Freddie walked through the sliding glass doors of the hospital as he had done nearly every day for over a month now. The receptionist didn't even make him sign in anymore. As Freddie walked towards the door to the hospital room he paused and peered through the rectangular window. Sam sat where she always did. Right by her mother's side. She somehow looked more helpless than her mother. Freddie hated seeing her like this, it was like she was an entirely different woman. Her hair was messy, her clothes were disheveled, and Sam had exclusively slept at the hospital, only leaving to shower. Freddie took a deep breath and walked through the door. Sam looked up, she smiled wearily.
"Hey," Sam whispered, turning to face her ex
"Hi," Freddie paused in the doorway, as he felt a tsunami of emotions crash over him, emotions he hadn't felt in over half a decade.
"What up Benson?" Sam's eyes dropped to the floor. She couldn't even look Freddie in the eye, she was way more emotionally vulnerable than she was comfortable with, and the last thing she wanted was to show any more weakness to Freddie.
Freddie, noticing Sam's emotional walls going up, decided she needed to get out.
"C'mon Puckett, grab your coat. Let's grab a smoothie." Freddie said, grabbing Sam's leather jacket off the chair in the corner of the room.
"I really don't know Freddie-" she started.
"I really wasn't asking," Freddie said with a playful smile.
Spencer was sitting on the plastic barstool in front of his pear computer when Carly burst through their loft apartment.
"Almost showtime!" she shouted in a singsongy voice.
"WAHHH!" a startled Spencer tumbled off of his stool. "Nothing!" Spencer bolted upright in an effort to block his computer screen.
"What are you… Looking at?" Carly asked hesitantly.
"Nothing. I'm looking at nothing. And you wouldn't understand," Spencer stammered.
"Oh, move," Carly said shoving her brother aside.
The computer was lit up with a GIF. Three German Shepherds animated to stand on their back legs and dance over a strobing pastel background.
"Well, you're right, I don't understand," Carly said, baffled.
"Well, now that you have humiliated me, Gibby is waiting upstairs with that boyband. Ya know, I never understood how they can call it a boyband when they're all pushing 30," Spencer questioned.
"Bye Spencer," Carly said, ignoring her brother and heading upstairs.
Brad strolled into The Groovy Smoothie as he did every Friday. It was something of a creative zone for him, he got all of his best ideas sitting there with a Strawberry Splat. It also helped that his friend Melanie worked there. They had met when they both were entered into a countrywide dessert-making contest for high schoolers. Neither of them won or anything, but it was a random way to meet his boss's twin sister. He and Melanie actually hit it off immediately, he might have even asked her out if he didn't know she would be heading back to Vermont after the contest was over. Even so, they exchanged phone numbers and texted each other every so often. The difference between Melanie and Sam was astonishing and not just emotional and mental, despite being identical twins they had such a different energy, they did their makeup differently, dressed completely differently, and even did their hair differently. As he recalled, Sam wasn't built like Melanie. Melanie was more like a gymnast, slim, with fewer curves. Brad had made his way to the counter now, unfortunately, Melanie wasn't the one taking his order, today it was Troy. Troy was a nice enough guy, a bit odd, but no more odd than Spencer, and definitely not as odd as Gibby. Troy greeted him and took his order.
"Is your boss here today?" Brad asked casually.
"Melanie? Yeah, she's here."
"Cool, if she's not busy can you send her my way?" Brad asked, polite as can be.
"Sure. Wait, are you gonna complain about me? C'mon man, I need this job bro," Troy asked in a panic.
"What? No, she's just a friend of mine. You're doing great man," Brad clarified.
"Thanks, bud, you're alright," Troy said, mood shifting completely.
Brad made his way to the table he always sat at. Melanie had a lot going on right now, and Brad wanted to be there for her, with Carly being so wrapped up in her podcast Melanie didn't have the support system Sam had. Brad was sure that Freddie still had feelings for her, Freddie would absolutely do anything to help Sam. Melanie didn't have that, and while Brad was far from "in love" with Melanie he certainly cared about her. Just as he finished his thought Melanie arrived at his table.
"Hi Brad, what brings you here?" Melanie smiled at him cheerily.
"Actually, I come here every week. My friend, she works here and I'm hoping if I come in here enough she'll start giving me free smoothies," Brad joked, happy to see she was holding it together.
"Ooh, how's that working for you?" she teased, sitting down.
"It's a process," he smirked.
"Sorry, I've been so hard to reach. I've got a lot on my plate." Melanie explained, apologetically.
That was so like Melanie, her mother was in the hospital and she still felt bad for not being an attentive friend.
"Your mom is in the hospital Melanie, I think you're entitled to your space." Brad took a sip of his smoothie.
"Still, you're basically bending over backward to spend time with me."
Brad could feel her mood changing.
"Can you help me with a girl question?" he blurted, that always worked, Melanie loved answering his girl questions.
"Of course," Melanie perked up immediately.
"Do women find earlobes attractive?" Brad asked, staring blankly. How is that the first question you came up with? Brad thought to himself.
"Earlobes?" Melanie would have been amused if she wasn't so incredibly confused.
"Yeah, a guy I know said that I have ugly earlobes. Totally random right?" Brad desperately tried to make his initial question make sense.
Melanie glanced at Brad's ear, "I don't think most girls care if your earlobes are cute." Melanie said, giggling at Brad's very oddly specific question.
Mission successful. Brad knew Melanie would need to talk about everything she was going through, but not now, not here.
Sam followed Freddie down to the parking lot of Seattle Reginal, head still hung. She hadn't really left the dreary walls that held her mother since she had arrived in Seattle. It was no way to live but she felt responsible in some way for her mother's accident. If she had never left in the first place, would this have happened? She couldn't say for sure, and it was eating away at her. Sam and her mother had a rough relationship but Pam was the only parent that she had ever known, and she loved her. In Sam's mind, leaving Pam alone in that hospital was saying she didn't really care about the woman who raised her. Sam was also aware that thinking that was crazy, but it didn't stop her from feeling that way. Freddie opened the car door, allowing Sam to get in before heading around to the driver's side. Sam stared out the window as Freddie started the car.
Freddie sighed. "We don't have to talk, but you should know that I am worried about you," he said empathetically, as he backed out of his parking spot.
They drove a few miles in silence before Sam spoke.
"So, what happened to you and Carly?" Sam asked, attempting to start any kind of conversation that didn't involve her being sad.
"What do you mean?" Freddie asked, simultaneously glad Sam was talking and confused by the question.
"The night Carly left for Italy, you two kissed. What happened after that?" Sam asked intensely focused on her fingers.
"I didn't even know you saw that," Freddie said taken aback.
"Yeah… I came upstairs to see if you needed any help putting away your stuff. I got to the top of the stairs and there you guys were. Didn't wanna interrupt," Sam said quietly, now focused on the overcast sky.
"Nothing happened after that, she just… Kissed me," he replied embarrassed that Sam saw it happen.
Sam was silent.
Freddie sighed, "Honestly, it was hardly worth mentioning."
Sam shifted uncomfortably in her seat, "Come on Benson, you've been in love with Carly for like forever."
"Actually, I don't know about that. When Carly and I kissed it didn't feel like I always thought it would. I had a crush on her when I was young. But it was never love that I felt for her." Freddie explained, deep in thought.
Sam had always been afraid to hope Freddie would move on, and here it was, playing out. But Sam was still Sam, and that meant she had to maintain her composure.
"So now you're an expert on what love really feels like?" she teased half-heartedly.
"I may have a little experience, yeah," Freddie said, raising an eyebrow and glancing at his passenger.
A shy smile began to appear across Sam's face before her phone began ringing, diverting Sam's attention. Freddie looked out the window and rolled his eyes, the timing could not have been worse.
Sam looked at her phone screen and immediately answered..
"Hello?"
"Ms. Puckett, honey your mother has suddenly taken a turn, things look bad you really should get here as soon as possible," it sounded like the same nurse that had called her right after her mother's accident.
Sam was devastated, "Oh my God!" she hung up the phone.
"What's the matter?" Freddie had the sinking feeling he knew.
"Turn around." Sam's voice had become distant and hollow.
