Chapter Fourteen: The Final Flashback
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
I heard the familiar sound coming from the other side of my door just as I was putting the finishing touches on my rubber duck sculpture. I dropped my paintbrush, which unfortunately landed in my bowl of grapes - aw…. - and jogged over to answer the door. I swung it open and Freddie strolled in.
"Oh hey Freddie," I said. "Sam and Carly aren't here, they went to Build-a-Bra."
"I know." Freddie said, plopping down on the couch. He reached for the bowl of grapes but stopped just before getting a handful of yellow paint.
"Uh, Spence?"
"Yeah?"
"Your grapes are yellow." He chuckled and gave me that signature Freddie smirk.
"Yeah, it's for my duck!" I pointed toward the four-foot sculpture behind him and he just looked at me in confusion. Some people just don't understand great art. "Anyway, what are doing over here?"
Freddie's face grew serious all of a sudden. He sighed and looked at his feet before finally saying "I need to ask you something."
Inside, I flipped the switch to Dr. Spencer mode and took a seat next to him on the couch. "Sure, what is it?"
"Well, me and Sam have been together for a while now…"
"I know, like eight years!"
"Right…anyway, I just thought that now was the time to take things to the next level."
"Oh my God, you're gonna propose." I said evenly. Freddie nodded yes. I tried to contain my excitement - honest, I did. But the magnitude of the moment combined with the joy of my plan coming to fruition overwhelmed me.
"Yeah!" I yelled, jumping up onto the coffee table and doing a dance I was unaware I knew how to do. Freddie looked on in disbelief until I jumped back down and pulled him up off the couch and hit him with a barrage of questions.
"When? Where? How? Come on, give me the deets!"
"I don't know" he said.
"What?"
"I don't know…that's why I came here." The excitement quickly fading, we both sat back down. We began to discuss things, the how's and where's and when's. We both agreed that the traditional fairy-tale proposal wasn't in the equation. Sam wasn't like other girls. We brainstormed for hours, trying to figure out the best way to be romantic without being TOO romantic.
"I've got it!" I exclaimed, an idea so simple and brilliant popping into my head. Freddie eagerly asked for me to explain, and I went on to describe my plan in detail. We both agreed that it was nothing short of perfect. We worked out the details, and Freddie left to mentally prepare.
And what was this brilliant plan, you ask? Well, first of all, there was a big MMA fight this weekend, so that would be the beginning. Sam loved MMA fights, and Freddie was also, surprisingly, a big fan. After the fight, Freddie would take Sam to the new restaurant that opened downtown called Hamalot. I think that part is pretty self-explanatory. The next part was tricky. I was supposed to text Freddie telling him there was an emergency and he needed to get here quick. They would rush over to Bushwell and Freddie would text me back asking where, to which I would simply respond 'Fire Escape'. When they get there, it will be set up exactly as it was on that one fateful day when the two shared their first kiss. And that is where Fredward Benson would propose to Samantha Puckett.
I wish I knew all the details of that day. I wish I could have seen the way Sam reacted, first to an amazing fight, then to mountains of ham, then to a fake emergency, and finally I would have most liked to have seen her reaction when they stepped out on that fire escape and her thoughts went racing back to the first time she was there. I would have loved to see her face when Freddie pulled the ring out of his pocket.
And I would have loved to see the look on both their faces when she said yes.