Slide

"Why does it have to be a million degrees outside," Sam moaned, looking out the window, where the sun was shining intently. "We're gonna melt watching Tyler's baseball game!"

"I know," Freddie sighed as he packed up a small cooler with water bottles. "But Tyler's team worked really hard to make it to the junior world series; we need to be there to support them. He's been at the field all morning practicing, so just imagine how hot he is."

"Poor kid…bring him an extra water bottle," Sam said.

"I am," Freddie nodded. "Anyway, I was thinking we should have a little get together here tonight to celebrate Tyler doing so well in baseball. Spence, Gib, Carly…everybody can come over and swim, I'll make burgers, it will be fun!"

"Yeah, sure," Sam shrugged. "We rarely use the pool anyway. And you know I'm down for any excuse to eat burgers."

"Cool, I'll text everybody once the game gets started," Freddie said. "What time is kick off anyway?"

"Dude…" Sam said, rolling her eyes.

"What?"

"Nothing," Sam chuckled. "But the first inning starts in a half-hour, but we should get going now to try and get seats in the shade."

"Alright," Freddie said, closing up the cooler. "Let's go then."

The couple stepped out of the kitchen and into the living room where their seventeen-year old daughter, Emma, was sitting curled up on the couch with her boyfriend, Quincy, watching T.V.

"Alright, we're heading to the baseball game," Sam said. "You sure you don't want to come?"

"It's a million degrees outside," Emma said. "We're gonna stay here in the air conditioning."

"Okay…well, um…why-why don't you guys call Clarissa to come over then and keep you company?" Freddie suggested.

"She's away at that student government trip with Ashton; they won't be back until six," Emma replied.

"Oh…" Freddie said lamely. "Well hey! Why don't I give you guys some money and you can go to the mall or get ice cream or-"

"Dude, just leave them alone and let's go!" Sam said, grabbing her husband's hand. "If I have to sit right in the sun, I'm wiping all my sweat on you."

"Fine," Freddie sighed. "Just…behave yourself here, you two."

"I can't believe you're still so weird about leaving the two of them alone," Sam said, rolling her eyes as the two left the house and headed to their car. "They've been together for almost two years; give them some space."

"I know, I know," Freddie said. "But…come on, she's my baby girl, Sam. I can't just be okay with he lounging around the house with some boy all by herself."

"But he's not just some boy; it's Quincy," Sam reminded him as Freddie started the car and pulled out of the driveway. "He's a nice kid, which is kind of surprising, considering he's half Gibby. Besides, Emma's totally responsible; she's not going to do anything stupid. Stop obsessing."

"Yeah…I guess you're right," Freddie said. "I should trust my daughter enough to let her stay in the house with a nice boy like Quincy. Besides, they've been camped out in front of the T.V. all day; I'm sure they're just gonna keep watching whatever it is that's been keeping so entertained."

"There you go," Sam smiled, squinting in the sunlight. "Man…this sun is really bright."

"Yeah," Freddie said. "It's kind of making it hard to see…hand me my sunglasses, will you? They're in the glove compartment."

"No, they were sitting on the kitchen counter," Sam told him. "I saw them just before we left. Remember? You brought them in when you and Spencer were planning on going to the beach last weekend."

"Oh right," Freddie nodded. "Wish we could've gone…too bad Spencer had to go and get his foot stuck in that-"

"Dude, I finally got the images out of my mind," Sam cringed.

"Sorry," Freddie smirked. "Well, I'm not about to sit outside and let my corneas shrivel up. I'm just gonna turn around and go grab them."

"Well hurry up," Sam said, kicking her feet up on the dashboard. "Because I'm serious about using you as a sweat rag if I have to."

….

"I think this old Drew and Jerry marathon is the only decent thing on," Emma said, flipping through the channels. "And I've already seen this episode like, ten times."

"Maybe we should've gone to Tyler's game with your parents," Quincy said.

"Gross, no," Emma replied. "I'd rather be bored in here than outside in this heat."

She turned off the television and tossed the remote aside as she craned her neck, kissing him deeply. "Of course…there are ways to make it less boring in here."

"Yeah?" Quincy grinned as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"See, this is way better than a baseball game," Emma chuckled, kissing him deeply again and moving to rest on his lap. The two continued to kiss for several minutes before they finally had to pull apart for air.

"Loose the shirt," Emma smirked.

"Oh, um, are-are you sure?" Quincy frowned, suddenly looking a bit nervous. "I-I thought we were just gonna make out, you know, with clothes on."

"What? Dude, what's the problem; it's not like we haven't done this before," Emma frowned. "I mean we have done quite a bit together."

"Well, yeah, but-but that was over at my house," Quincy said.

"So?"

"So?" Quincy said. "If your parents comes home and find me here shirtless and making out with you they're gonna flip! And frankly, I don't know which one of them I'm more scared of!"

"Oh come on, you saw them leave just a few minutes ago," Emma said. "They won't be back for hours! We'll be done in a few minutes."

"Yeah but-a few minutes? I-It-It would take longer than that!"

"Well then prove it," Emma laughed, leaning up to kiss him again. "Come on, we haven't had a chance to be alone in weeks, and this is finally our chance! Stop being such a wuss; my parents are gone. They're not gonna catch us. Besides…we'll take it upstairs…eventually."

"Well…" Quincy said slowly as Emma looked up at him with an expression that was very hard for him to resist. "Fine. I'll take my shirt off on one condition."
"What?"
He pulled her head back down so their lips met again. "You take off yours too."

"I'll just be a sec," Freddie said, parking the car in front of the house.

"You better be," Sam said.

Freddie hopped out of the car and hurried to the front door and let himself into the house.

"Hey, just need to grab my sunglasses," he said as he entered. "Last chance to come to the game if want-Hey! Hey, what is going on?"

Emma, who was wearing only her bra and shorts, quickly pulled away from Quincy, who was in just his boxers.

"Dad!" Emma exclaimed her eyes widening in shock and fear. "Daddy, I-I can explain! We-We were gonna go swimming and-and-"

But Freddie didn't even bother to listen to her pathetic excuse as he stormed over and yanked Quincy up off the couch. "Why were you on top of my daughter?" he demanded.

"I-I-I don't know!" Quincy stuttered lamely.

"Dad, stop, he-"

"I leave you two alone for five minutes and you just pounce on her?" Freddie snapped, grabbing Quincy's clothes from the floor and shoving them into his arms. "How dare you!"

"I-I'm sorry!" Quincy squeaked. "I-I-"

"Don't apologize, you didn't do anything!" Emma said. "Dad, he-"

"I trust you to be a gentleman with my daughter and this is how I'm repaid?" Freddie continued to rant, his face red. "I-I can't even begin to-You are so-I can't believe-You know what? Just go! You-You are banned from this house!"

"Dad, you can't ban him!" Emma cried.

"Oh? Well I just did!" Freddie said firmly. "And-And if I catch him here again I-I'll do something!" He turned back to Quincy. "Now get dressed and get out of here!"

"But, um, you-you kind of gave me Emma's shirt instead of-"

Freddie grabbed the shirt and tossed it over to Emma. "Out!"

Quincy quickly spun around and bolted out the door.

"Dad! Are you insane?" Emma yelled, yanking her own t-shirt on. "You're acting like a crazy person!"

"And you are in serious trouble, young lady!" Freddie said.

"For what?"

"For what? For-For-"

"Okay, why did Quincy just run out of here in just his boxers?" Sam asked, stepping into the house. "I just had some major Gibby flashbacks."

"Do you know what I just had to walk in on?" Freddie snapped. "These two were rolling around here all undressed and-"

"We weren't even all the way undressed!" Emma pointed out.

"Oh well, that makes it better!" Freddie said, rolling his eyes.

"Okay, huh?" Sam frowned.

"Dad just burst in here and-and he kind of caught me and Quincy making out," Emma explained.

"They were doing more than making out, Sam!" Freddie said. "You make out with your clothes on! If I hadn't come in here and stopped them, they probably would've gotten much further!"

"Oh," Sam said, slightly thrown off guard. "Well, um…Okay, Emma, you-you do know that when we started letting you and Quincy be left alone together, we did trust you to act responsibly and-"

"But mom, he totally overreacted and he banned Quincy from ever coming over here!" Emma exclaimed.

Sam looked over at Freddie. "You banned him?"

"Heck yeah I did!" Freddie nodded. "You know, all these years I thought Quincy was such a good kid and a gentleman…what kind of a scuzzball climbs all over his girlfriend the second he's left alone with her? Is this generation just completely oblivious to class? Well I'm not going to let that kind of behavior slide! I'm-"

"Quincy is not a scuzzball!" Emma defended. "And you know what? He's not the one who started the whole thing. It was my idea! He didn't think we should do anything because he was afraid you guys would be upset, but I convinced him!"

"You-You-Huh?" Freddie sputtered, absolutely flabbergasted.

"Yeah, it was all my idea!" Emma nodded.

"Well…Quincy-Quincy is still banned!" Freddie said firmly. "And-And you-Just-Just go to your room!"

"Mom!" Emma exclaimed, turning to Sam. "Can you tell him he's being-"

"Go!" Freddie said, pointing up the stairs.

"You're the worst!" Emma snapped, stomping towards the stairs.

"Yeah? Well good!" Freddie retorted. "I love being the worst!"

"Okay, baby…you-you need to calm down," Sam said. "And I can't believe you actually banned Quincy from our house."
"Why not? What am I supposed to do when I find some guy on top of my daughter? Give him a high-five?"

"No, but-come on, it's Quincy," Sam said. "He's practically grown up here. Plus he's Gibby's kid. I mean, if you have to ban any Gibson, ban Gibby!"

"Yeah, well, speaking of Gibby, I'm going to have a few choice words with him about how he's raising his boys," Freddie mumbled.

"But Freddie, you heard Emma; she's the one who initiated everything!" Sam said. "And, well, yeah, I don't like the idea of them messing around like that either, but-but they've been dating for two years, they're seventeen…they've probably already done a lot more than what you walked in on."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Freddie frowned.

"I'm just saying…they-they didn't really do anything wrong," Sam said. "I-I think you might be overreacting here, just a little bit."

"I am not overreacting," Freddie said. "I am reacting the perfect amount!"

….

"Tonight was supposed to be a fun night," Freddie mumbled sulkily as him and Sam sat at their kitchen table that evening. "Tyler's team won their game, it's the perfect night for a barbecue…and all I can think about is him."

"Baby…this is a kid who you've known his whole life," Sam sighed. "You changed his diapers!"

"And look at the thanks I get!"

"Alright, well…you're clearly still in your crazy mindset," Sam said, pushing her seat back. "I'm going to go check on Emma."

"Yeah, go talk to her about how grounded she is," Freddie nodded.

Sam rolled her eyes as she headed out of the kitchen.

"Stupid Quincy," Freddie mumbled as he angrily sipped his iced tea. "Stupid Sam for letting her date…stupid-stupid everything!"

Just then the back door that led into the kitchen opened and Spencer stepped in.

"Hey, you care if I hang around here for a little bit?" he asked. "Ella has a bunch of friends over and they keep laughing at me for some reason!"

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Freddie sighed. "We were planning on inviting everybody over tonight anyway but then things happened."

"What kind of things?" Spencer frowned, sitting down at the table with Freddie.

"You know what I had to walk in on today?" Freddie said. "Emma and Quincy were down here halfway undressed making out! And I know what would've happened if I hadn't put a stop to it!"
"Oh…I'm sorry man," Spencer said heavily. "That's never fun for a father to see his daughter doing…first time I caught Dina even kissing a boy I almost had a heart attack. Plus it was just as horrifying when Carly was living with me and I'd catch her doing stuff."

"Thank you!" Freddie said. "See! At least you get it! Everybody around here thinks I'm overreacting just because I yelled at Quincy and told him he was banned from setting foot in this house ever again."

"Wait…you banned him?" Spencer said.

"Yes!" Freddie said. "And now Emma's all mad at me and Sam's saying I'm being a crazy person. But they don't realize that I am reacting in the same way any reasonable person would if they had to witness what I did!"

"Um…okay, I-I get that Emma's your daughter and the idea of her dating and doing stuff with guys will always kind of scare you, but-but maybe banning Quincy is a little…over-the-top."

"Over-the-top?" Freddie frowned. "Spencer! You just said you remembered how horrible it was having to witness all this with Dina and Carly and their boyfriends!"

"Yeah," Spencer nodded. "And I also remember having to witness it with you and Sam."

"Me and-What?" Freddie sputtered. "That's ridiculous! Sam and I never did that kind of stuff when we were kids!"

"Um, you are quite wrong there," Spencer said. "When you guys were Emma and Quincy's ages you couldn't keep your hands off each other! Carly and I were forced to watch you two make out and flirt and be all coupley all the time!"

"That-Well-Okay, so we kissed and held hands," Freddie conceded. "I'd be okay with that! But-"

"Oh, you guys did a lot more than kiss," Spencer said. "Don't you remember that time a couple months before you all graduated?"

"What?"

"Yeah, Carly was in Yakima, and I was supposed to be spending the day at the art museum for a convention," Spencer said. "So you and Sam thought you'd have my whole apartment to yourselves. But my convention wound up being canceled so I came home early. And when I opened the door and stepped into the apartment, there you and Sam were…both half-undressed and all cuddled up together and…ugh! Sorry, I've tried to wipe it all out from my memory."

"Oh…" Freddie said as the event slowly came back to him. "Yeah…yeah I guess I remember that…"

"And well, you know Sam is practically a second little sister to me, so seeing you with her like that kind of ignited a little bit of craziness in me," Spencer nodded.

"A little bit?" Freddie scoffed. "You yanked me up by my arm, shoved me out your door so hard I got whiplash and told me that I was banned from ever stepping foot into your apartment-oh."

"Yeah," Spencer smirked. "I did the exact thing you just did to Quincy."

"Okay, but-but that was different!" Freddie said lamely. "Me and Sam had been dating for almost a year and we were totally in love. We weren't just messing around for the heck of it; we had real feelings for each other."

"But Quincy and Emma have been together for two years," Spencer pointed out. "And, well, it's no secret how much they love each other. You can tell just by the way they act around each other; they're practically the same couple you and Sam were."

"No! I-That is-No!"

"Freddie," Spencer said. "When I kicked you out of my apartment all those years ago and told you the stay out, how'd you feel about that?"

"I-I dunno," Freddie said. "I-I guess I was kind of hurt. I mean…I always looked up to you and I had known you for years. I thought you'd know that I wouldn't be doing anything to hurt Sam; I thought you trusted me. It was upsetting to see you treat me like some random guy off the street who was doing that with Sam…"

"Dude…" Spencer said, raising his eyebrow.

Freddie sighed. "I felt the same way I probably made Quincy feel today."

…..

Later that evening Freddie stepped up to the Gibson's front door and took a deep breath before knocking.

A second later Gibby opened up.

"Hey! You!" Gibby frowned. "What? Throwing my kid out of your house in his underwear wasn't enough for you today? You had to come back and bully him some more?"

"Look, Gib, I'm really sorry about that," Freddie said. "And that's why I'm here. I want to talk to Quincy."

"Why? So you can kick him out of this house too?"

"Come on, I know I was a jerk," Freddie sighed. "And if this was the other way around, I'd be wazzed off too. So if I could just apologize to Quincy face to face, maybe we can fix this situation."

"If I let you talk to him, will you go with me to the stamp showcase next week?" Gibby asked.

"Since when are you into stamps?"

"Since now!"
"Fine! Yes, I'll go to the stupid stamp show," Freddie said, rolling his eyes. "Now will you let me talk to Quincy?"

"Yeah, alright," Gibby nodded, letting Freddie into the house. "Quincy!" he yelled up the stairs. "Hey Quincy, come down here!"

A moment later the teen started down to the living room.

"Dad, can't you learn to just iron your fancy socks on your own?" he sighed. "Why do you have to-" his sentence disintegrated and his eyes grew wide with fear as he spotted Freddie.

"Um, Mr-Mr. Benson, I-I swear, I was nowhere near your house!" Quincy said quickly.

"Quincy, I'm not here to yell at you this time," Freddie said. "I-I'd like to talk to you."

"Talk?" Quincy repeated skeptically.

"Yes, just talk," Freddie said. He glanced over at Gibby. "Could we have a minute."

"Yeah," Gibby said, making no motion to leave.

"Er…alone?"

"Oh, right," Gibby said.

Once he left the room, Freddie turned to Quincy. "Well…um, first-first thing I want to say to you, Quincy, is that I-I'm sorry I yelled at you the way I did today. You didn't do anything that deserved that and it was wrong of me."

"Oh," Quincy said, a bit surprised at this apology. "Um, that's-that's okay."
"No, it's not," Freddie continued. "Look, Quincy, I've known you your whole life. I've seen you grow up; I know you're a good kid and that you're not the kind of guy who I need to worry about hurting my daughter. And I know how much you love Emma. You've always treated her with respect…even before you were dating and she'd tease you and give you a hard time. I'm very happy she's with someone like you…I know a lot of other fathers have to deal with boyfriends ten times worse. And…And as much as I'd like to ignore the fact that Emma's growing up and she's not a little girl anymore…it's happening. And, well, as her father, it's just, well, terrifying to realize that the little girl who I was once able to lift up onto my shoulders with one hand is now basically and adult and doing adult things. So seeing you two today, doing, well…all that, it-it just kind of, well, set off this protective alarm in my mind. All those things I said to you…they weren't personal at all, Quincy, and I really don't mean them. And, well, you're definitely welcome over at our house anytime. Oh, and, you don't have to call me Mr. Benson…I don't think you've called me that once in your entire life…"

"Wow, um, I-I, well…thanks," Quincy said, still caught off guard. "That-That was a really nice apology. And, I guess I can kind of see where you were coming from too."

"You'll see, when you have kids, you'll realize you're never really prepared for this kind of thing," Freddie said, giving him a small smile. He reached over and clasped his shoulder. "Come on, I'll drive you back over to the house and you can say goodnight to Emma."

"Really? Thanks!" Quincy said brightly.

"But hey, just know," Freddie said firmly. "This doesn't mean I'm giving you two free access. There are still rules and standards and restrictions; lots, and lots of restrictions."