Reclaim
"You know," Sam said as she sat at the kitchen table in her and Carly's shared apartment. "I really don't know I feel about these wrap things."
"What?" Freddie frowned, looking up from his laptop.
"Yeah, I mean, I guess they're okay," Sam said. "But you're still not going to get nearly as much meat in there as you would with a traditional sandwich. But it does have the added bonus of increased portability, so there's that."
"Do you really have that much free time that you sit around making pro-con lists about wraps?" Freddie asked, rolling his eyes.
"Well if it bugs you so much, how about you stop loitering around my perfect, spacious, luxurious apartment and go back to that dinky little place?" Sam said.
"This is not your apartment," Freddie pointed out. "This is yours and Carly's apartment. Which means you can't make the sole decision to kick me out. Besides, I can't go back there right now anyway. My cheap key got jammed in my lock this morning and my landlord still hasn't given me a new one. So right now I'm currently homeless."
"Man, your place sucks," Sam commented as she got to her feet, bringing her empty plate to the sink.
"I like it," Freddie shrugged. "It's a thirty minute drive from my mom's place. What more could I ask for?"
"True," Sam shrugged.
"Still, I will say, this place you two got is pretty nice," Freddie commented.
"It better be, do you know how much rent is here?" Sam said. "It took almost my whole paycheck just to pay the security deposit!"
"Well then why didn't you just live somewhere cheaper?" Freddie asked. "The apartments in my building aren't that expensive."
"Eh, Carly really liked this place," Sam shrugged. "She didn't think any of the other places we looked at were 'nice enough'. She doesn't realize that not all of us got killer jobs right out of college and are already making huge salaries. I make a fraction of what she makes at that fashion company down at the restaurant."
"Tell me about it," Freddie sighed. "I always thought I'd be raking in the big bucks in the programming world. Turns out I have to start down at the bottom with everybody else."
"Well, somehow Carly skipped that whole 'bottom' part and got to start right at the top of her new job," Sam sighed. "But…whatever, it's fine. I'd rather live with her than some random roommate. I mean I could've gotten stuck with some freak. Besides, she'd help me out if I was ever short on rent."
"That's true," Freddie nodded. "And I'm sure you guys will have a lot of fun living together."
"Ummm…yeah," Sam said slowly. "Tons of fun."
"What?" Freddie frowned.
"Nothing," Sam said quickly.
"But you-"
Just then the apartment door opened and Carly walked in.
"Hey!" she said happily. "You'll never guess what just happened at work today? One of the buyers made a mistake and we somehow wound up with five hundred extra pairs of shoes! They're letting us all come in early tomorrow and pick a few pairs to keep! And my boss loved the idea I pitched at our meeting about three-buttoned cardigans."
"Wow," Sam said. "All that happened to me at work today was some moron in my kitchen spilled soy sauce all over me and then I had to chop up a fifty pound bag of onions for our soup of the day."
"Aw, well, I'm sure things will get better," Carly said, heading to the fridge and grabbing a bottle of water. "In a few months I'm sure you'll have been promoted to head chef and you'll be the one running the kitchen. Hey, you know what will make you feel better? I'll get you one of those pairs of shoes tomorrow."
She stepped over to the sink, looking down and frowning at Sam's plate.
"Um, Sam?" Carly said. "Is-Is this your plate in here?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah," Sam nodded. "I just had dinner."
"Um, well…you-you remember that little chat we had a couple nights ago?" Carly asked. "About keeping the apartment clean? That-That did kind of mean no dirty dishes left in the sink."
"Yeah, I know," Sam said. "I was getting to it. I put it in there two seconds before you came home."
"Oh, well…okay, just-just making sure," Carly said. "But…hey, instead of just 'getting to it', wouldn't it be easier to just, oh, I don't know, do it now? You can use the lavender scented dish soap I just bought!"
Sam let out a long sigh. "Oh-kay. I'll do it right this second then."
She walked back over to the sink, grabbed the sponge and quickly washed off the plate.
"There, see?" Carly beamed. "Isn't that better? Now you don't have to worry about it anymore."
"Yeah, because it was really bugging me," Sam said, her voice dripping in sarcasm.
"Well," Carly said, oblivious to her best friend's tone. "I'm going to go soak in the tub. One of my coworkers gave me these nice bath salts that I'm going to try out. I'll see you guys later. Oh, um, Freddie? We-We kind of have a no-shoe policy in the apartment. The floors are just brand new and we'd hate for them to get scuff marks, right Sam?"
"Right," Sam said through gritted teeth.
"Oh, um, sorry," Freddie said, quickly kicking off his shoes. "I-I didn't know."
"That's okay, just remember next time," Carly smiled. "Well, my bath salts await!"
Freddie waited until Carly had left the room before turning back to Sam. "Okay…so I see how living with her might not be a ton of fun all the time."
"Right?" Sam nodded. "Don't get me wrong, usually I don't have any problem with her. We each have our own space and do our own thing. But then there's times like that every once in awhile when I just want to take a fork and-"
"Yeah, I get it," Freddie said. "Man, was Carly always so…insane? I had no idea she was such a neat freak. "
"Eh, it's because it's her 'first official apartment'," Sam said. "She's been planning this moment since she was fifteen. She wants to live in one of those glam places you see on T.V. God forbid the place looks lived in or anything. You know she gave me this whole speech yesterday because I accidently messed up her magazine arrangement of the coffee table?"
"And suddenly, not having a roommate has never seemed better," Freddie said.
"Rub it in, Benson," Sam snapped. "But at least I can get into my apartment."
"Well at least when I do get into my apartment, I can mess up the magazines on my coffee table anyway I want," Freddie smirked.
"Oh that's perfect, actually," Sam said. "Yeah, you can mess up your magazines and I'll mess up your face."
"Shutting up," Freddie said quickly.
…
Later that night, after his landlord had finally gotten him his key, Freddie sat on his sofa, popping popcorn into his mouth as he flipped through channels.
This is the good life, Freddie thought happily. No one yelling at me about what I watch, nobody listing the negative effects of popcorn…I should've started living on my own years ago!
Like Carly and Sam, Freddie had just graduated from college a few months ago. The trio had all been fortunate enough to find jobs in Seattle, meaning that they did usually spend a good amount of their time outside of work together. But he did enjoy moments like this, though, when he could just relax and enjoy some peace and quiet.
Suddenly, there was a loud knock at the door.
Groaning, Freddie turned off the T.V. and got to his feet. He shuffled over to the door and answered it to find Sam standing in front of him.
"Sam?" Freddie yawned. "What are you doing here? It's one in the morning."
"If I stayed in that apartment for another second I was going to strangle Carly," Sam said, stepping inside. "She's lost it, Fredbag! Absolutely lost it!"
"What happened?" Freddie asked as Sam plopped down on the couch.
"Everything!" Sam exclaimed. "First she was on my case because I had my soda sitting out without a coaster. Then she threw out my pork rinds because they were cluttering the kitchen counter. Then she drew me and her up a workout schedule! She has this insane idea that I'm going to wake up with her at seven three days a week to go jogging!"
"Wow…early mornings and exercise?" Freddie smirked, sitting down next to her. "The two things you hate the most rolled together into one horrible activity."
"I know!"
"Look, obviously this living situation isn't-isn't ideal for you right now," Freddie said. "So why don't you just talk to Carly about it? She's reasonable…kind of. But I know she'd be willing to compromise with you."
"I dunno…" Sam shrugged. "I mean it's Carly. I don't want to start anything."
"Well if you keep living with her crazy house rules, you're going to explode," Freddie chuckled. "It's your place too, you know. You should be able to call the shots around there too. Reclaim your territory!"
"Were you watching the history channel or something?" Sam frowned.
"Yeah, and my mom wasn't here to stop me or anything!" Freddie said proudly. "But seriously, Sam, you shouldn't have to be miserable in your own home. It's not fair."
"Yeah…I guess," Sam sighed. "Whatever. Maybe I'll bring that up next time she freaks out on my over leaving a crumb on the table."
"Good," Freddie said.
"So…what are you up to for the night?" Sam asked. "You have any wild crazy plans?"
"Well now that you mention it, I was just about to order myself a pizza," Freddie said. "Without the gluten-free crust."
"Your mom must be pulling her hair out," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "But make it two pizzas. Extra meat on mine."
"On yours? I don't recall inviting you to stay here, Puckett," Freddie said playfully as Sam laid back and kicked her feet up on his coffee table.
"I let you camp out all day at my place while you dealt with your stupid key crisis!" Sam snapped. "You owe me."
"Okay, okay," Freddie chuckled. "If you want, you can crash here tonight. I'm sure you can use the break."
"I'll say," Sam agreed. "I haven't been able to have a late-night pizza session since we moved into that place. Carly claims the pizza fumes from my room drift into her room and interrupt her precious beauty sleep."
"That must be killing you," Freddie chuckled.
"You think?"
"Maybe sometime I'll give you a few pointers on getting around crazy housemates," Freddie said. "I do have experience."
"I wouldn't say Carly is as bad as your batty mom," Sam smirked. "Yet…"
"Alright, but I did manage to sneak many pizzas, wing orders and Fat Cakes past my mom…" Freddie said.
"Huh, maybe I will have to take you up on that offer," Sam chuckled, grabbing the remote. "Anything good on T.V.?"
"Nah, I was just flipping through the channels before you came," Freddie said. "Put on anything you-Hey! Look! An MMA fight!"
"Sweet!" Sam grinned. "I didn't know you had pay-per-view."
"I'm finally living by my own rules; I went all out," Freddie told her. "I have eight hundred channels here."
"Eight hundred?" Sam repeated. "Dude! I'm gonna start hanging out over here more."
"I thought you said your place was so much nicer than mine," Freddie smirked.
"Granite countertops, Jacuzzi tubs and leather couches don't even start to compare to a quality MMA fight," Sam said. "Oh, look! That guy's in an upside down headlock!"
"I didn't even know that was a thing!" Freddie exclaimed. "Oh…Oh it looks real painful."
"I know!" Sam said happily.
…..
The next morning, Freddie stepped out of his bedroom into the living room. Sam was still on the couch, fast asleep. After they watched over a dozen different MMA fights last night she had fallen asleep out there, so Freddie had carefully placed one of his pillows under her blonde head and covered her with the blanket from his bed.
"Sam," he whispered, gently shaking her shoulder. "Sam, it's almost eight. I need to go to the office and you need to get to the restaurant."
"It's eight?" Sam yawned. "I don't even remember falling asleep."
"Yeah, well, I guess all that screaming at the T.V. wore you out," Freddie chuckled. "Come on, let's go. I'll drop you off. We can pick up coffee and bagels on the way."
"Alright," Sam nodded, wiping the sleep out of her eyes.
"Oh," Freddie said as Sam got to her feet. "Real quick though, I wanted to give you this."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a key.
"What is this?" Sam asked.
"A key to this place," Freddie said. "My landlord made me an extra one yesterday. I know you don't need a key to get into anywhere, but-but I thought it'd be nice for you to have so that if Carly ever starts to, well, get under your skin, you can come here even if I'm not home. And it's probably better for my cheap lock system if it doesn't get picked every time too."
"Wow, this will be real useful," Sam grinned. "Thanks, Benson. Oh, and, thanks for letting me sleep here last night and vent to you and everything. I needed that."
"Sure thing," Freddie smiled. "Like I said last night, I know all about living with crazies."
