Chapter Two.
The knot in her stomach wouldn't go away. She knew what the cure was, but she didn't want to face it.
The strange thing was, she wasn't as worried about Freddie finding out as she was about Sam finding out. Sure, it had been a while since they had broken up. Sure, they had broken up mutually, they said. Sure, Sam seemed to be over Freddie, and vice versa. But the truth was that Carly hadn't known they liked each other in the first place. And even when they were together, it didn't seem to Carly like they liked each other "the good way". They were always fighting. If they liked each other now, would she even know? Why would she know this time, when she had missed it so entirely before?
What if Sam still liked Freddie? What if they were about to get back together and Carly, as usual, was the last to know it? What if they already had gotten back together, but they didn't know how to tell her? She couldn't stand to ruin everything by telling Sam how she felt about Freddie. She wanted them to be happy.
But I want to be happy, too.
She sat up, covering her face in her hands.
She had to tell Sam.
Before she had time to talk herself out of it, she picked up her phone and dialed Sam's number with her shaking hands. She'd known it by heart for years, and she had never been so reluctant to dial it as she was at this moment. She took a deep breath and put the phone up to her ear, her stomach twisting even more painfully than it had before. She was definitely going to be sick if this kept up. She had already worried herself into having a headache, and she felt feverish.
Ring.
She's going to hate me.
Ring.
Oh, God, please help me!
Ring.
"Hey, Carls."
Her throat went dry. What was she planning to say?
"Carls?"
"Hey…um…Sam…" Carly said, giggling nervously. She was trying to sound normal and failing miserably.
"Okay, what's wrong?" was Sam's immediate response. She obviously knew Carly way too well.
"What? Wrong? Nothing's wrong! Why would something be wrong?" Carly was getting panicky, and she sounded like a complete idiot. Sam said nothing, waiting for Carly to crack under the pressure and tell her what was really going on.
"I just…" Carly sighed. She couldn't do this over the phone. "Can you come over early tonight? Like as soon as possible? I really need to talk to you about something."
"Yeah sure, just gimme a few minutes," said Sam, hanging up.
Carly pushed the END button on her pear phone and threw it onto her bed with yet another sigh. What was she going to do? What could she say? What if Sam hated her? Was this a good idea?
She let out a little shriek of annoyance and hit herself in the face with a pillow.
I'm such an idiot.
