The Flip-Flopper
Disclaimer: Don't own iCarly
A/N: So the recent episode with the restaurant was good, but something irked me, to the point where I've lost some respect for Freddie. I like that how he's started having the crush on Carly again is not stalker-ish, but the fact that he dated her once, dated Sam, and Flip-flopped right back to having a crush on her…irks me so deeply. It has nothing to do with whether or not I like either ship more than the other, not at all. That's the type of guy I hear about from some of my friends, the assholes that I would personally punch out. So without further ado, I present to you the oneshot. Enjoy.
-THAT FLIP-FLOPPER IS A PLAYER-
Carly dusted off her desk and stared at the well written poem in front of her. Sam glared at her, slowly shaking her head. These two best friends had just got into an argument over a guy, but not just any guy, it was Freddie Benson. Sam was upset that Carly was actually starting to like Freddie's rekindled crush on her, even though Carly swore she wouldn't act upon anything he was doing. She saw what he was doing, that he wasn't able to make a decision.
The rule of sisters, of best friends, you don't date the same guy that just dated your other friend, although it looked like Freddie just couldn't decide who he wanted to be with at all. First, he had that crush on Carly, then he dated Sam without even telling her why he liked her back, and now he was crushing on Carly again? Did he ever even stop crushing on her? Was it Jonah all over again? Was this just another guy that wanted Carly over her? That was the big fight.
Carly herself had mixed feelings. On one side it was flattering, but on the other side it disgusted her because she saw what it was doing to Sam. How it was hurting her. "It isn't my fault he's started this crush thing again, Sam. You know it." She was breathing heavily, tears in her eyes. Those same tears were in Sam's eyes as well, both girls had been silent for the past five minutes.
"I know, and I'm not blaming you. I don't know what got into me…to make me yell at you."
"You needed someone to take your anger out on." Sam stepped forward, throwing her hands up in the air.
"It's Shane all over again! It's Jonah, it's Pete, it's every single guy we've met that wants you over me. I don't know what it is, but…this time I thought Freddie gave a damn about me, now I'm just wondering…was he using me? Was he playing me?" It had only been two or three months since the two of them broke up, and since then, his old crush on Carly had begun to return. "God, at least the guy could have waited a little longer. I actually thought there was something there!"
Sam's heart was bursting from her chest, tearing into rivets. Cracking. Her body was shaking like an earthquake, matching Carly's quivering body. Carly didn't like having Sam yell at her, and had a tendency to put up a defensive wall when someone did yell, but she was trying not to here. "I know, I saw how you two acted with each other." She rose from her desk and met Sam's eyes with a genuine, almost sisterly love. "I thought he cared too, I mean…the way he acted, the way he talked…"
Sam scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest. Her tears stung her and burned her cheeks. There was one time, she never told anyone and brushed it off, she was sure on one of their dates she heard Freddie say Carly's name at one time. "He was just using me."
"If it makes you uncomfortable, and I told you this when you talked to me after the breakup, I will not act on his crush. Okay? I promise. I don't like what he's doing either…" Carly bowed her head and closed her hands, she felt a loss of respect for Freddie. How dare he treat Sam like this? How dare he use her like some kind of tool to forget his crush on her! Not only that, but how dare he think he can just flip right back to crushing on her right after dating Sam! It wasn't fair for either of them, and he should know this!
Hell, Carly had always been a bit protective of Sam, she hated to see her friend get hurt. Even more, she hated when she was hurt, and she had something to do with it! Damn right it would make Sam uncomfortable to see Freddie with her, the girl still wasn't over the initial breakup.
Carly reached forward and pulled Sam into a hug, holding her close. "Sam, you're going to find someone who thinks the world of you. I promise, one day, you're going to find that person who only has eyes for you."
"It doesn't feel like it. Look at me, Carly." Carly moved her head back and smiled sadly at Sam's depressed expression. "I'm always the backup choice, the second choice. I'm always the one they fucking use, and why? To fucking get to you!" She gasped and her eyes grew large. "Oh my god! Do you know what I am?"
"What?"
"You know how at bars, a common trick to pick up a hot girl is to go through her ugly best friend first?" Sam's body became numb and she slowly fell back onto Carly's bed. Carly put her hand to her mouth and shook her head, trying to find something to counter the thought. She knew exactly what Sam was talking about. "I'm the ugly best friend! Oh god! Jonah, Shane, Freddie, god no…I…" She quickly shook her head, her body aching more than ever. She never got this emotional, but then, she'd never felt so sick before. She'd never felt so used.
Everything Freddie told her on the date, everything they did. The making out, the foreplay, and yes they almost had sex at some point of time, but knew where to stop. It was all a game. His hands had been all over her, and he was just another boy who wanted Carly.
"Sam? Sam what's wrong?"
"He…He made me think he loved me, he made me think he cared. Just like men, huh Carly?" Carly pressed her lips together as Sam buried her face into her hands. She sat down beside her and hesitated for a second before putting her arm around Sam's shoulders. "We made out, we…we actually had some foreplay too." Carly's eyes widened dramatically and a rush of anger shot through her. "If he could just flip over like this…"
"Sam." If Freddie could do that to Sam, then what if he did it to her as well? What if some hot girl came along and he flip-flopped over to that girl? He'd shown signs of it before, with that Tori Vega, those models from so long ago, even Shelby. Hell, he still never told them how he knew that Ashley intern.
Of course, she already knew of his player tendencies, but ignored them. There was a time when she contacted none other than Valerie Williams, asking her why she did what she did. Valerie explained it was jealousy, yes, but not because of the webshow. Jealousy only because Freddie constantly talked about how much he liked the girls, how perfect they were, and then he would sometimes check out a waitress or two. Back then, Valerie felt like she was just the "flavor of the week", and she hated it, so she set out to destroy the girls as if it were their own fault.
Was she surprised that Freddie dumped her? Not really. Quite frankly, Carly thought he was getting this behavior from Spencer, the only male role model in his life. "Sam, I'm so sorry. Believe me, you're going to find a genuine guy one day."
"No I won't. They'll all be too busy using me to get to someone like you!" Carly was taken aback by the harshness in Sam's voice, but by that same respect, she understood Sam wasn't angry at her at all. Sam moved her hands to her mouth and whimpered softly. "I'm sorry Carly, I don't mean to snap at you, it's just…this whole crush thing…if he wanted to be with you, he should have just stayed with you when he managed to date you. Whether or not it was hero worship. I need to think…" Sam rolled her eyes and moaned. "God, thanks Freddie, helped show me I'm going to be just like my fucking mother! A hopeless, fucking, bitch of a cat lady!" Sam screamed and walked swiftly from the room, slamming the door loudly behind her.
Carly's jaw fell and her body became paralyzed. She couldn't move. She wanted to run after Sam, she wanted to console her. Inside of her was a raging storm of emotions, crushing her very heart. She was mournful for Sam, but angry with Freddie. She heard the front door slamming, followed by Spencer calling out for her.
With an irritated grunt, she forced herself up and moved down the stairs to find Spencer up against the back of the couch. He was panting and staring at her with a look of shock. "Did you just see the tornado that came running through here? What's going on with Sam?"
"Apparently something to do with Freddie," Gibby's voice came from the kitchen, catching Carly off guard. He met her eyes and frowned as he sipped on some soda. What did he know? Did he actually hear anything? "I went up to ask you guys something about the next show, but you and Sam seemed to be arguing. I eavesdropped. I'm sorry…"
"You…" Carly exhaled and lifted her hand up. "Never mind, how much did you hear?"
"Enough to know Freddie's stringing the both of you along…I guess." She didn't even care enough to be upset with Gibby over eavesdropping, her only thought was on Sam and how to make her feel better. "I've seen it a bit myself, it's been pissing me off. You didn't see the look on Sam's face back at the restaurant after you ran off upstairs."
"What happened?" She raised an eyebrow as Gibby shrugged his shoulders.
"She asked if he had a crush on you again, looked upset and hurt, then told him to just go on after you." She growled and shook her head.
"That's enough of this, he needs to learn he can't mess with a girl's head like this." She started rushing towards the door, then stopped to glance back at Gibby. "You come with me, I may need your help."
"Okay?"
They found him at the Groovy Smoothie, chatting it up with a couple girls at a table. Carly was ticked off to the point that she walked up to the table, grabbed Freddie's smoothie and smirked as he looked up to her. "Hey Carly, can I introduce you to a couple girls that want to get on iCarly?"'
"Sure they do." She splashed the ice cold smoothie into his face and glared at the two girls, causing them to rush off. Freddie exclaimed and wiped his face off.
"What was that?" Next, Gibby came barreling in, grabbing Freddie and pinning him to the ground. "Gibby!" Carly walked over and knelt down, grasping his shirt collar with a balled fist and glaring into his eyes.
"Freddie Benson, I will never like you. After what you've done to Sam, to make her feel the way she does…I agree, if you couldn't have gotten over me, the least you could have done was not lead Sam on by dating her, doing all the things you did with her emotions, and then dropping her. You know what you are?" He yelled as she pulled him in dangerously close. "You're just a flip-flop, someone who thinks they can go between girls, between friends, between sisters, and think nothing will happen! Well I have news for you, Freddie…you're fired."
"What? Carly! I thought-"
"You thought wrong. I can never be interested in someone who would use my best friend like a fucking toy. Sam is like my sister, and you hurt her. In turn, you also hurt me. You're going to get what you deserve, you little flip-flop…" She looked over at Gibby and smirked deviously. "Gibby. Go ahead and take him away."
"What?"
"My pleasure," Gibby responded.
"Wait. Gibby, come on buddy…" Freddie started screaming as Gibby dragged him by the feet. He flipped over and started grasping for the floor, but only sliding on the cold tile. "Gibby!"
"That's my name, don't wear it out. It's time you and I have a little talk about Sam, and about Carly."
Carly folded her arms over and narrowed her eyes, watching with a deep sadness inside of her. This was goodbye, just about. She didn't need him, she and Sam only needed each other. Sisters for life, that's how it was. Although, all this drama did give her a good idea for the next iCarly.
She sat at the table and eyed the smoothie drops, if she let her tears come, they might join those drops. Her heart was threatening to explode, beating so fast that she thought a heart attack was on the way. Like Sam, she felt used by him. After all, he did dump her and flip over to Sam, but she couldn't feel any distaste for her. The distaste in her mouth was solely for him, the burning inside of her was because of him. She didn't want to hate him, but she couldn't like him, she couldn't respect him.
Then seeing him with those two girls, if only she realized sooner. What was the reason his father was gone? Left Marissa for another woman? Did those player tendencies run in his blood? She folded her arms on the table and dropped her head against them, her body shaking slightly.
She felt someone's hand on her back and looked up to see a smoothie set in front of her. Sam was smiling down at her, tears in her eyes. "Hey Carly…I didn't even know he was here…" She sat next to her and sipped her own smoothie.
"So how much of that did you see?"
"Just enough to see Gibby pounce him."
"I have your back Sam, I want you to know that. You and I, we're sisters…maybe not blood, but we still look out for each other. I'm not going to let a guy play us like that, not even Freddie."
"Same here." The girls shared a hug, their bond thicker than blood. They looked out the doors to see Freddie running away and Gibby chasing after him. "So what's going to happen with Freddie?"
"I don't know. I was thinking of pulling the wedgie bounce again. It's a little rusty, but I think Gibby would swing for that. What do you say?"
"Oh that brings back memories. I think it fits just nicely for Freddie. I hope Gibby doesn't bruise him up too much." The girls paused for a minute, then started laughing. He earned whatever Gibby did to him, at least they thought so. "Carly, I'm sorry I went off like that. You're right, I'll find a guy who appreciates me for me some day…I guess I just have to wait." Carly smiled with pride and put her arm around Sam's shoulders.
"Yeah, the right person will always come around. Most often, when you least expect it. Just remember, I'll always be there for you no matter what. You won't turn out like your mom, Sam. Want to know why?"
"Sure. Shoot." Carly took a sip of her smoothie and breathed out. As she leaned back in her chair, she brought her feet up to the table. Sam eyed her curiously, laughing only when T-Bo shouted at Carly to keep her feet off his table. She brought them down and chuckled. "Wow Carly, I'm really rubbing off on you."
"Are not." She laughed with Sam, then relaxed. The two sat in silence, gazing out the nearby shop window. Carly spoke out in a quiet, caring voice. "Because your mom didn't have someone like me. Sisters forever, without flip-flops."
"Right. I'm glad you're my friend. You know that? I really am."
"Same here, Sam. Same here…"
Well, I hope you enjoyed the oneshot, leave your thoughts.
