Hey everyone. I know I shouldn't be posting new stories when I have unfinished ones that need to be worked on but this is the only thing I've been able to write since iGoodbye so its getting posted. I've decided this is going to be a collection of connected one-shots that take place after iGoodbye. Probably not in any sort of chronological order and probably mostly from Sam or Freddie's POV but I have ideas for Carly and Spencer too and maybe even Gibby.
Enjoy :)
New Chapter, New Adventures
Convince Me
Sam gets news that she wasn't expecting. She's prepared to roll with it but gives Freddie the chance to convince her to change her plans.
-Takes place a few months after Carly leaves and a month before gradation.
"We're moving?!" Sam asked and her grip on the tub of chicken slacked. She nearly dropped it. She wanted to drop it. It was bad news food. Her mom did this whenever she had bad news; she brought her her favorite foods to either lighten the wrath or get her mouth so stuffed that at least she couldn't hear the shouting.
"I didn't say we were moving, I said I've sold the house and I'm moving to Miami, you're eighteen now and have no obligation to move with me-I won't throw you out as long as you promise to pull your weight." MIAMI! As in Miami FLORIDA? Well that explained why her mother spent every spare dollar on a bikini but she was definitely not moving to the other end of the country. Her mom was right; she was eighteen she could live on her own now. Well not now now. She had no money, no job and about a month of school left before graduation.
Her mom wouldn't really make her move across the country and switch schools with only a month left. "Well, when do we have to be out?" she asked. She could get a job and start saving money.
"Saturday." She replied with a shrug and this time the chicken really did hit the ground.
"This Saturday! Mom it's Thursday, that's two days from now." She was kidding, she had to be kidding. Her life couldn't actually suck this much.
"I'm sorry Sam, let me know by morning if you're coming with me." Pam leaned down and picked up a fallen chicken wing, stuck it in her mouth and gathered the empty boxes she had walked in with before leaving the room. Sam's knees gave way and she dropped to the couch. Her hands started shaking. Apparently her life could suck that much.
Why was her mom throwing this at her on top of everything else? Just earlier that day Carly video chatted with her and Spencer and confirmed her decision to spend the majority of the summer traveling Europe before coming back to the States with just a couple weeks before having to leave for college. And just two days ago Freddie got his acceptance letter to MIT. He would be moving across the country at the end of the summer. She was going to be completely alone. Now she wouldn't even have her insane mother to come home to. Sam felt her stomach tighten and closed her eyes. Everyone was leaving her.
With that thought Sam stood. If she was going to be alone she was going to be the one doing the leaving. She stepped over the chicken scattered on the floor and ran for her room. It was a mess but she knew where everything was and located her largest duffle bag. She started taking clothes, as many as she thought would fit with the few other belongings she would need. A pair of boots and a pair of sandals, she had sneakers on her feet. She didn't know where she was going to go but that covered all the climates. Her computer, her phone, and the chargers for both. A quick run to the bathroom for her toiletries and the small bag that held very little make-up and a handful of jewelry that had no money value but that she would be upset to leave without. Back in her room she looked to the wall with all of her pictures tacked to it. After a moment debate she started pulling down all her favorites and in the end it was all of them. She placed them inside her old copy of 'Boogey Bear On The Run' and added them to the bag. Finally she went to her closet and after a bit of digging she retrieved an old boot. Inside was an envelope. So she did have some money but it wasn't a lot. She added the envelope to her bag, zipped it closed and dragged it to the living room.
On the table was a note.
Sam, went to get more boxes, text me it you're going to need some.
Sam pulled her phone out and sent a quick text to her mom.
I won't need any boxes.
Sam grabbed her jacket and heaved her bag onto her shoulder. Her phone beeped.
OK, I'll see you around kiddo, take care you yourself.-love mom.
Sam stared at her phone. Her mom knew she was leaving. For a mostly neglectful mother she was pretty perceptive.
Love you too.
Sam grabbed her keys from the table and removed the one for the house. Just as she was about to walk out the door her phone beeped again.
Take the sock under the couch cushion.
Sam's eyebrows shot up but she did as she was told. The sock contained all the engagement rings her mother had ever been given. She had wondered where those had gotten too.
Hurrying outside she found the dark and gloomy clouds that were lurking earlier that day had unleashed their fury and it was pouring rain. She decided then to go somewhere where it didn't rain as much. She hopped on her motorcycle, she could never repay Spencer for giving it to her it was the greatest gift she'd ever gotten. She pulled out to the edge of the driveway and clicked her blinker on. Left would take her south. If she wanted sunshine, that was the way to go. It shouldn't have been so hard to make the turn but it was. Finally Sam gave in and flipped the blinker the other way. She couldn't leave without saying goodbye. Riding through the dark, the rain soaking through her clothes and dampening the ends of her hair, she followed the route she knew well all the way to Bushwell Plaza.
A glance around the parking lot as she pulled in let her know it would be safe to use the front door; her car wasn't there. She parked and secured her bag to the bike.
It was freezing in the lobby, she did her best to not let the air-conditioning get to her. She took the stairs to give her more time to think. What would she say to him? If she told him she was leaving he would try to stop her but she couldn't leave without saying goodbye. How did she say goodbye without actually saying goodbye?
She got to the eighth floor faster than she expected. She stood outside his door and tried to decide what to say.
Finally she raised her first and knocked. Too late she realized she was safe from Mrs. Benson opening the door but that T-Bo could just as easily answer it. Luck was finally on her side. Freddie opened the door. She smiled a bit. It was late and he had clearly been sleeping. His hair was sticking up funny, his pajamas were wrinkled and his feet were bare. If asked those were the things she'd blame the smile on but she knew the real reason was she just thought he was cute and she was happy to see him. It didn't hurt that when he finally wiped the sleep out of his eyes and realized it was her he smiled back.
"Hey, you okay?" he asked. He took in her soaked appearance and disappeared for a second. He returned with a jacket and handed it to her. She happily pulled it on to help defend herself from the cold.
"I'm fine, I just-" She tried to recall what she was going to say. His coat was warm and smelled like him. It was distracting. "I'm just bummed about Carly not coming home for the summer; it's been so long since we've seen her."
"I am too, we all miss her." He leaned against the door frame. "Do you want to come in, my mom's at work, we could watch a movie or something." She considered it. They'd done that a lot since Carly left. At first Spencer joined them too. It was like a coping mechanism for all of them. But Spencer gradually adjusted and that left her and Freddie to cope together. After a while it wasn't even them coping, it was them being together and being friends like they used too. Sam knew if she stayed she loose her resolve to go.
"No, I just wanted to ask you something."
"Okay," he sounded confused. Like he didn't understand why she didn't just call.
She busied her hands trying to pull the coat around her tighter and shuffled her feet. "Do you think we'll ever do iCarly again?" They hadn't done a live show since Carly had left and she and the boys couldn't bring themselves to record any new segments. The three of them took turns uploading videos and writing in their blogs but they were growing less consistent by the week.
Freddie stared at the ground. He thought for a moment and then shrugged. "I'm beginning to think that we'll probably just do one last show when Carly gets back, I mean I was hoping it would just go back to normal but with everyone being so far away, it would be difficult."
"I was kind of thinking the same thing," she said sadly. She missed it so much. Freddie yawned and tried to resist the urge to stretch. She smiled again. She was going to miss him. The smile must not have come off as a happy one because the next thing she knew Freddie was reaching out and pulling her into a hug. She left her hands between them until they finally felt warm before wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head on his shoulder. "This growing up thing sucks."
"It had to happen eventually."
"I should get going." She mumbled. But she didn't release her arms from around him and he only tightened his grip around her. He opened his mouth like he was going to say something but no words came out. Just a sigh. She was suddenly frustrated. They kept doing this. They'd have a moment, she'd get her hopes up and he'd chicken out. She wasn't sure what he was going to say all those times. She knew what she'd like him to say but since that short, awkward, phone conversation a couple of months ago he hadn't asked again. Many times she had been tempted to say it herself but it wasn't fair that she was the one who had to keep putting herself out there. If they were going to happen he was going to have to be the one to put his heart on the line. She let her arms loosen and his followed. She stepped back and started to remove his jacket. His hands stopped hers.
"It's cold out, you can just bring it by tomorrow or something." She was sure her hands started shaking again. She was so close to getting out there without him figuring it out.
"No it's okay, really."
"But-" he tried to stop her but she pulled off the coat and pushed it back into his hands.
"Thanks for uh-answering my question." She turned to go. She looked back as she took short slow steps. "Bye Freddie."
"See you in the morning." He replied. Sam didn't say anything else. She turned her head to the floor, threw a hand up in a half wave and bolted for the elevator. Once inside it would be harder to turn back.
She fought off the tears and tried to think about her plan of action. With the money from her envelope and the money she'd get from pawning off the rings she'd be able to get enough gas to make it to California. It was warm there. She could probably stay in a cheap hotel until she found a job and an apartment or roommate. That was really how it was going to be all along. When Carly and Freddie left for college she would be stuck in some dead end job. They would be successful and she would get by on luck, cunning and street smarts. In the past when she was feeling optimistic she imagined herself stumbling upon and ingeniously simple invention, making millions and living luxuriously. That was about as likely as becoming an invisible ninja.
The elevator doors slid open and she stared determinedly at the floor as she ran past the stairs and out the door.
Freddie leaned against the door with his jacket draped over his arm. He didn't understand why she didn't take it. There were a lot of other things about that conversation that he didn't understand but he did realize there was something wrong with her and something told him the answer was hidden in her refusal to take the jacket.
She hated the cold and the rain. And she'd see him again in the morning at school. He had other jackets it's not like he was going to need that one. The only reason she wouldn't take it would be if she couldn't give it back. But why wouldn't she be able to give it back. Was she not going to see him tomorrow? Or the next day?
She hadn't complained about hugging him. She had looked near tears about the prospect of never doing iCarly again. She said 'Bye Freddie.' Not 'see ya later Benson' or 'catch you in the morning Fredison.' Just 'bye'.
He turned around and swung the door back open. He had to know what was going on. She had taken the elevator; if he waited for it to come back up she'd be long gone by the time he got down there to stop her. He ran for the stairs. His mother would surely be horrified to know he was running through the building with no shoes on but he didn't have time to worry about that. He reached the lobby and spun around hoping to see her leaving the elevator but she had beaten him. Over the noise of the rain slamming against the side of the building he heard her motorcycle cut on. Light from it lit up the parking lot and made the falling rain sparkle. The next thing he knew he was outside being blinded by that headlight because his feet had thought it was a good idea to run out into the rain and stop dead in front of it. There was a shout and a squeal, Sam managed to stop the bike mere inches from him.
He was shaking. Aside from nearly being hit it was unusually cold out for May and the rain and wind weren't helping.
"Have you most your mind!" He heard her shout over the roar of the engine and the rain. "I could have ran you over!" He didn't reply immediately. The bike cut off and once no longer blinded by the headlight he could see her more clearly. Her hair was soaked again where it had started to dry inside. Her face had a look of absolute horror on it. She wasn't kidding-she really had nearly run him over. But what struck him most was the strap across her chest. The one attached to the large duffle bag sitting behind her.
"Where are you going?" He asked frantically.
"What?! You nearly got yourself killed."
"Where are you going?" He repeated, his voice steadier.
Sam shook her head, "what's it to you?"
"Tell me you're going home Sam." But she wouldn't be able to. She was a top notch liar for sure but she couldn't deny the bag behind her. "Sam-"
"I'm not going home."
"Where are you going?" He asked for the third time. She needed to know he wasn't going to let up on the question.
"I don't know." She replied.
"When will you be back?"
"Who says I'm coming back, why should I stay in this gloomy old city." Sam retorted.
Freddie shook his head. She was planning on leaving and not coming back. She couldn't just do that; her life was here in Seattle, her family and friends, he was here. "We graduate in four weeks."
She shrugged. "So what."
"Sam you put in too much work this year to drop out now." Sam rolled her eyes.
"That's the best you can come up with, I'm about to leave and you may never see me again and the best argument you can come up with is telling me that I need to go to school." She suddenly looked pretty pissed at him. He was shaking even more from the rain now but didn't take the time to put on the jacket still clenched in his hands. This conversation was too important to break for such a mundane task. What had brought this on? Why had she suddenly decided to up and leave?
"Why?"
"The way I see it I have no reason to stay, Carly's not coming back, you leave at the end of the summer, my mom sold our house-"
"WHAT?!"
She pushed on, "I've got no reason to stay Freddie, if I stay I'm alone." She stared directly up into his eyes with a scary amount of determination. "You want me to stay then convince me, otherwise get out of the way."
He could tell she had already made up her mind. If it was solely up to her she'd be gone. But it wasn't completely her decision because he mattered too much to her. His opinion mattered and his feelings mattered. He had one chance to convince her to stay. If only he knew what to say that would hold enough value to go against her own instincts.
"Carly and I kissed."
He wasn't sure that's what he had meant to say. Actually at the moment it seemed like he had just shot himself in the foot because her eyes narrowed at him and her hands gripped the bike handles more firmly. With a slight shake of her head she spoke, "you really suck at this Benson." She made to direct the bike around him but he stepped in front of her again.
"Wait!" He placed his hands on the handles next to hers, the jacket in his hands fell to the ground. "The night she left for Italy with her dad, I was in the studio packing up my equipment and she came in; we talked for a minute and then she kissed me and I kissed her back. I'm not going to lie to you and tell you it wasn't a nice kiss or that it wasn't a little bit exciting to have this girl who everyone thinks is perfect kiss me but it was awkward and I was relieved. She only meant it as a goodbye and afterwards I think she realized there could have been another way to say goodbye and logically I know that if I could go back I should make sure it wouldn't happen because you don't kiss your ex-girlfriend's best friend but I don't know if I could do that-that kiss helped me finally realize that I have no feelings for her and that I'm never going to have those feelings for her again." He stopped to take a breath and wait for some response from Sam. He couldn't read the expression on her face.
"So the argument you're giving me now, to convince me to stay, is telling me that you finally realized you don't have feelings for my best friend," she stated in disbelief, "keeping in mind we dated before this fateful kiss, I'm thinking I'm more convinced to go now then I am to stay."
She was impossible sometimes. He moved each of his hands over so they rested on top of hers. "You know I never would have gone out with you if I still had feelings for Carly."
"You just said-"
"I thought they came back okay!" He shouted and she looked shocked about being cut off. "After we broke up, I mean I didn't really want to break up but we did and I tried to get over you but it was hard okay and I tried to reason that it was for the best because being in love with you is really hard but being in love with someone like Carly is easy." He paused to make sure he hadn't offended her again. She didn't pull her hands away, that was a good sign. "When I realized that, it put this thought in my head that I might have feelings for Carly again and that I was finally getting over you so I encouraged it and I followed Carly around and I was awful to you, but really it was all just some big illusion my mind created to make me think I was over you but I can't get over you-I just can't-I can't feel my feet-"
He looked down to make sure his feet were in fact still attached to his body. When he looked up he saw that Sam was laughing at him. A smile was stretched across her face and even in the dark her eyes sparkled.
"Go inside Benson." Sam said with a smirk and pulled her hands back. She reached down and turned the key in the ignition.
"You're still leaving?" God he sounded pitiful but he was desperate.
"I'm just parking, you've got me intrigued." So she wasn't fully convinced but at least she was wavering. Only now he was nervous. How could he be sure she wasn't going to just leave when he turned his back? "Don't you trust me?"
He stepped away from the motorcycle. She carefully backed the bike into a free parking spot. He moved to watch her from the shelter of the awning by the door. To his relief she didn't leave her bag by the bike. She pulled her helmet off and ran for the door. They both looked like they'd fallen into a pool, running to get out of the rain now was pointless.
She reached the door that he was holding open for her and together they stepped into the lobby. The air-conditioning sent a chill through him. "Maybe we should get dried off." He wouldn't let his confidence fail him this time. He reached out and grabbed her hand. She didn't say anything. He pulled her towards the stairs. The confines of the elevator would force them to talk. He needed time to gauge her feelings. Whether she had worked it out or not yet he had more or less announced that he was still in love with her. And he hadn't backed out of it like he had at least ten times since the first time when he changed the subject during their phone call.
Four floors up and she hadn't spoken or taken back her hand. He wasn't sure if this was good or bad. But there were a number of other positives. She wasn't openly mocking him. There was no 'been there, done that, not going back' comment when he implied that he was still not over her. She was going to leave but had come to see him first. And knowing for sure that he was not in love with Carly had her considering not running away. They reached the eighth floor and he led them down the hall and into his apartment.
Sam accepted the clothes and towel that Freddie held out to her. She had her own clothes in the waterproof duffle bag at her feet but didn't want to pass up the opportunity to wear one of his warm comfy t-shirts.
She went to change in the hall bathroom while he changed in his room. The bathroom was pearly white and smelled of disinfectant. Her hair and clothes would leave a muddy wet puddle in the middle of the floor that would give away her presence to Mrs. Benson if not cleaned up by morning. She changed into the red penny-tee and old basketball shorts and tried to dry her hair with the towel. She ran her fingers through her hair trying to make it look somewhat decent. When she didn't use a blow dryer it got extremely frizzy. Deciding that she was as presentable as she was going to get she left the bathroom and slowly walked back to Freddie's room. She stopped outside the door afraid to go inside.
She was finally getting what she wanted. Freddie still had feelings for her. He was doing everything in his power to keep her from leaving town because he didn't want her to go. He told her he didn't have feelings for Carly. She shook her head. He thought she didn't know about that kiss between him and Carly. Carly was her best friend; did he really think she wouldn't tell her that she'd kissed him? She was the one who made up the no secrets rule.
She did wait till she was out of the country to tell her about it. And for a minute there Sam was sure her world was ending. Her best friend had betrayed her and the boy she was in love with really was in love with someone else, someone better than her. But Carly hastily told her that she only meant it as a goodbye kiss, a kiss between good friends who would miss each other. She had been a little surprised when Freddie had kissed her back but it was awkward and all she had to do was look in his eyes and she had been able to see he didn't feel the way about her that he had when they were just tiny middle schoolers.
All that aside Sam was still afraid to enter the room. What if they did want to get back together? He was still leaving at the end of the summer for MIT. She'd be alone again. She'd have her heart broken again. The door opened in front of her. They both jumped.
"Hey, I was just coming to make sure you were okay." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. He was afraid she ditched him.
"I was just waiting to make sure you enough time to change." That was plausible. He nodded and stepped aside so she could walk past. She took a seat on the end of his bed and he sat next to her. "So it's not easy loving me?"
"I meant that in a good way." He said immediately.
"Make's sense, I mean I try not to make things too easy for you."
Freddie let out a short chuckle. "Yeah, you think you could lighten up on that for like the next five minutes."
"I could try," she said, "any particular reason why?"
He wiped his hands on his sweatpants and stared directly down at his feet. She noticed he was wearing two pairs of socks. He had run out in the cold and rain barefoot just to get to her before she left. "Because then it might not be so scary to ask you if you want to get back together."
He finally looked over at her. She smiled and only looked at him from the corner of her eyes. "In that case I guess I could go easy on you." And there it was, that adorably dorky crooked smile of his. He turned his body so he was facing her.
"So do you want to get back together?" He asked hopefully.
"Do you?" She asked and turned to face him.
"Yeah, well I mean you know if you want to we could," he replied, faking nonchalance and looking away with a shrug of his shoulders.
"I want to," she said sadly, "but it doesn't mean it's going to happen."
"What?" His eyes widened, "but-but wait, I don't understand."
Sam refused to except that tears were trying to make an appearance in her eyes. After all she'd been through tonight they had waited until now. "I want to get back together with you but we can't, didn't you hear what I said earlier, my mom sold our house and she's moving to Tulsa, I have nowhere to stay and even if I did what happens in a few months when you leave for college, I don't think I could go through that."
"Sam what do you think is going to happen when I go to college? That I'm going to forget about you?"
She shrugged and leaned back on her hands. "Well no but come on Freddie we had trouble being in a normal relationship how exactly would we manage a long distant one."
"We had trouble with a normal relationship because nothing about our relationship is normal." Clearly he had been thinking about this a lot because that response while it sounded simple and a little crazy just about summed up why their attempt at being boyfriend/girlfriend had gone less than perfect. "We can make a relationship work Sam we just can't focus on being a couple everyone thinks we need to be and maybe normal people can't make long distance relationships work but you know we're not normal so maybe we could."
Sam stared at him. "That is some messed up logic but say it did work, where do I live? I've got enough money to get me somewhere new and get a job but if I spend all that money trying to stay here it's a waste, I'll have to get a job I'll just have to quit." She tried to explain. "I won't be able to stay here without you and Carly."
"So don't waste the money, you can stay here or across the hall with Spencer, he's got plenty of room and you know he's lonely without Carly, you're practically a second sister to him." He placed his hands on her shoulders. "You can get a summer job, yeah you'll have to ditch it in the end but you'll have some extra money and then you can go wherever you want." She tried looking past him which was difficult with the way they were sitting. "Now I'm going to ask one more time, do you want to get back together?"
"Yeah." She wanted to smirk and react like it wasn't a big deal but she was sure her eyes gave away just how ecstatic she was on the inside. Freddie leaned in and kissed her. She sat up straighter and brought her hands to rest behind his neck. She really missed kissing him. He always pulled her close. Always smiled like he couldn't be happier. He pulled away after a minute. Grinning at her happily and then, unable to stop himself, yawned. A glance at the clock told her it was after two in the morning.
"I should get going," she hopped up and stretched. Freddie's hand wrapped around hers.
"Where are you going to go?"
"Afraid I'm going to skip town," she shouldn't joke, it was probably the truth. "I'm just going to crash in Carly's room."
"You could stay here, it's late you'll probably give Spencer a heart attack if you go breaking into the apartment right now."
"Your mom will be the one having a heart attack if she catches me here in the morning." Her pile of wet clothes was still sitting on the floor in the bathroom. Her duffle bag was in the middle of the living room floor. She was getting tired herself and cleaning it up was not on her list of things to do. She was busted even if she didn't stay. With that thought she leaned down, placed a quick kiss on Freddie's lips and proceeded to climb onto the bed and under the blankets. After Freddie processed what had happened he followed.
Even when they were going out they hadn't shared a bed often. They avoided her house and weren't allowed in his room together after Mrs. Benson found out about them. Usually when they slept cuddled together it was on the couch. It was a quick and comfortable adjustment though. It didn't take long for Freddie to fall asleep, his arm securely around her and a content smile on his face. Sam lay awake a little longer, snuggled as close to Freddie as she could get. She thought about how for a few minutes there she had been excited at the prospect of leaving Seattle and starting a new life. Now she decided that she was still pumped about the idea of an adventure, not a new life but a new chapter in the one she already had.
So this first chapter is of course my way of resolving the currently unresolved Seddie as of iGoodbye. I get that it wasn't focused on because Dan believes its not the last time we'll see Freddie and Sam interacting together on our tv screens but still I was hoping for more than a five second conversation between them. I'm over it though-or I'm getting there.
Leave a review. I love hearing what you all think.