When Freddie is finally offered the chance to date Carly, he learns where his true feelings lie. Also, Carly's attempt to make someone jealous works on the wrong person.

1: iMake an Offer

"OK, folks," Carly said to the camera. "To wrap up this episode of iCarly, Sam is going to drink this entire glass of gravy in thirty seconds!" She and Sam were standing behind a table. There was a large glass of gravy sitting on a pressure pad, with a wire leading to a large LED display.

"There's nothing like chugging down a glassful of liquid meat," Sam quipped.

"Are you ready, Sam?"

Sam tilted her head down, fire in her eyes. "Ready when you are."

Freddie called out from behind the camera. "In five, four, three, two..."

Sam picked up the cup and started to chug. The display showed every passing second.

"Hey, Freddie," Carly said. "Why don't you come over here and tell us how this works. "

"Switching to the B cam," Freddie replied. He walked over to Carly and Sam and turned to face the other camera. "OK. You see, this pad is pressure sensitive, so when Sam lifted the cup, it sent a signal to a timer which is connected to this LED display. The timer will keep running until it receives another signal from the pressure pad, for example when Sam puts the cup back—"

Freddie was interrupted by a loud slam. Sam had finished a pint of gravy in 22.87 seconds.

"Down," Freddie finished.

"She did it!" Carly announced. "Let's give it up for Sam!"

Sam hit the applause button on her remote. "Thank you. And thank you, Fredward, for that incredibly boring technobabble.

Freddie rolled his eyes. It was part of the script, but he couldn't help but feel a little annoyed. However, his displeasure would have to wait as he and the girls had a show to finish.

"OK, Freddie," Carly instructed, "switch back to the A cam so we can finish this show."

Freddie walked back to his cart and picked up the camera. "Switching back to the A cam," he said as he hit the button. Meanwhile, Carly and Sam came out from behind the table.

"OK, that's it for tonight!" Carly said.

"See you all next week!" Sam added. The girls made weird noises at the camera, waiting for Freddie's trademark phrase.

"And we're clear!" Freddie said. Then he bolted out of the room and down the stairs, to the surprise of Sam. Freddie Benson would never leave his equipment lying around after a show.

"What's his hurry?" Sam asked.

"Oh," Carly replied, "the Video Game Channel is doing a special on the only man to get a perfect score playing Dinky King."

Sam rolled her eyes. "What a geek."

Carly chuckled. "Anyway, that was pretty impressive just now."

"Not really. Yesterday I had a whole quart of gravy in one minute."

"Uh, OK..." Carly knew Sam's superhuman appetite like no other, but sometimes Sam surprised even her.

"So, you wanna go downstairs and watch some Girly Cow?" Sam asked.

Carly shook her head. "I can't, I got a date tonight with Brian." Brian was Carly's first serious boyfriend, at least by her standards. He was the first guy to last more than one date.

Sam shrugged. She would just watch Girly Cow on her own then. "OK, have fun."

"So, you going home?"

"Nah, my mom bought a new bikini again."

Carly shuddered at the thought of Sam's mom in a bikini. "OK, but our fridge better not be empty when I get back."

Sam laughed; it was true that Sam, as a guest, was by far the largest portion of the Shay's food bill. "Just go make out with the guy already."

Sam was watching Girly Cow and eating low-fat fat cakes when Carly returned home, depressed.

"Hey," Carly muttered.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"He dumped me." Carly flopped down on the couch.

Sam was shocked. Carly and Brian seemed like such a perfect couple. "Brian dumped you?"

"Yeah."

"Well, don't just mope around, do something about it!" Any other friend of Carly would have been comforting her, but this was Sam. "I don't know, date someone else to make him all jealous!"

Carly thought for a moment. "You think that'll work?"

Sam put a hand on Carly's shoulder. "Sure. Just pick a guy, go out with him for a day or two, and you'll be back with Brian in no time."

"But who?"

"Why not Michael?" Michael was one of the hotter boys in Carly's class. Dating him automatically put one among the envied.

Carly shook her head. "Can't get near him."

"Bob?" Truth was, Sam had never tried her technique and had no idea what would and would not work.

Carly laughed. "Come on, who'd be jealous of Robert Peterson?"

"Paul?"

"He just started dating Debbie. I saw them at the cinema." Brian had a part-time job at the cinema, so Carly often went there.

Sam gave up. "Girl, at this rate you're gonna make it all the way down the list to Freddie."

Sam expected Carly to laugh it off, but Carly was actually considering it. After all, Freddie was nice to be with (as a friend) and was just popular enough that Brian might get jealous. Besides, Carly thought, he was so desperate to date Carly he would probably agree to pretend-dates just as quickly even if he knew. After giving it some thought overnight, Carly was knocking on Freddie's door the next morning.

Freddie came out in his pajamas. "Hey, what's up?"

"Can I ask you a huge favor?"

Freddie shrugged. "No problem."

"I need you to pretend to go out with me."

Freddie was stunned. He didn't even care that it was not real; the fact she'd let people think they were dating was enough to make him light-headed.

"Um," Freddie stuttered, "sure, I-I can do that."

Carly smiled. "Great. See ya at school."

Carly went back into her apartment as Freddie just stood there, stunned.