Outline
"Hey, do you guys want to stop at the world's largest sunflower seed on our way up to Webicon next week?" Carly asked. "It's supposed to be pretty cool."
"Um, yeah," Sam said. "Who in their right mind would miss seeing a giant seed?"
"I'll just add that to the outline," Freddie said, nodding as he typed in a few things on his laptop.
"What outline?" Carly asked. "Oh my God, you're not making a complete itinerary for our trip again, are you?"
"What's wrong with that?" Freddie frowned.
Carly turned to Sam. "He's your boyfriend. I'll let you field this one."
"Thanks, Carly," Sam said rolling her eyes.
"You don't think my outline for our trip is a good idea?" Freddie asked Sam.
"Well, it's not that it's not a good idea," Sam said slowly. "It's just that it's a… not non-lame one."
Freddie took a minute to decipher that sentence before he responded. "Come on! It's a very non-lame idea! You guys just never got to see my last itinerary in action because I made that one back when Nora kidnapped us."
"Okay, but do we even really need an itinerary?" Sam asked him. "We get into Olympia on Friday, head to the hotel, and then the next day spend all day at Webicon and then go back to the train station to come home. Big deal."
"But see, I organized what we will do with all of our free time," Freddie defended. "Look, we get into Olympia at three in the afternoon, but our rooms won't be ready until seven, so I have it down that we'll shop at that big mall from three fifteen to five, drive over to that sushi place and stay there until six thirty, and that gives us just enough time to grab some ice cream from Dairy Heir before we go to the hotel. Perfect plan!"
"But what if we decide we don't want to go to the mall?" Sam pointed out.
Freddie frowned. "Why wouldn't we go to the mall?"
"Or what if we find a different restaurant? Olympia is supposed to have all sorts of steakhouses, and I'm not about to pass up a 20 ounce steak for raw fish."
"I…guess I would just…change the outline," Freddie said hesitantly. "The carefully crafted outline."
"Baby," Sam sighed. "Can't you just not make the outline? For me?"
"But Sam, our trip won't have any structure then!"
"So what? That'll just make it more fun! This is going to be our last year to go to Webicon by ourselves before we all go off to college next year. Spencer's not coming and your mom lost her cell phone at that germ awareness festival so she can't even call and pester you. We can do whatever we want!"
"I never thought of it like that," Freddie said slowly. "When you put it like that it does sound sort of fun."
"Right?" Sam grinned. "So can I delete the outline now?"
"Sure," Freddie smiled, handing Sam his laptop. "Go ahead. I guess we'll just be three crazy, spontaneous teens in Olympia…now I'm thirsty. Do you have soda, Carly?"
"It's all diet," Carly said as Freddie got up and headed to the kitchen. She turned to Sam. "Nice work."
"Like I was going to listen to his outline," Sam said as Freddie got up to get some juice. "You'd think after a year of dating I would've had more of an impact on the nub."
"Gross, Carly!" Freddie called from the kitchen, spitting out the soda he had been drinking. "This is diet!"
Carly shook her head. "Believe me, you have."
