Here's the set-up: Cat starts acting different and she gets really nasty about Sam spending so much time talking to Carly and Freddie on the phone and online. She gets all bitchy when Sam calls her on her change of attitude, they have a big fight and the two end up parting company. A certain brown-eyed young man is in for the shock of his life when a homeless blonde shows up at his door. This won't be a long drawn-out story line probably 6 or so chapters. Sorry if the girls are OOC and for all the coarse language in the first chapter or two, but it's necessary for the plot of the story.
Yes, I know this is technically a crossover, but since the majority of it is iCarly chacters, I'm leaving it as such.
Sam's POV, Sunday afternoon
"Yeah, I know, right?" I say to my best friend, Carly. We've been on the phone for about half an hour.
"You really think Pam's finally gonna straighten herself up this time?" She asks, I just told her how my mom got engaged to some plastic surgeon and is moving to Miami with him after he retires.
"For her own sake I hope so, she's getting too old to be playing the field." She's been seeing this guy for almost a year, ever since he did her liposuction. "I still don't know how any man can fall for a woman when he's sucked the fat out of her butt."
"Soooo, have you talked to Freddie lately?" Carly asks, changing the subject. I know she still doesn't understand how him and I have kept a long distance relationship going when we used to all but kill each other in person.
"We just video chatted last evening. He said they already have almost a foot of snow in Massachusetts." He's going to MIT, just like he always wanted to. But he promised me as soon as school is done, we'll be together again. With his grades and his determination, that shouldn't take long, he even keeps talking about graduating early.
"Gheesh, I thought Seattle was bad, at least it usually waits until after Halloween to snow there."
"I'd like to be able to go see him for the holidays, but that's like, a six day drive and I don't think I can afford to buy a plane ticket."
Carly remains silent, which is uncharacteristic for her, this typically means she knows something.
"What do you know, Carls."
"Oh, n-nothing, nothing at all."
"Carly?!"
"Well, maybe the last time I talked to him, Freddie might have mentioned something about cashing in some of his frequent flyer miles and getting a ticket to L.A. for Christmas."
"Eeeee." Wait, I don't make sounds like that, that's what my sister and Carly do.
"Sam, are you alright?"
"Oh, um, yeah, sorry. I just uh . . . Ahem." Self-control, Sam, self-control.
"I know, you're excited to see your boyfriend for Christmas."
"Yep, and I know exactly what I'm going to get him. I got this lingerie catalog in the mail the other day. . . "
"Oooh, Sam, are you thinking what I think you're thinking."
"Well if he's coming here for Christmas, I might as well give him something I should have given him a long time ago."
About that time, Cat comes out the hall from the bedroom. "Gaaa-awwd, you're on the phone again?" She gripes.
"I'm talking to Carly, go suck a truck!" Every time I talk to Carly or Freddie she acts like I'm doing something illegal.
She sticks her tongue out at me and goes on to the fridge to get a drink. I swear, it's like she gets jealous when I talk to my friends on the phone or on Skype. Last night she was downright rude when she came home and I was chatting online with Freddie. And me saying someone is acting rude is really saying something.
"Hey, Carls, I'd better go. We have a couple of kids coming soon and this pair is a real handful. I swear their parents feed them nothing but sugar."
"Yeah, it's getting late for me here. I've got a big test in the morning and I need to get some sleep. Talk to you next weekend?"
"Sure. Later Shay."
"Stay blonde."
"Stay brune."
About the time I hang up, Cat starts on me. "I hope you can handle these two kids on your own. I need to go over to um, Jade's to uh, work on a school project."
"Cat, you've known for almost a month that we were getting these two kids today, why didn't you get together with Jade yesterday?"
"Because I didn't feel like it and I had other things to do. It's not like you've never left me stuck with two or even three kids by myself." She stands there with her hands on her hips like a pouting teenager, which is what she really is.
I guess she does have a point about me letting her sit kids by herself, it happened a lot while Freddie was here because I was visiting him in the hospital and then we went out a lot after he was released. I guess if it gets too hectic, I can always call Dice to come over and help. The little twerp still owes me for giving him a ride to a school dance last Friday night. Cat had promised him she'd drive him, but she suddenly had something else to do and bailed on the poor kid.
Cat goes back to the bedroom and comes out dressed like she's going to a club, not to Jade's house. She's been dressing different lately and not in a good way. It's like she had a makeover done by a team of hookers complete with short skirts and cleavage bearing tops. Too bad she doesn't have any cleavage to begin with. Man, if I wore a shirt like that it would almost be obscene.
"I thought you were going to work on a school project with Jade. You're awfully dressed up to just be hanging with your friend."
"If it's any of your business, there might be a cute boy involved and I want to look nice. Not everyone wears jeans and an 'I Love Bacon' penny tee and thinks they're all dolled up." She cracks, obviously a dig at my typical look. But who do I have to impress, my boyfriend lives 3500 miles away and he likes my look anyway.
Before I can come back at her, the doorbell rings. I answer it and greet the two little kids I'm watching today. Their mother tells me that she'll be back in four hours and I set about to entertaining the pair to keep them out of trouble. The door is barely closed when Cat grabs her purse and heads out herself. She's acting weird, but then again, she's been weird even since I met her. This is just an odd weird, though.
An hour or so later, the kids are giving me a migraine so I text Dice for help. Maybe he can help entertain them with video games or his lame magic tricks or something. I'm working on fixing the kids something for a snack and the doorbell rings. It can't be fuzzy-top, he doesn't know how to work that thing. I answer it to find Jade standing there.
"Is Cat home?" She asks with a scowl on her face, looking more glum than usual.
"Um, no, I thought she was over at your . . ."
Before I can say another word, she shoves a box in arms. "Give this to her then, tell her I did my half. The rest is up to her, I could give a flip if I get an F on it or not."
"You, um, wanna come in?"
"Nah, looks like you've got kids in there, I frighten little kids sometimes."
"Jade, what's up with you? You seem a little dark."
She cocks her head to one side and shoots me a look as if to say 'really?' "Well, it's just that Cat's been acting, uh, let's just say she's just been stranger than normal lately and I know I shouldn't let this get to me, but I heard in school last week that she's been seeing my ex."
"What? Cat seeing a guy? Nah, I don't think so, she hasn't said anything."
"Maybe she didn't say anything because by seeing, I don't mean dating, I mean just messing around with."
"Whaaaaat? Are you serious, how long has this been going on?" This explains a lot. Like why she lied to me when she said she was going to Jade's today and why she's been dressing like a slut.
"About a month now, I guess. I mean, Beck and I broke up, and the dude can see anyone he wants, but for him to be snaking one of my friends is just weird. Especially since I heard from two different people that she even gave him her v card the first time they hung out."
"NO! I can't believe-well, maybe this explains some stuff. I guess I need to have a little chat with miss Cat when she gets home."
"What's a v card?" Seven year old Ashley asks from under my right elbow. The kid snuck up on our conversation.
"Oh, um, you see, it's part of a big deck of cards, and it has a v on it and its worth more points than any other card." Jade saves me from further embarrassment and having to explain the real meaning of the words to a second grader. "Sam, I've said too much already, I really need to go."
"Alright, see ya later." I feel bad for Jade, I can tell this is really bugging her, but what's worse, if what she said is true, then Cat has lost all respect for herself. I never thought she'd be the kind of girl who just slept around like some little skank.
It's almost ten when Cat comes home. This is unusually late for her on a school night. I'm sitting on the couch watching TV and eating some leftover fried chicken.
"Where have you been?" I ask, plopping the bucket down on the coffee table. "It's getting late for a school night."
"Gheesh, Mom. I told you I was going over to Jade's" God, but I hate it when she gets all sassy. I swear if anyone else talked to me like that, I slap them silly.
"That's the funny thing, Jade stopped by and wanted me to give you this." I pick up the box off the end of the couch and hand it to her. "She said she did her half, the rest is up to you."
"Jesus! What a bitch! Every other time we have a project, I do all the work and she just sits on her duff, but the one time I ask her to put something into it and she pulls this chiz. Guess I won't be getting any sleep tonight." She slams the box down on the kitchen table with a huff.
"Cat, is something wrong? You're not acting like yourself. Did you forget to get your prescription refilled or something?"
"What's that supposed to mean? Just because I grew a spine and quit letting people wazz on me all the time, I'm suddenly acting like I need some kind of medication." She raises her voice. "You know what, Sam, there is something wrong, and it's called people not minding their own freakin' business. Now if you're done grilling me, I have work to do, so I don't fail my favorite class."
I go back to the bedroom to watch TV so little miss pain-in-the-ass can have some quiet to do her homework. Plus I don't want to even look at her right now, she's got me so mad. After about ten minutes, I get bored and turn off the idiot box and pull a small candy box out from under my bed. It's a box I've had since my sister left home for boarding school. In it, I have some of my favorite mementos. A dozen or so pictures of me and Melanie when we were kids, a bunch of me and Carly, and a lot of me and Freddie, some with the three of us together doing random stuff. There's even one of my Mom and Dad and me and Mel when we were little kids, before my parents got divorced.
I pull out the silver necklace Freddie bought for me when he was here last summer that I only wear on special occasions and put it on. I always feel close to him when I wear it. Under it is a small stack of love notes we passed each other in high school when we dated years ago. I don't know why I kept them all this time and it doesn't seem like me to do something like that, but I couldn't just throw them out. Really, breaking up with him was the worst mistake of my life. I'm so lucky that fate has given us another chance and I swear I'll always love him.
On the top of the pile is the most recent addition, a letter Freddie left on my pillow when he was here and wound up getting put in the hospital. I start reading it for the ten thousandth time.
Dear Princess Puckett,
By the time you're reading this, I'll be flying back to Seattle. I've had the best time hanging out with you the last few weeks. Well, all except for almost getting eaten alive by those stupid fish.
I know you don't like to talk about feelings or any other 'nubby' chiz, but I just wanted to let you know I meant it when I said I love you. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, Sam Puckett and as soon as I get done at MIT, I'm coming back for you. And I'll definitely be back to visit every time I can. There will never be another girl that makes me feel like you do.
I'm sorry I couldn't ask this in person, but I never could find a way to bring it up and I know you'd have probably given me a wedgie if I did, but would you be my girlfriend again? I know this is kind of putting the horse after the carriage, considering what we did last night. I know better than to ask you to leave L.A. and your friend to come to Massachusetts with me but if you ever want to, you'll always have an open invitation. .
A long distance relationship will be hard, and I know it's not normal, but since when were we ever a normal couple? But I'm good with all that. There's no girl in the world who can compete with you, not girly girls like Carly or Melanie (yes I know she's real, I've seen her Splashface page), not any of the techy-nerdy girls that will be at MIT, not supermodels or singers or movie stars, not anyone. You're my everything, Sam and I've been miserable without you in my life ever since you left Seattle.
We can Skype and call and write sappy letters and emails and who knows if I can keep my grades up and get into that accelerated program my guidance counselor told me about maybe I can even graduate early. The we can be together sooner.
I'll call you when my plane lands for your answer.
Your loving nub, Freddie
A few tears start to well up, just like the first time I read it and I immediately sent him a text with one simple word 'YES'.
I'm going to get a shower and go to bed. Maybe tomorrow Cat will be settled down a little and we can talk about what's bugging her. I really want to try to help the kid. After all, she's my friend, but I'm tired of her treating me like chiz just because she's having issues with her life.
I know both the girls seem OOC, but it's all for the benefit of the story. Sorry if that offends anyone.
