The amount of time I've spent writing this is unreal. I started it after iOwn a Restaurant, but then I saw iPear Store and knew I had to involve that too. It gave me a better base to work from but still I couldn't find the inspiration to finish. I know in places it is out of character and in other places the writing is just bad full stop, but bear with me here.
Disclaimer: Dis means negative and a negative claim means I have to claim to the characters or the TV show, only to the writing and the storyline.
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Time in Time I thought through it all
How we loved and loved
And how we fought each other
Pushing one another
To be somebody else
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"-She ruined my job and then had the nerve to bring up the time we said we loved each othe-"
"Gibby?" Carly Shay enquired, noticing her friend walking solemnly form the direction of his restaurant, "What's wrong?"
"Oh," He sighed, "Hi Carly, hi Freddie."
"Dude, what's the matter?" Freddie repeated, emphasising "dude".
Gibby threw a napkin branded "Gibby's" onto the floor, "We've been shut down."
"Shut down? But didn't Principal Franklin let you keep it?" Carly asked, sounding confused.
"Yeah, but somehow Mr Howard found out we were still open and came back with this big angry dude and Principal Franklin got all scared and told us to close it up," Gibby groaned, grumbling at the floor
Carly patted his shoulder awkwardly, "Aw, what happens now?"
"Everyone was told to leave and there's a big red 'X' over the door," He explained, sighing, "I think Sam's still down there though."
"Hm?" Freddie perked up slightly, "How come?"
"Something about finishing the lasagne before it's too late… She seemed pretty cut up."
"Typical Sam," He chuckled, starting to walk in the direction Gibby had come from.
Carly frowned for a moment and looked up, "Where are you going?"
Freddie just gave a half smile and shrugged, backing away slowly before turning fully and wandering away.
"He's going to see Sam!" Gibby stage whispered.
"I see that!"
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Freddie came to the door marked, as Gibby said, with a big red X. Taking a deep breath, he pushed it open as quietly as possible so he could use the time she didn't know he was there to think.
"Hey Fredbag."
The voice of his blonde haired demon echoed up to him, freezing Freddie on the spot.
"I know you're up there."
He made it down the last couple of steps to be faced with Sam, sat at the only table that wasn't upturned. Freddie's eyes traced around the room; looking at the tables, chairs and various pots and pans that were strewn across it.
Sam raised an eyebrow.
"What happened in here?" He inquired.
"Oh," She replied, looking around as if she'd only just noticed it, "I got a bit angry."
Freddie narrowed his eyes; the blonde girl seemed far from angry, "Why?"
"Lost both my jobs today, now I don't have a ham fund," She replied coolly, pushing some lasagne into her mouth.
"Can't your mom lend you some-" Freddie stopped himself as he realised what he was saying, "Wait, both your jobs?"
"Yep," She affirmed, but did not elaborate.
A sudden fire blazed in Freddie's eyes, "How come Little Miss Supervisor got fired? I thought you'd be on your way to owning Pear by now."
"I-" Sam seemed torn between two possible replies, "I quit."
"You… what?" The brunette boy's voice came down from full throttle to nearly a whisper, confusion growing in his chocolate eyes.
"I quit," She repeated, studying the amount of cheese on her lasagne.
Silence fell, so when Freddie picked up an overturned chair and put it upright, it sounded ten times louder than anticipated. They both winced and he sat down opposite her.
"Stop scraping that chair, I'm trying to eat," Sam stated monotonously.
Frowning, Freddie looked down at her plate and noticed the missing excess of cheese, "So, why'd you quit?"
"Oh y'know," Sam said, swallowing quickly, "Something was missing."
"Like what?"
Sam narrowed her eyes slightly, trying to figure out if he knew her reason, "Cheese."
"Cheese?" He inquired, frowning.
"Stop pressuring me when I'm trying to eat!" She exclaimed; lasagne spewing out of the sides of her mouth as Freddie wrinkled his nose.
"What's the real reason?" He asked.
She moaned, wondering if he'd ever stop banging on about it, "Why don't you just go ask for your dream job back, now you don't have your least favourite person in the world as your boss."
"You're not my least favourite person in the world," Freddie replied in a strange tone.
"Hello good people," Sam mocked, "And Sam."
"That was banter, it didn't mean anything," Freddie stressed, "I thought things were going back to normal after-"
"After what? After we broke up? After we exchanged I love yous? You don't have to be afraid of saying it, y'know." Sam replied; her tone angry but controlled.
Freddie cocked his head to the side, "Well you're not afraid of saying it, are you? You just had to blurt it out to our former boss in the middle of the store,"
"Oh," Sam replied, looking down at the table.
"Oh, what?" He repeated, sounding furious.
"You're ashamed of dating me," She spoke to her plate, "That's it."
He spluttered and stumbled, "Ashamed?"
"It's the only obvious explanation."
"I'm ashamed?" He exclaimed, "Oh, oh, he's still in love with me, its kinda sad."
Sam laughed cruelly, "That was sarcasm, nub."
Silence fell; the only sound was the scraping of Sam's fork as she pushed lasagne around the plate. Neither person had the desire to speak, taking turns at glancing up at each other only to avert their eyes straight back to the floor.
Freddie coughed quietly, "Tell me why you quit?"
"Tell me why you hate me."
The question hung in the air, shadowing their faces. It was obviously not the response he had anticipated and even Sam looked scared that it came out of her mouth.
"I never said I hate you," He replied, knowing both of they were thinking about the same night.
Sam muttered something that could have sounded like "You act like you do."
"Why did you quit," He repeated, skating over the words he swore he heard.
"I said something was miss-"
"What was missing?" He yelled, staring at her angrily.
Sam stood up, throwing her plate the floor along with her chair, "You!"
Freddie stared at her blankly, his jaw slack and eyes wide. All the anger dissipated out of the blonde and she stood, defeated almost, amidst the rubble of her own despair.
"I only took the chizzing job because I wanted to be near you without it being obvious," She muttered, kicking the plate at her feet lightly.
"Y-you-" The brunette boy stuttered.
"Yes," She answered, assuming the rest of his question, "I quit because the nubby manager was so harsh on you and I realised I cared."
No reply came, as Sam had already anticipated.
"When I saw you walk away after saying "it's over" it finally sank in that it was over, and I minded."
"I meant the job was-"
"Yeah, yeah, the job was over not us," Sam said to the floor, "But we were over a long time ago, and I should've realised by now."
"But-"
"Don't tell me, I don't want to hear about your new crush on Carly either. I just want to stay here and finish my lasagne in-"
Freddie stood up crisply, "Will you just shut up!"
Now it was Sam's turn to be stunned into silence.
"Let's see, I don't hate you, I still haven't got over us and I don't have a new crush on Carly," Freddie counted off the points on his fingers before staring intensely at Sam.
"Oh so it's the same one you always had? I'm assuming you liked her all the way through our 'relationship'? I guess I was just a ruse to make her jealous…" Sam rambled, flicking her eyes from Freddie to the floor and back again.
"Er, no," He answered, blinking a few times, "I pretended to have a crush on her to make you jealous."
"Really?" Sam asked cynically.
Freddie coughed a few times, "Er, well-"
"Ha," Sam spat bitterly, "I knew it."
"No, at first I was trying to see if I could move on-"
"With my best friend?"
"Not my finest moment, I know," He replied, "But I soon realised I still had feelings for you and tried to use the pretend crush in my favour."
They stood in silence as Sam pondered his words, they seemed sincere enough but then again, so did Carly when she recounted what Freddie had said to her. Trusting him again would only lead to being hurt again the reasonable side of her head sighed, but she had a long history of being more impulsive and ignoring any voice of reason.
"Why should I believe you?" She demanded, eying his anxious face with unease.
"Because I love you," He took a step forward, pulling one of her clenched fists into both his hands.
Sam drew in a sharp intake of breath. The twisting feeling in her stomach was growing stronger and it was getting harder and harder to ignore the voice in her head saying "kiss him, kiss him."
"I never stopped."
Her head throbbed with all the thoughts and worries and memories of nightmarish days wondering what went wrong. His eyes bore into hers until she could no longer remember where they were or who she was. All of a sudden the world stopped spinning, and she took the plunge.
It was as if she had just sunk into a hot bath after weeks of agony. The pain and anger all just left her and she was smiling. Sam smiled as if she had just won a marathon, saved the pandas and cured cancer in one amazing moment and when she felt him smile back, she just twisted her hands into his hair in a last attempt to get closer.
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"Well," She said, after what seemed like hours.
He smiled brighter, if possible, "Well, what?"
"Just wondering if it was worth it," Sam replied, fiddling with his fingers.
"Was what worth it?" He echoed, laughing.
She tipped her head back slightly, "All the fighting, all the waiting, leading up until now?"
Freddie opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by the door crashing open. The pair's heads snapped up to see Mr Howard walking in with construction workers on tow. The workers immediately started to smash up the furniture, pulling out appliances and ripping down wallpaper.
Sam felt herself be yanked to her feet and pulled up the stairs by Freddie as he yelled, over the ruckus that shook the stairs they stood on, "Totally!"
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But maybe time will heal the hearts
And maybe after time you'll understand
That love's to blame.
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Was the last little scene a bit pointless? Probably.