iEavesdrop

I yawned and finished brushing my teeth, and then yelled to my mom that I was going to Carly's house. We had to plan iCarly, today. I sighed knowing that Sam would probably not contribute one thing except her need for having more ham.

As I walked out of the door I realized she probably wouldn't even be there yet, I mean its 11:00 on a Saturday morning, she probably won't be up until around three.

Oh well, more alone time with Carly…

I was about to knock on Carly's door when a loud voice yelled, "NO! Enough! I can't handle it anymore!"

I froze my fist in mid air. That was Sam's voice. Something told me I should just turn around and walk back into my apartment. Another part of me wanted to stay right here and listen to what's happening.

"Dylan, you are one of the worst guys in our whole school!" she moaned.

Dylan? Who's Dylan? Why is she talking to him?

"You do drugs, you're in gang, you hurt people for fun, you want more things from me than I'm ready to give, you don't plan on going to college, hell, you don't plan on going anywhere! I've put up with it for this long, but I have no idea how long we can stay together…"

My jaw fell open, Sam has a boyfriend?! Who does all that stuff?! And she didn't tell me?!

"You're not listening to me, Dylan! You keep pressuring me! Your friends treat me like I'm some piece of ass, Dylan, when you get wasted; you treat me like a piece!"

What?! Who is this guy?! I'm going to need to have a little chat with him…

"I'm not ready to have that type of relationship! I've told you this a hundred times already! I think we should wait…I-I don't-I'm just not ready…" she trailed off, her voice softening, making her sound really vulnerable.

"No! You can't just tell me what I will or won't do! You don't own me! I'm not going to be your little sex toy that pleases you whenever you want!"

Whoa-…I've never, ever heard Sam talk like that before!

I shouldn't be listening to this, but now I feel this strong urge to protect her, something I've never felt I'd have to do with Sam.

"No, no I don't want to break up," her voice cracked at the end, "I love you Dylan…"

WHAT?! NO!

"No, please, I'll-I'll try to change…okay," I heard her sobbing now.

What?! Has all the stupid ran to her head!? Change for him?!

Also, Sam crying? I've never heard or saw Sam cry, and I've known her for eight years.

"Yeah, I'll…come over now, and we-we can try it…"

WHOA! NO!!

I shook with rage.

"Okay, Dylan, I'll be over soon, I love you, too…"

It was silent for a moment. I was frozen with shock and rage.

Then I heard her break down into sobs again.

"Why, why does he have to do this to me? I just want to have a normal relationship who loves me for me, not my body! What's wrong with me?! Am I like stupid, do I have a horrible personality? I can't even keep my own boyfriend happy! And now I'll have to change for the worse, do things I don't feel comfortable doing at all, just to keep him. What's wrong with me?!" she yelled.

Her sobs were very loud now, and I couldn't take it anymore.

With a scream of fury I threw open the door. Breathing heavily, my face was probably beet red by now, I looked around the room. A surprised Carly and Sam looked up at me. Sam had tears running down her face and she was clutching her phone in her hand. Carly was sitting calmly down on the couch.

I ignored her and stormed over to Sam who was sitting down beside her on the couch.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" I yelled.

She leaned back in surprise. Her eyes wide with fear…maybe. I've never seen Sam scared ever, well, I probably looked insane, so I don't hold it against her.

"What are you doing?! Have you lost your ever loving mind?! Changing for a guy? I thought you had some morals, some sense, but obviously not! Plus, you didn't tell me you were dating this jackass?! What the hell are you thinking? He's obviously so wrong for you! You're a good person, Sam and he's not! I thought you'd be able to see that, but I guess I was wrong about you!"

The shocked/fright look on her face changed to shocked/confused.

"Yeah, that's right! I'm yelling at you Sam! Look at me yelling at you! You're not sticking up for your own self, so I guess someone has to!" I screamed.

Sam opened her mouth to speak, but I wasn't done yet.

"No! Shut up! Don't say anything, I'm not done yet!"

I put my arms on the couch, on each side of her head.

"Sam, what are you thinking? You're so much better than that scum! So much better! Of course you're not stupid! You have an awesome personality! He's just an ass who thinks with the wrong head. You deserve much, much better! You don't have to change for him!" I yelled in rage.

I didn't even know what I was doing by now. What Sam had said had awakened this…like, monster in me. I just really lost control.

Her look of surprise was still etched in her bright, watery blue eyes.

"You don't need to change for any guy, Sam. You're already perfect the way you are…"

I didn't plan or mean to say that, but for some reason, the little voice in my head that had told me to go home and not eavesdrop, was telling me now to shut the hell up before I did something stupid.

I leaned in closer, "You don't need to date a guy like him, you would be way better off with someone like me."

And I kissed her. I just kissed her. For the second time in my life I kissed Samantha Puckett (the first time was when we shared both of our first kisses with each other, friendly kiss only). Her lips were amazing, sweet tasting and very soft, but she wasn't responding like she should have. It was like kissing a dead fish, hell a dead fish would do more than she was doing.

My eyes lurched open when I realized what I was doing. I looked into Sam's eyes who weren't closed either, but wide with complete and total shock.

I jumped away from her like she was on fire.

What was I doing? What the hell was I doing?!

She sat there frozen and it was complete silence for a couple of moments. She then jumped up and half ran out of the apartment.

I watched her go, frozen in shock and breathing heavily from the place on the floor I fell to when I noticed my lips were connected with Sam's.

It's like the freaky, rage induced spell I was under had vanished. It was like I was on some high and it was gone now, and it left me with a headache and trying to remember what in the world I just did 4 minutes ago.

My head jerked to where Carly was sitting, our eyes locked and she wore a similar shock expression that Sam had. She opened her mouth, but it seemed as she was at a loss for words.

Finally she jumped up.

"What the hell was that Freddie?!" she screeched.

I flinched and scooted backwards.

"I-I-…don't know?" I tried.

"You don't know, my ass!" she yelled, "You prance in here, uninvited, start screeching at Sam like she's some 5 cent whore, then tell her how amazingly perfect she is, and then you kiss her! You freaking kissed her!"

"I-uh…but, she was going to go to Dylan…I had to stop her…" I said meekly.

"Dylan?! Who the fu-…oh my God! You listened to our conversation?!" she screeched.

I shook my head yes, because she was scaring me too much for me to speak.

"You stupid, stupid fool! Sam was rehearsing a monologue with me! She's auditioning for a small part in C.S.I. tomorrow! SHE WAS ACTING! Do you think Sam would be stupid enough to-, you didn't ask any of us before-, why did you proclaim your love for-…no wait, why did you proclaim your love for Sam…?" she asked, her voice at a normal level now, but etched with confusion.

My stomach dropped to the ground along with my jaw.

MONOLOUGE? AUDITION? ACTING?!

OH MY GOD!!!!

What have I done?!?!

Why didn't I stop?! Why didn't I ask?! Why did I kiss Sam?! I like Sam? Do I? Well I must, if I said all that….

I've never thought of her that way before…

I mean sure she's pretty, well she's really pretty. Her crystalline blue eyes, bright, flowing, blond curls, her small frame, hell she's beautiful. She's hilarious, and one of the most fun people to be around. I look forward to our banters most ever day. She's smart as a whip, but doesn't let it show because she thinks procrastination is cool. She rags on me every day, and I find it so frustrating, not because it hurts my feelings, but she won't admit that she likes spending time with me…

But, that's I only think of her in a friendly way…yeah, right.

I do like Sam! How could I've not seen it before!

The way she thinks up an awesome insult in a millisecond, the way she's so graceful in her walking and posture, but she slouches to make herself look tough, the way her nose crinkles when she laughs, the way her face flushes when she is angry, the way her face is almost always in a snarl, but she makes a snarl look beautiful, and when she laughs, she glows, and lights up the whole room…

Whoa…I like her. A lot.

And apparently it took a fake phone call to fake loser boyfriend to get me to realize this.

And, I always say that Sam's the dumb one…

"Freddie?" Carly asked, noting my silence.

"I like her," I whispered.

Carly scoffed, "Well, I kind of figured that one out when you attacked her face, Freddie. Why? Why now? How long?"

I smiled.

"I like her a lot. A whole lot. Why? Because she is perfect, well perfect for me. Why now? I don't know, I guess I finally figured out why I had the humongous urge to protect her from a jackass boyfriend. How long? A long time…."

Carly scrunched her eyebrows in confusion, but a smirk was appearing on her face.

"You're smiling like a two year old who just got his first lollipop, Freddie…Freddie? Are you even listening to me? Hello? Earth to Fredward! Oh my-…you know what? Just go to her…make things right!"

I smiled even wider, not really paying attention to her.

"I should go talk to her…explain everything."

Carly giggled.

"Finally! I wondered which one of you would be the first to come to your senses! Lord, it took forever for you two to figure out that you're secretly in love with each other!"

I stood up and walked towards the door.

Carly gave me a pat on the back.

"Now go out there and woo her off her feet, you crazy kid!"

I laughed at Carly's excitement over this, and then opened the door.

I walked out and closed the door behind me, all the laughter immediately gone. What in the name of Jesus H. Christ was I going to say to her?

Hell, where is she? I don't even know where she lives.

I didn't go far, though, I walked to the elevator and looked to my left and saw Sam sitting down, on the floor, her head in her hands.

I gulped and looked at her? Do I go to her? Should I say anything? Do I wait for her to notice me?

"Hey Fredweird," she said half heartedly.

She raised her head, and I studied her face. Usually she's so expressive; you can tell when she's mad, sad, confused, or surprised. Her face was completely indifferent now, though, and this kind of freaked me out. She was completely unexpressive.

"Hey, Sam," I half-squeaked.

She stared at me for a moment and then sighed.

"Would you like to explain to me what the hell that was back there?"

I freaked out.

"Would you believe me if I said I had audition I was rehearsing for, too?" I tried.

Her gaze hardened into a glare.

"Don't be a pussy, Benson, just…" she sighed, "just tell me the truth."

I sighed this time.

"Okay, um…well…Sam, I like you."

"You think?"

"No! I mean I like, really like you. I have for a while. I just haven't noticed it, yet. When I heard you talking about Dylan, well, I mean when I heard you practicing, it…awakened something in me. Feelings I've never felt for any before, ever. I wanted to be the one comforting you, the one to protect you."

Most of my fear was gone now, and I was on a roll. I wasn't stopping now for anything.

"I don't need protect-," she started.

"I know!" I yelled, I calmed down a bit after that.

"I know you don't need protecting, but still. I want to be an option if you did. I want to be the first one to kick some guy's ass for you, even if you could do it yourself. I want to be your perfect guy, the guy who likes you for who you are, not what you look like or act like. I don't want you to ever be with someone like Dylan, even though he's not real. I don't want to ever see you like that…I can't-I wouldn't be able to handle it."

I closed my eyes and sighed.

"I can understand if you don't feel the same way. You've made it known that you only tolerate me. I'm okay with you not returning the feelings I have for you. I've dealt with it my whole life, and I'm still okay. I want you to be with me. You have no idea how bad I want you to be with me…but if it's weird for you, I'll back off. No one has to know about this, my feelings for you, other than us, and well Carly, if it embarrasses you. Hell, if you don't want me to ever say anything like this again, and you want to try and forget it that's fine. I mean I know you probably do," I laughed, my eyes still closed, I didn't want to see her face when she rejected me, "It's me, Fredweird the dork. You are way too awesome for me, and I can accept that. I just want to let you know, that I probably will never forget about the feelings I have for you-,"

I was cut off by the feeling of someone else's lips on mine. My eyes popped open in surprise and I looked down to see Sam, her eyes softly closed and her head inclined to mine. That was all I needed, my eyes fell closed, too, and I put my hands softly on her waist.

It was a soft, sweet kiss. Nothing too…va-va-voom, if you know what I mean. But it told me that Sam actually liked me. Me! As in the king of all dorks! I really couldn't believe that someone as amazing and beautiful as Sam would even consider me as boyfriend material.

Sam broke the kiss and looked down at our feet. I watched her, a goofy grin on my face.

"That was probably the nicest thing anyone has ever done or said to me. I know it wasn't real, but you didn't know that, and you said all that stuff. I'm not usually into this mushy crap, so you'll probably only here me say this once, so…listen up, dork."

She looked up at me, a glare in her eyes.

"You are not a dork. You obviously have some sort of self esteem issues, and…maybe that could possibly be my fault. But if you think that I am better than you in any sort of way, then…well, you're insane. You're smart, funny, good looking, sweet, compassionate…you are a great friend, you respect everyone, you are always optimistic, you usually see the good in people, you…you are amazing. So don't you ever have any doubts about…that…"

She looked down again, obviously embarrassed about what she just said. I couldn't be happier, I was filled with a stronger emotion that I couldn't name…but it was the strongest I've ever felt in my whole life.

I put a finger under her chin and lifted her face back up towards me. I placed another soft kiss on her lips and then wrapped my arms around her in a hug. I rested my head on top of her's and inhaled the sweet scent of whatever shampoo she used…strawberry kiwi, I think.

"You are amazing," I whispered.

She laughed, "I know."

I laughed with her, and she untangled herself from my arms.

"I told you though, you will never hear me say anything like that ever again, so you better savor this moment, Benson."

She smirked and quickly walked away from me. I ran after her and grabbed her hand before she could protest.

"Oh I will, Puckett, oh I will."