Birdhouse In Your Soul - Chapter Nine
Chapter Nine
A few weeks had passed since Freddie’s party, which had gone on until about two in the morning. Freddie had called it a night early though and left for home. He made sure not to go find Sam, who had become scarce after their upstairs encounter. Carly had ended up making out with the Trig guy, whose name was still unknown. She hadn’t really mentioned him at all but Freddie suspected that they were going out.
When he got home his mom wasn’t there, she’d been taking a lot of open shifts at night. Come to think of it he hadn’t seen her much in the past week either.
As he sat in his living room staring off into space he began to think about the events of the night of his party. How Sam had basically said she was only using him. Did it bother him at all? If he was expecting an answer from the ceiling then he was surely disappointed by the silence.
It was strange not seeing Sam as much as he had before. Maybe that was for the best too, it gave him time to think about what he had done and how he was going to handle the situation.
Carly had filled him in on the happenings in Sam’s life though, which he was grateful for. It was just funny that he lived right across the hall from her and he saw her only at rehearsal and Friday night when they did the show. Supposedly she’d applied for a job at her father’s place of business. He’d decided to move his job back to the recording studio he’d started up years ago and left to his workers to run while he lived in Vancouver.
Roger and Sam seemed to be hitting it off from what he was told. A few times he’d hear her coming back from one of her outings with him and she seemed like she had an okay time. Whenever he’d go over to see Carly or Spencer she’d already be up in her room avoiding him or at work.
Spencer didn’t seem too put off with the obvious awkwardness but he showed some sympathy for the young man. But he had to think of Sam’s happiness and what was best for her. He found this to be quite difficult to do when what was best for her was standing outside his door knocking.
Freddie entered the loft and plopped down on the couch. Even the couch smelled like Sam and that just made it worse. Shaking his head he looked over at Spencer who was taking out cream cheese from their packages.
“What are you making, Spence?” he asked getting up and going over to him. There were at least fifty different wrappers on the ground as well as other random things. Spencer had all the cream cheese in a strangely large bowl mixed with food coloring.
“Bagel Palace on eighty ninth asked me to make them a bagel sculpture, but it’s got to be bright red and I’ve only got two days to get it done.” He answered and began to mix up the food coloring and cream cheese together.
“Sounds cool?” he shrugged and leaned against the island.
“It’s going to look as good as my butter sculpture, Toasty one never had a chance.” he sighed and went back to his mixture.
“Does Sam know about you working on this?”
“I’ve already informed her that this whole house has to stay cold for the next two days. Everyone knows now so hopefully nothing goes wrong.” Just as he said this, the bowl slipped from his grasp but luckily Freddie caught it. “Thanks Freddo!”
“No problem.” he looked around. “So where’s Carly and Sam?” he asked feeling awkward about asking.
“Carly is upstairs watching videos in the studio and Sam’s at work.” he stopped working for a second and looked thoughtful. “You know, it’s still feels weird to say ‘Sam’s at work’ and actually mean she’s somewhere working.” he laughed and got back to his sculpture.
Freddie found Carly sitting on a beanbag chair with her laptop in her lap. She looked up when he entered and snapped it shut.
“Good, you’re here.” she said and got up. He must have looked concerned because she tried to not seem so suspicious. “Don’t worry you fluffy little head; come sit down, we need to have a talk.”
He considered darting for the door but the look in her eyes told him that it wasn’t such a good idea. Past experiences with the brunette told him that she could be just as dangerous as Sam if she wished to be.
Reluctantly he worked his way across the room and took a seat.
“What’s this about?” he grumbled already having a feeling about what she wanted to talk about.
“Don’t get sassy. I’m allowed to pester my two friends when they stop talking for three weeks. Three weeks, Freddie! How is that even possible? I want to know what happened that caused this, from what I remember you two looked pretty cozy the day of your party.” she gave him a suggestive look which caused him to roll his eyes.
“If I tell you will you stop bothering me about it?” he caved.
Sam was going to kill him if she ever found out what he was about to do.
“Yes, I won’t ask you ever again about this.” she sat up straight and put her full focus on him. He coughed uncomfortably and looked anywhere but at her. “Well tell me what’s been going on with you guys.” she prodded while he slumped lower into his beanbag chair.
“Honestly I don’t really know. Things have just been crazy and weird.”
“Come on Freddie just start from the beginning.”
“I’ll give you the basics because I don’t want to go into details, you’re her best friend and that would be weirder.” he sighed and rubbed his eyes.
“Okay, that’s fine.” she nodded.
“You can’t tell Sam that I told you this because we both agreed to keep it to ourselves and never talk about it or anything.”
“I won’t tell her anything.”
“We kissed that night she told everyone she never kissed anyone before.” he blurted out and then covered his eyes.
“I had a feeling.” she smiled.
“What? Really?” he looked a bit surprised.
“Yeah, over the past year and a half I’ve noticed a few things with you guys and that it all changed after that night.” she concluded.
“But see that’s just it, the kiss didn’t change us like some cheesy love story.” he straightened up a bit and folded his arms. “We went on hating each other just like we promised that night. But I knew that I was still ‘in love’ with you around that time so it took a while for me to snap out of it.”
“That ill-fated date we went on?” she raised an eyebrow.
“Oh yeah, that was an eye-opener. At least I got over it and now we’re better friends for it. But the point is that I didn’t like Sam right away. It just happened over time and I didn’t want to believe that I did but I just do.” he shrugged.
“Even when she’s calling you names and arguing with you?” she asked, though she sort of knew the answer.
“I wouldn’t change a thing about it.” he smiled a little. “Besides I like fighting with her most times.”
“I figured you did otherwise you’d just walk away.” she then pulled out a notepad and skimmed through a few pages. Freddie was sitting there wondering what was up with it. “So when did you realize that you like her as more than a friend?”
“It’s hard to say, I think I realized it a few days before her mother died but then I didn’t acknowledge it until a week after that.”
“How many times have you two kissed?”
“Carly!” he whined with a surprised look on his face. “That’s too personal; I think I’ve answered enough of your questions.”
“Okay, sorry. One more question?” she batted her eyes at him and knew it might half work now as apposed to before when all she had to say was ‘Please, for me’.
“Fine, what?”
“What are you going to do about all this mess?”
He sat there for a moment and wondered how he would answer that. Things had been pretty bad and he really missed Sam, even her abuse.
“I don’t know, she keeps skipping out before I can talk to her.”
“She’s been doing the same to me. I did manage to get her alone once but she threatened to cut off my hair in my sleep and I wasn’t going to lose sleep for that.”
“What should I do?”
“You have to go talk to her, Freddie. You’re the only person I’ve ever known to withstand her abuse and still want to be around her. Spencer and I don’t count since she doesn’t really abuse us.” she nodded in agreement to herself.
“She’s always gone when I come over and when she gets home she rushes inside before I get a chance to talk to her.”
“Go to her work. She’s going to be there for three more hours and it’s not that far from here.” she pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled down a few things and then leaned over and handed the paper to him. “Go there and tell security this word and they’ll let you back. Sam gave me the ‘password’ so if I ever want to go visit I can get in.”
“What should I say to her?”
“Just try to get her friendship back, explain yourself to her as best you can without angering her too much.”
“That’s going to be kind of hard but I’ll try.”
“You know Freddie.” she started and he returned his attention to her. “I’m really hoping you guys end up together. It just fits right and I know that you’re the only one who can balance her out. She needs you more than she’ll ever admit and I know that she does care about you. Just don’t give up on her.”
“I can’t.” he smiled. “Whether she likes it or not she’s going to admit that she has feelings for me.”
“Someone sounds sure of himself.”
“That’s the Freddie way.” he smirked. “And don’t say ‘I thought the Freddie way was jam on a toasted bagel’.” he pointed a finger at her.
She just laughed as he left for the studio in which Sam’s father owned.
The dimly lit room was illuminated by the room attached with the glass window. Two blonds sat side by side watching as the music artist sang the line twenty more times. Each time it got a little better but Sam was getting annoyed having to listen to bits of the song like this. She hadn’t really heard of the band Roger was managing but he said they were a great group who deserved more exposure and would make it big.
She had to admit she agreed, they were very random yet had a good sound that she would definitely listen to.
“How much longer are they going to do this?” she whined and slumped into the chair never to Roger.
“As long as it takes; it has to be just right for the album.”
“But they all sounded perfect.” she countered frowning at Roger.
“To the untrained ear, it would seem so.” He smirked.
“How can you even tell when it’s off if all the takes sound the same?” she complained.
“Alright I’ll leave you in charge then. You have them sing the song all the way through and listen to it very closely and you tell me how it sounds.” he suggested and folded him arms.
“Fine.” she stated and stood up and walked into the studio where the band was.
“Yo, Sam-O.” one of the band members said nodding to her.
“Yo,” she replied with a nod back. “Alright Roger had left me in charge for a bit and wants me to have you guys do a whole run-through of the song so that we can figure out if it needs to be fixed and such.” she informed them and folded her arms. “Just pretend that you’re performing for a crowd of screaming fans who want to rip your clothes off.” she smirked and they all laughed.
She stepped out and found that Roger had left the sound room. Turning on the intercom she told them to get ready while she pushed up a few of the sound modifiers on the soundboard.
“Okay we’ll start in 3, 2, 1…” she pressed record and the band began to play. Roger had spent two weeks teaching her as much as possible about the mixing console before her. This was just another lesson for her to learn about.
The music flowed for three minutes and fifty six seconds. It sounded alright to her and she stopped the recording once they were done with the song.
“How was that?” the female lead singer asked as her bandmates sat back and chilled.
“That was just fine, I’ll go get Roger so he can continue recording with you guys in a bit. Why don’t you take five?” she suggested and left the room and headed out into the hall.
Roger was standing in front of a candy machine rubbing his light stubble.
“Decisions, decisions.” he mumbled looking at each row of treats. “Hey kid.” he acknowledged her as she stood beside him at the candy machine.
“Hey, they’re taking a break so when you get back you can continue doing whatever it is you do.”
“How’d it go?” he asked with his eyes falling onto a delicious chocolate bar on the far left.
“It sounded fine to me but you’ll probably say it’s not right.” she shrugged and pushed him over to get some chips from the bottom.
“Hey! I was just about to come to a decision!” he whined at his petite daughter who bent over to grab her chips from the lip of the machine.
“Took too long old man.” she smirked and opened the bag up.
“Now it’s ‘old man’?” he pouted. “I’m not that old!”
“In my world you are.” she grinned.
He ignored her and went back to picking a chocolate bar from the left side. Once he decided on it he pressed the buttons and received his delicious treat.
“I’ll go listen to the track and see how it sounds, then I want you to take it apart and analyze when you go home. That’ll be your assignment for the weekend.”
“Not cool.” she grumbled and followed him back into the studio. “Who gives their kids homework?”
“Oh so you’re my kid now?” he laughed.
“As much as it pains me, I suppose so.”
“Aren’t you precious?” he laughed harder and sat down in his nice comfortable chair.
“As a new born babe.” she stated sarcastically while he messed with the mixing console.
The song filled the room they were in while the band filed back into the isolation or soundproof room as Roger liked to call it. He nodded at a few parts while shaking his head and scrunching up is eyebrows, she made sure to pay close attention to his reactions.
“Well some parts of this came out alright but there are a bunch of sections that need to be redone.”
“Seriously?” her eye twitched slightly.
“Oh yeah and you’ve got to figure out which ones those are.”
“That requires work that I don’t want to do.”
“This is your job Sam, what am I paying you for if you can’t do this?”
“Uh…being cute?” she smirked.
“Nice try but no, you’ll learn this and be a contributing member to the team while you’re working here. That was our deal, remember?”
“I know that, but it also means I have to learn all this nerd stuff.”
“It isn’t nerd stuff.”
“Oh yeah it is, I don’t even know what this button is but I bet it has some crazy nerd name that takes an hour to explain.” she pointed at a random button.
“That’s just the Bass button, silly.” he rolled his eyes.
“I knew that, I was just testing you.”
“Sure.”
“I think it’s about time to call it a day.”
“You’ve got thirty minutes kid. Besides the band needs to do their final take for today.”
“Damn.” she snapped her finger and leaned against the table away from the mixing console.
Freddie smiled at their interaction and backed into the hall and leaned against the wall. He’d been there for ten minutes and just watched the two talk while the band set up again to finish for the day.
“Do I seriously have to do homework for work?”
“If you want to make it in this business you’ve got to learn all you can.”
“But you already know what I want to do.”
“I know and I can’t wait until you go through with it but you might want to learn some nerd skills too.”
“I’ll just leave that to you.”
“So when do you start your classes?”
“Obviously not until after high school, but classes start in August.”
“Well see; you’ll have all that free time to work here.”
“I told you I would if it meant I was getting paid. I can’t live with Spencer forever and I can’t stay in Seattle forever either.”
“Why not?”
“’Cause.” she shrugged.
“That’s a horrible reason.”
“It’s my reason.”
“Bah.” he grunted and went back to the band. “Guys we’ll need to try that one again, start from ‘something went wrong’ and we’ll call it a night afterward.” he spoke through the intercom. The group nodded and picked up the beat for that part of the song. It sounded just like the other twelve takes of it, to Sam.
“Can I go now?”
“Why are you being so impatient today kid?”
“I got bid’ness to take care of.”
“More shady dealings?” he joked.
“When don’t I?” she laughed. “I have some stuff I gotta do, besides tonight is iCarly.” she shrugged.
“I’ve been watching, you seem off, everything cool?”
“I suppose, just your average teen problems.”
“Like boy troubles?”
“Look who’s trying to be a concerned parent. That’s so cute!” She mocked and rolled her eyes.
“Hey! I can be concerned.” he pouted.
“It’s nothin’ that I can’t take care of…”
“Is it about young Mr. Freddie?”
“What?”
“Oh come now Samantha, I may be a crummy old man but I’m more perceptive then you think I am.”
“I never said you were a crummy father.” she gave him a weird look. “But Benson isn’t the problem.” she sighed.
“Then what is it?”
“It’s me.” she sarcastically chuckled.
“Ah.” he nodded in understanding, even though Freddie didn’t quite get it. So it wasn’t his fault? Why would any of it be Sam’s fault? He was more confused then ever but decided to just not bother to go down that angst filled road again. He was here to make things right.
“You know,” started Roger with a new tone to his voice. “Pride only gets you so far before you realize you’ve made the biggest mistake of your life.”
She looked up and raised an eyebrow at the shaggy blond next to her.
“What the cheese was that? Are you some guru when it comes to life now?”
“I’m old, so therefore I have more experience in life, you could take a page or two from my book.”
“No, I’m good.”
Then the band stopped and Roger finished recording.
“Great work today guys!” he cheered from his side of the window. They all slapped fives with each other and called it a day.
“So now you’re going to do all that crazy tech stuff that you do and make an awesome song from all those takes?”
“Something like that. Now that I’ve got the recordings I can do the rest on my CPU at home.”
“Exciting.” it was clear though that she didn’t really find it that thrilling.
“You’re such a delight to be around, you know that?” he bit back with a smirk.
“I’ve been told this.” she nodded. “I can’t help how awesome I am.”
“Just get outta here you little creep. Go do your homework.” he laughed as she exited the room.
“I’ll catch ya later Roger.” she called and headed down the hall toward the security station. She’d become friendly with the older man who kept watch on all the happenings at the studio.
“Sam, you leavin’ for the night?” he asked as she approached the desk.
“Yep, I’ve got a show to go do.”
“iCarly? I love that show.”
“I know, you told me last week remember?”
“Oh yeah.” he chuckled. “Oh your friend was here but left.”
“Carly?”
“No, a young man actually.”
Sam frowned and bid the man a good night before going out into the chill of the Seattle night. What she found was a dork leaning against the fall next to the door.
“We need to talk Sam.” he said and looked over at her. She sent him a glare but didn’t try to escape having this conversation. She figured he’d come around soon and want to change her mind.
“Well, speak.” she said and started walking toward her truck a block away. He got the point and joined her for the walk.
“Look, I know that you hate talking about things but can we just go back to being friends?”
“I thought we weren’t friends?”
“I’ve told you many times that you’re my friend.” he snapped.
“Don’t get your panties in a bunch there Benson. Fine, we can try to go back to being friends but no funny business.” she warned and gave him a hard look.
“Deal.” he grinned and followed her to her truck. She opened the passenger side and threw her bag in.
“I’ve got something I have to do so I’ll see you at the iCarly studio in an hour okay?” she told him and walked to the driver’s side.
“Alright, see you there.” he smiled and practically skipped back to his car, except that he really didn’t. He didn’t know he’d be this happy about having Sam back. If someone had told him three years ago that he’d actually like the girl he’d have laughed in their face and suggested signing themselves into an asylum.
Carly and Spencer were covered in cream cheese when Freddie returned. He learned not to ask them why years ago. It was a normal occurrence at the Shay house to be found in strange situations.
“Oh hey Freddo, did you make up with Sam?” Spencer asked adding a more cream cheese to part of the feet of the sculpture.
“Yeah, we’re cool.” he shrugged and sat at the island.
“Were there any confessions?” joked Carly giving him a suggestive look. He rolled his eyes at this and shook his head. “What about the Freddie way?” she asked.
“You mean jam on a toasted bagel?” Spencer asked looking up from the unfinished bagel figure.
“No Spence that’s the Freddie breakfast way.” informed Carly who giggled.
“No I didn’t, yet. I need time.” he replied, ignoring the two siblings comments.
“Well you’d better find a way and fast before someone else does.” she hinted.
“What are you talking about?” he asked his friend.
“Freddie, you’ve got to know that there are boys who find Sam attractive.” she stated in a matter-of-fact tone.
He glared at her and pierced his lips.
“So you finally admit you loooove her.” Spencer grinned.
“What? I never said…” Freddie sputtered.
“Sam and Freddie sitting in a banana tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g…..” started Spencer but shut up once he saw the look Freddie was giving him. “What? There’s some lovin’ going on and you’ve at least embraced that you like the girl.”
“I don’t want to talk about it guys.”
“Alright, fine.”
Just as six forty-five rolled around Sam entered the loft and hurried to get out of her coat and made her way to the stairs.
“Hey kiddo!” called Spencer from the kitchen. She stopped her ascend up the stairs and turned to him.
“Hey Spence.” she greeted and went over to where he was.
“How was work?” he asked from behind the counter.
“He gave me homework! Can you believe that?” she complained and leaned against the island.
“Are you going to do it?” he gave her his trademark smile.
“I have to, even though I’d rather date Gibby then do it.”
“I heard Gibby was taken.” he replied.
“Yeah well anything is better than having to do homework. It’s so stupid.”
“But you’re learning a lot.”
“About nerd stuff; what good will that do in culinary arts?”
“Nothing I guess, but it’s always good to learn new things. Who knows you might end up liking it.”
“I doubt it. Roger wants me to take this whole song apart and listen to each bit and find the parts that would have to be redone in the studio.”
“See, that’s good for you in many ways.” he commented with a knowing look in his eyes. She hated it when Spencer did this just as much as she hate when Roger would too.
“I don’t see how.”
“Exactly.” he nodded looking as though he were so wise.
“That’s so invasive Spence.” she frowned.
“If you don’t know then I’m not going to tell you kiddo.”
“Feh, whatever, I got to get up for the show.” she ran up the stairs then to join her two friends.
When she found them they were both doing their usual rituals to prepare. Carly looked like she was about to burst from her own skin with worry. Freddie didn’t seem as bothered by her being ‘late’ by Carly standards. He was going over last minute checks on all his opened software.
“Look who barely made it.” commented Carly pacing back and forth, drinking her water like a blue whale out of the ocean.
“Take it easy there Carls; I wasn’t going to be late.” she went to her friend and took the bottle from her surprisingly strong grip.
“We have seven minutes until show time, what were you doing?”
“Well I got here like ten minutes ago but Spencer started talking to me and saying weird things I don’t understand. Him and Roger were both being all ‘if you have to ask, then you’ll never know’ or something and I have no idea what they are trying to say.” she scratched her head as she ranted while Carly sighed.
“It’s fine, just let me know when you’re on your way so I don’t freak out.”
“You’d freak out even if I texted you half an hour before show time.” grinned Sam.
“Okay guys one minute!” Freddie called from is cart as he go the camera ready. The room was less tense as he said this with a smile. Carly noticed this and smiled as well which caused Sam to do the same. It seemed to Carly that her two friends were getting along again, for them at least. She wasn’t expecting any kind words or loving embrace but it was apparent that the danger was out of sight.
She just wondered when the two would finally get together and be done with all the drama. Maybe it was time for ‘Operation: Seddie’ to go underway. She mentally reminded herself to talk with her other ‘conspirators’ about it later.
After the show Sam did a happy dance and headed for the door, she looked like a young woman on a mission.
“Where you headed to?” Carly asked picking up after their scuba segment. There were goggles, flippers and a tub of pudding still laying around.
“To get Freddork’s laptop of course.” she grinned. She then opened the door and headed out.
“No Sam you can’t just take it out of my room!” Freddie whined.
“Sure I can.” she grinned and darted out of the studio.
Freddie sighed and followed after her. Their brunette friend grinned as she watched the two leave. It was about seven minutes later that she heard the two arguing as they headed back upstairs. From what she caught from the bits of words was that Sam had taken his expensive laptop and he was trying to reason with her to give it back. She on the other hand kept telling him that she’d take care of it.
One thing about Freddie was that he hated it when others touched his precious laptop.
When they entered Freddie was trying desperately to grab it from her but she blocked his hands and danced out of his reach.
“I promise I won’t ruin it Fredweirdo. I have to use it.”
“Why?” he finally caved, sort of.
“This one has the thing like Roger’s audio editor and I have to do homework.” she blotched.
“Then you have the wrong laptop Sam.” he gave her a sour look.
“I thought it was this one.” she tilted her head to the side and attempted to look innocent but he wasn’t buying it.
“No, that one is my personal laptop, the one I use for iCarly has the audio editor on it.” he folded his arms and waited for her to give his laptop back.
“Oh…” she looked thoughtful for a moment. She then looked down at the black laptop in her hands and back at him and then shoved it into his hands. He fumbled a bit but grasped it and held it close to him. “Then I’ll use that one.” she pointed to the one on his cart.
“Can you at least ask first?” he pouted.
“Why?” she gave his a smirk and then grabbed his other laptop. “I need it.” she stated and then went into her little room leaving her two friends in the studio.
“She’s actually doing work?” he said still staring off after her.
“It seems so.” Carly muttered also looking at where Sam was currently. They could both see her sitting on her bed with her headphones on and plugged into the laptop. She even had a note page and was writing things down and looked as though she were concentrating. This was something that the two hardly got to see.
They both headed toward her and Carly knocked on the side of the wall. She looked up and motioned for them to come in. The two took seats on either side of her and both looked puzzled. Removing the headphones and pausing she set her notes aside and looked back at them.
“What?” she asked in classic Sam form.
“You’re actually working that’s what.” Carly said grinning.
“Well if I want to make money then I actually have to do it, even though I’d rather do anything else.”
“It can’t be all bad; you get to listen to music all day long.”
“Not really.” she started. “Do you know what goes on in a recording studio?” she asked her best friend who shook her head. “You don’t just have the band play the song once and call it a day. Oh no, you have to sit through the same lines over and over until you’ve got like a million takes of the same line of a song. Then after all that there’s still the assembly of the pieces and editing, it’s ridiculous!” she fumed and huffed glaring down at her notepad.
“So what does Roger want you to do?” Carly asked, while Freddie stayed silent and just looked at Sam’s face. He’d missed seeing her face for the past three weeks. She seemed unaware of his eyes taking in all the details of her mouth, eyes, nose, and eyebrows. It amazed him that he never noticed the little details of her face. The words of Carly Shay floated to the front of his mind and he frowned, other boys knew how attractive Sam was and if the right one happened to come along his plans were doomed.
“He wants me to analyze this song and pick the parts that are going to need to be redone. So I have to manipulate the sound and find the wrong tones. Awesome, right?” she stated sarcastically folding her arms.
“Very awesome,” Carly replied not really finding it too awesome. “What have you finished so far?” she leaned over and picked up Sam’s notes.
“I’m at the second line of the beginning of the song; ‘and the water that ran out of eroded on your face pained me too’.” she read and frowned. “The song is great it’s just now I can’t really enjoy it.”
“This looks like a good song. Can I hear it or are you not allowed to share it with anyone?”
“I’m not allowed to upload it or anything but you can listen to it. She pulled out the headphones and stated the song back to the beginning. It started out with a nice little ‘tingle’ sound and then the female vocals came into play. The first few lines were amazing and then the chorus chimed in. Carly really liked this song and couldn’t really see anything wrong with it.
“This song is great; I couldn’t even hear anything wrong with it.”
“Exactly!” Sam threw her hands up in the air. “How the buttermilk pancakes am I supposed to find the wrong parts?”
“Good luck.” laughed Carly who then excused herself for the evening.
The two remaining sat in silence for five minutes while Sam continued to play back each line of the song until she got a little part finished. Once she changed out the levels and tones she could see that they were a bit off in the flow of the song. After the fifth line she threw in the towel and put the laptop to the side.
Freddie had been completely silent for those long fifteen minutes and when she looked up she found him looking at her thoughtfully.
“Yo, Fredwod, what are you looking at?” her eye twitched slightly when he just continued to stare. She knew the dangers of being close to him and in her room as well.
“Huh?” he asked snapping out of his thoughts and joining her.
“What’s will you?”
“Oh I was just trying to find the spots where the song was wrong.” he blurted out.
“Right, well I think I’ve had enough of it for one night.”
“So I can have my laptop back?” he asked hopeful of such a thing happening.
“No, I need it for later. I won’t rub tuna between the keys or feed it cheese, I swear.”
“I really hope not.” he pouted.
“You want to watch more videos?” she asked suddenly.
“I don’t know, after what happened last time I don’t think I can handle anymore surprises.”
“Where’s your sense of adventure, Freddo?” she prodded, smirking at him with hooded eyes.
“I lost it the last time we did this.” he wasn’t sure what the ‘this is’ was that he referred to but he didn’t care.
“Let’s just watch them, I’m curious about what else might be on those tapes.”
“I think it’s a bad idea.”
“Don’t you want to get to know your dad better?” she could see him changing his position of the topic.
“Fine but if it get’s too weird like the last one we’re shutting it off.” he bargained.
“That’s alright, well get over here. We’ll just watch them on here.” she pushed the laptop toward him to have him start the next video on the list.
They both lie down on their stomachs; shoulder to shoulder, leaning into the screen as the video started up.
Nathan was the first thing they saw, he was much younger, probably seventeen or so and he was grinning at the camera person.
“Guess what I got?” he was filled with joy as he worked his way over to the person controlling the camera.
“You got another rash on your butt?” laughed Sarah which earned her a glare from her best friend.
“If you keep that up then I guess I’ll have to find someone else to share this with.” he then turned and started walking away.
“I was kidding, tell me what you go.” she followed him down what looked like a courtyard at an old high school.
“Nope, you gotta guess.” he grinned, back to being happy.
“If I do that I’ll just end up insulting you and that will get us nowhere; so tell me already.” she growled.
“Who is our favorite band of all time?” he smirked and she gasped behind the camera and seemed to have almost dropped it.
“No freakin’ way!” she stated gleefully.
“Way!” he said with just as much glee.
“Wait, so are you telling me that you got tickets to the show they’re doing in Vancouver? I thought they were sold out?”
“I know people.” he smirked, looking way too cocky.
“Knowing the guy who works at Ticketmasters doesn’t really count, you know.”
“Sure it does.” he pouted. “He gives me great seats for cheap prices.”
“So let me get this straight, you got hard to get tickets and are going to the show, why are you telling me this?”
He stopped walking and looked at her as if she were insane.
“Are you serious?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Hello, you love Metallica! Who else would I be taking?” he rolled his eyes.
“Your girlfriend for instance.”
Nathan raised an eyebrow at Sarah though he was just looking at the camera.
“She hates Metallica, remember? It’s not her scene and if things were to get bad she’d flip out in the mash pit.”
“Oh yeah,” she laughed. “I can’t really picture mild mannered, sweet, slightly crazy Marissa in a mash pit or head-banging for that matter.”
“So you see why I have the tickets for us?”
“Is it cool with her if we go together?”
“Why wouldn’t it be? It was her idea anyways.”
“Well then you don’t have to tell me twice, I’m so in!”
“That’s better!” he laughed.
Then Sarah came into the shot along side Nathan and the both started to sing together in a dramatic sort of way to their favorite song.
“Master of puppets I’m pulling your strings…” started Nathan rocking on his air guitar.
“Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams. Blinded by me, you can’t see a thing…” wailed Sarah.
“Just call my name, `cause I’ll hear you scream! Master! Master! Just call my name, `cause I’ll hear you scream! Master! Master!” finished Nathan through up his finger horns.
“I’m so excited I don’t think I’ll make it through the day.” she grinned into the camera. He glanced over at her and laughed.
“You’ll have to we’ve got three classes to go, then a nice long drive there.”
“I knew there was a downside to this awesome news.”
“What?”
“I’ll be stuck in a car with you forever!” she complained.
“Then you can just stay here and I’ll ask Roger to go with me.”
“What? No! He doesn’t deserve to go.”
“And you do?”
“Yeah I’m your best friend and you know I love Metallica.”
“But you’re a demon spawn who’s always mean to me.”
“But I’m still your friend and you put up with me.”
“I suppose.” he sighed and the video cut.
Sam pushed pause for a second and looked over to Freddie who was still staring at the video.
“How was that? Safe?” she asked pushing her shoulder into his.
“I suppose, but now all I can see is them flirting!” he said sourly.
“It’s fine; they were friends at that time.”
“But…” he stopped himself from going into a conversation that he really wasn’t ready for. “Fine, let’s watch another one and then I need to get home.” he reached over and pressed play again and settled back next to her.
For once they were comfortable just being near one another, yet still felt the pull toward each other. That wasn’t going away but Freddie decided to keep his hands to himself.
On the screen Nathan was leaning over an open hood of a car. He was wearing a faded black t-shirt and dirty jeans. He scratched the back of his head and began messing around inside the car.
“So when did you become such an expert on cars?”
“It’s one of the things my dad managed to teach me out of all the useless.” he shrugged and returned his attention to the car.
“What’s the problem?”
“Gas leak and the spark plugs need to be replaced.”
“Wow, you make car fixing seem so dorky.” she joked.
“If Roger were doing this you’d think it was manly.” he stated scowling over his shoulder.
“Well yeah, cause he’s super manly, motorcycle and everything.” he just rolled his eyes and went back to the problem at hand.
“Will you just be quiet for once? I’m trying to concentrate.”
“Wow Fredward your dad was awesome.” she drooled and he choked on air.
“Sam, that’s my dad, geez!”
“What? Can I help it if he’s awesome?”
“Please, be quiet.” he frowned and looked back at the screen.
Sarah moved closer and you could see that they were in the middle of nowhere. In the distance you could see large crops of corn and far off nothing but the sky.
“How long are we going to be out here?” Sarah complained, getting closer to Nathan.
“It’s going to take a bit, I have to go up the street and get new spark plugs and a thing of oil.”
“Then let’s go!” she cheered and held her camera closer to her while still pointing it at Nathan.
“Let me go lock up everything and then we can go.”
“Do you think we’ll make it in time for the show?”
“Yeah I timed it out right, so we’re making good time as it is.”
“When I think that your nerdiness has reached its peak you have to go and say things like that and make it higher.”
“Oh you are a nerd too, on your good days.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Shut that thing off and put it away so we can go.” he grumbled and walked over to the passenger side.
The video cut and then another started up. At first it was hard to tell what was going on. It was clear that Nathan was holding the camera and running down a street toward a bus that wasn’t moving. From the angle it was easy to tell that the streets were packed. Marissa was calling his name, telling him to wait up. He made it to the bus and banged on the doors. You could hear wailing coming from inside, a woman. Whatever she said made the bus driver open the doors. Nathan worked his way on followed by his wife and Roger who was bringing up the rear. The only reason they knew the two were there was their voices behind Nathan.
What they found was Sarah in the back of the bus, clinching her round belly and groaning in pain.
“Seriously Nathan do we need to video tape this one?” she shouted at him and he laughed nervously.
“Sorry but it’s one of those moments you’ll want to look back on.” he wasn’t sorry at all.
Roger pushed past Nathan to go to Sarah who glared at him to.
“This is your entire fault!” she punched him but he didn’t mind he stayed right there by her side. Marissa was next; she went to grasp poor Sarah’s hand.
“It’s going to be okay, we’ll get you to the hospital, even if Roger and Nathan have to carry you all the way there.”
“I don’t think we’re going to have time Marissa.” cried Sarah who looked like she was about to pass out.
Marissa did a few inspections of her friend and found that she was right, the baby was ready to come out and there was no waiting for this one.
“I can do this.” Marissa said as she positioned herself before Sarah and blocked off Nathan’s view of the actual ‘birth’.
Marissa kept coaching her friend, telling her to push and giving her comforting words, natural childbirth was very painful. It seemed like hours, but really only thirty minutes, it seemed that her contractions had started earlier that day and then her water broke half way to the bus stop. She had no other choice but to get on and take it to the hospital.
Then there was silence.
Everyone was frantic as Marissa held a little baby in her arms, a silent baby.
“What’s wrong with her?” Sarah shrieked, having a nervous breakdown. Marissa turned the baby upside down on her arms and started performing CPR for two minutes, when suddenly there was loud screaming inside the small bus.
“Welcome to the world, Samantha.” muttered Nathan to the camera and the baby in Sarah’s arms.
The two teens watching the video gaped like a walrus in a toupee. They both went for the stop button at the same time and their fingers touched over the key. Their hands didn’t move from that spot as their eyes moved toward one another.
The burning in Freddie’s eyes caused Sam to almost choke on air. How was this supposed to work out if every small touch made the two want to jump the other’s bones?
“I don’t care if you just want to use me physically, I really want to kiss you right now.” he stated in a husky voice that caused her heart to pound through her veins.
“Nothing can come of it, we’re friends.”
“Who make out?” he smirked.
“Exactly.” she confirmed and shot her head towards his and found his lips. Any ideas of normal friendship were shot out the window. Sam knew it was foolish to think she’d be about to resist this amazing rush she got from him. He was fine with it and so was she, but it couldn’t go on forever. They had three months of school and the summer together, after that they’d be parting and he’d find another girl to share this with.
She pushed those thoughts away and put more force into their kiss. Who knew when they’d get another chance to get lost in their own world again?
Freddie moved so that he was leaning over her slightly while she gripped onto the front of his t-shirt. He bit down lightly on her lips and received a groan of pleasure from Sam.
“You…are…” she started between kisses and moans. “…this…is…”
“Amazing.” he finished and pushed her down on the bed. “I don’t care how you feel about me, I don’t even care what happens after this…” he groaned out as he nipped her neck and she arched towards him.
“Just shut up and kiss me you idiot!” she shouted at him and flipped him onto his back.
What they didn’t realize was that Carly had returned to check on them and was standing out in the studio grinning like a moron. ‘Part one: complete’ she thought to herself and left.