Chapter 13

Sam….

One phrase kept repeating itself over and over in his head that he was compelled to say it out loud. Freddie's free hand came up to touch her hair, and he gently pulled her closer to him. He leaned his forehead to hers and whispered, "I wanna kiss you."

His breath was warm on her nose and lips. She could tell that he was hesitating…waiting for her permission. Sam closed her eyes again and tilted her face down towards the floor. The connection between their foreheads was lost. She tightened the seal on her eyelids, turned her head away, and stepped back from him. Sam whispered, "Listen, Freddie, don't try to convince yourself that you feel something you don't feel."

Freddie looked at her questioningly. Why would she think that he didn't want this - that he didn't want to kiss her? Hadn't they just been expressing interest in altering their friendship? Making things between them more. Making the friendship between them more intimate, more affectionate.

"Hey, guys. What're you two doin' out here so late?"

The two teens turned toward the questioning voice. The tall figure had just come around the corner and was sticking his key into the lock of his apartment door.

"Spencer? I thought you were sleeping over at Socko's," Sam said.

"I was, but his grandmother has a cold and was snoring loud enough to rattle the picture frames on the walls." Spencer turned the key unlocking the door and pushed it open.

Sam quickly pulled away from Freddie to intercept Spencer. "Wait, Spencer!" she whispered, "Carly fell asleep on the couch."

Spencer peered into the apartment from behind the open door to see his younger sister fast asleep on the couch. Not wanting to wake her, he gingerly stepped into the apartment. He thought to go into his room and bring out a blanket to drape over her to keep her warm, but leaned first back out into the hallway to call Sam in. "Are you sleeping here tonight?" he asked the blonde.

Sam was standing equidistant between the apartment and Freddie. She turned back towards Freddie when she heard Spencer's question. She hesitated giving her response. A few beats passed before she realized what Spencer was actually asking. Sam turned away from Freddie and looked at Spencer. "Yeah…um…I'll be back in in a few minutes."

Spencer looked past Sam at Freddie, waved and whispered a good night. Freddie didn't respond, but it went unnoticed by Spencer, who had already pulled his head back into the apartment to go about the task of getting Carly all settled. Freddie quickly reached out for Sam and caught her arm.

"Hey," he whispered angrily, "Are we done here?"

"I have to go back in…it's late, Freddie."

"Are you serious? We were talking about something pretty important, I thought."

Sam looked up into his face and didn't know what to say. She had been relieved at the appearance of Spencer in the hallway interrupting their embrace; she had been at a loss at that point as to how to continue with Freddie.

"Freddie, Spencer knows we're out here. He'll get suspicious if I take any longer coming back in." Sam pulled her arm out of his grasp and headed for the door. Not wanting to push it open wider, Sam slipped through the narrow opening of the door to let herself into the apartment without turning back to say goodnight or to even look at Freddie.

The door to 8-C clicked softly shut and the boy stood in the hallway alone.