Vanishing
"Ow! Sam!"
"What?" Sam asked innocently, walking into the living room.
"You threw an orange at me!" Freddie exclaimed, rubbing the spot on his arm where the fruit had just hit me.
"I thought we were playing Boomba," Sam said.
"When did I agree to that?" Freddie asked.
"Dude, just let me borrow your car," Sam said.
"What?"
"I need to go visit Uncle Carmine, and my car's low on gas," Sam said.
"Fine, here," Freddie said, tossing his wife his car keys.
"Thanks," Sam said. "Oh, and by the way, I won Boomba."
"I wasn't even playing!" Freddie said, but Sam was already out the door.
Rolling his eyes, Freddie tried to get back to watching the news like he had been before Sam had assaulted him with the orange. But no more than five minutes had passed before the doorbell rang.
Sighing, Freddie got to his feet and answered the door.
"Quincy?" Freddie said, opening the door to reveal his daughter's boyfriend. "Hey, what are you doing here?"
"Um, I was, just wondering if-if you would mind helping me back up some files on my laptop," Quincy said. "If-If you're not busy, Mr. Benson? Whenever I try to do it, the files end up vanishing or something."
"Mr. Benson?" Freddie frowned. "Quincy, since when have you called me Mr. Benson?"
"Oh, sorry then…sir," Quincy said.
"Um, alright," Freddie said, still confused. "Yeah, I can help you with your laptop. Why didn't you just ask Emma, though? She could've done this for you in a second."
"Oh, she's-she's out having lunch with some friends," Quincy said.
"Oh," Freddie shrugged. "Okay. Come on in, then."
"Thank you," Quincy said, and Freddie found it best not to question the young man's formal attitude. After all, he was Gibby's son.
"So, you just want these files backed up on an external hard drive?" Freddie asked, taking Quincy's laptop from him. "That shouldn't take too long…You know, I've been telling Sam for years that she needs to do this with her laptop but nooo, she won't listen to me. One of these days she's going to get a virus or something and I'm gonna have to be the one to who has to sit there and recover all her files manually."
"What?" Quincy said, appearing to come out of deep thoughts. "Oh, yeah…"
"You feeling okay, Quince?" Freddie asked as he began to type a few things into the laptop.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," Quincy said shakily. "Just nervous…"
"Nervous?" Freddie asked, finishing his work on the laptop and handing it back to Quincy. "What about?"
"Um, well…I sort of wanted to ask you something," Quincy said.
"You have another tech problem?" Freddie asked.
"No, nothing like that," Quincy said slowly. "It's just…I-You know how Emma and I have been dating for almost seven years now?"
"Yes," Freddie said. "What about that?"
"I-Well, I-really love her," Quincy started. "She's the best thing in my life. And now that we're both out of college and have pretty decent jobs, I-I've decided that I really want to marry her."
"Marry her?" Freddie repeated, his eyes bulging.
"Yeah," Quincy nodded. "That's sort of why I came over here today. I wanted to ask for your permission."
"I-wow," Freddie said, leaning back in his seat. "Wow…Quincy, you realize marriage is a really big step, right?"
"I know," Quincy said. "But I know we're ready for it. Emma means everything to me, and I don't want to spend the rest of my life with anyone but her."
Freddie nodded, and for a moment, the two men were completely silent.
"I know you love her," Freddie finally said. "I see how you two act around each other…truthfully you two remind me of me and Sam sometimes."
Quincy grinned. "Yeah. Everyone tells us that."
"I bet," Freddie said. "And I know you'd be great husband to Emma. I know you'd never hurt her and you'd always be there for her. So…of course, Quincy. I'd be happy if you'd marry Emma."
"Really?" Quincy said, his face lighting up. "You mean that?"
"Welcome to the family," Freddie said, standing up to give his future son-in-low a hug.
….
"I wish, just for once, Uncle Carmine would go and get sent to a jail closer to the house," Sam said as she returned home.
"Did you have a good visit?" Freddie asked, giving his wife a long kiss.
"Yeah, until it got cut short when Uncle Carmine decided to through his Jell-O at a CO," Sam replied.
"Hmm, sounds fun," Freddie smiled.
"You seem like you're in a good mood," Sam commented.
"Yeah, well, I just found out some really exciting news," Freddie said, still smiling.
"What?" Sam asked.
"I don't think I can-"
"Dude," Sam said warningly.
"Okay, okay," Freddie conceded, chuckling. "While you were gone, Quincy came over here and he asked for my permission to ask Emma to marry him."
"What? No way!" Sam exclaimed. "He's gonna propose?"
"Yup," Freddie nodded. "Can you believe that? Our little girl is getting married."
"Wow…" Sam said. "She's gonna be so happy."
"I know," Freddie agreed. "They really are in love."
"I know the feeling," Sam said, smiling at her husband.
