Chapter 30: Back to Normal?

Author's Note: Geez guys, are you surprised? I know I am. But yes, I'm back. And I sincerely apologize for not updating this in like, over a year. I guess that this year has been the busiest of my life, but besides that, I guess I sort of lost my inspiration for Seddie. I haven't been in the Seddie gossip much lately :P, but I feel like they rushed into dating too quickly. Like they find out they like each other and then the next thing you know, they're dating like none of their crazy past has ever happened. But the inspiration is back! It's mostly because one of my best friends is obsessed with Seddie and she talks to me about it a lot so I've been more excited about them too. But anyway, the other night, I decided to look back at my fanfiction and I went straight to this story and I read every chapter. I don't know if you guys remember, but I had added another chapter (now deleted) asking you guys if you think I should have left the 29th chapter as the last chapter. I didn't mean to make that chapter the last one, but a lot of you seemed to think so. But, I actually had a written outline of what I wanted to put in the rest of the chapters, and I'd like to write them. I know that most of you probably forgot about this story, but I remember how amazingly you guys all reviewed and stuff, so I decided I WILL finish it. :) Like I said, you guys probably forgot about this story, so if you want, you might want to look back at the past few chapters so you remember what was going on. Anyway, this is the longest author's note EVER, so I'm gonna shut up and get to the story. But one last thing: thank you guys so much, and I am so sorry for not updating this story in so long.

P.S. I don't think I even have to say this, but obviously, in this story, iOMG and everything after never happened.

P.S.S. By the way, just so that there's no more confusion, I'm pretty sure the last chapter will be called "Epilogue". But if not, I'll tell you guys when it's the last one!

Life was actually pretty normal after that. Well, it depends what you'd think of as normal. In case you haven't noticed, my life has never been normal. And living with a neurotic forty-something year old woman and her computer geek son who I almost kissed but pretended it never happened... that was the furthest from normal it could go.

Yeah, you read right. That night pretty much isn't spoken of at all. It was an emotional night for all of us. Marissa was scared out of her mind, like usual. But Freddie had a meltdown, which isn't normal for him. He's usually the one that holds us all together. And I shared some of my innermost feelings with him, which is always just awkward for me to do. But the whole highlight of the night for me was the fact that Freddie and I almost kissed. I still wasn't completely sure of my feelings for him before that, and I'm still not. But I knew there was something.

But the thing is, he was leaning in too.

And after Marissa and the police came, we became one big happy family again. Yay. But I had this lingering annoyance about the fact that we never spoke of the kiss. I didn't want to bring it up because I was embarrassed about the fact that I may have exposed my feelings for the biggest nerd I know besides Nevel. I was also afraid that Freddie was just caught up in a moment but he really didn't want to kiss me. So, I just left it unspoken, even though it made me really mad. Every day, it annoyed me more and more.

But I was content. Marissa was still an overprotective freak, but the fact is, she realized that her little Fredward was growing up so much that he wouldn't stand for all of her craziness anymore. So basically, she made sure not to do anything to put him over the edge again. And I enjoyed that.

Things were normal, for once. But, just like the rest of my life, the normality wouldn't last.

I was going to a picnic at the beach with Freddie, his mom, Aunt Jennifer, Uncle Carl, and cousin Amanda. Gross. When I asked why, Marissa basically said "bonding time". Grosser.

"Ugh, Fredweird, do I have to go?" I groaned tiredly as he walked around our room getting ready for the family picnic. I was still slouching on my cot, my elbow resting on my thigh with my head resting in my hand.

Freddie turned to me and smirked. Walking over to me, he replied, "Yes, you have to go. And do you want to know why you have to go?"

I glared up at him, slightly squinting. "Why is that?" I asked with sarcastically fake enthusiasm.

"Because you are not leaving me alone with icky Amanda."

I rolled my eyes and sighed loudly. "Fine," I said, getting up and looking through my clothing drawers. Freddie followed behind me and looked through his drawers, and he smirked at me as I looked through my clothes in such a bored manner.

"Come on, Puckett," Freddie said with a slight half-smile. "You'll have fun. You know it."

I ignored him as if he didn't even say anything. I've been holding a slight grudge against him since that night because he's acting like a dork when he should be a man and bring up the almost-kiss. I walked into our shared bathroom silently and closed the door loudly, putting on my loose-fitting dark blue tee shirt and jean Bermuda Shorts.

I walked out of the bathroom and Freddie gave me a weird look. "Someone's in a bad mood," he stated.

I smirked. "I'm fine."

Freddie raised his eyebrows for a short moment and he walked past me toward the bathroom, brushing his shoulder against mine. For a second I just stayed still, staring into space, but after that I turned my neck, watching him walk away into the bathroom. Even the way he walked bothered me... but in a good way.

When did I become so complicated?

We were at the beach. According to Marissa, it wasn't even going to be one of those fun beach days where you get to swim deep in the ocean and tan. We were going to just "find a nice, shady place and eat some nutritious lunch". But just in case, I wore my black bathing suit under my clothes, and Freddie wore his red swim trunks as his shorts. I wore my dark aviators so no one would be able to see the expression on my face.

We found Jennifer, Carl, and Amanda at the beach. Amanda looked the same as last time; she was tall, and her dirty blonde hair was in straight and shiny in its high ponytail. When we made eye contact, the first thing she did was smirk at me and glance at Freddie then back at me.

I shook my head slowly, staring her down. This was not a day to annoy me.

Amanda shrugged, smiling happily. We got over to them and the family shared hugs with each other as I awkwardly stood by myself. After saying hi to Freddie and his mom, Amanda walked over to me, wearing her pink-and-white striped tank top that slightly showed her stomach.

I was afraid that she was coming over to hug me, but instead she just grabbed my wrist and pulled me aside. "How are things?" she asked quietly with a surprisingly big smile on her face.

"Uh... Fine?" I replied.

"I mean, did you tell Freddie that you're in love with him yet?" Amanda asked with a very big grin.

I took my sunglasses off from over my eyes and instead put them on my head, holding my hair away from my face. "Look Amanda. I'm not in love with your little cousin. Love is a strong word."

"Fine, fine. I meant, did you tell him you like him?" she corrected.

"No! Because I don't!" I yelled, now catching the attention of the other four, as they all looked at me.

"Take a picture," I muttered under my breath, "it'll last longer."

Freddie slightly patted my shoulder in an understanding way as we all sat down on the picnic blanket. It was his way of telling me that he understood why I yelled without needing an explanation. I turned toward him and gave him a small smile, and he looked deeply into my eyes in a way that mesmerized me... And in other words, scared me.

So, naturally, I put my sunglasses back over my eyes and turned away.

Benson family outings are just so boring. I ate almost all of the food that Freddie's uncle and aunt brought because I was so sick of Marissa's disgusting food. Everyone was staring at me, slightly sneering, as I scarfed down a bunch of food. Everyone except Freddie, that is. He was used to me.

After that, all of them started talking about some boring subject. The news, politics or something. Who cares? While they talked, I laid back, leaning on my elbows as I stared at the foaming blue waves hitting the shore.

Freddie exited the conversation between the five of them when he noticed me. He leaned back with me, blocking my view of the waves. "Having fun?" he asked sarcastically.

"No," I said flatly. "And you said I would. You lied."

Freddie sighed, still slightly smiling. He stood up, holding out his hand to help me up. "We're gonna take a walk," Freddie told the rest of them. I sighed extra loudly. How was walking going to make this more fun?

"Oh! We'll come along," Aunt Jennifer said excitedly, grabbing her small camera case as the rest of them all slowly stood up.

I glared up at Freddie. He smirked at me. "Wanna run?" he asked.

Without another word, the two of us sprinted down the beach, our feet making marks in the moist sand. I turned around, seeing that the rest of the family was just strolling in a normal speed in our direction, not trying to chase after us. It was fun anyway. It was a very long beach so we could run far. Finally, Freddie stopped with his hands on his knees, out of breath.

"Do you think we lost them?" he breathed, smiling.

I chuckled, turning around. "Yeah, I think so." I sat down by the shore with my legs out, letting the waves hit my legs, just up to the top of my calves. Freddie sat next to me the same way.

"Why are you extra moody today?" he asked.

I shrugged. "No reason," I said. I wasn't really lying. There wasn't a particular reason I was in a bad mood today. I was just a little bit annoyed about the almost-kiss, but I was annoyed about that every day since it happened.

Freddie and I were silent for a while until I sighed loudly. Freddie moved closer to me and took my sunglasses off of my eyes. "Hey," he said in an extremely gentle and soft manner, making me think he was going to try to comfort me or something. He tossed my sunglasses a little bit behind us and grinned. "Wanna swim?"

My heart dropped with anger because it almost seemed as if he was teasing me on purpose. Deep down I knew he wouldn't play with my feelings like that but that was what it felt like. Without words, I quickly started taking off my shirt and shorts and before he even took off his shirt, I ran into the ocean wearing my black bikini. He ran after me in his red bathing suit.

We ended up finally being our normal selves again, laughing and splashing. At one point Freddie went underwater and then stood up while picking me up, giving me a piggyback ride. I held onto him, my arms around his shoulders and my legs wrapped around his back.

Freddie turned around to look at me, his face very close to mine. He couldn't turn his head completely around of course, so it wasn't like our lips were close to touching. "I hope you're okay," he said. "I'm always here for you, okay? I hope you've realized that by now."

I thought back to all that he's done for me. He ran away from home for me, stayed up all night in a disgusting train station while I slept for me, he took me in to his home... He became my best friend. And he let me be his.

I squeezed my arms a little harder against his shoulders. "I know," I said. "Thanks."

We got out of the water and laid down on the sand next to each other.

"Freddie! Sam! There you are!" exclaimed Marissa, walking toward us. She was closing her cell phone, which made me realize that she just got off the phone. I was hoping she didn't just call the police because she couldn't find us. But we could tell that she looked worried and shocked.

Freddie and I stood up, sand sticking to our backs. "What is it?" Freddie asked his mom.

"They found out who the drunk driver who hit into me was," Marissa said.

"Who?" Freddie and I asked in unison, and I slapped his shoulder.

Marissa looked at me, her eyes wide and almost afraid-looking. "Sam... it was your mother."

I fell to my knees.