate their meal.
Sam didn’t know why she decided to come here of all places. Carly had gone off to bed after eating and showering. Whatever her Granddad had her do must have tired her out. Looking up at the stars she kept questioning why she decided to venture here, on the fire escape.
After Carly said her good-nights and disappeared up the stairs Freddie helped her clean up the kitchen and then left for home. She sat on the couch for a while and just looked at the television, which wasn’t on.
Growing restless of it she got up and fought a bit with the front door which didn’t want to close. She then wandered down the halls until she came upon the fire escape. It was a little chilly out that night but luckily she brought a coat with her. Climbing up the fire escape she sat at the very top and looked out at the Seattle lights.
“Sam?” called a voice and she opened her eyes to find Freddie at the bottom of the steps.
“What are you doing out here?” she raised an eyebrow as he made his way up toward her.
“I heard you in the hallway and went to check.”
“Won’t your mommy notice you missing?”
“She got called into work, night shift.” he shrugged and plopped down right next to her; arms and legs touching.
“So you decided to come out here to bother me?”
“Yes, that’s exactly my plan. Is it working?” he wiggled his eyebrows at her. She just rolled her eyes and turned her head back to the lights of the city.
“Yes, it worked, you’re bothering me.” there was no bite behind that statement.
“You like it.” he nudged her and she nudged back.
“Go home Benson.”
“No.” he smirked down at her.
“You annoy me.” she glared up at him.
There it was again, the fire that set him aflame. Should it really be that simple? Her eyes were on him and he couldn’t turn away. He refused to allow his hormones react to those blue gems again. Though he wanted nothing more than to kiss her once again; that’s all he wanted to do for the rest of his days. He could live with everything else about her, he did now anyways. There was nothing about her he’d change; she was what he wanted, even though he could never say this out loud. With every fiber of his being, he just wanted to shout out to everyone that he had feelings for the blond. It took him so long to come to that conclusion. Even before her mother died he had an itch when it came to Sam. Now it just made more sense to him. He really liked the mischievous blond minx.
“Fredweird, wake up!” she snapped her finger in front of his face.
“Huh?”
“Where the chizz were you?”
“Nowhere.” he laughed nervously.
“You excited about turning eighteen in a week?” she asked bringing up her knees to her chest.
“I suppose. I don’t really like my birthday though. The only good thing about this one is that I’ll finally be a legal ‘adult’.” She placed this little bit of information away for later. “So what are you doing out here anyways?” he asked her putting his hands into his coat pocket.
“I don’t know, felt like being outside.”
“How are you feeling about everything?” he found himself asking, even though he knew he shouldn’t.
“Meh, fine.”
“Even after what you had to do today?”
“Yeah, it’s weird but after I did it I just felt better. It’s hard to explain, especially to you because of your own religious beliefs but in my family that’s how it is.”
“I’m not that religious. My mother is but I don’t really know what I believe.”
“Well, I like to think that she’s out there somewhere getting to live again.” she shrugged; she’d been doing that a lot today. “Reincarnation.” she stated nodding. “That’s why we cremate I guess.”
“I didn’t really think of you as a churchgoer or someone who even believed in anything.”
“I am human.” she scowled at him, feeling insulted.
“I wasn’t saying that, it’s just that you don’t seem to care about anything. Like with school, you don’t study or do your homework and yet you still managed to pass your classes. You don’t seem like you care enough to put effort into them.”
“Thank you Dr. Phil. Is this going to be a changing day in my life?” she asked cheekily.
“See what I mean, you take everything as a joke.” he sighed looking away from her.
“Oh come on Benson, why do you even care how I do in school or what I care about?”
“I don’t.” he shrugged. Why were they continuously shrugging?
“Whatever, I’m going back inside. Night.” she stood up abruptly and headed down the stairs and vanished around the corner. He sighed and got up as well. Sam was just too much sometimes. What he was sure of was that there was something animalistic between them. If he were alone and too close to her his mind would switch over and want to do unspeakable things to her. Un-Freddie-like things that would be unexpected from the ‘nerd’ like him.
He smiled to himself and walked into his apartment.