4.
"Are you sure I look okay?" Freddie, Carly's neighbor, friend, and tech producer nervously fidgeted with his hair in the mirror of Carly's vanity. He'd been messing with his hair for the last fifteen minutes, brushing it one way, then the next, and applying liberal amounts of mousse with his fingertips.
"You look fine, Freddie."
"Fine!?" He looked at her in panic. "Just fine? Ugh, why isn't this working." He gave up. The perfect quaff just wasn't happening for him today.
"You messed with it too much." Carly told him honestly. "It happens to the best of us."
"And ugh, why'd I pick this shirt!? I knew I should've gone with vertical stripes instead of stupid horizontal. Who wears horizontal stripes anyway? I'm just gonna go change real quick, I'll be right back-"
"Freddie. You're over thinking this. You look great. Just leave it alone, it's just Sam and Melanie."
"JUST Sam and Melanie?" He exclaimed. "The last time Melanie was in town she agreed to go on a date with me, we danced, AND she kissed me! Do you know how often that happens? I'll tell you. It's never!"
"Just calm down. Everything's gonna be fine. You said you guys have kept in touch, I promise you Freddie. It'll all go well."
"Easy for you to say, it's not like someone you like is coming over tonight."
"I like Sam." She told him, surprising herself.
"I mean like like." Freddie corrected. "This is so nerve-wracking. I haven't seen her in months. What if she's not into me anymore? What if she met somebody else at school? What if-"
"It's going to be okay!" Carly assured him. She was becoming mildly annoyed at his freak out. He was always overanalyzing everything.
"Sorry." He told her, calming down a bit. "I'm just really nervous."
"No! You don't say!" Carly teased him. "Let's go downstairs, Sam just texted. They're on their way up."
"Uhhhhgh." Freddie groaned out.
"So what are you kiddos gonna get into tonight?" Spencer asked the foursome as he screwed the top off of some industrial strength rubber cement - something for his newest masterpiece.
Melanie's arrival had gone over smoothly - for almost everyone. The teens had all greeted each other excitedly, with the exception of Freddie who was a blubbering nervous wreck.
"We're gonna go to the Groovy Smoothie and come back here for pizza and a movie." Carly told him.
"Sounds fun! Sorry, gotta go, I'm in the creative zone. Bring me a Blueberry Blitz!" And with that, Spencer retreated into his bedroom, home to his sculpture-in-progress.
When the gang returned from getting their smoothies, Sam and Carly headed to the kitchen to order a pizza or two for everyone.
Freddie had gotten over his initial anxiety and he and Melanie were getting along as well as ever. They sat in the living room, inadvertently ignoring the girls as they held each other enraptured with conversation.
"Be sure to order extra garlic sauce." Sam told Carly as they watched the brunette boy and blonde girl from across the room. "They sure seem to be hitting it off." She added.
"Yeah." Carly agreed, holding her phone, undialed and forgotten in her hand. "Nice to see it happening for someone."
"What does that mean?" Sam was curious.
"Nothing, just the crazy ramblings of a future lonely cat lady." Carly tried to dismiss.
"Do you feel lonely, Carls?" Sam asked, tone gentler than usual.
Carly met her eyes and sighed long and thoughtfully. Sam's blue orbs peered into Carly's chocolate ones; Carly found herself momentarily lost. Finally, she answered.
"No, I guess not." She told her friend. "Not with you."
The corner of Sam's mouth twitched into a grin, Carly mirroring the blonde with a coy smile of their own.
A voice from across the room interrupted their reverie.
"Hey, have we ordered the pizza?" Freddie questioned.
"No." Carly hollered back in response. "'Bout to!"
Pizza gone and everyone's stomachs full, the group lounged on the Shay's living room sofa. Everyone except Freddie, who'd taken a seat on the floor nearest to the end Melanie occupied. Carly and Sam had the other side.
Everybody was content and ready for the horror movie Freddie had rented from the kiosk down the street.
Somewhere between the opening credits and the first character death, Carly had grabbed a blanket from the top of the couch and draped it over herself. Sam poked her, and with puppy-dog eyes, convinced her to share.
Somewhere between that death and the next, Sam had managed to take Carly's hand under the blanket, Carly more than willing to let her.
Somewhere between that and the climax of the film, Sam's hand had managed to migrate to Carly's thigh and Carly's head to Sam's shoulder. The two remained unnoticed by their friends, who were more focused on each other. Sam rubbed light circles with the pad of her thumb over Carly's jeans and into her leg intermediately.
By the end of the movie, the girls were hand in hand again, Carly's move this time. Neither were quite certain what they were doing, but very sure of the pleasurable effect it had.
Carly wondered what had made Sam so bold recently. And then wondered that same question about herself.
The brunette girl looked over at her other two friends; Freddie and Melanie. She was pleased to see that Melanie had scooted down to the floor and was resting her head on Freddie's shoulder. Freddie's expression bemused her. It was a smug grin with underlying terror. She then noticed the two sets of teens paralleled each other, the only difference being Sam and Carly's affections remained hidden. This made her think.
The group sat contentedly after the movie's end, neither set moving. Spencer startled them as he ran through the living room shouting "Inspiration! Inspiration! I HAVE to go Socko's RIGHT NOW. He's got the welding kit! Be back sometime tomorrow morning!"
He was out the door before Carly could reply, "But it's midnight!"
A faint "Art knows no time!" Echoed it's way through the hall outside.
Following Spencer's departure, the gang agreed that an all night movie marathon was the only correct course of action.
And with a little arm twisting, Sam and Melanie convinced Carly to break into Spencer's rarely opened bottle of barely drunken rum.
"I swear, Carls. Me and Melanie will have it replaced before he'll ever have clue."
"Yeah, our mom drinks the same brand. Don't even worry about it."
The Puckett twins were most alike in their skill of persuasion.
Two rum and cokes each and 45 minutes into When a Stranger Calls later, Sam bumped Carly's should her. The blonde nodded towards her sister and nerdy friend.
Carly gaped as she realized the two were quietly making out. Sam was smirking at the sight.
Carly didn't know how to feel. She'd never really witnessed anybody making out this close to her before, especially not a friend like Freddie. Or Melanie, who was identical to Sam. Sam, the girl she was currently curled up against. The girl she couldn't stop thinking about. Or touching.
For a moment, and she wasn't sure if it was just because of the alcohol or now, but she and Sam held each other's gaze like neither had held before.
Carly couldn't help the butterflies going mad in her stomach. Or the electric voltage that penetrated through Sam's eyes and into her own.
She tried focusing on the movie, and so did Sam. It was the most unbearable hour of their lives.