- Rough Love -
"Hey Sam, aren't you going to the hospital today to visit Freddie?" Cat asks as she leans over the kitchen island, she was eating grapes, as usual. Sam was lounged across the couch watching tv.
"Uh… maybe tomorrow" Sam dismisses as she returns her eyes to the tv.
Cat raises an eyebrow to her and starts to make her way to the couch as she asks, "What's up with you two? You had been visiting him all day every day last week and now it's been two days since you even went to the hospital at all."
"I don't want to talk about it" Sam mutters.
"Did you two have a fight? Sam! It's not nice to yell at the severely injured!" Cat protests as she crosses her arms in front of her chest.
"We didn't fight and I didn't yell at him" Sam defends herself.
"Oh. Well, then why not go visit him?"
"Because I don't like hospital food"
"Ha! Your making excuses! It doesn't matter that you hate the food because you know every restaurant in the city that does delivery to odd locations!" Cat accuses as she points her finger at Sam.
Sam groans, "Oh why do you always have to be smart when it's the least convenient for me?!"
Cat smiles dumbly and sits on the armrest of the couch as Sam starts to scoot herself up to sitting more upright.
"So why are you avoiding Freddie? I thought you really liked him?"
Sam sighs, "I do, but things got a little… weird."
"Weird how?"
"Well… I fell…. And my hand sort of… accidentally landed…. In his… 'area'." Sam uses air quotations for the last word.
Cat gasps over dramatically but then seems to recover after a few moments. "Well, that's definitely awkward… But I still think you should go visit him. I'm sure he'd rather see the girl who accidentally touched his thing than sit alone in the hospital all day."
Sam takes a deep breath and sighs it out, "Yeah, I guess your right."
Sam grabs the keys to her motorcycle and starts to head for the door, "Hey you want a ride to the hospital to see Robbie?"
"No gross!" Cat shrieks.
Sam raises her eyebrow in confusion.
Cat whispers, "I saw him changing the other day!"
Sam just shakes her head at Cat's irony and leaves without another word.
-0-0-0-
"Hey… Benson" Sam greets Freddie.
"Hey Sam, where you been?" Freddie asks as he sits himself up a little in his bed. He seems happy to see her, which does not go unnoticed by Sam, although she doesn't comment on it.
"Oh, just got busy with babysitting and online classes."
"You know I learned how to tell when you're lying from Carly like 3 years ago right?"
Sam rolls her eyes and comes to sit beside him, "Yea well then don't ask questions you already know the answer to."
"Touché… sorry about- that" the way he emphasized the word 'that' made it clear that he wasn't talking about asking questions he knew the answers to.
"I'm sorry about that too… And for not visiting you."
Freddie smiles lightly, "All good… Although maybe next time you could not leave me with a random nurse while I'm naked and crying?"
"Your planning to cry naked in front of me again? Oh no, once was enough please." Sam insists.
Freddie laughs lightly, "Alright sounds good to me."
Sam rolls her eyes a little but smiles lightly as she speaks, "I'm sorry I left you with the nurse."
Freddie smirks, "I understand."
Sam pats his shoulder lightly, "So, did you find out when they're gonna let you out of this prison for the sick and dying?"
"Tomorrow"
"Oh- so where are you going to go after that?"
"I haven't figured that out yet honestly. I'll have to just go back to Seattle and tell my mom the truth if I can't come up with something else."
Sam knew one thing for sure, she definitely did not want Freddie going back to Seattle. "Hey! But you agreed to go out with me when you got out of here."
"Okay, I'll see if I can find a hotel to book for tomorrow night. But I'm gonna need that $80 bucks back." He says.
Sam shrugs, "Well then, in that case, you can stay with Cat and I."
"Are you sure…?"
Sam shrugs again, "Yea, you shouldn't be flying for Seattle in the next few days when you've got all those casts on!"
"The doctor is taking one of my leg casts off tomorrow."
"Oh well that's good news, but why did they bother to put it on at all if they were just gonna take it off so soon?"
"Not sure, the doctor is a really weird dude. Yesterday he was complaining that his goldfish doesn't love him. Then he told me for the 4th time that there's another patient here who fell in a pool full of Kansas Razor-back tuna and what a 'funny coincidence' that was even though I've tried to explain to him every time that we fell in together in the same pool."
"Yikes, well you still shouldn't be on a plane so you might as well crash on our couch until your doing better."
Freddie nods in agreement. He felt excited about the idea of spending a lot more time with Sam. And he had graduated from high school a semester early so he really didn't have much to get back to in any hurry. He had been working in the meantime at his own little business as a website and video editor but he was easily able to do that from anywhere with his laptop.
-0-0-0-
"Okay see ya Cat! Goomer and I are going to go pick up Freddie now" Sam says to Cat who is in the kitchen cooking something gross.
"Don't forget Robbie!"
"Huh?"
"I told you last night. Robbie is getting let out today too and his mom doesn't want to take care of him so she's paying us to have him stay here and we'll take care of him! Y'enno like babysitting."
"And uh… when did you tell me this?!" Sam asks.
"Last night! When you were in the shower"
"Cat, how many times do I have to tell you that I can't hear you talking when I'm in the shower. And where do we plan on putting all these bandaged and drugged up teenage boys?"
"My Nona is lending us some air mattresses! Can you go pick them up after you get the guys?"
"But I don't want to live with Robbie!"
"His mom is paying us $500 a week."
"Let's live with Robbie!"
-0-0-0-
Sam leaves the bedroom as she steps into the hallway. Freddie's air mattress is set up in the hall, leaving a narrow path on the floor to get past it. As Sam tries to shuffle through the path a kid, Hunter, runs by nearly knocking her over. Sam groans and makes her way into the living room. She shuffles past a baby's playpen. Cat and one of the kids, Amy, are hula-hooping in the space between the living room and the kitchen. Sam tries to get by them but eventually ends up pushing Cat out of her way.
She sighs, feeling relieved to have finally made it to the TV but as she goes to sit on the couch Robbie cheerfully says "yo de yope!" whatever the hell that means.
Startled, Sam looks behind her to see that she nearly sat on Robbie. Sam groans and starts to make her way over to the seating area in the kitchen where Freddie is working on one of his client's websites. She has to shuffle past Cat and Amy hula hooping again and then Robbie's air mattress. Hunter runs by again, knocking Sam over and causing her to fall onto Robbie's bed.
"Ew Robbie's bed!" Sam winces as she gets up and brushes herself off in disgust. Freddie can't help but smirk at her behavior.
"This place is way too crowded!" Sam complains as she leaves the apartment to go to their outside lawn, having to get around Freddie and Robbie's suitcases as she goes.
Freddie follows her on his crutches.
"Yo, yo" he says as he knocks on the glass door.
Sam ushers for him to come out and he closes the door behind him. She's sitting on one of their lawn chairs and he sits on the chair beside her.
"Sorry about all the chaos," Freddie tells her.
"I haven't been in an apartment that crowded since that power outage in the middle of the heatwave where half of Bushwell Plaza was in Carly's apartment."
Freddie laughs and smiles at the memory. "Yup, that was fun."
"With your giant little girlfriend Sabrina" Sam teases.
"Were you jealous?" Freddie jokes.
Sam rolls her eyes at him, "Oh you know I couldn't stand any of those prancy girls that you liked so much. Even before I had a crush on you."
Freddie smirks, "Why?"
Sam shrugs, "I dunno you didn't seem like yourself when you were with them. I preferred to see you getting mad or talking back or joking around. You were so polite with them it was weird."
Freddie laughs soundlessly, "I am polite to most people you know."
Sam groans, "I know but- you have more of a personality than just that. You were so boring around them!"
Freddie smiles at her, "Yeah, I see what you mean."
"I stopped getting so annoyed with you all the time and started actually seeing you as a best friend when you stopped crushing over Carly so often and started acting yourself around her."
"I'm sorry for everything Sam," Freddie says quietly after a long pause of silence.
"What do you mean?" Sam asks.
"I feel bad that you moved all the way to Los Angeles because you found out that Carly and I had a pointless kiss. And I'm sorry that we spent all those years together arguing and insulting each other. I mean I get it was kind of our thing and all but- once you moved, I wished I had told you more often how much you mean to me. Even if you would have called me an emotional little girl or slapped me or something for saying it."
Sam smiles at him lightly, "Oh c'mon cheer up, we didn't need words to show each other that we cared. That's what made our friendship so cool. We were together constantly and we always had each other's backs when something went wrong. I knew I could count on you for anything. Well… except for back up in a fight before you went through puberty and hit the gym." Sam adds jokingly.
Freddie rolls his eyes, "You know that once I hit the gym, I could take you in a fight? I was just letting you win."
"Oh yeah? Let's go then right now" Sam says as she stands up beside his chair, her tone playful.
Freddie gawks at her, "Sam! I have two casts and a bunch of fish bite marks from that stupid stunt that I told you not to do!"
"Don't blame me for that stunt I didn't hit your little lift with a motorcycle Cat did. And I never would have agreed to do it if you hadn't agreed to go on a date with my roommate!" Sam was raising her voice now, as if she may start arguing with him.
"I never meant to go on a date with her! I was confused about what was going on and where you were, besides what else was I suppose to do? Just sit in my hotel room?"
"Call me!" Sam snaps.
"Every time I tried to take my phone out to use it Cat would start acting all crazy and distract me." Freddie's tone was starting to get quite upset and angry now too.
"Well, what more can I do for you?! I saved you from the tank, I visited you in the hospital, I BATHED YOU, and you're staying at my place!"
They start to both argue at the same time, one talking over the other.
"Don't talk about the bathing!" Freddie yells.
"Oh, I'll talk about the bathing if I wanna talk about the bathing!" Sam counters, while exaggerating her speaking with her arms, the way she always does when she starts to get worked up. "I see no reason why two mature adults can't talk about the fact that one bathed the other. Especially considering that this is an argument and it helps prove my point that I've been doing everything that I can for you since you got hurt. It's not even my fault you got hurt! If Cat hadn't locked me in the closet, I would have just done the trick and everyone would have been fine! And if you wouldn't have just let Cat flirt with you then I wouldn't have been so mad at you and then I would have listened to you when you told me not to do it. But of course, I'm not going to listen when you both had just pissed me off. Do you know how hurtful it was to see YOU with my ROOMMATE when -"
Freddie speaks over her, standing up as well now. His height seemed to tower over hers. He also started to speak with exaggerated hand movements. "I told you I didn't want to talk about that. It's uncomfortable Sam and it was your idea in the first place. I never asked you to do that but after how badly it ended, I don't understand why we can't both agree that it should never be spoken about again! I don't bring up the fact that you got your period on my bed once because that would embarrass you! See! Do you know how embarrassing it is to have you bathe me when-"
"-I love you!" Sam finishes.
"-I love you?!" Freddie finishes at the same time.
They both fall quiet and stare at one another with wide eyes for several seconds, only now realizing that they had been standing only inches apart from the time that Freddie had stood up. They simultaneously soften their facial expressions and their defensive stances, their arms falling to their sides limply and their faces becoming blank with shock. They stand there frozen like statues for what feels like an eternity before Freddie ever so slowly starts leaning closer towards Sam until she can smell the crisp woodsy scent of his cologne and she can feel the warmth of his body hovering over her like a blanket, ready to sweep her in.
She knew what came next.
"I have to… go… see if Cat needs help…. washing our fruits" Sam rants awkwardly as she ducks out of the confined space between him and the back of her chair.
"Sam-" Freddie tries to stop her but she ignores him.
She wasn't ready for this. Sure, she missed him like crazy and loved him more than anyone but they lived far apart they couldn't just act like everything could just fall back together into the way that they used to be. Although it sounded perfect to Sam. Maybe she should just drop everything in Los Angeles. But she knew that wasn't a smart move. It would be a huge commitment to Freddie and their potential relationship. She had literally broken up with him because she had feared losing everything for their relationship and now the only way to be with him was if she gave up her whole life?
-0-0-0-
Hope you all enjoyed and are having a lovely week! Please leave a review, favorite, or follow I really appreciate them :D And thank you to everyone who has already shown this story some support! You guys rock!