Thirst

"Can you at least pretend you're about to do math homework with us?" Carly asked, rolling her eyes as she watched her best friend scribble aimlessly in the margins of her textbook.

"Nope," Sam said simply.

"Alright, let's do a little mathematics," Freddie said happily, coming into the studio with two bottles of iced tea. "Here you go, Carly. Now, lets-"

"Hey," Sam frowned. "Where's my iced tea? I asked for one too."
"I know," Freddie shrugged. "But then I decided…nah."

Sam glared at him but said nothing.

"Anyway, I'm gonna have to call it quits here after an hour," Freddie said, sitting down in his beanbag chair. "Since somebody messed up my dream job last month, I need to head down to the mall to put in new applications. Do me a favor this time, Sam. Stay at least thirty feet away from any place that hires me."
"Okay, okay," Carly said quickly. "Let's focus on math here."

"Fine," Freddie agreed, opening his textbook.

Carly glanced over at Sam, who was looking down at her book, still doodling, but looking very distracted.

"So," Carly said, clearing her throat. "I think we should tackle this first section before we worry about anything else. How about I work on number's 1-20, Freddie, you do 21-40, and Sam, you do 41-60. Then we can all check each others work. With the three of us, it shouldn't take any longer than forty-five minutes."
"With Sam? Ha!" Freddie scoffed. "It would take her forty-five minutes just to count to sixty."

"Freddie!" Carly hissed.

Sam simply rolled her eyes but made no response.

"Well, um, let's get to work then, guys," Carly said.

A few minutes had passed of the three teens working in silence.

"Hey," Freddie chuckled suddenly. "Listen to this word problem. Jill and Joe are going on a date. Jill wants fourteen total boxes of candy from the movie theatre. If some of the boxes cost five dollars and some of them cost seven, how many of each box did Jill get if Joe pays sixty dollars?"

"Wow…I guess Jill loves her candy," Carly smiled. "But what's so funny about it?"

"Oh I was just thinking about the days when I, like poor Joe, was forced to buy unappreciative girlfriends mountains of candy at the movie theatre," Freddie said.

Sam looked up from her book.

"Thank goodness those days are over," Freddie went on. "I mean really, one time me and Sam were at the movies and I had to buy her three tubs of popcorn, nachos, those chocolate covered raisin things and a giant slushy!"
"You said you didn't mind," Sam said softly.

"Oh, and then there was the time we went to Boso's Barbecue Hut," Freddie continued, apparently not hearing Sam. "And not only did she order like, twelve plates of chicken, she practically bathed in the barbecue sauce! It was expensive and embarrassing!"

"You said you were proud to be dating the girl who broke the chicken record there," Sam said.

"Yeah, because that's every guys dream," Freddie grinned. "Why date a nice girl when you can date a girl who can eat the entire kitchen of a barbecue joint?"

"Freddie, stop!" Carly said firmly, but it was too late. Sam slammed her book shut and stormed out of the studio.

Freddie's grin faltered as Carly shot him a nasty stare before running after her. Was it just him…or did Sam look as though she had a few tears running down her face before she left?

…..

It was almost an hour before Carly returned to the studio. Freddie had tried to focus on his math, but for some reason, it seemed very hard to do so.

"What is your deal?" Carly demanded.

"My deal?" Freddie repeated, confused.

"Yes, your deal!" Carly said. "Why in the world would you say those things to Sam?"

"Oh come on, they weren't that bad," Freddie said.

"Not that bad? Did you hear yourself?" Carly exclaimed. "You really hurt her feelings, you know!"

"Sam doesn't have feelings," Freddie said, rolling her eyes. "Well, other than hungry and tired, that is."
"Freddie!" Carly yelled. "What is the matter with you? You've never acted so-so…jerky before!"

"Excuse me?" Freddie frowned. "I am not acting jerky."

"Yes you are!" Carly nodded, clearly frustrated. "Those things you said to Sam…they scream jerky!"

"Oh, and like Sam's never said anything rude to me before," Freddie said, rolling his eyes. "How many 'nubs' and 'dorks' have I had to endure? Do you know how many wedgies I was forced to suffer back in-"

"But you took it to a whole new level," Carly said. "You-You attacked her about your relationship."

"I did not 'attack' her," Freddie said.

"You basically said she wasted all your money and embarrassed you," Carly said bluntly. "Freddie, you and Sam broke up, what, six months ago?"

"Yeah, so?" Freddie shrugged.

"And in that time…has she ever said anything like you said to her?" Carly asked softly. "About-About her thinking you were a bad boyfriend or about you embarrassing her or her regretting the two of you dating? No. She's never gone there. But you did."

Freddie sighed, looking down at his feet, ashamed. "I-I never said I thought she was a bad girlfriend…"

"You didn't have to say it," Carly said. "Sam still got the message loud and clear."

Freddie didn't reply. Maybe he did go too far…now that he thought about it.

I told her she cleaned out my wallet and humiliated me on our dates, Freddie slowly realized. Holy chiz…I-I am a jerk…did I really say all that?

Freddie replayed the scene in his head, slowly becoming disgusted with his own words as they sank in.

"It-It didn't sound that bad…did it?" Freddie said.

Carly glared at him.

"I mean…she's done stuff just as bad to me!" Freddie defended. "Sure, I-I guess she never exactly said anything about our relationship per say, but-but what about that time she ruined by application to N.E.R.D camp? She went way too far that time!"

"Yeah, she did," Carly agreed. "And she realized that, which is why she spent three hours on the phone the day after you found out arguing with the camp director to get you an extension to submit a new application. Don't you remember getting that email?"

"Wait, that-that was because of Sam?" Freddie frowned, thinking about to how excited he had been when he opened up his inbox to see that message.

"Yup," Carly nodded. "She's also the reason the Training Bros let you back into their little club. I may not have agreed with the methods she used, and one of the guys might have an irrational fear of can openers for the rest of his life, but, well, the point is she got you back in."

"But-But-okay," Freddie said, running his fingers through his hair absentmindedly. "But that still doesn't make up for her getting me fired from my dream job at the Pear Store last month. I mean that was just mean of her! She took that job just to annoy me and make me miserable and to ruin one more thing for me!"

"Freddie, they offered her the job!" Carly said. "She didn't go looking for it! You know Sam's always short on cash and that place paid a lot. What was she supposed to do? Say no to a great opportunity just because you worked there?"

"Well she didn't have to get me fired!"

"You got yourself fired!" Carly snapped.

Freddie raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"Oh come on!" Carly said, somewhat annoyed. "You can't honestly think you were good at that job! You couldn't sell a thing, you were rude to the customers who couldn't dissect a computer like you, and have barely any people skills!"

"Hey!" Freddie exclaimed, somewhat offended.

"And for your information," Carly went on, ignoring Freddie's comment. "Sam defended you after your boss fired you. And she quit because she didn't think it was fair the way they treated you. Not because she didn't want the job if she couldn't bug you, but because she cared about you!"

"She defended me?" Freddie repeated quietly. "She cares about me?"

"Yeah," Carly said. "Though, I really don't see why anymore."

….

Freddie stood outside of the glass door at the Groovy Smoothie, looking in at Sam, who was sitting alone at a table, sipping her beverage as she played with her phone.

He knew by the way she looked that he really had screwed up. That and he had never seen Carly so angry with anyone before.

Taking a deep breath, Freddie opened the door and walked inside.

"Hi," Freddie said, stepping over to Sam's table.

Sam looked up from her phone for a second before looking back down and not replying.

"What-What are you up to?" Freddie continued.

Sam was silent.

"You-You playing that new app that just came out?" Freddie asked lamely. "You know, the game where you have to get the frog to climb all the way up the Eifel Tower and-"

"Can you just get out of here?" Sam spat. "I was enjoying the nub-free environment."

Freddie sighed. "Sam, listen," he said, pulling out the chair across from her and sitting down. "Those things I said back there…you know I-I didn't really mean them, right?"

Sam scoffed. "Right."

"I'm serious," Freddie went on. "Especially the things I said about-about our relationship."

"You mean about me wasting all your money and embarrassing the chiz out of you?"

"Er, yeah," Freddie nodded. "That. I-I was wrong to say that."

Sam shrugged. "Whatever. If that's how you really feel then you shouldn't have to pretend to-"

"But it's not," Freddie cut her off. "Sam, even though we only dated for a month, it was the best month of my life, and I don't regret a second of it."

"Except me spending all your money and embarrassing you, right?"

"Nope," Freddie said. "Because even when I was buying you thirty bucks worth of movie theatre candy or you were getting us kicked out of a restaurant, I was still with you, and that made it all worth it."

Sam was silent.

"There was no excuse for me saying those things," Freddie said. "Not today, or-or any other day. I've really been a jerk to you lately, Sam, and you don't deserve that. Just know, even if you don't forgive me…I still care about you and those things couldn't be further from the truth."

Sam didn't reply.

"Well, um…I guess…I guess I'll be heading out then," Freddie said, not wanting to intrude any longer. He stood up, but as he did, he suddenly noticed two more smoothies sitting on the table.

"Um, guess you were pretty thirsty, huh?" Freddie said, trying to break the tension. "Three smoothies...I'm surprised T-Bo didn't make you reuse your same cup for refills. You know how he's always going on about saving money on cups. Um, well…speaking of smoothies, maybe later, if-if you're up for it, I can buy you a smoothie or two to make up for what a jerk I've been to-"

"Hey, Sammy? Who's this clown standing by our smoothies?"

Freddie spun around to see two large men coming out of the bathrooms.

"Er…hi?" Freddie said, confused.

"Vinnie, Bruce, this is Freddie," Sam said as Freddie stared up at the two. They towered over him and were cracking their muscles menacingly. "Freddie Benson."

"Nice-Nice to meet you," Freddie said to the two strangers, wondering who they were.

"Oh," Bruce said, narrowing his eyes, causing Freddie to gulp. "The Freddie Benson you were just telling us about?"

"The Freddie Benson who thinks it's funny to mess with our cousin?" Vinnie said.

"You-You two are Sam's cousins?" Freddie said, remembering all of the tales he had heard of Sam's family.

"Yeah," Bruce said, stepping closer. "And we don't appreciate it when a nice girl like her hangs around with some skeezebag like you."

"We've heard you've been a real punk to her lately," Vinnie said, pulling something out of his pocket that looked suspiciously like Sam's butter sock.

"Is-Is that a butter sock?" Freddie asked nervously.

"Sort of," Vinnie grinned. "Only instead of butter…I use rocks. Real hard ones. That hurt."

"Oh…" Freddie said, wincing involuntarily. "I-I see."

"I think the rock sock is just the thing to use to teach this gutterboy a lesson," Bruce said. "For treating Sammy the way he has."

"I-I…Okay," Freddie said. "You guys are right."

"Huh?" Vinnie frowned. "No one ever says anything like that before we're about to beat them."

"Yeah, usually they threaten to call the cops," Bruce agreed.

"I-I really do deserve whatever you guys do to me," Freddie said slowly.

Sam, who had been looking down at her smoothie until then suddenly looked up.

"Sam's one of the greatest girls I've ever met," Freddie continued. "Well, not-not one of the greatest. The greatest. And for me to make her feel the way I have been…well, I regret it. So go ahead. Hit me. I deserve it."

"Huh, that was really sweet," Bruce said.

"It was," Vinnie agreed. "Too bad I'm still gonna have to rearrange your face. Now hold still so I can get this over with and-"

"Wait!" Sam said, jumping to her feet. "Vin, Bruce…don't. Don't hit him with your rock sock."

"You think I should use your butter sock?" Vinnie asked. "Okay, but I still say rocks will beat butter and-"

"No, just…don't hurt him at all," Sam said.

"But Sam, this guy deserves to-"

"I can handle him," Sam said. "Could you two just, um, leave us alone for a minute?"

Freddie couldn't help but be impressed as the two grown men, who were each twice Sam's height, conceded to her request.

"Fine," Bruce said. "But if you change your mind…we'll be at the counter ordering more Kiwi Tingles."

"Er, nice-nice meeting you guys," Freddie said weakly as the two headed towards the counter. He turned to Sam. "Why'd you stop them? After how I've acted lately, don't you think I deserve to be beaten up?"

"Yeah, you do," Sam said simply.

"So then why'd you-"

"Because," Sam said, giving him a small smile. "That's an honor reserved for me, and only me. Besides…from what you said, I-I think you really did mean it when you said you were sorry."

"I did, I-I do," Freddie nodded.

"Right," Sam said. "So why don't we just, you know, start over? Let's try and do this 'staying friends' thing right?"

Freddie grinned. "Deal."
"Good," Sam said. "But, you pull any of that chiz again, Benson, and I'll call my other cousin, Romo."
"Romo? What, does he have a rock sock too?" Freddie asked.

"Nope," Sam said simply. "He has a brick sock."
"A brick sock?" Freddie exclaimed.

"Don't worry," Sam assured him. "Sometimes he fills it with concrete instead."