A/N: Next chapter is now up.
I also want to thank Sockstar for being the first to review. They get a gold star.
I also want to thank amy788, Angelic Guardian, sweetStarre123, mrmuscle, NaomilovesiCarly, and the anonymous reviewer that was 'hey'. Thank you, for reviewing.
I hope that you enjoy, and reviews are welcome. Thank you, for reading.
I Thought That This Was Just a One-Night Stand-
Chapter Two: Sweetening Kisses
She hadn't seen Freddie in over a day. He never showed up the day after... they were together. Usually, he would show up at her apartment, trying to update the server, upgrade equipment, or less, and less so, flirt with her. He used to tell her that he would be her second husband, without a doubt in his eyes. Although, the day after, he wasn't there. To her, it seemed as though, it was due to her. She was the reason that he hadn't shown up the other day. Sam, her blonde best friend, had slept in the entire day. She was sure to see Sam that day, since it was Monday, but what of Freddie? She shook it out of her mind. Putting on a brave front, she picked up her school bag, slinging it over her shoulder. Making her way down the stairs, she walked over to the front door.
She called over her shoulder, as she opened said door, "Spencer, I'm off to school!"
"Okay!" yelled the older of the Shays, her brother, Spencer. "Have fun!"
"Okay!" she called back, then whispered to herself, "I guess."
Heading off to school, she closed the door behind her. She didn't know what would lay ahead in the day to come.
When she made her way through the front doors of Ridgeway, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. There were students walking around, getting ready for a new week of teachers, boring lectures, and homework. She walked over to her locker, and entered the combination in the dial. Opening up her locker, she put the books that she needed for the day into her bag. Familiar footsteps could be heard coming up to the group of lockers where she was situated. The opening of a locker by hers, and the sound of ham being chewed, only cemented the identity of who it would be. Closing her locker, Carly looked upon her best, blonde, friend.
"Yo, Carls, what's up?" she asked, taking another bite of a slice of ham.
"Hey, Sam. Nothing much, you?" She slung her bag onto her shoulder.
"Oh, nothing, just another day, another dollar."
She looked at her blonde counterpart curiously. "But, you don't get paid to go to school."
Sam looked up to the corner, considering the statement. She looked back at her brunette counterpart. "Remind me, again, why exactly do I come to this prison?"
Carly laughed. "So you can go to a good college. Maybe with me, and even..." She stopped momentarily. "Freddie."
Sam looked at her sullen expression with concern. "Carlotta, you all right?"
Snapping out of her reverie, she gave her a comforting smile. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"You didn't look so fine a second ago, when you mentioned Frednub."
"It's fine.
Sam put a hand on her shoulder, reassuring her. "You sure? The nub didn't do anything to you, right?"
"No," Carly responded, placing a hand on her friend's. "He didn't do anything to me."
Images of her panting, and his light kisses down her body flashed through her memory. I did something to him, she thought, as the warning bell rang.
"Well, better get going, don't want to get detention again. Later, Carls." Sam waved to her, running up the stairs.
"See you." She waved back.
She looked around, yet still did not see Freddie. Where was he? She took a deep breath, letting out a sigh of frustration. She shut her locker, shouldering her bag, and trudged off to class.
Class that day was far from pleasant, and Carly was just not herself. She was usually the best in the class, but she was just off her game the entire morning. She didn't know what to do with herself, as she awaited Freddie to show his face at school. She was worried about him. Why wouldn't he show up? Was he embarrassed? He shouldn't have been, after all, it was what he had wanted for years. He should have been jumping off the walls, giving everyone high-fives, writing about it in his diary. Unless, she pondered, Unless... it wasn't what he thought that it would be. What if... it wasn't any good? What if she had been bad in bed? She didn't really have much experience when it came down to sex. Maybe it showed. Was it possible that he didn't want to show his face, because he didn't want to tell her how bad she was? That she ruined his dreams of a perfect night? Her head drooped in shame. She didn't live up to the fantasy. She continued to trudge through class.
Later that day, at lunch, she saw him walking through the cafeteria. He was looking for a place to sit. When he saw her, she smiled at him. He quickly turned away, sitting down by himself in the corner. She got up from her seat, with the curious stares of Sam, pardoned herself, and traversed across the room to stand by a stooping Freddie. Sam watched her by the nub.
"Is this seat taken?" she asked, gesturing to the chair by him.
"Umm, yeah, actually, it is."
Not buying it for a moment, she sat down anyway. "Sure, it is."
Startled, he exclaimed at her, "Don't you care about privacy?"
"I care about 'us'." She began eating again.
Freddie, on the other hand, wasn't too keen on his lunch at that moment. "Carly, I don't feel like talking, right now."
"Freddie, we need to talk. About us."
"No, nothing happened."
"Something happened."
"It was a mistake." His hand tightened into a fist.
"No," She placed her hand on top of his. "it was beautiful."
"I took advantage of you."
She looked away for a moment. "No, I took advantage of you."
He looked up from his lunch. "What?"
She looked him in the eye, a sincere expression on her face. "I came in, crying, and talked you into sleeping with me. It wasn't right. You tried to stop me, and I still pushed myself onto you. I'm sorry."
Freddie looked away that time. "I could have said 'no'."
She smiled at him. "Yeah, right."
"I could have," he said defensively.
"Not when I give you 'The Look'."
Grumbling, he took a deep breath. "I don't stand a chance, when you do 'The Look'."
She silently agreed, and there was an uncomfortable silence that permeated the air. She was sorry for that which she thought she was guilty. She would do whatever it took to right it. She looked up at him still not eating his food. She wanted to say something, anything, to him, yet she couldn't come up with the words. Finally, after an age of silence, she spoke up.
"Freddie, it's not your fault. I wanted it."
He looked at her, wonder evident in his eyes. "Then, what does that make us?"
"What?"
"What are we?" He gestured between the two of them. "Are we going out, was that a one-time thing? What?"
"I..." She looked into her lap. "I don't know."
"Well, if you don't know, how am I supposed to know?"
"Freddie." She took his hand in hers. "We're friends, 'til the end. No matter what, right?"
"Yeah," he agreed, not sure where it was all going.
"Then we're friends, even after. Just... friends with benefits."
"Friends... with benefits?"
"You know, maybe we could, every once in a while..." She motioned with her hands.
"Carly!" he whispered.
"Relax." She giggled. "It's not a big deal. Just friends, with a little extra. You okay with that?"
"I don't know," he admitted. "It just seems so weird, after how long we've known each other."
"We'll go slow, until I'm experienced enough."
"What was that last part?" Freddie asked, curious.
"Nothing, don't worry about it."
"Okay."
"I'm going to go back to Sam, if you want to join us..."
He waved her off. "No, you go ahead."
She bid him a fond farewell, leaving him be, to a lunch that was to remain, unbeknownst to her, untouched. She headed back to her curly-locked friend, settling herself down next to her. The blonde gave her a puzzled look.
"What was all that about?" she asked, wondering.
"Nothing, it was nothing."
"Nothing, my Fatcake. What is Freddifur doing over there? Why did you have to go talk to him? What was that about?" She took another bite of her sandwich. Speaking with a mouthful of ham. "What's going on?"
Taking a moment to sigh, Carly looked at her other best friend. "Okay, I'll tell you, but don't freak."
"I'll ankle swear if you want."
Looking her friend directly in the eyes, she laid out the the truth. "The other day, Freddie and I... well, we did it."
"Did it?" Sam swallowed her bite.
"Did it, did it."
Sam had to take a drink of her milk, to stop from choking. "Why?"
"Why?"
"Yeah, why? With the nub?" She was emphatic.
"I don't know, I just needed someone, that's all. That night, when Griffin told me he cheated on me, and dumped me, I just needed someone. I needed someone to be there for me. That's all."
"Holy chiz." Sam then put down her sandwich, which could only mean that things were serious. "This is huge."
"It's not that big a deal."
"Not that big a deal!" the blonde yelled, jumping up, forcing Carly to pull her back down and quiet her, to the strange stares of the other students. "Of course, it's a big deal. You slept with Fredwad!"
"I know, I just don't want the entire school to find out, okay?"
"I thought that the dork would have told everyone. Isn't being with you the thing he's wanted since, forever? I mean, at least he would've written something in his diary."
Carly sighed. "That's just the thing. We aren't together."
"You're not?" She looked at her friend, surprised.
"Of course, not. I had just broken up with Griffin."
"Right. Rebound."
"No," Carly waved her off. "nothing like that. I just needed some... comfort, that's all."
"Ah, I see," Sam nodded knowingly. "Booty call, I get it."
"It was nothing like that!" It was Carly's turn to yell. At seeing the stares from around the room, she waved, laughing a little. "Sorry, everyone. Please go back to enjoying your tater tots."
Sitting down, she grabbed Sam by the shoulders. "Freddie and I are just friends, with benefits, now. Nothing more than that, nothing less."
"I thought it'd be a 'finally got together after all these years' kind of thing."
"No," She blushed. "nothing that simple. Just needed him there, that's all."
"Uh, huh, okay. How long is this going to go on?"
"I don't know. Just... until things start making sense."
"Question is, what'll happen to the nerd?" Sam asked, knowing the one thing Carly wanted to avoid.
…
The rest of the day passed by without injury. Carly and Freddie didn't share any classes that semester, so there were no awkward moments. The day, however, was still frustrating for a certain technical producer. Freddie was confused. He was utterly confused. He merely wondered to himself, where everything was going with Carly. What was that she wanted? She said that they would be friends, with benefits. What exactly did that mean? How much would be 'friends', and how much would be 'benefits'? He had so many questions in his mind, that he couldn't concentrate on a single subject that day. He knew that he had to talk to her again, and it needed to be soon. Once classes got out, he rushed over to her locker, hoping to catch up to her. He ran down the stairs in the main hall, leaping over the bottom few steps as he went along. Spying her about to close her door, he slid to a stop next to her, sneakers squeaking on the linoleum. She turned to greet him, a small smile, just for him, on her face.
Trying his best to compose himself, he took a few deep gasps of air to slow his breathing. "Hey, Carly, what's up?"
She giggled at him. "'What's up'? What's up with you? You're out of breath."
"No, I'm not." Panting, he adjusted the collar of his polo shirt.
Carly shook her head disapprovingly. "You need to work out."
"I do work out, you just never see it." He flexed his right arm, pointing at the bulge of muscle hidden beneath his sleeve.
"Uh, huh, then try beating Sam at arm wrestling, why don't you?"
"Yeah, right, Bigfoot couldn't beat Sam in arm wrestling, what chance do I have?"
"Heh, I guess you're right.
"Wait, where's Sam?"
"She was heading home, later. Had to talk with Principal Franklin."
"Oh, I guess that makes sense."
"Anyways, Carly, I'm not here to talk to you about Sam. I want to talk about us."
"I thought, that was what we already talked about at lunch."
"No, we need to talk about what 'friends with benefits' means."
"What it means?"
"Yeah," he answered, putting his hands in his pockets. "How far does it go?"
"Um..."
He took a breath. "Let's talk about it in the car, I'll take you home."
She nodded in agreement. "Okay."
"Let's go."
Pulling out his keys, he started to make his way to the parking lot. Shutting her locker, she followed suit. They walked out the front doors of Ridgeway, going over to a silver Prius. Freddie opened the door for her. She thanked him, settling into the seat. He went over to the driver's side, getting in and placing the key into the ignition. The Prius started up with an obvious sound, tell-tale of its hybrid design. Carly smiled. Freddie had begged his mother for a sports car, unfortunately for him, an hour of screaming that he would kill himself, and he had settled with the electric car. He so wanted to be cool, and be popular. Though, he was merely the technical producer for iCarly. Her technical producer. The car whirred out of the parking lot, strolling slowly down the street, towards Bushwell plaza. The entire way, the girl with long hair was silent. Freddie awaited a word from her, but as the sun shown through the window to highlight her face in an other-worldly glow, he decided to take the chance to speak.
"Carly, we need to talk about this."
She stayed silent, and they stopped at a traffic signal. He sighed.
"Carly, you can't keep quiet. I need to know exactly what we are." He gripped the steering wheel tightly. "Fine. I talk, you listen."
She said nothing, as the car slowly rode down the way.
Freddie took a deep breath. "I don't know if you're confused, or anything, but I am. I know that you said that we were friends with benefits, but where do we draw the line? What exactly am I supposed to be for you? Just a temporary boyfriend? Or not even that? I, for sure, don't know. I, for sure, know that I've been in love with you since the first time that I met you. That's something that hasn't changed. You and I haven't done anything since the taco truck incident. You've never mentioned it since. Then, one night, you show up on my doorstep, puddle around your feet, telling me that griffin dumped you, the next thing I know, we sleep together. What am I supposed to think?"
The car pulled up to Bushwell Plaza, sliding into a parking space. They both got out of the car without a single word. They got into the lift at the lobby, riding up to the eighth floor. Carly, as silent as when she got into the car in the first place. They made their way to the corridor in which their doors resided. Stopping in front of their respective doors, they confronted each other. Carly was deep in contemplation over what to say to the boy facing her.
"Freddie, I just need you to be the guy that's always there for me. I need you to be the guy that's there to catch me when I fall. No matter what I need." She went up to him, softly kissing his pink lips. He realised that her kisses got sweeter each time. She pulled away from him, her forefinger and thumb cradling his chin. She gave him her smile. She spoke simply, "I need you to be... you."
He laughed lightly at her. He said, smiling, "I never could say no to you." Taking her hand from his chin, and kissing it, he smiled again. "Whatever it is you need, I swear I'll be there for you. Just like always. I swear."
"That's why I love you, Freddie." She bade him farewell. Opening her door, she walked in, giving him one last look. "Smoothies, tomorrow? With Sam?"
"Absolutely, I'll be there." He was still smiling.
"Okay, see you later." She closed the door, no longer gracing him with her angelic presence.
Left all alone in the hallway, he touched his fingers to his lips, now red, and tasting of piña colada. The kiss had made his lips sweet. "I'll be there for you, Carly Shay, no matter what."
He could only stare at the door where she was once standing. The girl that he was in love with.
"I swear."
A/N: Some of you may be wondering if Carly is just using Freddie, and why Freddie would agree to the proposition. These are things that will be brought up later in the story. The story is planned for some thirteen chapters, so things shall be paced accordingly. Carly will wonder about if she's just using Freddie, and Freddie has his own reasons for accepting the deal. Please remember, that the second chapter is only the next day after Carly found out about Griffin, and she is still in an emotionally vulnerable state. It is still early in the story.
This was intended to be a drama, so it won't be an easy road for the two. In the end, it is still a Creddie story.
So, I ask of you, please do not hate Carly. She's very confused at the moment.