Chapter 17 flashing back to May, 2016
Last time: Sam caught a glimpse of the papers dealing with his health history.
Sam was in Freddie's room and saw all those papers full of hand written answers and checklists with marks in various columns and just assumed it was some kind of assignment for school or possibly even a job application. The one sheet had some kind of letter head but the girl didn't look closely, simply dismissed it as being from a professor or even a prospective job, and went back to the bed. His secret was safe. For now.
At the end of the evening, Sam returned to her rented room at Spencer's just in time for Marissa to come home and find Freddie alone on his room preparing to turn in. He took a few minutes to organize what he needed to mail out after saying good night to his mother and put the envelope in his bag for morning after putting his personal copies back in his desk.
Freddie certainly made no mention of any of this to Sam or his mother, even though he knew he should have. He had not heard any news about the baby and figured that by the weekend he would attempt to contact her mother to see if any information was garnered from his contribution. He wished he could talk to someone but Spencer couldn't keep a secret if his life depended on it and Gibby would more than likely spill the beans even unintentionally. Granted, he would have to tell everyone sooner or later. This would all be brought out in due time but he couldn't see to find that time and the longer it went, the harder it became.
As she was prone to do, the next day, Sam invited herself into his room after she got home from work a little earlier than usual. He had decided to get a shower early because he had been to the gym after classes and wasn't expecting company. After announcing her presence, the blonde girl kicked off her shoes and laid on the bed for a few minutes before deciding to do something to surprise him. It was late evening in Italy and she hoped Carly would still be up. She pulled out his desk chair, sat down and logged onto the web-chat program.
Before long, Carly appeared on the screen and the two girls talked while he finished up in the bathroom. Bored waiting for him, Sam began to fidget with things on his desk. She ground two of his pencils down to nothing with his electric pencil sharpener and emptied the dust cup on it. She drew a goofy picture on his desk pad and turned the lamp on and off six or seven times and began to pull open drawers. The large bottom drawer contained nothing interesting so she turned her attention to the top drawer while talking with her friend.
"Sam, are you rooting through Freddie's desk?" Carly giggled, half in jest and half chastising. "Shame on you."
"Nyeh!" Sam stuck her tongue out at the camera and continued her course. "He's my boyfriend, it's half mine anyway."
"I don't think that's really a thing, Sam." Carly added.
"Ooh, you know so much since you're in law classes." The blonde teased.
The stack of papers neatly bound with a gigantic paper clip drew her attention. If for no other reason than the fact that they were laid across the top of everything else instead of being filed away like the other things. She noticed the letterhead which she remembered from before and focused on it. It was from a medical group, not a tech company. Why did he get something from a doctor's office? A flip through the paperwork and she saw a name she had never seen before listed as patient. Some kid, a little kid, a baby, given the date of birth. Sam grew curiouser and curiouser.
Then she saw a familiar name. That skank! Why did he have paperwork with HER name on it? And why was SHE listed as mother? SHE didn't have a kid. Did she? It had literally been years since they talked. Sam's heart began to beat funny as she turned more pages. There was Freddie's name, address and birth date, blood type and all kinds of personal data. Why the hell did it say 'father's heath history' at the top of that page? This had to be some kind of joke.
"Sam? What are you doing? You haven't said anything in a couple of minutes?" Carly asked. "Quit nosing in Freddie's chiz and answer me. I asked if you knew about Nevel and Gibby going on that trip to Bali. Where does Nevel get his money? And why does he take Gibby every where he goes?"
"Hey, Carls. I, uh, think I gotta go." Sam simply replied. "Sorry. I just remembered something I need to do. I'll call you, alright." With that, she promptly ended the chat session before she lost all her composure in front of her friend.
"Sam, what's going on?" Carly only managed to ask before being cut off.
Sam's heart pounded as she continued to flip through page after page, reading answers all written in her boyfriend's neat hand writing. This had to be a prank. That's it, a prank. He definitely planted this to mess with her. But it looked so real. And why did he use that broad's name on it of all people? To mind freak her, apparently. And it worked. Well, almost did. But she was too smart and caught on.
Freddie came into the room and saw what she had in her hands. He wished he could go back into the bathroom and crawl down the drain pipe but was caught by her gaze before he could move an inch. He figured he was in for a fight or at least a round of a thousand questions but was met with Sam's laughter.
"Good one, Frednuts." She waved the forms. "You almost got me with this chiz."
"Uhhhh." He was too dumbfounded to even play along. If he could have managed to, that is. Only one problem, he could never pull off lying to Sam without her catching on. Her B.S. detector was too sensitive and he was too goody two shoes to be a convincing liar.
With no witty remark or bragging about his own skills as a jokester, she began to become suspicious. "This is a joke, right?"
Of course, he had to be honest even though it would hurt both of them. His silence was telling.
"Freddie?" Sam begged. "Tell me this is a prank."
He paused a moment before answering. "No. No it's not, I'm afraid."
Sam simply stared at him. "This isn't some joke? You . . . how, um, . . . why? You can't seriously have a kid with . . . with her? Come on, I know I always made fun of you for being gullible and I know you're not quite as thick these days as you were in middle school, but how stinkin' naïve do you think I am?"
He exhaled deeply. "Sam. Baby. Listen to me. I need to explain."
She paused for a few seconds before speaking. "Oh my God! You're serious, aren't you? This isn't some joke? It's a bad dream then. I need to wake up now!" She slapped herself.
He lowered his head. "You're not asleep, baby. Unfortunately."
"This thing says the kid was born last May." She flipped through the pages again. "That means you must have been with that, that, oh my God! I can't say it. I can't even think it. Were you with her after we agreed to get back together?"
"No!" He defended. "I swear, since you've come back, not at all. I haven't even seen . . . "
"I might not have some college degree but unless I forgot how a calendar works or the fact that usual human gestation is nine months, you knocked her up the summer after freshman year. You were down to L.A. over spring break and we agreed . . . "
"We agreed to try it after you moved home. There was no commitment." He shook his head. "We even said that."
"And you seriously believed there was no commitment?" She now had tears running down her face. "Freddie, I only said that so you wouldn't be at college acting like a monk or some old fart. Sure I didn't have a problem with you hanging out with or even dating other girls, but having unprotected sex. And with HER of all people. How could you?"
He tried to approach the girl to comfort her but she pulled back and turned away. "Don't touch me. You're filthy. You, you, I can't even say it. You gave yourself to that nasty skunk bag? And you didn't even use protection? Oh God! And I've been sleeping with you. Do you even care if you give me some disease."
"Sam. No." He denied that could ever be the case. "She's not like that, I wasn't. She's not some trashy girl with a disease. I wasn't, um, the whole thing wasn't like that."
"Have you been tested? Are you sure you're clean? Did you just think I wouldn't care if you gave me a dose of the clap or something? Or did you simply figure I'd think I got it from random dip wad that I screwed when I lived in Venice."
"I never once thought you . . . " He stammered before being cut off.
"How many, Freddie?" She screeched. "How many girls were you with? I knew you and Mel broke up before you even got started right. She bragged to me that you and her did it but I really didn't believe her at the time. How many other girls were you out snaking, having one night stands with?"
"A few. It's not like you were a virgin when we got back together." He tried not to be confrontational but failed miserably.
"How many, Freddie? I want an answer!" She pounded a fist to his chest with little vigor. "I waited for you, I could have went out with other guys, I had plenty of offers but I turned them all away. And I told you why I wasn't a virgin, it certainly wasn't because of some random dude I dated! Now I find out that you went and nailed half the girls in our class. And Christ only knows how many you met at your stupid college."
"I never hooked up with one girl from college." He denied her accusation without saying a specific number. "But you're right, there were a couple of others that we went to school with."
"So were they all just one night stands or fuck buddies, then? Or were you lying to everyone when you always said you didn't have a girlfriend? I specifically asked you when you were sleeping on my couch. Before I left you in my bed, I asked you if you had a girlfriend and you said not since you and Mel broke up. You're a damn dirty liar."
He sighed again, this fight was getting him nowhere and she was only getting more upset. "I didn't, Sammy, baby, I swear. There was no girlfriend. I was totally single that spring."
"So you were just screwing any girl who came near you? Or randomly hooking up at parties or some crap."
It was his turn to fire back. "What do you want me to say, Sam? Do you want me to tell you I'm a jerk for sleeping with girls I wasn't dating. Ok, I am. I'm a jerk for sleeping with girls I wasn't dating. Do you want me to tell you I regret getting drunk at the first and only college party I ever went to and sleeping with Wendy? I do. I feel like a gigantic d-bag for that. If for no other reason than you and her were friends."
He ranted on. "Do you want me to say that taking advantage of Valerie and using her, taking her virginity and then ghosting her just to get back at her for the way she treated me back in middle school was wrong? It was. It was terrible to treat anyone that way no matter if she tried to come between you and Carly and me years ago."
"Freddie! I can't believe you. My God, the man I knew, the nub I grew up with, fell in love with wouldn't do stuff like that. You're you're a monster."
"I know. It was horrible of me and I do regret doing that to her. Just like I regret hooking up with Melanie a couple of times after we quit actually dating."
"You what?" By now, Sam had wiped her face of half the running makeup and was pulling on her shoes. "You were screwing Melanie and not even going out with her? Oh my God, it's like I've been dropped into an alternate universe. Melanie acted like that, too? Did you both lose your minds, or were using drugs or something? Freddie for Christ sake! What is wrong with you?"
He, again, didn't know what to say or how to react.
"This is too much. I need to get out of here, Freddie." She reached for her jacket.
"I understand. You need some time to process. I know I did, I still do really."
She grunted something he didn't understand.
"OK. We can sit down and talk this all through. Take your time and call me tomorrow." He figured by the weekend they could hash it all out.
"No, Freddie. Not just tonight, not tomorrow. I need to leave. Period. Get out of here. Leave you, leave it all behind." She sobbed. "You've destroyed me, destroyed us. I really don't care if I ever talk to you again."
"Sam! Wait!" He grabbed for her hand to stop her but she was already heading for the door. "Sam, please promise me you'll call and we can talk."
"Unlike you, I won't lie to someone I care about." She spoke the words without even facing him. At least she admitted to caring. "So I won't promise you that I'll do something I have no intention of doing."
Sam walked out of his apartment that evening and it took him almost a week before confessing to even his mother that he and Sam had parted ways. By that time, Sam had simply begun to pack her things and told Spencer she was going back to L.A. She called Cat and made arrangements to stay with her and Jade until she could do something on her own and put in notice at her job that was leaving.
