Cream

"Thanks for helping with the party prep, you guys," Carly said as Sam and Freddie set out stacks of plastic cups on the Shay's kitchen table.

"Well you didn't leave us much choice," Sam mumbled under her breath. "You threatened to turn off the Wi-Fi if we didn't…"

"What time does the party start again?" Freddie asked.

"People should start getting here around eight or nine," Carly replied. "Then we'll all party it up until midnight, watch the ball drop, and bring in the New Year."

"Did Carlos ever let you know if he could make it tonight?" Sam asked.

"He did," Carly grinned. "He said he was really looking forward to tonight! Now, if I can just play my cards right and make sure he's right next to me at midnight, I think I can get a New Years kiss with him!"

"Nice," Sam said approvingly. "That boy's real good looking. Especially with those tight muscle shirts he always wears."

"Standing right here," Freddie said, rolling his eyes.

"Calm down, I'm just making an observation," Sam assured her boyfriend. She turned back to Carly. "Anyway, good luck tonight."

"Thanks," Carly said as her phone suddenly buzzed from her pocket. She pulled it out and looked down at the screen. "Oh, Spence is downstairs with the food for the party! Alright, I'll be right back, I'm gonna go help him bring it all up."

"I'll help too," Sam offered.

"And have the food half gone by the time we get back up here?" Carly smirked. "No thanks. You two just stay up here and keep setting up."

As Carly headed out of the apartment, Sam turned to Freddie. "How much longer do you think we're going to be stuck doing this? I'm getting bored."
"We've only been at it twenty minutes," Freddie chuckled, amused.

"Well it feels like forever," Sam said. "This is a lot of hype for one party."

"It's New Years, it's a big deal," Freddie shrugged. He stepped closer to Sam and put an arm around her. "You know, I've been looking forward to tonight for a while now."

"How come?" Sam asked.

"I've never gotten to celebrate the New Year with a girlfriend before," Freddie said. "This year I'll finally have someone to share that midnight kiss with."

"Aw," Sam smiled. "I guess it is kind of nice to have a boyfriend to spend the night with too."

She looked up into his eyes. "You know, we don't have to wait to midnight to start kissing. We can go up to the studio and practice for the big moment."

"Won't Carly be mad at us if we ditch party prep to go make-out?" Freddie asked.

"Probably," Sam shrugged. "But when have we ever let Carly's anger stop us?"

"Good point," Freddie said, taking Sam's hand and quickly leading her up to the studio.

…..

"-And so then Tasha came back to my place with a gallon of vanilla ice cream and a six-pack of peppy cola," Gibby said to Freddie later that evening as the two chatted at the party. "Because she was so proud that I finally got that hangnail from my big toe."

"That's…lovely," Freddie cringed. "Hey, where is Tasha? Didn't she want to come here with you tonight?"

"Yeah, but she's down in California doing a photo shoot for some magazine," Gibby said. "It's the swimsuit edition."

"Ah," Freddie nodded as Sam came over and joined the two.

"Good news!" Sam said. "Carly and Carlos are currently on the couch doing some major flirting. Everything looks all good for their midnight kiss."

"Cool," Freddie said.

"Hey, Sam, where did you get those mini hot dogs?" Gibby asked, looking at the blonde's plate in her hands. "I want some."

"Too bad, I just finished the last twenty," Sam said.

"Well can I have one of the ones from your plate?" Gibby asked.

"Gibby, if you don't want to start the New Year off with a concussion I suggest you go over there," Freddie said just as Sam opened her mouth to reply. "Go have some chips and dip if you're hungry."

"Oh, salsa!" Gibby said happily, hurrying off.

"You think the freak would know to never even try to take food off my plate," Sam said, shaking her hear. "You're barely allowed to do that."

"Well, he's Gibby," Freddie shrugged. "But come on, you don't want to start the year off by getting to a fight, do you?"

"That's how I usually do it," Sam reasoned. She laced her arms around his neck. "But I guess this year I do have something else I can be doing at midnight. Speaking of which, there's only fifteen minutes left until the big moment."

"Oh, right," Freddie said, looking at his watch. "Hey, come with me. I have a surprise…"

Freddie took her hand and led her out of the Shay's apartment across the hall to his own.

"Dude, what are we doing?" Sam asked. "We're going to miss the ball dropping."

"There's just so many people over at Carly's right now," Freddie said. "It's a little chaotic and hectic. Since this is both of ours first New Years kiss, I thought maybe we could have it somewhere a little more…romantic and peaceful."

He led her over to his window and hopped out to his fire escape.

"We can go back to the party if you want," Freddie said as he helped Sam out. "But I set us up a spot out here just in case."
Sam smiled up at her boyfriend. "I think I want to stay out here."

"Good," Freddie said, sitting down on the chair he had brought out earlier. "I was hoping you'd say that."

"Wow, you only brought out one chair?" Sam smirked, rolling her eyes.

"Did that on purpose," Freddie said, holding out his arms for her.

Sam laughed as she sat down on Freddie's lap, resting her head on his shoulder.

"And to think, almost four years ago we were out here having our first kiss ever," Freddie said. "Now we're about to have our first New Years kiss out here too."

"Guess this is a special spot for us," Sam said.

"It really is," Freddie said, squeezing Sam's hand. "So…we've really only talked about the fun part of the new year, you know. The kiss at midnight."

"Well that's the best part, isn't it?" Sam pointed out.

"I definitely wouldn't trade it for anything," Freddie agreed. "But…seriously, you known it's-it's a new year; a whole new beginning. And it's definitely going to be new for us. Later this year we're going to have to deal a whole bunch of changes. Graduation, going off to different colleges, being adults…"

Sam nodded. "Yeah. It's a lot."

"It's going to be a crazy year," Freddie said. He looked at Sam. "But we're going to be fine. We'll get through all of it; all the changes and new things that are thrown at us. It probably won't be easy…like you said, this year is going to be a lot for us. But, I just wanted to let you know, there's nobody I'd want here by my side as we started off the year than you."

Just then Freddie's watch began to beep.

"Oh, one minute till midnight," he said. "Get ready."

"How much do I need to get ready? Your lips are like, five inches away," Sam smirked.

"Thirty seconds!" Freddie said.

"People are already setting off fireworks," Sam said, looking off into the distance. "Ugh, I hate when they do that. Can't they just wait till midnight? It ruins the whole mood!"

"Ten seconds!" Freddie said. "Start leaning, baby!"

"Alright, jeez, keep your pants on," Sam laughed, though she complied.

"In five," Freddie said. "Four, three, two…one! Happy New Year!"

Sam grinned as she leaned over and kissed her boyfriend, even more fireworks going off in the distance.

"Hey," Sam said when the couple finally pulled apart. "You said the one. You never say the one."

"Yeah, well, I made the exception," Freddie chuckled. He leaned up and kissed Sam again. "For you."

"Aw," Sam said, snuggling closer to him. "So, how'd it feel to finally have a New Years kiss?"

"Amazing," Freddie said. "But that may have more to do with who I was kissing than it being New Years."

"Was your New Years resolution to be doubly cheesy this year or something?" Sam asked, rolling her eyes. "But, I will say, that was some of your best work, baby. See, all that practicing we did today paid off."

"I guess it did," Freddie laughing, hugging her tighter.

The two were silent for a few minutes, simply enjoying the fireworks and being close to one another.

"I'm glad I'm starting off this year with you too," Sam suddenly said. "With everything that's going to happen…I couldn't tell you how scared I would be if I didn't have you for all of it."

Freddie gently kissed her temple before shifting her off his lap and starting over to the small cooler he had brought out earlier. He pulled out a bottle of sparkling cider and poured two glasses. He handed Sam one of the glasses.

"Here's to our craziest year yet," he said, raising his own glass. "And to all of the other crazy years that we'll have. The years that we'll always get through…together."