Sam sighed as she took off her clothes painfully and stepped into the shower. The water was set to the perfect temperature by her friend and felt amazing. Even though she had a fever, the warm shower gave the sick girl a sense of comfort. Sam reached over for the shampoo bottle, all the while avoiding looking down at her incision because she really didn't have the stomach to see it yet. She wasn't sure if she would puke or not upon the sight.
'I like gross things...but not when they happen to me.' She sighed. If anyone knew that Sam Puckett was too afraid to look at a little scar, her reputation for withstanding all things humanly gross would vanish in an instant. 'Well...at least I don't have a neck infection..' She laughed to herself quietly as she squirted some shampoo out into her palm and began washing her hair. Just then she heard a small knock on the door. 'Carly...geeze....what else would you possibly need to tell me?!' Sam thought tiredly.
"What now?" The blond girl moaned to the door.
"Um, it's Spencer!" The familiar voice called out. "Just wanted to tell you that if you need help, Carly and I are here for you."
"Ugh...." Sam let out a loud moan of irritation. Her friends were being very kind, but there did come a point when all of that kindness could get irritating.
'Still...' Sam thought as she rinsed out her hair. 'I really should hold my temper better with them. They're just trying to help.' She reached over for the conditioner this time. "Nah, I'm ok!" She called out to the door.
"Oh, alrighty then." Spencer's voice replied happily, glad to hear that the annoyance in her own was gone. "Carly's outside the door and I'll be downstairs if you need me. Have fun scrubbin it up!"
"Thanks. " Sam laughed. 'Good, he's not mad..' She thought as she worked on her hair once more.
Ten minutes had passed, until Sam finished up everything in the shower except for cleaning her incision. She finally got the nerve to look down and noticed she had a bandage over top of it. 'Wonder if I should have taken that off..' She sighed tiredly. 'Oh well, I do have to remove it to wash...' Sam thought reluctantly as her fingers grasped the edge of the gauze. She started to pull gently and realized there was a bit of pain.
"Ow.." Sam moaned, continuing to pull it gently. There was a small ache, but nothing too bad. The bandage eventually started to give as Sam closed her eyes. She could feel it pull away from her skin and soon enough she held the strip up separately in her hand. 'Probably not a smart idea to remove this while not looking, but I'm not a smart person..' Sam thought to herself, keeping her eyes closed. She was afraid to look down just incase her organs were falling out or something awful like that. The girl placed the bandage over on top of the shower shelf and summoned up enough courage to look down at her stomach. She had to pause for a moment as she stared at the wound.
"Oh, that's not so bad.." She stated, glancing at the cut on her stomach. It was roughly one or two inches and had staples going along it to keep it closed, resembling the scar on Frankenstein's head. "I mean, the staples are pretty gross, since they're in my skin and all.." Sam spoke out loud, noticing the edges around them were red. "..and they're keeping my stomach closed...." She started to feel a bit uneasy as she continued to look down. "...because it was cut open by a doctor.." Sam's train of thought was making her feel ill. "....and that doctor cut out my insides." The last thought along with the dull ache made Sam feel sick to her stomach. "Oh...not feeling so good...." She moaned as everything started to get woozy. "I can't do this.." Sam stated as she felt her knees start to buckle.
'Dangit!' She thought as she had to grip the towel rack on the side of the shower to avoid blacking out. 'Maybe the feeling will pass...' She thought to herself quietly before Carly's words rang out in her head. "I swear Sam, don't make me find you passed out in there.."
"Man Carls.." Sam moaned as she shut her eyes. "Why did you have to go and say that?" The girl stated as she realized the feeling wasn't subsiding. She began to notice it was very possible that she could pass out at any moment, especially with the thought of her surgery wound still on her mind. 'How can such a stupid little scar do this? It's not even bloody!' Sam thought angrily at herself. She had seen way worse injuries, but the thought of a gash being cut into her own body was making her feel pretty awful. Fighting back the darkness of unconsciousness, Sam reached over and shut the knob of the shower off. The warm water was adding to the funky ill feeling and she needed it to stop. After pausing for a moment, Sam noticed there was a purple towel folded up on the shelf. She gently reached out of the shower, trying her best not to fall, and pulled it in with her, wrapping it around her body. While doing this, Sam realized the world felt so weird and floaty to her and she didn't know how long she could stay standing. Sucking down all her pride, Sam took a deep breath..
"CARLY!"
"Huh?!" Carly was sitting on her bed watching TV when she heard her friend call out. "Sam?" She paused for a moment, wondering if she heard right.
"CARLYYYYY!" Sam's voice rang out in desperation from the bathroom once more.
"SAM!" The brunette girl raced off her bed and ran over to the door. She paused for a moment, putting her hand over her eyes and pushed open the door. "Sam?! Is it ok to look?" She asked, making sure her friend had privacy just incase.
"Yeah yeah yeah.." Sam moaned, keeping the large towel in place wrapped around her body. She felt incredibly dizzy and knew that if she moved she would pass out...or puke. Or a combination of the two. Either way, she needed help.
Carly took her hand away from her eyes and glanced around the bathroom, noticing Sam wasn't there so she still had to be inside the shower. "Oh my god.." Carly stated to herself quietly as she raced over. As she put her fingers against the shower curtain, her mind went through a million questions in one quick split second, picturing horrible scenarios, some of which included blood. Carly choked back a lump of fear in her throat as she hoped her friend was alright. In one quick motion, the brunette girl pulled the curtain away to reveal Sam covered in a purple towel, leaning against the towel rack with her eyes closed and breathing heavily. Carly noticed she was shaking a bit and that her skin was incredibly pale.
"What's wrong?!" Carly asked worriedly as she stepped in.
"Dizzy.." Sam mumbled, grateful to have her friend there. "Get me out of here...before I faint..." She mumbled, referring to the shower.
"Alright, easy, easy.." Carly replied as she wrapped her arms around her friend's toweled body and slowly walked out with her, leading her over to the middle of the bathroom. Sam barely had any strength so Carly had to support her the entire time. The brunette girl was in no way a strong person, but the worry of her friend being in trouble gave her a sort of temporary super strength in which she could keep her friend up. "Do you want to sit down?!" Carly asked frantically, still holding Sam. The blond girl slowly shook her head and looked around the room. Everything was starting to clear up and the dizzy feeling was beginning to go away.
"Crap..." Sam muttered as she closed her eyes, feeling like an idiot. Here she was, standing in the middle of the bathroom, sopping wet, covered by only a large towel, and her best friend had to walk her out of the shower because she was too weak to stay conscious herself.
"Sam?" Carly asked quietly, looking down at her best friend. "Are you ok?" She wasn't sure what to do at this point.
Sam let out a deep sigh of embarrassment. "Yeah...I'm ok now..." She looked up at Carly. The brunette girl felt her friend's weight start to lift off which meant Sam could stand on her own now.
"What happened?!" Carly asked worriedly.
"Man! I freaked out!" Sam spat angrily at herself, keeping a firm grasp on her towel.
"What?" Carly asked, unsure of what her friend was talking about.
"I saw my incision and started freaking out about it. So stupid." Sam sighed.
"Why? What's wrong?" Carly looked over at her cautiously, hoping her friend didn't rip the staples or had to go back to the emergency room.
"Nothing's wrong, the incision is fine." Sam stated quietly, averting her best friend's gaze.
"Huh? But then..?"
"I just panicked, ok?!" Sam snapped her head back up. "I saw the small little cut, started thinking about it, and began to pass out. God I'm so stupid." She started to yell at herself.
"Whoa, calm down!" Carly gently stated as she put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "You're not stupid."
"Yes I am." Sam moaned. "I started psycho-analyzing the scar, and I made myself sick."
"C'mon take it easy.." Carly replied gently, not wanting her friend to feel angry at herself for nothing serious. "You were already sick to begin with. So you felt a little ill after looking at your scar... It's no big deal...."
"Yes it is.." Sam growled at herself. "I'm supposed to like all the gross stuff, but I can't even handle one small cut. This whole situation is flipping my personality around and I hate it!"
"You just had surgery! You've got to stop getting mad at yourself. Yes, you may feel a bit weird, but you'll get better and feel normal in no time. You just have to have some patience!" Carly added as she saw her best friend sigh sadly.
"I know but....patience isn't my thing.."
"Well I guess the surgery hasn't taken that away from your personality." Carly chuckled. Sam looked up at her cautiously, before cracking a small smile.
"Yeah..I guess you're right."
"See? You're still yourself. And whatever feels different, just calm down and don't worry about it. Let your body heal. Spencer, Freddie and I seriously don't mind whatever you act like until you feel better, ok? So just...relax."
"Alright." Sam took a deep breath. "I'll try." She gave a small smile.
"Good." Carly replied smiling back. "Now...do you need help getting into your clothes or..?"
"Huh?" Sam looked down as she noticed she was still only wearing a towel. She had temporarily forgotten about that small detail until now. The blond girl looked back up at her friend with red cheeks. "You were right Carls. This is embarrassing..." She moaned.
"It's alright." Carly gave a small chuckle. "I don't mind, and no one else needs to know, ok?"
"Thanks." Sam smiled. "Though I do think I can get my own clothes on now."
"Ok." Carly replied as she made her way over to the bathroom door to let her friend have privacy. "Oh and Sam?"
"Yeah?"
"Call if you need..."
"...any help, I got it." Sam answered as they both laughed.
"Yes." Carly added. "And one last thing."
"What?" Sam asked curiously.
"Thanks for calling when you were in trouble. I know how hard it was for you to ask for my help, since you think that's a sign of weakness, but in reality, that was a pretty brave and strong thing of you to do. I'm just glad you're ok." And with that last statement, Carly smiled and walked out, shutting the door with a small click. Sam looked down for a moment in thought.
'What did I ever do to deserve such an amazing friend?'
Poor Sam! She keeps freaking out at stuff! At first I figured Sam wouldn't let the incision bother her, but then I thought about how she's not really herself just yet. And she's still sick, so thinking about the surgery could easily make her feel cruddy. Plus, if I had the incision myself and was feeling some pain, I would have started to freak out if I began thinking about my insides being cut up too.
(Also, I figured this would be another good friendship moment for Carly and Sam! Don't worry though, Freddie's coming back. ;) It's just early in the morning so the Shays have to deal with everything until later when he comes by. :P)
