Sam pushed her blonde hair out of her eyes and continued gluing little gems to a piece of cardstock. Christmas was coming up, and she and Freddie had agreed to make the invitations for the Shay's party. Sam was purposely gluing a ridiculous amount of glitter, gems, and ribbon to hers. She knew it would make her best friend giggle. Meanwhile, Freddie was neatly writing the necessary information, then decorating the edges with different colors of glitter. How boring.
"Geez, Fredlums, could you make those any more dull?" Sam asked rudely.
"At least with these cards people can tell they're being invited somewhere," he replied. Sam glared at him and laid back in her chair.
"I'm tired of this. Can we do something else now?"
Freddie rolled his eyes and clicked on the Shay's TV.
"Happy?" he asked, giving her a speculative look. She simply smiled and turned towards the screen. They sat like that for a few minutes, Sam watching television and Freddie carefully gluing frilly bows and felt stars to little squares of paper.
Sam got up and sat on the couch, turning the volume up one click at a time at random intervals. When Freddie simply couldn't resist looking up, he sighed and shoved his work to the side.
"You're gonna pop your eardrums, Sam," he said, plopping down on the opposite end of the couch. She stuck her tongue out but, shockingly, turned the sound down.
"Wow, Sam. You actually listened to me?" Freddie asked. Normally Sam would've snapped back at him, but something about the way he said it – as if he was… proud of her – made her give a serious answer.
"I only turned it up to distract you," she said honestly, changing the channel.
"Why?"
"Because, Fredward, I'm sick of working! Geez, listen!"
He shook his head and tried to pay attention to the wrestling match that was on. But all he could think of was what Carly would think of her birthday present. He'd bought her a sliver butterfly charm and a bracelet to put it on. Sam had found a little shop that made charms, so they'd gotten her a specially made iCarly charm and, of course, the butterfly. Freddie smiled a little at the reason why he'd picked a butterfly. He'd always thought Carly had a light, free, unreal quality about her.
He loved the way her pale skin was one solid shade, marred only by her slightly pink cheeks. Her dark hair and eyes had a safe feel to them. He'd always felt comfortable around her. Carly really hadn't changed at all the entire time he'd known her.
Carly was safe. And Freddie would never tire of her kind routine.