iDress Up As Melanie
Chapter 7
Breakfast & The Story

Previously;

"Sup Sam?" Freddie asked.

"Nothing, Carls isn't home so I guess I got to go find some food elsewhere."

"Well, I have bacon and eggs in here, made a plate for Carly but she decided she didn't want any," Freddie said smiling, looking inviting.

"You better be a good cook Freddifer," I joked.

With that, I was now entering Freddie's apartment, and this time as myself.

I sat down at the table where I once was before. The toast that had one bite in it was quickly swooped up by Freddie and replaced by a new one. He turned the pan back on and started grilling more of the heavenly bacon.

"Do you need any help with that?" I asked curiously. It felt weird being alone with Freddie and not being Melanie.

"No," he chuckled, giving me a sideways glance. I slowly devoured the eggs and two pieces of bacon on my plate. It tasted so good. Freddie used seasonings I didn't know existed, but somehow worked.

"Fredward, this has got to be the best breakfast ever."

Freddie turned around and sat down while the stove sizzled silently, eating the last of his egg.

"Thanks Sam, you're surprisingly pleasant today," he commented. I suddenly tensed up, getting defensive.

"Don't get used to it."

Freddie cocked his eye brows at me, and then quickly gave up.

"Sounds like the bacon is done. You want?" he asked, quickly putting 5 pieces of bacon onto a plate, then onto the table.

"Do you even have to ask?" I laughed, punching him on the arm.

We sat there and talked about little things, like the next iCarly bit and if we really thought Gibby is an earthling. We were laughing before we knew it and somehow getting along. I racked my brain, trying to figure out if it was a good thing or a bad thing Freddie wasn't mentioning his visits from 'Melanie'.

"The last piece of bacon," Freddie sighed, staring at the last twirled piece of heavenly meat. "Who gets it?" He added.

I sighed. Usually, I would just steal it off the plate, but instead, I put a fork in it, grabbed a knife, and cut it in half. Freddie looked incredulously at me and I tried not to blush.

"You going to stare at me or are you going to eat the dang piece of bacon before I change my mind?"

"Well then," said Freddie, wide eyed and smiling. He picked up the bacon and started to eat it. "Can't change your mind now, can you?"

"Actually, I could punch your stomach so hard you could promptly upchuck the bacon. The extreme changing of mind, I think." Charming, Sam, charming,I thought. Freddie didn't seem to mind, he shrugged and was used to it.

"So," I began, changing the subject. "Why are you so good at cooking?"

Freddie smiled, as if he was finally happy to reveal this to someone, and as if telling Melanie didn't count.

"Well, my dad and I used to travel to cooking shows and all that. It is how we bonded, actually," he paused slightly, as if he wanted to explain something. I gave him a reassuring glance and motioned my hand for him to continue.

"When he came back from business trips, it's one of the first things we'd do...cooking I mean. We became really fascinated by the expert way the chef's would crack the eggs perfectly with one hand, sprinkling seasoning as if putting the finishing touches on art work. All the amazing food they made, well, it interested us. Who says girls can be the only ones in the kitchen anyway? We took a few cooking classes together and went from there.

"My dad was automatically better than I was; there was no doubt about that. But he loved teaching me. He would take the more advanced courses, come home and teach me the same thing. Our mom thought it was a silly hobby, but it wasn't. It was so much more than that.

"That night, my dad came into the room and shook me awake, a beaming grin on his face. The clock said it was past midnight, which was a big deal for a 10 year old. He sat gingerly beside me, running his hands though my hair.

"He whispered, as if he could get caught at any moment. He told me that tomorrow was his last business trip. He was going to trade his high paying job to return to school to get a degree in culinary. I didn't care about money or anything; I just smiled at him, with proud eyes. He told me not to tell mom yet, that he would talk to her on his own. It was our little secret. It made me giggle, keeping a secret from mom.

"He kissed my head, saying he was leaving early the next day. That he wouldn't get home until late that Saturday night. I smiled at him through sleepy eyes and told him I couldn't wait till he got back so we could do some more cooking. He and I agreed we would bake sugar cookies and make them especially for mom.

"But he didn't come back. I remember him calling once before from a truck stop where he was getting gas, telling my mother he was on his way and to let me stay up late. She frowned, but agreed. I asked for the phone but she said dad was running out of minutes.

"Till this day I wonder, if I had got to talk to him on the phone, kept him at that gas station any longer, maybe half an hour later my dad wouldn't be killed by a drunk 19 year old getting back from a party.

"I never got to cook that night. I got to talk to some police men who said they didn't know how to cook. My mom, who hugged me and told me everything would be okay, said we couldn't bake either. I remember mostly being sad and that I couldn't cook anything. I had set out the ingredients for sugar cookies, which we had agreed we'd bake together. They taunted me for days after, until I woke up one morning, and I found them placed away in the cupboard."

Freddie's eyes looked almost watery. I wanted so badly to reach out and comfort him, but instead, I felt glued to my chair. Freddie just told us his dad got hit by a car, and he didn't remember much of him. Clearly, that wasn't that case.

"You are the first person to ever know he told me he wanted to be a chef. He died before that dream could come true."

Without even knowing what I was doing, I found myself sitting in a chair beside Freddie, my arm around his shoulder.

"I'm sorry," I said softly, new to the comforting business. "You didn't have to tell me."

Freddie sighed, looking to me softly, "I wanted to. I've wanted to tell someone that story for years. I didn't want to tell someone who would cry, like Carly or my mom. I didn't want someone who'd get awkwarded out, like Spencer. And I didn't want to tell Gibby, for reasons not even needing to be said," he laughed. I smiled right back at him. "But it felt right telling you, you didn't get too sad, and you didn't sit there troubling yourself on what to do about it. That's what I like about you Sam, you're so tough, and such a quick thinker. Situations don't seem to faze you."

I tensed a little and looked at him almost stunned. Clearly, situations faze me. The scare me into dressing up like my sister when I like someone.

"Now," Freddie began slowly, "now that we're done with the heavy, what do you want to do?"

"Well," I began, remembering a part of his story. "You had said you knew how to expertly crack eggs right? I've always wanted to do that."

He smiled at me, stood up, and headed over to the stove and frying pan.

"Come here Puckett," he laughed, grabbing my wrist in the process. I almost instantly froze up.

He grabbed an egg in his hands and looked to me. "I hope you're planning on eating these after."

"You'll have to help me," I joked, that bacon was pretty stuffing stuff.

He slowly explained how he was holding it, but instead I found my eyes traveling up his arm. Suddenly, he cracked the egg, and I had no idea how he did it.

"Got it?" he asked.

"Uhm…" I grabbed the egg in my hand and attempted to hold it the way I saw Freddie in the brief second I was actually paying attention. Freddie chuckled softly, and put his hand over mine adjusting it.

"Like this," he pointed out, his hand lingering there for a second longer.

I felt nervous around him, I felt like I wasn't Sam. I still had no idea what to do.

"Uhm, now what?"

"Here, I'll show you," he put his hand over mine again, his other arm sitting lightly on my waist. I could feel his unsteady breath on my neck as he slowly brought my hand down to hit the side of the counter. I could really care less about the egg right now, and I turned around to face him, his arms still on me. I stared into his eyes, not knowing how to act. I was Sam, not Melanie, and Sam wasn't a softie. Sam didn't know how to act in this situation.

Before anything could happen, a small ring came from the red telephone attached to the wall. Freddie let go of me reluctantly, and answered it.

"Hello?" he asked. I felt sick to my stomach, and sat down at the table.

"Yes mom, everything's fine," he muttered, and I turned back into my normal self, laughing. Freddie glared playfully my way.

"It's going an extra three days? No, no, you stay, I'll be fine!"

Sam heard extra high pitched rambling on the other line as Freddie rolled his eyes.

"Mom, there's enough food here, and I know how to grocery shop."

More rambling, then quiet. Then a quick what sounded like an urgent I love you and something about antibacterial soap.

"Bye mom," Freddie laughed, and hung up the phone.

"Actually, mommy's boy, I have to do some grocery shopping too, so…" I left it open for him to decide if he wanted to accompany me or not.

"Want to go now?" he asked, tilting his eyebrows with a little ghost of a smirk on his face.

"Hurry up Freddifer," I sighed, laughing. He quickly grabbed an envelope full of bills out of the cabinet and put it into his pocket. I felt my stomach lurch as my fingers felt the flimsy 20 dollar bill in my pocket. My mom would only spring for the necessities.

"Let's go!" Freddie said, opening the door and letting me through. I didn't know if I was completely stupid for spending more time with him and jeopardizing the plan, or if I was a complete genius. I just knew that I, Sam Puckett, was way out of her comfort zone.

Hey guys!

So, before you shoot me for being horrible and never updating this story, I CAN'T WAIT UNTILL THE NEW EPISODE!

So, unfortunately school, social life, and the books in the series called the mortal instruments, has made it absolutely impossible for me to update. I'm super sorry! (I want a Jace.)

No idea when the next chapter is coming, but I don't know, a bunch of reviews would probably over promote me and make me rush to update ;)

I hope you liked it! I love corny food and couple clichés :P

Shoutout to my amazing beta onedream 2dream!

-Sarah

Ps. REVIEWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!