Peace
"We are totally going to ace this history project," Carly said happily as her and Freddie sat at the kitchen table in the Shay's apartment. Various art supplies were spread out around them and Carly proudly held up a cut-out figure. "We're making a lot of progress!"
"Um, you do realize our project is on the Russian Revolution, right?" Freddie frowned.
"Yeah, of course I do," Carly said. "We've been working on this project all week, I think I know the topic."
"Okay, so why did you make a cut-out of a three-legged horse?" Freddie asked.
"It's Lenin!" Carly exclaimed, defended.
"It is?"
"Ugh, fine, you can handle the artwork for the diorama," Carly conceded. "I'll work on the actual report."
"Alright," Freddie chuckled.
Just then Carly's phone vibrated. She pulled the device out of her pocket and looked at the screen.
"Oh, it's Spencer," Carly said. "Hold on…hey Spence, what's up? Huh? You're what? Again? Spencer! No, I'll be right there…"
"What's up?" Freddie questioned as Carly hung up her phone.
"Spencer lost his car keys at the dump, so I need to help him look for them," Carly sighed, shaking her head as she got to her feet.
"That's, what, the fifth time that happened?"
"Sixth!" Carly corrected as she grabbed her jacket. "Sorry to leave you with the project, but I'll be back soon and we can finish working on it then."
"Eh, it's cool, I'll just keep working on the diorama part," Freddie said.
"Okay," Carly said. "Oh, and I think Sam is on her way over here."
"Aw man, she's gonna wreck the diorama!" Freddie moaned.
"No she won't," Carly said, rolling her eyes. "Maybe if it was only your project, but she knows it's mine too, so she won't touch it."
"Huh…good point," Freddie nodded. "Well, good look at the dump."
"Thanks, I'll need it," Carly sighed, heading out the front door.
Freddie turned his attention back to the project. He was getting really into it when suddenly the apartment door opened and Sam walked in.
"This is Carly's project too!" Freddie cried at once, protectively shielding the diorama. "You destroy this, you're not just hurting me, you're hurting her too!"
"Calm your butt, Frednub," Sam moaned, clutching her stomach and falling down onto the couch. "Where's Carly?"
"She went to the dump to help Spencer find his keys," Freddie replied.
"What? Again?" Sam groaned. "Ugh, the man picked the worst possible time to do this! I need Carly!"
"Why?" Freddie asked. "Um…you okay there?"
"No!"
"Well what's wrong?" Freddie asked, approaching her. "Why are you holding your stomach like that? Did you eat something weird?"
"Dude, I've eaten meat off the street before," Sam snapped. "Food would do something this cruel to me."
"Well is it…lady cramps?" Freddie asked hesitantly.
"No," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "I-I made a mistake."
"Come on, seriously, tell me what's up," Freddie said.
Sam cringed in pain as she let out a long sigh. "Okay, fine, I'll tell you. Earlier today my neighbor gave me fifty bucks for helping him get a dead possum out of his rain gutter."
"That's…disgusting," Freddie frowned. "But I don't see how that relates to you being in pain. Wait…was the possum just playing dead? Did it attack you?"
"No, you moron, it was really dead!" Sam said. "Anyway, I was bored and I wanted to spend the fifty bucks on something cool because I deserved it; I had just done three math problems. So I decided to do something that I had been wanting to do for a few days now…get my bellybutton pierced."
"I'm sorry, what?" Freddie exclaimed.
"But when I went to the body shop, the chick wanted like, two hundred bucks to do it!" Sam continued. "I didn't have that kind of cash. But then I remembered that my mom dated this dude last month that gave piercings in the kitchen of the Jumbo Burger he manages. So I went there and he agreed to do it for fifty bucks."
"Okay…now things are starting to make sense," Freddie nodded. "So let me guess…"
"The dang thing got infected!" Sam moaned, pulling up her shirt to show her bellybutton. Freddie had to use all of his restraint to keep from gagging. There was a mixture of white and yellow puss coming from Sam's bellybutton and half of her stomach was now bright red.
"Gross!" Freddie cried.
"It hurts so badly!" Sam said.
"Of course it does; it's infected!" Freddie said. "Sam, you need to go to a hospital."
"No!" Sam said at once.
"Sam, your bellybutton looks like something you would find in a swamp!" Freddie said. "You need antibiotics and probably a Tetanus shot or something."
"I don't do shots," Sam said simply. "So…just find me a bandage and some Aspirin and I'll be fine."
"What? That's crazy!" Freddie said. "If you don't get to a hospital your-your bellybutton will fall off. Just because you're afraid of getting a shot-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Sam said. "Afraid? I don't think so. I'm not afraid of getting a shot. I'd, um, just prefer not to get one at this time."
"So you'd prefer to walk around with your bellybutton looking like that?"
"I think it looks cool," Sam shrugged, wincing in pain.
Freddie sighed as he rolled his eyes. Why does she have to be so stubborn? he thought to himself. Arguing with Sam wasn't going to get him anywhere; he knew her well enough to be certain of that. He'd have to take a different approach if he wanted to get her to the hospital.
"You know," Freddie said casually. "I remember hearing about this at one of the health conventions my mom dragged me to a few years ago…Yeah, see, this guy got this horrible infection all around his bellybutton from a back-alley tattoo he had done. But instead of doing the reasonable thing and seeking medical attention, he decided to just ignore it. But unfortunately for him, because he didn't see a doctor, the infection spread to his stomach and intestines. They had to do this whole big operation on him, and by the end, they had to remove so much of his gut that he was never able to eat solid food again."
"What now?" Sam frowned.
"Yeah, it was pretty bad," Freddie nodded. "For the rest of his life he had to get his food through this little tube that they connected to him. He was never able to taste anything again. No more pizza, cakes, chicken, bacon-"
"Okay!" Sam said loudly. "Okay…I'll deal with the dumb shot! Just get me to the hospital before I wind up with a tube down me too!"
"Alright, come on," Freddie said. "Can you walk?"
"I think so," Sam mumbled, struggling to sit up. "I barely made it up here, though, and-nope! Ah! Oh that's painful!"
She fell back down on the couch, clinging to her infected stomach.
"Well come on then," Freddie said, holding out his arms as he knelt down next to her.
"What are you doing?"
"I'll carry you down," Freddie replied.
"But you're…weak," Sam said lamely.
"Are you really in a position to be mocking me?" Freddie smirked.
"I'm always in a position to mock you," Sam mumbled as she put her arms around Freddie's neck.
"Yeah, yeah," Freddie said as he gently lifted her.
"Can we stop for some ribs on the way to the hospital?" Sam asked weakly. "I'm starving."
…..
"Well, Ms. Puckett, you've got yourself quite an infection here," the doctor told Sam as she laid in a hospital bed with Freddie at her bedside.
"Am I going to lose my stomach?" Sam asked.
"No," the doctor chuckled slightly. "Fortunately you'll be just fine after some antibiotics and a few shots. But it's a good thing your boyfriend here brought you in when he did. If you waited much longer to get this treated you'd be in much more danger."
Freddie and Sam's faces instantly turned red.
"He's not-"
"I'm not-"
"He's just a nub," Sam said quickly.
"Um, alright then," the doctor said, slightly confused. "Well whoever he is, he really saved the day here. Now you wait here and a nurse will be in to give you your shots. After that we'll finish cleaning you up and you'll be good to go."
"Well, well, well," Freddie grinned as the doctor left the room. "Did you hear that? I saved the day."
"Alright, Freddork, I get it," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "I guess…I guess you did something useful tonight for once in your life so…thanks. I'll buy you a smoothie or something."
"With money that you didn't swipe from my wallet?" Freddie asked.
"Let's not get carried away."
"Alright Ms. Puckett," a kind nurse said, coming into the room with a long, thin needle. "Time for your Tetanus shot."
"That-That's a big needle," Sam said, her eyes widening.
Freddie gave her a curious look. "You are afraid of needles, aren't you?"
Sam didn't even seem to hear him. She was staring at the needle with a look that Freddie had never seen on her.
A wave of compassion sweeping over him, Freddie reached for hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Hey…who do you think's going to win in the upcoming MMA fight? Shelby Marx or that Swedish chick?"
"What?" Sam asked, confused as to what he was doing.
"I think Marx has the advantage," Freddie continued. "But there may be something to be said about the Swedish girl. I heard in her last fight she almost ripped her opponents ear off."
Sam gave a small smile. "Yeah…she um, she did this one move called the Skull Flinger. But Marx still has the best upper cut I've ever seen."
"True," Freddie agreed. "But her left hook has been sagging a little ever since her fight with Big Brenda."
"Oh yeah, that was the worst hit she ever took," Sam nodded. "But I still say-"
"And we're all done," the nurse said, quickly, placing a bandage on the spot where she had just delivered the shot.
"You're done?" Sam repeated. "That's it?"
"That's it," the nurse smiled. "It always helps to have a distraction. Your boyfriend did a great job."
Once again Sam and Freddie's faces both flushed red.
"She's not-"
"He's not-"
"She's just my friend," Freddie said quickly. "My-My blonde-headed demon of a friend."
"Ah…" the nurse nodded, giving the two a strange look. "Well, I'll get your discharge papers, Ms. Puckett."
"Thanks," Sam mumbled.
Once the nurse left, Freddie cleared his throat. "You feel any better?"
"My stomach doesn't feel like it's on fire," Sam shrugged. "So I guess. Sucks that they took the bellybutton ring out."
"Yeah, it was a real shame," Freddie said, rolling his eyes. "I think you should shell out the extra cash to get it done by a professional next time, though. Or at least don't have it done in the back of a fast-food joint."
"Eh, there won't be a next time," Sam said. "Anything that threatens Mama's eating isn't worth it."
"Smart," Freddie smirked.
"Anyway, um, thanks for bringing me here and, um, everything," Sam said. "Guess you did 'save the day'."
"Well I wasn't going to just let you sit there like that," Freddie said. "Plus your bellybutton looked disgusting. I probably would've vomited if it had stayed like that."
"That would've been cool," Sam sighed. "Oh well…"
Suddenly a sense of realization overcame the two as they looked down at their hands, finally noticing that they were still intertwined. They quickly pulled apart and looked away from one another.
"So…" Sam said awkwardly. "Wonder where that nurse is with the discharge papers."
"I'll go find her," Freddie quickly volunteered.
"Yeah, good idea."
