Substitute
"Hey, Freddie?" Carly asked, walking into her friend's apartment. "Did you do number 56 of the math homework? I get that your supposed to do something with the X, but do you-oh, yum, garlic rolls." She reached for one of the rolls, but before she could pick one up, Freddie let out a yell. "No!" He ran and grabbed the roll from Carly and set it back on the plate, which was placed on his carefully decorated table.
"Well," Carly huffed indignantly.
"Sorry," Freddie said. "It's just I made those especially for Sam, and you know how many of those she can eat."
"Oh, that's right, it's your one-year anniversary today," Carly said. "That's so exciting!"
"I know," Freddie nodded. "I've been up since seven o'clock this morning making sure everything is perfect. I hacked into the hospital's computer system to make sure my mom's shift won't end until well after midnight, tracked down that DVD with the karate monkey that Sam loves and have been working on this dinner for hours."
"Wow," Carly smiled. "That's so sweet."
"You think Sam will like it?" Freddie asked, pulling a large ham out of the oven.
"She'll love it," Carly said. "What time's she coming over?"
"Six," Freddie replied. "Which is in…twenty minutes. Okay, I just need to make the lemonade and everything will be all set."
He began rummaging through his cabinets. "Uh-oh…no! No! This cannot be happening!"
"What?" Carly frowned.
"I don't have any sugar!" Freddie exclaimed. "All I have is that disgusting sugar substitute that my mom buys! You can't make lemonade with a sugar substitute! It will taste disgusting!"
"Freddie, calm down, you can-"
"Oh my God, the dinner's ruined! Sam and mine's anniversary dinner is-"
"Freddie!" Carly said loudly. "Snap out of it! Look, Spencer just bought a whole bag of sugar yesterday. You can use some of that."
"I can? Thank you, Carly, you're a lifesaver."
"Yeah, I am, aren't I?" Carly laughed. "I've never seen anybody have a meltdown over a sugar substitute before."
"I just want to make sure Sam has the best time tonight," Freddie said as Carly let him into her apartment across the hall.
"Freddie, she will," Carly told him, putting some sugar into a cup for him. "You just need to relax. Sam loves you, and you love her. She knows that even if your lemonade has sugar substitute in it."
"You think so?"
"Definitely. When we were at Build-A-Bra yesterday she literally kept going on about you for the whole time; and hardly any of it was insulting!"
Freddie smiled. "Thanks, Carls." He turned to head back to his apartment.
"You know," Carly called after him. "I use sugar substitute in my special lemonade all the time."
"Er, yeah, I'm sure you do," Freddie nodded. "Later!"
He closed the door behind him.
