Chapter 35
Freddie had just asked Sam to pick up his daughter at school by pretending to be her sister.
"Please, Sam. It'll be easy. All you have to do is pull your hair up, put on a little more makeup and poof, instant Melanie. Trust me, they don't ask for I.D. They have our pictures in her file. All you have to do is look like the person on the screen. Simple."
"Yeah, I know you're simple. What about the way I'm dressed? I'm wearing a uniform with my name on it. And trust me, this is something Melanie wouldn't be caught dead in."
"So, wear a jacket to cover the name patch. They're not going to worry about your clothes, only your face. You'll look like the picture on file and they won't ask questions. All they want is to get a sick kid out of the school and to make sure she's going home with a parent."
"And what about the kid? She could blow the lid off this whole thing. She calls me 'Aunt Sam' and not 'Mommy', and I'm liable to get arrested for trying to kidnap your child. I have a clean record since I'm an adult, Fredwad. I'm not going to jail for you, or anybody. My name is not Pam."
"Freddie, we really need you in here." A co-worker stuck his head out the door and called to him.
"Sam, I need to go. Now I'll get home as soon as I can. Call me once you have her, please."
Sam sighed and put a hand on her forehead in frustration. "Fine. But you owe me, and more than for the time I'm missing at work. Trust me, it's gonna be big."
"Oh God. How much?"
"Somewhere between the price of a pizza and a refrigerator." She smirked. "I'll call you as soon as I get her."
"Thanks, Sam. You're the best."
The blonde managed to score the rest of the afternoon off and quickly made herself look a bit more like her twin. With a hair tie to create a pony tail, a bit more makeup applied hastily in her car, and covering her work uniform shirt with an old sweater she kept in her trunk, she walked into the school.
"May I help you?" The receptionist asked with a forced smile, having been interrupted from what she was doing.
"Uh, yeah. I'm here for Alex, um, Alexandra Benson-Puckett. I understand she's in the nurse's room." Sam was uncharacteristically nervous at this whole thing.
"Right. The nurse said someone would be stopping by for her. And you are?" The young dark skinned lady asked innocently.
"Sa, er, um, sorry. Hu-hem. Melanie Benson." She stammered with a higher voice.
With a few clicks on her computer, the receptionist found a picture of Melanie on Alex's file and was placated that she could release the girl to the blonde woman standing in front of the desk.
"Just a minute please, Mrs. Benson." She quickly notified the nurse that a parent was present. "She'll send Alexandra right out. Just fill in her name and sign beside it on the blue sheet and make sure you note the time please."
Sam shivered internally at being called 'Mrs. Benson.'
Alex appeared from the short hallway leading from the reception area to the nurse's office after a minute or so.
"Aunt . . . " The child started before Sam pulled her into a hug, burying her face into her chest.
"Aw, baby girl. I'm so sorry you're not feeling well. You're right, you probably caught this from your aunt. Let's get you home, darling."
"Where's daddy?" The girl began again before being hushed by Sam.
"Shhh, don't talk if your throat hurts, honey. Daddy was in a meeting and couldn't leave work." Come on, zip up your jacket now, you don't need to get chilled."
The receptionist caught the kid's words but Sam cut her off before she could begin any questioning. "Thanks for calling and for taking care of her. Have a nice day." With that, she skipped out the door and practically ran toward her car.
"Why are we going so fast, Aunt Sam?" Alex asked as Sam hurried the child across the school parking lot.
"Listen kiddo, I had to pretend to be my sister because your dad wasn't smart enough to put anybody besides your grandma on the emergency list. We're just lucky this worked. Now let's go before someone catches on and both of us end up in trouble." Sam told her as she removed the hair tie from her pony tail, letting her golden curls free.
They returned to Bushwell and Sam realized that she would have to take her niece to her apartment since she didn't have a key to their place. Sure, she could have picked the lock, but thought better of doing that with a six year old present.
She left the girl snuggle up on the couch with a blanket and the TV while she called Freddie from the kitchen.
"I've got Alex at my place." She told him when he answered.
"See, I told you this would be a piece of cake."
She suddenly had an idea. "Yeah, speaking of which, that's how you can start to pay me back. I want cake. So on the way home you can stop by the bakery place and pick me up a nice, fluffy angel food cake."
"Why are you guys at your place and not ours anyway." He asked.
"Because I don't have a key, numb nuts. And to answer your next question, yes I could have but I sort of thought maybe you'd not appreciate me demonstrating my lock picking skills in front of a certain little girl." She cracked. "Now when are you coming home?"
"I've got someone to cover for me. I'll hopefully be able to leave in about an hour or so."
"Alright, I'll tell Alex. And don't you dare forget my cake." She cracked. "Extra chocolate frosting, please."
Freddie walked into Sam's apartment nearly two hours later with a cake box and a bag from the pharmacy in hand. Between the two stops, he had dropped nearly sixty bucks. "Sam!" He called. "I'm home."
"Shhh!" Sam hissed, coming out the hallway and pointing to the couch. "Alex is asleep. Ooh, I see you remembered my cake. Good boy." She grabbed the box and motioned for him to follow her back the hallway with her head.
"Why did you bring a cake to your bedroom?" He asked with a smirk, standing just inside the door.
Sam grabbed a fork from a stack of dirty dishes sitting on her dresser and sat down on the end of her bed. "So I could eat it, why else doofus? You think I was gonna use it for a pillow?"
He rolled his eyes at her crack. "Thanks again for picking her up, Sam. You don't know how much I appreciate it. It's times like this when I really feel guilty for not having someone else in her life."
"Don't sweat it. Holy Crabs, this is good frosting." She mumbled with a mouthful of cake. "It's like a chocolate cloud. Here, try." Sam then held a big fork full of cake toward his face after he sat down beside her.
"Hmm, don't mind if I do. I'm starving." He opened his mouth. "Dang! You're right. But seriously, if it wasn't for you, I'd have either had to leave work or let Alex sit in the nurse's office for hours. And getting her home to rest and sleep is best. I'm sure she'll feel better in the morning. I really owe you for this, Sam."
"Aw, don't beat yourself up, dude. Your mom will do plenty of that when she finds out she had to leave school sick. I'm just glad I could help her." She continued to dig into the cake. "And another cake next week wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen, either."
"Anything, Sam." He smiled. "Mind if I get another bite? I didn't get lunch today."
"You're not the only one. I guess I can spare a little more." She fed him another fork full. "But you're going out for smoothies after bit. And if T-Bo has any of his cheese steak egg rolls today get me a couple."
Meanwhile, Carly had come home. She was aware Alex was sick, Sam had texted her and told her she was coming home early with the child. She quietly opened the door, walked in and spotted the little girl on the couch, covered up with a blanket, fast asleep. What she didn't see was Sam.
The brunette headed back the hallway toward her bedroom to not only change out of her work clothes in her own bedroom but to attempt to find her room mate. From the doorway she spotted Sam and Freddie sitting on the edge of her bed, in the semi-darkened room, eating cake. Her first sight was Sam shoving a fork full into his mouth.
"Well, doesn't this look cozy?" Carly smirked from the doorway, propping her shoulder into the frame.
"Carls, I, uh, I . . . " Freddie turned red from embarrassment and jumped to his feet.
"Shove it, Carly." Sam cracked through a mouth full of cake.
"I skipped lunch. It's good cake. I was hungry." He began to make excuses.
Carly simply help up a hand. "Save it, I don't care what you two do for foreplay, just remember your sick daughter is asleep on the couch so keep the volume down."
"We weren't . . . this isn't anything like that." He again stammered. "You've got to believe me."
Sam held up a middle finger and then resumed eating.
The three shared a few words and soon Alex stirred around enough to hear their voices. "Daddy?" She called from the couch. "Aunt Sam?"
To save himself from further embarrassment, Freddie slipped out to take care of the child while the girls glared at each other. "We need to talk, Sam." Carly simply said, blocking the blonde's exit from the room.
Sam shrugged and changed the subject. "So, what are you making for dinner. It's your night to cook, right?"
Freddie called to them that he was taking Alex home. Carly sat down beside her friend to talk before it was time to prepare food.
"What is up with you guys?" Carly asked.
"Nothing's up." Sam gave her a funny look. "What would be up? Why would you think there's something up?"
"Oh, I don't know, maybe because you're spending the night down here and he was sitting on your bed with you and you were feeding him like he was your boyfriend or something."
"Will you grow up!" Sam huffed. "First off, we've always done chiz like that. Why should it be any different just because he's married to my dorky sister? Even though they're separated. Second he's got a kid he's raising alone, my niece, who I love. So when she's sick yeah, I'm gonna be there. And if that means I've got to be all buddy buddy with my ex-boyfriend, so be it. And most importantly, I really don't think Fredlumps is interested in dating, romance or anything like that even if a girl were to want to go out with him. Which I don't. Because, you know, the thing about him being married to Melanie. Well, and he's a dishrag."
Carly knew it was an act. Sam knew it was an act, there was no denying the fact that the last month or so, they had not only forgiven each other but drawn together. The last couple of days only served to nudge them even closer.
"So what? You two are going to live in a complete state of denial about what is so damn obvious, it's not funny? This is just like when you guys went out in high school and then broke up. Or supposedly broke up, because I never did buy the idea that you guys actually went through with it, split up and never did certain things after that. If you know what I mean. You gave off a certain vibe around him Sam, and you still do."
"The only vibe around here is in that top drawer over there." Sam pointed to her dresser with the fork.
"TMI, Sam. That's nasty. And don't give me your horse crap. Sure, on the surface he might have been a bit douchey with you and you sure didn't miss any chances to make his life miserable back then but that time you got the job at the Pear Store and then as soon as that woman fired Freddie, you just walked off. Seriously, you were great at the place, and you made incredible commissions and had already been promoted. You didn't just walk away from that because you were lazy. You were wazzed off because they fired him and not just because he was your friend."
"Oh, please. That place was for losers and geeks. Everyone who worked there was a complete nerd. I fit in about as well as you would at a stripper's convention." The blonde scoffed.
"Right. Because you always worried about fitting in. Give me a break. You walked off from a job where you made more in a few hours than every other job you ever had combined because of the way that woman treated Freddie."
"You're nuts, I was just getting ready to write him up for being rude to a customer. He should have been fired anyway."
"And what about all those other times you guys did chiz together? When I'd be out on a date and come home and you two would just be sitting on my couch innocently watching a movie, sharing a bowl of popcorn. Oh, I know, who got so stinkin' jealous that time Gibb and Freddie tried to convince those girls that they were in a band that you literally made them fight and tried to ruin their friendship? And then after him and Gibby fought, who nursed him? I saw his hickey that day, Sam. I know it wasn't the chick he was trying to impress and if you say it happened when him and Gibby fought, I swear I will slap you."
Sam just huffed and sat down her cake box. Her friend had not only caught her red handed but had apparently been mulling this all over in her mind for years and was hitting a bulls eye.
"Alright, Carls. Listen up because I'm only gonna say this one time. I need you to promise me you'll never say anything to anyone about any of this."
"OK, OK." Carly agreed. "Do you want to do an ankle swear?"
"We're not twelve." Sam huffed. "I just need you to promise me. Because it's not affecting me, this is also Freddie's life too. And his daughter's. And I would literally kill to protect that kid."
"Right, I get it." Carly was impatient. "What is such an all fired secret?"
"Just know that if you ever repeat what I an about to tell you to anyone, I mean anyone, I will do unspeakable things to you, kapeesh. I know how to dispose of bodies, woman."
Carly just looked funny and gestured for her to continue. "What, are you gay or something?"
"Where did that come from? No. But there was some experimentation when I first lived with Cat. I guess I can see why she was confused about me."
"You mean . . . ?" Carly gasped. "Sa-am!"
"It was only a couple of times. Like I said, experimentation. You won't convince me you didn't the same kind of chiz in college." Sam smirked.
Carly just blushed which was enough of an answer for Sam.
