iCan't Keep It In!

Carly and Sam spent the morning together in their usual weekend fashion: cozied up on the sofa, junk food at hand, watching hours of Girly Cow on DVD. It was something that they had always done. It kept them grounded. No matter how stressful or serious life got, Carly and Sam always had time for each other. They always had time to shut out the world and giggle mindlessly for no special reason whatsoever.

With no warning whatsoever, Spencer burst through the door with reckless abandon. Carly's wondered why he was so wound up over something as simple as the mail.

"MAIL CALL!"

Carly couldn't help but giggle. Spencer immediately started reading off the addresses on the letters, flinging them wildly to their owners. Junk mail rained down on Carly and Sam's heads.

"Occupant…Occupant… Occupant… Occupant…Spencer!...Occupant…Carly...Carly…PUCKETT!"

Sam did a double-take. "What the Chizz?" Sam had completely forgotten using Carly's address as her own on the one and only college application she filled out, simply because Carly had begged her. Sam didn't see much point. Her grades were jank at best, so she harbored absolutely no delusion that she stood any chance whatsoever of acceptance.

"Ooh, Sam… looks pretty important!" Spencer teased her. "Better open it…"

"Yeah, whatever…" Sam sounded bitter. There was no way she got in, she just knew it.

"You want me to open it?" Spencer asked, childlike mirth lighting up his face.

"Whatever tickles your peach, Spence… Go for it…"

Spencer tore open the envelope, unfolded the letter, and began to read it aloud, complete with his own melodramatic embellishments.

"Dear Miss Puckett:

Thank you for your application for admission to Seattle University for the upcoming semester. Upon further review of your application… blah, blah, blah…."

"Spencer! Don't 'blah, blah, blah' her! This is hugely important!"

Sam loved Spencer as much as she loved Carly, but she came unhinged, if only for a second. She jumped to her feet, rounded the sofa, and wailed on him as hard as she could.

"Look here, Art Monkey! Read the letter right this time, or next time, I aim lower!"

Spencer Shay, lovable man-child, made another attempt. Unfortunately for him, he had an extremely short attention span.

"…Upon further blah, blah, blah… We would like to welcome you to the incoming freshman class, Congratulations… Sincerely, blah, blah, blah… Director of Admissions."

Despite the good news, Sam decided to hit him anyway, if simply for the sport of it. She pounded him again, directly on top of the original injury. He squealed like a little girl.

"SAM!" Carly scolded. She knew she was in trouble. She decided to play it cool, thinking that would get her out of her Cupcake's doghouse. It worked – to a degree.

She turned to Carly, glancing at her from behind the sofa. She shrugged her shoulders weakly, flashing a lazy, rugged, somewhat masculine smile.

"Sorry, it's just what I know…" She could sense Carly Shay going gooey on the inside, if only for a second. She vaulted the sofa in a fluid motion, landing softly next to Carly. Sam could tell she was impressed. Still in pain, Spencer scrabbled to his feet. Admittedly, he hurt like hell, but laughed it off. No hard feelings.

Carly glanced down at the mail in her lap. At what she thought might be the most inopportune moment, Sam noticed too. Sitting there, front and center, was an envelope identical to the one Sam had just received.

"Carls! I didn't know… You applied there too? You were going to apply to all those big schools… all over the place..."

She just smirked at Sam and tore open the envelope.

"Dear Miss Shay:

Thank you for your application for admission to Seattle University for the upcoming semester. Upon further review of your application, we are pleased to inform you…"

As Carly had expected, she was now eighteen-for-eighteen.

"Oh my God, Carls! A full ride? That's amazing! I'm so proud…" Sam's voice trailed off. There was a hole in the pit of her stomach. She had no idea where her own tuition would come from.

She turned to Carly, her lip trembling.

"Carls, I'm so proud of you… I love you so much…"

Carly hugged her.

"I love you too, Sweety… What's the matter?"

"I just… I… I don't have the money… I mean, you know my family… I mean, maybe I could get it from Uncle Carmine… He knows how to get things… but…"

Carly hugged her, giggled, and kissed her on the cheek.

"Sam, you're not 'borrowing' money from your Uncle Carmine…"

"But Carls… There's no other way…"

"Oh yes there is, Princess…" she thought to herself.

Carly swallowed hard. She couldn't even look Sam in the eye initially. She was far too nervous.

"Sam, I…well, I'd like to give you the money…"

"Carls! I…err…Pucketts don't take charity…gah…Dammit, Shay! I can't."

"No…" Carly cooed at her. "What you can't do, Sam Puckett, is tell me No. This isn't charity, Samantha… This is me…" Carly took Sam's hand in hers and placed it on her heart. "…giving you what I feel you deserve. It's a gift." She gave Sam the much-vaunted Carly Shay boo-boo lips. Sam's shoulders slumped slightly. Carly knew she had won. She leaned in, kissing Sam fully on the mouth. She was completely contented – Until she heard what came next.

Spencer had just watched them kiss. He had just seen this, Carly realized, for the very first time. As forward-thinking and open minded as their mother had raised her babies to be, there was still something to be said for seeing your little sister lock lips with another girl.

"Bwahggah! Could you… you know… kinda not do that? I mean… I don't really care, but… I mean… Get a room, would ya?"

Carly felt herself flush.

Spencer was such an idiot. He was such a lovable idiot. In his embarrassment, Carly loved him all the more.

"Don't mind if we do…" Carly thought. She gave Sam the look she knew would always work. She looked deep into Sam's beautiful blue eyes, raised one eyebrow, and let Sam's mind fill in the rest of the blanks.

Carly tossed the Seattle University course guide, the size of a small phonebook, onto her bed. It landed with a subdued thunk inches from Sam.

"I really think you should get into the Culinary program there…"

Sam was already daydreaming. She didn't know if it was the thought of Carly or the Bolivian bacon, but something had her salivating. Carly's voice woke her. She stammered, still hoping to look cool. Epic Fail.

"Bacon?...er… I mean… What?"

Carly giggled.

"Only you would think of bacon at a time like this…"

Carly's better half was arguably the cutest thing in the world. This was precisely why she'd done what she'd done. Carly couldn't have borne the thought of Sam working some dead-end job while she, Sam's precious little Cupcake, got a top-flight education, a degree, and a solid job, seemingly without a care in the world.

It was so difficult. She had to be strong. She knew she could be. She had to be. Everything she ever was depended on it.

"Sam, what's the matter? You're like a billion miles away…"

Carly knew something was wrong. She was immediately on her feet, across the room, and on the bed, next to Sam, before it happened. Sam Puckett couldn't do it any longer. She couldn't be cut from granite. Those dark chocolate eyes – the windows to Carly Shay's soul – did her in every time.

She couldn't keep it in. Sam Puckett crashed headlong into Carly Shay and began to sob.