Last time: Freddie took Melanie to meet his mother.

Chapter 7 - still flashing back to Freddie/Melanie May-June, 2013

Mrs. Benson took the young lady's hand with little enthusiasm. "That's interesting, because he's told me nothing about you other than your sister . . . "

"Mother, please!" Freddie begged through clenched teeth, figuring she was going to say something offensive.

Instead, the nurse plastered on a very fake smile and played nice. " . . . your sister and he used to be in school together."

"Yes, and now I go to Ridgeway. I was going to an all girls' boarding school but there was a terrible fire. It was so sad. All any of us could do was watch from the dorm building and cry. I just pray that they are able to rebuild for the sake of the younger girls."

"You certainly don't sound like your sister." Marissa relented. Maybe this girl truly was the rose among thorns that Freddie purported her to be.

"We are pretty different and Sammy sure had a reputation around school too, especially with the teachers. Well, I just wanted to say I have been so anxious to meet you, Mrs. Benson. Since Freddie and I have become close and starting going out, I just had to get to know you. He already knows my mother from before. Not that she's been around all that much of late."

"You mean you've been alone together in your house?" Marissa gasped slightly at the thought of the two teens alone with no 'adult' supervision.

Freddie cut off his mother before she could go any further off the rails or said something to embarrass him further. "Let's, um, go back to my room. I'd like to show you the gaming computer I built last year." He tried to get his girlfriend out of harm's way. Melanie took his hand for him to lead the way.

"Be sure your door stays open!" Marissa called after them. "And you both need to remain in a vertical position. Remember I have a black light that I can check your bed linens."

Freddie turned red from embarrassment. "Sorry about that. I should have warned you, my mom can be a bit, um, what's a nice word? Uh, intense."

"So I've heard." She smiled. "It's not your fault, baby. Your mom isn't that bad. Honestly, I wish my mom was a little more like her."

"Phew, I never heard that before. Sam always did stuff to push her buttons, too. Not as bad as she did with Lewbert, but still."

"Well, that's Sammy for ya." Melanie giggled. "Always stirring the pot."

"Wouldn't it be nice if we could somehow get our moms to average each other out?" Freddie suggested. "You know, get my mom to tone down the overboard a bit and settle Pam down a notch, no offense."

"You're preaching to the choir, sweetie." Mel replied with a smile and kissed his cheek. "Maybe we should get them together. Do you think they'd get along?"

Both then shivered at the thought. They only stayed in his room for a short while and soon were ready to head back to her place. Somehow, Mrs. Benson managed to settle her nerves and was much more civil. At least this girl had never been responsible for any permanent injuries to her son, cost him his sanity or pushed him out of an airplane.

"I'm going to take Melanie home now, Mom." He announced when they came out to the living room.

"I suppose it was nice meeting you, Melanie." Marissa forced a smile at the teen girl. "Thank you for stopping by."

"It was very nice to meet you too, Mrs. Benson." Melanie replied with a smile of her own. "You know, we should all spend some time together so we can get to know one another. Maybe over dinner sometime? Freddie's actually been teaching me how to do some cooking. Judging by what he knows, you must be excellent in the kitchen."

"Well, I do whip up a mean tofu casserole with asparagus tips if I do say so myself." Marissa told the girl proudly.

Internally, Freddie cringed at the thought of his mother's cooking. He agreed to the cooking classes a few years earlier in the hopes of her learning a few more tasty recipes but whatever she learned she soon forgot.

"You know, your mom seemed to warm up there before we left." She finally spoke once they were on the elevator. "I really think she might actually like me."

"Yeah, I was kind of surprised. But, I mean, who couldn't talk to you and realize what a sweet person you are?"

"Aw, you're too much." She blushed and kissed his cheek. "But if that was a question, I'd say Mr. Howard, that's who. My gosh but he hates me for some reason."

"You need to understand how much chiz Sam pulled on him over the years. I mean, she seriously boke his face one time. Well, that and he's a generally mean person. I'm just glad you've not had to deal with Miss Ackerman." Freddie said as they walked toward his car. "That was one crazy teacher."

"She's the one you guys got in trouble with the FBI for downloading music isn't she?"

They got in his car and Melanie spoke again. "Did you want to hang out at my place for a little bit? I know we've got school tomorrow, but I was sort of hoping we could just kind of have some quiet time alone." She smiled sweetly as she reached for his hand on the gear shift.

"I think that would be alright."

After an hour spent sitting close on the couch and a few kisses, Freddie noticed the time and decided he had better be getting home. "Sorry, Mels. I wish I could stay a bit longer but we both should really be getting some rest. You know we have that big test in Trig tomorrow. And my mom will have a kitten if I'm out late on a school night again."

Melanie walked him to the door. "Alright, but maybe we could pick up where we left off after school tomorrow." She suggested taking both his hands and kissing him softly again. "I could use abut three more kisses."

"Three?"

"Well, maybe four." She flirted.


In time, Marissa slowly warmed to Melanie. The girl's pleasant demeanor and constantly polite attitude did impress the middle aged woman. By the time of their prom, she even went so far as to take pictures of them together in their formal attire. This was far different than her actions a year earlier when Sam and Freddie went to their junior prom together. His mother couldn't even be bothered to be home for that day.

Their gentle, innocent middle school kisses eventually turned slightly more passionate and by the time they were ready for graduation, things had progressed to full on make out sessions, similar to what he and Sam had done when they were together.

By the middle of summer, even the occasional sleepover would take place. Usually with him staying at her place whenever he knew his mother wouldn't be home to discover his absence over night.

The first time was about two weeks after graduation. Marissa was out of town for the weekend at a nurse's conference and the young couple had been out to eat and a shopping trip to Glitter Gloss after they had been to visit the DMV earlier in the morning.

"Thanks for helping me get me driving permit, Baby." Melanie grinned, opening the driver's door on his car and getting in.

"Well, you are about two years over due." He chuckled, snapping his seat belt. "And you're a natural anyway. Seriously, I know you're nervous but you're a really good driver."

"Not like my mom was ever going to take me. Say, how did Sam ever get a license anyway? I can't picture mom teaching her, either. Especially the way they always got along."

"Spencer." He simply replied. "To be honest, he took all three of us. My mom said I was too young to get a license so I tagged along when he took both the girls."

"I should have known."

"Carly flubbed the written test the first time. She was too busy flirting with the guy who was taking the test beside her and the proctor failed both of them because she thought they were cheating. Ironically, Sam was the one cheating. She had all the answers written on her arms and wore a long sleeve shirt."

"Did she ever pass?"

"Sam? Well, yeah. They didn't catch her. And she passed the motorcycle license right away, too. Carly finally passed the second time but it took her a couple of tries to do the road test. She really had a lot of trouble with the parallel parking thing. I guess the only reason I passed the first time is because I used my mom's tiny little hybrid car."

"Psh. You passed because you're a genius, Baby." She leaned over and kissed him. "OK, I've checked the mirrors and we're both buckled up. Should I start the car now?"

"Go ahead." He replied. "Just watch the blind spot when you pull out from the curb."

Melanie carefully pulled out from the parking space and they headed out of the shopping district.

"Did you just want to go back to my place. I think I owe you some kisses for teaching me to drive." She flirted.

"How can I say no to that?" He smirked. "And I don't have to worry about going home right away since mom's out of town."

The two spent the next few hours on the couch, watching a movie, snuggled up. As it grew later, both grew tired and soon the girl was leaning her head deeper into him, getting closer and closer to falling completely asleep.

In and out of consciousness himself, Freddie soon realized Melanie had in fact drifted off to dreamland. He stretched slightly, hoping to wake the girl but she had a very tight grip on him. "Mel? Sweetie, I think it's time for me to go home. it's getting late and we're both falling asleep."

Her only response was to wrap her arms around him tighter and mumble into his chest. As much as he was loving the snuggling, he was getting uncomfortable in this semi-reclined position, his feet up on the coffee table and left side pushing into the arm of the very worn sofa.

"Come on, baby." He kissed the top of her head. "I should go home."

Without opening her eyes she barely responded. "Nuh-uh, stay here." Seems she was just as hard to wake as her sister when she was really sleepy.

He knew the worn out, musty smelling sofa wouldn't be comfortable and neither of them had any idea when Pam might come home. There was no telling what she'd think about all this. He simply figured on escorting Melanie to her bed and going home.

He carefully extricated himself from her grasp, stood and collected her in his arms to carry her to her room. Carefully, one step at a time, he took her upstairs, thankful that she was as petite as Sam. Neither girl weighed over 110 pounds, fully dressed.

As he gently laid the very groggy girl on her mattress, she held his neck tighter, effectively keeping him from standing up straight. He tried to wriggle away without being too forceful but this young woman was as strong as her sister. Before long, she rolled a bit to her right, while still holding him, the result being him flipping over the top of her and landing on the far side of the bed. The bed frame creaked at the jolt, but held them both.

Melanie wasted no time cuddling up to him and drifting off to a very deep sleep. Freddie's main thought was that he didn't brush his teeth and was afraid she'd be offended at his breath in the morning. That and sleeping in jeans wasn't all that comfortable.

By daybreak, Freddie roused again. Melanie was still clutched onto him like he was going to escape and by now a certain 'morning condition' had afflicted him. Of course having a very attractive girl literally wrapped around him didn't help matters any.

He desperately tried to think of things to make 'it' go away but even the slightest movement made her hold tighter and her hand was getting dangerously close to the place where he didn't want her to touch. His vain attempt at slithering away was met with her nearly crawling onto him and waking only enough to beg a groggy. "Don't go."

After her words, her leg brushed that certain spot and Freddie's eyes shot open. On the verge of exploding, he decided he needed to wake her. He kissed her forehead and rubbed his hands down her back, trying to rouse her, stopping to contemplate her bra clasp. She shifted slightly to bring her lips closer to his. A few more kisses were shared, despite neither of them having the freshest breath and her eyes never opening, she ground herself into him all the more. "You can open it." She mumbled with closed eyes.

"Mmmm." He replied and kissed her once more before her leg again rubbed at him. A rush of euphoria took over him and his condition was alleviated, but not necessary in the best way possible. The poor boy didn't know what to do, but this was bad. The pent up release caused something which he had only experienced once before and he was terribly embarrassed having done this in the presence of his girlfriend.