Chapter One: Some Boys
"And we're clear!" the brunette boy behind the camera said boisterously before making his way to the two clearly spent co-hosts.
Freddie quickly high fived the girls for another webcast well done.
"That was great, seriously. The bit about the potato salad in Gibby's shoe…" he trailed off, making sudden eye contact with the newest member of their iStaff.
"Good job, Brad!" "Woo woo, Brad-er-ly for the win!" Carly and Sam complimented the boy and followed with smiles before Sam announced that she was, surprise of all surprises, hungry yet again. Carly ran after the petite blonde towards the kitchen as to make sure she wouldn't swallow the fridge whole.
The boys now left alone in the studio chuckled at the thought.
"Hey, that Asian horror movie you recommended wasn't half bad, man. Pretty scary stuff." Brad said, widening his eyes dramatically for emphasis.
"You really liked it? It's one of my favorites. The sequel will leave you fearing little girls in nightgowns for weeks."
"I guess I'll have to rent it some time."
"No need. I may have secured an unrated, unedited, directors cut, special edition copy. I'll just have to get it out of the safe and…"
"Safe?" The blonde questioned.
"My mom wont let me watch anything without reading up on aggressiveparenting .com first. Needless to say I've taken some drastic measures to amass my bloody collection." Freddie said with a tone something akin to pride. He rarely defied his mother's wishes in such a way.
"Ah, I see." Brad said, knowing all too well about the woes of parental overbearing.
An awkward silence fell between the two as Freddie started for the tech cart, hoping to clean up a few stray bits of Brad's famous fudge that had fallen in the crevasses of his keyboard when Sam took it upon herself to try her hand at working the editing bay.
"Can I ask you something? And it's totally cool if this is too personal or whatever."
"uh, sure. Shoot." Freddie answered, a bit confused.
"Are you and Carly an item or…?" Brad asked with genuine intrigue.
"Nah, we're just friends… now." Freddie responded truthfully.
"So Sam, then."
"What? Are you crazy? She's lucky that we're still on speaking terms after all the chizz she pulls on me." Freddie said, getting slightly flushed in the face.
Brad nodded silently, apparently deeming those answers sufficient.
"Wait… why the sudden interest? You're not thinking about asking one of them out, are you? Because I'm telling you it is NOT worth the years of unrequited pining or being thrown out of a tree house."
Brad laughed at Freddie's reaction to his innocent queries, taking note of his now furious pounding on the fudge laden Peartop keys. "Not exactly."
Freddie raised an inquisitive eyebrow slightly at the response. It went unseen.