Valve
"You know, we're really just proving Carly's point about us being 'incapable of going more than five minutes without making out' right now," Freddie said breathlessly as him and Sam sat on her couch, their arms wrapped around each other.
"Who cares?" Sam said simply, moving onto his lap and kissing him again.
"Not me," Freddie chucked.
"Besides," Sam mumbled as Freddie began to kiss her neck. "We both know she's only talking about you when she says that."
"What now?" Freddie said, pulling away from his girlfriend.
"Well baby…come on," Sam grinned. "I walk through the door and your lips are attacking mine before I can even take my jacket off."
"Well a hello kiss is kind of in the boyfriend handbook!" Freddie defended. "Excuse me for following the rules!"
"There's no handbook," Sam chuckled. "Wait…is there?"
"And what about you? If Carly's talking about anyone when she says that, it's you!" Freddie said.
"Me?" Sam exclaimed. "No, no, no."
"Oh, yes, yes, yes!" Freddie retorted. "We can't even get through the previews at the movies before you're all over me!"
"Well if you would spring for the large popcorn once in awhile I'd have more food to occupy myself with!"
"Like you still don't kiss me when there's food around," Freddie said, rolling his eyes.
"Hey, roll your eyes all you want, you know you're the-the-kissy one in this relationship!"
"Kissy one?" Freddie repeated, amused.
"Yeah, kissy one!" Sam snapped.
"Well that couldn't be further from the truth!" Freddie said. "You're the kisser! In fact…what would you say to a little bet?"
"What sort of bet?" Sam said slowly.
"Let's see which one of us can go the longest without kissing the other," Freddie said.
"Interesting…" Sam said thoughtfully. "Okay, Benson, you're on! But what do I get when I win?"
"If you win," Freddie said. "I will…I'll get rid of those Galaxy Wars stickers I have all over my locker that you hate so much."
"Really? You'll get rid of them?" Sam said excitedly.
"Only if you win," Freddie reminded her. "Now if I win-"
"Ha, like that's gonna happen."
"If I win," Freddie continued. "You…You have to…you have to…ah-ha! You can't take the butter sock on dates with us anymore!"
"You can't take my butter sock!"
"Then you can't take my stickers!"
"But I use it to defend myself!"
"You use it to scare our waiter into bringing us extra bread!"
"I-Fine!" Sam conceded. "It doesn't matter anyway, it's not like I'm gonna lose."
"Keep dreaming, baby," Freddie said. He held out his hand. "Alright, as of now, no kissing. Whoever gives in first loses. Agreed?"
"Agreed," Sam said, shaking Freddie's hand.
For a moment, the two stood in the middle of Sam's living room, staring at one another.
"Or, um, we-we could start tomorrow," Freddie suggested.
"Tomorrow's good," Sam said as the couple resumed their spots on the couch once more.
…
"You guys what?" Carly said the next day at school as her and Sam stood by their lockers.
"We made a bet to see who could go the longest without kissing," Sam said.
"Oh my God," Carly said, shaking her head. "You guys are going to explode. I'm actually going to have to hose you both off the wall."
"No, Freddie's gonna explode," Sam corrected. "I can last way longer than that nub."
"Well…" Carly said slowly. "I-I don't know about that. I say your both equally kiss-crazy."
"Nope," Sam said firmly. "You just see, Carly, I'll win."
"Morning girls," Freddie said, coming around the corner. He stared right at Sam, reminding himself not to step over to give her their usual greeting. "Sam."
"Fredwad," Sam smirked.
"Wow…" Carly said, looking back and forth between the two. "I can actually feel the insanity. I'm gonna go to class. If you explode, try not to get it on the floors, the janitor just came by here."
"So," Freddie said as Carly set off. "How you doing all kissless this morning?"
"Just swell," Sam smiled. "How are you doing baby? Feel like you're about to cave yet?"
"Not at all," Freddie said as Sam opened her locker. "Not at all."
"Good," Sam said brightly as she thrust her bag into Freddie's arms. "Hold this for a sec."
"Why?"
"Because," Sam said, pulling a tube of lip gloss out of her pocket and turning towards the small mirror in her locker. "I just need to put some of this kiwi-mango lip gloss on. You know, to make my lips all soft and fruity."
"You-You got kiwi-mango lip gloss?" Freddie stammered. That was his favorite flavor to taste when he would kiss Sam.
"Yeah, picked it up this morning," Sam said, applying the gloss slowly. "It's a new kind, though…extra kiwi. Don't you wonder what it would taste like, Freddie?"
"I-I-" Freddie said weakly, staring at Sam's lips as be became painfully aware of the fact that it had been almost twelve hours since they had last kissed. "I-Oh…Oh I see what you're doing! Nice try, Sam, but that's not gonna work! You're trying to entice me with your shiny kiwi lips! Well not today!"
He handed her back her backpack as he set off down the hall. "You'll see, Sam! Two can play at this game!"
"Dang," Sam mumbled under her breath as she slammed her locker shut and stuffed her lip gloss back in her pocket. "Whatever, that nub will give in eventually…"
…
"Sam?" Carly frowned, looking up from her smoothie after school that day as the two girls sat in the Groovy Smoothie. "Sam? Sam!"
"Huh? Yeah? What?" Sam said, tapping her fingers on the table rapidly.
"You, um, wanna stop that?" Carly said. "You're kind of driving me crazy."
"Oh, sorry," Sam mumbled. "It's just like I've had all this pent up energy today for some reason."
Carly rolled her eyes. "Wow…"
"What?"
"You're going out of your mind from not being able to kiss Freddie," Carly chuckled.
"No I'm not!" Sam said indignantly.
"Sam," Carly said knowingly. "You've been fidgeting since we got here, in History class you were so distracted you didn't notice when Gibby took one of your potato chips, and at lunch you barely ate any of your fish sticks!"
"Gibby stole my chip?"
"This bet is making you both miserable," Carly said. "Why don't you just call it a tie and get on with your lives. I mean believe it or not, having to deal with you two trying not to kiss is more annoying than you two actually kissing."
"A tie?" Sam scoffed. "Sam Puckett doesn't tie. I win. We both know Freddie's not gonna last much longer."
"I don't know, he's gotten a lot more stubborn since you two started going out," Carly commented.
"Nah," Sam said. "He's still the same old whimp who-"
"Hey, how goes it?" Freddie said, walking into the Groovy Smoothie and sitting down at the girls' table.
"Hey, where were you?" Carly asked. "I thought you were meeting us here right after school."
"I stopped off somewhere first," Freddie grinned.
"Hey…" Sam said, sniffing the air. "What's that smell? It smells like-like…barbecue."
"Oh, that would be me," Freddie said happily. "You see, after school I stopped off at your favorite barbecue restaurant and paid the manager twenty bucks to let me go sit in the kitchen for the past two hours. All the smoke and smells and flavors just stuck to me I guess. So it looks like for the next two days I'll be smelling like ribs, pork, chicken and barbecue sauce."
Sam glared at him. He knew there was nothing she loved more the scent of barbecue foods. Couple that scent with him and it was all she could do to keep from lunging across the table and attacking his lips right there.
"You know, it's like you guys go out of your way to think of new ways to give a whole new definition to the word 'insane'," Carly said.
"Maybe I should just start doing this from now on instead of using cologne," Freddie said, ignoring Carly's comment as he put an arm around his girlfriend, causing the delicious scent to hit her even harder. "Hey, I wonder if the scent seeped into my lips or something. Maybe they taste like those ribs you love…the ones with the tangy-sweet barbecue sauce and-"
"Cute!" Sam snapped, shoving Freddie's arm off her as she got to her feet. "Real cute! You think you can beat me that easily. It's gonna take a whole lot more to outsmart, Mama!"
"Where are you going?" Carly called after her as Sam stormed out of the Groovy Smoothie.
"To get some ribs!" Sam yelled back.
"Man, I thought that was gonna break her," Freddie sighed. "Now I'm stuck smelling like smoked meat and I'm still kissless! This sucks!"
"Then just lose your bet and kiss her," Carly said. "It's not that hard of a solution to figure out."
"Lose our-what are you thinking, Carly? I can't lose!" Freddie snapped. "Trust me, not getting to kiss Sam for a few days is nothing compared to what it will be like if she wins another bet."
"But you're practically dying here!" Carly exclaimed.
"That-That's a small price to pay," Freddie said, though he did feel like there was a tiny pressure valve in his head at the moment. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go home and bathe for the next six hours before my mom gets home smells me."
…..
Two days later, neither Sam nor Freddie had given in yet. Both were very on edge, though. They had never gone this long without kissing the other since they had been in a relationship and they were feeling very irritable.
"You know," Carly as the three sat in the Shay's living room. "I've got to hand it to you guys. I figured one of you would've given in by now. But you've managed to go almost seventy-two hours without kissing each other. Sure, you've both probably burst blood vessels by now, but…"
"Our blood vessels are fine, thank you!" Freddie snapped.
"Yeah, fine!" Sam echoed moodily.
"Alright, note to self…" Carly said. "Lack of kissing makes you two cranky. I'm gonna run upstairs and take a shower."
"Thanks for the update!" Sam said, rolling her eyes.
"Well!" Carly huffed.
"You should just give in now, Sam," Freddie said. "I know how badly you must want to kiss me now…"
"Not as bad as you want to kiss me," Sam replied, trying not to look over at Freddie, who was wearing her favorite shirt of his.
She got to her feet and headed into the kitchen. "I can last another week. Another month! I could probably never kiss you again and be perfectly happy!"
"Not as perfectly happy as me!" Freddie retorted, getting up and following her into the kitchen.
"Oh I doubt that!"
"Doubt all you want, Princess!" Freddie said, crossing his arms. "Because I don't need your kisses."
"Well I don't need your kisses!" Sam said, glaring at him.
The two stared at each other for what felt like an hour, each of them so anxious and desperate to feel the other's lips.
And then, both of them losing the tiny bit of restraint that had been holding them back since they started the bet, they suddenly lurched forward into the other's arms, hungrily connecting their lips as they shared their first kiss in far too long.
And for that moment, both were blissfully caught up in the wonderful, familiar sensation that overcame them as they held each other tightly, never wanting to let go. But when they began getting dizzy from the lack oxygen, they slowly pulled apart.
Sam smiled up at Freddie, and Freddie gently ran circles along her back lovingly.
"Ah-ha!" Sam suddenly exclaimed, snapping out of her daze. "You kissed me! I win! Get rid of your stickers, Fredwad! Yeah! Mama always wins!"
"You kissed me!" Freddie argued. "You lose! Hand over the butter sock!"
"I didn't lose!"
"Well you didn't win! I won!"
"No way, nub!"
"Yes way, demon!"
"You kissed me and you know it!" Sam said hotly.
"You were the kisser, Puckett!" Freddie snapped.
"Well…well if we can't agree who lost then-then it looks like we're just gonna have to start this bet over again," Sam said, planting her hands on her hip.
"I guess we are," Freddie said, taking a deep breath.
The two were silent for a moment.
"Or…I-I guess a tie wouldn't be too bad," Sam said hesitantly.
"A tie works!" Freddie said quickly.
And with that he pulled Sam closer to him, quickly leaning down to kiss her again.
"Let's go out to the fire escape," he whispered in her ear. "We have a lot of lost time to make up for."
