Sam walked toward her apartment building, which was in a somewhat lower class neighborhood a few miles from Bushwell Plaza. She could have taken the bus, but at this time of night, the bus had too many drunks, lechers and hobos on it – she couldn't deal with that right now. It was a clear night at the end of May, perfect for walking.
As she passed the next bus stop, though, her penchant for laziness made her question that decision. She was coming off the adrenaline high from the fight, and the walk seemed like it would take forever. She knew she could always take the bus, Carly bought her a bus pass every month. Yeah, she'd just sit here and wait for the next... Carly. The thought hit her like a ton of bricks. Why did I say that to her? She's never going to forgive me, and I can't even blame her. Stupid, Puckett, real stupid!
Her legs gave out and she sat heavily on the deserted bench. She rolled onto her side and curled into fetal position on the dirty green plastic. Her trademark cool had completely failed her. She felt lost. She had felt bad when she broke up with Pete and Jonah, but this was way beyond that. Carly wasn't some simple crush she would get over next week. Carly had been her best friend for almost nine years. Her world revolved around Carly Shay, long before they started dating. Now that world was crashing down. Despite what she had said in anger, she loved her Cupcake, as a friend, romantically, even like a sister. Sister!
Sam sat bolt upright. Oh my God, I'm a hippopotamus! Wait, that's not it... Whatever... I'm yelling at Carly about not telling her brother, and I haven't told Melanie, or even Mom. She stood up and started walking again, fishing her cell phone out of her pocket in the process. She scrolled through her contacts and found her twin's number. She pressed Talk and waited for an answer.
"Sam?" came a similar, but much more upbeat, voice to her own. "You do realize it's 10:30 at night?"
"Yeah, Mel, I know. I.. I needed to talk to you," her own voice was a little shaky.
Melanie was genuinely concerned for her sister's safety now, "Are you in trouble?"
"No, it's nothing like that. I had a big fight with Carly tonight and I realized I'm a hippo... hippo..." Sam faltered.
"A hypocrite?" her sister offered.
"Yeah, that's it. Anyway, I was mad at Carly for not telling her brother, and I haven't told you or Mom yet either. Mostly because she didn't want me to, but still..."
Melanie was confused, "Told us what, exactly?"
Sam hesitated. Telling her mother was going to be easy. Pam would either accept it, or they'd just get into another fight over how disappointed she was in her younger daughter. While these fights didn't happen nearly as frequently as they did before the Therapy Box incident, they were still not an uncommon occurrence in the Puckett household. Either way, Sam didn't really care that much. Melanie, on the other hand, was a different story. Despite her insistence that her sister made her sick, Sam really did love her older sibling. They had shared a womb, then a room. Melanie Faye Puckett was born first, in the back of a bus thanks to Pam's poor planning, with Samantha Michelle Puckett meeting the world sixty-one seconds later. For the next eight years, the twins were each others' only real friends. After Carly Shay, Melanie was the only person Sam could truly say she loved.
Sam took a deep breath, "Well, Mel, it's like this. Carly and I have... um... been... ah... dating for the last six months."
The surprise was evident in Melanie's voice. "You and Carly are together?" she exclaimed, putting a clear connotation on the last word.
Sam wasn't sure what she had been expecting, but Melanie's tone made her feel something she didn't feel often – real fear. She had already lost Carly tonight, she couldn't lose Melanie too. She'd have nothing left. She wanted to backpedal, play it off as a joke, but she knew she couldn't. "I love her, Mel. I don't expect you to understand. She completes me." Those chick flicks Carly always made her watch were rubbing off.
"It's okay, Sam, you just surprised me," Melanie replied, sounding much less judgmental. "I kind of get it, really. You two have always been really close. So you're dating Carly. That's going to take awhile to get used to, but if that's what floats your boat, who am I to judge?" She paused for a second, then she understood the implications of what Sam had said earlier, "But you said you were fighting?"
"Yeah, I screwed it all up tonight, I think," Sam answered, sounding as humble as her sister had ever heard. "We've been keeping our relationship secret, because she's afraid to tell anyone. I pushed her to tell Spencer, and we started fighting. She asked me if I loved her, and I told her no."
Melanie felt for her little sister. "Oh, Sam," she whispered. "Why did you say that?"
"She had me all riled up," Sam explained, "and you know how I get when I'm mad. It just came out, before I could stop it. The thing is, I really am tired of hiding. I feel like she's ashamed of us, ashamed of me. Then tonight, she wanted to go, um, further, and I just couldn't."
Melanie shuddered a bit at her sister's innuendo. She was trying to be open minded, but this was really going to take some getting used to. She wanted to be the wise older sister, and give Sam the benefit of her experience, but this was way outside her comfort zone. Same-sex or otherwise, she didn't have any relationships to draw on, she was always too busy with school. Much like her sister, her one and only kiss had been with Freddie Benson, and it was questionable if that even counted since he thought she was Sam at the time. Melanie sighed. If she couldn't give advice, she could at least be a sounding board. She gave what she could, "So what are you going to do?"
"Actually, sis," Sam replied with a slight mischievous lilt to her voice, "I have some ideas I'd like to get your opinion on. You're going to be home the end of next week, right?"
Sam was right. Melanie's school year was ending, but Ridgeway had a few more weeks to go, thanks to a teachers' strike at the beginning of the year.
The twins spent the next eight blocks discussing Sam's thoughts on what to do about Carly, with Melanie offering her help and advice. This was probably the longest that the girls had talked in years, and the conversation only ended when Sam lost the call in the elevator of her own building. Sam felt better than she had in hours. Everything might really be okay, after all. Emboldened by her sister's love, she strode confidently into the apartment she shared with her mother.
"Mom, we need to talk."
Pam Puckett surprised her youngest daughter. Sam expected her mother to freak out, but her only response was "at least you won't get pregnant with twins by some guy who never calls you back" before shuffling out the door on one of her so-called dates.
