Please review. Pretty please? If you do, I will send you a virtual cookie.

Sam's POV

What the hell? I thought groggily. I had been happily sleeping when I felt something brush my nose, waking me up. I wasn't fully awake yet, though, but rather in that in between stage where you are aware of what's going on around you, but you can't open your eyes yet. It felt almost like somebody was holding a piece of my hair. I involuntarily twitched, and whatever was moving my hair stopped. I suddenly realized what was going on. Freddie had a piece of my hair. It must have been in my face I thought to myself. That's what brushed my nose and woke me up. Strangely, this thought didn't make me angry, which was weird. Usually, if I caught Freddie messing with my hair while I slept I would have punched him in the throat. But now, I didn't mind. It was almost…affectionate, what Freddie was doing. I gave a little sigh and moved my head, not opening my eyes. Once Freddie thought that I was still fully asleep he put the lock of hair on the side of my head, away from my face. Then he pulled away, and the last thing I remember before falling back asleep is the car moving off.

"Sam. Hey, Sam. Wake up" I heard Freddie say softly. I groaned turned my head. Then I felt him give me a gentle poke in the arm. I turned to face him and opened one eye.

"There better be a good reason for waking me up, Fredward" I said, my voice thick from sleep.

"I've stopped for dinner"

Well, that's a good reason alright. I sat up in my seat, wide awake.

"Dinner? " I asked excitedly. I looked around. "Where are we?"

"Welcome to the town of Belleville" he answered, spreading his arms out in front of him. I looked around and saw that we were in an empty parking lot facing the water. The sun was beginning to set, casting a dusky glow over everything and making the water twinkle. I looked back at Freddie questioningly.

"We're right on the Washington border" he explained. "On Snake River"

I nodded once, and then stretched, trying to undo the knots in my neck. I got out of the truck and sat on the floor, stretching my legs out in front of me and leaning forward. Ahhh I thought as my muscles stretched after being curled up for so long. I heard Freddie shut his car door and soon enough he appeared around the front of the truck. He raised his eyebrow at me questioningly.

"I needed to stretch, nub" I said. He shrugged and offered me his hand. I took it and he hoisted me onto my feet. I stumbled forward slightly and automatically put out my hand to steady myself. Unfortunately, my hand landed on Freddie's chest. We both froze, and even in my shock and horror I noted that Freddie's chest felt surprisingly…defined. I quickly took my hand off his chest and yanked the other one out of his grasp.

"So what's for dinner, Fredlumps?"

"I figured we could eat there" he said, pointing behind him. I looked over his shoulder and saw a tiny wooden building with a faded sign in front. The sign read "Lou's Lobsters"

"That'll work" I said happily. We set off towards the restaurant, which was surprisingly busy. We could see people eating on the wooden benches in front of the building, and through the windows we could see more people inside. As we got closer, we could hear laughter and music emanating from the building. I hadn't even eaten yet, but I already liked this place. We walked into the crowded restaurant and ordered. Once we got our food we took it outside and sat at one of the wooden tables, swivelling ourselves around on the benches. Freddie put the platter of lobsters between us and handed me a paper napkin. I tucked it into my shirt and eagerly began to rip apart a lobster. Once I had got through the shell and exposed the meat, Freddie and I both pinched off a bit of meat and ate it.

"Oh my God" we groaned in unison. It was like heaven in your mouth. We didn't say anything after that, just ate voraciously until we were both stuffed.

"That was amazing" I moaned.

"Mmhmm" Freddie agreed. I looked across at the river. The sun was setting, sending streaks of pink, orange and violet shooting through the sky. The water sparkled dimly. In the distance I could see a pier beyond the parking lot extending out into the river.

"Let's go for a walk" I suggested. Freddie looked at me for a moment, and then got up. I clambered out of my spot and we walked in silence through the parking lot.

"Hold on" Freddie said suddenly, hanging a left. "I just wanna get my camera. This sunset is too amazing not to document"

I said nothing, just waited impatiently until he had his camera. When he had retrieved it, we walked through the parking lot and onto the worn wooden pier. The pier was quite long, and we walked along in silence. About a quarter of the way from the end, Freddie stopped and began taking pictures. I continued without him, walking all the way to the end and sitting down. I took off my shoes and socks and let my legs dangle off the edge of the pier, my toes in the water. I traced circles in the water with the tips of my toes, watching the ripples spread farther and farther across the surface of the water. I felt the pier move as Freddie walked up behind me. Wordlessly he sat down next to me, took off his shoes and socks, rolled up the legs of his jeans, and dipped his feet in the water. Where the water barely covered my toes, Freddie's feet were submerged up to the ankle. I said nothing, just continued looking across the water.

"You okay?" Freddie asked softly. I turned to look at him.

"Yeah" I said just as softly. We both instinctively spoke quietly, knowing that speaking in a normal volume would break the magic of the sunset. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"No reason" he said. "You're just unusually quiet and…peaceful"

He really shouldn't have said that I thought to myself. I turned to face him, and I saw that he was looking at me intently. I smirked at him, and then shoved him hard, sending him tumbling into the water. He went in with a splash, sending water flying up at me and making the surface of the river shimmer as the waves spread. He surfaced, coughing.

"Better?" I asked, smirking at him again.

"Yeah, yeah that's more like you" he said, wiping his eyes. He swam over to the pier and placed his hands flat on the wood, hoisting his torso out of the water. Seeing him there, balanced so precariously, I couldn't help placing my hands flat on his shoulders and pushing him back in. He once again surfaced, wiping his eyes. He looked at me furiously, and I couldn't help but laugh at the sight of him, soaking wet, glaring at me. Soon enough, he joined in my laughter, shaking his head at me. I took my phone out of my pocket and jumped into the water with him. I landed in the water with a splash, revelling in the silence that enveloped me as I went underwater. I had always loved being underwater. I opened my eyes and saw Freddie's legs a few feet away. I swam over to them and grabbed his ankles, yanking him under. I surfaced for air, laughing and wiping my eyes. I saw Freddie's head break the surface where I had pulled him under. He wiped his eyes and shook his head, sending water flying in all directions and making his hair stick up. He swam over to me with an evil grin.

"It's on now, Puckett"

"Bring it, dork"

I don't know how long we stayed in the water, fighting and playing around, dunking and splashing each other. Freddie was actually pretty strong when he chose to fight back, and we were more evenly matched than I would have thought. I was still stronger, but I was also shorter and lighter, which gave Freddie an advantage. When we finally hoisted ourselves back onto the pier, dripping wet and out of breath, the sun had set and the inky sky was scattered with twinkling stars. I picked up my phone and Freddie picked up his camera, and we made our way back towards the truck. I stood dripping in the parking lot, squeezing water out of my hair while Freddie rummaged around in his bags. He surfaced with two towels and handed one to me. I twisted it up and whacked him in the back of the legs before using it to dry off. When we had dried off as much as we could, we put the towels on the seats, got in the truck and headed off to find somewhere to stay for the night. We had only driven a few minutes when I spotted a little bed and breakfast.

"There" I said, pointing. Freddie looked at the B&B before turning and pulling into the parking lot. We unloaded our bags and walked inside. The lobby of the bed and breakfast was done in dark, polished wood and tiny, headache-inducing florals. We traipsed over to the front desk, which was manned by a stern-looking old woman with tight grey curls and horn-rimmed glasses.

"Can I help you?" she said, raising an eyebrow disapprovingly. I can only imagine what we looked like – two unsupervised damp teenagers checking into a bed and breakfast together.

"Yeah" said Freddie, smiling sweetly at the lady. "Can we get a room please?"

"Of course" said the lady, frowning at us once more before turning to her archaic computer. "Room 315 is available"

"Perfect" said Freddie. We paid the lady and headed up the stairs, since this building didn't have an elevator. We reached our room and Freddie unlocked it, swinging the door open.

"Oh my God" we said in perfect unison. Our room was a frilly, floral, Pepto-Bismol coloured nightmare. We walked in, matching expressions of horror, as we looked around the room. Every inch of the room was either the same dark, polished wood as the lobby, or a sickening shade of pink. The fluffy carpet? Pink. The curtains? Pink. The frilly bedspreads on the two single beds? Pink. I dropped my bags on the floor and did a full 360 survey of the room.

"This is disgusting. Why the hell did that lady put us in a vomit coloured room?" I demanded.

"Hey Sam, come here" I heard Freddie say behind me. I turned around to see that Freddie had drawn the curtains to reveal an enormous, glass window-nook thing, and was now kneeling on the (pink) window seat. I walked over and kneeled next to him, and I saw what he was talking about. Our room had a spectacular 180 degree view of the river. I could see the stars sparkling in the sky and reflected in the calm surface of the water. The moon shone brightly, illuminating the water and the pier.

"Wow" I said quietly. We kneeled there side by side for a moment, and then I got up.

"I'm going to have a shower" I announced. I found the bathroom (pink! Surprise, surprise) and shut the door. I turned on the water and took a long, hot shower, letting the heat relax my knotted muscles. I washed my hair meticulously and brushed my teeth, not wanting to get out of the shower. Finally I turned the water off and got out of the shower. I wiped away the steam on the mirror and got dressed for bed. I unlocked the door and went back into the room, my hair wrapped in a towel. Freddie was lying on one of the beds, leaning against the headboard, talking on the phone.

"Yes, mom, we're fine. No, mom, I didn't get carsick. No, mom, we didn't get attacked by hobos"

He saw me emerge from the shower and pointed at the phone, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. He sat there for a good twenty more minutes until he finally convinced his mother that he needed to go. He hung up the phone and shook his head.

"God, she's a nightmare" he muttered, as though talking to himself.

"No argument here" I said. He shook his head and threw the phone on the bed before heading into the bathroom and shutting the door. I dug through Freddie's bag until I found his laptop. I turned it on and was checking my mail when I heard Freddie emerge from the bathroom.

"Hey Freddie, come here and-" I trailed off when I looked up. Freddie was walking towards me wearing nothing but a pair of plaid pajama pants. Oh my GOD when did Freddie get ripped? I thought frantically. I let my eyes trail over his sculpted chest, defined biceps and the barest hints of a six pack. His body was perfect. Muscular, but not too ripped. He had been drying his hair with a towel and he paused when I stopped talking, his hair sticking up in a million directions.

"Are you okay?" he asked, looking at me suspiciously.

"Yeah, I'm fine" I said, pulling myself together.

"Okay" he said, still looking unconvinced. "What did you want?"

"Oh" I said, struggling to remember what I was going to ask him. "Nothing. Never mind"

"Okay…" he said, throwing the towel over a chair and going over to his bag. He opened it and pulled out a T-shirt, which he put on, and a book. He closed the curtains and turned off the light before walking over to the empty bed, pulling back the covers and getting in. The lamp on the bedside table between the beds cast a soft glow over both of us. Freddie opened his book and began to read. Once I finished checking my mail I turned off Freddie's computer and put it on the floor next to the bed. I then reached over and turned off the lamp, plunging the room into darkness.

"Uh, okay" I heard Freddie say. I heard him drop the book on the floor, and then the sheets rustled as he got comfortable.

"Good night, Sam"

"Night, dork"