AN-This oneshot is a little different from all the others. It's Sam and Freddie's relationship through the eyes of those around them. Hope you enjoy!
…..
Verdict
Carly's POV
Sam and Freddie's relationship has never made a lot of sense to me. Even back when we were kids, those two were something else. One minute they're at each other's throats and I have to pull out a spray bottle to keep them from killing each other, the next they're laughing and making all sorts of weird inside jokes that I'll never understand. And them as a couple is even more bizarre. They alternate between periods of not being able to keep their hands off of each other and periods where you wouldn't even know they were dating. Just the other day, I must've walked in on them making out with each other at least half-a-dozen times in the morning, but in the afternoon they were just goofing off and playing their dumb game that they made up. I think it's called meat golf or something…but it's super unromantic.
And their arguing hasn't gotten at all better since they coupled up. See, to me, I would never want to be in a relationship where I'm constantly bickering with my boyfriend. To me, a relationship should involve two people who, well, get along all the time. It should involve two people who build off of their shared interests instead of constantly debating over the stupidest things (I think their latest argument was about whether Girly Cow could beat the Easter Bunny in a race around the world). It should involve giving more compliments than insults; it should involve more cute little notes to one another than arm wrestling; it should involve, more 'sweeties' and 'honeys' than 'nubs' and 'demons'.
But even though Sam and Freddie's relationship makes absolutely no sense to me…it really does seem to work for them. Behind every insult that Sam hurls at Freddie, I know an 'I love you' isn't far behind. And even though Freddie may never miss a chance to point out how expensive it was to take Sam out for dinner with her appetite, I know that he'd never pass up the opportunity to do so.
I've been friends with both of them for so long, and never have I seen them happier when they're with each other. Freddie's been able to break down Sam's walls in ways that even I could never do, and Sam has been able to release Freddie's more adventurous side.
So yeah, I doubt I'll ever be able to fully understand what goes on in that relationship, or how they make all of it work, but…I don't have to understand the dynamics of their dysfunctional, crazy relationship. What I do understand is that my two best friends are in love with one another, and that's all I need to know.
…
Gibby's POV
At first I hated Sam and Freddie being all 'coupled up'. See, normally me and Freddie would split Sam's aggression pretty evenly, and it wouldn't be that bad. But when they first started dating, Sam started being all nice to Freddie and targeting all her aggression at me!
So when the two of them broke up after about a month, I was thrilled. I guess it kind of sucked for them and all, but a Gibby's got to look out for himself sometimes.
Things were going pretty good for me…until they got back together again! I figured it would mean that Sam would go back to being doubly mean to me. I even bought special padded underwear the second I found out to try and get some extra protection. But for some reason, this time around Sam didn't take all her aggression out on me. In fact…lately she seems really happy. So does Freddie. Sam still does do stuff to me, though. Last week she sold my bike on HeBay because I dented her pudding cup, but that's nothing compared to what she used to do. According to Carly, they're so happy because they're 'in love', and I guess that makes sense. When girls fall in love with me, they usually seem pretty happy about it.
Anyway, I'm still not really sure why those two are a couple. The whole point of having a girlfriend is to have someone who's nice to you. Look at Tasha. When we were a couple, I could always count on her to rub lotion on my back and bring me coffee and buy me the special shampoo I like (I'm still not sure why she broke up with me, but whatever, my mom said it was her loss anyway). Sam would never do any of that stuff for Freddie! If he ever asked her to rub lotion on his feet or something, she'd probably try to shove the bottle up his nose. But I guess if he's keeping her happy enough to not give me Texas Wedgies anymore, that's all a Gibby can ask for.
…..
Mrs. Benson
Every mother pictures the type of woman her son will one day end up with. For me, I always pictured my Fredward winding up with a sweet, clean girl who would make him tofu casseroles and nurture him just as much as I always have. The two of us would be very close, of course, almost as close as Freddie and I are. We'd swap healthy recipes and meet up and discuss Freddie's latest achievements and reach verdicts about his health conditions together over a nice cup of tea.
I did not think that he would wind up with a rude, ill-mannered, filthy hoodlum, yet, despite all my careful parenting, that appears to be what has happened.
Samantha Puckett is the absolute opposite of my darling Freddie. I don't know what he possibly sees in her.
Now, I suppose some might say I'm less-than-friendly to Samantha. Freddie certainly does, after all. He always tells me he wishes I would be 'nicer' to his little…girlfriend, but it's quite difficult to be nice to a girl who has converted your once well-behaved son to a delinquent. Since he began dating Samantha, my Freddie flat-out refuses to let me give him a tick bath. He's been fighting me for a later curfew (apparently kids these days think that the second you turn eighteen you magically become an adult and these sorts of restrictions no longer apply to you). And he won't eat a single piece of asparagus that I put in front of him, no doubt because he is filling up on processed meats and other junk food with her.
But I suppose I can't blame Samantha entirely for her behavior; her mother's played a fair part in it. I've met the woman a few times when Freddie insisted the four of us get together for dinner. Just as Samantha is the opposite of my Freddie, Pam Puckett is my opposite. She's loud, she's crass, she's vulgar…
But I suppose my biggest problem with Samantha is that she has stolen my son from me. For years I have been the one who Freddie would come to when he had some exciting news. I've been the one who spent the most time with him and I've been the one who he relied on when he was upset.
Now it's Sam he runs to first with big news. When Freddie got into MIT, I was only the second person to hear about it. They're together all the time now. I thought that would be one good thing about my son going to college so far away, but somehow even across the country those two have managed to stay an item. And now that they've both graduated and moved back here, they went and found an apartment together, so she gets about five times the Freddie time as me. And I'm no longer his biggest support system when he's upset, which I think hurts most.
Yet, despite all of this, I do not hate Samantha Puckett. Sometimes I want to, but I can't.
Because even though she is the furthest thing from the woman I imagined and hoped Freddie would end up with, she is the woman who seems to make him happy.
…..
Melanie's POV
All my life, I've pictured my perfect guy. When I was a little girl I would always talk about how the guy I would spend the rest of my life with would be handsome and chivalrous and treat me like a princess. I drew pictures of what I imagined he would look like and tacked them all over my walls. I even planned my ideal wedding with this dream guy (it would be at the Plaza hotel, my dress would be made of diamonds and pink lace, and the Backstreet boys would make a personal appearance).
Meanwhile Sam said she wanted to marry a T-rex.
She was never into anything romantic like I was. I guess it's not something genetic.
While I began having crushes on cute boys in kindergarten, Sam sneered at the very idea. In fact, she seemed to be against relationships all together for the longest time.
Until she fell hard for Freddie.
Sam and I have never been as close as I would've liked us to be. I guess some of that is my fault, since I left her to go to boarding school when we were seven. But when she began dating Freddie, I could tell by the way she would talk about him that she was head-over-heels in love with him.
To tell you the truth, their whole relationship is kind of strange. Like I said, I've always pictured being with a guy who would make me feel like I'm living a fairy tale every day. It's unrealistic, I know, but a girl can dream.
Sam and Freddie's relationship seems to be the furthest you can possibly get from a fairy tale, though. Their dates are always very simple; they'll go get dinner and see a movie or something like that. Although occasionally they will venture out and do something a little different, but still nothing I'd consider a proper date activity. Like this one time Sam told me about how they went rock climbing, and I know they go to those gross MMA fights every once in awhile. Personally, I'd be appalled if I had to watch a gory fight on a date, or couldn't wear my special date-night heels because we had to climb up a wall of rocks, but Sam always sounds super happy when she tells me about those dates, so I guess the two of us just have different ideas of a 'perfect date'.
Freddie's also not the guy I pictured my sister winding up with. I always sort of thought she'd fall for some guy she met in Juvie. My biggest fear was that she'd be like our mom when it came to guys. Obviously Freddie's a major upgrade from either of those options.
He's sweet and cute and always treats Sam well, which is the most important thing to me. Because Sam really deserves to be treated well.
I think I'm the only person out there who knows how rough she's really had it. I think I may even know that better than Carly does.
Sam deserves to be with a guy who will never, ever hurt her; one who won't ever leave her; one who can always make her smile.
So while Sam and Freddie's relationship is definitely not my idea of a fairy tale romance, I guess, on some level, they're living their idea of a fairy tale romance.
An upside-down, whirlwind, chaotic and hectic version of a fairy tale romance.
….
Spencer's POV
At first I hated the idea of Sam and Freddie as a couple. I mean think about it…I practically raised both of them! They've been sitting on my couch eating my food since they were little kids! Sometimes I think I see them more than I do Carly. And while I used to think having an apartment full of kids talking about their school problems and bubble gum and whatever else trouble their young little heads was rough, it was a whole other ball game once they started growing up and hormones got involved.
To tell you the truth, I kind of suspected that something would eventually happen between them, although it didn't make it any less disturbing once it did. When they were about fifteen, I started to notice Freddie suddenly staring more at Sam than he did Carly (which at first I was thankful for, but, well, Sam's basically my little sister too, and if I had it my way, no guys would ever stare at either of them), and the two of them could actually get along without Carly there to keep them from ripping the other's head off.
When they finally did get together, I kind of thought it would just be a short, teen romance, though. I figured once they had their fun, they'd go back to normal; kind of like what happened when Carly and Freddie broke up.
But a few nights they did break up, I had come back from a terrible date of my own (apparently it's frowned upon to take a girl to Funk E. Festers for a first date…who knew?) and, well, I guess Sam thought she would be alone, because I walked in on her crying her eyes out. Carly was staying in Yakima, so I actually stayed with Sam that night. Neither of us ever brought it up again, but that's when I realized that whatever there was between Sam and Freddie wasn't just some teeny bopper romance. It was real; it had to be to bring Sam Puckett to tears.
Thankfully, about six months after the two of them broke up, they finally got back together. They seemed to have it a bit more together this time around. Also, this time I didn't seem so bothered by their relationship. Oh, don't get me wrong; I still puke up my guts if I happen to walk into my apartment and see them making out on my couch (seriously, it's like they both live here), but I guess now that I know that they both really do care about each other, it's a little easier to accept.
They've been back together for about four years now (which is way, way longer than any relationship I've been in, but we don't need to get into that right now), and they've definitely worked hard to keep things good between them. I have to give them props for that, because that couldn't have been easy. They went to two different colleges after high school for one thing; I remember Freddie coming over to ask my advice on whether he should stay here in Washington with Sam or go to his dream school across the country, even though it meant being away from her. I remember when I would visit Carly and Sam at their dorm how clear it was that Sam really missed Freddie. And then there was Freddie learning to adjust to Sam's insane family…he talked me into going to the gym with him for an entire month in order to prepare for some bit Puckett family reunion that Sam was taking him to because he didn't want all her relatives to think he was too weak to be with her (I'm still sore from that whole experience). And I can't count how many times Sam would come over to vent to me about how she just couldn't stand Mrs. Benson and how hard of a time she was having trying to be nice to the woman.
And just the other day, Freddie came by, all nervous and stuttery and told me he needed to talk to me about something important. Now, at first I figured he found out that I had used his name when I had to give my information during the last fire I set (the fire department is really starting to get tired of my antics), but then he told me it was about Sam. I was worried that he had done something wrong, and I was getting ready to teach him a lesson (which I am totally capable of, by the way), but then he told me that the reason he had come to me was to…was to ask for my blessing.
He wanted to ask Sam to marry him.
I was speechless for a good minute. I mean come on, he just threw huge news in my face! But when I finally recovered I told him that I knew that there was no one better for Sam than him, and that there was no one better for him than Sam.
And it's true.
Thinking back on it, I guess it's kind of crazy that I've seen these two kids, who started off as nothing more than my sister's friends, but then somehow became friends of my own, go from mortal enemies, to kind-of-friends, to best friends, to a couple, to an awkward broken-up couple, back to a couple again, and now (once Freddie pops the question) an engaged couple, all under my own roof. But Sam and Freddie's relationship is built on crazy, so I guess that's pretty fitting.
And even though soon the two of them will be married and will have their own life, to me, they'll always be the two kids who crashed at my house every day and ate all my food.
But I mean that with the highest regards.
