Chapter Four

"Wow, Spencer. The party favors look really cool," I told him. And they really did. There were dozens of them. They were all different colors. I have no idea how he did it. Who knew one dude could make so many colors? Every little tree had soda tabs as ornaments and bottle caps on the top.

"Thanks," he said, "I was up all night finishing them."

"Sam!" Carly called. "You're supposed to be helping me set up."

"Yeah, yeah." It was the day of Carly's party. Christmas Eve. I promised to help her set up.

"You know what you should do tonight?" Carly said.

"What?"

"Tell Freddie how you feel."

I stared at her with wide eyes and an open mouth. "Why would I do that?" I finally said. "He'll turn me down and it'll just make me hate the holidays even more."

"I still can't believe you hate the holidays. And you don't know that he'll turn you down. You might be pleasantly surprised."

"Carls, he loves you. How could he want me when he loves you?" I was beginning to get angry. I didn't want to think about how Freddie'll never love me. I'm gonna kick him in the shin when I see him tonight.

"Sam, I'm pretty sure he's over me."

"Keep dreaming girl."

"You should take a chance."

Why is she so crazy about me telling Freddie I like him? She was never like this before.

"I'm not one for taking chances."

Carly let out a laugh. "You steal things all the time."

"That's not taking a chance. That's just plain fun."

Carly rolled her eyes at me. "Just finish putting up the decorations."

Mom and Charlie walked up to me as soon as they arrived.

"Hi, Sammie," mom said.

"Hi mom. How goes it, Chicken?"

Charlie laughed. "I'm good, Hammie. So where's this Freddie your mom told me about?"

"What have you heard?" I asked with fear.

"Oh please, Sam. It's obvious you're crazy about the boy," mom said.

That god Freddie wasn't nearby. He was across the room arguing with his mom about something.

"What makes you think I like Freddie?" I asked her.

"You always find a way to bring her up in a conversation, and your face lights up whenever you talk about him. It's so cute."

"Mom. Charlie. You guys can't say anything to Freddie about me liking him."

"You haven't told him?" Charlie asked.

"Duh. He doesn't even like me. He's in love with Carly always has been."

"I'm sure he feels the same way about you, Hammie."

"Hey, Puckett," Freddie said as he came up to us.

"What up, Fredweird."

Mom cleared her throat.

"Oh. Freddie, this is my mom's boyfriend Charlie," I said. "He's a computer nerd like you."

"Hi," Freddie said happily while shaking Charlie's hand. "I would love to talk to you about your job sometime. I may want to go into computer engineering one day."

"Fredward," I said, "Stop shaking his hand. You're embarrassing yourself."

He let go of Charlie's hand and blushed. Then he smirked at me. "You're lucky it's Christmas Eve."

"Why?"

"Carly didn't want me to tell you that she just put out a ham."

I dashed off before he finished saying "ham."

"I like him," Freddie said, referring to Charlie.

I rolled my eyes. "You would." We were sitting on the stairs with Carly watching the party.

"I didn't realize your mom liked guys like him."

"My dad was a nerd. Except a more attractive nerd. Kinda like you." Oh crap. I said that out loud. I looked at Carly. She had a huge smile on her face. I didn't dare to look at Freddie.

"Did you just call me a hot nerd?" he asked.

"No! I'm just saying you're better looking than Charlie."

"Whatever you say," he said with a laugh and an elbow nudge to my side.

"Don't get all full of yourself just because I complimented you. It's Christmas. Consider it your gift."

"Speaking of gifts," Carly interrupted. "Let's go exchange our gifts in the studio."

Me and Freddie started walking up first. I looked back at Carly. It looked like she had just given Spencer a thumbs up.

We were all sitting on the beanbag chairs in a little circle. Freddie and I presented our gift to Carly. She squealed with delight when she opened it.

"I can't wait to wear it tomorrow," she said while hugging us both. "Here," she said when she threw our gifts at us.

I laughed when I opened it. "Awesome gift, Carls." It was a black T-shirt with a cute little devil on it. Freddie got a black T-shirt as well. His had a cartoon computer with a cute little smiley face on it.

I gave Freddie his gift. When he opened it his eyes grew wide. "You got me a new PearPod?! This is the best one too! It must've cost you a fortune!"

"Nope. I stole it," I said proudly.

"Of course you did. Thanks, Sam." He gave me a hug. My heart skipped a beat during the hug.

"Now what'd you get me?" I asked when our hug ended.

He handed me a tiny box. He gave me a silver necklace. The charm on it was an adorable little silver pig. It must've cost him a decent amount of money.

He looked at me impatiently and said, "Well?"

"I like the pig," I said while putting it on.

He laughed. "I knew you would. I also have something else." He pulled a stack of DVDs out of the bag he brought the gifts in. "They're Christmas movies. Horror Christmas movies. I figured since you couldn't have your marathon with Melanie this year, the three of us could have one."

"I don't do horror movies," Carly said. "You two can watch them without me."

"OK," Freddie said with a smile. "You OK with watching them at my place after the party?"

My heart was pounding. "Sure. I'll have to ask my mom if it's cool."

We got up and headed back to the party. Freddie and I walked in front of Carly.

"Wait!" Carly yelled when we were almost down the stairs. Everyone was staring at us.

"What?" I asked.

"You guys are under mistletoe."

"She's right," Freddie said. I followed his eyes. Sure enough, there it was.

"You guys gotta kiss," Carly said in a sing song voice.

I felt myself turn red and saw Freddie turn red.

"Come on guys," Carly urged. "It's not like you two haven't kissed before."

I took a deep breath. "Let's just get it over with."

Freddie responded by gently pressing his lips against mine. It felt like the whole world stopped, and we were the only two people in it. It didn't last long, but it was wonderful. He was the one who pulled away. He avoided my gaze. I heard a clap. It was Spencer.

"Why is he clapping?" Freddie asked me.

"No clue."

I walked over to my mom. She and Charlie were talking to Gibby. He was shirtless and had a Christmas tree painted on his back. I pushed him out of the way and he crashed into something. Charlie rushed to his side to help. Mom ignored it. She was used to me doing things like that.

"Can I watch some movies at Freddie's after the party?"

She gave me a look. "Will his mother be there?" She must've thought something would happen. I guess it was because the whole party watched us kiss.

"Duh. We're not gonna do anything but watch movies, mom."

"OK," she kissed my forehead. "Have fun."

"Leave the door open!" Freddie's mom yelled as we headed to his room for our movie marathon.

"I was going to!" he yelled back.

I laughed. I laid down on his bed while he put the first DVD in. His bed's really comfy. Freddie laid down next to me. We laughed at all the gory scenes in the first movie. I laughed at Freddie while we watched the second movie because he kept getting scared. I began to get really tired during the third movie. Freddie looked at me when I yawned. He started to pet my head. It was really relaxing. I ended up falling asleep.

I woke up to my phone ringing. I didn't feel like moving or opening my eyes. I heard Freddie answer my phone.

"She's asleep... About two hours... She can sleep here if you want... It's no problem. She told me she was a little depressed this year, so I figured I would try and cheer her up... Haha. Thanks... Yeah. My mom and I will drop her off on our way to church tomorrow. I'm sorry that you have to work on Christmas Day... It's really no big deal... Merry Christmas Mrs. Puckett... Bye."

"That was my mom?"

"Yup. She called me a sweet boy for having a movie marathon with you." He threw a shirt and pajama pants at me. "Your mom's letting you sleep here. We're taking you home in the morning."

"Aw! Thanks for lending me your PJs, Freddicini."

He laughed. "No problem, Princess Puckett. I'll be on the couch. See you in the morning."

Man, this was a long chapter.

And no worrie people, this is not the last chapter. There shall be more.

I hope you all are liking it. Feel free to leave reviews. :D