Sentiment

"So what if I just push this key?" Carly asked.

"You'll delete everything on your hard drive," Freddie said simply, taking Carly's laptop from her. "Here, let me handle doing your update."
"Thanks," Carly said, relieved. "Thank God for your tech knowledge or who knows what I'd wind up doing to my computer."

"You should tell that to Sam," Freddie said, rolling his eyes. "Maybe she'd stop mocking it."

"You know she doesn't mock it all the time," Carly grinned. "Just the other day we were in the Pear Store looking for a phone case to get Spencer for his birthday and she couldn't stop bragging to one of the guys at the Brilliance Bar about how her boyfriend had just come up with some amazing new app that was going to be featured in Gigabytes Weekly."

"Aw, really?" Freddie said, his face lighting up.

"You didn't hear that from me, by the way," Carly said just as the door to the Shay's apartment opened up.

"Guess what? Guess what? Guess what?" Sam exclaimed, rushing inside.

"Your mom got her extra toe removed?" Freddie offered.

"What? Pfft, no," Sam scoffed. "She'd never do that. She thinks the thing brings her good luck in Vegas."

"Well then what is it?" Carly asked.

Sam reached into her pocket and pulled out a ticket. "I'm going to this years largest MMA fight here in Seattle at the end of the month! The Skull Crush!"

"Whoa, you're kidding!" Freddie said.

"Nope, Mama speaks the truth," Sam grinned.

"How'd you get a ticket, though?" Freddie asked. "I thought that thing sold out weeks ago."
"Wendy's brother bought them for him and his girlfriend," Sam explained. "But they broke up last night and he decided he didn't want to go anymore and gave the tickets to Wendy! So after detention today she asked if I wanted to go with her and obviously I said yes!"

"Wow, that's great," Carly said.

"Real happy for you, baby," Freddie smirked.

"This is like, the best day of my life!" Sam said, leaning down to give her boyfriend a quick kiss. "I'm gonna get to see the best fight ever!"

"Just don't get thrown out of this fight," Freddie told her. "You don't want another incident like last time."

"Hey, that concession stand guy was asking for it!" Sam defended. "First he gave me stale nachos, then he gave me an attitude about it!"

"I remember that," Carly said. "That's the day we all learned nacho cheese can cause serious burns."

"Anyway," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "What are you guys up to?"

"Oh, Freddie was just helping download an update on my laptop," Carly replied.

"Pfft, how lame," Sam said, swatting Freddie's arm playfully.

"Sure it is," Freddie smiled knowingly, handing Carly's laptop back to her. "Here you go, Carls, all done. Just restart your computer and you'll be fine."
He got to his feet. "So you guys want to go grab something to eat now?"

"Sure," Carly nodded.

"Duh," Sam replied, taking his hand. "Hey, I know! Let's go that wing place with the giant T.V.! There's an MMA fight about to start and we can watch it there. I have to start prepping for this fight, you know."

"You watch at least three hours of that stuff every day," Carly pointed out.

"Well now it's gonna be four!" Sam said brightly.

"-And people on the Internet have already been saying that Iron-Fist McGee is going to pull out a whole bunch of never-before-seen moves against Steel-Toed Vic!" Sam said the next day as her and Freddie walked into the lobby of Bushwell Plaza.

"You're really excited about this fight, aren't you?" Freddie chuckled.

Sam had barely spoke of anything else the past twenty-four hours other than the fight her and Wendy would be attending. Freddie didn't mind, though. He loved seeing Sam so enthusiastic.

"Totally," Sam nodded. "Hey, are we going up to your place or Carly's?"

"Well…" Freddie said thoughtfully. "I guess we could go to Carly's…But just so you know, my mom's at work for another four hours, meaning there's an empty apartment waiting up there."
"Hmmm," Sam smirked, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I think I get where you're going with this…We'll visit Carly later."

Freddie smiled as he leaned down and kissed Sam, thankful that Lewbert wasn't at his desk to scream at them for defiling his lobby.

"Let me just check the mail first," Freddie said when they pulled apart. "And then we can go up."
"Okay, but hurry up," Sam grinned as the coupled hurried across the lobby to the mailboxes. She leaned against the wall as Freddie fiddled for his mailbox key, unlocking the small, metal box imprinted with 8D.

"You know," she said as Freddie grabbed a few envelopes. "I think I should get a T-shirt or something for this fight. I can't show up there in my street clothes. Maybe I'll see if Wendy wants to go to the mall after school tomorrow and we can try and find something. What do you think, Fredwad? Freddie?"
She looked over at her boyfriend, who was silently staring down at an envelope in his hand.

"What's up?" Sam asked. "What is that?"
"It's-It's a wedding invitation," Freddie said, looking up at her.

"From who?" Sam frowned.

"From…It's from my dad," Freddie said heavily.

Sam blinked. "Your dad?"

"Yeah," Freddie nodded.

Sam knew that Freddie didn't really like to talk about his father. But from what he had told her since they started dating, he hadn't had too strong of a relationship with the man since his parents divorced when he was nine. Ever since then he saw him maybe once a year and received a few scattered phone calls and gifts every once in a while.

"Did you know he was even seeing anybody?" Sam asked gently.

"Um, yeah, he-he mentioned it," Freddie said. "When I talked to him a few months ago…but-but I didn't know it was anything serious. I…wow. I didn't see this coming at all."
Sam put an arm around him. "You okay?"
Freddie shrugged. "It's just weird, you know? I mean it's been eight years since him and my mom split up and I've realized a long time ago that they're not going to get back together, but to see him with some other woman?"
Sam gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Look…you-you don't have to go if you don't feel comfortable about it. I mean your dad can't expect you to just be okay with him dropping something like this on you. You haven't even met the woman."

"No, I-I want to go," Freddie said slowly.

"You do?" Sam said, surprised.

"Yes," Freddie nodded. He looked back down at the wedding invitation. "If I don't…it will just make things worse between me and my dad, won't it? Besides, I-I should meet this woman if she's going to be my-my stepmom."

Sam gave him a short kiss on his cheek. "Hey," she said, trying to make him feel better. "At least you get wedding cake. That's always a plus!"

Freddie gave her a halfhearted smile. "Yeah…Hey, um, Sam? Maybe-Maybe you could come with me?"
"To the wedding?"
"Yeah," Freddie replied. "It says I have a plus one. I just think maybe this whole thing would be easier if you were there with me."
"I-Of course," Sam nodded. "When is it?"

"Um," Freddie said, looking at the date on the invitation. "The 29th. Two weeks from this Saturday."
"The 29th?" Sam repeated, her face falling. "Oh…Freddie, that-that's the same date as the fight."

"It is?" Freddie said, looking crestfallen. "Oh…"

The two were silent for a moment.

"Is-Is there anyway you can maybe come after?" Freddie asked hopefully. "The wedding doesn't start until four."
"That's when the fight starts too," Sam sighed.

"Oh," Freddie said again, looking down.

"I-I'm really sorry," Sam said guiltily. "It's just, you-you know how much I've been looking forward to this fight and-"

"Right," Freddie nodded.

"If it was any other day, you know I'd-"

"I know," Freddie sighed.

"Come on," Sam said, taking Freddie's hand and leading him towards the stairs. "Let's go up to your place. We can get your mind off of this whole wedding thing and-"

"Um, actually, I think…I think I kind of want to be alone right now," Freddie told her.

Sam blinked. "You-You do?"
"Yeah, I just have a lot on my mind now," Freddie nodded. "This whole thing…It was kind of sudden. I just want to try and process it."

"You sure?" Sam frowned. "You-You want to be by yourself?"

Freddie pulled on a small smile and leaned down to give her a quick kiss. "I'll see you later."

"I-Okay," Sam said as Freddie turned towards the stairs, leaving Sam alone in the lobby.

…..

"I told you not to watch this movie," Carly said, rolling her eyes as she watched her older brother blubbering on the couch. "You always become a wreck after it."
"I can't help it!" Spencer defended. "It's such a sweet, sentimental movie!"

"It's about a dog who plays soccer," Carly frowned.

"Against all odds!" Spencer exclaimed. "Do you know what he went through? He was nothing but a mutt!"

Carly shook her head as her apartment door opened and her best friend walked in.

"Oh, hey," Carly smiled. "Ignore Spencer. He watched that soccer dog movie again."

"You know what? I'm finishing this in my room!" Spencer snapped, grabbing his box of tissues as he got to his feet. "So I can enjoy it without people being all judgy!"

"And to think…he's in charge of me," Carly chuckled as Spencer retreated into his bedroom. "Anyway, what's up? I thought Mrs. Benson worked all day today. I figured you and Freddie would be chilling at his place."
"We were going to," Sam sighed. "But now he just wants to be alone."

"Huh?" Carly said, sitting down on the couch next to the blonde. "Why? Did you two fight or something."
"No…he-he actually just got a wedding invitation in the mail," Sam explained. "From his dad."
"His dad?" Carly repeated. "Wow…"

"Yeah," Sam sighed. "It kind of caught him off guard. Plus, well, you know how Freddie is about his dad."

"Is he okay?" Carly asked, concerned.

"He said he was," Sam said. "And he's going to go to the wedding."

"Really?" Carly said, surprised.

"I know, I didn't expect that either," Sam said. "I wish I could go with him though. It's probably going to be difficult for him to watch his dad marry this woman he's never met."
"Why can't you go?" Carly asked. "Is it a private ceremony or something?"

"No," Sam replied. "Freddie did ask me to go."

"Well then why aren't you?"

"Because, it's on the day as that big fight," Sam explained.

"That-That's it?" Carly frowned. "That's why you aren't going to go?"
"Well Carls, come on," Sam said. "It's the fight of the year! You know how much I want to see it! And so does Freddie. He understands."

"So you really aren't going to go with him?"

"Well what am I supposed to do?" Sam said. "Miss the fight? I can't do that!"

"But Sam, it sounds like Freddie could really use you there," Carly said.

"I-I know," Sam said lamely. "But I'm sure he'll be fine without me. Look, I'll be here waiting for him the second he gets back from the wedding."

Carly opened her mouth to argue, but shut it at the last second.

"Fine," she shrugged. "If that's what you want to do."

"Oh don't do that!" Sam moaned as Carly turned and headed into the kitchen.

"What?" Carly asked innocently.

"You're trying to guilt me!"

"Am I?" Carly said simply.

"Yes, you are!" Sam nodded. "Come on, Carly, people are selling the kidneys to try and get tickets to this fight! You expect me to just miss it?"

Carly didn't reply.

"Ugh!" Sam moaned. "Look…I-I feel bad, but-"

"Sam, it really is up to you what you decide to do; whether you decide to go to the fight or go with Freddie," Carly said. "But…you-you do realize that in our seven years of friendship, Freddie has never opened up about his dad to anybody but you."

Sam stood there, stunned as those words sunk in.

"He's never once even mentioned him to me," Carly said. "I only know that he's divorced from his mom because I overheard him talking to his mom about it one day. But his dad's probably the thing that's he's most secretive and closed off about. Except to you…"

Sam didn't reply.

"I just wanted to make sure you knew that," Carly said. "In case that has any impact on your decision."

Later that evening, Freddie lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. The wedding invitation that he had opened earlier was lying next to him.

He supposed one of his parents had to remarry eventually…but that didn't stop him from feeling so upset.

He sighed. He knew it was going to be strange sitting at his father's wedding, watching him marry someone who wasn't his mom, but there was nothing he could do about it.

But what he really wanted was for Sam to accompany him, because he knew if Sam was with him, some of her amazing strength would rub off on him and he'd be able to get through it. After all, being with Sam made him feel like he could take on anything.

"Well this is exciting."

Freddie looked over at his doorway to see none other than Sam herself leaning against his doorframe.

"You have an empty apartment and you just sit in bed?" Sam scoffed, walking into the room and sitting down next to him on the bed.

"Um, hey," Freddie said, sitting up. "How'd you get in here? I didn't hear you knock."

Sam raised an eyebrow.

"You picked the lock, didn't you?"

"It's cute how you act surprised by that," Sam grinned. "Anyway, I just came by to ask what time I should be here on the 29th."

Freddie frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well I'm assuming I'm not going to be expected to find my own transportation to this wedding," Sam said. "I mean, that would kind of make you a lousy date if you can't even pick up your chick."
"What are you talking about?" Freddie said, confused. "You said your fight was the same time as the wedding. I thought you couldn't make it."

"Change of plans," Sam shrugged. "So I'll get here at noon? That should give us time to grab some burgers before we leave."
"Sam, I-Are you really going to miss the fight for this?" Freddie asked slowly. "You said it was the fight of the year. That's all you've been talking about."

"I know," Sam said simply. She scooted closer to Freddie. "Look, you know there aren't many things more important than fighting in my book. But, well, you're one of the few things that make that cut."

Freddie looked at her. "You-You serious?"

Sam smiled as she nodded. "I love fights," she said. "I love the blood and the yelling and the punching…but I love you more than all that stuff combined."
Freddie's face lit up. "That," he said. "Is the nicest thing anybody has said to me. Ever."