Ease

"I know! You can put it in the cake!"

"What?" Freddie frowned, adjusting his tie.

"You know," Spencer explained. "Go talk to the chefs at the restaurant and get them to put the ring in the cake for desert, and when Sam takes a bite of it, she'll find and then you propose! It's brilliant, she'll love it!"

"Or she'll gulp down the cake so fast that she'll choke on the ring!" Freddie pointed out.

"Well!" Spencer said indignantly. "That's the ninth idea of mine that you rejected."

"I'm sorry, it's just…this has to be perfect, okay?" Freddie sighed. "It's not like I'm asking Sam about the weather here, I'm asking her to marry me. I can't screw this up. And now I have-" he looked at his watch. "Three hours before I'm supposed to pick Sam up and I still have no idea of how I'm going to do this!"

"Okay, calm down," Spencer said. "I know this isn't easy-"

"I will not calm down!" Freddie exclaimed. "How do you expect me to be calm when I'm about to go and ask my girlfriend the most important question of our lives?"

"Look, I know you're nervous, Freddie," Spencer said. "But it will be fine. Sam and you are in love, you've been dating for almost three years…you've got this. Even if you propose to her in the stupidest way possible, she's not going to care. All she's going to care about is getting to marry you."

"But what if she says no?" Freddie asked.

"Dude, you're being ridiculous," Spencer said. "Sam's not going to say no. Didn't you hear what I just said? She loves you."

"Yeah, but-"

"Every guy feels like this when they're about to propose," Spencer said. "It's natural. But just remember, you'll be fine."

Freddie smiled. "Thanks, Spence."

"Freddie?" Sam frowned as she opened up the door of the apartment her and Carly shared. "What are you doing here? I thought you weren't coming by to pick me up for our date until seven. I'm not-"

But he cut her off by kissing her passionately on the lips.

"Um, hi!" Carly said after nearly two minutes.

"Hey Carls," Freddie said, breathless, as he pulled away from his girlfriend. He handed her a bouquet of red roses. "These are for you."

"Thanks," Sam smiled. "But baby, why are you so early? I'm nowhere near ready." She pulled at her ratty old tank top and sweatpants. "As you can tell."

"I think you look beautiful," Freddie told her. "And I canceled our dinner reservations on my way over here and called in for an extra-large meat supreme pizza. I thought we could just sort of hang out here together. You know, eat pizza, watch lame movies on Getflix…have a chill date night."

"Wait? So I don't get to do her hair and make-up?" Carly asked, somewhat disappointed.

"Hey, I'm down for that," Sam grinned. "But, um," she lowered her voice. "Carly's gonna be here all night, just so you know, so we won't really be able to-"

But just then Carly's phone rang.

"Hello? Spencer?" she answered. "You got your foot stuck in what? Again? Ugh, I'm on my way."

"What's wrong with Spencer?" Sam asked.

"He was trying to install this thing in his toilet that plays music every time a person sits down," Carly sighed, grabbing her bag. "And then one thing led to another…and well, let's just say he's stuck in a very awkward position right now."

"Ah, well good luck," Sam laughed.

"Now then," Freddie said as Carly hurried out of the apartment. "You were saying?"

"Man, I am stuffed," Sam said, resting her head on Freddie's shoulder. In addition to the pizza, Freddie had also ordered wings, and now Sam had wing sauce smeared all over her mouth. "And that almost never happens."

Freddie chuckled. "You have a little something on your mouth."

"Oh, do I?" Sam smirked, raising an eyebrow suggestively. "What you gonna do about it, Benson?"

Freddie leaned down, capturing her lips for probably the fifteenth time in the last half-hour.

"You know," Sam sighed, cuddling up next to her boyfriend underneath the blanket they were cloaked under as they watched reruns of old ninety television shows. "This was a lot better than going out to some restaurant. I mean, I don't have to dress up, you didn't have to argue with the waiter about the proper way to pronounce lasagna-"

"The 'g' is silent!"

"I know, baby," Sam said. She picked up the remote and turned off the T.V. "So. What should we do for the rest of the night?"

"Well…you remember that game you used always love to play when we were younger?" Freddie asked. "Embarrassing Exhibition?"

"Oh yeah!" Sam nodded. "Where you have to try and get one of the players to be humiliated by the end of the game! Didn't I make you cry once during this game?"

"No," Freddie said quickly.

"Yeah I did," Sam grinned.

"I was thirteen!" Freddie defended. "Anyway…go look in that bag over by the front door by my jacket."

"Okay," Sam said, giving Freddie a strange look. She went over to the door and looked in the bag that she hadn't even noticed before. "Hey!" she exclaimed, pulling out a box. "You brought the game!"

"Yup, wanna play?" Freddie asked.

"Hmm, I guess I can go for some humiliation," Sam said. "And when I say humiliation, I mean from you."

"Ha, ha," Freddie said, rolling his eyes. He pushed away the pizza box that was sitting on the coffee table by the couch. "Come on, let's set it up here."

"Alright," Sam said, taking her seat as she opened the box. "So, if I remember right, we have to try and make it around this board while the other players ask us embarrassing questions. The first one to make it all the way around without quitting from shame wins. Oh, and we each get a stack of these cards with the embarrassing questions on them. Here's your pile-"

"No, um, you take that pile," Freddie said quickly.

"Well why does it matter which-"

"Okay let's play!" Freddie said loudly, switching the piles of cards and quickly grabbing the dice and putting them in Sam's hands. "You can go first."

"Alright," Sam shrugged, rolling the dice. She moved her player and then picked up a card from her pile. "Alright, Fredgut, and remember, you have to be completely honest. When was the last time you wore underwear that your mom bought you."

"Okay, well, first let me just say that my mom is getting a little better about that type of thing, and-"

"Answer the question," Sam smirked.

"Today," Freddie mumbled as Sam laughed. "But it's not my fault! You know she sneaks into my place and replaces any pair that I buy with those hypoallergenic kind."

"It's still funny," Sam said.

"Yeah, well, now it's my turn," Freddie said, taking the dice

The two continued to play the game for an hour, their decks of cards each getting smaller as the game went on until finally Sam only had one left.

"Last one," Sam said, rolling the dice. "And if you're too humiliated to answer it, then I win, as usual." She picked up her card. "And the game determining question," she announced dramatically. "Is…Sam, will you marry me?" She looked up at Freddie. "Um…that-that doesn't sound like one of the cards from this game," she said softly, her eyes wide with surprise.

"No," Freddie agreed, reaching into his pocket. "I made that one special for tonight." He pulled out a small box and opened it, revealing a sparkling engagement ring, and then got down on one knee. "Sam…you have no idea how long I spent trying to figure out the perfect way to ask you this. I wanted it to be special, something we'd remember for the rest of our lives. I was going to ask you this at some fancy dinner, after we ate our tiny portions of food we couldn't even pronounce, but then I realized, I wanted you to be as perfectly you as possible when I asked. I didn't want to ask you this when you were eating weird, fancy food that would never fill you up while you wore some dress that, although I'm sure you'd look hot in, was making you feel so uncomfortable, sitting around some place where we have to be proper. I wanted to ask you when you were the most comfortable, laughing, having fun…Sam, I love you. More than I ever thought I'd love anyone. And everyone always says that during a relationship, that spark that you feel at the beginning will eventually fade, but for me, it has stayed throughout all these years, and there's no doubt in my mind that it will stay there forever. I want to spend our lives together, start a family together, and grow old together. So, Samantha Joy Puckett? Will you marry me?"

Sam broke into the widest smile Freddie had ever seen. "Oh my God…I can't believe-Yes! Yes, I'll marry you!"

Freddie felt a wave of euphoria sweep over him as he slid the ring onto Sam's finger before kissing her deeply.

"Wow…we-we're engaged!" Sam said, still grinning, when they broke apart, looking down at the ring on her finger. "Baby…this was…this was perfect."