Resisting
"I don't know why I'm bothering to unpack all of this stuff," Carly sighed as she hung up one of her many leather jackets in her closet. "I'm just going to pack it all up again in three months when we go back up to school."
Carly and Sam had just finished their freshman year of college up at Washington State University. They had moved out of their shared dorm a little over a week ago to spend their summer vacation back home in Seattle.
"I don't know why you're unpacking either," Sam replied, looking up from her Pearphone. "I didn't. I'm just leaving everything in my bags until we go back in August."
"It's not going to bother you to have your stuff so unorganized and cluttered?" Carly frowned.
"Dude, you shared a room with me for the past nine months," Sam smirked. "I think you should know the answer to that question."
"Right," Carly chuckled, carefully placing a pair of black heels on her shoe rack. "Unorganized and cluttered was definitely the theme of your half of that dorm. Which is why I'm so excited we're moving into an apartment next semester! That way we'll each have our own rooms, and you can keep your stuff, er, messy, and I don't have to wake up to find your socks in my box of Wheat-O's."
"Still don't know how I managed that," Sam smiled. "Must've been after that one party…"
"We'll still have to make some sort of cleaning schedule for the living room and the bathroom," Carly continued, ignoring the blonde's comment.
"Cool, I look forward to not following that," Sam said, looking back down at her phone.
"Ha, ha," Carly said dryly. "Hey, who have you been texting all morning anyway? Freddie?"
"Yeah, his plane just got in half-an-hour ago," Sam nodded. "So he should be here pretty soon."
"How come you didn't go to the airport to meet him?" Carly asked.
"I was gonna, but then I found out his mom also had the same idea, and I really didn't feel like putting up with that whackjob today," Sam replied.
"Ah," Carly said knowingly. "Well, I bet you're excited that he's back from MIT."
"Duh, I haven't seen him in months!" Sam said. "This long-distance thing sucks. I can't believe we have to do three more years of it. That's why this summer the two of us are going to be making up for a lot of lost time…if you know what I mean."
"I know what you mean," Carly gagged. "Just please try to refrain from any activities in areas where I might walk in."
"We'll try," Sam grinned.
"So do you guys have anything planned for tonight?" Carly asked. "Because if not…I could really use you guys to help me unpack."
"Um, not-not that that doesn't sound like fun," Sam said. "But Fredbag and I are going to go out for dinner and a movie, and then hang out at my place for the night. My mom's in North Dakota getting her eyebrows done."
"Your mom goes all the way to North Dakota for her eyebrows?"
"Hey, she's real particular about her brows," Sam said. "The woman may get tattoos from hobos in back allies, but she spares no expense for those."
"Interesting…" Carly nodded.
"Anyway," Sam went on. "The point is, we're not gonna have time to help you unpack and-"
Just then the bedroom door swung open and Freddie himself walked in.
"Freddie!" Sam exclaimed, jumping to her feet at once and rushing over to her boyfriend and throwing her arms around him. "I thought you said you were going to be another hour!"
"I wanted to surprise you," Freddie laughed as Sam quickly connected her lips to his.
"Aw," Carly couldn't help but smile as the couple reunited.
"Hey, Carls," Freddie managed when him and Sam pulled apart. "How are you?"
"Well, once I get everything unpacked, I should be-and you're kissing again," Carly sighed as the couple continued to greet each other in her doorway.
"I'm so glad we're gonna spend the summer together," Sam beamed as she pulled away to catch her breath, only to quickly kiss him again. "We're gonna go to all our favorite restaurants, watch all our favorite shows, go to-"
She suddenly stopped kissing him and looked up at him.
"Um…what's this?" she frowned, reaching up and touching his face, which she had just now realized was covered with a thin layer of stubble. "Did you forget to shave during finals or something?"
"Oh, actually, this is a little something I've been working on for the past couple of weeks," Freddie grinned. "I decided to grow a beard. Cool, right?"
"A beard?" Sam repeated.
"Uh-huh!" Freddie nodded. "I read somewhere that facial hair, when grown correctly, makes you look more employable, so I figure if I start working on this now, when I start looking for jobs in a few years, I'd be all set in this department."
"You're growing a beard?" Sam said again.
"That's right," Freddie nodded, putting his arms around Sam. "And I also read that most women happen to think facial hair is rather sexy." He leaned down to kiss her again, but she quickly pulled away, much to his surprise.
"What's wrong?" Freddie frowned.
"Okay, um, how do I say this nicely?" Sam said. "You know what? Forget nice. Freddie…that beard's gotta go."
"What?" Freddie exclaimed. "Why?"
"Because it looks weird!" Sam said. "You look like some freak that got lost in the woods or something! And it feels all scratchy when I kiss you!"
"But I like it!" Freddie defended. "And do you have any idea how long it took me to grow this thing? I am not shaving it off."
"Oh yes you are," Sam said.
"Wow, it only took them three minutes to start arguing," Carly said to herself as she watched the scene. "That's their personal best."
"Sam, it's my beard!" Freddie said. "You can't make me shave my beard! You wouldn't like it if I told you how to grow your hair or something."
"Dude, you're wasting time here," Sam said. "Just go back to your place, shave the stupid thing off, and the two of us can back to my place and have some fun."
"I'm all for going to your place," Freddie said firmly. "But the beard's coming too."
"Shave it!" Sam snapped.
"No!" Freddie said. "You're not the boss of my facial hair."
"I'm the boss of all of you!" Sam retorted. "That's how its always been, and that's how it always will be."
"Well I'm serious, I'm not shaving my beard," Freddie said.
"I-Fine," Sam said, crossing her arms. "Don't shave your beard."
"I-Huh?" Freddie frowned. He wasn't used to Sam giving up arguments so easily.
"Don't shave it off," Sam shrugged. "It's your face, after all. You should be able to decide how hairy it gets."
"Oh no…" Carly sighed. "She's being logical and rational…this is never good."
"Oh, well…alright then," Freddie said, clearing his throat. "I'm glad you understand. So let's go back to your place then."
"Okay, you can help me unpack," Sam said cheerfully.
"Er, is that code for something else?" Freddie asked, confused.
"No, it's code for unpacking," Sam said. "I have all my junk from the dorm just sitting in my room all disorganized and cluttered. We need to get it cleaned up."
"But-We-We haven't seen each other in months," Freddie said slowly. "Isn't there something else we could be doing in your empty house instead of unpacking?"
"Well sure there is, baby," Sam nodded. "But see…the thing is…until you shave off that beard, I won't be kissing you anymore, so that kind of limits the sort of fun activities that we can do."
"You what?" Freddie cried. "You're not gonna kiss me?"
"That's right," Sam nodded sweetly.
"But-But-"
"It's only until you come to your senses about the beard," Sam said innocently.
"You-You're giving me an ultimatum?" Freddie said weakly.
"That's right," Sam grinned evilly.
"I-You-You can't-Carly!" Freddie exclaimed, turning towards the brunette. "Tell her she has to kiss me!"
"Yeah…I'm not gonna do that," Carly said. "That would require me getting involved in this whole thing, and I would really like to avoid that."
"I'll kiss you once you shave that beard," Sam said again. "So when you get any lip action from Mama again is completely up to you."
Freddie simply stared at her, gaping.
"I'll be at my place when you're ready," Sam said, flashing her boyfriend a huge smile. "Bye, baby."
And with that she stepped out of the room.
"I-I don't believe this," Freddie squeaked. "My girlfriend is a-a-demon! She's going to make me shave my beautiful beard just so I don't wind up exploding from not kissing her!"
Carly rolled her eyes. "Freddie…I think you're giving Sam a little too much credit here."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Freddie asked.
"I mean, what makes you think Sam can wait until you shave your beard before she explodes from not kissing you?" Carly said. "Think about it; she's gone just as long without seeing you as you've gone without seeing her. She's just as eager as you are."
"Hey…you're right!" Freddie said. "Carls, you're a genius!"
"I'm still not involved in this!" Carly said quickly. "But, well, Spencer took out our T.V. last night during a rollerblading mishap, and, well, seeing how this plays out might be mildly entertaining."
"Okay, so I've just got to outlast Sam…" Freddie said thoughtfully to himself. "I can do this…I can get my girlfriend's lips and keep my beard too. It will be the first time I ever win against Sam, too! Ha! This is gonna be a sweet victory!"
…..
It had been two days since Sam had given Freddie her ultimatum.
Two long, kissless days.
At first Sam had thought her plan was foolproof. She figured Freddie would try to hold his ground for an hour, tops, before he caved, shaved his beard, ran back to her.
But apparently the nub had more will power than she thought, for he was still sporting his beard. The problem now, though, was while Freddie seemed to be able to suppress his urges, Sam was now beginning to have a very hard time suppressing hers.
Today's got to be the day the dork caves, Sam thought to herself that morning as she poured herself a bowl of Sugar Flakes and a root beer. It has to be…doesn't it?
Just then there was a knock at her front door. She got to her feet and went to answer it.
"Hey," Freddie greeted her when she opened the door.
"Hey," Sam smiled. Out of habit, she craned her neck up, as she normally would to give him a kiss hello, but quickly remembered the terms of the ultimatum and pulled back.
Freddie looked slightly disappointed.
"So," he said, stepping into the home. "You still want to watch movies all day?"
"Yeah, there's nothing else going on," Sam nodded, trying hard not to stare at her boyfriend's lips. "Carly's went to the Space Needle with a bunch of her sorority sisters, Spencer's working on a sculpture all day, and Gibby's-Well, Gibby was never an option."
"Alright," Freddie chuckled. "I brought over some of our favorite DVDs. So what do you want to watch first? Mel and Tina's Wacky Cross Country Journey? Mission Improbable? Galaxy Wars?"
"Galaxy Wars?" Sam repeated.
"Eh, thought I'd throw it in," Freddie said.
"Put on Mission Improbable," Sam said, flopping down on the couch.
"Got it," Freddie nodded, popping the DVD in. He sat down next to Sam and put his arm around her. Sam rested her head on his shoulder. Suddenly, an odd aroma hit her nostrils.
But it was odd in a good way…The scent smelled like smoked wood and pine.
"Hey, did-did you get new cologne?" Sam frowned, looking up at Freddie.
"Oh, yeah, I did," Freddie smiled. "Remember when we were at the department store during winter break, and the saleslady sprayed this on me and you told me it made me smell sexy?"
"Y-Yeah," Sam replied weakly. "But you wouldn't buy it because it cost two hundred dollars."
"Well, lucky for me it was on sale yesterday," Freddie grinned. "So I went and picked up a bottle. You like?"
Sam could barely get a sound out. All she wanted to do right now was jump him and start making out with him. But she couldn't…Freddie would never let her live it down if she did.
"Oh, hold that thought, I'm actually a little hungry right now," Freddie said, reaching into his bag and pulling out a container of bacon. He popped a piece of the cooked meat into his mouth, little flecks of bacon grease getting on the corners of his mouth. "I don't know why, but I've just really been craving some Bolivian bacon lately…weird, right?"
If there was one thing that Sam loved more than Freddie's lips, it was Freddie's lips when they had traces of her favorite breakfast meat on them. Whenever he would eat bacon, Sam would find him irresistible.
And he knew that.
Sam narrowed her eyes. She knew what was going on here…Freddie was trying to get her so worked up that she would call off the ultimatum, so he'd get to keep his beard and the two could get back to kissing.
"What?" Freddie asked innocently, putting another piece of bacon into his mouth.
"Nothing," Sam said quickly, standing up. "I've just got to, um, get something from my room."
"Oh, well, hurry back," Freddie said. "You'll miss the best part of the movie."
"Okay," Sam nodded, heading towards the stairs.
Alright, Benson. Two can play at this game.
…
As Sam disappeared upstairs, Freddie let out a victorious chuckle. He knew that look on Sam's face. She was practically dying from not kissing him. She was going to cave any second and call off her dumb ultimatum, and then he'd finally get to kiss his girlfriend and keep his awesome beard.
Yup, it looked like Freddie had finally managed to come out the winner against Sam. After eight years of friendship and almost two years of dating, he was finally-
"Okay, I'm back!" Sam said, coming down the stairs.
"Cool," Freddie said. "Because you were just about to miss-wha-what are you-"
His mouth dropped as he stared at Sam. She was wearing a skin tight black dress that left very little to the imagination.
"What-What are you-why are you wearing that?" Freddie stammered.
"Oh, I thought I'd just change into something a little more comfortable," Sam said nonchalantly, sitting down and curling up next to him. "You like? Carly got me this dress for my birthday. She wanted us to go to some fancy club, but I managed to convince her to just let me spend the day in bed with a bucket of chicken."
"You-You're seriously going to watch the movie in that dress?" Freddie frowned.
"It's not a problem, is it?" Sam smiled sweetly.
"N-No," Freddie said at once.
"Great," Sam said cheerfully. "Now just give me one sec…"
She pulled out a tube of lip gloss and began applying it generously to her lips.
"What is that?" Freddie asked.
"Just some new lip gloss I got the other day at the mall," Sam said. "It's honey melon flavor. Hey…isn't honey melon your favorite fruit?"
Freddie nodded.
"Huh…well I bet you would love the taste of this lip gloss then," Sam said. "Wouldn't you?"
"I-I-No!" Freddie exclaimed, getting to his feet. "Sam, this isn't fair! It's one thing to give me ridiculous ultimatums, but enticing me like this is just plain mean!"
"You're the one who started it!" Sam snapped. "Coming in here with your fancy cologne and bacon lips! You knew that would drive me crazy!"
"Oh, and seeing you in that dress is just making me so sane!"
"Dude, just end this already and shave your dumb beard!" Sam groaned.
"Call off your ultimatum!"
"No!"
"Well I'm not shaving!"
"Then I'm still not kissing you!"
"Fine!" Freddie said. "But I'm telling you, Sam, I am not going to give in this easily. You'll see, for once, I'm not going to let you beat me. I'm gonna-I'm gonna…Oh…come here!"
And with that he put his arms around Sam's waist and pulled her towards him, unable to resist her any longer. Maybe it was the dress, or the honey melon lip gloss, or the fact that it had been so, so long since he had kissed her, but suddenly the idea of going another second without kissing Sam seemed absolutely impossible.
He kissed her passionately, taking a second to appreciate just how delicious that lip gloss really did taste.
When the two finally pulled apart, both panting for breath, Freddie stared down at Sam.
"Fine, I'll shave," he finally conceded. "The beard…The beard's not worth it."
"Thank God," Sam said. "Because I think I was about five minutes away from calling this whole thing off…"
"You-You were?" Freddie moaned, mentally kicking himself. He had been so close.
"Yeah, you almost beat Mama at her own game," Sam grinned. "Almost."
"I should be used to this by now," Freddie sighed miserably. "Well…I guess I have to go home and shave this thing off now and-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you're not going anywhere, Benson," Sam said firmly.
"But I thought-"
"You can shave that thing off later," Sam said, grabbing his hand and leading him up the stairs. "But right now…we have things to do, and I'm not waiting another minute to get started."
