AN-This is a sequel to chapter 486, where Sam and Freddie realize they'll be going in different directions for college.
…
Consequence
"Well…this dorm room is definitely smaller than I imagined it," Carly commented as her Sam, Freddie and Spencer stepped into her Sam's new room at Washington State.
"I dunno, it seems like a decent sized room to me," Freddie said, looking around as he set some of Sam's boxes down. "What'd you imagine?"
"Oh, just something with a nice living area…maybe a futon or two, non-florescent lighting, new carpet, a bigger closet-"
"So basically your room back home?" Spencer pointed out as he set down Carly's suitcase.
"Well…yeah," Carly nodded. "Oh well, I'm sure once we decorate and move in completely this place will look a lot better. What do you think, Sam? You upset there's no full-sized fridge?"
Sam shrugged. "It's alright."
Carly and Freddie exchanged glances. Sam had been almost silent the entire ride up to the university, and they knew why.
Today would be Sam and Freddie's last day together before they officially went off in different directions. For after leaving here, Freddie would go back to Seattle where he would prepare to leave for MIT next week.
"Hey, we should all go play Frisbee out on the quad before we head home," Spencer said, looking out the window.
"Do people actually do that?" Carly asked.
"Sure!" Spencer nodded. "What do you think I did for my entire seventy-two hours of law school? You know, while I wasn't crying."
"Come on," Carly chuckled, rolling her eyes. "Let's go get the rest of our stuff."
"We'll be down in a second," Freddie said.
"Okay," Carly said as her and Spencer left the dorm room, leaving Freddie and Sam alone.
Sam sat down on her new, unmade bed and Freddie sat down next to her.
Freddie was glad he was able to come up to help Sam move into her new dorm. Her mother had just gotten laser eye surgery (again) and Sam had insisted that she actually listen to her doctor this time and refrain from driving or traveling, and the two had said their goodbyes back in Seattle, so Freddie figured she'd need some help with all her things.
Plus, well, it gave them one more day to be together.
"It's a nice campus," Freddie commented. "And like I said, this room isn't as bas as Carly said. It seems nicer than the ones I saw at MIT online. You can probably get your beanbag chairs in that corner, and you can keep your Numchucks on that shelf there…"
"Yeah," Sam sighed. She moved closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder.
Freddie wrapped his arms around her. "We'll see each other again at Thanksgiving. And we'll web chat every night."
"You'll be busy," Sam said. "You're not gonna have time to web chat me every night, baby."
"I'll make time," Freddie told her. "I'm never gonna be too busy for you."
Sam took his hand and began absentmindedly tracing small circles on it. "You know I was reading this thing on the web last night," she said. "About long-distance relationships. You know over eighty percent of them involving couples under twenty-five don't last the first year?"
"But that means twenty percent of them do last," Freddie said simply, kissing her temple. "And we'll be part of them."
"And forty percent say that they talk to their partner less and less each month they're apart," Sam continued. "And sixty-four percent said that-"
"Sam, we're not a statistic," Freddie said firmly. "Yeah, it's no secret that long-distance relationships are tough, but-but those couples they talked about on that website…they weren't us. We're in love. Our relationship is going to last forever."
"How can you know that?" Sam whispered shakily. "How do you know you won't meet some brainy MIT girl and fall madly in love with her?"
"Because her name won't be Samantha Joy Puckett, she won't know the name of every MMA fighter in the league, she won't be able to eat three hams in under an hour, she won't be able to flip a truck driver, and she won't be you," Freddie told her. "And you are the only person who can ever make me feel the way I do when I'm around you."
Sam gave him a small smile, but didn't reply.
"I bet you won't miss all those cheesy lines, will you?" Freddie said, trying to cheer her up.
"I will," Sam said. "I-I've always liked them…"
Freddie hugged her tightly.
"I just…I'm really glad you're going to MIT, I am," Sam said. "It's your dream and you're gonna do great there. But, well, I always knew I was going to miss you. I just didn't realize how hard it was really gonna be until-until we got here."
"It's gonna take some getting used to, but-but it will get easier," Freddie promised. "Once we start classes and get into everything… Hey, I saw a flyer for a for a girl's wrestling club. You could join that! You'd get to pin people to the ground."
"Maybe," Sam said. She looked up at Freddie. "You really think we're gonna be okay?"
"I know it," Freddie nodded. He leaned down and kissed her.
"I mean I'm definitely gonna miss getting do that every day," Freddie grinned when they pulled apart.
"Well then…maybe we should get it out of our system now," Sam smirked, her eyes sparkling. "We probably have a few more minutes until Carly and Spencer come back up. The car's downstairs in the back of the parking lot…Spencer probably dropped something, Carly most likely spotted a cute guy and tried to chat him up…Yeah, I'd say we have at least ten more minutes."
"Good," Freddie said, leaning down again. "Because we're gonna use every one of those ten minutes…"
…..
"Alright, well, I-I guess this is goodbye," Spencer said a few hours later as the four stood by the van they had driven up in. They had just gotten back from a local restaurant and it was now time for him and Freddie to drive back to Seattle.
He stepped forward and hugged Carly, and then Sam. "Seattle's not that far away. If you girls ever need anything…I can be up here in not time."
Carly looked up at her brother who had taken care of her for almost her whole life. "Thanks Spencer."
"Yeah," Sam said to the man who had been the only father figure she had ever known. "Thanks."
Carly turned to Freddie. "Good luck at MIT, Freddie. I know you'll be great."
"You'll be great too," Freddie told her, giving her a quick hug.
And then he turned to Sam.
"I love you," he said softly, taking her hands.
"I love you too," Sam whispered.
Freddie gave her a small smile. "Try not to get into too much trouble here…you know there are more serious consequences here than there were in high school."
"I know, I know," Sam said.
"And I know there's gonna be a four hour time difference between us, but without my mom bugging me, I'll be able to stay up as late as I want," Freddie continued. "So call me whenever…"
"Right back at you."
Freddie and Sam stared at each other for a moment before Freddie leaned down and kissed her.
"I'll miss you," Freddie said.
"Me too," Sam sighed. "But we'll be okay."
…..
"Maybe we should get a little plant or something," Carly said later that evening as her and Sam worked on unpacking their bags. "It could brighten up the place."
"Or we could get a pet snake," Sam grinned.
"You bring a snake in here and you can break in a new roommate," Carly warned.
"Relax, I was kidding," Sam said, rolling her eyes as she tossed some packs of pens onto her desk. "Hey, you think I can get rid of this desk and bring in a fooseball table or something?"
"Where will you do your work then?"
"I dunno…the floor," Sam shrugged. She reached back into the box she was working on and pulled out a few photographs and began pinning them onto the corkboard above her desk. There was one of her and Carly at the beach, one of her and her mom at Melanie's graduation from last month, and then, right in the center, she placed a photo of her and Freddie from their prom. Sam smiled sadly. It would be another three months until she saw those brown eyes in person again.
It will be okay, Sam told herself. She had been repeating that mantra since the moment Freddie had left.
"We should go explore the campus tomorrow," Carly said, hanging up a few of her dresses. "Maybe try and find our classes. You in?"
Sam stepped over to her dresser and pulled out the oversized navy blue hoodie that she had taken from Freddie's room right before they left that morning. She pulled it on over her t-shirt and instantly felt better. It still smelled like him and it was so warm it was almost as if it was his arms wrapped around her instead.
"Yeah," she nodded, looking back over at her corkboard at the picture of her and Freddie. "Yeah, sounds good, Carls."
