Neglect
"Well, Sam might be in detention right now, but on the positive side, this is the first time she's been in all month," Freddie said as him and Carly walked into the Shay's apartment.
"Yeah, that's a record for her," Carly agreed. "And she'll be out in time for you two to watch that movie you wanted on the nature channel about the squirrels."
"I've been looking forward to that for weeks," Freddie grinned.
"Um, why?" Carly chuckled.
"Because it seems that whenever Sam and I go out to the park to just sit or have a picnic or whatever, we get surrounded by squirrels!" Freddie explained. "So I suggested that we watch this movie to see if we can figure out why they're so attracted to us so our dates can stop being ruined."
"Aw, that is cute," Carly smiled. "Weird…but cute."
"I also managed to sneak some real, unhealthy, full of sugar cupcakes into my place," Freddie said. "Chocolate cream, Sam's favorite."
"Your mom would flip if she knew you got those," Carly commented.
"Eh, it's worth it," Freddie shrugged. "It's for Sam."
….
Later that evening, Carly was sitting in her living room, working on a homework assignment. Spencer was hanging out with Socko at the junkyard and she figured Sam and Freddie were still across the hall at Freddie's, so it looked like she had the evening alone.
Just then, though, the apartment door opened up and Freddie walked in, carrying a box of cupcakes.
"Hey," he said. "Eat some of these cupcakes. I need to get rid of them before my mom comes home in a few hours."
"You mean Sam didn't inhale that whole box?" Carly smirked, helping herself to a cupcake.
"Nah, Sam couldn't make it," Freddie sighed.
"Aw, why not?" Carly frowned. "I thought you guys were watching that squirrel movie."
"So did I, but she called me a little while ago and told me she couldn't make it," Freddie explained. "Apparently one guy from her little detention crew had ring-side tickets to some boxing match so she asked if we could reschedule. I'm recording the movie now and we'll just watch it some other time."
"Oh, well, I'm sorry," Carly said. "I know you were looking forward to spending the night with her."
"It's fine," Freddie shrugged. "She's been wanting to go to a boxing match for months. Getting cupcakes past my mom is one thing, but if she ever found out I went somewhere where guys are paid to beat each other up, she'd never let me leave the apartment again."
"True," Carly agreed. "Well, I guess it's good Sam got it out of her system then. Although she did miss out on some delicious cupcakes. How can your mom ban something so good?"
"Please, my mom bans anything that could bring joy to people," Freddie said, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, I'll just leave these here. Can you try and save at least a few for Sam?"
"Sure," Carly nodded. "I'm sure she'll appreciate that."
…..
The next day at school, Carly stood by her and Sam's locker, waiting for her best friend. Sure enough, a few moments later, Sam came around the corner with a guy Carly recognized as a regular in after-school detention.
"Hey, Carls," Sam said brightly. "You know Joe, right?"
"Um…sure," Carly nodded. "Hi there, Joe."
"'Sup?" Joe replied.
"Joe and I were just talking about the amazing boxing match that him and I went to last night," Sam said. "It was crazy!"
"Yeah, Freddie mentioned you were going," Carly said. "I'm glad you had fun."
"We're gonna go see that other match tonight too, right?" Joe said to Sam. "I heard they're bringing in a new guy who can hit so hard he can take out at least five teeth a punch!"
"That's so cool!" Sam grinned. "We're definitely gonna go."
"Um, Sam?" Carly said. "I thought you and Freddie usually got tacos at El Taco Guapo on Wednesday nights."
"Oh," Sam frowned. "Yeah…well, I-I'm sure Freddie won't mind rescheduling. He was cool last night when I went to the match."
"But this is going to be twice in a row you've canceled on hi," Carly pointed out.
"Well, um…" Sam said slowly as Freddie himself came around the corner.
"Hey!" he said brightly, giving Sam a quick kiss. "I missed you last night. Did you have a good time at the match?"
"Yeah, it was great," Sam replied.
"There was so much punching; it was the best!" Joe said excitedly.
"Oh…hey there Joe," Freddie said, rolling his eyes.
"Um, anyway, baby?" Sam said. "I know tonight we usually go and get tacos, but, um, there's another match tonight and it's supposed to be really insane. Would you mind if maybe we, um, skipped El Taco Guapo tonight so I could go with Joe? You should see the seats he has; you can see all the action!"
"Oh," Freddie said. "Well, um…yeah. Sure. We get tacos every week, you'll probably never get another chance to see this match. Have fun tonight."
"Thanks, you're the best!" Sam smiled, giving him another kiss.
…..
A few days later, Carly and Spencer were sitting in the living room watching T.V.
"You know, I don't think I get the whole point of this show," Spencer said. "They just lock all these celebrities in a house and don't let them leave? Isn't that kidnapping?"
"No," Carly said. "It's not kidnapping if it's on national T.V."
"But Ryan Seacrest seems pretty miserable," Spencer pointed out. "I think they should let him out of the house."
"Nah, if they let him out then there won't be anymore drama between Jessica Simpson and that chick from all the peanut butter commercials," Carly said. "They'll keep him on for awhile."
"Yeah but-"
Spencer was interrupted, though, by the front door slamming open and Freddie running in excitedly.
"Guess what?" he exclaimed.
"What?" Carly asked, muting the television. "Did your mom agree to let you start wearing open-toed shoes?"
"Nope," Freddie said, still beaming. "I just got accepted to be an intern at the Pear Store this summer! For three months they're going to teach me all about the latest Pear technology and at the end, they'll even let me fly to headquarters for two days to meet the Pear president!"
"Oh my God! That's amazing!" Carly grinned, hugging him. "I forgot today was the day you found out about that!"
"Congratulations," Spencer said, high-fiving him. "Hey, see if you can see if they can make some nice fire retardant Pear phone cases."
"Hey, where's Sam?" Carly frowned. "I thought you wanted her there when you got the decision."
"Yeah, but, um, she-she's at some MMA exhibit," Freddie mumbled. "With Joe. I-I called her though and she said she'd try and get here as fast as she can."
"Oh…" Carly frowned, noticing Freddie's sad expression. "Well, um, I'll sure she'll be here any minute."
"Yeah," Freddie said, pulling a smile on his face. "She will."
…..
It was close to four hours later when Sam finally did arrive, though.
"Hey!" she said, letting herself into the apartment with a large smoothie in hand. "Congratulations, baby!"
"Thanks," Freddie smiled as she wrapped her arms around him.
"Here, I got you this," Sam said, handing him the smoothie. "Blueberry Splat; your favorite! And I only took five sips of it! The rest is all yours."
"Aw, you've never left me more than half a smoothie before," Freddie chuckled.
Carly got to her feet and headed over to Sam. "Hey, Sam? Do you think you could come upstairs with me really quick? I, um, need some help with something."
"Sure," Sam nodded, giving Freddie a quick kiss. "Seriously, good job, Fredward."
Sam followed Carly up to her room.
"Alright, what do you need help with?" Sam asked. "This isn't another lip-gloss emergency, is it?"
"Sam," Carly said seriously. "Why have you been spending so much time with Joe lately?"
"Huh?" Sam frowned. "What do you mean? I'm not spending that much time with him."
"You kind of are," Carly nodded. "You go to all these fights with him, you hang out after detention with him…I-I think it's starting to hurt Freddie a little."
"What? Why?" Sam said.
"Because," Carly explained. "It's like you're neglecting him. You're canceling your dates with him, you change your plans with him, and today Freddie really wanted you to be there when he found out the news about this internship and you were busy with Joe again."
"But-I-Joe's just a friend," Sam said. "I've known him for years; we've had detention together since the ninth grade. Besides, he has a girlfriend. She's just in Juvie right now…"
"I don't think Freddie thinks you're interested in this Joe guy," Carly said. "He does know how much you love him. But think about it, how would you feel if Freddie all of the sudden wanted to spend all his with some new girl. Even if he wasn't romantically interested in her, wouldn't it be kind of weird that he seemed to put spending time with her above spending time with you, his girlfriend?"
Sam didn't reply.
"I-I know you probably didn't mean to hurt Freddie," Carly said gently. "But maybe it would be nice if you started telling Joe you can't do some things with him, instead of Freddie."
"I wouldn't rather spend time with Joe than Freddie," Sam said softly.
"I know, but…show Freddie that," Carly told her. "It will make him feel a lot better."
Sam nodded. "Joe and I were supposed to go and throw eggs at old people in the mall parking lot tonight, but-but I think I want to stay here and celebrate with Freddie."
"He'll like that," Carly smiled. "Why don't you go take him and do something he wants to do?"
"He-He has been saying he wants to go to that new museum that opened up," Sam said thoughtfully. "I can take him out there…I guess this internship's big enough for me to sufferer through a million boring exhibits."
"That's the spirit," Carly chuckled.
So the girls headed back downstairs where Freddie was still sipping his smoothie.
"Okay, Fredwardo, grab your jacket," Sam said, taking his hand. "We're going out to celebrate."
"Really?" Freddie said.
"Yeah," Sam nodded. "And since you went and got such an impressive, but totally nerdy, internship, we're gonna go to the museum."
"The museum?" Freddie repeated. "You mean I can actually see the new Ancient Egypt exhibit?"
"Yeah," Sam said, kissing him. "Let's go. Tonight is your night."
