Apollo's Pizzeria reminded Freddie of home, except for the pesto pizza which was something he hadn't known existed. It was disturbingly green, but garlicky and good, at least as much as he got to sample of with Sam devouring slice after slice without any seemingly ill effect.
He got her to hand over the bulk of the cash as a condition of eating out, knowing she'd cheerfully order five plates of ribs at eighteen dollars each without blinking if she had the money for it. The pizza wasn't too pricey and it was worth it to sit in one of the restaurant's cozy corners, listening to the soft local music playing over the sound system.
Sam looked content, glancing around with interest for the first time since the food came. "You know, I bet I could work in a place like this."
"Isn't this just a pizza version of the chili place?"
"Nah. They have to wait for me to come around and serve them. I'm not at their mercy behind some counter. Besides, if they annoy me ..." Sam smiled thinly and spit her gum into her water as an illustration.
Freddie felt his stomach lurch a little. "Do the universe a favor, Sam? Stay out of the food industry."
Sam casually chewed on the end of her straw. "Seriously, I think I could live in a place like this. How much do you think the rent around here goes for?"
Freddie squinted at her. "A lot more than you could possibly make without a high school education. You can't live alone, Sam. You're too young. You haven't finished school. You ... " He paused with a sigh. "You're anti-work." He held his hands up before she could protest. "Which I'm not saying a bad thing. There's nothing wrong with not liking work, real work, at our age. We have other things to take care of first."
Sam shrugged. "People younger than me have done it. You know ... " She spread her hands out in illustration, using an announcer's voice. "He came to America at twelve years old! With a nickel in his pocket! He's a billionaire today!"
"Maybe in the 1800's they did that," Freddie rejoined. "At twelve you were already middle-aged. Sorry, Sam, but you're *not* going to live on your own. I'm pretty sure Carly would drag you back into school by the hair if you tried."
"You think Carly is the boss of me, don't you?" Sam playfully flicked a bit of balled-up straw wrapper at him.
"She's as close as anyone could get."
"What if I told you that I'd listen to you over Carly when it came to something like this? Even though I'd never actually tell you that."
Freddie tilted his head, wondering if he'd heard right. "What are you talking about?"
"Carly doesn't have all the answers," Sam said, her expression thoughtful. "When it comes to reality she can be just as whacked out as me. It's why we can do the show together and it's why you're the tech guy. Because you actually think about how something needs to get done and Carly and me? We just want what we want and we want it now. You have a lot more patience than we do. You think about things. You could make it on your own out here, even if you'd probably turn into the most boring nub on earth. You're stable like that."
Freddie's mouth dropped open. "Wow. That's ... that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."
"And I'll deny it until the day I die," Sam said, rising up and pulling her coat on. She flipped open the compact mirror she usually carried in her pocket and re-applied some black eyeliner to her front tooth. "Can't go out without my disguise."
"Right," Freddie said, still flabbergasted. He'd never thought she'd noticed any of his hard work and in a few sentences she'd given him more thoughtful appreciation than Carly even. How strange that it would take a situation like this for him to see the other side of Sam, the side she'd push away every time he came into the room. But ... "Can I ask you a question?"
They walked out of the restaurant together, standing side by side in the parking lot. "Shoot."
"Why are you telling me this now? You didn't have to. And why do you never say this when we're actually working?"
Sam laughed. "Because it's a different world here, Fredward. I'm free here, can't you see? Free from school, from my home, from ... " She stopped there.
"Free from Carly?" Freddie asked quietly. "You don't want to be nice to me in front of Carly, is that it?"
Sam grimaced and stuffed her hands in her pockets. She nodded to a nearby alcove where a cold-looking street musican stood playing his guitar. "Look at that guy. I bet he never graduated high school."
Freddie snorted. "No, but he plays all right. Let's check him out."
"Cool."
He followed Sam's loping steps over to the alcove. The guitar player nodded and broke into something a little faster and they started to bounce in the cold, partly to keep warm, partly because it was fun. Sam smiled broadly, her ridiculous black tooth looking disturbingly realistic in the darkness.
They continued to bounce dance, until the song stopped. Freddie bent to throw a quarter in the man's guitar case when he tilted his head at them. "Say, don't I know you? You look like this kid I've seen on the Internet ... "
Freddie felt the color drain from his face. "No. No, you don't. I .... I don't even own a computer."
Sam grabbed his arm and pulled him back into the more dimly lit section of the alcove. "He's a hobo."
The guitarist squinted at them. "No, wait ... I think ..."
But before he could complete his sentence, Sam and Freddie were long gone.
xXx
Getting to bed that evening was a nightmare of logistics that Sam solved with a rolled up blanket placed squarely in the middle of the pullout bed, separating them by at least a full-body length, as well as six inches width of purple polyester.
Freddie was fine with that. It beat sleeping on the floor at any rate.
It took him a while to drift off. Between frightened thoughts of being found by the police -- or worse, by his mother -- and Sam's high-pitched snoring, he found it difficult to relax. He drifted off eventually only to be awakened by what he thought was a bad dream.
Sam crying. Calling for him and sobbing and he felt around the darkness, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Sam? I'm here. It's okay. I'm here," he mumbled, still half-asleep. To his dismay, he realized he hadn't been dreaming. Sam was crying, her knees drawn to her chest, hair askew over her crossed arms. "Sam?"
"I'm okay," she insisted between sobs. "Go back to sleep."
Freddie sat up, fumbling for the lamp on the nightstand. The light was weak and dull, but it was better than nothing. He leaned over and gently touched Sam's back. "Did you have a bad dream?"
She raised her face and he winced at the sight of her eyes, wet and red-ringed. "I'm fine," she sniffed resolutely. "Go back to sleep."
Silently, he handed her a tissue from the box he'd brought and placed by the bed earlier that day. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Sam made a face but took the tissue anyway. "What's to talk about?" she muttered between *snorks* into the tissue. "I used to think it was okay having nothing because I had a home. And now ..." She drew a shuddering breath. "Forget it. It's stupid and I'm sorry for waking you up, okay?"
"I don't mind," he replied gently. He handed her another tissue. "I wasn't sleeping anyway," he lied. "Are you sure you don't want to tell me about it? Maybe I can make it less scary. I mean, at least you're not alone."
Sam examined him for a long moment. A thin smile broke over her lips. "At least I'm not alone," she repeated. "That's true. I can't remember the last time that wasn't the case."
Freddie looked down at his hands. "You have a lot of people who care about you. Carly ... Spencer ..."
"But they're not here, are they?" Sam slid back down, looking up at him from her pillow. Her face was pale and oddly beautiful, framed by thick, messy strands of golden blonde hair. "And you are. Imagine that."
Freddie felt his face burn red. He shrugged. "That's my choice."
"I know. That's what makes it even weirder." She shook her head. "Nevermind. Could you put out the light?"
"Okay," he said, reaching over to click the lamp off, turning the room pitch black. "Um, if you need anything, let me know." He paused. "Goodnight, Sam."
Her reply was oddly soft. "Goodnight, Freddie."
xXx
tbc ...
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