Honestly, I don't know where this idea came from. It just popped to mind, so I developed it into a story. Hopefully, it's similar to the way an episode would play out.
Ridgeway High School hallway, before the school day begins:
"Dude!" Gibby exclaimed, walking up to Sam.
"What." Sam said dryly, closing her locker.
"How could you do it?"
"I swear I didn't do anything to Miss Briggs' car. If she says I put fish guts in her trunk, she's full of . . . " Sam immediately went on the defensive.
"What? No, not that. I mean, how could you break up with Freddie?"
"We broke up at midnight, it's not even eight am, how the chiz did you hear about it already?"
"He called me at like, five this morning and said he hadn't slept a wink. He's really devastated, Sam." The large boy pleaded.
"Hey, it was as much his idea as mine." Sam defended, crossing her arms.
"Bu - but, you guys were perfect together."
"That's not what you said the other week when you tried to break us up." Sam frowned, she was still totally wazzed off at Gibby and her other friends for not supporting her and Freddie's relationship. Even Carly was on her shit-list, though Sam didn't let on in front of her. In fact, the only one she wasn't mad at was her sister and that was only because she had never given her two-cents' worth, at least not negatively.
"I was wrong, we were wrong, OK. Freddie really loves you, man. He's a wreck, Sam."
"Well then why didn't he he say something last night?" Sam could feel a tear forming and she headed into the nearest girls' restroom to escape further questioning by Gibby. 'If he's so damn torn up, maybe he should have said something instead of just letting me walk away.' She thought to herself.
Sam really didn't want to break up with him, she only thought that's what their friends were trying to tell them. That they were so incompatible, they would never last in the long run, so why try to fool themselves into forcing something that wasn't meant to be.
Only trouble is, she missed him like mad. She missed the way he held her hand, the way they bickered and the way his cologne finally gave her something she liked the scent of more than bacon. But mostly she missed his lips and the way he held her close and made her feel like a real girl when they kissed. No other boy had ever made her feel like that and she doubted very much if one ever would. Sure he was a nub, but he was her nub, dammit.
The school day went on without Freddie. For the first time in his life, he cut school, unable to face Sam or his friends with the breakup so fresh. Fortunately for him, his mother was working a two-day shift and wouldn't be home until after midnight so he could take all the time he wanted to wallow in self-pity.
Later that afternoon, in the Shay's apartment.
"Freddie!" Carly exclaimed, as the tech producer entered her apartment. "Where have you been? I've been worried sick! You weren't in school, you didn't answer your phone." She grabbed at his hands. "And your thumbs don't appear to be broken, you couldn't even text back?"
Freddie just sighed and dropped onto the sofa. "Spencer home?" He looked a mess, hair unkempt and wearing ratty sweatpants and a stained t-shirt.
"Um, no. He's at a junk auction with Socko." She crossed her arms. "You still didn't answer my question. What's wrong with you? You look like a hobo and you smell like you forgot that God invented antiperspirant for a reason."
He just shot her a 'drop it' look, but the brunette wasn't about to. She had to know about the breakup, so why was she acting so curious and giving him the third degree.
"Look, Freddie. I know you and Sam broke up, but why are you taking it so hard?" She glared at him. "Sam's the one who's falling apart. She's completely ruined, Freddie, completely."
"Really?" He squeaked. Never in a million years, did he think Sam would let her feelings show.
"She tried to put up a good front, but she left after fourth period today, she told the school nurse it was, um, girl problems, you know, that time of the . . . "
"La, la, la, la." Freddie covered his ears. "Don't need to hear about that kind of stuff."
"Oh, grow up, Freddie!" Carly hissed angrily and slapped the back of his head, just like Sam would. "You broke her, you know? I've never seen Sam like this. She's a wreck."
Freddie looked at her with a frown. He hated the idea that Sam was hurting almost as much as the fact that he was the cause of it.
"Look, Freddie, Sam might act all tough and sure she could probably beat up the whole football team without breaking a sweat, but she's still a girl inside. This whole breakup thing has her falling apart. She just sent me a text before you came in, she's not even coming for rehearsal tonight, either. She's probably drowning herself in fried chicken or fat cakes right about now. I just hope she stays away from the Mountain Fizz, Sam on that high isn't a pretty sight."
"Bu-but it wasn't just my idea. We both agreed to break up because we were trying to force something that wasn't ever going to work out. You know, we just weren't meant to be. At least that's what everyone said about us."
"What in the name of cottage cheese are you talking about?" The brunette set her hands on her hips.
"Look, Carly. We-we heard you and Spencer talking, what you guys said about trying to force a relationship." Freddie said with a choke, on the verge of crying himself. What Carly didn't realize was that he spent the balance of the day pining away for what he lost and the bags under his eyes were from crying as much as lack of sleep.
Carly just looked confused, she wasn't following his line of reasoning. She remembered her conversation with Spencer, but it certainly wasn't about her friends.
"You guys were right. Sam and I, we, um, you know, we might be friends and sure, we were physically attracted to one another, but emotionally we just weren't compatible. It was like you said, two people were just forcing something that wasn't ever going to work out."
"Like I said?" The brunette was totally confused.
"Yeah, like you said. When you and Spencer were talking last evening. You were right." Freddie turned his back and wiped at his face, trying to hide his tears from Carly. "I - I'll just go, uh, back home. Tell Spence I'll stop back after school tomorrow. Maybe he could call me later if he gets a minute. I really need a guy to talk to. No offense"
Suddenly Carly remembered the conversation she had with her brother and her heart broke. If taken out of context, she could see how her friends thought they were talking about them.
"Oh, Freddie!" Carly began to tear up herself, grabbing his hand, stopping him from opening the door. "Spencer and I weren't talking about you and Sam."
"Yeah, sure." Freddie didn't believe her. "You were talking about some celebrity couple or some chiz. I'm not that stupid, Carls. You guys never really supported us as a couple."
She grabbed his arm with all her might and turned him to face her. "We weren't, I swear. We were talking about Spencer going out with that woman who used to babysit him when he was a kid."
"But none of you ever supported us. Besides, if it wasn't for you refereeing us, we'd just argue all the time. Heck, we'd have probably killed each other by our first anniversary anyway."
"But you're Sam and Freddie, that's what you do, you argue, make fun of each other and each other's mothers, but then you go back to being all gross and sticking your tongues down each other's throats and Lord only knows where else." She pulled his face forward to look into his eyes,
Freddie blushed bright red at the thought, but her statement only made him miss the blonde terribly. He missed that scented conditioner she used that smelled like vanilla and strawberries, he missed how she made fun of him and never seemed to have trouble butchering his name. He even missed how she made fun of his mom. But mostly, he missed those lips and how she pressed her body into his when they kissed. Oh, that body with its soft curves and fleshy mounds, just the thoughts of running his hands over her form made him shiver.
Meanwhile at the Groovy Smoothie
"Sam, what happened to you today?" Gibby walked up to the table the blonde was sitting at and plopped himself down.
"Ehh, I had enough school for one day. I left before Howard's class so I didn't have to look at his freaky face."
"Are you sure it didn't have anything to do with . . . "
"Gibby, I swear if you say that nub's name in my presence, I'll kick you right in your . . ."
"Oysters?" T-Bo approached with oysters on a stick.
Sam just growled under her breath at him and the look she was giving him told the smoothie chef to leave before she ate the oysters and impaled him with the stick.
"If you're so miserable, why not just get back together?" Gibby suggested.
"I can't do that, what'll everyone say? I've got a reputation, just going out with the nub did serious damage to my street cred, you know. If I hook back up with him, people will think I'm some kind of fickle little girl."
"Or maybe everyone would just say that you care about your boyfriend and you made a mistake by breaking up with him in the first place."
"Psh. I might have cared about him, but we'll never work out. He's too normal, I'm too abnormal. We're like oil and water, gasoline and matches-you know, a bad combination."
Gibby wasn't paying attention, he was too busy reading a text from Carly.
"Look, Gibs, if Freddie wants to get back together with me, he knows where I am. But I'm not waiting around for him. Like my mom says, the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else."
"Sam? You don't mean that, you're not that kind of girl." Gibby couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"Alright, so maybe I really don't want to be like my mom, but I'm just saying I'm over him, it's done, that's all."
Just then Sam's phone began to ring. She pulled it out of her pocket and saw her sister's name on the screen. "Ugggh!" Sam muttered before shooing Gibby away with the wave of her hand. A call from her prissy, goody two-shoes sister was the absolute last thing she wanted to deal with right now.
"Yeah, Mel." Sam answered with a snap. "I'm kinda busy."
"Sammy? Are you alright?" Melanie sounded concerned. This meant only one thing, Carly had stuck her nose in and called Mel to tell her about the breakup. If only people would mind their own freakin' business, Sam thought her life would be much easier. One more nail in the coffin of her and Carly's friendship.
"Never better, Melanie." Sam lied, trying to sound normal.
"Sam?" Melanie pleaded. "I know you broke up with Freddie and that's got to be hard on you."
"First of all, I didn't break up with him, it was a mutual understanding." Sam stated dryly. "Second, why would I fall apart because I broke up with a nub."
"Um, maybe because last time we talked, you told me about how much you love him and about what you guys did in the studio when Carly and Spencer were away the other week. You can't ever get that back, Sam. You shared something with him you will never share with anyone else."
The memory made Sam blush before she started to tear up. She quickly got up and went outside so no one would see her face. She made her way to the alley way beside the smoothie shop and propped herself on the wall behind the garbage bin.
"Sam? Are you still there?" Mel asked. "Sam?"
"Mel. I really love him, it's just that everyone was against us. Hell, even Carly and Gibby tried to break us up. I just wish everyone else would mind their own freakin' business and let us alone. If people could learn to keep their opinions to themselves, we'd have been fine." By now Sam was wiping at her eyes and on the verge of a full on breakdown.
"Why don't you just tell him how you feel and to heck with what anyone else thinks." Melanie tried to reason.
"I wish it was that easy, Mel." Sam sniffed, not willing to swallow her pride. "Hey, I'll call you tomorrow and we can talk some more, OK. I need to get home."
"Sure, Sammy. I'll talk to you tomorrow. You take care of yourself. I love you."
As soon as Melanie hung up with Sam, she immediately called Freddie's number.
Freddie saw a strange number on his phone, but decided to answer it anyway. "Hello?"
"Freddie?" A somewhat familiar voice asked. "It's Melanie."
"Oh, for God's sake, give it up, Sam!" Freddie said shortly. "Isn't it bad enough that you ripped my heart out, but now you're calling to harass me and pretend to be your supposed twin sister. Way to rub salt in my wounds."
"I'm really Melanie." The blonde pleaded. "Was it Sam's number on your phone?"
"Like Sam Puckett isn't beyond buying some throw away burn phone just to make an ass out of me. I'm hanging up now. Melanie." He said with a sneer.
"Freddie! Don't you dare hang up!" Melanie ordered.
"Why don't you give me a reason not to, Sam." Freddie snapped.
"Because you broke my sister's heart."
"Hey, breaking up wasn't just my idea." He said, beginning to feel sorry for Sam, maybe this 'Melanie' persona was her way of dealing with her true feelings. Maybe he could do the same, let's see . . . names for a fake twin brother: Eddie, Teddy . . .
"Well, it wasn't just Sam's, either." Mel said shortly. "It takes two to tango, Freddie."
"Right. We both agreed that we weren't compatible and that we should break up before we took things too far. We were both there, Sam."
"Sounds like you guys already did that! Now, listen to me. I don't care if you believe I'm really Sam's sister or not. But what you need to believe is that Sam is falling apart. Unless you want to see her have a complete nervous breakdown, or end up back at Troubled Waters, you need to do something. You're the only one who can fix this, Freddie."
"Like what? What do you expect me to do?"
"Maybe call her. Act like a friend to her instead of wallowing in self pity like some kind of jerk."
"But I don't want to just be friends. I thought I made that clear the night we, um, you know. I - I love you, Sam." He stammered.
"Oh for chiz sake. I'm NOT Sam!" Mel was getting annoyed with him. "But anyway, you need to call her and tell her that."
Freddie sighed. "Yeah, right. I call, put my heart out and then have you, er, her make fun of me for being all pathetic and acting like a nub."
"So you believe in me now? You must, you're talking like Sam's a third person."
"I - I don't know what I believe. Just leave me alone!" Freddie hung up his phone and turned it off.
Meanwhile, Gibby and Carly were sitting in the studio planning how to get their friends back together.
"I say we lock them in the same room and don't let them out until they confess their true feelings to one another." Carly suggested.
"But what if Sam tries to use Freddie to break down the door or something?"
"Why would she do that, she loves him."
"You didn't see how hurt she was. I've never seen Sam act like that. In fact, I think she was almost crying." Gibby worried.
"Well, you should have seen Freddie. He's like a zombie. I swear even if that Galaxy Wars dude you guys worship walked right up to him and shook his hand he'd just act like he was in a fog or something."
"Man, that's bad. We've really gotta do something. Hey, I know, how about we all go somewhere together, you know, force them to be around each other." For once in his life, it seemed like Gibby actually had a good idea.
"Gibs, just being in the same room isn't enough, we have to get them to talk about their feelings and admit they both still love each other."
"Good luck with that." Gibby snapped back. "Hey, how about we all go out together, like - uh, sort of a double date."
"Yeah, yeah, that might work. I could, um, tell Sam that I kinda like you and ask her and Freddie to come along, just to make it, uh, make it, . . . " Carly couldn't finish her thought, she did like Gibby, she just didn't want to admit it in front of him, or anyone for that matter.
"More believable." He suggested.
"No that's not it. Comfortable. I think that's the word. And then we could start a conversation about relationships and true love and whatever. I think this'll work, Gibs."
"So are you officially asking me out, then?" Gibby clarified.
"Yeah, um, I - I guess. For Sam and Freddie. I mean, if you're alright with it."
He just shrugged, deep down inside wishing it was for real almost as much as Carly did.
I don't know why, but for some reason I just felt like pairing up Cibby. Chapter 2 coming next week.