Sticky

Sam lay on her couch in her living room, flipping through channels as she watched Frothy wrestle with an old pillow across the room.

She heard her front door open and her mother stepped in.

"Yo," Pam Puckett greeter her daughter, tossing her jacket onto the floor. "Aw Frothy! That's the pillow the hot truck driver left here, it was still sticky from his special beard goop!"

Sam rolled her eyes at her mother's comment. "We're out of food," she said.

"Fine, I'll order take-out," Pam said, sitting down next to Sam. "Hey, shouldn't you be out with Benson? It's Friday night."

"His mom is making him spend the night knitting with her," Sam replied.

"Pfft, who still knits?" Pam scoffed.

"Apparently her," Sam shrugged.

"So," Pam continued. "You and Muscles have been together, what, a month?"

"A year," Sam corrected, not at all surprised her mother didn't know that.

"A year…" Pam repeated. "Huh, that's a long time."

"Yup."

"Hey," Pam said a bit awkwardly. "Here's a crazy idea…why don't you bring the guy over here tomorrow night?"

"What?" Sam frowned.

"Yeah, you know, for dinner," Pam said.

"Um…why?"

"What? A mom can't have her kid's boyfriend over for a meal?" Pam defended.

"Normal mom's can, sure," Sam said slowly. "You, on the other hand…"

"You go over to his house for dinner all the time!" Pam pointed out.

"Well yeah," Sam smirked. "Because his mom's crazy and uses those dinners as a chance to interrogate me to make sure I'm not hurting her precious son. Since when do you care about the guys I date?"

"Just invite him to dinner tomorrow or you're grounded!" Pam said firmly.

"Do you even know how to ground someone?" Sam said.

"Do it or I'm ordering you vegetable pizza instead of your Meat Slam!"

"Fine, okay, jeez!" Sam surrendered. "I'll tell him he's eating dinner here tomorrow."

"Good," Pam said proudly. "I'll even cook."

"Guess I should tell him to have poison control on speed dial too…" Sam mumbled under her breath.

"Your mom wants to have me over for dinner?" Freddie frowned

"Yeah," Sam sighed as her and Freddie sat with Carly in the Shay's apartment the next day. "I know, it's weird. So just come over and humor her."

"Sam, it's not weird," Freddie said. "I think it's nice your mom's making an effort to get more involved in your life."

"Yeah," Carly nodded. "I mean has she even talked to Freddie since you two started dating last year?"

"Once," Freddie replied. "I came to pick up Sam one night and she asked for my personal opinion on her new bikini." He gave a visible shudder.

"My mom was probably forced to read those parenting magazines they have in her plastic surgeon's waiting room," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "You know, I bet she forgets all about this tonight. We'll probably be waiting all night for her to get home tonight."

"Sam, maybe she's just trying to be a better parent," Carly said. "She might've realized that you'll be an adult soon and she wants to try and create some of those nice mother-daughter memories before it's too late."

"Yeah," Freddie agreed. "I for one am looking forward to tonight. What are we having for dinner?"

"Well the last time my mom cooked a meal was in 1997, so if there's no leftovers from then still in our fridge, I have no idea," Sam shrugged.

"Um…sounds good," Freddie cringed.

"You know," Sam said, coming into her kitchen later that evening, where her mom was stirring a pot on the stove. "It might help if you turn the stove on."

"Well these things are tricky," Pam defended.

"What are you even cooking?" Sam asked, afraid to hear the answer.

"Chili," Pam replied.

"Since when do you know how to cook chili?" Sam asked.

"Since now!" Pam snapped. "Now where's Benson? This stuff is almost ready."

"He's on his way," Sam replied. "He should be here any-"

The doorbell rang, cutting her off.

"There, he's here," Sam said. "Keep your pants on."

She hurried to the door and opened it up, finding Freddie at her front step, holding a bouquet of flowers.

"Aw, you bought me flowers?" Sam grinned as the two exchanged a quick kiss.

"No, these aren't for you," Freddie said. "They're for your mom as a thank you for having me over tonight."

"You've got to be kidding me," Sam said, rolling her eyes.

"Mmm, do I smell chili?" Freddie asked pleasantly, stepping into the house.

"Yeah, hopefully it doesn't kill us," Sam said darkly.

"Baby," Freddie sighed. "Can't you just try to have a positive attitude about tonight? Your mom's doing a nice thing here."

"Yeah, well, I've known my mom a little longer than you," Sam said. "Her nice things usually end pretty badly. Like when I was six, during the only teacher-parent night she ever came to, she wound up taking a nap on the mats in the back of the classroom and then tried to go out with the janitor. And when I was eight she decided it would be nice to take me to the movies. Only she left me there! For six hours! The only good part about that day was all the gummy bears people kept buying me because they felt sorry for me! Trust me, Freddie, she'll mess this up somehow."

"Give her a chance," Freddie said gently. "She's still trying now, isn't she?"

Sam didn't reply.

"Jeez, how long does it take to get the dang door?" Pam said, coming out of the kitchen. She slapped Freddie's back, causing him to loose his balance slightly. "Hey there, Muscle Boy."

"Um, hello Mrs. Puckett," Freddie said. He handed her the flowers. "Thanks for having me over."

"Wow, you should take a few pages out of his book on how to treat a mom, Sammy," Pam said, taking the flowers. "Come on, dinner's ready. I even broke out the good plastic bowls."

"See, she broke out the good plastic bowls," Freddie said to Sam. "It's going to be fine."

"We'll see," Sam mumbled.

….

As the three ate dinner, Sam kept waiting for her mother to somehow mess the evening up. Whether it would be her breaking out her razor and shaving her armpits at the table or her giving a vivid recollection of her latest wart removal, Sam was preparing herself for it.

But the humiliation never occurred. The entire meal, Pam Puckett was pleasant and well-behaved.

She asked Freddie about himself, about school, and what he planned to do when he graduated. She was genuinely trying to get to know Freddie better.

This was the hardest her mother had tried to get to know anything about something that was important to Sam.

"This pudding is amazing," Freddie said during desert.

"Fresh from the store," Pam replied. "So you were saying you're going to MIT next Fall? What's that, some sort of mall?"

"Um, no, it's a university," Freddie explained. "In Massachusetts."

"One of the best universities in the country," Sam added.

"Huh, guess you really are as smart as Sam says," Pam said approvingly.

"Aw, you brag about me to your mom?" Freddie said to Sam.

"Just eat your pudding, nub," Sam said.

"Isn't Massachusetts far away from here?" Pam asked. "Like around Florida?"

"Um, it's a bit north of Florida," Freddie explained.

"It's where Boston is," Sam replied. "You know, where you got arrested for trying to make that turkey-"

"Oh yeah…" Pam said thoughtfully. "I remember that."

"What did you do to that turkey?" Freddie whispered to Sam.

"If I told you, you'd probably puke up that pudding," Sam smirked.

That night, Sam took a deep breath before walking into her mom's bedroom.

"What's up, kid?" Pam asked, looking up from filing her toenails.

"I, um, just wanted to say, um, thanks for having Freddie over tonight," Sam said, looking at her feet. "I'm glad you got to know him a little better. Tonight was actually a lot of fun."

"Hey, how come you never told me Muscles was leaving to go across the country?" Pam asked.

"Oh, I-I dunno," Sam shrugged. "It never came up."

"Well you're still staying in Washington, aren't you?"

"Yeah, me and Carly already have our dorm picked out at Washington State, remember?" Sam said.

"Yeah, I remember," Pam nodded. She looked up at her daughter. "You gonna miss him?"

Sam frowned. "I-I guess…I-I haven't really thought about it too much…I figured I would deal with it when it happens."

Pam nodded. "Well, from what I could tell tonight, that boy loves you a lot. I know I'm no expert in relationships, but for what it's worth…I think you guys will last."

Sam smiled. "Thanks mom."