we're fools whether or not we dance.

"I am not wearing that." Sam shook her head, looking at the purple dress Carly was holding out to her.

"Sa-am." Carly whined, her eyes pleading.

"No way." Sam shook her head. "I don't even want to go to this stupid prom,"

"It starts in like a half an hour," Carly sighed. "You are not backing out on me now."

"Why do you want me to go so badly?"

"Because you, me and Freddie are going as friends." Carly said, and looked downcast. "No one asked me to prom Sam, I want my best friends to be there instead."

"Ugh." Sam groaned.

"Is that a yes?" Carly perked up. Sam could never say no to Carly's pleading puppy dog eyes.

"Do I have to wear that though?" Sam said, and looked down at her skinny jeans and beaten up converse. "Can I just wear this?"

"Sam," Carly rolled her eyes, smoothing down her own dress. She had been ready for the better part of twenty minutes, most of which she had spent trying to convince Sam to get ready.

"Carly," Sam mimicked.

"You can't wear that Sam, it's prom!"

"And?"

"Prom is when you wear pretty dresses," Carly said. "And pretend you're a princess or whatever."

"Do I look like the type to pretend I'm a princess?" Sam raised an eyebrow.

"For me?" Carly said, bringing back the puppy dog eyes.

Sam let out another groan. "Like it's actually going to fit."

"Its your size," Carly said.

"You planned this from the start, didn't you?"

"Even if I had a date," Carly said. "I was going to make you dress up, and go with Freddie."

Sam stiffed. "Why would I go with Freddie?"

"You guys are really close," Carly shrugged. "Regardless of whether or not you're dating."

"I'm not a prom person." Sam said. "And neither is Freddie, so if you had gotten a date we wouldn't have gone."

"Don't doubt the power of the puppy dog eyes," Carly said. "Now, strip."

"Ohh, Carly." Sam teased. "If you want me, all you have to do is ask."

Carly rolled her eyes. "We have like twenty minutes to get ready, so seriously, hurry up."

Sam tugged her t-shirt over her head, and kicked off her shoes. "Give me the dress."

"Yay!" Carly beamed, and tossed the dress at her friend. "I've got these silver heels that will go perfectly with it, and-"

"I'm not wearing heels," Sam shook her head, stepping into the dress. "Can you zip it up please?"

Carly nodded, and tugged at the silver zip that ran up the back of the dress. It fitted Sam perfectly, just like Carly had expected it to. Well, as she had hoped it to.

Sam looked in Carly's full length mirror, smoothing at the skirt of the dress. It was strapless, and it cinched in just underneath her chest, flowing out into a skirt that stood out slightly.

"You look gorgeous," Carly said, and guided her to a chair. "Now, make up."

"No make up."

"Just a little bit," Carly reassured, snapping open her make up case.

"Last time you did this, it was me and Freddie's first date," Sam said.

"Without me," Carly gave a small grin.

"Please don't stab me in the eye with mascara, again."

"I wont, I promise." Carly laughed. "How are you, anyway?"

"Hungry."

"No, I mean, how are you about the break up? You never talk about it." Carly said, sticking out her tongue in consentration. "Keep your eyes open."

"There's nothing to talk about," Sam said simply.

"Really?" Carly said doubtfully.

"Yeah, I mean it's for the best, right?" Sam gave a small shrug. "We work better as friends."

"Hm." Carly still didn't sound convince.

"Carls, I'm fine." Sam reassured. "Honest."

"You'd tell me if you weren't though, wouldn't you?"

"Of course," Sam nodded. "You're my best friend."

"Good." Carly said, and stood back. "There, all done!"

Sam looked in the mirror as Carly stepped aside, blinking as she did so. Carly had made her eyes look huge, with the mascara she had put on, and her lips were glossy and red. At least nowadays, Carly listened to Sam's pleas and only put a tiny bit of make up on her.

"CARLY! SAM!" Spencer yelled. "FREDDIE IS HERE!"

"C'mon," Carly said, grabbing her handbag. "Lets go."

Sam stood up with a sigh, and shoved her feet into her black converse, and followed Carly down the stairs. She was already in the living room, talking to Freddie, who was wearing a pristine black tuxedo.

She faintly heard Freddie complimenting Carly on how beautiful she looked, but Sam wasn't really consentrating on that. She was more preoccupied with the fact that the sight of Freddie in that suit seemed to make her heart beat out of her chest.

Shaking her head, Sam tried to rid herself of thoughts. She wasn't supposed to think about Freddie like that anymore.

"I like the shoes," Freddie grinned at her, looking at the frayed white laces of her sneakers.

"I think they make the outfit," Sam grinned back, bouncing down the last few steps of the stairs.

"Sa-am," Carly whined. "You can't wear those!"

"Why not?" Sam shrugged.

"I think they're awesome." Freddie agreed.

"Alright!" Spencer yelled. "I want a picture of all of you."

"Spencer," Freddie groaned. "I just escaped my mom and her camera. Do I really have to do this again?"

"This is a big day! Junior prom, I remember mine. I went with this amazing girl-"

"Spencer," Carly interrupted. "Just take the picture."

"Okay," Spencer said, and pointed the camera at the trio. "Smile!"

Just as Spencer was about to take the picture, Freddie reached around Sam's waist, and tugged her closer to them.

Sam didn't react, and refused to acknowledge the fact that Freddie's touch sent tingles down her spine.

"We need to go," Carly announced. "Or we're going to be late!"

As they started to leave, Spencer yelled after them.

"DON'T DO ANYTHING I WOULDN'T DO!"

"That means we can do anything then!"

/

"Prom sucks." Sam said, studying her converse. Her feet were propped up on the chair next to her.

"Did you expect it to be any good?" Freddie inquired, holding onto her legs and moving them so that he could sit down. He put them back on his lap, one of his hands resting on her ankle.

Sam held back a shudder at his touch, and gave a small nod. "Good point. The whole concept of prom sucks,"

"I know, right?" Freddie said. "Its like a night made just to make you think about the fact that you're single, or that no one asked you to prom."

"And this is only junior prom," Sam groaned. "Carly is going to make us go next year."

"I think we should start thinking of excuses now."

"Yeah, but," Sam gestured to her own face. "She breaks out the puppy dog eyes. How do you say no to those?"

"Its harder to say no to you," Freddie said. "I think I could take on the puppy dog eyes."

"That's because I'll beat you into submission," Sam shrugged. "But they work on me, so you'll have to go to senior prom too."

"Why?"

"Because you can't say no to me, can you Benson?" Sam grinned.

"Hey, senior prom wont be so bad if I get to spend it with you." Freddie said, and froze slightly as he realised what he said. He had basically just asked her to senior prom, next year, hadn't he?

"That's because I'm amazing." Sam shrugged, trying not to react to his statement. They lasped into silence again, watching the dance floor.

Carly had been asked to dance by one of the guys on the football team a couple of hours previously, and hadn't been back to their table since. Freddie had been dragged out to dance by Magic Malika, and had spent the majority of his evening trying to avoid the girl, leaving Sam to her own devices.

She would have given anything to be watching an MMA fight and eating her own weight in ham.

"Alright Ridgeway," the DJ announced. "Its time for the last song, so grab a date and get out on the dancefloor.

"Come on," Freddie said, offering her a hand.

"What?" Sam looked at him.

"Its the last dance," Freddie shrugged. "You haven't moved from your seat all night."

"For a reason." Sam said. "I don't want to dance."

"Just one dance, please?"

"No."

"Its only three minutes."

"No."

"For me?"

"Ugh," Sam rolled her eyes, and planted her feet on the ground. "Fine." She took the hand Freddie offered her, and allowed him to pull her onto the dance floor.

A slow song Sam didn't recognise started to play, and she almost bolted there and then.

"Its a slow song." She said bluntly.

"And?" Freddie looked at her as if to say 'so what?'

"You aren't my boyfriend."

"Half the people here aren't dating Sam," Freddie rolled his eyes. "Its just a dance. The last song is always a slow one,"

"This is stupid."

"Maybe," Freddie said, grabbing her hands, and placing them on his shoulders. "But you know me. I like stupid things,"

"Not stupid, just nubby things." Sam said, but relented.

"You like that though." Freddie grinned, resting his hands on her waist.

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't." Sam returned the grin.

A comfortable silence fell between them, and they swayed to the music, oblivous to the fact Carly was looking at them intently from the other side of the dance floor.

"I miss you." Freddie said quietly.

"I see you everyday."

"Its not the same," Freddie said. "You're.."

"I'm what?"

"You're all closed off again." Freddie said quietly.

"Yeah, well, you know as well as I do that I don't do emotional." Sam said. "And you aren't my boyfriend anymore."

"So you keep saying."

"Its true, isn't it?" Sam make eye contact with him for the first time. "We aren't together anymore."

"I know." Freddie sighed.

"And we made the right decsion when we broke up, right?" Sam looked at him. She wasn't sure if that was a statement or a question.

"Right." Freddie nodded. "We aren't ready for a relationship."

"Totally not ready." Sam agreed.

"But," Freddie said, trailing off.

"But?" Sam prompted.

"You know I still care about you, right?" Freddie said. "I always will, you know that?"

"Yeah," Sam nodded, smiling softly. "And you know, I, you know.. You know what I'm trying to say."

"Yeah, I do." Freddie laughed, tugging her closer to him.

"Good." Sam nodded, leaning her head against Freddie's chest.

"You're my best friend, you know that right?" Freddie murmered into her blonde curls, breathing in the familar scent of her vanilla shampoo.

"I know." Sam said simply. She didn't want to talk anymore, she just liked being close to Freddie. She didn't get the chance to do that anymore.

As the song came to a close, Freddie and Sam were relucant to break apart, but everyone around them was starting to move, and they had to.

"Sam!" Carly called, bouncing over and linking arms with the girl. "Thomas is having a party at his house, I'm going to see if Spencer will let me go. Do you and Freddie want to come?"

"I'll ask," Freddie shrugged, knowing his mom would more than likely say no. It wasn't as if he wanted to go to the party anyway, spending the next few hours in a house full of jocks wasn't his idea of fun.

"Help me!" Sam mouthed at him as Carly dragged her away, and Freddie had to smile to himself.

Maybe he would be taking Sam to senior prom next year.

/

Author's Note; I'm pretty sure junior prom was before Sam and Freddie dated, but in my head it was after. I'm just going to use poetic license here, so maybe just go with it..? I don't know. For whatever reason, ever since iStill Psycho I've had this story in my head of Sam and Freddie ending up together at prom, and Carly finding someone to dance with or whatever.

And this is it. So yeah, reviews are most welcome!