My continuation fic of iOMG. First fic ever. Please be kind. Reviews would make me a happy girl. Sorry if they seem OOC, I am figuring out these two are hard to write. But I could see this really happening on the show so please read and enjoy. =)
~ I don't own iCarly or the characters incorporated with the show, all credit for said characters goes to Dan Schneider.
Not A Bad Thing.
"It's cool…" Freddie stood across from her eyes still in shock. At least he had closed his mouth.
"I…" what could she say? She stuttered and they just stood in the same position. Freddie staring at Sam while she did avoided his stare. He watched as her eyes grew wide when she saw something on the other side of him.
"Carly." It was barely audible but before he had a chance to react to it she was already opening the door to go back inside. He turned around and watched her walk back inside towards a very shocked or maybe it was confused Carly. Shocked and confused. Both words summed up the last two minutes. Had he liked it? Did he like kissing her? Why had she kissed him. Wait she doesn't like Brad. Yeah he figured it was safe to say she doesn't like Brad. He subconsciously licked his lips and rubbed his lips together. He could still feel her lips. Her lips smelled like something, something he couldn't put his finger on. He watched through the window as Carly paced back and forth while Sam sat on a table with a bored expression on her face. It was like it hadn't happened. Her expression was not different from before. Her demeanor was still the same. She rolled her eyes and threw her head back in what looked like frustration from this side of the glass he couldn't really tell what was being said and he figured at this point it was probably better that way with the way Carly was still pacing and rambling much to Sam's dismay. He took a deep breath and turned around, he felt like he was intruding or something. He pulled out the phone in his pocket and opened the mood reader app. Had he started all this with this stupid school project? Had there not been a school project with a stupid computer application would she have kissed him? She kissed him. She didn't hate him. She kissed him. She didn't hate him. A thought he couldn't quite wrap his mind around. He licked his lips again and realized it wasn't subconscious this time. He closed his eyes and all he could see was her deathlike grip on his shoulders and how fast it had happened. She just kissed him. A kiss that said so much that words couldn't. Right after he had told her to put her feelings out there. He just wasn't sure what the kiss said exactly. He turned back around to see if Carly had calmed down any, and he saw Sam staring out the window, her eyes fixed on something to his right. She looked sad. Carly's arms were still flailing but it seemed the pacing had stopped. Sam let her eyes drift to his and she looked like she might cry, he tried to grin at her but her eyes dropped away from his and she turned the opposite direction.
How would Carly react to this? Did Carly still like him.?He was pretty sure with the whole Adam thing it was safe to say that Carly was back to platonic Carly. She leaned on him a little more and personal space wasn't something she kept in mind when she got an idea in her head but he had accepted that Carly and him probably wouldn't be. The thought had been in his head a little bit, I mean you don't just get over a girl like Carly Shay, that maybe a really long time from now, when they were older, but it wasn't like she was the only person he ever thought about anymore. She wasn't his first love, she was his first infatuation. He'd never been in love. Not really. As for Sam. Sam was a demon who hated him. She did everything in her power to make his life miserable. Well she used to. Her taunts had lessened and it was becoming a biweekly thing for her to inflict some form of physical pain on him now. Where it use to be a bi-day time of thing. When had that changed? How had he not noticed? Did Sam love him? Was that really possible? All questions would go unanswered. The only one he really cared about was what happens next.
He was broken out of his reverie by the door opening and his best friend emerging.
"So…" What was he supposed to say? What did she want him to say?
"Did you like it?" She searched his eyes back and forth.
The kiss, she had to be talking about the kiss.
"How much did you see?" He didn't know why he wanted to know he knew that she knew enough now and a quick surveillance of the building inside confirmed his suspicions that his blonde headed friend had since disappeared.
"Enough, plenty." Did she sound jealous? Was Carly seriously jealous. He tried to keep his face void of all emotion but her tone said she was jealous and he really didn't want her to be. Wait he didn't want her to be? He sighed and placed his hands back inside his pockets.
"Oh." What was he suppose to say?
"Oh? Oh? Are you kidding me Freddie? Oh? That's all you're gonna say?" Her pacing had started up but this time it was for his benefit. Great. She was gonna need to take a few showers to get over this night he was sure.
"Sam kisses the life out of you and all you can say is oh? No that doesn't work for me!" She crossed her arms in a huff but continued with her pacing.
"What do you want me to say Carly? I don't know what just happened. Sam kissed me and I don't … I don't know, okay." Freddie sank to the ground.
"I didn't hate it." He shrugged some.
"But you didn't like it either?" Carly's voice sounded almost hopeful and he wanted the earth to open up and swallow him whole.
"I didn't say that."
"So you liked it?" Her tone indicated she was confused. She crossed over to his other side and sat down on the concrete ground.
"I didn't hate it, It happened so fast I didn't have much of a chance to react and by the time I figured out what was going on my brain was mush. I couldn't think about anything except for Sam kissing me and she was done before I had fully decided that I should kiss her back." He let his head fall back and hit the wall.
"So you were going to kiss her back?" She didn't sound jealous now and he wished he could read her mind in that instant.
He shrugged again, "Yeah I think I was, it wasn't on a conscious level though so who knows because it didn't happen, she kissed me, apologized, saw you and ran inside to talk to you." He licked his lips again he wondered how often he would do that now.
"This changes things." She stated matter of factly and nudged her knee with his own.
"You need to talk to her." She smiled at him and he smiled back.
"I know." He did know, but he didn't know what he would say to her.
"What did she say?" He knew girl code and he knew it was a long shot but he needed to get some kind of idea what had gone wrong between the five years of I hate you birthday cards and the event that had transpired tonight.
"Nuh uh. You need to talk to her."
"I thought she hated me, like not hated me hated me, because I know we are friends as much as she denies it but I honestly believed she…" He trailed off. Did he really think that though?
"Sam's awkward with guys Freddie, you know that."
"Yeah but I'm not a guy, I mean I am, but I'm Freddie and she makes it her mission in life to humiliate me as much as possible." Carly rolled her eyes at her best friend.
"Puh-lease you give it right back. Don't act like you're innocent in all this."
"Well yeah but I have to defend myself or she will run over me." He defended himself.
"Or… you could just ignore her and then she would stop, but you don't, you like it. You like that she's mean to you and you like being "mean", she put her fingers in quote form for emphasis, right back". She smiled smugly at her friend.
He knew she was right on some level but had..
"And lately, you start it."
"What!"
"Don't what me, you start it, she can be being nice which has been happening a lot more often until you make a crack about her not doing her homework or being lazy or saying something stupid about her family, anything you can think of to get a rise out of her… Don't pretend you don't enjoy it Freddie Benson." He looked down and she nudged his arm.
"You get joy out of besting her, which you have done a lot lately. Maybe that's why she likes you so much now."
His head shot up at this.
"Don't act surprised, she malled your face and you "didn't hate it" She used her fingers to quote again. She laughed and he had to smile.
"Are you jealous?" A year ago he wouldn't have been able to ask such a bold question but things had changed with them. They had gone out for a whole week and he wasn't nervous around her anymore, she was just Carly now. Not Carly the girl he would marry and couldn't talk to without stuttering about them.
She shrugged. "A little."
"Oh."
"But I don't think it's because I want you, I mean don't get me wrong, you have gotten a lot less nerdy and you are my best guy friend and sometimes I think wow he looks hot, but none of that even remotely matters now because Sam is in love with you and my maybe might almost could possibly at some point in time like you like that seriously, is not even close to what Sam feels for you, what she's always felt for you and this, she motioned between the two of them, it can't happen now. I guess you've always been an option and now you aren't and it's as simple as that. I"m okay with it if it makes my best friends happy."
She rambled it out and he was quiet as he let her words sink in.
"I think you have a lot to think about. She stood up and headed towards the door, grabbing a hold of the door knob she turned towards him again, "But I also think if you open your eyes a little bit you might see it's not completely crazy Freddie." She turned and walked back inside and Freddie sat there silently contemplating the entire week, month and years with Sam.
When he had gone back inside after another 5 minutes he went to find Brad to finish his project. He knew better than to try and confront her now. He needed to think and he wasn't ready to talk to her yet. He had a lot to sort out. She was nowhere to be found and Brad had said she was gonna go "refill", whatever that meant and disappeared. He hadn't seen her since.
2:52AM
She finally reappeared, fatcake attached to her mouth and more chips in one of her hands.
"We were runnin low." She stated with her mouth full of food.
"And it takes you three hours to get more chips?" Brad asked accusingly, but smiled at her. And she shrugged with a smile.
"I got sidetracked helping Carlotta for a little while and then there was that whole painting the boys bathroom stalls pink."
Freddie laughed then and she caught his eyes for a second before rolling her eyes at him.
"Whatever, I'm tired, I'm gonna go find somewhere to crash. Later Nub, Brad." She bowed like she were of oriental dissent, then dismissed both with a wave of her hand and went back to Carly.
She was tired, she was very tired. She made it back to Carly, Gibby and Spencer and sat down on one of the stools behind the table that housed everything for the stimulation chamber.
Spencer was currently sleeping and Gibby was drifting off to sleep on top of the table to her left. Carly was still awake though. She hoped that things weren't going to be weird between them. Yes she had gone a little crazier than normal with her whole confession and she was pretty sure that on some level her best friend was jealous even though she had denied being so, but it's not like she really had anything to be jealous of. Freddie was still into Carly, Freddie would marry Carly, and they would have brown haired, browned eyed babies and name them a combination of both their names. Cardie maybe? But she felt like a weight the size of a blue whale had been lifted off her chest. He might not feel the same but at least now he knew. At least she didn't have this insane secret anymore. Carly was more upset it seemed that she had kept such a secret. But it's not like it's fun to tell the girl the boys in love with that you are in love with said boy. It's weird and things will probably be weird for a while but things could go back to normal, they just needed time to let it slip to the back of their minds.
"Did you see him?" Carly playfully poked her in the arm.
"Watch it Shay." Sam's tone was threatening but Carly smiled anyways.
"Did you?" Carly tried again.
"Is this going to become a thing?"
"A thing"? Carly played dumb
Sam groaned. "Yes a thing, a thing where you are constantly pointing out my stupid feelings for the stupid nub?"
"Stupid nub that you looove." Carly poked her again.
"Fine, whatever, yes I saw him long enough to give them the chips and to say I was tired." Sam threw out irritated.
"Sam loves Freddie." Carly singsonged and Sam rolled her eyes.
"Yeah yeah can we quit talking about it?"
Carly was quiet for a few minutes and Sam thought she had dropped it.
"What's your favorite color that he wears?"
"Ughhh Carlotta Shay." Sam turned towards her best friend. "Drop it!"
Carly looked disappointed and Sam knew this was only the beginning.
"Blue, but not light blue, blue like real blue, and sometimes red, but usually blue." Carly squealed and clapped her hands together repeatedly. Sam shook her head and chuckled.
It was going to be a long night.
Four days later.
"She won't talk to me about it, she said to forget it." Freddie was the one pacing now as Carly sat on one of the beanbags in the studio.
"Like that's gonna happen, she literally kisses me breathless and then says to forget about it? I mean I told her I would but I can't forget about it, I don't want to forget about it." Freddie sighed and ran his hands through his hair exasperated by his predicament.
"She'll be here later just make her sit and listen. You obviously know what you want now right? Do you want to be with Sam?" Carly wanted this whole thing to be over with, whatever the outcome it didn't matter at this point as long as said outcome didn't include breaking up the trio.
"I like kissing her. I liked kissing her when I was 14 and I liked her kissing me four days ago, so yes I like kissing her." Carly smiled a big toothy grin.
"Stop it." Freddie sulked.
"No, you like kissing her and she lovvvveeesss youuuu." Carly was acting like a child but she didn't really care. They were acting like kids so she could too. Sam had done her best to avoid any topic of conversation that had to do with the lock in. She didn't avoid Freddie and she still stole his food and made him buy her smoothies. She still added to her many list of nicknames for him and insulted him some but she did do her best to avoid any physical contact and the two times he tried to bring it up she had told him to "stop actin like a girl, Benson, it wasn't that big of a deal", and the second time she turned up the tv really loudly to drown him out, so he hadn't tried talking to her about the event that she wouldn't speak of in over forty eight hours and it was driving him insane. He was pacing, he didn't pace. That was a Carly thing to do.
"I just wish she'd talk to me, or at the very least listen to what I have to say." He sighed in frustration and plopped down on the beanbag next to her.
"Just give her some time, she's still convinced that this hasn't changed anything when in reality it has pretty much changed everything. She's just scared."
"Is she really in love with me?" Freddie's eyes were closed and he was going for nonchalance but his voice cracked and gave him away.
"I can't tell you that, I may have slipped at the lock in but this is all you and her now." Her voice was a little sad.
"Promise me when you get together that I won't be left behind." Carly almost whispered.
"Are you serious?" Freddie's voice was one of surprise.
"Very, look, it's gonna happen, whether it happens in the next month or the next year it's gonna happen. She wants to be with you and I think you knowing that that's her whole reason for being so horrible to you in the past has made you think differently about her. You like her, you probably always have you just didn't let your brain go there because it seemed so outside the realm of possibility. I know you Freddie and I know her, and I know that one of these days it will happen. And I want you to be happy but I don't want to be left out."
"Carly that's not gonna happen. Yes I am very aware now that there will probably be a Sam and me but there will always be a Carly and me and a Carly, Sam and me. That won't change if things happen with Sam. We won't leave you behind or let you be left out." Freddie put his arm around her shoulders and she leaned into him.
"You are so wearing more cologne than normal." She laughed.
"No I'm not…" He didn't sound convincing.
"Yes you are." She smiled at him. "She likes when you wear blue, and she prefers your converse to your sneakers."
Freddie looked down at his green shirt and frowned.
"What else can you tell me?" He figured he would need Carly's help but he didn't expect her to be this helpful.
"She likes your tech talk, she acts like she doesn't but she does. She even knows what a lot of it is. But I didn't tell you that."
"Hmm." Freddie wondered aloud. He knew she was smarter than she let on because most of the time she was an evil genius, but it never occurred to him that she might actually know about the things she pretended not to care about. Everything was a game with her but he was going to figure her out.
3 hours later.
Sam was making her way up the 8th flight of stairs and was ready to kill whoever broke the elevator. She finally stumbled up the final stairwell and into the hall. Of course Carly's apartment was at the end of the hall, it would be way too easy for it to be the first one outside of the stairwell. She lazily dragged her feet down the hall towards the Shay's. Letting her fingers trail over the wall as she went. When she made it to the door she was looking for and went to open it, it was locked. What the? Before she could knock the door across the hall came open and Freddie stepped out of his apartment.
"What do you want Fredhead?" her voice was irritated.
He smiled and stepped closer to her. She folded her arms across her chest as a way to try and keep him from coming any closer. Things weren't really different, because she hadn't let them be and anytime he brought that night up she drowned him out.
He took another step towards her.
"You are going to listen."
"No I'm not."
"Yes you are. You can't get into the Shay's because the deadbolt is on and there's a chair under the doorknob, the elevator is turned off because we turned it off and I don't see you wanting to walk down 8 flights of stairs to avoid this conversation, after you just walked all the way up here." Freddie gave her a look that dared her to challenge him.
She glared at him. Weighing her options to bolt for it or let him talk. His eyes were earnest and she knew it had to happen sooner or later, she just wanted to avoid it all together. They stared across from one another and Sam decided he could win this one. As painful as it would be at least it would be out of the way.
"Fine whatever nub, talk."
She sat down against the wall with her knees up to her chest.
Freddie took the seat beside her on the wall.
"So… what's up?" Sam rolled her eyes, she really wanted to punch the kid beside her but that meant physical contact and she was avoiding that at all costs. Instead of beating around the bush she answered in a way she knew would get this conversation with over the fastest. It needed to be done already.
"I don't hate you." She mumbled hoping he didn't hear her.
"I do believe we established that a few nights ago." He smiled and Sam glared at him. She couldn't do this, not really. She didn't know what possessed her to think that she could.
"Yeah I'm not talking about that." She started to get up but he pulled her back down. Her skin got goosebumps from his touch. She tried to hide the chill it sent through her system.
"Will you just listen to me for a sec?" He was still touching her so she pulled her arm away from him in an effort to remain as calm as possible. He looked a little hurt but she ignored it.
"Fine but that doesn't mean I have to talk."
"Okay."
"Okay."
"Okay."
"Fine talk."
"I like kissing you." He tried to gauge her reaction but her face wasn't giving anything away.
"I really like kissing you. I liked kissing you when I was 14 and I liked you kissing me four days ago." He mimicked his conversation with Carly.
"I don't really know how I feel outside of that but I have never hated you Sam. And it's been pointed out that I could ignore you when you're being horrible and I don't so I have to like it on some level."
Sam was quiet and Freddie was hoping for any kind of reassurance that what he was saying was what she wanted to hear. He wanted it to be what she wanted to hear.
"What about Carly?" She almost whispered for fear of his answer.
"I don't know Sam, I don't know how I feel about her anymore, I think that ship has kind of sailed but I can't say I haven't thought about her some. I just… she's not all I think about anymore. Ya know?" Sam's eyes were trained on a spot across the hall and Freddie couldn't read her expression. She seemed sad but how was he suppose to know with her. She was the queen of the poker face.
"That's probably not what you want to hear…" He tried to get her to look at him. She stayed staring at the wall instead.
"I'm being honest here okay. But Carly's not who I came out here to talk about. The important thing you need to know right now is that I think that this, he motioned between the two of them, is not outside the realm of possibility. I mean I need some time to figure things out but I just need you to know that I can see it happening." Her eyes smiled some and he saw that as progress.
"That being said, I think we need to hang out more." She looked at him then.
"We hang out all the time Fredweird." He sighed and knocked his shoulder up against hers, the contact made her freeze up a little but he didn't move back to his side of the wall.
"Without Carly." He tilted his head towards her and she could feel his breath on her face. She swallowed and took a deep breath, all of which he noticed.
"Oh." Was that a good oh? A bad oh? An indecisive oh? He couldn't tell.
"Yeah, so if you wanna give me a little bit I'm not opposed to the idea." He smiled at her and she looked confused. He leaned further into her.
"What idea?" she sounded scared and he wanted to take that sound from her voice and never have to hear it again. A scared Sam was not something he liked. He preferred the fearless beast that had come to be one of his best friends.
"Us, you and me, Sam and Freddie, as a…" As a couple? Could he really see Sam and him together? The more he thought about it the more he liked the idea but could they really...
"You aren't?" Her voice said she thought he was unsure.
"I'm not opposed to it at all." His voice was sure.
"Okay then... what now?"
"I don't know."
"We are friends." Sam decided and began to stand again.
"We are friends with the definite possibility of something more." Freddie corrected her as he stood beside her.
"We are friends." She said again.
"Sam, come on."
"Ughh fine we are friends with the possibility of something more, whatever." She tried to act like her words didn't effect her but she broke out into a smile.
Freddie knocked on the door and Carly asked who it was. "Carly I swear if you don't open this door." Sam shouted.
"Where's Freddie?" Carly asked through the door.
"I'm right here, it's cool, you can let us in now." He bumped into her from behind and Sam wondered if it was on accident.
The door began to click and the next thing they were greeted with was a smiling Carly.
"Well?" She prodded both of her friends.
"Well nothin." Sam moved around Carly.
"No not well nothing."
"We are friends okay? I finally admit it, me and the nub are friends." Sam plopped down on the Shay's couch and turned on the tv to Girly Cow.
"Freddie." Carly sighed.
"We are friends Carlotta." Sam whined from the couch.
"For now." Freddie through out.
Sam looked up at him from her spot on the couch.
"Yeah yeah, we're friends, for now, until he does something more nubbish than usual."
"Sam." Freddie's voice was a little irritated.
"Fine, how did you put it? We are friends with the possibility of something more looming ahead."
"Looming ahead? I never said looming ahead, you make it sound like it's a bad thing…" Freddie trailed off with a scowl on his face.
Sam sighed, "You know what I mean." She rolled her eyes but then broke out into a smile directed at Freddie.
He slowly smiled back. Carly watched from the side and got a huge smile on her face. It was hard not to be happy when her best friends were happy, no matter her feelings or lack of on the matter at hand she wanted her friends to be happy.
"Whatever, I need ham." Sam bounded off the couch into the Shay's kitchen with a huge smile on her face the second her back was towards them.
Freddie sat down on the couch and changed the channel knowing it would irritate the blonde in the kitchen. Carly sat down on the couch leaving a space for Sam in the middle of them. She returned from the kitchen with a chicken leg and a peppy cola for all three. She rolled her eyes at the spot saved for her.
"Scoot over Carly, I don't want to sit next to that." She motioned towards Freddie.
Carly looked to Freddie and back up to Sam.
"Yes you do, sit down." Freddie smiled smugly and she hit him on the back of the head.
Carly laughed at the expression on his face. "You didn't really think that would change did you?"
He was quiet for a second and Sam wondered if maybe she shouldn't have done that. If maybe she should try being nice again, or make more of an effort to be nice to him. She watched as he rubbed the back of his head, her still standing in between her two friends. He surprised her by grabbing her wrist and slightly tugged her arm down. "Would you just sit down." His voice was asking her to challenge him and she sighed.
She could have fought him but she really did want something to happen and if she wasn't willing to make an effort than she knew he wouldn't be either. And then there were the stupid tingles that happened every time he touched her and the butterflies that happened when he smiled at her. She didn't necessarily have to be mean to him to get his attention anymore. She had it now. So she shrugged and sat down in between her two friends, closer to the boy on the right and stole the remote from him. He tried to grab it back from her and she handed it to Carly.
"Why'd you give it to me?" Carly asked surprised to have the remote in her hand. Sam never gave up control of the television.
"I don't know, just seemed like the smart thing to do." She shrugged again.
Things were changing, they already had, and Sam relinquishing her control over the Shay's tv for a day was probably just the beginning. She was okay with it. She had wanted things to stay the same but she was realizing change is not always a bad thing, especially if it means she gets to still have her best friends and sit closer to the one who's nerdy tendencies make her smile.
Like it? Hate it? Let me know please. =)