Manager

"Okay, what about this one?" Carly asked, holding up a long, shiny red dress. "It's cute. And red looks great on you."

"I don't know…can I pull off sleeveless?" Sam sighed, examining the dress. "And the neckline is weird…No. No, I hate this one."

"Um, alright then," Carly said, putting the dress back. "Oh, what about this one?"

She held up a gold gown. "It would look nice with your hair!"

"Nah, it's too…flashy," Sam said.

"Okay, Sam?" Carly sighed. "No offense or anything, but this is the fourteenth store we've been in trying to find your prom dress. Even I'm getting tired of looking at dresses. Don't you think you're being a little too picky? I mean that purple one you tried on earlier looked amazing on you. And so did half the other ones you tried on."

"I just want to look nice," Sam mumbled, going through the rack.

"You will," Carly said. "But you don't have to go through every dress ever made to look nice. Why are you obsessing about this anyway? Just a few weeks ago you were dreading dress shopping."

"I just…it's a big night, okay?" Sam said. "And-And it's the first real formal thing Freddie and I have ever done together. As a couple."

"I know," Carly nodded. "And you guys are going to have a great time together. But I still don't see why you're freaking out over finding a dress, though."

"I want to look good for Freddie," Sam mumbled. "We-It's only been a month since we got back together. If I blow it at prom, I-he-he may think it was all a mistake."

"Sam," Carly said gently. "Freddie's not going to think getting back together with you was a mistake because of the dress you wear."

"How do you know?" Sam snapped. "What if I pick a dress that makes me look like some freak? He'll think I can't even pull it together for one night! I just need something that will make me look…normal."

"Normal?" Carly frowned. "Why-Why do you care about being normal for Freddie?"

"I just-I just do," Sam said softly. She turned back to the dress rack. "There's nothing here. Let's go try another store. Maybe I'll find something there…"

….

"Hey," Freddie said as Carly returned back home. "How was dress shopping?"

"Long," Carly sighed, hanging up her jacket. "Sam and I must've spent five hours at the mall."

"I'm sure Sam loved that," Freddie chuckled. "I can't believe she put up with that."

"Sam was the reason it took so long," Carly said.

"Really?" Freddie said, surprised.

"Yeah," Carly nodded. "I found my dress after two hours, but Sam was being really picky. We were at the last store for so long that the manager had to kick us out so he could close up."

"Sam? Picky?" Freddie said. "About a dress? Sure, I could see her being picky about, I dunno, pizza toppings, but a dress?"

"She said she was trying to find something that'd make her look normal," Carly told him. "Whatever that means."

"Normal?" Freddie frowned.

"Yeah, she was saying something about looking good for you and that she needed a dress that made her look normal," Carly said.

Freddie's face faltered. "She-She said that? She said she needed to look normal?"

"Yes," Carly said, a bit confused. "Do you know what she means?"

"I-Yeah," Freddie sighed, looking down at his feet. "I do, actually. Aw man, I never wanted her-Carly? You know where Sam is now?"

"She went home," Carly said. "Why? What did she-"

"I've got to go," Freddie said, getting to his feet and hurrying out of the apartment.

Sam was sitting on her couch, flipping through some catalogues she had picked up from a few of the dress shops earlier.

God, all these things are so frilly and uncomfortable looking, Sam thought to herself. But she wasn't going to blow things with Freddie this time. If he wanted her to act like a normal girl and go all nuts over prom, then she'd find a way to manage for one night.

She heard a knock at her door and she tossed aside the catalogue to go answer it.

"Freddie?" Sam said as she opened the door. "What are you doing here? Your mom would flip if she knew here wittle Freddikins was out past eight."

"Ha, ha," Freddie said, stepping into the house.

"So what's up?" Sam asked, leaning up to give him a quick kiss.

"I just wanted to come by…spend some time with you," Freddie shrugged. "What? Can a guy not visit his girlfriend."

"Oh," Sam said. "Oh…okay. Hey, I'll go get something to eat. Wanna watch Celebrities Underwater?"

"Sure, but I thought you hated that show," Freddie said.

"I did," Sam replied. "But when they brought back all those old boy bands and made them lip sync under water, it kind of grew on me."

"Of course," Freddie chuckled. "So…you and Carly went dress shopping today?"

"Oh yeah," Sam nodded, grabbing a bag of chips and two root beers.

"Well how was it?" Freddie said.

"Eh, I didn't really find anything," Sam told him as the two sat down on the couch.

"Ah," Freddie said. He waited for a moment as Sam flipped through the channels. "Carly said you were trying to find something that made you look normal."

Sam frowned. "Oh, um…yeah. You know, I just…never mind. I was just being stupid. All that perfume they spray in the stores was getting to me."

"Sam?" Freddie said softly. "You-That didn't have anything to do about what I said in the elevator shaft when we broke up last year, does it?"
Sam didn't reply.

"Sam?" Freddie said again.

"Well I thought since we were giving us another shot, I'd try the whole 'normal' thing out," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "I mean wasn't that the thing that ruined us before? Me being too 'abnormal'?"

"No," Freddie said at once. "That was our lame excuse we used."

"Huh?" Sam said. "But you said-"

"You really think I want you to try and act like someone you're not at our prom?" Freddie said. "Sam, I don't care what you wear to prom. I just want to go with you. If you want to wear sweatpants I wouldn't mind. So long as I get to dance with Sam Puckett, the real Sam Puckett, I'll have the best prom ever."

Sam gave him a small smile. "I think Carly would kill me if I wore sweatpants to the prom."

"Yeah…you're probably right about that," Freddie agreed. He wrapped his arms around her. "Look, Sam, the reason we broke up last year wasn't because I was too normal and you were too abnormal. It was because we were both scared. We were scared that just because we were different, it meant that we couldn't work. But that's what makes us work. If we were both normal or abnormal, we wouldn't be the same couple, and I don't think we'd have nearly as strong of a relationship as we do now."

"I guess it would be pretty boring if I didn't spice up your dorkiness," Sam said slowly. "And I'd probably be back in Juvie by now if you didn't keep my antics under control."

"Exactly," Freddie grinned. "We're Sam and Freddie. We've got the crazy and the reason handled."

"I guess it was pretty stupid, trying to find the perfect dress that would make me seem less, well, like me," Sam said. "I mean I was ready to explode from shopping for so long. I couldn't probably been done in ten minutes if I wasn't being so picky worrying about that."

"Why don't you go back to the mall with Carly tomorrow and find something that you like?" Freddie said.

"Pfft, tomorrow? I need at least two more days to recover from today," Sam scoffed, turning on the T.V. "Hey, look! Half the cast of Full House is on Celebrities Underwater! Oh! They're gonna have a showdown between the Olsen twins! Which one you think will give up first? I'm putting my money on Mary-Kate, Ashley's always seemed whimpy."

"You know, there really should be some safety regulations imposed for this show," he said. "I mean it can't be safe to just dunk actors into giant tanks of water and-"

"Shh!" Sam hissed. "You're ruining everything with your sensibility and chiz!"