Disclaimer: If I claimed to own iCarly, Sam would probably track me down and beat me to a mangled pulp. And I know better than to anger Mama.
Welcome to my first iCarly fanfic! Please feel to enjoy, but no flash photography please (sorry, but this story is actually rather serious, and I felt the need to add some comedy. I mean, it's iCarly for crying out loud).
He can't believe this is really happening.
Carly Shay, beautiful, sweet, perfect Carly Shay, is dancing with him, average, nerdy, boring Freddie Benson. With her arms wrapped around his neck, going from looking affectionately into his eyes to snugly fitting her head into his shoulder, he feels like he's walking into one of the many dreams he's had surrounding him and this girl.
He's been waiting for this day ever since he laid eyes on her in sixth grade. For years he's been chasing after her, but she always managed to slip from grasp. And now that she finally let him catch her, he is determined to never let go.
His eyes, previously closed as though he really is asleep, flutter open as he takes in the scene around. He wants to memorize every detail of this moment: Carly's flowing brown hair, the neon color scheme of the Groovy Smoothie, the lights dimmed down to bring out the mood...
And Sam Puckett staring at them from outside the shop.
Maybe it's just because he had been giving a similar treatment to his other surroundings, but Freddie finds himself etching this picture of Sam into his mind as well: her vibrantly colored dress- so different from usual style of Penny Tees and cargo pants, yet still so Sam, her long blonde curls that Freddie suddenly realizes aren't nearly as frizzy and disorderly as they had been in her youth, and her blue eyes taking in the sight of her two best friends being together.
Best friend. It still seems like such a foreign phrase when used to label Sam, but it's true.
Their relationship has certainly progressed over the years. At first Freddie saw her as someone on the very outskirts of his life, a necessary evil he was forced to deal with in order to get close to Carly. But as time passed, Sam began inching closer and closer to the center, whether he wanted it to be so or not.
Their feelings toward one another have gone from pure hatred, to bitter dislike, to grudging civility, to true friendship. They still bicker constantly, but underneath all the arguments lies a bond rivaled only by the closeness of each to Carly. Their connection may have even been able to go a step further, had they allowed it to advance that far.
It is a know fact that when two people share a kiss, and a first kiss at that, something shifts between them. Any excuses that they were just "getting it over with" and that nothing's changed is a blatant lie. The moment their lips touch, they cross a line that is impossible to return. They open up the possibility of a relationship.
But Sam and Freddie would refuse to even consider it. They're so set in the path of frenemies that they deny any hints of attraction. But despite every effort, ever since that night on the fire escape Freddie began seeing Sam in a new light.
Not that he has any intentions to become romantically involved with her, of course. Sam is tactless, infuriating, and just plain mean, especially towards him. There's no way either of them would even think of...
Suddenly Sam's eyes snap up to meet his. Freddie sees confusion in those bright blue orbs, but he's shocked to see that the dominant emotion is hurt.
Is she afraid that, just like how the smoothie shop separates her from the couple, he and Carly will begin to edge her out of their lives? Or did the unthinkable occur, that she wants to be one on the opposite side of the wall, dancing in his embrace?
The glance lasts but a moment, and the next thing Freddie knows she's walking away. The last thing he sees before she disappears from sight is her mane of golden curls.
An unmistakeable mixture of sadness and longing wells up inside of Freddie as soon as she's gone. But why?
Everything that Freddie ever wanted is standing right before him. Then how come once the bully who's been tormenting him for years enters the picture, it's all of a sudden not enough? Is his schoolboy crush on Carly finally at an end?
Even more important, is he starting to fall for Sam instead?
Freddie pushes his confusion aside, for there's a much more pressing matter at hand. Sam is in pain, and whatever the feelings of each regarding the other may be, Freddie still cares for her and needs to go find that blonde-headed demon.
But all he succeeds in is holding the brunette in his arms all the tighter.
Because he's so used to wanting Carly, he has no idea how to break from that and chase after the girl with the golden curls.