Chapter eleven: Dinner Again!
Sam arrived home after her long and unusual first day back to school a little later than usual but she was still surprised to find that her mother was already home from work. It wasn't just the fact that Pam Puckett was already home, it was also the fact that she was busy cooking away in the kitchen and if you know Sam's mother you would know that she never ever cooks. Normally she would phone the family caterer to prepare meals or leave Sam money to order take out when she was going to be home late from work.
"Hey Mom" Sam greeted as she joined her mother in the kitchen. "What are you doing?" she asked.
"Cooking dinner" Pam simply replied.
"But you never cook" Sam frowned.
"I used to cook all the time before everything happened" her mother replied.
"What do you mean?" Sam questioned.
"Before everything happened between Marissa and I" she answered. "Do you not remember?" she asked.
"No I guess not" Sam shrugged.
"Well that just shows how long its really been" Pam sighed.
"Erm, speaking of Marissa and her son" Sam started. "Did Freddie keep on coming over here this summer looking for me? Did he leave me a bunch of messages?" she asked.
"Yes everyday. I don't think he really did anything else. I would come home from work everyday to find him sat on our doorstep. He would ask if I knew when you would be home, where you were and if I would pass on a message" Pam Puckett explained. "I never told him that you were in New York though because you made it perfectly clear before you left that you didn't want him to know" she added.
"Why didn't you pass on any of these messages?" Sam questioned.
"I thought they would be better if they actually came from Freddie himself. If you really want to find out what he had to say you can find out from him tonight" she told her.
"What do you mean by tonight?" Sam frowned.
"For our back to school meal, it used to be something that we always did. Mrs Benson and I thought we should do it again like we did years ago, that's why I'm cooking" Mrs Puckett explained. "You better go and get changed, they will be here soon" she added.
Sam entered her bedroom thinking about the odd day she had at school. It was strange but also nice seems she would usually have no friends but today and from now on she has two. Even though the day certainly had it's perks there were also so many other reasons why she didn't like it and all of those reasons came under the category of Freddie Benson. It all started with Sam giving him strict instructions to leave her alone but he didn't seem to take that in. Instead Freddie chose to annoy her even more by sitting right next to her in science class which made them lab partners for the entire year. She didn't know that he could make things any worse but of course he managed to, he willingly handed over Wendy and gave her a sappy pity speech. Was he trying to make her feel guilty?
Sam scanned through her closet wondering what exactly she was supposed to wear to a back to school dinner. She finally settled on a cream simple fitted dress that didn't make her look like she was putting in to much of an effort. It wasn't like she actually wanted to attend this dinner, it wasn't like she actually had any say and she certainly didn't want to spend anymore time with Freddie today. Once Sam changed her outfit, she ran her hands through her hair and made her way downstairs knowing that her guests would be arriving soon. She sat herself down on the couch wondering if she wanted to question Freddie about the messages he kept leaving over the summer. She may hate him but for some reason she found herself impressed that he was round her house everyday looking for her and not giving up.
"Good evening Sam, you look lovely" Mrs Benson complimented her once the two Benson's had arrived.
"Thank you" Sam smiled as she stood up from her seat on the couch.
"Would you like a glass of wine Marissa?" Mrs Puckett offered.
"That sounds good" Mrs Benson nodded as she followed Pam into the kitchen leaving Sam and Freddie alone in the living room together.
"Just so you know I didn't know about this dinner. If I did I would have warned you" Freddie told her.
"It's fine, I think we need to talk anyway" Sam replied as she sat back down on the couch.
"What about?" Freddie asked as he took the seat next to her.
"Those messages you kept leaving me this summer, my mom said it's best if they come from you. So, what were they? Why did you keep on coming round here everyday?" she questioned.
"I told you that I wasn't going to give up on you" Freddie started. "I didn't want to spend time with anyone else over the summer. All I wanted was to spend some time with you. I knew you would just shout at me even more but I just wanted to apologise over and over. It even got to the point where I was going to tell my mother everything but your mom convinced me not you. She also told me that she couldn't pass on my messages because you were away all summer" he explained.
"I was in New York" Sam found herself telling him.
"Why New York?" Freddie asked.
"Well to start with it's away from here. Plus Melanie's boarding school is in New York so I went to visit her seems she stayed there for some summer program" Sam answered. "I also took a tour around Juilliard" she added.
"What was it like?" Freddie questioned. "Everything you dreamed of" he guessed.
"And more. I met one of the dance professors, looked at the dance studios, stood on the performance stage and didn't want to leave" she told him, smiling at the thought of it. "If I didn't take the same flight home though, I wouldn't have met Carly" she added.
"Sounds amazing" Freddie commented. "I'm glad it was as good as you imagined" he added.
"You didn't have to practically hand Wendy over to me at lunch today" Sam told him.
"Yes I did" Freddie disagreed. "I did it for Wendy as well as you. That was me thanking her for everything she's done for you over the years and plus you've both been wanting to be friends with each other for a long time now" he explained.
"Well thanks I guess" Sam frowned. "She's still going to be your friend as well though" she muttered slightly.
"You have nothing to thank me for" Freddie assured her. "I didn't mean to annoy you so much in science class today. I'll tell Mr Henning that I need to switch lab partners and move to the front of the class because my eye sight is playing up or something" he shrugged.
"Oh please he will never believe that" Sam replied, rolling her eyes. "I'll keep you as my lab partner. It might actually be nice having someone as my lab partner that actually wants to be it for a change" she told him.
A/N: So you found out some of the stuff Sam got up to this summer! Thanks to everyone who's reviewing, please keep it up! Thank you, Nadene.
