Boil
"This reality show is so stupid," Carly commented, taking a handful of popcorn from the bowl on Sam's lap. "So, so stupid."
"Seriously," Sam agreed, not taking her eyes off the screen. "How can these people live with themselves?"
"It's the worst!" Carly agreed. "All of them are just rich snobs who like making everyone who's poorer than them feel totally worthless!"
"What jerks," Sam nodded.
"And yet," Freddie spoke up from his seat next to Sam. "You two have refused to change the channel for the past six hours."
"Shh!" Sam snapped. "Tiffany's just about to find out Tanya stole her fifty thousand dollar pair of designer sunglasses! There's bound to be a catfight!"
"You know, maybe he's right," Carly sighed, picking up the remote. "Maybe we should give the reality T.V. a break."
"What are you doing?" Sam exclaimed as Carly turned the television off.
"Baby, it's for your own good," Freddie chuckled.
"I have the entire series on the DVR," Carly whispered to Sam. "When he leaves, we'll turn it back on so we can watch without his comments."
"You know," Sam grinned. "I think me rooming with you this past year has been real good for you."
"I still can't believe you wasted six hours of your day watching that garbage," Freddie said, shaking his head. "I mean we just finished up our first year of college. We're adults now!"
"Oh what have you been doing with your day?" Sam smirked at her boyfriend. "All you did today was go to the doctors with your mom."
"The doctors?" Carly repeated. "Are you sick, Freddie?"
"Nah, he's fine," Sam answered for him. "His mom was just making sure he didn't catch any diseases while he was at MIT. I mean she's really got to make up for lost time; how long has it been since she was able to give him a tick bath?"
"Aw, I'm sorry," Carly told him sympathetically. "That must've been the worst."
"It was fine," Freddie shrugged quickly. "Anyway, um, now that you two have finally turned off that show, why don't we all do something?"
"Like what?" Sam asked.
"I dunno," Freddie shrugged as Carly sat down at the computer on the kitchen counter. "We could go get smoothies, we could see a movie, we could-"
"Look!" Carly exclaimed, turning to Sam. "Hollywood Sleaze just released new pictures of Tanya's baby!"
"No way! Let me see!" Sam cried, pushing past Freddie to join Carly at the computer.
"Okay, how can you two be so obsessed with that show?" Freddie demanded as he rolled his eyes. "Especially you, Sam. I can kind of see Carly getting lost in all that reality television-"
"Hey!" Carly frowned indignantly.
"-But I thought you hated the stuff," Freddie finished.
"Look, it's not my fault," Sam defended. "I did used to hate Tuning In With the Turners. And honestly, I still do. It makes my blood boil hearing their annoying voices. But Carly kept this chiz on in our dorm room all of last year and it-it grew on me! It's like how you still watch the second Galaxy Wars movie even though everybody knows it's horrible and the effects suck on it. It's just a guilty pleasure."
Freddie chuckled. "Yeah…I guess you have a point." He stepped back over to her and gave her a quick kiss. "Everybody needs a guilty pleasure. Although, not gonna lie, I thought yours was-"
"I am in the room!" Carly snapped. "I don't want to hear that!"
"Oh grow up," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, let's see those pics."
"See, here they are," Carly said, pulling up the image on the screen. "Aw! Look at how cute that sweet little baby girl is!"
"How can you even see the baby underneath that huge dress?" Sam frowned. "The poor kid can probably hardly move under all those ruffles."
"Yeah, Carls," Freddie agreed, looking at the image of the child dressed in the puffiest pink dress he had ever seen. "That does seem a little over the top."
"I know," Carly shrugged. "But it's just so precious! Besides, that's half the fun of having a baby; dressing them up in all those cute outfits. I mean when I have a daughter I'm going to make sure she has tons of adorable dresses to wear. Maybe not as puffy as this one, though…"
"Yeah, we know," Sam laughed. "Your daughter's going to be wearing heels before she can walk."
"Only for special occasions," Carly defended.
"Well, all I know is my daughter isn't going to be going anywhere near those frilly dresses," Sam said. "I'm still recovering from those pageant dresses my mom stuck me in."
"Oh come on, you're not going to dress your future daughter in any of the little dresses her Aunt Carly sends her?" Carly laughed.
"Only if your future daughter wears the jeans I'll send her," Sam grinned. She looked over at Freddie. "Come on, Fredwad, you agree with me, right? You wouldn't want your daughter dressed up like some doll all the-"
"Since when did you want kids?" Freddie asked softly, looking over at Sam.
"Huh?" Sam frowned.
"I-I always thought you didn't like kids," Freddie mumbled.
"Well, some kids are okay," Sam replied. "I mean, I don't usually like other people's kids but, I dunno, I'm guessing I'd feel differently if they were mine."
"So you-So you do want kids then?" Freddie asked, quickly shifting his gaze away from her.
"What? I don't know," Sam said. "Yeah…maybe some day I guess. But what's that got to do with-"
"I've got to go," Freddie said suddenly. "I-I left-My mom needs-I've got to go."
"Wait!" Sam called after him. "What's going-"
But Freddie had already bolted from the Shay's apartment.
"Um…what was that all about?" Carly frowned.
"Aw jeez…" Sam moaned, burying her head in her hands.
"What?" Carly asked.
"I-I think I just freaked Freddie out a little," Sam sighed.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Come on, Carls," Sam said. "Freddie and I haven't even been together two full years yet and-and I'm already bringing up kids? That's like, the number one way to freak a guy out!"
"But we were just joking around," Carly pointed out. "We weren't being serious. And you never said that you and him would have kids together!"
"I-I know, but maybe he just assumed I-I was talking about that!" Sam groaned. "And now he thinks I-I-Ugh! He thinks I'm already planning our future together like some obsessed loser!"
"Oh come on, Freddie wouldn't think that," Carly assured her. "Besides, he's never been the type of guy to be weirded out by things like that, has he?"
"I didn't think he was," Sam sighed. "But we did spend a year apart while we were at school. Maybe-Maybe he changed his mind about all that stuff.
She looked down at her feet. She never liked to admit it, but that had been one of her favorite things about dating Freddie. Unlike most people in her life, he didn't run away from her the closer she got.
"Maybe you should go talk to him," Carly said. "Make sure he knows that you didn't mean anything by what you said."
"Shouldn't I wait a little while though?" Sam sighed. "You know, give him time to cool off?"
"If you want," Carly shrugged. "Of course you'd probably feel better if you just get it over with."
Sam pondered this for a moment before letting out groan and getting to her feet.
"I hate it when you make sense," she said to her best friend before heading out the apartment door.
…
Thankfully for Sam, Freddie's mom wasn't him when she reached his apartment. The living room was empty, she saw, after picking the lock and letting herself inside, but she had expected that. There was only one place Freddie went when something was bothering him…
And sure enough, when she looked out on his fire escape, there he was, sitting in a chair staring out at the city.
Taking a deep breath, Sam knocked at the window, causing Freddie to give a small jump before turning and spotting her.
"Um, hey," he said, pulling on a small smile.
"Hi," Sam said. "Um…what are you up to out here?"
"Nothing," Freddie said heavily. "Just…thinking. You-You want to join me?"
"Sure," Sam nodded, stepping out onto the fire escape.
Freddie scooted over in his chair to make enough room for her.
"Listen, um, I'm sorry about-about running out like that earlier," Freddie said. "I was just-"
"No, um, I'm sorry," Sam cut in. "I get it. I-I freaked you out."
Freddie frowned. "What do you mean?"
"You know, with all that kid talk back there," Sam said. "I know that that's a sore subject with some guys early on in relationships. I mean, that's my mom's go-to tactic for getting rid of boyfriends. Talking about kids brings on all this other talk about commitment and chiz and, well, the point is I didn't mean it like that. Carly and I were just messing around. I wasn't talking about us having kids. I mean, we've only been together twenty-two months. Who would think about that so soon, right?"
Freddie looked down. "You think that's what that was about? Me-Me not wanting to think about us being that committed yet?"
"Well…wasn't it?" Sam frowned.
Freddie shook his head. "Believe it or not…I have thought about that stuff."
"You-You have?" Sam said, relieved.
"I love you," Freddie said simply. "So of course I've thought about us-us having a family one day."
"Well then why did you freak out back there?" Sam asked, confused.
Freddie sighed, looking up at the sky. "So…what you said was true back there? You-You do want kids someday?"
"I-I guess," Sam said, still not knowing what was going on. "I mean…I'd like to. Eventually. But what's that have to do with you being weird?"
Freddie closed his eyes. "Then…Then maybe this isn't meant to be."
Sam's eyes widened. "What?"
"Maybe you aren't meant to be with me then," Freddie whispered.
"What are you talking about?" Sam asked shakily. "You said-You said-"
"You know I went to the doctors today, right?" Freddie interrupted.
"Huh? Yes, I-I know that," Sam said. "But-"
"Well my mom had them perform every test on me," Freddie mumbled. "And I mean every test. I-I was in that doctors office for hours."
"So what?" Sam demanded. "What's that have to do with us?"
"Everything!" Freddie said. He got to his feet and stared down at the street beneath them. "Sam…one of the tests showed…apparently I-it's going to be almost impossible for me to have kids."
Sam blinked. "What?" she whispered.
"That's right," Freddie said weakly. "I'm most likely never going to have children."
Sam didn't know what to say.
"I mean…I know most guys my age wouldn't be this hung up about hearing news like that," Freddie muttered. "I mean…I'm nineteen. I've never thought I'd be having kids now…But just knowing that it's never going to happen…"
He looked back over at Sam. "But you want kids…and-and I'm never going to be able to give them to you. So-So why should you have to suffer just because-"
"Freddie," Sam said. "You-You think I don't want to be with you anymore just because of this?"
Freddie frowned. "Well…I-I thought-"
"I'm with you because I happen to love you!" Sam snapped. "Not because I want kids!"
"But you said you did want kids," Freddie pointed out.
"Freddie," Sam sighed. "I love you. I-I want to be with you, no matter what."
"But I-"
"Look, the doctor didn't say you were never going to have kids," Sam said. "He just said…it'd be hard, right?"
"Well, yeah," Freddie said.
"So then, it's not completely off the table yet," Sam reasoned. She got up and stepped over to him, wrapping and arm around him. "And-And it's not like there aren't other ways to have kids. Science is doing stuff, right? And-And adoption's a thing…"
Freddie didn't reply.
"Look…we have years before we have deal with this," Sam told him. "But just know…when the time comes for us to, you know, start a family…we'll do it. It will happen. One way or another."
Freddie smiled and reached over for her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Thank you, Sam."
