"Spencer what?!"
"I'm telling you, Carly," Freddie explained, "he's out of control. This makes the whole Pak-Rat thing look like a harmless hobby."
"No wonder he hasn't answered his phone in more than two weeks," Carly surmised.
"Carly, he hasn't done anything but play Black Hole for the last two weeks," Freddie replied. "The publisher is holding some kind of contest. Spencer thinks he can win it, and you know how competitive he can get. He hasn't bathed in a week. If it wasn't for Sam and me going over there to feed him, I'm not sure he'd even eat."
"What about… you know?" Carly asked.
She could practically hear Freddie shudder over the phone. "He made me empty his bottle. Twice."
"Ew"
"Tell me about it."
"So when's the contest over?" she asked.
"Three weeks."
Carly was too preoccupied with other things to worry about her brother's antics. This certainly wasn't the first time he'd done something like this, and it probably wouldn't be the last. "Douse him with soapy water and keep him alive until then. Once the contest is over, he'll return to normal," she suggested.
"Will do," Freddie agreed, and the conversation lapsed into silence for a few moments.
Carly tried to stop the awkward silence, and she knew the best way to do so was to appeal to Freddie's nerdiness. "So, if I want to research… things… on the Internet, and I don't want my dad to see where I've been or what I was looking at, how can I hide it?"
That was an easy one. Freddie'd been hiding his fascination with internet porn from his mother for years. "Download the Red Panda browser, then look for a plugin called 'Super Mega Privacy Plus.' You'll have to give it a password, but it encrypts everything: your history, your cache, your favorites, everything. I use it all the time. I don't think you're looking for the same stuff I am, though," he ended with a laugh.
"Don't be so sure," she mumbled.
Freddie was shocked, it wasn't like Carly to hide things from anyone. Of course, she was hiding an entire relationship – and possibly her sexuality – from her father. "What exactly are you researching?" he questioned.
"Well, um… When I come back to Seattle for college next year… I kind of wanted Sam to be my 'first,' if you know what I mean," Carly explained. Ignoring Freddie's strangled gasp, she continued, "The thing is, I want to make sure I know what I'm doing. Boys and girls are easy, I mean, this thing goes in there. I'm not sure how it works with two girls. I don't want to do it wrong."
Freddie was aghast, but he had to set her straight on something, "I'm not sure porn's the way to learn. It's not particularly realistic. You'd be better off searching for techniques or something." He paused a moment. ""You're really taking this relationship thing with Sam seriously" he commented.
Carly was offended, "It's not just some 'thing,' Freddie. Sam and I really do love each other."
Freddie had been trying to accept his friends' new relationship, but he couldn't understand it. Truth be told, he was also a bit jealous. "You, maybe… But Sam?"
"Freddie, she's called me every night for the last 4 months - without fail!" Carly protested. "She read me poetry over the phone. Love poems."
"You know, I'd have done all that if we were dating," he replied, still holding out a glimmer of hope.
"Yeah, but this is Sam. Have you ever seen her that committed? To anything?"
"How about Ham?" he asked, half joking.
"Freddie!" Carly admonished. "Look, I know you don't understand it. I don't really understand it myself. One minute we were friends saying goodbye in an elevator, and the next minute… Well, we weren't just friends anymore."
"You sure it wasn't just the heat of the moment?"
"It wasn't," she tried to explain. "I feel like this has been building for 8 years now, and the elevator was just the culmination. Sam's what I've been looking for without realizing it. Look at some of the guys I've dated."
Freddie was sufficiently cowed. "I'm sorry Carly. I know you're in love with Sam, and I'll accept that she's in love with you. I guess… I guess I just wish you'd have felt that way for me."
"You'll find someone, Freddie. Someone you can say you truly love."
He laughed ironically, "I did, twice. Unfortunately for me, they were in love with each other."