Summary: A slight confusion over what is in a box that Sam is trying to hide when Danny and Tucker make an unexpected visit to her house results in a fight.
A late December afternoon found fifteen-year-old Sam Manson sitting in the middle of her bedroom floor surrounded by miscellaneous items and a rather large box. She seemed to be in the process of filling the box with the items, and on further inspection it could be seen that the box was marked "exes" in black magic marker. In went a large, overstuffed bear, several pieces of paper, a withered rose, a DVD or two, three necklaces, two pairs of earrings, and other varied items. Sam was, by no means, a pack rat, but the sentimentality of the gifts had caused her to keep them.
She was busy trying to figure out how to fit the box under her bed when a chorus of "Hey, Sam!" sounded from behind her. Visibly jumping, Sam turned to see Danny and Tucker standing in her doorway, smiles planted on their faces. A scowl crossed over her delicately featured face. "How'd you guys get in here?"
"Your grandma," Tucker replied, eyeing the box that Sam was trying to hide from them. She scooted to hide the label that Danny was squinting at. "What's with the box? You moving or something?"
"N-No." Sam stuttered out, trying to push the box under her bed with her foot. Her eyes were still resting on Danny who was looking at her suspiciously. "It's just some… stuff."
"What? We can't see it or something?"
"It's just some old stuff. You guys wouldn't understand."
Danny and Tucker exchanged confused glances and then burst out laughing, but upon seeing Sam's stricken face, they stopped short. "Sam, what are you talking about?" Danny said. "We're your friends. Even if we didn't, you know we'd act like we did."
Sam's frown deepened. "Okay, that made no sense at all." She looked at the box. "And even if it did, I still wouldn't show you."
"Why?"
"Because Tucker would laugh, and you would just be… you about it.
Tucker crossed his arms and huffed. "Try us. I mean me. There's really no way Danny could avoid being himself."
Sam bit her lip and looked from one boy to the other, finally caving in, and pulled the box out to the middle of the room. Upon laying eyes on the label, Tucker's gray eyes widened in shock. "You keep your ex-boyfriends in a box?"
Sam rolled her eyes. "Do you want to be stupid or do you want me to show you what's in here?"
"I was just kidding… maybe."
Sam chose to ignore this comment and knelt down by the box to open it. "It's just some old, sentimental stuff, guys."
"How many boyfriends have you had?" Tucker asked as he peered into the box.
Sam blushed to the roots of her hair, her eyes flashing. "A few."
"Wait, I thought there was just that Elliot guy," Danny said, anger vibrating through his voice.
"Um, well… there were a couple of guys before him and then two or three over the past year." Sam mumbled causing Danny and Tucker to stop rooting through the box and look at her in wide-eyed fascination. "I'm just really good at keeping secrets."
"And you didn't tell us, why?" Danny snapped.
"Well, let's see. You would get all jealous and tense, then you'd spy on me; and Tuck would make fun of me!" Sam hissed, closing the box and shoving it out of the way. Tucker sat back and watched in apparent enchantment as Danny and Sam yelled at each other. He'd always secretly enjoyed watching them fight and waiting for them to realize how clueless they'd been over the past year. To the techno geek, this fight was especially funny.
"I wasn't jealous and I wasn't tense! And I didn't spy on you!"
"You did too! You were jealous! Admit it!"
Danny snorted in laughter. "No! What does it matter if I was jealous?"
Sam let out a screech of anger and stormed out of the room, yelling "Clueless!" at the top of her lungs. The slam of the door caused Tucker to snap out of his trance and keel over laughing. "Man, if I had a dollar for every time she said that, I'd be rich!"
Danny scowled at his friend. "I don't get it. Why is she so fixated on the fact that I was jealous?" Spying a familiar class ring on the carpet, Danny picked it up and examined it. It was hanging off of a gold chain now, and the clasp on it was broken.
"Man, how blind are you? Sam likes you! And I mean really likes you!"
Danny stared, dumbfounded, from the ring to Tucker and back again. "Oh."
A few seconds later, a very livid-looking Sam opened the door, her face so past red it had gone purple. Upon seeing what Danny was holding, all color drained from her face and she let out a squeak of shock. Danny stood up and took a few tentative steps toward her. "You kept it?"
Sam nodded her violet eyes downcast. "You can have it back if you want."
Danny grinned and closed the distance between them, taking hold of her hand and placing the ring in it. "Nah, you can have it. I'm done being clueless."
Tucker felt himself grinning as Danny and Sam hugged. "Took you two long enough!" the techno geek yelled as he bolted out of the room.