Summer of '12
Chapter 1: No more Teachers, No more Books
The following story is loosely based on the film "Summer of '42. It is dedicated to Tamathy. You have opened my eyes and allowed me to see that the world is such a beautiful place and shown me just what true love is. Nothing I could say or do could repay you for that, but I will try for the rest of my life to do the same for you!
A/N: Iomg never happened.
Bbbring, Bbbring, Bbbring
It is three o'clock May twenty-fifth, the last day of junior year of high school. The air is full of energy and the bell ringing is like a starter's pistol at a track meet. Without waiting for announcements or teachers letting them go students rushed the doors, sometimes looking like a "Three Stooges" routine as three people at once try to force their way out the door. Freddie Benson sat in his homeroom watching the madness chuckling to himself at the way everyone tried to get out the door so fast. He was looking forward to the summer as much as anyone, but the near manic desire to get out quickly just wasn't his style. By twenty after the doors and hallways were almost clear and he had no trouble leaving class or going to his locker. Carly and Sam stood waiting for him and they were mad as hell.
"What the hell nub, took you long enough," Sam Puckett aka the blonde demon shouted at him as he walked up to the girls.
"I didn't feel like getting trampled underfoot when the herd stampeded," he smiled.
"Well since you're our ride, can we go now?" Carly Shay aka his first crush and now one of his closest friends asked.
"Ladies your chariot awaits," he bowed and pointed toward the doors to the parking lot.
"Whatever nub," Sam slapped him on top of the head and took off running.
Freddie smirked and continued on with Carly to his car. He thought of the three months that stretched before them all. It was going to be the last time that they would all be together really. Next summer would be about getting ready for college and such. He knew that most people laughed at some of his quirks and he was ok with being a "nerd" or a "geek", or a "nub". He understood his place in the world and was contented with the way his life was going. Despite how Sam treated him most of the time he counted her and Carly as his best friends. There was a bond between them that was much stronger and deeper than even they were aware of.
The only part of his life that Freddie hated was the fact that he was painfully shy and very unsure of himself around girls (Carly and Sam not withstanding) and as a result he dated very little and spent large amounts of time alone. He was use to that, being an only child of an over-protective mother, he had learned how to be comfortable being alone, he just didn't enjoy it.
"I'm so stoked about the end of school party tonight," Carly smiled and skipped just a little, "Spencer promised he'd stay in his room and let us have full run of the rest of the apartment for the night."
"You do know that he has cameras set up in all the make out spots don't you," Freddie laughed as he saw Carly's jaw drop, "You didn't think he was going to just trust everyone to be responsible did you?"
"I can't believe he doesn't trust us," Carly fumed.
"Oh he trusts us, it's the other kids he doesn't trust," Freddie laughed at her, "You do tend to pick the guys who like to make out heavily and he wants to stop that. He's your brother Carly; to him you'll always be ten."
"Still, he's going to have to get used to the idea that I'm about to be eighteen years old and not a baby anymore," she said, poking her bottom lip out just like a little girl does when she doesn't get her way and causing Freddie to chuckle to himself.
'We're all growing up,' he thought, 'When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things,' that bit of scripture from 1Corinthians 13:11 had stuck in his brain when he was younger. He hadn't thought of it in years and was at a loss as to why it popped into his head now, no that wasn't true, he had felt something coming, like his granddad used to do with the shrapnel in his leg just before a storm or snow, he had felt this unknown thing outside himself rushing toward him and he knew that it would change him forever. It both excited and scared him, but it was coming, he just hoped he would be ready for it when it arrived, "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things," 'One last summer before the world body slams you into adulthood Freddie my boy,' he thought as he opened the doors for Carly and Sam.
The ride back to Bushwell was typical, Sam in the front seat rapidly tuning stations looking for songs she liked and then turning the volume up so loud that people in Oregon surely must hear it. 'At least she is like me,' he thought, 'and hates rap with a passion.' Freddie believed that if you counted rhyming as the elements of a great rapper, then Dr. Seuss was the best rapper of all time,
I do not like green eggs and ham
I do not like them Sam I am
Peace out, Biotch!
Freddie smiled to himself at his own clever joke, knowing that he would be the only one who would ever hear it.
As they stopped at a red light Sam began her second favorite thing to do while riding in his car. She took several pennies out of his ashtray, he always threw any change he go at drive-thru's in it, and began to roll them across the hood of the car beside her while smiling at the driver of said car. Freddie shook his head and commented, "You're going to get me killed doing that one day."
"Like that would be a huge loss to the world," Sam grinned and stuck her tongue out at him.
They had both pretty much tuned out Carly, who was in the backseat chattering away about the party. For her part Carly didn't seem to notice that no one was listening to her, she was in her own little world. Sam and Freddie weren't trying to be mean tuning her out, but when Carly got on a roll, she could talk for hours and at such a high rate of speed that if you didn't tune her out there was a real danger of your head exploding from the sheer force of trying to keep up with her. It was much easier to tune her out and just throw out the occasional "uh hun's" and hope for the best.
The man in the car that Sam was rolling pennies across began blowing his horn and giving her the finger, which she promptly shot back at him. The man opened his door and got out of his car, yelling something about Freddie never being able to have children because he was about to be force fed his testicles, which Freddie didn't find appealing in the least. Luckily for him, just as the man made it to his side of the car the light changed and Freddie floored the pedal and left the man in a cloud of rubber smoke and curse words from Sam about the size of his "organ" and with whom he preferred to use it.
Freddie pulled into the lot at Bushwell and got out of the car, slamming the door and storming over to Sam's. He jerked it open and for the first time in his life felt the overwhelming urge to punch a woman in the face, well a Puckett anyway. Instead he also opened Carly's door and then quietly walked into the complex without a word to either of them. Sam's laugh died out when he had turned around and all traces of humor left her as he walked away without a word. 'That isn't how the game is played Benson,' she thought to herself, 'I push, you react, we both score a few revenge points and we begin again. This walk away shit isn't going to cut it, I won't stand for it.'
Freddie entered the lobby just as a woman waiting for the elevator lost her grip on the box she was holding marked "Fragile".
"Oh shit," the unseen woman shouted as Freddie dived after the box and caught it just before it hit the ground, saving the box, but knocking the wind out of him. He rolled over still trying to catch his breath, and found that he couldn't find it again.
She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She had flowing red hair, hypnotic gray/green eyes, a small almost button nose, and a smile that could give the sun a run for its money. She was so beautiful that it actually hurt to look at her. He felt his face turn red and the beginnings of a hard-on. He tried to speak, but nothing would come out, just a rush of air and mindless noise.
She spoke to him, "Oh thank you so much young man, some of those things have been in my family for over a hundred years."
All he could do was offer her a goofy "I'm a dumbass" grin, and marvel at how beautiful her voice was and how he really needed to stop staring at her legs, bare midriff, and her what had to be D-cup breast before she caught him, if she hadn't already. 'Say something dumbass, anything, just don't lay here and look like your Lenny from "Of mice and men", speak jackass, SPEAK!' his mind screamed at him.
"I always try to help legs in debreast," he quickly and smoothly said, proud of himself for speaking at all, till he actually heard what he had said, and then wished he had just remained silent and appeared stupid rather than speaking and removing all doubt.
She laughed and he found himself getting harder at the sound.
'Well, Romeo, let's try to salvage some part of your dignity,' he thought and then spoke again, "I mean, I always try to help LADIES in DESTRESS."
She laughed and set the other box in her hand down and took the box Freddie had and allowed him to get up. He then took the box back from her and spoke CAREFULLY again, "I'd be happy to help you take this stuff to wherever you're going."
'Well thank you…" she waited for him to tell her his name.
"Freddi… Fred, Fred Benson, I live on the eighth floor," he forced his voice a little lower than it really was, trying to impress her.
"I'm Melissa, Melissa Langford, and I am very glad to meet you Freddi… Fred Benson, she smiled at him and he lost his words again, "I'm moving in on the seventh floor and I would really appreciate you doing that."
Carly and Sam walked into the lobby just as the doors closed on Freddie and Melissa's elevator. Carly was lost in thought planning the party and Sam was still upset that Freddie hadn't played their game right. She didn't know why it made her so… so... she was not upset, not mad or angry, she was hurt. 'How the hell could the "nub" not playing our game make me feel hurt,' she wondered, 'since when do I give a shit what Fredhole does or doesn't do?'
Carly was already planning the music to be played and what food to serve when she looked up and noticed that it was just her and Sam waiting on the elevator.
"Where did Freddie go?" she raised her eyebrow and set a slightly hurt look on her face that he would walk away while she was talking to them.
"He got the fuzz on his peach in a bunch over the penny roll and stormed off mad," Sam tried not to sound to hurt, but failed in the attempt.
Carly noticed the hurt, but decided to let it slide for now, "Sam, honestly you've got to stop being so cruel to him. Next to me, he's the best friend you have and one day you're gonna push him too far and then we'll lose him, and no Freddie, no iCarly."
"Chillax, Fredwiner will calm down and he'll be talking to momma just like always," Sam's voice sounded more sure than she felt. She had never seen him look at her like that before. It was the look she had seen in her father's eyes, before he left, just before he would hit or slap her. She knew with all her heart that Freddie would never hurt her or let her be hurt if he could help it. 'Damn girl,' she thought, 'what the hell are you doing thinking about the "nub" like that for? You'd think you liked the runt or something.'
Freddie and Melissa stepped off the elevator on the seventh floor and walked to the door of seven-B. She set the box she carried down, giving Freddie a great view of her fabulously well toned ass, and took her keys out and unlocked the door. The apartment was a one story two bedroom floor plan with a large living room and a separate kitchen. It was very spacious and at the moment filled with boxes and very little furniture.
Melissa smiled at him and answered his unspoken question, "The movers will be here tomorrow with the rest of our stuff."
"Our stuff?" Freddie felt his crest fall at the knowledge of "our".
"My husband, Charlie, he's a Marine and he's in Afghanistan right now, but he's coming home in September. This is going to be our first home since we got married," she gushed as she talked to Freddie and despite himself he couldn't help but feel jealous of Charlie being married to such a perfect woman.
"You can set that box down on the counter there if you like?" she nodded her head toward the counter/bar that ran along the half wall that separated the kitchen and living room. Freddie smiled at her and set the heavy box of breakable items down.
"Boy, they sure didn't do very much cleaning up or work in here before they let you move in," he observed as he looked at the stains and holes in the wall and the sorry state of the carpet.
"Oh I got the rent dropped quite a bit by offering to clean and fix and paint the place myself," she looked around the place, "I'll probably take me all summer, but the discount on the rent is worth it."
The idea was in his head and out his mouth at almost the same time, "Do you have someone to help you with all of this?"
"Nope, just me, myself, and I," she shook her head.
"I live right upstairs and I don't have a job this summer, I could help you if you want," he said in an eager tone with a smile on his face, "I'm real good with my hands and I've helped my mom paint our apartment before, so I'm good at that."
"Fred I wouldn't be able to pay you very much, if at all," Melissa started to say.
"That's ok," he jumped in, "Just think of it as keeping me out of trouble for the summer and maybe feed me lunch or something every once and a while, ok?"
"That's really sweet of you Fred," she smiled at him and touched his face, "Ok, it's a deal. Can you start on Monday morning at say nine?"
The grin that broke across Freddie's face was stunning in its brightness, as he nodded and told her, "Yes."
"I'll get my computer hooked up somehow and video chat with Charlie and see if we can't slip a little money your way also, no arguments on that either."
"Well as fate would have it, I'm a class one grade A computer "Geek", my friends and I do a web show called "iCarly" and in handle all the tech stuff, I can hook you up in no time."
"So that's why you look so familiar, Charlie and I watch the show sometimes," she grinned at him and made like she was fanning herself, "I had no idea that I was in the presence of a star."
Freddie's face turned red and he found himself digging a toe at the carpet. She could tell he was in the throes of a massive crush on her and it made her feel good. He was cute and she could tell that he had no idea how cute he was, and that made him even cuter. She would have to be careful and let him know that she wasn't on the market and that she definitely was not a cougar on the prowl. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt this sweet young man. She could see that he was very shy most of the time and reminded her so much of Charlie when he was that age.
She had fallen in love with Charlie over the course of many years. They had met when they were eleven and she despised him with every part of her being. He was short, high voiced, scrawny, and most of all, he was a complete and utter "geek", with a capitol "G". She had decided to make it her life's work to make his existents a living hell. She hit him, tripped him, played jokes on him, and in general humiliated him whenever she could. But it didn't faze him at all, in fact he gave as good as he got and a war of attrition began between the two, but instead of one giving up as would be expected, they both dug in and fought tooth and nail. They also grudgingly became friends. She would vent her problems to him and he did the same. They would never violate each other's trust, not even for a joke or prank. She had dated several guys, and she used that term loosely, but something always made her pull back from them. Charlie began to grow, one summer shooting up to almost six feet tall, and filled out. Suddenly the runt wasn't a runt anymore and she found that she couldn't get him off her mind, but she tried. She began to date the school hunk, but he didn't excite her at all. One day, three weeks into junior year, she confessed to Charlie that the boy, Larry, wasn't exciting to her and Charlie had smiled and told her that he knew she wasn't into Larry, and that she wouldn't be into any guy she met. She had looked at him shocked and asked him just what he meant by that. Charlie had turned to her and set his book bag down and placed his hands gently on either side of her face and pulled her into a passionate kiss that left her barely able to stand and her heart racing so fast she was sure it would explode.
"Because none of them make you feel like that, and that's what you need and want," he had smiled at her and picked up his bag, walking away like nothing had happened. She had just stared at the spot he had been and ran her hands over the spots on her face that he had touched.
"I'm playing poker with the guys this afternoon," he yelled out to her, breaking her out of the stupor his kiss had put her in, "if you figure out what it is that you want to do about that, I'll be home after eight tonight,"
She spent the rest of the day planning on just how bad she was going to beat the shit out of him, but at seven-fifty-five pm, she was sitting on his porch as he walked up and instead of the planed beat down, she launched herself at him and wrapped her legs around his waist and kissed him with a passion that she didn't know existed.
They spent the weekend together and she never looked back. They had dated junior and senior year and when he had left for Marine boot camp she had fallen into a huge depression. After he had completed that he came home and over Christmas asked her to marry him. The wedding was set, but he got called up and sent to Afghanistan. He had gotten leave and sent home for a month, so on May 1st, 2012 they had married and spent the most wonderful two weeks of her life together before he had to go back, but come November he would be home for good and she couldn't wait.
"Ok then, I'll see you tomorrow night at five o'clock," she smiled at him, "Do you like meatloaf?"
"My mom is obsessed with my health and rarely if ever fixes food that has any real taste," he had a look of disgust on his face, "anything not cooked by her sounds fantastic."
Melissa laughed at his explanation and spoke, "Then meatloaf it is, with mashed potatoes, steamed carrots, cabbage, and corn. You can hook me up while it's cooking and then you can meet Charlie when I talk to him, how does that sound?"
Freddie wasn't excited about seeing her husband, but the idea of sitting down and eating dinner with her caused the region south of his belt to stir and a warmth spread throughout his body, "That sound great," he smiled and shook her hand, entirely too long and hard, "Well I guess I better go, my friend Carly is having an end of school party tonight and I kind of have to go, so see you tomorrow at five."
"Have a good time Fred," Melissa smiled at him as he left and she shut the door. She hoped that some special girl would notice how great a young man he was and would take the time to get to know him. She wanted him to find a girl that would treat him right, because she could see the Charlie in him and knew he would make someone very happy.
.
Carly was very much in her happy place at the moment. The party was going full blast and everyone was having a ball. She looked around the room and people were dancing and the food was being eaten and she could see that Dale, the hottest guy she had seen in quite awhile at school, was staring at her. She crossed the room and found Sam sitting at a table talking to Freddie and Gibby with a Wahoo punch in her hand and pulled her up and over to the side.
"Jeez Carly, what the hell," Sam complained at the strong arm tactic from her friend and being pulled away from one of her better putdowns of Freddie in sometime.
"Sorry Sam," Carly said impatiently, "Look," she pointed to Dale, being very discreet, "Dale Watson came and he's been checking me out all night. Oh my God Sam, he's so hot. Do you think he'll ask me out?"
"Well how about if he asks you to dance first?" Sam smiled at her over eager friend. Carly always went in with both barrels blazing when it came to a new guy. Any other girl would have earned the reputation as a tease or as easy, but Carly was so innocent and pure that she never got that label.
"Oh well yeah, that would be cool," Carly tried not to look so "fangirl" at Dale, but she knew she was failing that miserably. She felt her eyes go wide when she saw him begin to walk toward her.
"Oh shit, here he comes, later," Carly shoved Sam away so fast and hard that Sam bumped into some random dude.
"Damn it Shay," Sam swore at her friend, but smiled at the way her best friend got worked up over yet another boy, "I'm so sorry about bumping into you dude, my friend is crazy."
The tall blonde headed boy turned around and smiled at her, "Well I'm not. I'm Will, Will Graham and you're Sam Puckett of iCarly, great to meet you.
Sam was immediately struck by the smile Will had on his face. She thought he was amazing looking and couldn't believe he was glad to meet her.
"How come I've never seen you before?" Sam asked him, leaning close to be heard over the music and crowd. She thought he smelled great, breathing in his cologne as she spoke.
"I just moved here last month, I'm Wendy's cousin," he told her, "Listen I hope I'm not out of line, but are you and that guy dating?" he pointed toward Freddie.
Sam looked at Freddie and felt something she wasn't sure of, but shook her head, "Freddie and me? No we're not dating. Why would you think that?"
"Well, you've been sitting with him and big kid with no shirt most of the night and you looked like you were really into him, but if you say you're not then cool," he smiled at her, "I was wondering if you'd like to dance?"
"Um … Su… sure, I guess, I mean yes. Let me sit my drink down," Sam smiled at Will and felt a blush begin to creep up her face. She walked back over to the table where Freddie and Gibby sat and put her drink down, looking at Freddie with a grin.
"He asked me, ME, to dance Freddie, can you believe that?"
"Sure I can demon," he smiled at her, "for pure evil, you're really quite a looker. Now get your ass over there and dance with him before someone else does."
Sam was surprised at what Freddie had said, and a little stunned that she was upset that he didn't get mad about the guy, which was strange to her. She turned and saw Will smile at her and found herself excited by him and a little nervous at the same time. This guy had spoken to HER, asked HER to dance, and seemed to be into HER. 'This might turn out to be a very interesting summer,' she thought as she walked back toward him.
Will was amazed that someone so beautiful would be without a boyfriend and that she would dance with him. He took her hand and led her to the floor just as "Lady Antebellum" "Just A Kiss" began to play. He slipped his arm around her waist and took her right hand as she put her left arm around his shoulders and they began to dance. Sam felt something like butterflies in her stomach and couldn't help but feel a little thrill that this really cute guy had chosen her to dance with. He pulled her a little closer to him and in spite of herself; she put her head on his shoulder and smiled.
. Well, I hope you like it so far. This is going to be different from my other stories I hope and we are going to take our time getting to the end. I want the characters to all have a life of their own and not just be stumbling blocks for our trio. Everyone is going to have a summer romance here. Not all will end well, but everyone will grow, at least that is my hope if I do this right. I hope the romances are to your liking, just remember though, sometimes it takes a lot to see what is right in front of you. As always, PLEASE, PLEASE, let me know what you think and how you like this one!
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