Monday morning, Sam walked into Ridgeway. Carly was standing at her locker. Sam smiled at her uncomfortably. "Hey," Carly spoke first, with an awkward smile as well. Sam couldn't help but notice that Carly was wearing her butterfly blouse, and a pair of black skinny jeans. She looked positively gorgeous. Now's not the time, Puckett, Sam thought to herself.

Carly looked at her calmly. "I was thinking after school we could go to Skybucks and talk."

This is positive, Sam thought, but she questioned, "Why not the Groovy Smoothie?"

Carly smiled slightly, "I'd rather not run into Freddie or anyone else we know. I want to have a private conversation." At that moment, the technical producer in question came around the corner, and the two of them tried to act like nothing unusual was going on.

Since many of their classes were together, as well as with Freddie, they kept the deception up as much as they could for the rest of the day. To say things were awkward between them, though, would have been an understatement. Both Carly and Sam found themselves waiting for, but also fearing, the end of school. Fortunately, Freddie had a Mathlete practice session ("Big tournament on Saturday," he told them) after school, so they didn't have to think of a creative way to ditch him at the end of the day.

Skybucks wasn't crowded as they walked in, and most of the people there were zoned out in the glow of their own laptops. After getting their coffees at the counter, they sat at a table in the corner, away from the other patrons. They sat in an uncomfortable silence, which seemed to drag on too long.

"So," Sam finally spoke, "you look nice today."

Carly was nervous, and she blushed at Sam's comment , "Sam, you really shocked me the other night. I had some trouble wrapping my head around what you told me… But then, the more I thought about it, the more things made sense. We've always had a really close friendship, and maybe that's because neither one of us wanted to be 'just friends.'" Sam's heart leapt at this, noticing Carly's phrasing, as her friend continued, "In some ways, you've always been like a boyfriend to me, protecting me, doing nice things for me, and showing me the side of you no one else gets to see. Maybe that's why none of my relationships lasted very long. They never compared to what I already had with you."

Sam was encouraged. She wasn't sure where this conversation was going, but it didn't sound like she was being given the brush-off. More to the contrary, but she had to be sure. "What are you saying, Carls? I'm confused."

Carly locked eyes with Sam and took a deep breath. "You said you thought you were in love with me Saturday night. I can honestly say that I never thought of it consciously until that day, but now that I have, I came to a realization late last night. I realized…" She paused, swallowing hard, "I realized that I'm in love with you, too. I have been for a long time. I just didn't see it." Carly was smiling now, a genuinely happy smile, something that hadn't graced her face all day.

Sam's heart was thundering in her chest. This was so much more than she had hoped for this morning. She had a grin from ear to ear as a sudden understanding hit her. "You wore that outfit especially for me, didn't you? You wanted to make yourself look hot for me?" That thought floored her. She'd seen Carly dress up for guys before, all flirty and sexy, but she never – in a million years – expected to be the object of her friend's attraction. It was almost surreal.

Carly again locked eyes with Sam, noticing - not for the first time – what a beautiful shade of blue they were. She realized now that she could lose herself in those eyes, and that wouldn't be a bad thing at all. As she spoke again, the awkwardness of the day began to lift. "Of course I did, silly. After my epiphany, I knew that if we didn't try this," making a motion with her hand to indicate the two of them, "that we'd regret it for a long time… forever."

Sam was already lost in Carly's dark chocolate eyes, and she never wanted to be found. "So you want to be my girlfriend?" she asked quietly, still overwhelmed.

Carly scooted her chair closer to Sam's, leaned over and gave her a chaste kiss on the lips. "If you'll be mine," she answered.

If Sam had any doubts before, they were washed away. That small peck meant so much more to her than the kiss she shared with Freddie. As their geeky friend would say, it was a galaxy away. Her lips tingled in a way she never wanted to end. She started to pull Carly in for another, more passionate kiss, but the brunette stopped her, "Not here. I'm not ready for that yet."