Chapter 4

Freddie awoke Christmas eve morning and trudged out to the kitchen. He was getting way too accustomed to the late nights of watching TV and playing video games online and the lack of sleep was catching up with him. The apartment was empty and silent, to his surprise. He looked to the cork board on the wall by the refrigerator to see a note from his mother.

Freddiekins,

I got called into work early. I'll call you on my break to let you know when I'll be getting home. I need you to go to the natural food store and pick up some things for our Christmas dinner. There's a list on the table of what I need along with my credit card.

I also need you to get something for your friend for Christmas from me. I was planning on shopping for her myself this morning on the way to work but I'll be stuck at the hospital all day.

Love, Mom

Freddie left out a sigh. It was bad enough that his mother made such horrible, tasteless holiday food, but asking him to go to the store and pick it all up was like making a kid pick the switch he was to get beaten with.

Maybe this was something Mel could help him with. After all, everything he's done with her so far had been fun, she could at least make this experience bearable. But first, he needed to go pick up something for his mother to give Melanie and he needed to get her something, too. Freddie thought he had finished his Christmas shopping in October, but Mel being in town threw him for a loop, in more ways than one.

He knew last minute Christmas shopping wouldn't be fun, but he went to the mall anyway. It didn't take him long to find a nice sweater for his mom to give to Melanie, but it was a little harder trying to find something from him. It couldn't be anything too big, she'd have to take it on the plane with her when she went back to her college. A gift card would be too impersonal. He noticed a sale at Jay's Jewelers and he looked over the display cases. In the third case, he saw the perfect necklace. A simple, silver herringbone chain, with an engraving that says 'Princess'. This would be perfect, no doubt Sam will love it. But wait, this isn't for Sam, it's for Melanie and jewelry would be too presumptuous, after all they aren't dating or anything. Still, he bought it anyway, but he didn't quite know why, it was just like something was telling him to. Besides, it was on sale, an excuse that always sounds waaay better when girls say it.

He was about to leave the mall when he walked by the window of P.B. Nickels department store. He remembered Melanie looking at the wool knit scarf and hat set on the teal colored mannequin and liking it when they walked around the mall yesterday. It fits the bill, small enough to carry in her luggage, personal enough to have a special meaning to her and it would look really good on her.

Thirty minutes later, Freddie returned to Bushwell, stashed the gift-wrapped packages in his apartment, picked up his mother's 'special' grocery list and went across the hall to pick up Melanie for brunch. Though it was going on noon, Melanie didn't seem to mind his tardiness. After all, he had been gentleman enough to text her and tell her he was running late.

After choosing a restaurant, they ordered their food and had a nice time talking about their respective family's holiday traditions. Freddie broke the news to Melanie that he needed to stop at the natural foods store and fulfill his mother's list but she was only too happy to help. 'Man, this girl is amazing.' He thought to himself.

"So did you want to come over to my place for Christmas?" He asked. "I know Spencer was leaving for Yakima early this morning and I hate to see you all alone."

"No. I don't want to intrude on you and your mom's holiday. I'll be fine."

"No intrusion, Mels. The truth is my mom's actually anxious to meet you."

"Really, but I don't have anything for her. I couldn't just come empty handed, that would be rude."

"It's no big deal, really. Just having you there with us is enough. Tell you what, maybe you could whip up some kind of dessert if you really want to bring something. By the looks of Mom's list, she isn't planning on anything like that."

"I guess I could do that, I suppose I could give her my own mom's gift since she skipped town on me."

They had to park almost two blocks away from the natural foods store, but chatted as they walked up the sidewalk, holding hands, which had become natural for them. "I'm still sorry about having to drag you into this place, Mel. My mom used to visit this store at least once a week and I always hated going in with her."

"Aw, it's not that bad, Freddie. I've been in this kind of store and they're all the same."

"Yeah, but it smells funny in this place, kind of musty. I can't believe my mom even goes in the door with what it smells like, she's usually afraid of picking up spores and stuff."

"I'm sure we'll live. You know, I tried the vegan thing in high school." Mel informed him. "I gave up on it my senior year, though."

"Wow, a Puckett not eating meat, um, just wow." Freddie shook his head.

"Truth is, I was doing it to impress a guy, but I didn't really enjoy it. The whole thing just doesn't appeal to me, but I do try to eat healthy. I don't see any reason to be all obsessive over it, though. Some people just carry it to extremes."

"Right, I've gotta admit meat is pretty tasty." Freddie laughed as they entered the store, Freddie held the door open and Mel again kissed his cheek.

"You're so funny." She commented with a giggle, now turning up the flirting a notch, she hadn't been this close to a guy in a long time and she was starting to think this thing with Freddie could go somewhere. Unfortunately, it was starting to appear that he was afraid to make the first move.

After getting a full load of healthy ingredients for Marissa's holiday dinner, the duo left the store and headed back to Freddie's car just as it was beginning to snow.

"I don't know about you, but I think I can still smell that place on my clothes." He said with a frown as they walked across the nearly empty parking lot toward his car.

"It was pretty gross in there. Eww, my hair smells nasty now, too." Mel said as she took a whiff of her golden locks, which she had left down so she could wear a knit hat. "Here, see what I mean." She offered a small handful of hair toward Freddie.

He instinctively took a small whiff, left out a cough and tried to pass it off. "I don't notice anything, Mels."

"You know, with as much time as you've spent with my sister, I'd think you'd be a better liar." She said with a laugh and turned toward him.

Freddie was still very close to her and their faces were now positioned mere inches apart. Mel closed her eyes and Freddie was now feeling bold and started moving his lips ever so closer to hers. Suddenly a car horn blared at the two. They were standing right behind a silver Toyota and the lady behind the wheel was obviously in too much of a hurry to get home to wait for young romance to blossom.

The two jumped apart and Freddie placed the bags in his trunk as Mel politely smiled and waved to the woman in the Camry as she backed out of her parking space and sped off. Lord knows, Sam would have been just as likely to slash a couple of her tires for blowing the horn at her.

The two made their way back to Bushwell and up to the eighth floor. Melanie insisted that she needed to wash her hair and Freddie reminded her that they were to get together to video chat with Sam at 6:00. He suggested they do it from Spencer's since he wasn't sure if his mother would be home and it would be better if she not see Sam on the computer screen.

Like clockwork, Freddie ducked across the hall at 5:55 with his laptop to set up the video chat. Melanie answered the door, her hair still slightly damp because she didn't know where Spencer kept his hair dryer. "I've looked everywhere." She lamented, toweling her hair dry.

"Oh, uh, he's not allowed to have one." Freddie explained. "The fire chief actually confiscated his when we were in like, tenth grade."

"Right, that whole pyromaniac thing he has going on." She nodded.

"Mhmm." Freddie answered as he signed on to Skype and Mel took a seat beside him on the couch and began brushing at her hair.

Six o'clock came and went, then six-thirty and then seven, still Sam failed to log on. Mel was growing impatient and picked up her phone at nearly seven-thirty. She dialed Sam's number and the call went straight to voice mail.

"That's odd. She never turns her phone off." Melanie stated.

"Here let me try." Freddie pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed Sam. "Straight to voice mail." He said with a frown. "You know Sam, she probably just forgot to charge her phone." Freddie laid his phone down on the coffee table.

"Well at least she should be online. It was her idea after all." Mel pouted. "I'll bet that little skunk got invited to a party and forgot all about us." With that, she turned off her phone and slid it into the pocket of her cashmere sweater.

That thought made Freddie very sad. Forgotten on Christmas eve by his true love. "Hey, I've got an idea, Mels. Why don't we go over to my place and you can met my mom. She's been recording every Christmas movie that's been on for weeks, we can make some popcorn and watch a couple of them. Come on, we can still have fun tonight." Freddie suggested, taking her hand, trying his best to cheer Melanie up and hoping to take his own mind off Sam.

Melanie nodded and smiled at him. He packed up his laptop and the two went over to Marissa's. Freddie opened the door to find his mom just getting home from work, hanging up her coat, still in her nurse's scrubs.

"Freddiebear. Where have you been?" Marissa asked, not taking notice to the girl behind him. "It's getting late."

"Uh, Mom, I'd like you to meet Melanie." He nervously said.

"Oh, nice to meet you, Melanie." Marissa was still a bit cold toward her. After all, this girl was the twin, or supposedly so, of a young lady she could not stand the sight of.

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Benson." Melanie extended a hand to Marissa in greeting and smiled politely.

Marissa took her hand and she did notice an heir of politeness she never saw in Sam.

"If you kids will excuse me, I need to change out of these scrubs, it's been a long day." Marissa stated. "Freddiekins, why don't you offer Melanie something to drink. There's some organic grapefruit juice in the pantry."


At the same moment in L.A., Sam was prancing back and forth from one foot to another in a huge line at the airport ticket counter. She had scraped together every cent she could pawn, beg or borrow and was preparing for a trip to Seattle on the spur of the moment.

By the time her turn came to talk to the ticket agent, Sam was ready to scream. She told the lady where she wanted to go and after an eternity of watching the woman pound away furiously at her keyboard, she was informed that there were no available flights to Seattle any time soon.

"Oh, come on lady, there has to be one seat. I'm not even that big, maybe I could sit in one of those little jump seats or something."

"I'm sorry, Miss. The next guaranteed seat I can sell you is tomorrow morning at 5:35, arriving in Seattle at 3:30 pm. There's a bit of a layover in Denver. I'm very sorry, but it's the soonest I have."

"Uggh, you mean I'll have to sit around this stupid airport for almost nine hours until the flight leaves."

"I could sell you a standby on an earlier flight, but there's no guarantee you'll get to board. And if the 5:35 sells out in the meantime, you'll have to wait for an even later flight."

"How much is the stinkin' ticket?" Sam said through clenched teeth. She knew if she made a scene, she wouldn't be allowed to fly anywhere, so she tried to keep her cool.

"Nine hundred sixty-five." The lady said coldly.

"Dollars? It's normally less than three hundred to fly to Seattle! My boyfr- um my one friend flew down last summer and he said it was only 255."

"Well, Miss, this is a holiday weekend and we don't have as many flights scheduled. If you would have booked your ticket online, before last weekend, you could have reserved an economy class seat. I'm sorry there's really nothing else I can do."

From behind her, Sam could hear the whines and grumbles of others who were waiting to get to the ticket desk. "Alright, here's your money." Sam counted out exactly 965 dollars for the woman, leaving her less than fifty bucks for cab fare from Sea-Tac to Bushwell and for snacks while waiting in the airport. She took her ticket and made her way to the security checkpoint, grumbling to herself, quietly calling the woman a range of various names from 'crook' to 'frigid old bitty'.

'Man, if I didn't love him, I'd never be doing this. What'll I do if I get there and I'm too late and he's already hooked up with Melanie? Maybe I should call him. Oh, chiz, we were supposed to video chat at 6:00, and it's almost 9:00.' She pulled out her phone and noticed the battery light flashing red, which meant it didn't even have enough power to ring, let alone place a call. She searched her bag, but soon discovered that in her hurry to pack, she grabbed everything but her phone charger. She looked around the airport for people with similar phones, hoping to borrow a charger for just a little while, but she had just got a brand new phone, the latest model, and there was absolutely no one in the airport at this hour with one like it.

So Sam's heading for Seattle. Will she make it before Freddie and Melanie get too cozy? Will she find a phone charger so she can even call him? I know, there is such a thing as a pay-phone but last time I was in an airport, they weren't too plentiful.