With Dawn having never been popular at school, Carly could only come up with one answer as to why so many people had actually shown up at her party: she had a backyard. No one wanted to stand inside an apartment during a party, where even air conditioning couldn't stop beads of sweat from forming on people's foreheads. With the summer sun long gone, outside was cool, refreshing, and the only place people wanted to be.

If only her backyard weren't so damn small, Carly wouldn't help but think, yet knew that it was rare for anyone in a city to have large backyard. She found herself pressed up against a wooden fence with some boy standing only inches away, whether he wanted to or not. But he was a cute boy, and had drunkenly handed Carly an unopened bottle of sipping rum which she delightfully opened up.

"So you're going into grade twelve?" Carly asked him, wishing she could remember the stranger's name. Mentally, she decided to call him Boy.

Boy nodded, dark brown hair falling into his deliciously blue eyes that somehow managed to shimmer even in the night. "Yup, final year of high school, but I'm considering dropping out. I mean, I don't really need an education for my career. I want to be a male face model; that, or a superhero DJ. Maybe both."

Superhero DJ? Carly just nodded anyways, too in love with Boy's eyes to move… not that she really had a choice. Boy suddenly pulled a joint out of his pocket, and seeing Carly's lip curl in disgust, she asked if she minded. "Oh, no," she responded although she hated the smell of weed, "please, go ahead. You know," she added only because the rum had made her mouth loose, "in Laos they can arrest you for life for carrying drugs."

Boy grinned lazily as he began to light up. "Laos? What's that, a modeling company?"

Carly cringed. Just as she was about to respond that Laos was a country in Asia, Dawn somehow managed to pop up between them. "Hi!" she cried, her wide-set eyes large and her grin even larger. "Hey, I'm so glad you guys met. Carly, this is my cousin."

Cousin, Carly thought with a frown, for the two did not look alike at all. Either way she nodded, then coughed loudly until she got Dawn's attention. The girl stared at Carly for only a moment before cluing in to her coughing message. With a dramatized gasp, she cried, "Callum! You can't smoke in my backyard. It's disgusting." Without warning, she snatched the joint out of his hand and yelled as she walked away to dispose of it, "I'm disappointed in you Callum."

So that's his name!

Callum hadn't seemed to notice his now missing joint. He continued to grin at Carly. "So Laos," he spoke slowly, "is a big modeling company? Do you have connections to maybe hook me up with them?"

Carly smiled tightly back with a laugh. Callum was just too irresistible to walk away from, and she knew that if she did another girl would be on him in a second. Popping open the lid of the rum, she took a large gulp. It warmed and burned her chest, but Carly decided she would need a little more if she was planning to stay with the gorgeous, but stupid, Callum.

Part of what made Dawn's backyard so small was the garden shed that had been built in the corner. As the night drew on, Sam began to eye it more and more. She stood with a group of kids in her grade who she rarely knew, and who were so drunk that they no longer understood Sam's monotone sarcasm. Part of her had known that she wouldn't enjoy Dawn's party, but she at least thought that she would be there with Carly, but gazing around Sam couldn't see her anywhere. Finishing off the beer in her hand, Sam dropped the bottle onto the grass and pushed her way to the garden shed.

Sam hardly felt tipsy as slipped behind the garden shed and the wooden fence, desperate for escape from the crowd. She had been watching her feet as she walked, but looking down she spotted something that was more than just grass. Quick as a flash, Sam snapped her eyes up and let out a cry of shock, "Freddie?"

"Sam?"

Sam's mouth dropped open at the sight of him just in front of her, but only briefly before she snapped it shut. Nonetheless, she found herself at a loss of words as Freddie eyed her uncertainly. A short period time passed before Sam forced a wicked smirk onto her face and asked, "What the hell are you doing behind the garden shed, Fredweird? God, could you be any more of a creep?"

"Then what exactly are you doing here?" Freddie tried not to smile at his accomplished retort, causing Sam to hesitate before responding.

"Well at least I said I was going to come to this party and not just show up randomly. You told Carly you weren't coming."

"Carly said you weren't coming."

"Clearly I changed my mind if I arrived here with Carly!" Sam scowled, turning away slightly as she nibbled on her bottom lip. "So why exactly are you here Freddie?"

"Carly sent me a text telling me that you were both here and that I should come. I don't know why she did," Freddie added quickly before Sam could snap at him again, "but I probably should have stayed home in the end. After I couldn't find either of you I came back here to just get away from everyone for a moment."

Sam nodded, knowing exactly how Freddie felt. Part of her wished that she could have just enjoyed being outside in the cool air like everyone else – even if it was at Dawn's house – yet there was something that had been on her mind the whole time, ruining her time. What had been on her mind? Unfortunately, it had been Freddie, and meeting him unexpectedly behind the garden shed was the last thing Sam needed. To her surprise though, she began to feel herself relax the longer she stood in silence, and she couldn't convince herself that it was because she had gotten away from the crowd.

Head tilted down, Sam watched Freddie from the corner of her eye, peering out from behind a veil of long blonde hair. Her skin began to tingle, causing her to catch her breath. He was right there, she was right there, it was so simple. Was it? Sam didn't really think it was, and clearing her throat, fixed her position so that she stood lazily against the fence. Without warning, she suddenly stumbled into the arms of Freddie.

"Whoa," she made herself giggle uncontrollably, "sorry about that."

"Are you okay?" Freddie began to ask, but Sam had suddenly placed her lips on his. They were only there for a second before Freddie gripped her arms and shoved her back. "What are you doing?" he hissed.

Sam stumbled and looked as if she was having trouble keeping her balance. "Come on Freddie. Just pretend we're on the fire escape outside your room."

"But we're not," he said flatly, seriously, "we're at a party. You said you didn't want anyone to know."

"Look Freddie, I've had a little too much to drink and I can't remember saying any of that before. Besides, no one is going to see us. We're behind a shed!" She willingly fell into his arms, but he wasn't quite giving in like she had hoped. Freddie was avoiding her stare, glancing up at the clear night sky.

"You're not drunk," he told her, "I know you aren't because you and I were having a perfectly sober conversation only minutes ago. Just snap out of it. You know what you said, and you said that there's nothing for people to see. Well what if they see us?"

Half of Sam's mouth turned up into a wicked grin as she pressed herself against Freddie. She flipped her thumbs into the front pockets of Freddie's jeans, and her four fingers down his jeans as far as they would go. "I don't care if people see," she whispered, placing her lips back onto Freddie's, missing the sight of his face light up by her words. It took only a moment before Freddie was kissing her back, causing Sam to laugh. "You're so easy," she murmured between kisses.

If Freddie were going to respond, Sam would have never known. Someone had clearly called out her name, spotting her hidden behind the garden shed. There was a sudden gasp from the irritating stranger, snapping Sam to her senses. "Shit," she said a tad too loudly, pulling back from Freddie. She lifted up her hands, placing one of Freddie's shoulder and the other on the side of his head, pushing him hard until he fell around the corner of the garden shed and out of sight.

Hesitating, Sam finally looked up to see, who else, Dawn Flannigan. Her eyes were even wider than normal, eyebrows arched like a cartoon's, and her lips hung open like some beached fish gasping for hair. Unconsciously, Sam wiped her mouth as she snapped, "What the fuck do you want Dawn? Dawn?"

On the repeat of her name, Dawn quickly shook her head. A false smile was slapped back onto her mouth before it was replaced with a look of concern. "Right," she said quickly, "it's Carly. I came to get you since you're her best friend even though I sometimes think I could be Carly's best friend too, but I had to ask a bunch of people before someone finally said they saw you by the garden shed so I looked behind it and –"

"Dawn!" Sam cried.

"Right," the girl squeaked, "it's Carly. She's throwing up next to the sunflowers."

Well that's not something you hear every day, Sam thought bitterly. Wiping her mouth again, she told Dawn to wait for her, making up some feeble excuse that she had dropped her phone. On her hands and knees pretending to look for it, Sam tired to not make it too obvious as she peered around the corner of the shed. No matter how hard she squinted in the dark, she could not see Freddie anywhere. He was gone.

Sam stood outside Dawn's house, waiting for a cab with one arm of Carly slumped over her shoulder. Carly kept mumbling about someone named Callum and Laos and hating the taste of rum. What the hell is Laos? Sam thought angrily, and if Carly hadn't smelled of vomit she would have snapped at Carly to stop repeating herself.

"So," Dawn said slowly who had decided to wait for a cab with Sam, no matter how hard she said she was fine taking care of Carly herself. "Get any action tonight, huh, huh?" Dawn let out a laugh, but stopped immediately when Sam didn't join in, didn't even look at her. There was a pause before Dawn, who just couldn't shut up, continued, "Is it weird making out with one of your best friends? Because you and Freddie have been friends for like, a really long time –"

"Alright," Sam replied simply, "alright, what do you want? Money, food? I can do your homework when we get back to school, but don't be expecting any good marks."

"What do you mean?"

"Well aren't you going to blackmail me or something?" Sam answered as if it were simple to understand, "Isn't that where you're going with this?"

Dawn looked appalled. "Blackmail you? Why would I do that? I mean I may have seen you making out with –"

"No need to repeat it," Sam cut in. "In fact, we're never going to speak of this again, got it? Not even in front of Carly. And if I ever catch you telling anyone of this, you might as well start packing your suitcases because you'll be living in a hospital for a while."

With a tight smile, Dawn replied, "If you were anyone else but Sam, I wouldn't believe you. But don't worry. I'm great at keeping secrets, especially with my coolest friends."

Sam rolled her eyes as she shifted the weight of Carly on her back. To her relief, Dawn stayed quiet, the only sound between them escaping as a burp from Carly's mouth. When the cab rolled up, Dawn helped shuffle Carly across the back seat. Sam told the driver the apartment building where Carly lived, then climbed in.

Before she closed the door, Sam turned back and looked seriously at Dawn. "And another thing," she told her, "Freddie and I were never best friends."

-

A/N - So how exactly does Sam feel about Freddie?? You'll have to wait and see :)... and thanks for the reviews so far!

x0

Vintage88