Worm
"So what's in this new flavor?" Sam asked as her, Freddie and Carly sipped their smoothies that T-Bo had just given them.
"Let's see, there's lemon juice, lime juice, strawberries, mangos…" T-Bo listed. "Oh yeah! And corn juice!"
"Corn juice?" Carly exclaimed gagging a bit. "Who puts corn juice in a smoothie?"
"Well I was taking to Spencer, and he said corn juice was terrible," T-Bo explained.
"And that made you want to put it in a smoothie?" Freddie frowned.
"Hey! If I'm the first dude to come up with an actual use for corn juice, I'll be rich!" T-Bo pointed out. "I'm also working on this new conditioner with corn juice. Any of you want to test it out? I'll give you four percent off your fifth bagel purchase."
"Why don't you just test your conditioner out on yourself?" Sam asked.
"Oh no, T-Bo don't mess around with his hair," T-Bo said firmly, flipping his long hair over his shoulder and heading back to the counter.
"Oh, hey, Fredwad, Pini's at seven this Friday?" Sam said to her boyfriend. "I'm in a lasagnay mood."
"Sure, I could do that," Freddie nodded.
"Well if you guys won't be all worn out from your date," Carly grinned. "You wanna go see that new movie with that hot guy from those car insurance commercials?"
"Shoosh yeah!" Sam said.
"That movie looks kind of…girlish," Freddie said. "So I think I'm gonna pass."
"Oh come on, Freddie, come with us," Sam said.
"But you and Carly are just going to sit there obsessing about the hot actor the whole time," Freddie moaned.
"Not the whole time," Carly said.
"Yeah, we're gonna have to take breaks to stuff our mouths with popcorn," Sam said. "Just come, baby. I mean what else do you have going on?"
"Fine," Freddie sighed. "I'll come…"
….
"Have I ever told you what a good kisser you were?" Freddie smiled the next morning as him and Sam had their usual pre-class make-out session by Freddie's locker.
"You're not too shabby yourself, Benson," Sam grinned.
"You know…you have the most beautiful eyes," Freddie said, kissing her gently again.
"You're such a chick," Sam laughed, trying to hide the blush that was creeping onto her cheeks.
"Yeah, yeah," Freddie said, rolling his eyes. "Oh, and you don't care if I hang out after school with some dudes from the AV club, do you? We're going to try and find a few more new clips from the new Galaxy Wars movie."
"Wow…it's amazing that so much nerdiness can actually exist," Sam said, shaking her head. "But yeah, go ahead. I was gonna hang out with Carly at the mall anyway."
Just then the bell rang.
"Ugh, I need to get to class," Sam moaned. "Ms. Paulson said if I was late one more day this week she'd put me in lunch detention. I may be able to handle normal detention, but I refuse to miss my lunchtime."
"I'll see you later then," Freddie said, giving her one last kiss. "Bye, baby."
"Bye," Sam said, running off in the direction of her class.
Freddie turned to his locker and opened it up so he could quickly grab a book before heading off to class himself. Just as he was about to set off, though, he heard snickers behind him, and he turned around to see a group of guys smirking at him.
"Um…can I help you guys with something?" Freddie frowned.
"Yeah, we were just wondering, Benson, if that hot little girlfriend of yours ever gets tired of hanging around with a girly boy," the biggest boy in the group said as the others all laughed loyally.
"Excuse me?" Freddie said. "Did you just call me a girly boy?"
"Yeah, he did, Benson," another boy said. "Anybody could see that you are. We heard you over here a few minutes ago… 'you have the most beautiful eyes'. Dude! You're a bigger chick than most of the girls on the cheerleading squad! Even your girlfriend said it to you!"
Freddie glared at the group while at the same time feeling deflated as he remembered that Sam did, in fact, just say that exact same thing to him.
"Yeah, she did say that," the first boy chuckled. "Right before she gave him her permission to stay after school!"
"She didn't give me permission!" Freddie snapped. "I just…I just asked for her okay…"
"Look at this guy," one of the other boys jeered. "Can't do anything without the girlfriend's approval…"
"Easy to see who wears the pants in that relationship," another boy laughed.
Freddie shoved past them, their laughs still echoing in their ears. He tried to tell himself that they were just jealous…he had himself a hot girlfriend while their longest relationships barely lasted a month put together. But somehow, he found himself dwelling on their words. Was he really acting like the girl in the relationship? He had never considered himself one who needed his 'men to be men and women to be women', but still, it was a definite blow to his self-esteem.
….
Later that evening, after Freddie had gotten home from his AV club meeting, Freddie found himself sitting alone on his couch, flipping through the few unlocked channels on his T.V. His mom was working still, and he was thankful for the space.
Just then, as he found a show on gardening techniques, he heard his front door open and Sam walked in.
"Hey," she said brightly, sitting down next to him, giving him a quick kiss. "How was your dorky little AV club meeting?"
"Good," Freddie mumbled.
Sam frowned. "You okay?"
"Yeah," Freddie said quickly.
"Well, Carly and Spencer want to know if we wanna go with them to Pink Bunny," Sam said. "So you up for it?"
"I dunno, why don't you give them the answer for us?" Freddie said bitterly. "After all, you're the decision maker in this relationship. You're the head honcho."
"What do you mean?" Sam asked.
"Never mind," Freddie sighed. "Let's just go to Pink Bunny…"
"No," Sam said. "Not until you tell me what's up."
"It's stupid," Freddie mumbled.
"I don't care, it's obviously bothering you," Sam said. "So just tell me."
"Fine," Freddie conceded. "I'm just…I'm sick of being the girlfriend here, okay!"
"What?" Sam laughed. "Baby, I may have gotten a C minus in biology, but I'm pretty sure I'm the girlfriend and you're the boyfriend here."
"That's not what I mean," Freddie moaned. "It's just…people think that I'm just the doormat in this relationship."
"What people?" Sam asked, crossing her arms.
"It's just something some guys said at school today," Freddie told her. "Mike Clifton and his buddies…"
"Those guys are worms," Sam said. "The longest they've had a girlfriend for is like, five days."
"I know, but they're not wrong, Sam," Freddie sighed. "I mean…I'm never the one who plans out our dates; you're the one who says where we're going. I'm the gushy romantic one, I'm the one who remembers all our little anniversaries like when we first kissed, when we first shared a smoothie together."
"But…I-I never knew that stuff bothered you," Sam said softly.
"It doesn't exactly bother me," Freddie admitted.
"Well then what's the problem?" Sam asked. "Look…I happen to like the fact that you're the romantic one, and that you always bring me flowers or write me little poems on those anniversary dates. I mean…maybe-maybe I am sort of bossy about always picking where we go on dates-"
"No, Sam," Freddie sighed. "I didn't mean to drag you into this. I don't care that you do that."
"Well then like I said, what's the problem?"
"It's just hard, you know, getting that sort of reputation," Freddie said, leaning back against the couch cushions.
Sam moved closer to him. "Baby," she said gently. "I've always thought you were the perfect boyfriend. Always. And I've never thought you were at all 'weak' or 'girly' or any of that stuff. I mean, when I say you act life my wife or you act like a chick, you've got to know that I'm just messing around."
"I know you are," Freddie told her. "But those other guys still think-"
"Who cares!" Sam exclaimed. "I just told you I didn't think that. And don't you think," she wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning in close to him. So close that he could already feel her breath on his mouth. "That my opinion counts for just a little more?"
"Absolutely," Freddie nodded, quickly closing the gap between their lips.
…..
"Those guys really told him that he acted like the chick in your relationship?" Carly frowned the next morning as her and Sam piled books into their locker.
"Yup," Sam sighed. "And you'd be proud of me, Carls. I was a very supportive girlfriend and comforted him and everything."
"Well good," Carly chuckled. "Besides, a lot of guys go through that awkward phase where they worry they're not macho enough. They can be so insecure sometimes. You and Freddie have a great relationship."
"Yeah," Sam nodded. She looked over her shoulder and saw that Freddie had just arrived at his locker. She also saw the group of guys approaching her boyfriend.
She rolled her eyes. "Hey, I'll be right back, Carls," she said.
She quickly headed over to Freddie and the others, just in time to hear Mike say to Freddie, "Hey, Benson? Did your girlfriend let you go skirt shopping with her yesterday?"
"Guys…knock it off," Freddie said, glaring at them. "You're not funny. You're being-"
"Hey, baby!" Sam said brightly in the peppiest voice she could muster up.
"Um, Sam?" Freddie said, looking a bit uncomfortable. "I-I think maybe you should-"
"I just wanted to say thanks again for letting me go with you to the gym last night," Sam said, smiling at him. "And letting me feel your biceps right after you finished benching all those weights. You think you wanna let me go with you again tonight?"
"Sam?" Freddie frowned. "What are you-"
Sam raised her eyebrow, as if to signal him to just play along.
"Whoa," Mike said. "You're telling me this guy actually works out?"
"Of course he does," Sam said. "What was it you were benching last night baby? 270?"
"270?" one of Mike's friends exclaimed. "That's better than you, Mike!"
"Shut up!" Mike snapped. "Let's just get out of here…I need to hit the weight room."
"Sam, what was that?" Freddie asked as the guys left the couple.
"That," Sam said. "Was me helping you out a little. I mean, I know you said you were fine with being the romantic one in our relationship and me being the aggressive one…but I figured it couldn't hurt to make those guys eat their words."
"Aw, thanks," Freddie said, laughing.
"Just don't get used to that," Sam warned him. "It was pretty hard not to gag during that whole little charade."
"I do go to the gym, Sam," Freddie said, rolling his eyes. "That part wasn't a charade."
"Yeah, but like I'd gush over you the whole time like that," Sam scoffed. "Please. I'd never…no matter how hot you look when you come back…all covered in sweat."
