Birdhouse In Your Soul - Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Thirteen
The sun hadn’t even risen yet but Freddie Benson was wide awake. He turned his head to the side and gazed over at the fluff of blond hair beside him. It all settled into the pit of his stomach as he sighed and continued to watch the sleeping form. Sam grumbled and then turned her body toward his. They were still tangled up at the legs and his arms were still around her. His eyes fell on the alarm clock off on the table and almost jumped up out of the bed, it was nearing 7am. Hi mom was going to be getting off word soon and if she realized he wasn’t home he was dead.
As much as he loved being with her at that exact moment he had to leave. Frowning he shifted a bit and untangled himself from her. She groaned and turned toward where his body was and curled up to the pillow he’d slept on.
Hammy was curled up at the bottom of the bed, under the blankets, he could tell by the little lump wiggling. His cute little head popped out and he started to whimper at Freddie as he grabbed his shoes and headed towards the ‘door’ of her room.
“No, Hams, go back to sleep.” he whispered to the little guy who just gave him a sad look and laid back down. “I’ll see you later.” he promised with a smiled and Hammy’s tail began to wag at this but he obeyed and curled back up against Sam’s leg.
He glanced back over at the girl on the bed and smiled to himself, wishing he were back in bed with her, surrounded by her lollipop scent and curled up in her insane blond mane.
She turned against and he could barely make out her face under the blankets and the pillow, which she’d clung to like a child to a stuffed animal. With a heavy sigh he extracted himself from the room.
Once out of the studio he made his way down the stairs and out of the Shay’s apartment. Since it was still pretty early no one was awake and no one heard the door close. It wasn’t until he was out of there that it really truly hit him. He and Sam actually slept in the same bed together and she actually liked the smell of him enough to hold that pillow. He remembered waking up sometime during the night and finding her on his chest whispering nonsense in her sleep.
With these thoughts and images going through his mind he entered his apartment and went to bed, even though he had the best sleep of his life last night.
Sam spent Sunday with Roger, which was a whole new experience for her. She thought about that morning though most of the time that day. When she woke up she found that Freddie had left but she could still feel his warmth and smell him on her pillow. The night before still played in her mind like a broken record though. He said ‘it’. He said those words that most girls would love to hear from someone they’ve been with. Not that they were ‘together’, but this just complicated everything. How do you function when the boy you’re trying to set free says he ‘loves you’? Even thinking it was hard on her mind. What was she supposed to do when she saw him again? He didn’t actually know that he had said it but she did which made it weird.
Putting it to the side she led Hammy into the recording studio after they went to Roger’s and he made her a big lunch. He had asked her to bring her new pet with her, which she planned to do anyways. Spencer wasn’t home and Carly was spending the day with her boyfriend, David Shay.
Roger had set up a special meeting with one of his friends who he thought she’d like to meet. He was correct in assuming so. The members of the band ‘Cuttlefish’ had stood before her merely two hours before and she got to sing a few songs with them as well as take some pictures and just hang. They were a nice bunch of folks who actually wanted to keep a copy of the songs they’d done together.
It was an amazing gift from Roger that she wished she could have shared with Carly, which she had explained to Roger as well. He smiled at her when she said this and proceeded to surprise her once more.
“I’m having the guys perform on iCarly, if you want them to.” he’d said once they were alone in the recording studio, Hammy asleep on Roger’s lap. “Well I asked if you would and they were all for it.”
“What?” she said loudly causing Hammy’s head to snap up and his ears to shoot up in attention. Once he realized there was no danger he laid back down and went to sleep. “Are you serious? Did they actually say they’d be on the show?”
“Yep, they’ll come on anytime this month but after that they’ll be out of the Seattle area so let me know when you’d like them to come.”
“Of course we would!” she grinned. He couldn’t help but smiled at this, everything over the past few months seemed to just wash away. That grin took him back to the days when she was just a little girl. There was something almost sharp about her facial expressions now, yet there was still his daughter in there. He had high hopes for their relationship working out though and he’d continue to push forward to work through the kinks and knots.
“So I never asked you, where’d you get this dog from?” Hammy didn’t bother to look up as he allowed Roger to scratch his little head.
“He was a present.” she shrugged and took a sip from her iced coffee.
Roger gave her a knowing look, yet there was something almost sad in his ocean eyes.
“From Freddie?” he tried to take the sadness out of his voice but it didn’t work.
Sam looked very confused by his strange turn to sadness. She’d always struck him young, even for his current age. There was always something youthful about his scruffy face and persona. In that moment he seemed to age before her eyes.
“What’s wrong with you? Why do you look all sad, like someone stabbed you with a sponge or something?” she found herself asking him. He tried to smile despite the weird feeling that was built up inside his chest.
“Oh it’s nothing, just thinking about some stuff.” he cleared his throat and continued to pet Hammy. “So he got you a dog? How’d that come about?” he looked back to normal, somewhat and she took it as a sign that whatever had pulled him down had let him go.
“We were hangin’ out and we passed by this store and Mr. Hams was there and lookin’ mighty sad. I guess Freddie thought he’d be a good present.”
“Was he right?” her father smirked. Sam’s face looked blindsided for a moment and wondered why he always had to bring to light the fact that the dork thought of her as more than a friend. Though now she knew just how much he really thought of her. She could feel her soft cheeks become warm at the thought but shoved it away, like she did whenever she’d react this way.
“I guess, he’s pretty awesome and a good companion. Also I guess he’s cute, just don’t tell anyone I said that.” she gave Roger a stern look that said ‘I mean bid’ness’.
“Who are we talking about, Freddie or Hammy?” he couldn’t help but laugh as her face went up an extra shade.
“I can’t believe you just said that! I meant Hammy!” if it were possible for people to literally turn red from embarrassment, then Sam would be the first proven case.
“Sure ya did.” he chuckled and then settled down after seeing her get worked up. “So when do you want to do dinner again?”
“If you keep it up never.” she frowned.
“I was just kidding with ya.” he smiled, knowing she wasn’t serious.
“Yeah yeah, well I guess we could go tomorrow night.” she shrugged.
“How about we get Timothy to get us some food up in here?” he grinned and pushed a random button on a separate area of the board before him. His voice rang throughout the entire building as he called Tim, one of his assistants and told him to get them something to eat for lunch.
I should probably feed Hams a little something. Fredweird got me these traveling bowls so I can give him water and food if we’re out all day.”
“That was thoughtful of him.” Roger commented offhandedly.
She frowned and chose not to pipe in that she thought so too.
When she got home that night she couldn’t hold back a smile, it was impossible. She couldn’t wait to tell Carly the greatest news in the entire world. But Carly wasn’t home when she got back at 7:30 that night. Spencer was also absent from the loft and she began to wonder what was up. Had they gone somewhere together and forgot to tell her?
She set Hammy down and he began his usual run around the living room and kitchen. He always had to inspect every inch to make sure nothing was off.
Placing all of her belongings by the elevator she sighed and decided to just order a pizza for herself. When she really thought about it she hadn’t looked at her phone once all that day and hadn’t even heard it ring. Pulling it out she found that there were only a few missed calls and a text from Carly. Most of the missed calls were Carly’s and one was from her mother’s lawyer. Carly stated in her messages as well as her text that Spencer was going out of town for the night to an art gallery showing in Spokane and would be back late. Her best friend said she should be home around ten or so, that David was taking her to some nice restaurant.
What really got to her though was that Freddie hadn’t called her once that day. Had she said something in her sleep that morning to chase him away?
Just as these thoughts entered her mind there was a familiar knock at the door, which brought a smile to her lips. Quickly covering it up, she went to the door and opened it up. Freddie smiled down at her and she could feel her heart stop for a moment. She scolded herself for getting so overly excited about seeing him. Her plans were being ruined by the look in his eyes.
If she shut her eyes for a moment she could still hear him say those words with such clarity and truth. This in itself caused her heart to start up again. Could she really break his heart when he was the reason for hers to beat like a bass line in a hyper song?
“I feel like I haven’t seen you all day.” he said coming in, she shut the door and couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “Not that I’m complaining, too much Sam can be bad for my health.” he chuckled, joking. She proceeded to smack the back of his head as he passed.
“That’s because I was gone all day, dork.” she glared at his last comment but chose to ignore it.
He continued to smirk as he looked around the loft. He noticed Hammy was stuffing his face over in the kitchen and hadn’t really noticed him yet.
“Where is everybody?” he finally asked sitting down on the couch. Hammy’s head snapped up and he sprinted across the kitchen to the living room onto Freddie’s lap. He found himself being licked to death by his little friend. While this was all happening Sam was off in another universe.
So many scenarios ran through her mind as he casually lounged on the couch with Hammy, looking up at her as she stood frozen in the spot by the door.
They were alone, together.
He was still looking at her as she stood there allowing the thoughts of themselves wrapped up in an intimate embrace, him whispering loving words into her ear. She tried to snap herself out of it but they just kept coming. Images were attached to the memos in her mind. It was unfair to her to have to stand there and watch these things and wish for them and then force herself to fight against them. To want them so bad that it hurt to even look at him.
“Sam?” Freddie called her back to reality and she visibly shook her head and looked at him confused.
“Huh?” she found herself saying still very lost. He looked concerned for a second but brushed it off as her being her usual strange self.
“Thanks for joining me.” he laughed and she rolled her eyes. “I asked you where everyone was.”
“Oh, Carly’s out with David, Spencer’s in Spokane for some art thing.” she shrugged and made sure not to sit down yet, instead she looked down at her phone and decided to call for pizza. He just shrugged and went back to play fighting with Hammy.
Heading to the island she leaned against it and ordered two large meat-filled pizzas. Looking over her shoulder she found Hammy and Freddie playing still. After she got done telling the teenager on the other line that she wanted two larges and not one large and medium she got off the phone and just observed her new pup and friend.
Freddie allowed the little guy to nibble on his hand playfully and then he’d stop biting and lick where he bit. It was just so cute to watch them and she felt suddenly nauseous. She hated even thinking something was cute let alone say it aloud
“So you’re getting pizza?” he asked after Hammy got bored and trotted off to get a drink. Freddie turned so that he was staring right at her as he said this. His big brown eyes were looking up at her hopefully.
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna share with you, dorksville.” Dorksville? he thought to himself looking at her as if she were nuts.
“Oh come on, I’ll pay for half.” he whined.
“You can pay for both.” she told him grinning.
“Why?”
“Because I want you to.” she shrugged and sat down in front of the computer.
“And you think that I’ll just do whatever you say, just because you want me to?” he frowned, still looking at her.
“Pretty much.” she shrugged again.
The distance was good; it kept her from following through with the images in her mind. This was Fredward Benson for ham’s sake! It wasn’t like he was unappealing or that she wasn’t already crazy about him but this wasn’t working. Her plan was failing right before her eyes and there was nothing she could do about it. She was supposed to be pushing him slowly out of her life [though only romantically] until he finally got over his crazy ‘love’ for her. Even though she believed now that his feelings were real, there was something in her that doubted it still. The ‘whys’ were what kept her from believing in his confession. What could possess this guy to ‘fall in love’ with her?
Freddie frowned to himself as he watched her from the couch. She had a frown set on her lips as well and she was staring at the computer screen, but there was nothing there. It looked much like her confused/thinking face. Sometimes he wished he could just read minds, and then he’d know what she wanted him to do so he could just be with her. But then there was a downside to being able to go into others minds, sometimes some thoughts were just better left unheard.
She was right though; he would do whatever she asked, within reason, if she pestered him enough. Buying food wasn’t that big of a deal to him but he wasn’t about to let her know that.
She shifted in her seat and leaned forward, seeming to come out of her trance-like state. Her fingers began to vigorously type against the smoothed out keys as her eyes darted to follow her handy work.
After about thirty minutes the pizza arrived and Freddie paid for it. Sam hadn’t even looked up when the knock came. Once the scent of meat hit her nose though she was up and over to the pizza.
“We should go watch more of those videos.” she suggested grabbing one of the boxes. “Remember you converted the others I brought when I had to go move all the stuff in the house to storage?” she was surprised at how civil she sounded just then.
“Oh yeah, we never did watch those ones.” he got up and grabbed the boxes from her hands and they headed up the stairs to the studio to continue their movie watching.
Once positioned before the widescreen television he pressed a few buttons on his laptop and a video started up. There was a little girl sitting on the couch with her blond head tilted to the side. They both knew right away who she was.
“Nathan what are you doing?” came the voice of Roger, who appeared on screen as Nathan swung it toward the other man.
“Documenting Sam’s birthday of course.” Nathan said with a laugh in his voice.
He returned the camera to little Sam and she was giving him a confused look.
“Sammy.” Nathan started.
“Yeah?” her innocent little voice piped up with a hint of confusion as she sat up straighter on the couch.
Freddie laughed at this. “I didn’t think it was possible for you to sound innocent.” he whispered over at the older version of the little girl and she smacked the back of his head and continued to focus on the screen.
“What have you wanted for your birthday for the past two years?” Nathan continued.
Little Sam’s lips began to turn up more into a smile. It was so surprising how adorable she was for a demon.
“A kitty!” the little girl grinned and nodded her head up and down.
“Really? I thought you wanted a hat, not a cat.” Nathan gave her a serious look.
“What? I wanna kitty!” little Sam frowned at Nathan’s bad joke. “I don’t like hats.”
“I’m just kidding with you Sammy.” he chuckled. “Cover your eyes and I’ll go get your gift.” he told her and did so without complaint but was literally dancing in her seat. He handed the camera to the little girl’s father and you could faintly hear him walk out of the room. Roger was talking to his daughter for a moment, asking if she was super excited about her present. From the far off corner you could barely see Marissa and Sarah with Freddie in her lap. He shifted the camera a bit and pointed it at them.
“What are you guys doin’ over there?” he asked and Sarah stuck her tongue at him.
“We’re waiting for that nugget to get back with Sammy’s gift.” Sarah told him smirking.
“So snippy, are pregnant woman always like this?” Roger asked more to Marissa then Sarah, who narrowed her eyes.
Freddie hit the pause button for a second and looked over at Sam.
“No way…” she muttered looking at her mother’s narrowed eyes frozen on the screen.
“You didn’t know?”
“Obviously not dorkwad, I wonder what happened to the baby…” she seemed to be pushing it to the backburner as he watched her. She leaned toward him and hit the play button, ignoring his concerned eyes.
“It’s expected, especially from Sarah.” Marissa giggled and her best friend gave her a cheeky grin.
“Daddy, what’s prigment?” little Sam asked with her eyes still covered.
“Something I hope you’ll not have to know about for fifty years.” he laughed nervously.
“Wow your dad is such a…well dad, that’s hilarious!” commented Freddie, trying to lighten the mood. She just rolled her eyes and continued to watch.
“Okay Daddy.” she flopped her head side to side while holding her hands in place, waiting for her birthday present.
“I’m back!” announced Nathan happily, coming back into the shot like a really bad cheesy superhero.
“I didn’t even notice that you left.” snipped Sarah from the background. “And stop posing it makes you look like an idiot.” she added glaring over at him.
“Why do you constantly have to-” he started but was cut off by a shoe hitting his head. “What is your problem you aggressive woman!” he yelped holding the shoe in one hand a something fluffy in the other. The pair in the bean bag chairs couldn’t quite see what it was; Roger kept switching the camera back and forth between the bickering friends.
“Your mom is as bad as you are, you know.” Freddie again whispered over to the blond.
“Have I thrown my shoe at you?” she didn’t receive an answer though.
“Present time?” little Sam asked confused and sounding quite sad.
“I’m sorry Sammy…” both Nathan and Sarah said, in different vocal pitches.
“Okay munchkin, it’s time!” he laughed and she giggled along with him. “Ready?”
“Yep!” she chirped.
“Open your eyes.”
The camera angle moved around until it was on Sam’s right and you could plainly see a grayish looking kitten sitting in Nathan’s hands.
“KITTY!” she shrieked loudly and practically jumped off the couch and toward Nathan and the kitten. The small fluff ball turned its head towards her a meowed cutely. He placed the kitten in Sam’s hands and she held it close to her and began to pet it softly, making cute little noises at it.
“So kiddo, what are ya going to name him?” Nathan asked taking a seat on the couch while she joined him, holding her kitty.
“Frothy!” she grinned and the kitty agreed with her as he made himself comfortable on her lap.
“Why Frothy?” he asked chuckling at the silliness of the name.
“No way!” Sam yelped out as her limbs flailed about in an attempt to sit up straighter. “I named that demonic cat? My mom said that he just wandered in one day and we kept him.” she snipped angrily. “That jerk lied to me!” she felt her eye begin to twitch at this knowledge.
“What happened to him anyways?” Freddie found himself asking.
“He died a year ago. Old age.” she frowned and looked upon the once young Frothy.
“He reminds me of a root beer float.” she grinned up at him and he bent down and pecked her on the top of her head.
“He really did remind me of a root beer float.” older Sam commented smiling a little.
“It’s a cute name.” stated Nathan.
Little Freddie jumped off of Sarah’s lap and wandered over to her and she lifted the kitty up to show him.
“Look what I got.”
“I want one.” Freddie pouted.
“Get your own.” she flicked his forehead with a finger and he frowned at her and pinched her exposed leg.
“Hey! You can’t do that!” she pouted and looked at her dad. “Daddy, he hurt me!”
“She started it.” he pointed an accusing finger at the four year old girl.
“Freddie be nice, it’s her birthday.” scolded Nathan giving his son a stern look.
“Okay.” he sighed and went back to where his mom was at.
“You were even mean back then. Geez and I thought it was something you just developed into later on.” frowned an older Freddie who was currently shooting his best friend an annoyed look.
“Well what do you want me to say? You were still a little dork then.” She turned a little in her bean bag chair and flicked him on the forehead and he swatted her hand away.
“Do you really want to go through with this pointless fight?” he asked bored.
“Maybe later.”
They both hadn’t realized that the video had finished and another had already started. Freddie moved the little bar back to the beginning and they both turned their attention to the television screen.
The room looked unfamiliar but the bodies taking up the brightly colored room weren’t. Marissa, Roger, Sarah and Nathan all sat together in front of the camera, squished onto the florescent green couch. Roger frowned as Marissa’s elbow pushed into his ribcage. Nathan and Sarah were getting into a slapping contest with one another, causing Sarah’s elbow to also poke at Roger.
“Come on already!” Roger finally snapped grabbing his wife’s elbow as well as Marissa’s. “Can’t you guys just chill out and get on with this thing?”
“Sorry Roger, your wife is being a brat.” stated Nathan glaring at the woman next to him.
“Yeah well you’re not so wonderful yourself you know?” he just rolled his eyes at her statement.
“Isn’t the point of this video to talk to our future kids?” Marissa asked, clearly uncomfortable being stuck in the corner.
“Yeah, can’t you to just stop your fighting for a bit while we do this?” Roger added, agreeing with his friend.
“Fine.” they both grumbled and folded their arms simultaneously, while still glaring at one another.
“Good, now Marissa why don’t you start?” Roger suggested nudging her lightly with his shoulder.
Marissa Benson smiled and nodded and then gave full attention to the camera.
“Hey there kids, we’re hoping that you guys have become friends and are able to watch this together. Unless of course Sarah loses this video then it would be so pointless to do it.” she sighed and shook her head at Sarah who gave her friend one of her famous cheeky grins. “Anyways, I’m Marissa, your mother and aunt or godmother, whichever you prefer. Since you both are still baking in the ovens, we don’t exactly know what we’ll name you yet. But Sarah is so sure that she’s having a girl and I’m also hoping for one as well. But that doesn’t mean I’m not happy with you, if you are in fact a boy.”
“Wow, are you applying for a job or doing an infomercial?” Sarah asked laughing at her best friend.
“Well then you ahead and do something.” pouted Marissa.
“Fine.” she adjusted her posture a bit and flipped her hair back, hitting Nathan in the face. He pushed a hand into her left shoulder and she turned around and punched him in the arm, hard. This went on for two minutes until she got bored and turned back to the camera. “Alright you kids, the things you need to know are that these people on this couch are like a crazy dysfunctional family, who show affection by treating one another like poo.”
“What?” all three other young adults said together.
“I’m kidding, well not about the dysfunctional family part. See, Marissa over here, she can’t stand her dad, he’s always demanding her to do that ridiculous fencing thing and she hates it. But he’s so blinded by it all that he doesn’t take into account that she’s unhappy with it.” Marissa frowned but seemed to agree with what Sarah was saying. “My oh so wonderful husband who get’s his awesome wife knocked up, not that I’m not happy about that, I can’t wait, but the point is he’s also without some form of parenting.” she leaned over and pecked him on the lips real quick. “He was raised by his grandma most of his life and she passed away a year ago. He can’t really remember what his parents were like, all he has are photos and a few trinkets.” she then turned her head toward Nathan and she frowned a bit.
“Go ahead.” he sighed.
“My parents and his, the Lewis’s were great friends, it goes away back into a really long spirally thing that I don’t care to explain. The point is that…” she stopped for a moment and knitted her hands together. “Nathan’s real mother died turning child birth and the guy who got her pregnant wasn’t around, I’m guessing he didn’t even know. The Lewis’s loved him from the moment they laid eyes on him, even though his dad is a total son of a-”
“Sarah!” snapped Nathan sitting up straight.
“What? I was just gonna say biscuit, I swear.”
“Uh huh.” he shot her a dirty look from the corner of his eyes.
“Anyways.” she turned back to the camera. “I met this creep when I was two I think; maybe we knew each other before that I don’t know. But from what Mags told me, that’s his mom, she makes really great apple pie,” Marissa nodded in agreement. “She said that she’d met his biological mother before she gave birth to him. She was very young and was advised to not forgo the pregnancy, but she couldn’t destroy a child that she already loved.” she glance over at Nathan for a moment and something silent transpired between the two, Sam noticed, she could tell Freddie was trying not to.
“You really need to stop talking to my mom.” he complained.
“Yeah well she loves me and makes me delicious deserts so there.” she stuck her tongue out at him and then turned back to the camera after adding, “And besides don’t you want your offspring to know about you?”
“Well yeah but geez, how much do my kids need to know?”
“Everything possible, duh.” she rolled her eyes and leaned back into the couch against Roger.
“Don’t listen to him Sarah, our kids will need to know all of this and you’re the only one who seems to know everything about all of us.” commented Marissa giving her husband a disapproving look.
“Okay.” smiled Sarah and returned her attention to the camera. “So anyways, it was her wish that Mags take ol’ Nathan here if anything happened to her. So kids if you ever wonder why you’re so funny lookin’ it’s your dad’s fault, not your mom’s, she’s a foxy piece of woman!” laughed Sarah grinning at her best friend next to Roger. Marissa giggled at the comment and shook her head at her friend’s silliness.
“So who’s next?”
“Can we just go get some pie?” asked Marissa trying to dislodge herself from her awkward position with Roger.
“Oh! Pie!” cheered Sarah also trying to get up from the couch.
Nathan found his way out of the corner and shut off the camera just as everyone on the couch managed to get up.
“Well that was interesting.” Freddie stated.
“Yeah, I feel like I just watched some really weird sitcom.”
“Let’s watch this last one and then I need to get home.” he said about to push the button.
“Why?” she found herself asking before she could stop the words from leaving her mouth. She couldn’t come up with anything to add to that which would diminish the meaning behind it.
“Why? Because I have to?” he seemed to have completely missed her question. She had meant it as more of a request for his company, while thinking about the night before. Maybe it was a good thing that he didn’t catch on to her ‘why’. When she glanced over at him he looked puzzled by her own expression. She frowned and tried to pull it together. Three words shouldn’t be affecting her so much, especially not from Freddork of all people. If you separated the three you’d have two not-so-menacing words but together they were like a ticking time bomb. That’s right if ‘love’ were by itself it would still be dangerous, it couldn’t be trusted. Once it joined forces with other words, just watch out.
She rolled her eyes at the silliness of it all and tried to figure out what she should say to him.
“Your mom workin’ late tonight?”
“Actually she’s off today, go figure.” he shrugged and pressed the button on the laptop.
How could he have completely missed her question? She was practically propositioning the guy for goodness sakes. Okay maybe she wasn’t being that forward but why didn’t he comment on her question?
The video was silent for a few moments as the person behind the camera.
“You idiot you forgot to take off the lens cap.” snapped an all too familiar voice. Then there was more of a picture and the two teens watching gasped.
“Is that…” started Sam.
“It is…” Freddie gaped.
“So when’s the freak show start?” called Sarah.
“Shut up Sarah, did you forget that Marissa’s in the show?”
“Oh yeah.” she laughed. “Never mind!”
The camera had been turned to her for a moment when Nathan had addressed her. You could tell that her belly was pretty round.
“I still don’t think this is a good idea, she shouldn’t be out there when she’s pregnant.” Roger stated worriedly from his position next to Sarah.
“What the nubs is your mom doing in the circus?” Sam asked Freddie, completely shocked by what she’d just heard. “Then again with your family history I guess I’m not so surprised.” she laughed, coming out of her shock.
“Shut up Sam.” Freddie grumbled as he watched on. His dad must have been shaking a bit while holding the camera.
“How could you have let her go through with this?” it sounded like Sarah was starting to get worried as well.
“I didn’t, her dad made her.” he spat out bitterly.
“Yeah well be a man, that’s supposed to be your woman out there and she’s in danger you idiot! What kind of husband allows his wife who he’s supposed to love go out there?” Sarah snapped angrily standing up as though she was going to stop her friend from going through with her plans. “And pregnant no less!”
“She didn’t tell me until we got here! She just vanished with the lion tamer and her annoying dad!”
The two couldn’t quite understand why it had taken then so long to freak out of this but the tension continued as the camera panned out among the crowd as well as the circus folk. It started to dawn on them as well as they noticed the bear working its way across the stage with it’s trainer and a man in spandex wielding a flame thrower and a crochet mallet.
“Have you ever met your mom’s dad?” Sam found herself asking, watching all of this unfold.
“No, mom said that he passed away or something, she doesn’t like to talk about him much.”
“Where do you think you’re going Sarah?” called Nathan watching her head to the stairs to the side of their seats. She wasn’t moving too fast though, due to her round belly. “You’re so not going anywhere Puckett!” He began to go after her followed by Roger, who was the first to get to his wife.
“You can’t just rush off into a ring full of animals. We’ll go get Marissa okay?”
Sarah looked like she was about to argue but sighed and looked like she might start to cry.
“Here take this and go sit down.” sighed Nathan. The camera cut for a second and the next thing they saw was Marissa being wheeled off in an ambulance, with Nathan joining her. It cut again and they were in the hospital. Marissa was on a gurney, yelling at Nathan about how much she wished she could strangle him. Sarah was the holder of the camera; it was obvious as she was trying to keep up with the others. She then got Nathan’s attention and threw it to him. The screen went black again and then it came back with a view of Marissa holding a baby in her arms while Roger and Sarah stood on the other side of her grinning like crazy.
“Looks like Freddie doesn’t look a think like you Nathan!” laughed Sarah.
“Not funny.”
“What he’s going to be a good lookin’ young guy, what with Marissa’s looks. Let’s just hope that he doesn’t end up being a total dweeb like you.”
“Enough already Sarah, geez.”
“Fine. So can I hold my godson?” Sarah seemed to be bouncing on the balls of her feet with a cheesy expression on her face.
Marissa smiled at her friend and held out her new baby to Sarah.
Freddie turned to Sam and looked a bit surprised.
“So your mom was my godmother? Weird.” he mumbled.
“Yours is mine too.” she shrugged.
The video cut then, the tape must have run out.
“So your dad gave me a cat for my birthday when I was four, you were still a nub even then and your mom was in the circus.”
“It’s kind of funny that I’d end up giving you Hammy.”
They both turned their heads toward the pup as he rolled around on the carpet, flailing his legs around and yipping happily to himself.
“He’s so my dog.” Sam laughed and shook her head. It was so interesting how a pet could take up the habits of their owners and be so linked right off the bat.
“Well I’d better be getting home.” he sighed and got up to return the laptop to the cart.
“Wait, I have something to tell you and Carly.”
“Can’t you just tell me now? We’ve got school tomorrow.”
This would have been the perfect opportunity to make a comment on how much of a dork he was, but she pushed it off to the side.
“I wanted to tell you both ya know simultaneously, as in together.” she frowned joining him over at his cart. “Besides why are you rushing off to get home to McCrazyPants?”
“McCrazyPants?” he asked trying to not show he found it really amusing and failing miserably.
“Your nutty mother!” she threw her hand up in the air and rolled her eyes.
“I guess there’s no real reason, just feel like going home.” he shrugged with a bored expression on his face.
Sam tried her best to hide the surprise on her face as she took in his composure. He seemed so nonchalant about it all, like he didn’t care if he spent time with her or just went home for the night. For some reason this just didn’t sit right in the pit of her stomach. Maybe she was being too hard on ol’ Mrs. Benson; she had come to a point where she could respect the woman a little. She did feel bad for all the people involved in the almost ‘soup opera’ that played out over a decade ago.
Thoughts of Roger filled her mind then. Something seemed to dawn on her, like a piece of ham slapping her in the face. The older man’s face earlier that day when he spoke of the present from Freddie, it must have brought back memories. That was the only explanation she could come up with. That video they watched gave it away, Freddie would always bring about these thoughts in her father.
The next morning Carly was still pretty excited about the news she’d received the night before, a little too excited in Sam’s opinion. Something felt off with the blonde’s friend. She ignored that feeling along with the rest she’d stored away to deal with later. It seemed she was doing this quite often.
“So they’re for sure coming this Friday?” Carly asked for the hundredth time that morning.
Sam was close to just smacking her dear friend in the face.
“Yes!” she cried out throwing her hands up in the air. She walked around the loft trying to locate her missing shoe. She could have sworn that she took them off in the same place last night. Hammy trotted out from a random area with her shoe in his mouth. “So you’re the culprit!” she grinned and went to grab her shoe. He got into position as if he were going to attempt to fight her for it but saw the stern look on her face and thought against it. “Wise choice Hams.” she took her shoe and slipped it onto her shoeless foot. Hammy’s ears fell down as she threw her backpack over her shoulders.
This would be the first time she’d leave him all day. He’d already grown attached to her over their short time together.
“Aw Sam, he’s going to miss him mama.” giggled Carly, who bent down and scooped him up. He didn’t really like that at all and began to whimper shamelessly.
“Hammy, you can’t come to school with us! Stop this jank whining’ now.” she scolded and he sounded as though he had grumbled. It was kind of cute in a way. “You get to spend all day with Spencer, I just hope you’re alive and in one piece when I get back.” she frowned.
“I might not be responsible with fish but I can take care of Hams!” cried Spencer from his bedroom. He’d come out in nothing but boxers that morning, due to the loud barking of one Mr. Hammy. For some strange reason, which might not be so strange considering it was Spencer, he came out with a plastic swordfish ready to take down the ‘intruder’.
“I really hope so Spence…for Hammy’s sake…” Carly stated shaking her head. The pup managed to get out of Carly’s hands and was at the front door, scratching at it, his little tail wagging excitedly. “I wonder who could be out there…” Carly grinned, working her way over to the door. The door swung opened and Freddie stepped in, the smell of waffles hitting his face. He tried not to drool as the scent worked its way through his nose.
“Oh look it’s the mayor of Dweebtown.” commented Sam, giving him her mischievous grin.
“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.” he snipped at her.
“Yeah well your face is stupid.” she stated with a bored expression. He ignored this and bent down to pick up Hammy who was scratching his leg, trying to get his attention.
“Your lame owner over there is being a brat, isn’t she?” he asked the pup who lightly nipped at his fingers.
“Don’t listen to that dork Hammy.” called Sam who had a tight grip on her backpack.
“Guys we need to leave or we’re going to be late.” Carly told the two and Hammy whimpered at this. The little guy was smarter then they realized. “Oh you, your parents will be back before you know it.” she giggled as her two friends shot her a nice pair of glares, they were getting pretty good at doing that at the same time.
“Hammy!!” shrieked Spencer from his room. Hammy started to flail in Freddie’s arms until he was placed on the floor. His little legs darted toward the call of a distressed Spencer. Over the course of three days the two had also become close. The pup was very protective of all the members of his new family.
“I think that’s our cue to leave.” smiled Carly opening the door.
Freddie grinned as he watched Mr. Howard came storming over to them just before they planned to head to the lunch room. He stood next to Sam’s locker as she fought with books which wouldn’t fit right inside. Mr. Howard looked beyond annoyed about whatever he had come to them for.
“Sam Puckett.” he frowned as his eyes beat into her.
“I swear I was with this nub the whole time, you can’t prove anything!” she yelled and he just sighed.
“The principal wants you in his office, now.” he then turned on his heal and walked off, muttering to himself about how much he hated children and his sad excuse for a job.
“What did you do?” Freddie found himself asking against his better judgment. He could only imagine the shenanigans she’s been up to between the time they departed that morning and when he met up with her for lunch.
“Nothing, geez!” she rolled her eyes and left him standing by her locker.
When she arrived at Principal Franklin’s office she just barged in, his secretary didn’t even bat an eye. It had been quite a while since she’d be to his office, which was a sign that she wasn’t most definitely off her game. Who was she if she wasn’t constantly being sent to the principal’s office? She pushed the door opened and was surprised to find her Physics teacher standing by the window while Principal Franklin remained at his desk.
“Oh, good Sam you’re finally here.” ushered Ted Franklin, with a smile on his face. Ms. Lewis turned when the door opened and she smiled brightly at her. This wasn’t a normal reaction whenever she got called into his office. Something was definitely up and she wasn’t sure she liked it. “Have a seat.”
She shifted her eyes around the office but did so without complaint.
“Whatever this is about, I didn’t do it.”
“You’re not in trouble.” Principal Franklin assured her and Ms. Lewis nodded, her face practically glowing with happiness.
“Then what up?” she lounged in the seat, attempting to look bored.
“Well…” started Ms. Lewis, who was holding a manila folder in her hand. “Do you remember that paper I had you write about the ‘Quantum Field Theory’ this past October?” Sam could only nod, not liking where this conversation was headed. “I had a friend of mine read over it, he currently teaches a class at MIT and loved your work. He said he hadn’t read anything with such conviction in quite some time.”
Sam’s mind was going a mile a minute. Every piece of her being was tingling with an unknown feeling, almost foreign to her.
“So what does that have to do with why we’re here.” squinting her eyes at the woman she once trusted to keep her big secret, she tried to come up with what this could mean.
“You see Sam,” started up Principal Franklin who had his hands weaved together on top of his desk, looking at her seriously. “We’ve receive a few letters from different universities who wish to give you a scholarship for this field study, if you are at all interested in pursuing this at all.”
The thought of traditional colleges or universities churned her stomach into knots. She’d already planned out what she wanted to do and was deadest on it. Going to some fancy university was like throwing an iron pot into the microwave. You just don’t do it, unless you owned one of those new microwaves that allow metal of any kind in it.
She couldn’t just drop her plans because the opportunity of a lifetime presented itself. She was meant to go to Le Cordon Bleu in Massachusetts, which she had paid for in advance. That was her real dream, despite her love for thought provoking Physics.
She sometimes wished she could do both and have the best of both worlds but that wasn’t going to happen. What they were talking about was the chance that any student striving for this field would jump at. If she were a ‘normal’ student she’d take it too. But she knew nothing of the supposed universities that wanted her.
“Why would they want me? My grades aren’t as great as Fredweird’s or Carly’s.” she tried to reason.
“They’ve already sent out their applications and I’m pretty sure they’ll be fine.” assured Principal Franklin smiling a little her way. “The thing is Sam, you might not get any offers like this again, and you should really think it over. This is your future after all.”
Ms. Lewis nodded in agreement, gripping the folder in her grasp. “In this folder are the applications of the schools that wish to have you amongst their ranks. This is a great opportunity and you could excel greatly in it.” she stepped closer and handed the folder to Sam. “You just fill out the ones that catch your attention and bring them to me and I’ll send them out for you.”
Despite Ms. Lewis’s meddling she felt strange, having this woman actually care about her future. She should be angry that the woman shared a private paper between them with some nub at some university. But those feelings vanished when she opened the thick folder. There was no way that all these schools could want her of all the geniuses in the world. Her hobby was that, just a hobby.
The prospect of getting a free ride to a good school was thrilling to say the least. As much as she hated to admit it this was the best news she’d received in a long while.
Her mind went to Freddie for a quick second, wondering where he’d end up. He mentioned a few schools he had in mind but they weren’t apart of her memory bank anymore. Somewhere in California, was all she could think but shook it off.
“I’ll think about it.” she mumbled, in a haze as she stood and headed for the door, but was stopped by Principal Franklin’s voice.
“Sam,” he started. “You really are very bright and I hope that you’ll do what’s right for you, even if it’s not in that folder.”
She swallowed the thick lump in her throat and nodded, then turned the knob and left the room. Once out of the office she breathed in the hallway air and looked down at the seemingly innocent folder in her sweaty grasp. When had she started to perspire?
“Took you long enough.” a voice to her left stated. Freddie stood there with his thumbs in his jean pockets. How long had she been standing there staring at the slightly damp folder filled with chances at a future?
“I want food.” was all she could think to say.
“Here,” he rolled his eyes and pulled out a paper bag with her name on it. She looked at him in confusion but took it from his hands.
She made sure to first put away the offending folder that taunted her with difficult decision making. Freddie continued to observe her and she didn’t snap at him this time.
Should she just give up on the culinary arts and go for something that she found fun and intriguing? On the one hand the culinary arts programs weren’t going anywhere; she could easily get her money back and just try being a ‘university-goer’. She could already see herself there wishing that someone would give her a reason to throw a punch or pull a prank.
“Cheese for your thoughts?” he asked holding out string cheese to her. She took it gladly and shoved the whole thing in her mouth. “You going to tell me why you look like someone stole your life time supply of low-fat fatcakes?”
“I uh…got detention for uh…putting three dozen eggs in Brigg’s desk.” she found herself saying.
“So, you always get detention, what’s really wrong?” he bumped her shoulder with his as the walked along the halls toward their lockers.
“None of your business Benson.” she glowered at him and finished off the lunch he brought her. “I need to go to the can before class, I’ll see you later.” she walked around him and toward the girl’s bathroom and went inside. She could still hear him out in the hall until his sigh and footsteps vanished around the corner.
After school let out Freddie drove the two to Bushwell and offered to buy Sam a smoothie, she allowed it because he was paying. Carly said she had some meeting after school for student government or something.
Once they were seated across from one another Sam came to a decision that she couldn’t believe. Talk to the dork.
“Dweeb.” she started and received a half pout half glare, classic Fredward Benson.
“Can’t you just call me by my name?” he frowned.
“I could, but then that would be giving you what you want and you know how I don’t like doing that.” she smirked.
“Whatever.” he gave in, not feeling like fighting with her over something this lame.
“Anyways, I want to throw something out in the open, hypothetically of course.” she tried to explain, hoping he wouldn’t allow what she was going to say to link back to her.
“Okay hypothetically speaking, shoot.”
“Let’s say you received a bunch of offers for different colleges and they were really great but you want to do something that they don’t offer, what would you do?”
He sat there for a moment and just looked into her eyes intently. She was starting to feel heat work it’s way up her neck into her hair. This wasn’t the time be having a reaction to the dork.
“It would depend on what I wanted I guess.”
“What if the offers were once-in-a-lifetime chance and the other was something that you could always do? But there were other things stopping you from choosing.”
“I’d take the offers and try to see how it worked out, if the other will always be there.” he stated honestly.
“Uh, thanks for the hypothetical advice.” she nodded and grabbed her smoothie and headed for the door. He followed along still confused by their little conversation.
“What was that about?” he finally asked as the got closer to Bushwell Plaza.
“Just curious about this question I was asked is all, nothing to worry your fluffy head about.”
“I don’t believe you.” he stated pushing the button to the elevator and waited for it to descend to collect them.
Once aboard they headed up.
“Can I ask you a hypothetical question?” he stated once they passed the fifth floor and hit the stop button for the elevator. The lights went off and the whole thing came to a halt just before the eighth floor.
“What are you doing? Start this thing back up.” she felt herself become nervous as she pressed herself into a corner, she could barely see the outline of Freddie’s face.
“I want to ask you a question first, hypothetically of course.” his voice was calm with a hint of playfulness. What he didn’t understand was that Sam didn’t like being in small enclosed places like this and was slowly beginning to freak out internally.
“Fine, hurry, what?” she snapped out holding onto the railing and abandoning her smoothie.
“Are you okay Sam?” his concerned voice was a lot closer then she remembered, since he was standing by the panel of buttons.
“Yeah, fine, just ask your question so we can get out of here.” she said in a rushed tone.
“If you had the choice to be happy with a person or two make a person happy, which would you choose?” he asked standing right in front of her.
“I don’t know, dork, but that’s the stupidest question I’ve ever heard. Why do you have to be such a dweeb? Can’t you just say what you’re trying to say so we can get out of this stupid box?” She was getting very nervous at this point.
“Do you really want me to come out and tell you what I’m thinking?”
She gripped onto the railing tighter, not liking the fact that he got her into a place she couldn’t hold her own. This wasn’t fair. It should be simple enough to push him down and get to the panel to start up the elevator, but moving meant letting go of the railing, which she refused to do for reasons unknown to her.
“Just get it over with Benson, I want out.” she snapped out.
“Fine.” he sighed. “Do you want to go to the Anti-prom with me?”
“You’re kidding me.” she wanted to laugh but couldn’t bring herself to. Not now.
“I figured that you might hate the idea of ‘prom’ so I thought we could do something else but you know, together.”
“Fine, fine, can we get out of here now?”
“So that’s a yes?”
“Yes, geez Benson, turn this box on and get me home.” she yelled and the next thing she knew they were at the eighth floor and she rushed out.
“I didn’t know you were afraid of being in an elevator for long periods of time.”
“Yeah well keep it to your self. I’m going home, unless you’d like to find something else you’d like to stuff me in.” she glared at him and worked her way to the Shay’s loft that had become her home. Just as she was about to put the key in he was there and grasping the sides of her face with his large hands. When had they become so big?
He dipped his head down and pressed his lips into hers gently, it wasn’t like any other kiss they had shared. It wasn’t rushed are filled with teenage hormones. What scared her the most was that she liked it. He pulled her into him and pecked her lips lightly at first, until she got annoyed by his teasing.
“You know Benson that eventually I’m going to have to beat you senseless for doing that.” she smirked up at him. “Don’t think I’ll always be as generous.” she flicked his forehead and vanished into the loft, leaving a very happy Freddie outside the door.