Ch. 9
I knocked on the door to Carly's apartment, feeling uncertain.
Half of me really wanted for Sam to be there. But the other half hoped that she wasn't.
I heard Carly's voice shout, "It's open!"
I stepped into the apartment and looked around.
"Hey, Freddie!" Carly said, walking over to my side happily.
I looked at her. And as I did, I realized something wasn't right. For some reason, Carly didn't look the same way to me as she used to.
"So how was your weekend with Sam?" she asked me.
I blinked, and started feeling nervous. "Well…uh…it was…fine…"
" 'Fine?' " Carly said, her eyebrows raised. "What all did you guys do?"
"Not… much." I spluttered. "Why?"
"Cause Sam said 'It was alright, kind of fun at times' when I asked her, so I wanted to know what you guys were up to."
"R-really? What else did she say?"
"Not much else. But she thinks your mom's rule about forks is stupid." Carly told me.
I was confused. Sam had actually had fun when I threw food at her?
"So she…really thinks that forks don't have any potential to hurt you? That's so crazy…" I stuttered nervously, in an attempt to avoid answering Carly's question.
Carly put her hands on her hips the way she does when she means business. "What happened this weekend?" she demanded.
I rubbed the back of my neck as I felt my face grow warm. "Well…my mom sort of made Sam eat over at our…house and we…got into this food fight and I got meat sauce on her forehead and broke my mom's favorite vase with…with a meatball and then Sam found out her mom…wasn't…around and she had no place to…to sleep, so I…I let her…sleep at…our house on the couch…"
Carly looked surprised, but she also looked really happy, which confused me.
She messed up my hair. "Awww! I told you that you care about Sam!"
"Yeah, whatev-"
"Don't 'yeah, whatever' me, Freddie, I know you like her!"
That was what did it for me. I felt my face grow as hot as it did when I first saw Carly, all those years ago. My eyes grew, my mouth opened, my heart and breathing accelerated.
"W-what do you mean?"
Carly was still smiling. "You don't hate Sam and she doesn't hate you! You guys are friends now!"
My breathing relaxed slowly. "Oh….right, yeah, we're friends…"
Carly looked confused. "What did you think I meant?"
I sat down on her couch. "…Nothing."
Carly sat down next to me.
"So how's Sam now?" I asked her.
Carly sighed. "She's been alright, although her shin broke two days ago, and she says it was because of something you did, but she didn't say what…"
I sighed. "Well…while we were smashing stuff for our photo project, I accidentally hit Sam."
Carly nodded slowly.
"Hey, Freddie?"
"Yes?"
"After Sam told me about you breaking her shin-"
"She told you?"
"Mhm. After she told me that, she said you 'helped her.' And when she said it, she looked kind of…kind of embarrassed. What'd you do?"
I looked down at my feet, thinking about it. I suppose Sam had been embarrassed because of the fact that she needed help in the first place. It was how she was, just like when she got a job at Chili My Bowl.
"Just gave her some ice and a Fat Cake."
"Then why'd she seem-"
"Because she needed help." I told Carly. "She's too proud to ever ask for it."
There was a long silence.
"Carly?"
"Yeah?"
"When Sam and I were at the hospital, I let her listen to my PearPod."
"Yeah, she told me."
"Do you know what song she picked?"
Carly looked thoughtful.
"…No."
I wasn't sure why, but I'm almost positive she wasn't telling the truth.
"Carly, remember how you said that from now on, we'd tell eachother everything?" I reminded her.
Carly didn't say anything.
"But why won't you tell me? Is it that bad?" I pressed.
Carly shrugged. "No, I just…don't think she'd have wanted you to know."
I thought about that for awhile.
Then I got an idea.
"See you, Carly." I said, standing back up.
Carly nodded. "Alright, see you at school."
I went back into my room and plugged my PearPod into my laptop. I clicked 'Freddie's PearPod' and then selected 'Recently Played Songs'.
There, at the top of the list, was one of my favorite songs.
Fall For You by Secondhand Serenade.
I immediately shot Sam a text message.
'R u a fan of Secondhand Serenade too?'
She never texted me back.
