AN-This chapter is a sequel to ch 461, where Freddie begins dating a new girl and Sam tries to learn to accept it.

..

Hall

"Man, I've got to find a way to get that guy on the baseball team's number," Carly said as her and Sam sat in the Shay's living room, working on a school project. "Maybe if I hang around the boys locker room after practice I can 'accidently' run into him and start talking him up."

"Yeah, maybe," Sam said, somewhat distractedly as she flipped through her textbook. "So are we gonna start on this science project or what?"

Carly frowned. "Um, did you just ask to start working? Usually it's like pulling teeth to even get you to say the word 'work'."

"We gonna start or not?"

"Sam?" Carly said gently. "Are you okay?"

Sam rolled her eyes. "Yes, for the millionth time I'm fine. Jeez, you've been asking me that ever since-"

"Well Sam, lately you've seem really…quiet," Carly said. "I just want to make sure that you're-"

"Hey!" Freddie said suddenly, letting himself into the apartment with Annabelle at his heels.

The two had been dating for a little over three weeks now, and judging by how happy and chipper they looked whenever they were together, it seemed that they've be staying together for even longer.

"Oh, hi Freddie," Carly said. "Hi, Annabelle."
"Hi," Annabelle said brightly. "Wow, that's such a cute dress, Carly."

"Thanks," Carly replied. She glanced down at Sam, who seemed almost determined not to look at the couple.

"What are you guys up to?" Freddie asked.

"We-We were just about to start our science project," Carly told him.

"Really?" Freddie said, surprised. He looked over at Sam. "Don't you have some sort of policy against starting schoolwork more than twelve hours before it's due?"

"Yeah, well," Sam shrugged, getting to her feet. "I should probably get out of here…I have to pick up my mom from the clinic."

"But I thought you said you wanted to-" Carly started, but Sam was already out the door.

"Um, is everything okay with her?" Freddie asked Carly, concerned.

Carly sighed. "Yeah…Yeah, she's fine. So, um, you guys have plans for tonight?"

"We're gonna go get dinner," Annabelle smiled.

"Yeah," Freddie nodded. He turned to Annabelle. "Did you decide which restaurant we should go to?"

"Oh, I don't have as good of taste as you," Annabelle replied. "Why don't you just pick?"

"But I've picked where we went the last five time," Freddie pointed out.

"That's okay," Annabelle said sweetly. "I don't mind going where you want."

"I-Well…okay," Freddie said.

"Is it okay if I use your bathroom?" Annabelle asked Carly.

"Yeah, it's just back there," Carly nodded.

"Thanks," Annabelle said.

"So…" Carly said once Annabelle had left the room. "How are things with her?"

"Good," Freddie said, almost too quickly. "She's really sweet. And nice. And-And…agreeable. I mean she literally agrees with everything I say, Carly."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"I-I didn't think so at first," Freddie said slowly. "But after awhile it got to be, well, almost annoying. It's like she doesn't have any opinions of her own! I say a movie's great, she says the exact same thing. I say some restaurant is my favorite, she says it's her favorite too. It's like we have no-no…spark."

"I thought you said you liked her though," Carly commented.

"I-I do," Freddie replied. "It's just, I don't know, I-I can't exactly describe what it is-"

"Those fancy soaps you have in your bathroom are adorable," Annabelle said, coming back into the room.

"Yeah, well, my brother has a thing with them," Carly said.

"Ah," Annabelle said. She turned to Freddie. "Hey, I'm gonna run home and change into something nicer before we go eat."

"You look fine, though," Freddie said.

"Pfft, this old thing?" Annabelle chuckled, looking down at her outfit. "Nah, it's nowhere near acceptable for a date. I'll meet you back at your place in an hour?"

"Oh, um, okay," Freddie nodded.

"Great," Annabelle smiled, giving him a quick kiss. "I'll see you then. Bye Carly!"

"Bye," Carly echoed.

"You see what I mean?" Freddie sighed as the door closed behind her. "She's just so…normal."

"But so are you," Carly said.

"I know," Freddie mumbled. "That's the problem."

…..

"I must say, Annabelle, you're really a far better choice for my Freddikins than he's made in the past," Marissa said later that evening as Freddie and Annabelle prepared to depart for dinner.

"Mom," Freddie sighed, rolling his eyes. "Stop. Please."

"Mrs. Benson, these mushroom balls are amazing," Annabelle said politely, taking one from the plate Marissa had set out for them.

"Well thank you," Marissa beamed. "I'm glad to see someone appreciates them. They're made with fresh mushrooms, tofu and creamed eggplant."

"Wow, it's great that your mom's so creative and can come up with such healthy snacks," Annabelle said to Freddie.

"Yeah, it's real great," Freddie mumbled. He couldn't help but imagine how different a reaction a certain blonde ex-girlfriend of his would be having right now.

Funny, as much as he had harped on Sam about getting along with his mother, he found himself missing her witty remarks about her obsession with cleanliness and health foods.

"Hey, should we get going?" Annabelle asked, checking her phone. "We wouldn't want to be late for our reservations."

"Oh, um, right," Freddie said. "Let's go then."

"Thanks again for the mushroom balls, Mrs. Benson," Annabelle smiled.

"No problem dear," Marissa replied. "Oh, I know! I have some great turnip recipes I'll cut out for you. You'll love them."

"Goodbye, mom," Freddie said firmly, leading Annabelle out of the apartment.

"I really like your mom," Annabelle said as they two started down the hall.

Freddie stopped in his tracks. "You like her?" he said in disbelief. "No one likes her!"

"Freddie, of course I like her," Annabelle said. "She's your mother."

"You don't think she's crazy or-or obsessive or crazy?"

"You said crazy twice."

"Well she's doubly crazy!"

"Come on," Annabelle said, squeezing his hand. "Let's go eat."

How can she not think my mom's insane? I think she's insane and I share DNA with her! Freddie thought to himself.

"Hey," Freddie said, suddenly remembering something. "I thought you told me last week you hate mushrooms. Why were you eating my mom's mushroom balls back there?"

"I was just being nice," Annabelle said simply.

"You didn't have to choke down my mom's snacks just to be nice," Freddie pointed out.

"Of course I did," Annabelle said. "What else would your girlfriend do?"

"Yeah," Freddie said heavily. "What else…"

…..

"You're going to love this place, Annabelle," Freddie grinned as him and Annabelle stepped inside B's Roaring Barbecue. "They have the best ribs here."

"Oh…" Annabelle said, looking around the restaurant a bit hesitantly. "Yeah, it-it seems…nice."

"You don't like it?" Freddie frowned.

"No, I do," Annabelle said quickly. "If you like this place, we'll eat here. I'm sure it's delicious!"

"We can go somewhere else," Freddie said.

"No, it's fine, don't worry about it," Annabelle assured him.

When the couple was seated, Freddie picked up a menu and began to peruse it.

"I think I'm gonna get the barbecue chicken sandwich," Freddie said. "What about you?"

"Oh, I'll just have what you're having," Annabelle said.

Of course you will…Freddie thought.

"Well," Freddie said, trying to concentrate on his date in front of him instead of a time where the person sitting across from him would've ordered two of everything on the menu. "How are things with you? You, um, read any books lately?"

"Yeah, actually I just finished The Penny Catcher," Annabelle nodded. "I didn't like it too much, though. It was pretty stupid, I thought."

"Really? I read that book," Freddie said. "It's one of my favorites."

"Oh, it-it was really good, wasn't it?" Annabelle said.

Freddie frowned. "But you just said you hated it."

"Well now that I think about it, it was a good read," Annabelle said.

"Um, listen, Annabelle," Freddie said slowly. "You-Why do you agree with everything I say?"

"What do you mean?" Annabelle asked.

"I just mean it seems that you never, you know, give your own view about things," Freddie said. "Like with the book. We could've gone back and forth about our different opinions about it and stuff."

"You mean like argue?" Annabelle said, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, sure," Freddie said. "I guess that's one way to put it."
"Don't be silly, Freddie," Annabelle said pleasantly. "If we're a couple, why would we argue? I mean you don't fight with people you like, right?"

"Um, well, I don't know if I would-"

"Hey, do you like the lemonade here? Should I order that?" Annabelle asked, looking back down at the menu. "Or would you recommend the sweet tea?"

"I-I don't know," Freddie sighed. "I really don't."

…..

That evening Sam sat alone at the Groovy smoothie, sipping her beverage and mindlessly eating her French fries.

She had just come from Carly's where she was told that Freddie was out on another date with Annabelle.

I can't believe they've been together for three weeks now, Sam thought miserably. That's almost as long as we lasted. But I guess he really does like her. It makes sense, she's perfect for him…

Sam dropped the fry she had just picked up back in its basket. For once, she really didn't have an appetite.

She thought maybe once she had gotten used to the idea of Freddie and Annabelle, she'd feel a little better about it. But unfortunately, every time she saw them together, she still felt like she got punched in the gut.

Annabelle and Freddie make a whole lot more sense than him and I ever did, Sam told herself. So just accept that and-

"Hey, mind if I join you?"

Sam looked up and saw Freddie standing behind her, giving her his signature smirk.

"What are you doing here?" Sam asked as Freddie sat down at her table. "Carly said you had a date tonight."

"Yeah, I did," Freddie nodded.

"Well why aren't you with your date then?" Sam asked.

"Annabelle?" Freddie said. "Well, I'm not with her because I broke up with her."

Sam's eyes widened. "You what? You broke up with her? Why would you do that?"

"Annabelle was sweet and everything, but I couldn't keep dating her," Freddie shrugged.

"Why not?" Sam said. "I thought you really liked her."

"She was just a little…boring," Freddie said. "It was like she couldn't even form her own opinions without checking to see if they matched mine."

"Oh…" Sam said. "Well, um…I'm sorry."

"Eh, it's fine," Freddie told her. "Honestly the person who's probably going to be the most torn up over this break-up is my mom. Hey, you know Annabelle actually said she liked her?"

"What? No one likes your mom!"
"That's what I said!" Freddie exclaimed. "You know, I think Annabelle was just too…normal for me."

"Normal?" Sam repeated. "I thought…I thought that's what you wanted; a normal girlfriend."

"Yeah, I did too," Freddie said, giving her a small smile. "But I was wrong. Really wrong."