Christmas in a Gas Station

Prologue/Preview:

They were at it again.

Carly frowned at the sight of her two friends, arguing at one another. Something dumb perhaps, but it didn't stop them. Someone had said something to the other to get on their nerves.

It was December 18th, a week before Christmas and preparations were already being concluded. Carly had had the pleasure to decorate the house with Spencer out of town for the weekend. With him gone, she could clean up the apartment and furnish the living room with festive lights, Christmas assortments, and of course, the tree. She never had the courtesy of designing the place of how she pleased but with an empty apartment, she had all the time in the world.

That's when her friends came in.

Slamming the door and marching through the house, they trashed the place without even realizing. Since being in each other's faces, yelling and retorting at one another, they were oblivious to the world around them. With a shove, the girl knocked the boy into the tree, shattering the ornaments and causing a shrill scream from Carly.

That was two days ago and she had not seen them since.

"What's up, kiddo?"

Carly looked up to see Spencer enter the living room. She shrugged, her face hinting a small frown.

"Nothing. Just watching t.v."

Spencer nodded unsurely.

"Hey."

"Yeah?"

She turned her head to see her brother holding out something in his hand.

"Can I have this can of corn?"

Carly's lips twitched and her face flashed from expressionless to confusion, evening the slightest bit of humor.

"Sure?"

"Yes!" he exclaimed. He ripped it open suddenly and poured it all over his face, corn and juice spilling down his cheeks. Carly could only laugh.

"So where's Freddie?" he asked with his mouth full, causing his sister to cringe.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," she warned.

"BLARgGHeRR!" he said, making an amusing face with his mouth open and tongue sticking out. Carly giggled and turned away, propping her feet up on the coffee table. Spencer wiped the mushed corn off of his tongue.

"So, where is Freddie?" he repeated.

"Upstairs," she said nonchalantly, flicking through the stations.

"Ohhhh!" Spencer said, coming to his realizations at the sudden tone of her voice. "You guys are still fighting!"

Carly narrowed her eyes at him. "Hey! I'm not fighting with them! They're fighting at each other, AGAIN!"

"And this surprises you?" Spencer asked, smirking slightly. Carly groaned, slouching deeper into her seat.

"No..." she mumbled, refusing to face him, "but I just wish they could get along at least in this age."

"You're asking the two most stubborn people you know to get along is like saying the vanilla should get along with the chocolate," Spencer said, sitting next to her. She then gave him a long stare. In other words, the 'this-is-not-the-time-to-make-a-joke-to-cheer-me-up' kinda stare.

"At least chocolate and vanilla can get along," she said, facing the television. "They're in cookies, truffles-"

"Then you see my point!" Spencer said. Carly turned to him. "They may hate each other now but they'll soon realize that they need each other more than they know. More than we might even know."

Carly frowned. "When did you start to get surprisingly deep?"

"Therapy," he said simply.

"But you're 'wise words' makes me think you want them to be a couple or something."

Spencer shrugged. "Maybe or maybe not. All I know kiddo is that you'll see soon the potential of a somewhat healthy friendship between the two. It just takes time."

Carly smiled. "Aw, thanks Doctor Spencer."

She gave him a big hug, smiling pleasantly into his arms.

"Oh, barf!"

The two looked up to see Sam standing in the doorway, wearing a purple, graphic long sleeve shirt with a black, leather vest. She had her black, skinny jeans and converses.

"I don't need anymore sappy, family, romance jank!" she gagged, unzipping her vest and tossing it on the floor. Carly narrowed her eyes at it and back up at her friend.

"Yeah. That's where it goes," she said, pushing away from her brother. Sam scowled and walked past them to the kitchen. Carly followed.

"So, you've decided to show your face after two days," Carly started. Sam frowned up at her as she ripped open a candy cane wrapper.

"You sound like a corny bad guy from one of those old 60's movies," Sam said, pooping the twisted candy into her mouth and sucking on it loudly. Carly placed her hands on her hips.

"I have a right to! You trashed the entire apartment!" she exclaimed.

"Aw, stop being so sassy, Shay!" Sam groaned, brushing past her.

"I don't 'sass'!" she said, gesturing her arms wildly.

Sam chose to ignore her and went to get her vest that remained on the floor.

"Where are you going?" Carly demanded.

"Away from you," Sam said simply, slipping on her jacket. Carly scowled and suddenly snatched her phone. Sam's eyes widened.

"What are you-?"

"You'll get this back after you apologize to Freddie!"

Sam suddenly paused, her eyes softening. Her expression was mixed with anger, confusion, denial, and some sadness. Carly knew too well that Sam had at least some feelings for Freddie, much less violent than her usual, harsh behavior. Much more recently, whenever fights would go too far, Sam would be sadder than usual, much worse than Freddie. She'd never admit of course; she was too stubborn. The fact though that Sam somewhat missed Freddie pleased Carly, even if that didn't meant they'd ever be together as friends or even more.

Sam's eyes suddenly darted behind Carly and narrowed. Carly frowned and turned to see someone standing at the base of the stairs: Freddie.

TBC 12/18