dancing across the line.
Sam remembers the day she met Freddie Benson all too well. He had just moved in across the hall from Carly, and he had been sent over to see the Shay's by his overbearing mother.
He was small, geeky and as soon as he set eyes on Carly, the boy was practically drooling.
That was when her hatred of Freddie began- not because she was jealous, the eleven year old Sam had no desire to do anything but punch him senseless, but because Freddie was making eyes at her best friend.
Sam had seen enough movies to know that the girl only ever ended up getting hurt, and she was not going to let any nub hurt Carly. Carly was, after all, the only real friend Sam had, and she kept the blonde girl supplied with meat.
If only things could have stayed that simple, and she could have stayed on that side of the line, the side full of senseless beatings and nothing but hatred.
But, of course, she and Freddie started to make the progression towards frenemies after they had been doing iCarly for a few months.
To this day, Sam isn't sure what triggered the change, but somehow, she and Freddie became frenemies. She still tortured him, of course, and caused him emotional and physical anguish on a daily basis, but when it was necessary, they could work together.
Even though they were frenemies, Sam stayed firmly on the hate side of the line. She never had any intention of leaving that side, but she did, and it was because of one of her own pranks.
How funny was that? Sam herself had acted as the catalyst for one thing she never wanted.
She spilled Freddie's secret to the world on an iCarly webcast, and caused him to become a hermit, and live on the fire escape. Now, Sam wasn't heartless, and however much she hated to admit it then, the show needed Freddie.
So, she went to do something she had never done before, at least not to Freddie. Sam went to apologise.
Perhaps that should have been her first indication that she was starting to dance along the fine line between love and hate, her caring enough to apologise.
If that was her first indication, her second was the sparks that she felt as soon as her lips connected with Freddie's, and they shared their first kiss.
There was no denying it was awkward, fumbling, and probably nothing like ever kiss either of them would ever have again- in both the good, and bad sense- but there was no denying the sparks either.
As she walked away from the fire escape that night, Sam didn't realise how precariously she was balancing on that line between love and hate.
In the years that followed, Sam moved along that line; going forward a little, and then falling straight back into the endless side of hate, dealing out beatings, and insults to Freddie like there was never going to be another day to do it.
She never fully stepped across the line however. Sure, she occasionally dipped a toe into the love side, when her heart would skip a beat at Freddie's touch, or when she found herself admiring the way his hair looked, or how his arms seemed to strain at the sleeves of his shirt, and looked like they could give such good hugs.
Sam, she tried to reassure herself it was purely physical- Carly herself had even admitted Freddie had started to get more attractive, now he had filled out and his voice had gotten deeper- but it wasn't any use.
She found herself feeling better at the sound of his voice, and his lame jokes always made her crack a smile, simply because they were made by him.
Sam continued to dance along the line, not committing to one side or the other, even as she realised she was falling for Freddie. Deny, was something Sam had a wonderful ability to do, and do well.
She tried to convince herself that she wasn't falling for him on countless occasions, going as far as cranking up her violent acts against him, and her insults, to a level they had never reached even when she was firmly planted in the hate side of this equation.
That didn't work, of course.
She found her skin would tingle as soon as a fist came in contact with some part of Freddie's anatomy, and with every insult she always took a second to check if she had really hurt him, because, nowadays, the thought of truly hurting him caused her chest to tighten.
Sam finally stepped into the love side fully the night of the Ridgeway lock in, the feeling of security she had gotten with one foot on the line, or partially dipped in the hate side, gone in a spilt second as she pressed her lips to Freddie's.
This time, the sparks fully enveloped her body, and although there was a voice at the back of her head whispering 'he'll never feel the same way', she had to admit she could get used to the electricity that was made as their lips together.
It made her feel warm, and fuzzy.
As she pulled away, the realisation of what she had just done fully hitting her, Sam frantically tried to scramble back to the hate side, to the comfort of her indecisive line, but she was met with a solid wall, one that wouldn't allow her to leave the love side, which was scary and unexplored.
See, everyone says that there's a fine line between love and hate. What they don't tell you is that when you cross from hate to love, even for a spilt second, that line becomes a solid wall and there's no way to turn back.
So, Sam was stuck there, in a side she had never dreamed of standing it, not when Freddie Benson, king of the nubs was involved.
It wasn't until the reason for her being there took her roughly by the hand, demanding to get an explanation for the kiss after weeks of them, well her avoiding him like the plague, that Sam started to feel comfortable in the unfamiliar surroundings of the love side.
And when they kissed for the third time, Sam felt herself being pulled, head first into the great unknown that was Love, with Freddie, of all people.
As they fell, harder, and faster with each passing day, Sam found that she was glad there was no turning back once you had crossed the line, because if there had been, she would have ran back to the old familiarity of the hate side, and stayed there.
There was a fine line between love and hate, and for good reason. If it was any thicker, no one would take the chance, and fall in love with someone they hate.
FIN.
Author's Note; Its a little strange, but I kind of like it. I've always wanted to play more on the whole 'there's a thin line between love and hate thing', and this would be the result.
I'm on summer holidays now, and have been since last Friday, so if anyone does read my multi chapter fics, I'll finally be updating soon.
If you are looking for something awesome to read, go check out the Cabal; the link to the group profile is in my bio, if you're curious. I'm just far too lazy to write the list of names here!
I would love to know what you thought of this! :3