AN: Ok so wow guys I think that's the most reviews/faves/follows I've ever gotten on a story before. Thank you so much for being the highlight of my week! (Yes, I'm a loser, I know.)

I wanted to just mention one review in particular from, Tanya233, because that was fantastic! The whole thing just made me smile. No, it was not pointless or too long ;) Thanks for taking the time to write out what you loved. And to everyone, that's for just taking the time to read and review. I love you guys!

Finally, in another review from, Pickaxe881978, I was asked how many chapters there would be on this story. So ideally, I'm going for around 30 for now, which would cover the first year of college. I do have ideas for the whole 4 years of college, which would bring it up to about 100 chapters haha! Aiming big! Don't quote me on that, though. I may stop after the first year, but if there's a demand, then I will supply. I do (obviously) have an end goal.

Thanks again, guys! Here's chapter 8! Read, Review, and Enjoy! :)

Open When...

You're Disappointed

November

It was raining. Again. It made me miss Seattle. Because even though it was rain, it was a cold rain. A rain on the verge between water and ice. It felt like winter had settled over New York in about a week. Or at least, a very cold and strong wind. I had to walk maybe 5 minutes to get to class, but those 5 minutes were spent bundled up to avoid arriving in shivers and goosebumps. Though I'd found the goosebumps popping up every so often from nerves.

I was sitting on my bed, legging clad legs crossed, laptop balanced on top, writing an essay. To be more accurate, I was pushing random keys and back spacing sporadically, while listening to music. I had no focus. I rarely did when it came to writing for school. The weather was bumming me out too.

I closed my eyes, placed the laptop on my bed, and drew my legs to my chest. The semester was halfway through. It was hard for me to believe that time had gone by so quickly. School always seemed to drag by for me, but now it was different. The amount of rehearsals and long days left me dragging, lacking motivation, and sleeping away my free time. After talking to Ashley and then Freddie, I realized this need for excess sleep was not just my own. Freddie had explained it to me as a response to stress and early mornings, something I definitely understood. He'd tried to get me to talk about what was stressing me out for an hour. When I continuously refused, he told me it wouldn't get any better. And I knew that. He just wasn't the person I wanted to complain to. Even though he'd given me that free rant coupon at the beginning of the semester, I didn't want to rant to him.

Not now.

I didn't want to admit it to myself, and I certainly didn't want to admit it to him, but I was hurt. I felt like an idiot for being hurt, but I was.

I opened my eyes to a change on my computer screen. FaceTime had popped up and was now ringing. I reached over to my mousepad and hesitated. Freddie. I sighed, pulled my hair out of its ponytail, adjusted the front of my shirt, and clicked accept.

"Hey!" Freddie said, hair slicked back and grinning.

"What the hell did you do to your hair?" I said.

He narrowed his eyes, then raised his brows. "What did you do to yours?"

"Nothing," I said. "Unlike you, right now, my hair is completely natural."

He held out his hands around his head. "Fluffy."

"Do you want to talk to me, or no?"

"Where is your computer right now? I'm basically level with your chest."

"Thanks for looking, Fredwad," I said, rolling my eyes. I picked up the laptop and placed it on the bedside table so that he'd be level with my face. I pursed my lips. "Better?"

"I didn't mean move it," he said. "I just didn't understand the angle."

"Mr. Nerd didn't get basic math. How novel," I muttered. "But wouldn't want to get a boner for the wrong girl, would ya?"

He paused. "Sam."

I shook my head and ran a hand through my hair, seeing in the small preview screen that it was rather rather puffy.

"That's not what I -" he sighed. "Never mind. I need your help."

"With what?"

He shrugged. "I'd ask Carly, but I think she might be sleeping, so it's up to you to help."

"Gee, thanks."

I rolled my eyes. He opened his mouth, as if to say something, then shook his head. He walked out of the area of the screen, leaving me forced to stare at the wall behind his bed. It was real red brick with a shelf hanging overhead. Ever the practical person, the shelf was lined with textbooks. The only thing that deviated from the professional scholar ideal was a small pikachu plush sitting on top of the books.

"God, you're such a nerd," I mumbled.

"What?" Freddie said, appearing in front of me again with three shirts in hand.

"Show me your room," I said. "I saw it with all the boxes, but never complete. I swear to God, though, if it's anything like that one shelf, I am going to make fun of you for your life."

He turned to face the shelf, then raised an eyebrow at me. "What's wrong with it?"

"Textbooks and pikachu. Probably the nerdiest thing I've ever seen."

"Like your room is any better," he said.

"Uh, it is," I snapped back. I turned my laptop to the wall, going lengthwise along my bed, where all my photographs were. "What's this?"

"Okay, so I'm a nerd and your dorm is a common white girl dorm," he said. "All you need now is the fairy lights."

"You'd like that wouldn't you?" I said, narrowing my eyes. "Just a common, pretty, skinny bitch who's the same as everyone else."

His face went blank. He bit his lip and placed the shirts down on his bed. I looked down.

"Sam, I -" he said.

"Ask me about the shirts already," I said. "It doesn't matter. You don't have time for my shit so just show me the shirts and get on with it."

"Okay," he said. "So there's this one."

He held out a plain black button up. I nodded and gestured for the next. He threw it down on the bed and produced a plaid blue, red, and green button up. I wrinkled my nose. The colours reminded me of a scarecrow. He picked up the final shirt. White with red sleeves.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Some pizza place on campus," he said.

"Oh hot date then," I said.

"I guess we'll have to see about that," he said.

Normally, I would laugh. If it was anyone else in the world, I would laugh. But this was Freddie. I wanted him to have the furthest thing from a hot date. I wanted the date to go horribly wrong and the girl to be deathly boring. I wanted her to not show up. I wanted him to be stood up. I wanted her to be the worst kisser in the world. I wanted her to get food poisoning from the pizza joint. I wanted her to have a boyfriend that she was cheating on. I wanted Freddie to hate her.

But he didn't.

He'd asked her out instead.

I wanted to punch him in the face when he first told me he had a date. He'd seemed so proud of himself. I made fun of him. I asked him who would want to date him. I said I would congratulate the girl for taking one for the team.

And then I threw my pillow at the wall once I hung up the phone.

I found her on Facebook the next day. She was gorgeous. She looked like Jennifer Aniston circa 1994. The only difference was a shock of curly dark brown hair. She knew how to work it. Big curls that fell like a halo around her face. I thought of my own hair at the moment, fluffy, frizzy, and out of place. Freddie had even commented on it. Granted, I had started it. It didn't make it any better that he had noticed, though. He probably wouldn't notice with her.

"Well, " I said. "Don't do anything too dangerous, then."

"Dangerous?"

"You know what I mean, Fredward. Play safe."

"Ohhh," he said. "No. You know I wouldn't. Not on a first date, anyway."

"I don't want to hear about it anyway," I said.

"Then why suggest it?"

"I wasn't telling you to go fuck the girl," I said. "I was basically telling you not to. Besides, if you bring her back into your room, she'll probably dump you."

"Thanks, Sam," he said.

"Remember to give her my condolences for dating you," I said, annoyance dripping from my voice.

"It's just one date, Sam," he said. He shook his head and gestured at the shirts. "Which one?"

Black. The answer was black. It made him look mysterious, and in a weird way, really attractive to me. I knew the shirt and I knew how it highlighted the lines and edges of his torso. I knew how when he put it on, I wanted nothing more than to take it off. The black was undoubtedly my choice.

"The plaid," I said instead.

He looked down at the shirt. "You sure?"

"With those pants?"

"Yes."

"Then yeah," I said. "It'll look good."

He nodded and pulled off the Galaxy Wars shirt he had been bumming around in. I cringed away from the computer. I hated that I felt awkward seeing his chest. I'd seen it all summer when we were working at Great Wolf Lodge, him as a lifeguard, and myself as a waitress in the cabana. We always had lunch together and used the slides after hours when the staff had free range. It wasn't awkward for me then. I wasn't sure why it was now. Maybe it was because suddenly he wasn't mine. And my chances were slowly dwindling.

"Good?" he asked, buttoning the final button and straightening out.

I swallowed. "Yes. Have fun tonight!"

"Thanks," he said. He stared into the screen, studying me for the first time since he commented on my shirt. "Sam, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"I don't know," he said, shrugging. "I just... Halloween you said... Never mind. I'll talk to you when I get back, okay?"

"I might be asleep."

"Tomorrow then?"

"Sure."

I disconnected the call and closed my laptop. A loud, low sound escaped me, something between a groan, scream, and a growl. A sound I was not aware a human being could create.

I threw all the pillows off my bed and plopped face down. I laid there for a few minutes, glad that I was alone. I truly was starting to feel like I no longer had a roommate. The boy I found Jenna with on Halloween was now her new boy toy. She was always at his house. She left notes for me when she'd be away, letting me know the apartment would be empty for my own shenanigans. It was a shame I didn't have any. I would have loved to rub some Seddie shenanigans in her face.

I flipped to my back and stared at the ceiling. Freddie was out there with some perky little model girl. That left no room for me. I was just that same loser who he had grown up with.

But I was the loser he had his first kiss with. And I was the loser he had his first time with.

Did that give me some sort of bonus point?

I shook my head and straightened up, hanging my feet over the edge of the bed. God help me if there's a letter for this situation. I kneeled on the carpet and pulled out the box. I wasn't sure what I was expecting. Maybe the 'you feel betrayed, inadequate, ugly, and totally stupid for feeling all of that' envelope.

I tried to lend my current feelings to a few letters before deciding on one. "Open When... You're Disappointed." Which was true. Of the many negative feelings I had towards this situation, disappointment was definitely one of them.

I opened the envelope. The letter and a slip of paper fell out. I picked up the piece of paper. It was a printed out version of the 'I am disappoint' meme. I shook my head and rolled my eyes. If only I could say that to him. I could be the biggest, meanest bitch, but I wasn't about to tell him that I was disappointed. He didn't get the right.

"Sam," the letter began. "There's about a billion reasons out there as to why you might be disappointed. I'm not really sure how you're feeling right now or why. I don't know what made you feel this way. Hopefully it's not a guy, because under the terms of friendship, I'll have to kick his ass."

I laughed. He'd have to kick his own ass then. And I'm not sure how exactly that would work out...

"I don't know what I can do to save you from your disappointment. I'm sorry if I'm the cause. I'm sorry that you're feeling down in general. I know that it sucks. But I also know that it's only human to be feeling this way sometimes. And even though it does suck, it's only temporary.

"Go out and do something fun! Get your mind on something else and smile lots. Just remember that it's normal to feel this way and it's 100% not your fault.

"You can always talk to me if you need to :).

"Freddie."

I sighed. He was probably the last person I could talk to about this. I wasn't about to call Carly about it either. I knew she expected it. I knew in some weird way, she wanted Freddie and I to get together again. And in some weird way, I kind of wanted that too. But as it stood, Freddie was moving on without me.

As much as I hated to admit that.

Maybe that meant it was time for me too. Maybe that meant I shouldn't feel guilty for going after someone I like too.

I packed the letter back into the box and shoved it fully under my bed. I picked up my phone and dialled the number.

"Hello?" he said.

"Hey Flynn," I said. "You busy?"