Chapter 20

It's been a long time since Sam has had a good night sleep. She had fallen asleep so quickly, that she hadn't changed her clothes. She was still wearing the dress from her date with David last night. She woke up feeling happy and refreshed, but when she realized she was still wearing the dress, she quickly got it off, and hopped in the shower.

Carly was waiting for Sam in her room when Sam came back from the shower to get dressed. Immediately, Carly started to drill Sam about what took place last night that got her and Freddie together.

"Geez, can't I even get dressed first?" Sam moaned as she reached in her backpack for a long-sleeve t-shirt and pair of jeans.

"Sam," Carly cried, "I'm dying here," she pleaded with her friend to tell her the story.

"I'll tell you and Spencer both what happened when I get into the kitchen to eat," Sam replied, as she was putting her jeans on. She quickly put her shirt on, and walked out of the bedroom towards the kitchen.

"You can be so impossible sometimes," Carly said annoyed, but she followed her friend into the kitchen.

Spencer was finishing his bacon and eggs at the table, when Sam reached the refrigerator. "Hey Spence," she said as she was about to bury her head in the fridge door, "how's your hand feeling today?"

Spencer's hand had some new bandages on it that he had put on first thing in the morning. "It stings at times," he said with a serious face, "but it looks like it's healing okay."

"All right Sam," Carly snapped, as she joined her brother at the kitchen table, "no more stalling. We're both here, now tell us what happened with you and Freddie last night."

Spencer was just about to get up, but he was interested in finding out what happened as well. "Yeah," he said with a smile, "I've really got to stay for this."

Sam pulled out some turkey leftovers from the Thanksgiving dinner, and took a seat at the table. "Oh all right, you two," she growled slightly, "I'll tell you now."

So, Sam told the Shay siblings what happened yesterday which included the incident on the couch. She told them about what happened when she returned from her date, and the confrontation she had with Freddie upstairs. She told them about pushing Freddie to the floor and nearly cracking his head open; about the fact that they finally opened up about their feelings to one another, and finally about how they admitted their love to one another.

Carly and Spencer just "oooed", and "aahed", and "awwed", while Sam told them the story. When Sam was finished, she got up from the table; put the remaining leftovers in the fridge, and began to walk back towards Carly's bedroom. The doorbell rang, and she stopped in her tracks grinning.

"Go ahead and get the door Sam, we know it's for you," Carly smirked, and Spencer was smiling at Sam broadly.

Sam rolled her eyes at them, but she began blushing. She walked to the door, and opened it. Sure enough, the door was definitely for her.

"Good morning my sweet," Freddie smiled as he gazed at the object of his affection.

"Yeah, good morning to you too, dork," she said dryly, but was having a hard time holding back a smile.

Freddie walked in and stood a few inches in front of her, "Did you not have a good night's sleep last night?" He asked curiously, still grinning a bit.

"No," Sam couldn't look at him without laughing, so she gazed at his chest, and said, "I had a GREAT night's sleep last night. Ask Carly."

Freddie looked past Sam to Carly. Carly met Freddie's gaze, and hollered, "Yes Freddie, Sam fell asleep the second her head hit the pillow." Carly got up from the kitchen table, and wanted a closer view of the entertainment that was in front of her, so she walked into the living room and sat on the couch. Spencer left the kitchen, and went into his room.

Freddie turned back to Sam, and noticed that she wasn't facing him. He had a feeling she was doing this on purpose, so he put his hands on her face, and slowly raised her head so that her gaze met his. "Did my girl sleep like a baby last night?" He asked trying not to laugh.

"You've got to be the biggest dweeb I've ever met," she called out to his face with a great big grin; then all she could do was just laugh. She wrapped her arms around Freddie and hugged him tight.

Freddie had let go of her face with his hands when she embraced him, he was also giggling with his girlfriend, and held her warmly. He kissed the top of her head firmly; then laid his chin on her head.

The laughing began to cease, and Freddie moved his head to gaze at Sam. They leaned in to lock lips in a soft kiss.

Carly looked at her friends. "I am so happy for the two of you," she said, as she rose from the couch and gave Sam and Freddie a hug. The three of them hugged for several seconds.

Finally, they broke out of their circle, and Carly excused herself to go to her bedroom for a few minutes.

Freddie reached back to rub the back of his head for a moment, as the sore that was on the back of his head from falling the previous night began to cause a little discomfort.

Sam noticed him doing this, "Does your head still hurt that much?" She asked concerned.

"It just stings a little at times," he answered her as he quit rubbing his head. Sam reached back behind his head and started rubbing it gently. Freddie closed his eyes and sighed softly as she was doing this.

Sam grinned slightly, "I'm just returning the favor that you did for me last week when I was the one with a bump on the head," she said as she finished rubbing and she bent over to kiss his cheek.

Freddie opened his eyes and smiled back at her, "Well, my head is definitely feeling better now. I feel ready to do anything now."

"Great," she said, "so what were you planning on doing with me today, my new boytoy?"

"Actually," Freddie answered Sam, "I came by to see if you wanted to exercise with me this morning."

"Sure," Sam replied smiling, "but I need to go by my place on the way to get my gym clothes."

Freddie nodded, "Okay," he replied, "just let me know when you are ready to go."

Sam began walking towards Carly's bedroom. "I just need to make sure I have everything first," she called out as she disappeared for a minute.

Freddie waited patiently pondering his thoughts about the events of the last twelve hours. I can't believe I'm exercising with my girlfriend today, he thought, and that girlfriend is Sam!

Sam reappeared, "You ready?" She asked quickly.

Freddie nodded, "Yep," and followed her out into the hall, "My gym clothes are right by my front door," he said, as he opened the door to his apartment; reached in for his bag, and shut the door again. They were walking down the hallway to the elevator.

"Hey Freddo," she asked gently, "we are doing more today that exercising, right?"

"Well, yeah," he answered surprised, "I was hoping we could spend the whole day together doing stuff."

"You mean I have to spend my 'whole' day with you?" She smirked.

They had reached the elevator, and as the door opened, Freddie reached over and grabbed Sam and lifted her up. Sam squealed but was also laughing.

Freddie was laughing too. "Of course you have to spend the 'whole' day with your boyfriend!" He hollered loudly to anyone who could listen. He finally put Sam down when they were in the elevator.

"All right, I guess, you talked me into it." Sam tried to answer with a serious face. But when she looked at Freddie, they both began to giggle.

They took each other's hand, and walked out of the elevator when it came to a rest at the lobby. They walked out of the building, and began their first adventure together as boyfriend and girlfriend.

XxXxXxXxXx

They made a quick stop at Sam's place so she could grab her gym clothes. Sam had wanted to tell her mom that she had a new boyfriend, but, as usual, her mother wasn't at home to find out. So after she grabbed her bag, the two headed for the gym.

They spent two hours at the gym. They played a couple games of racket ball. Freddie won the first game easily, but Sam was determined in the second game to beat him, and she did barely. Afterward, they played a little one-on-one hoops on the basketball court. The game started out fun, but they got a little out of control down the stretch as they were purposely fouling each other just to get a little physical with one another playfully. Later, they worked with weights in the weight room. Freddie mostly watched Sam during this period as his head was hurting a little and he didn't want to push it. After they changed back to their street clothes, they decided to make a quick stop to Groovie Smoothies.

The three of them didn't stop at Groovie Smoothies much these days because the weather was turning so cool, and they didn't like to drink cold smoothies in cold weather. Today, though, Freddie and Sam had quite a workout, and they felt the coolness from drinking a smoothie would feel nice.

They both ordered 32oz smoothies with Sam getting a blueberry flavor, and Freddie getting a cherry flavor. They went to the table that they sat in on that miserable day in September in which Sam had been blown off my Carly's boyfriend.

When they got seated, both of them took big sips of their smoothies. "This smoothie is so-o good," Sam said blinking heavily, "but I sure am getting hungry though."

"Yeah, me too," Freddie answered as he tried to keep up with Sam on drinking his smoothie, "what did you want to do about lunch?"

"We could go back to my place," she answered giving him a wicked smile.

"Sam," he grinned, "you naughty little girl," he laughed. As much as he had been waiting for the two for them to get together; and to be alone with her, he suddenly realized that he was nervous to REALLY be alone with her.

Sam gave him a playful punch to the arm. "Control them nerdy little hormones, Freddo," she said with a smirk, "I wasn't trying to imply something like that." But hearing a comment like that come out of Freddie's mouth did surprise her. It sort of made her a little nervous. Her face began to turn serious. "You're not going to be one of those guys, are you Freddie?"

He saw how serious she was about this, and he took it seriously as well. He loved Sam very much, and wanted to be with her whenever possible, but he knew that they would only stay together by taking things slow, and being truthful about everything.

"Sam," he began, "you and I won't even be fifteen until early next year. Besides, I'm in no rush to do anything that you and I wouldn't be ready for. Gosh, we haven't even been dating for a full day yet. I love what you and I have now, and I wouldn't jeopardize that for the world."

Sam smiled. She got up from the table (she had been sitting across from him), and moved to where he was sitting, and sat down next to him. She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "I know that you would never hurt me like that."

Freddie wrapped his arm around her, and she leaned her head on his shoulder. Freddie bent down and lightly kissed her head. He sat back up and they sat in silence for a few minutes. It was just as well; they had been slurping their smoothies so fast, that they were getting a brain freeze.

Sam's cell phone broke the silence. In fact, it startled both Freddie and Sam to the point that it made them jump. Sam reached into her pocket to grab the phone. She looked to see who was calling, and frowned when she saw who it was. She set the phone down on the table letting it continue to ring.

"Sam, who's calling you?" Freddie asked surprised that she would just let it ring and not pick it up.

"David," she answered quietly staring at the phone. After a few seconds, the ringing stopped. Thirty seconds after that her phone beeped, indicating that she had a voice mail.

"Oh," Freddie had said while this sequence with Sam's phone was going on. He looked over to Sam, "Are you going to talk to him?"

Sam shook her head, "No," she said, her mind racing, "I really don't have anything to say to him. I'm surprised he even bothered to call me considering how the date went last night."

She rose from the table to grab her jacket and gym bag. Freddie followed suit.

They threw their cups in the garbage can, and went outside. Instantly, they began to shiver from drinking the cold drink; and then going out to sub-40 degree temperatures.

Freddie noticed that Sam was really cold, so he took his jacket off, and put it around Sam. This made him a little cold, but he didn't care about himself. They only had a short distance to walk to get home.

"I know where we can eat lunch," Freddie said, and grabbed Sam's hand. They began to walk away from his building, and back towards Sam's place.

Sam was all ears. "Where, Freddo?" She asked somewhat excited.

"Let's go to Marina Park," he grinned, "we'll stop at your place first to drop off your bag, and I'll call a cab to take us."

Sam smiled, "That sounds great, let's go!" She began to run to her apartment.

Freddie's stomach was still settling from the smoothie, but he raced to catch up with her.

They reached her place, and went inside for a few minutes to warm up, and for Sam to drop off her bag. Freddie called for a cab, and they waited at the front door for it to arrive.

While they were waiting, Sam decided to listen to the voice mail that David had left her. She was rolling her eyes and shaking her head while listening to the message. She put the phone back into her pocket after she was listening without saying a word.

Freddie wasn't sure what to say. He was staring at Sam the whole time, and he saw that she showed very little emotion on the situation.

Finally, Freddie said, "You're not having second thoughts about being with me, are you?"

Sam whipped around to look at him, and gave him a weird look, "Are you crazy, you big dork?" She said passively, "you saw how that jerk treated me, like I was number one until a prettier girl walked by. How can you say that I want to be with that?"

Freddie shrugged apologetically, "Sorry, I just want to make sure that you and I are on the same page here," he said trying not to get upset, "I mean you've had to decide between me and him, and I know he's better looking than I am…"

Sam began to laugh out loud. It caught Freddie by surprise. He wasn't sure if he wanted to be angry that she was laughing or happy.

"You seriously think I would rather be with someone who's nice on the outside rather than someone who's nice on the inside?" Sam asked as her laughter subsided. "Freddork, don't get me wrong, I want to be with a cute guy and all," she said with a twinkle in her eye, as she put her hand on Freddie's cheek, "so yes, you're cute, and…I LOVE you." She reached over and kissed him gently on the lips.

"You've shown me nothing but love and caring for me since the beginning of the school year, if not even before that," Sam continued, "if you promise me that you can be that sort of man that feels for me the way you have since; I wouldn't want to be with anyone else. It's that simple Freddie."

Freddie nodded and smiled. Their cab was pulling up to the door. "I promise." He said gently.

She grabbed his hand, and they walked over to the cab. "Now, let's go have some fun," she smiled.

"Oh yeah, baby," he smiled as they got into the cab.

Author's Note: And so the relationship begins. It was nice that they discussed their feelings about what they expect from one another. At the moment, they are communicating well, and understanding each other. School is back in session in the next chapter, and it'll prove to be an interesting day. Thanks again to all who review.