Jargon

"Okay, so the limo is officially booked!" Carly beamed as she hung up her Pearphone. "It'll be here to take us to prom at seven on Saturday."
"It was really cool of your dad to get us that limo," Freddie said from the couch, where he had one hand slung over Sam's shoulder.

"Yeah, I've never been in one before," Sam said. "Mama can finally travel in style."

"It will be so fun," Carly nodded. "Oh, and Sam, remember on Saturday to get here right after lunch so we can start doing our hair and make-up."

"It's gonna take that long?" Sam moaned.

"Sam, it's prom!" Carly said. "The most important night of our lives so far! Don't you want to look good for Freddie?"

"She looks good for me every day," Freddie said, kissing his girlfriend's cheek.

"Smooth," Sam grinned.

"Okay, yes, that was a very cute line," Carly said, rolling her eyes. "But come on, I want to have my best friend with me while I'm getting ready. It will be just like those chick flicks!"

"Fine, just for you, kid," Sam conceded.

"Yay!" Carly said happily.

"Hey, you guys talking about prom stuff?" Spencer asked, coming into the apartment.

"Uh-huh, how'd you know?" Freddie asked.

"Well Carly's been talking about nothing else the past week, so I took a guess," Spencer shrugged. "And speaking of prom, what's the name of the guy you're bringing as your date, Carly? I need to check the Internet to see if he's fit to escort my baby sister to prom."

"Aw," Carly chuckled. "That's sweet. But you don't need to worry; he's a really great guy and-"

"Name!" Spencer exclaimed.

"Billy McBonty!" Carly answered quickly.

Spencer snickered loudly.

"What?" Carly frowned.

"Sorry…that's just such a dumb name," Spencer laughed.

"It is not!" Carly defended.

"It kind of is," Sam said as her and Freddie struggled to keep a straight face.

"He was named after his great-grandfather!" Carly said, rolling her eyes.

"Doesn't make it any less lame," Sam smirked. She suddenly let out a loud sneeze.

"Bless you," Freddie said.

"Thanks," Sam said, grabbing a tissue and wiping her nose.

"You alright?" Spencer asked. "You're not getting sick, are you?"

"Not right before prom she's not!" Carly said firmly.

"Relax people, it as a sneeze," Sam said. "It's probably just from Frednub's cologne."

"I thought you said you liked my cologne," Freddie pointed out.

"Um, well, baby," Sam said. "Notice I never said the word 'liked'. I said your cologne was 'interesting' and 'different'. It was me trying out this whole 'sparing your feelings thing'. But clearly you need a more direct approach so…your cologne makes me gag."

"Noted," Freddie sighed, rolling his eyes as he got to his feet. "Well, guess I better run to the mall and find some new cologne for prom. You know, a kind that won't make you gag."

"Thank you," Sam smiled sweetly.

….

"I'm going to kill her…" Carly muttered darkly under her breath as she set down her curling iron and looked at her phone for about the twentieth time that afternoon. "I'm actually going to kill her."

"Wow, someone's hair looks extra fancy," Spencer commented as he walked into the room.

"Sam's late!" Carly exclaimed.

"Um, sure, that's a proper response to a compliment," Spencer frowned.

"She was supposed to be here two hours ago," Carly fumed. "I know she wasn't as excited about getting all dolled up for prom as me, but she still should've shown up! Or at least called and-"

"Sorry I'm late," Sam suddenly burst in. She was carrying her prom dress in her arms, but she looked absolutely horrible. Her eyes were red and puffy, her hair was a mess, and her nose was running like crazy. "I fell asleep and I didn't hear my phone go off and-"

"Sam, are you okay?" Carly frowned, her anger fleeing her body. "You look awful!"

"Well good thing you're gonna make me all up then," Sam coughed, falling down onto the loveseat.

"Whoa, you're sick," Spencer said, placing his hand on Sam's forehead. "You're burning up!"

"No, I'm fine, it's just allergies," Sam said.

"You don't have allergies," Carly pointed out.

"Well…now I do," Sam shrugged lazily. "Now come on, you doing my hair or not?"

"Um, maybe you should stay in tonight, kid," Spencer said. "You do seem really sick."

"No way, I'm not missing prom," Sam said firmly. "Carly?"

"Er, Spence, it is prom," Carly said slowly. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing. It would be such a shame if she missed it. Maybe…Maybe she can go and stay for only a couple of hours and then come home to rest?"

"Yeah, there you go," Sam said, struggling to sit up. "I'll do that and-and the room's spinning."

She had tried to stand up to walk over to the curling iron but she wound up falling down back onto the loveseat.

"Okay, um, let's take your temperature," Carly said, picking up a thermometer from her dresser. "Here, keep this under your tongue."

Sam did as she was told and stuck the device under her tongue. A few seconds later it beeped and Carly took it back.

"Holy chiz! Your fever is one hundred and three!" Carly gasped. "You're really sick!"

"No, I-I'm not," Sam said, beginning to shiver violently.

"Sam, you are," Carly sighed as Spencer grabbed some blankets from the bed for her. "I-I hate to say it but…I-I don't think you can go to prom."

"Carly, are you kidding me? This is prom!" Sam said. "You've been going on and on about it since the beginning of the year!"

"I know, and I wish there was something I could do, but Sam…you can't even stand up right now!" Carly said. "If you go to prom you might wind up in the hospital by the end of the night."

"I'm going," Sam said. "Freddie's been looking forward to this night too, and-and I'm not going to bail and disappoint him."

"I'll be right back," Spencer said, turning and heading out of the room.

"Sam, you-you're just too sick," Carly said gently. "You're fever's super high, you're shaking, you're passing out-"

"I'll deal with it!" Sam snapped, standing up again. She had to grab onto the couch to balance herself, but then she took her dress and headed into the closet. "You'll see!" she called after her.

"What is? What's going on?" said Freddie suddenly as Spencer led him into the bedroom.

"Oh Freddie, good, maybe you can talk to her," Carly sighed in relief.

"Who? Sam?" Freddie frowned. "What, is she not here yet?"

"Oh she's here alright," Carly said as Sam stepped out of the closet, now wearing her light purple gown. It looked absolutely stunning on her, but she still looked very ill, and Freddie noticed right away.

"Sam, what's wrong?" he asked at once, hurrying over to her.

"Nothing's wrong," Sam mumbled, trying to keep her balance steady. "I just have to finish getting ready so…go back home and I'll text you when I'm ready and-"

Just then she gave another loud series of coughs and lost her balance. She would've fallen right to the floor if Freddie hadn't quickly caught her in his arms.

"Baby, you're burning up," he said gently. "You-You're sick."

"It's just a little cold," Sam said. "I'm fine."

"Sam…I-I don't think you are," Freddie said gently. "I think…I think you need to take it easy tonight."

"Okay, so I'll only dance during the slow songs," Sam shrugged. "That's-"

"No, I-I mean…I don't think you can go to prom," Freddie told her.

"Why does everybody keep saying that?" Sam snapped, pulling away from Freddie. "I'm going and that's-"

She was cut off by yet another coughing attack that was so bad that it was a full three minutes before Sam could stand again.

"You were saying?" Freddie said as he helped Sam back down to the couch. "Baby…I'm sorry but it-it's just not a good idea. You're way too sick and if you go to prom you'll be feeling so terrible you won't even have a good time."

Sam let out a small sigh. "I-I guess you're right. The rooms been spinning since I got here, anyway."

"I'll go put on some soup," Spencer said.

"Well…you two have fun I guess," Sam mumbled.

"Sam," Freddie chuckled, sitting down next to her. "You can't possibly think I'm going to prom without you."
"No, baby, you have to go," Sam said. "You've been looking forward to this night for weeks."

"Yeah, because I was going with you," Freddie said. "I don't want to go if you're not going. If you have to stay back then I'm staying back with you."

"You'd miss prom for me?" Sam said softly.

"Of course," Freddie nodded. "No question."

"Aw, I don't want to go to prom without my best friend," Carly frowned. "Maybe I should just stay back too."

"No, Carls, you have to go," Sam said. "Prom without Carly Shay would just be weird. Besides, Billy McBonty will miss you, and that kid's terrible name has probably already caused him enough problems. He doesn't need to be stood up on top of all of that."

"Go ahead, Carls, I'll take good care of her," Freddie promised.

"Well…alright," Carly sighed. "I wish you could go, Sam. It won't be the same without you."

"You know, you might feel better if you change into something more comfortable," Freddie said later that evening as he laid a cool towel on Sam's forehead.

"No," Sam said stubbornly. She was still wearing her prom dress, which was now covered with a fluffy robe. "I paid way too much for this dress to not wear it at all."

"Well, you do look beautiful in it," Freddie told her, pressing a quick kiss on her temple. "So, feeling any better?"

"A little," Sam mumbled. "My head still feels like someone dropped a weight in it, though."

"I'm sorry," Freddie said sympathetically.

"So am I," Sam sighed. "I ruined prom for you by getting all sick."

"Sam, for the millionth time, you didn't ruin prom," Freddie told her. "You got sick. It happens."

"I wish we could've gone, though," Sam said heavily. "I-I know I didn't act all excited like Carly, but, well, I was excited. I wanted to look super hot in my dress and get to ride in a limo and gag on terrible punch. And-And I wanted to dance with you…" She looked down at her lap. "This would've been the first school dance we went to as a couple, you know."

"Yeah," Freddie nodded slowly. "I guess it would've been."

"Too bad we won't get to dance together now," Sam said sadly.

Freddie didn't reply.

"Oh well," Sam said. "Should've known something would go wrong."

"Hey, I'll be right back," Freddie said, getting to his feet.

"Where are you going?" Sam frowned.

"I just- I need to check on something back at my place," Freddie said quickly.

"Oh…okay," Sam said. "Hey, will you bring me more orange juice before you go?"

Freddie chuckled. "Of course."

"Where is that nub?" Sam mumbled half-an-hour later. Freddie still hadn't returned from his apartment and she was beginning to get restless.

Just then the front door of the apartment opened up and Freddie walked back in. Only now he was dressed in the black tuxedo that he had rented for prom and was carrying a purple corsage.

"What are you doing?" Sam asked, confused.

"We're having prom," Freddie smiled, gently taking her wrist and sliding the corsage on. "Well…sort of. We're having our own prom. You're right; it sucks that we never got to go to a dance as a couple, but…we're still going to dance."

He pulled out his Pearphone and turned on a slow, romantic tune. He then extended a hand to Sam and helped her to her feet.

"Baby…" Sam said, her face lighting up. "You-This is so sweet."

"You deserve it," Freddie said simply, putting his hands on her hips. "Though, full disclosure, I'm a terrible dancer."

"That's okay," Sam laughed. "I feel so uncoordinated and stuffy right now that I'm probably just as awful as you."

"Not exactly how you would've imagined our first dance together, huh?" Freddie said.

"No," Sam said, resting her head on his shoulder as they continued to dance. "But I'm loving every second of it."