Author's Note: First of all I want to thank everyone that's reviewed so far. I've been meaning to update this for a while and have been working on it off for the last two days. Hope you guys like it.
Man Up
Chapter 2
Freddie stepped through the double door leading him into the main training hall of the Seattle Sports Complex. As the room opened up to him he could see it filled to the brim with people that were engaged in a number of activities. From two guys playing basketball at the halfpoint line, to a small workout center of guys high school age and older lifting weights at various stations. On the far right hand side opposite of him was the batting cage that was covered in a black net as a young man cracked the oncoming ball with a metal bat. While across from it to the right hand side next to Freddie was a series of treadmills with older men running on them. Seeing where he wanted to start out, he adjusted the strap of his dufflebag and proceeded over to the treadmills. Figure he'd start out on something easy before going to the cage.
As he sat his bag down in the corner behind the runners a woman at the check in desk called out to him.
"You have to change into your gym clothes before you can start on any of those." a blonde college age girl said. He looked back at the young woman and looked to apologise.
"Uh, sorry they didnt tell me where the lockers were." he replied coming over to the desk.
"Their behind that door over there. Is this your first time here?" the woman asked.
"Yeah it is actually. The name's Freddie." he said.
"I'm Casey. Have you signed in yet?" the 22-year-old asked.
"Yeah I signed in at the last desk." he answered pointing back.
"Okay that's fine, as long as you signed in. Did you bring a lock with you?" the woman asked.
"No I didnt." he replied.
"Well, we'll give you a temporary lock for tonight. Here's the combination." she said jotting the number down on a sticky pad.
"Thanks. he said and a smile played on his face.
"Do you want to..."
"I'm a little old for you." she relied half jokingly.
"All right." he said deflated and walked off.
"Good try though." Casey mused as she continued her paperwork.
"Thanks." he replied sardonically.
A few minutes later Freddie stood in his blue gym short and white shirt, shoving his dufflebag full of belongings into a tiny orange locker and clicked the cylinder combination lock he was given, and went on his way. A few minutes later Freddie came back into the main hall and jumped on the nearest treadmill on the end and started it up. The Treadmill began running he stepped off the skids and started walking.
"S'up Fred." a deep familar voice said. He looked over to his left and saw a husky young man his age on the treadmill next to him.
"Gibby? What are you doing here?" he asked.
"My mom put me on a diet. She says I'm putting on too much weight. Can you believe that?" he said annoyed. Freddie shrugged and seemed hesitant to answer.
"Uh, well you have put on a little extra..."
"Dont say it!" barked Gibby catching his friend off guard. The tech producer remained rigid fearing he might attack him as Gibby continued walking.
"I'm not fat, I'm fluffy. I'm like a big damn pillow." he muttered.
"Gibby why do you have a breathing mask next to your treadmill?" Freddie asked.
"Becuase I get winded okay?" he growled. Freddie seemed struck by his comment as he stepped back onto the skids while the track beneath him continued to run.
"That's terrible." he said.
"Tell me about it." Gibby muttered.
"No Gibby, I mean that's awful. You should go see a doctor and dietician before doing any of that." Freddie said concerned.
"I'm just doing this because my mom wants me to." he growled.
"Step off the treadmill Gibby. If you need an oxygen mask just to run, then you have no business being on this thing." he told him. Gibby took offense of this and looked back at him intensely.
"Look!" he growled.
"No Gibby you look. Your one of my friends, and on any given day you could break me in half if you wanted to. I just dont want anything to happen to you. Especially on my watch." he said as he started walking once more.
Gibby hung his head as he remained on the skids and stopped the machine before turning back to him.
"I'm sorry." he said softly.
"It's all right." Freddie said.
"So what should I do? I told my mom I'd be down here." Gibby responded.
"Tell her you need to have a doctor's appointment first. They'll be able to tell you what level of activity you should undertake. It's the best thing to do." he said as he walked.
"Yeah I guess I'll do that. Sorry for being such a butt." he said getting off the treadmill.
"Dont worry about it, be sure to tell her about the breathing mask." Freddie told him.
"You got it, later Freddie." he said leaving him.
"Later Gib." he replied. After leaving his side Gibby talked with the woman at the front desk while guesturing back to Freddie.
"Okay I'll be sure to tell them." she replied as Gibby left. The young boy hung his hand in the air as Freddie waved back and left the workout center.
"That was a nice thing you did for him. It takes alot to stand up to one of your friends." she told him.
"It's no big deal." he said as he continued walking.
"Yes it is. You may have saved your friend's life tonight." she said behind her desk. He stepped back on the tread as he looked back at her.
"I was just doing what I thought best." he replied.
"Your a good kid." she nodded.
"Thanks." he said stepping off the treadmill for good and toweled off.
"I'm going to go hit the batting cages now." he replied.
"Take care." she said.
"You too." he said whipping the towel across his shoulder.
Walking over to the other side of the room he put his towel down and picked up a blue batter's helmet along with a blue and silver aluminium bat and stood in line. Back at Carly's apartment the burnette still seemed to be in shock over the fact that Freddie kissed her. On the cheek, but still suprising nonetheless with Sam trying to break through to the mute girl.
"Yo Carls, Carly!" she yelled startling her.
"What?" she yelled back point blank. Causing Sam to remove a globle of spittle near her eye.
"You dont have to spit on me." she muttered embarrassing her best friend.
"Sorry, what do you want?" she asked.
"You havent said two words since I came here. Now what's up?" Sam asked sitting back down across from her on the couch. Carly twisted the side of her mouth and figeted a bit infront of Sam.
"Well...you know how I tell you and Freddie not to keep secrets?" she asked. Now it was Sam's turn to figit.
"Yeesss. Usually when you mention us in the same breath it doenst bode well." Sam said.
"Well, Freddie kind of kissed me earlier up in the loft. It was on the cheek though!" she said throwing up her hands in defense fearfully.
"Well what'd he kiss you for?" she asked not offended. The burnette sighed and hung her head.
"I cant really say. But he did ask for a week off from filming." Carly replied softly.
"Okay what's going on here?" Sam countered crossing her arms.
"Freddie...wanted to do some other things." she said remorsefully breaking her promise.
"What? He's going to quit iCarly?" she answered standing up.
"No! Freddie's not quitting iCarly. He just needs some time to feel like a guy." Carly replied. The blonde raised an eyebrow and slowly sat back down.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"He just...I dont know. It's kind of hard to explain. It's not that he gets tired of hanging out with us..." she trailed.
"So then what does that little nub want?" Sam growled growing more incessed.
"We're suddenly not good enough for him?"
"No! He needs to do boy stuff becuase he always gets pegged with us!" she barked back suprising Sam.
The blonde suddenly found herself leaning away from Carly who stood over her. The webstar sighed and sat back down.
"I didnt mean for it to come out like that. That's just something he said. Freddie feels that hanging out with us has hurt his standing among the other guys at school, and you always beating and man handling him infront of the others doenst really help much. He wants to prove he's still one of the guys." Carly said in a more even demeanor.
"You remember when he tried out for the football team last year?" Carly added. A smile played on Sam's face.
"Yeah I remember he got the fudge knocked out of him and his mom about had a heart attack." she grinned.
"Yeah. She wouldnt let him out of her sight for a week." Carly added.
"That's because he was in the hospital!" Sam countered.
"I thought he'd take a hit better than that. Anyway Freddie made me promise not to tell his mom, and I expect you to do the same." Carly told her.
"Why do I have to?" Sam huffed.
"Sam." Carly replied.
"I'm not making any promises. At least I know what he's doing now." she muttered.
Back at the sports center Freddie was in the batting cage as a ball launched out of the pitching machine at him and swung. The baseball flew past him and hit the padded wall behind him with a thud. It had been his eight batted ball as a man standing behind the pitching machine called out to him.
"Freddie, Freddie watch where the ball goes. Keep your eye on it and when it's close to you swing as hard as you can." the instructor said.
"All right." he said getting back into batting position. The instructor held the ball out for Freddie to see it and then deposited it in the machine which came at him a second later.
Freddie followed the ball and swatted at it, a distinct metal ring sounded as he made contact with the ball and sent it over the instructor's head behind him.
"Good. Next to last ball. Same as before." the instructor noted showing the ball off to the side.
Fred nodded his head and was ready. The ball was shot and again he made contact with a loud metallic ping as the ball went over the operator's head once more.
"Good! Last one." he said holding out the ball and fired it.
Freddie again swung but this time missed as it went beneath the bat and hit the wall behind him. The instructor powered down the machine.
"Okay, not bad for your first time. You hit three out of ten balls. That's pretty decent for a starter. Okay next one is up." the man said as Freddie lifted the black cloth net overhead and exited.
"Benson you want to go again?" the instructor asked behind the net and machine.
"Can I?" he asked.
"You can go as many times as you want. Just let others who havent had a shot yet go first." the instructor told him.
"Yeah sure." he replied and got back in line with just two other people ahead of him.
"Hey Freddie what chu doing out here?" Spencer said walking up behind him. Freddie whipped around to see him.
"Hey Spence, just trying new things. Why are you here?" he asked with a guesture.
"Oh I had to get away from the apartment for a while. Hey you want to go go-karting?" Spencer asked.
"They have those?" he asked with excitement.
"Yeah they have them in the next room come on!" Spence said throwing his arm in the air pointing towards it.
"Okay." Freddie answered putting down his bat and followed after him.
"Come on!" Spencer yelled out obnoxiously as he ran.
"I'm coming!" Freddie yelled as he tried to keep up with him and ran through a door in the back.
Author's Note: yeah okay the ending's a little awkard but whatever it's not as bad as the previous draft. Anyway I've been meaning to update this for a while. The good news is I have enough material and hope to have the next chapter out before long. Like maybe a week from now. Anyway that's all for now. If you have any more ideas for what he can do, I'd be happy to hear them. I always look for feedback from readers. Hope you guys liked it. And if there should be tension in whether his mom finds out or not. Let me know what you think.
Please review,
Green Gallant.
