So, we're heading towards the home stretch, folks. Sad. I'd have this go on forever if I could! This chapter is pretty long, however, so I hope that's some consolation. And that you enjoy it.
The reviews so far have been uh-mazing, truly. You guys are wonderful. :]
"Love, isn't a choice. It's a reaction. A magical connection beyond our feeble ability to explain or understand."- Jason Reeves ❤
You loved me 'cause I'm fragile, when I thought that I was strong.
"Close your eyes," he ordered her gently, and she crossed her arms pretending to be defiant, shaking her head.
"Not gonna."
He smiled and took a breath, leaning forward –– effectively trapping her between the edge of the table and himself. "Close. Your. Eyes."
Sam cleared her throat, trying to ignore how close he was. How she could suddenly feel his breath.
And God, that damn aftershave...
She finally obliged, though adding an unspoken doof with a look. (Simply because she could.)
"For you."
She squinted one eye open as he slowly placed the small object inside of her upturned palm. "Necklace?"
Beaming, he nodded, pulling apart the bottom half of the multicolored lock pendant. "A USB necklace."
Of course. She laughed as he placed its small cover beside her on the ledge. "Really, Benson?" She actually would have been happy with just the necklace, but the fact that he'd think to get her this was just...so very him.
He feigned hurt, a hand to his chest. "Hey, this thing has 34 gigabytes of memory, Sam."
She raised an eyebrow. "You know, a gift certificate would have worked...Fat cakes. A new hatchet-"
He cut her off with a laugh of his own, reaching over her to turn the monitor of Carly's computer on. "Why don't you just put it in?"
Sam shrugged and nodded, swerving around in the chair to face the screen. "Whatever you say, man."
She tapped her fingers absently before the device loaded, the screen popping up displaying a catalog of videos and pictures.
Turning around she tilted her head at him, not exactly sure what she was looking at. He smiled and leaned forwards, taking the mouse. "It's kind of like a scrapbook, I guess," he answered, reading her mind before she could ask.
Always reading her mind.
"They're all of the pictures I've taken of all of us and some of my favorite clips from the web show."
He gave her a sheepish smile before clicking through some more of the photos. "I just thought it might be something you'd like to keep." Sam's face warmed and she smiled; her eyes fixed on him rather than the screen. "You know, memories."
Freddie finally turned his head to her, catching her stare. He smiled. "What?"
"Hmm?" She shook her head and cleared her throat to speak. "Nothing."
"God," she laughed, after taking the mouse herself, looking up in disbelief. "Some of these are from seventh grade." She nodded with an air of finality, turning in the chair and looking up at him. "It's official; I have known you way too long."
"Well, you can't get rid of me now, Puckett." He gave her a grin and brushed her hair off her shoulders. "Safe to say, you're stuck with me."
She blinked. "Stuck," she parroted, on a breath, suddenly very aware of how close he was once again.
"I, uh," she paused, straightening her stupid tiara, "thanks," she finally settled on. "It's great...Extremely cheesy," she added, teasing and he rolled his eyes. "But great."
He grinned. "Oh, it gets cheesier."
"There's more?"
"Click the first video," he told her, spinning the chair around for her. He bent down gently and her eyes widened at him as he placed a quick kiss on the crown of her head. "Come back up when you're done. We'll cut the cake."
He stepped back, leaving her to do nothing but nod as he started walking towards the stairs.
She finally let out the breath she didn't even realize she'd been holding and moved the cursor to click play.
It opened to a shot of him at his desk, wearing one of his many plaid shirts along with a ridiculously bright crooked smile, and his hair side swept over his face.
She immediately smiled, brushing her bangs aside, her stomach suddenly nervous at whatever he was going to say.
"Hey, there, Sam. So, oddly enough? There are no cards for a childhood adversary, turned web show co-worker, turned friend, turned girlfriend, turned ex slash friend again. Best friend," he amended and she placed her hand under her chin with a shake of her head.
"Believe me. I checked."
She laughed out loud this time, and sat back in the chair, tilting her head fondly at the screen.
"I have a little story for you. It's a pretty good one, if I do say so myself. See, there was this kid, just starting the sixth grade – and this particular day was picture day. Now his, uh, overly...zealous mother had bought him a brand new outfit to wear."
Her eyes lit up, she definitely remembered this day.
"So, there a was a girl in his art period. Loud, stubborn... an aversion to doing anything she was asked. Had a mess of the curliest longest blond hair he'd ever seen. Well, this kid, he made the mistake of sitting next to her that day. Now without boring you with the details –– I'll just say that the day ended with a sweater vest covered in non-washable red and blue paint, and a very, very pissed off mother."
Sam just grinned; the look on his face had been absolutely priceless.
"Of course, he decided right then that he never wanted anything to do with this crazy chick," he looked up in thought and bit his lip. "Yeah...worked out well." He flashed the camera a coy smile and she took a deep breath, rolling her eyes half halfheartedly.
"Hey," Sam turned around to see Carly on the steps. "Birthday girl – ready to hear all of your friends sing to you? Loudly and extremely off key?"
She smiled at her best friend, slowly getting off the seat and adjusting her dress. "Really?" she teased. "Come on, Gib has perfect pitch."
...
"Freddie, I'm going to grab another cupcake," Amy informed him and he laughed.
"Ams, we're gonna cut the cake soon."
She shrugged innocently and smiled. "They're really good cupcakes."
He nodded with a teasing smile as she let go of his hand towards the snack table.
Gibby arrived next to him, with a curious look. "Hey, Fred."
"What's up?"
"Who's that," he stopped and pointed towards Amy, currently unwrapping her red velvet cupcake on a stick.
"Dude," he tilted his head at him. "That would be Amy. My girlfriend. For the past four months."
"Ah," Gibby nodded, taking a sip of his drink. "Right."
Freddie extended his hands out. Was he missing something here?
"I guess, I'm just a little confused then."
He sighed. "Why's that, Gib?"
The room quieted down as Carly pulled Sam along to the front of the room, and he stopped to look up as she stood in front of her cake, looking down and absently fidgeting with her dress.
"Because you've been staring at Sam all night."
"Man, come on." He shook his head, running his hand behind his neck. "I-"
"Yeah." Gibby nodded and cut him off, giving him a look. Before Freddie could say anything else, he fist pumped the air and turned towards the front of the room. "Time for cake!"
Amy walked back towards him as the crowd started singing, and she leaned towards him holding out her hand. "Grabbed you one too."
He cleared his throat. "Thanks."
"Hey," she squinted and tugged on his shirt. "You okay?"
He nodded as they faced Sam, joining the others as she held her hair back, leaning in to blow out her candles.
"Yeah. I'm fine."
...
"Seven years later and uh, here we are. And you know, thinking about it...Not too much has changed. You're still just as loud...stubborn. And crazy. The hair's a little bit shorter though," he half laughed and looked down before facing up at the camera again.
"You're still the amazingly strong – in every sense of the word – creative, funny, overly sarcastic and energetic girl who somehow against all odds became one of the most important people in my life."
...
Sam smiled, taking a breath, looking around the room – everyone's eyes on her as they sang.
There was that itchy feeling again.
She blinked up and turned her head, scanning faces until her eyes stopped on Freddie. She leaned her head to the side, her lips curving. She mouthed a silent 'thank you' and he nodded, smiling, a slight shrug of the shoulders as he whispered back, "you're welcome."
Carly nudged her and wrapped an arm around her after the singing was done and stepped back ordering her to make a wish.
Right. A wish.
Her mom had once told her that getting what you want is easy – knowing what you want is always the hard part.
She exhaled, and looked up in thought.
What did she want?
...
Sam sat at the ledge again, running her hands through her now free hair. The tiara now on top of its rightful owner's head. "For being the best, best friend," she'd told her with a wiggle of her eyebrow. "You throw a kick ass party."
Carly was now behind her with a garbage bag, picking up stray red cups and plates that had somehow ended up downstairs.
"So, you sure you had fun?" she asked, suddenly, making Sam swivel her head around.
"I did," she answered over her shoulder. "Really. It was great."
...
"And, okay, so a few things have changed. Us, for example. As I pointed out in my difficulty in trying to find the right card." He laughed softly, tapping his fingers on his desk.
"But, I, uh. I think this works out a lot better. Because I think we sort of...defy any particular label. And, well, no matter what's happened with us, I hope you know by now I'm always going to be around."
...
She stared at the monitor, his video for her still on the screen, her chest suddenly feeling constricted, making it hard to breathe.
"Sam..." Carly placed the full garbage bag down, the concern radiating off her as she stepped forward and Sam could feel her eyes on her back.
"So..." She folded her hands resting them on the table before looking up. "Remember when were talking about you wanting me to be happy?"
"Mmm," Carly paused, joining her by the computer. "Which time?" she joked, softly, trying to give her a reassuring smile.
Sam scoffed, and attempted a laugh."Yeah, well." She looked down as Carly rested her hand on her shoulder, gently prodding her to press on.
"Well, what if..." She trailed off and shook her head, disbelieving. "What if, he's what makes me happy?"
She let out a breath, looking back at the paused video, tugging at the other half of the USB chain around her neck.
No one had ever spoken to her the way that he did. Made her feel as cared about. And when she'd looked across the room again before blowing out those candles, seeing his girlfriend holding his hand...
The only thing that came to her mind to wish for – was that it was her.
She faced Carly with a hopeless shrug, and a sharp sigh, fairly certain her eyes were almost welling up.
"Aw, Sam..."
The look on Carly's face summed up exactly what she already knew.
"I think I'm still in love with him."
She brushed her hair behind her ear with a slow nod. "Yeah..."
That she was completely and utterly screwed.
...
"So, I'm sure you're probably getting sick of listening to my voice by this point, but um, I just wanted to say that...I hope you never forget how extraordinary you are. And also that I am extremely glad you poured paint all over me that day." He paused and leaned towards the camera, with a sly grin. "I hated that sweater, anyway."
"Have the most amazing eighteenth birthday, Sam –– Hate you."
...
But you touch me for a little while, and all my fragile strength is gone.
This, my darlings, is what those in the biz would call a "plot beat." I mean, I assume so, me not actually being in the biz...I have no idea. ;]