AN: Hello everyone and welcome to the latest chapter of this little tale. Thanks as always are due to everyone who has read and reviewed.
Subject87 - thank you and I hope it lives up to your expectations.
Mix - it is going to be a shorter story than some of the ones I've written. Hopefully it will be short but sweet.
Anonymous teen - thanks for your kind words.
Carly and Freddie felt their hard work had paid off as they both breezed through their final exams and completed other assignments with time to spare. The pair chatted idly as they walked away from the hall after the conclusion of their very last exam; a brief post-mortem comparing answers (both happy with what they had written) followed by some consoling words for Sam, who appeared to have flunked yet another paper: her lack of work finally catching up with her.
More in hope than expectation Freddie had asked Carly to go to the prom with him; only to be stunned when she accepted. Sam mocked him mercilessly and incessantly for weeks leading up to the event, taunting him on how she was taking pity on him after all his years of unrequited love. The tech producer ignored her taunts and instead just focussed on preparing for the night, a night he was determined to enjoy. He donned his tuxedo and made his way across the hallway to collect his date, only to find he had to leap backwards when the apartment door opened. Sam was stood there, wearing a pretty sky blue floor-length dress with a napkin tucked into the top of it and wielding a handful of ribs slathered in barbeque sauce. The blonde laughed at her frienemy as he cautiously edged his way around her without getting his outfit dirty.
"I'd hit you with them Fredward but it would be a waste of sauce to smear it on you" she goaded before devouring more of the meat.
Freddie shook his head and began to climb the stairs, only to stop in his tracks as Carly's sweet voice called out
"Wait, wait, I'm coming down" before he heard footsteps on the stairs. He looked up to see Carly appear in view, attempting at once to make her way quickly downstairs and not stumble in her heels, which would result in her falling headlong into Freddie. For his part the tech producer noticed little of this as his gaze was reserved for her silver dress; the garment hugged her figure perfectly and ended just above her ankles. She wore her hair loose over both shoulders and a small, black handbag and silver-grey two-inch heeled shoes completed the look.
"Wow Carly, you look fantastic" he complimented his date, offering his arm as she reached him. She took it with a smile and he steered her down the last few steps to the living area, where Sam was desperately trying to suck barbecue sauce out of the right arm of her dress. The brown-haired pair looked to one another and shook their heads in unison at her antics.
"Nice going Puckett" Freddie smirked at her.
"Yeah, yeah, now shut up a minute while I fix this" she snarled back.
"Spencer, get her a cloth" the brunette sighed towards her older brother.
"But I'm watching the Boat Network" he complained.
A knock on the door curtailed the impending argument.
"Oh that'll be Brad" Sam noted. Freddie opened the door and invited the former iCarly intern in.
"Hey" he greeted the blond.
"Hey" Brad returned. "We all ready to go? Sam?" he looked towards his date.
"Almost" she said, running a damp cloth over the stain again; it was barely visible unless one looked closely now.
"Ok, you kids have fun now" called Spencer from the couch, his gaze never leaving the TV screen.
They bid the artist goodbye and left as a group, headed for the limo they'd all (apart, obviously, from Sam) pitched in to hire for the evening.
The quartet chatted amiably and excitedly on their way to Ridgeway Junior High School; Freddie in particular was determined to enjoy this night. Whether or not Carly was calling it a "date" he neither knew nor cared, he was simply going to spend the evening with the girl of his dreams. That was enough for him to know it would be a great event.
"Anyone know what Gibby's doing?" Carly asked as they emerged from the vehicle and looked around at the students beginning to gather outside the school.
"He's downstairs; Franklin hired him to do the catering." They smiled as they thought back to their meals at Gibby's restaurant; all except for Carly, whose memories of the place caused her to grimace instead.
"Hey Freddie, you're looking hot tonight" Wendy cooed as she sidled up to the group. Carly seized her date's arm a little more tightly, causing him to give her a curious look; she replied with an enigmatic smile. Remembering his manners he turned back to the red-haired girl.
"Thanks Wendy, you look really nice yourself; it's a beautiful dress." She was wearing a pale pink dress a similar length and style to Carly's. "Shall we?" he turned to Carly and gestured indoors.
"We shall" she smiled back and allowed him to lead her indoors, Sam and Brad following just behind them.
The school hall was decorated accordingly; a live band sat in the farthest corner and was already setting the tone for the evening by striking up a quick tempo song.
"I hope Gibby's not doing all the catering" Carly complained. "Red pepper everything, that lunch nearly killed me!"
"I'm sure there'll be something you can eat" Freddie reassured her. "Wanna dance?" he gestured to the dance floor, already beginning to fill with their classmates.
"Sure" she flashed her radiant smile and the tone was set for the evening; Freddie dancing with her (and others) and generally having a wonderful time. Even though she danced with other boys, and made it look like she was happy that they were mingling, Carly worked hard to make sure Freddie never saw the look of sadness on her face when Freddie wasn't at her side during the night. Instead she made sure to maximise the amount of time they spent together and enjoy every last second of it.
With the prom, their finals, and school in general, completed the trio had just the small matter of the graduation ceremony to go through (Sam was happy to find out she had just done enough to graduate) before the long summer stretched ahead of them. With it being their last time together before college, before they went their separate ways (though Sam would, like Carly, be staying in Seattle – at the community college while she figured out what she could do with her life and what she'd need to do in order to do it) plans were discussed and made. First thing on the agenda would be a trip to LA to visit their friends from Hollywood Arts. Spencer had an art exhibition in Vancouver so a trip up to Canada was also planned. The feeling continued to eat away at Carly, however, that her time with Freddie was rapidly running out.