Training
Freddie Benson sat happily on his couch, his feet propped up on his coffee, which was one of the few pleasures he allowed himself when his mother was away on her Aggressive Parenting conventions. He was eating a bowl of fruit not in sauce form and watching a set of fencing training DVDs he had borrowed from Spencer. It was definitely a good day for him; in fact, the only thing that could make it better would be-
"Yo, yo," Sam said happily, letting herself into her boyfriend's apartment.
"Hey," Freddie grinned, quickly pausing his DVD so he could properly greet his girlfriend. "What are you doing here baby? I was just about to call you."
"Well, Carly went to get her nails done, and we both know there's no way I'd step place in one of those salons," Sam said. "So I thought I'd stop by and visit you since Crazy's gone."
"Sweet," Freddie said. "Come watch this fencing documentary with me!"
Sam raised an eyebrow. "Really? You want to watch a documentary with your girlfriend on one of the few days when we have an empty apartment."
"Well what else is there to-" Freddie began, but then he caught sight of Sam's suggestive smirk. "Oh…"
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Sam asked, happy to see he was catching on.
"I think I am," Freddie said, leaning down to kiss her deeply. "An epic round of Meat Golf?"
"I brought the meat," Sam smiled.
…. …..
"Well Benson, here we are again," Sam said smugly, leaning on her golf club. "Two hours of Meat Golf and as usual, I'm crushing you."
"There's still time for me to come back," Freddie said.
"After my five straight hole-in-one's?" Sam smirked. "Not likely." She began looking around the apartment at a bunch of strange looking devices that were set out on a nearby table. "Hey, baby? What's this?"
She held up an odd looking speaker.
"Oh, that's just one of my mom's latest gizmos," Freddie sighed. "It's some sort of alarm that's supposed to go off twice a day randomly while she's away."
"Why?"
"Because that's when I'm supposed to check my leg hair for ticks," Freddie said, rolling his eye.
"Oh my God," Sam laughed. "Have you done it yet?"
"No, and I'm not going to," Freddie snapped. "Now shush so I can make this shot!"
"I'm telling you, Fredweirdo, you might as well give up," Sam said, walking back over to Freddie as he prepared his shot.
"Yeah, yeah," Freddie mumbled. He swung his club back, but at that second the alarm went off, emitting a loud blaring siren sound that caught Freddie by surprise, causing the club to swing out of his hands.
"Ow!" Sam cried.
"Sam!" Freddie exclaimed, realizing too late that the golf club had hit Sam square in the face. She had fallen to her knees and was clutching her face in her hands. "Baby, baby I'm so sorry! Let me see, are you okay!"
"No! My face is on fire!" Sam yelled. She moved her hands away for a second and Freddie almost gagged at the sight of the pool of blood pouring from her nose.
"Okay, Sam, I-I think we need to get you to the hospital," Freddie said, trying to stay calm as he helped her to her feet.
"No! No hospitals!" Sam said, wincing as she felt the pain shooting though her nose.
"You need to go! I-I think your nose might be broken," Freddie explained.
"Broken?" Sam shouted.
"Come on, we'll go get Spencer to drive us," Freddie said, grabbing a towel from the counter and giving it to Sam to use to soak up some of the blood.
"They're gonna take off my nose!" Sam moaned.
"Not sure that's possible," Freddie said, quickly leading Sam out of the apartment. "You're going to be fine baby. I'm so sorry, though, Sam, this is all my fault. And-And it might not be broken, but let's just get you checked out to-to be sure."
"I won Meat Golf," Sam said weakly though the pain.
"Of course you did," Freddie nodded. "Of course you did."
….
"Sam, really, you can't even tell," Freddie said four hours later as the couple entered Freddie's apartment again.
"What do you mean you can't tell?" Sam snapped, pointing to the large metal plate that was covering her broken nose and half her face. "I look like a freak!"
"Um, well a-a sexy freak," Freddie said.
"And I have to go to school like this?" Sam moaned, looking at her reflection in the mirror. "Everyone's going to stare!"
"Sam, no they won't," Freddie assured her.
"Yes they will, I would!" Sam moaned.
"I'm still really sorry," Freddie said, wrapping his arms around her. "This is all my fault."
"No, it's your mom's fault for buying that stupid alarm!" Sam said hotly. She slumped down on the couch. "Baby, there's no way I'm going to school tomorrow."
"You can't skip school," Freddie said gently, sitting down next to her.
"Yes I can."
"Sam, come on, you're not the type of girl who cares what other people think," Freddie said.
Sam mumbled something Freddie couldn't make out.
"What?"
"I-I care a little," Sam whispered.
Freddie gave her a small smile. "Sam…"
"It's stupid, I know," Sam sighed.
"No it's not, not at all," Freddie said. "Everyone's a little self-conscious. I mean, I know I would be if I had to go to school with a huge metal cast thing taped to my face."
"Not helping," Sam said.
"Look, people are going to stare, yes, you're right," Freddie said. "And-And it probably will feel a little awkward for you. But you just need to ignore that and walk through those halls with the same confidence you have every other day. Once people realize that you're not embarrassed, they won't look at you like you should be."
"You really think so?"
"I do," Freddie nodded.
Sam smiled. "You know, I'd kiss you right now if that wouldn't hurt my face."
"I'll take a rain check then," Freddie chuckled.
"And, you know," Sam continued, checking out her reflection in her phone screen. "I sort of look like that killer from that one movie with the clowns…I can have some fun with this. You think I could freak Gibby out? Oh! That'd be so cool! You distract him and I'll hide in his closet and scare the snot out of him! This is going to be awesome!"
