Reluctance

"Only twenty-two hours left of this torture!" Freddie announced, coming into the Shay's apartment, where Carly and Spencer were playing a game of slap jack.

"Torture?" Spencer frowned, jerking his hand away from the pile of cards as Carly made to slap it away from the jack that had just shown up. "Hey! Stop slapping my hand!"

"It's slap jack, what am I supposed to do?" Carly asked, amused.

"Not slap me!"

"Well then you lose!"

"Fine, I didn't want to play anyway!" Spencer pouted.

"You're the one who begged me to play!"

"So what's this torture you're talking about?" Spencer asked Freddie, eager to change the subject.

"He's just talking about the fact that Sam's been out of town for the past weekend," Carly smirked, rolling her eyes.

"What? You don't miss her?" Freddie said.

"Of course I do, I'm just less pathetic about it," Carly replied.

"Oh yeah, I was wondering how that pork roast lasted so long in the fridge," Spencer said. "Where'd she go?"

"To Texas," Freddie mumbled. "Her and her mom went to visit her cousin and celebrate her release from prison."

"Yes, so he's had to go two whole days without making out with her," Carly said. "It's the end of the world."

"What'd you do? Borrow Sam's sarcasm before she left?" Freddie frowned.

"Dude, relax, Sam's coming home tomorrow," Carly said. "You can make it. When she gets back we'll all go get a pizza or something."

"Okay," Freddie sighed. "I just really miss her. This is the longest we've been apart since we've started dating. It's tough."

"Hey, who would've even invented a game like slap jack?" Spencer said. "Who'd want to be slapped?"

"Anyway…" Carly said, shaking her head at her brother. "Aren't you supposed to be over at Sam's now taking care of Frothy?"

"You mean that rabid beast?" Freddie said darkly. "I was about to head over there now. That's another reason I can't wait for Sam to be back; I can't stand taking care of that thing!"

"I know, Frothy is pretty…difficult," Carly nodded. "Before you two started dating I was always the one who had to take care of him."

"That thing is vicious!" Freddie exclaimed. "He scratches me, he jumps onto my arm, he hisses at me…he's clearly Sam's cat."

"Well just remember, today's the last day you have to deal with him," Carly said.

"Thank God," Freddie said.

"Hey, maybe instead of slap jack, it was supposed to be clap jack," Spencer said. "You know, when you draw a jack, everybody claps for that person. Not brutally attacks them!"

"That's it!" Carly said. "From now on the only card game you're playing is solitaire!"

….

Later that afternoon, Freddie let himself into Sam's house, bracing himself for Frothy to come racing over to attack him.

Thankfully, though, the cat appeared to be occupied elsewhere in the house and Freddie figured he had at least a few pain-free minutes before Frothy found him.

He headed into the kitchen and filled Frothy's food dish, cleaned out the litter box and set our fresh water. Now all that was left was for him to give the feline his eardrops and then he could return home to mope about Sam's absence.

"Alright Frothy!" Freddie called throughout the house, stepping over a discarded bikini top (most likely Pam's) and he began his search. "Let's get this over with! Come here you crazy cat! Frothy!"

Freddie was a little confused now; Frothy always came out when he came over. "Frothy!" he said loudly again, looking around the living room. "I have to put your eardrops in! Frothy!"

Suddenly he spotted a white figure laying behind the couch.

"Oh good, you're asleep," Freddie said, stepping over to the cat. "Maybe it will be a little easier to get these drops in you."
But as Freddie kneeled down by the cat, he realized that something wasn't right here;

Frothy didn't stir at all.

"Er, Frothy?" Freddie frowned. "Um…you-you okay there?"

Slowly, he reached out and touched him, letting out a small gasp of surprise when he felt how cold he was.

"Oh no…" Freddie said softly. "Oh no, no, no! Frothy! Frothy, don't do this to me!"

He gently shook the cat and even reluctantly rolled up his pant leg and placed his bare leg in front of him to try and bait him.

But nothing worked.

"Aw jeez," Freddie sighed.

Sam's precious cat was dead. He didn't know how Sam would react, but it sure wasn't going to be good.

…..

"Frothy's dead?" Carly exclaimed later that evening as Freddie paced anxiously in the living room.

"Yes, dead!" Freddie nodded. "As in no longer living!"

"Poor Sam," Carly said. "She loved Frothy…"

"I know," Freddie said heavily. "She'd going to be devastated when she finds out. And probably mad at me…"

"You didn't kill Frothy though," Carly pointed out.

"Yeah, but he died on my watch," Freddie said. "Plus you know Sam's never exactly rational when she's angry."

"I know," Carly nodded. "But I still don't think she'll blame you as long as you break it to her gently. You have all night to figure out what you're going to say to her before she comes home tomorrow and-"

"Hey, hey!" Sam suddenly cried, bursting in the front door.

"Sam?" Carly frowned. "What are you-You're back?"

"Yeah," Sam grinned. "My cousin actually wound up getting sent back to prison today for something involving a bottle of salad dressing and a receptionist, and that kind of cut the celebration short, so we got home earlier than expected."

She wrapped her arms around Freddie's neck and kissed. "Miss me, nub?" she smirked.

"Y-Yeah, of course," Freddie said.

"Well, um, glad you're back, Sam," Carly said, giving her best friend a quick hug. "But, er, why don't I give you and Freddie some time by yourself to, um, talk about things?"

"What sort of things do we-" Sam began, but Carly had already bolted upstairs.

Thanks a lot, Carls, Freddie thought to himself.

"What's with her?" Sam asked.

"Who knows," Freddie shrugged.

"Hey, how was Frothy while you took care of him?" Sam asked. "Oh, you should see the new collar I got him in Texas. It has all these little cowboy hats on it."

Freddie took a deep breath. "Sam…let's sit. I need to tell you something."

"What's wrong?" Sam asked, confused.

"Have-Have you been home yet?" Freddie questioned.

Sam shook her head. "No. I asked my mom to drop me right off here so I could see you and Carly."

"Okay," Freddie sighed. "That makes sense then…"

"What makes sense?" Sam frowned. "What-What's going on?"

Freddie reached for her hand and squeezed it gently. "Um, okay, baby? When-When I went over to your house today to, you know, feed Frothy and give him his eardrops, I found-he was-he was dead, Sam."

Sam's eyes widened. "W-What?"

"I'm sorry," Freddie said softly. "I just went in there and he was-"

"Well are you sure he wasn't just sleeping?" Sam demanded. "Sometimes after he eats a lot he just passes out and lazes around for a couple hours!"

"He wasn't asleep," Freddie told her.

Sam looked down at her feet. "Are you positive?"

"Positive," Freddie nodded. He put an arm around her. "I'm so sorry."

Sam didn't reply.

"Sam?" Freddie said slowly. "You-You okay?"

"I-Yeah, I'm fine," Sam said in a shaky voice.

Freddie reached over and wiped the few tears that had fallen onto her cheek. "No you're not."

Sam sniffed. "He-He was an old cat…he had to go at some point, right? I-I should've been expecting this."

"Sam, you loved Frothy," Freddie said. "It's okay for you to be sad about this."

Sam rested her head on his shoulder. "But he was just a cat."

Freddie gave her a knowing look. "Was he really?"

And at those words, more tears fell from Sam's eyes as she buried her face in the crook of his neck. "No."

Freddie held her tight as she cried, her tears soaking his shirt. "I had him for almost my whole life," she whispered. "My mom got him for me after-after my dad left us. I had him even before I knew Carly…he was my oldest friend. And now he's gone? And I didn't even get to say goodbye to him?"

"You can still say goodbye," Freddie told her. "And Frothy was a good cat; at least he'll always be remembered that way."
"You hated him," Sam mumbled.

"You loved him," Freddie said simply. "And I love you…so for that reason, I could never hate him."