Me or Her
Chapter One
Sam picked up her phone as it buzzed on the counter next to her perched elbows.
Carly: Are you on break? 10:30 AM
Sam: Aren't I always on break. What's up? 10:32 AM
Carly: I have to tell you something. Don't freak out. 10:33 AM
"Mam!" a woman interrupted Sam as she was about to insist Carly tell her what it was. She dropped her phone on the counter with a loud thud and looked up at the petite blonde woman.
"What the hell lady? I'm trying to text here." Sam growled.
The woman was gaped. "How dare you, I want to speak to the manager here."
"You're looking at her." Sam snapped.
"Some gym you run here." the woman snarled sarcastically.
"If you don't like it then maybe you should just get out." Sam yelled though she regretted the moment the words left her mouth. She was barely staying afloat and couldn't afford to lose any more customers because of her big mouth.
"Wait comeback I'm-" she trailed off as the woman had left. She rolled her eyes and picked up her phone again.
Sam: You there kid? 10:36 AM
Sam: What do you have to tell me? 10:40 AM
Sam sighed when no reply came. Carly had probably gone back to work. She would have done the same but her phone buzzed again. It was a message from Freddie. She smirked before she even opened the message. They had been sending each other funny videos all week. At the end of the week, whoever made the other laugh the most was picking up the tab at Dereck's, a bar they frequented. It was already Thursday and he was killing her. The previous day he had sent a video of a man falling down three flights of stairs. He knew she loved seeing people hurt themselves.
She opened the message and clicked play on the video. It surprised her when she saw Freddie's face on her iPhone screen. He was just sticking his tongue out at the camera and wagging it. She couldn't help but laugh. Only he could make her laugh at the lamest of stunts. He was such a nub.
She was about to text him back when Lewis touched her shoulder.
"We got a leak in the men's bathroom, boss." her employee told her. "You may have to call that plumber again."
"Aww chiz." she grunted. "Let me take a look." She put her phone down and followed him to the men's bathroom.
Sam was getting ready to leave work around four pm. She usually got off at three since she hired an evening shift supervisor but she had to wait for the plumber to get there before she left. She loved being the boss, she could never imagine working for someone, not with her temper. After community college she had started keeping self defense classes in her apartment. The word got out, and her classes grew bigger and bigger. She had finally made enough money to rent out a building to host the classes. The cheapest she found was an old gym. Inspiration struck and she was now a twenty-eight year old gym owner. Three times a week she still carried on with her self defense classes at night.
Carly and Freddie had fallen into their careers seamlessly as well. Freddie worked as the director of photography on a crime drama series that filmed in Seattle, Sam had yet to tune into the show. While Carly now wrote an advice column for a local newspaper.
She grabbed her gym bag from under her desk and and headed for the door but it swung open before she could reach the door knob. Carly ran in crying with running mascara and sobbing loudly. She gripped Sam in a tight hug for a moment before letting go.
"Carls what's wrong?" Sam asked concerned. "Who do I have to kill?"
"I broke up with Freddie." Carly sobbed.
Sam dropped her bag. It was going to be a long day.
Carly sat in Sam's chair while she sat on her desk facing her brunette friend. Sam had gotten her to calm down enough to for her tell her what had happened. She needed to know if to panic or not. Her first instinct was that Carly was being dramatic. Her second instinct, that creeping sense of dread, told her this was something different.
"Kid, you and Freddie break up all the time. Like that time he forgot your birthday and went to that tech convention." she tried. "Or like the time you spilled coffee on his laptop and lost all of his work-"
"Not this time, it's for real." Carly said softly.
Sam shuddered at the thought. She could not believe this. She had not seen any signs of this. "Where did this come from?" she asked.
Carly looked at her then buried her face in her palms.
Sam was absolutely wary when her two best friends decided to start dating after college. It came as a shocker to her but then realized she wasn't there with them in college. They both went to UCLA while she went to community college in Seattle. They had probably grown closer when she wasn't there. They had promised it wouldn't get in between their friendship, and it hadn't...until now.
"I've been thinking it for a while." Carly finally admitted. "I just didn't tell you because you always say to keep you out of the relationship drama. I just felt like I was holding on to a relationship I outgrew. I'm just not who I used to be in college. I don't love him like I used to."
Sam stared at her friend, a million thoughts rushing through her head. "I didn't know you felt that way." Sam said.
Carly nodded then another thing occurred to Sam. Freddie! The dork was helplessly in love with Carly. No ifs buts or maybes. Since always, Freddie had loved Carly. When they finally got together the plus side was that she didn't have to listen to his rants about his unrequited love. She needed no lessons on that front.
"How did Freddie take it?" Sam asked.
Carly shook her head. "Not good. Tried to get me to change my mind."
"Damn it Carls-" Sam's phone went off.
"What?" she answered. "You better come and get your buddy here." Dereck said. Sam's face scrunched up confused then she heard Freddie's voice slurring in the background.
"I'm on my way. Thanks for the call Dereck." Sam got off the phone looking at Carly torn.
"Go ahead." Carly said. "He needs you more than I need you right now."
Sam nodded. "I'll call you later." She grabbed her leather jacket on her way out.
Sam found Freddie half asleep on the bar counter, a half drunk class of whiskey next to his head. Dereck flashed her a sympathetic smile from behind the counter as she slung one of Freddie's arms around her neck. She was winded before they even got to the door, Freddie was mostly muscle mass now. He frequented her gym nad even helped her out with her self-defense classes some nights. He was very used to her kicking his ass anyway. Sam grunted and almost rammed him into the heavy double doors as she took him out of the bar. The evening sum made his eyes flicker open. Sam could hardly stand it, he looked terribly depressed. His eyes were dull orbs and his lips turned down into a frown. She felt her own heart breaking for her friend, not that she would ever admit it.
"Sam?" he slurred, eyes half open.
"Yeah, it's me." She leaned him against her car as she opened the backseat. She struggled even more to support his weight with only one hand. "Help me out will you buddy." She gasped as he began to slide to the ground. Lucky for him he was able to stop himself from eating pavement and pushed himself back to lean against the side of her Sedan.
"Get in." she said though she pushed him in without giving him a choice.
As she drove the familiar route to his apartment she thought about how colossally fucked she was. If Carly and Freddy didn't get back together what she supposed to do? Split them up for different days of the week. No more dinner parties at Spencer's. Absolutely no more Saturday hang outs when they got together to watch iCarly reruns. Would it come down to her choosing? She didn't want to think about it but it would be Carly. Luckily, one thing she did know was that her would never ask her choose between them, right?
"Fuck me!" Sam grunted hitting the steering wheel fiercely.
She looked at him through her rear-view mirror and her heart instantly softened for the dummy. He was leaned against the window steering out at the city. He was crushed, devastated. Carly, she knew, would mope for a few days but the brunette would pick herself up and be okay eventually. But Freddy, especially since he was dumped, wouldn't handle it nearly as well.
When she got to his apartment Freddie was able to walk on his own but Sam still had one arm around his waist in case his feet gave out. The doorman, who was usually friendly, scolded at them but she didn't have time to question it when Freddie's landlord came out yelling in Hindi.
"I can't understand what you're saying?" Sam yelled over him and silenced him.
"Get him out of here." The man yelled pointing at Freddie with wild eyes.
"He lives here. What's your fucking damage?" Sam yelled right back. This was not how she was meant to spend her evening. She had three beers and a box of leftover fried chicken waiting for her at home. She didn't bargain for a manic landlord, a drunk best friend and news that things were never going to be the same again with her friends.
"Not anymore he doesn't. He's being evicted." the man continued just as riled up.
"What! You can't do that without giving him-"
"Thirty days notice? How about a visit from the cops? He came home two hours ago drunk and crazy. Trashed the apartment and punched me in the nose." the man said with flailing arms.
Sam gasped now realizing the purple bruising around his nose. Sam could have counted on one hand the amount of times Freddie had gotten physical and they all involved protecting she or Carly. What had gotten into him? She looked over at him, he was barely registering what was going on. She rolled her eyes in frustration.
"If he doesn't want me to press charges for assault. Tell him to get out of my apartment by the end of the week." The man turned to leave, "And he can forget about the security deposit."
Sam groaned with the insults on the tip of her tongue but the talk of pressing charges made her behave. Last thing she needed was another run in with the cops. She looked at Freddie and knew she had to take him home. She hoped Carly wasn't there, she had given Carly a set of her keys the week she moved in. She turned right around and put Freddie back into her car.
Sam was thankful the elevator in her building had finally started to work again. It made carrying Freddie a little easier. When they finally stumbled into her apartment she flicked on the lights then dropped him onto her sectional couch. She kicked off her trainers and went straight to her kitchen to put on a pot of coffee. While it brewed she ran to her medicine cabinet and took out the bottle of aspirin. She took them out for Freddie but after the day she had, she was coming down with a headache of her own. How the world had changed over night, she was being the responsible one. Nothing ever made so little sense to her.
Freddy groaned from couch and laid his back in and out of sleep. She sighed into the quiet apartment and stripped off her jacket. She went over to him and took off his shoes and tried to make him a little more comfortable on her couch. She checked in at work then went back to the kitchen for his coffee. She sat next to him and poked his side until he stirred.
"What are you doing on my couch Sam?" he said. Sam chuckled and passed him the cup of piping hot black coffee.
"Shut up dork." He took a sip before handing it back to her.
"She doesn't want me anymore." Freddy said after a moment of silence. Sam didn't have ask who. She simply sat and listened.
"She really doesn't want to be with me anymore…." he mumbled mostly to himself but it broke Sam's heart all the same.
"What did I do wrong?" He sobbed sliding his head down to Sam's lap.
Sam sighed, placed the mug on her coffee table and smoothed her hand over Freddie's cheek. She felt the moisture of his tears on her finger tips and began crying herself. Yup, that was her life. Consoling the man she loved about another woman, and not just any woman, her best friend.