Ch2

Freddie was frozen to the spot. He had been for the past few minutes. His brain felt like mush, nothing was processing. He had to keep reminding himself to breathe. Had he just imagined it, or had Sam just kissed him? For ten whole minutes? He wasn't sure. He licked his lips, seeing if they tasted any different. Yep, a mix of meat and mint; at least he knew she had brushed her teeth. What was she thinking? Had she gone crazy? She had just made out with Freddie Benson, the Nub, who made her life unbearable. She hated him, and she never let him forget it. Did she really hate him? Freddie felt his brain start to kick back into gear. His head was throbbing. Why, why did she do this? Did she know Freddie liked her, was this some sort of mental torture? If it was, then why had she been crying?

Freddie walked inside, realising he couldn't stand there all day. Where should he go? Carly's? Nope, Sam would be there, he couldn't deal with seeing her right now. Home? That would mean passing right by Carly's front door. What if he bumped into Sam? No, he couldn't risk it. He took the elevator to the ground floor, and walked out of the building. Groovie Smoothie? Yeah, he thought, why not?

He walked in to the Groovy Smoothie, and spun around. No, no Sam or Carly, he was safe.

"One large Blueberry Blitz please, T-Bo."

"Freddie Benson, what in the world is up with you man?"

"What?"

"You look like you've seen a ghost!"

"Oh, no I'm fine. Just tired."

"Well ok then. Here's your smoothie."

He payed for his smoothie and sat at an empty table. As he was drinking, he noticed Gibby was sat at a table a few feet away with Guppy. Gibby noticed Freddie looking at him.

"Freddie my man! Come join us!"

This was the last thing he wanted to do, but he saw no way out of it. He went and sat down next to Gibby.

"Hey Gib. Hey Gup."

"Man Freddie, you look terrible. Are you feeling ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Happy birthday!" Guppy piped up.

"Thanks dude, but it's not my birthday."

"Gup, what've I told you, that's an awful catchphrase! If you're gonna have a catchphrase, it's got to make sense!"

"Happy birthday." Guppy said, with a determined look on his face, as if to say he liked his catchphrase and didn't want to change it. Gibby sighed and turned to Freddie.

"So, dude, what's bugging you?"

"I'm just tired."

"No, you're not just tired. What's wrong, you can tell me man, we're buds!"

Being called Gibby's "Bud" was not exactly the most flattering thing to be told, but it did mean a lot to Freddie. Should he tell Gibby? What would he say? Maybe he should tell him, but not tell him exactly.

"I'm… having girl troubles."

"Then you've come to the right guy! Gup, hold my shirt." Gibby slipped his shirt over his head and handed it to his little brother, who obediently held it. "Talk man."

"O…ok. Well, there's this girl. I don't know whether she likes me. I mean, she just kissed me. But I thought she hated me. And I think I like her. But I don't know what to do. Should I talk to her now? Or leave it for a bit?"

"Hmm, interesting." Gibby leant back, stroking his chin as if he was pondering something wisely. "And this girl you're talking about, you've known her a while?"

"Yeah, quite a while."

"And you thought she hated you?"

"Well, yeah, she's made it pretty clear in the past that she hates my guts." Had he said too much?

"So, this girl. What does she look like?"

Freddie could see Gibby was suspicious. "Why do you want to know that?"

"C'mon dude, is she hot?"

"I don't know… yeah I suppose she is."

"Aha!"

"Wh… what?"

"I know who it i-is!" Gibby said in a sing song voice.

"Oh Gib, please you can't say anything."

"To Sam?"

"Exactly."

"I dunno man, she really does like you."

"What? How do you know… what, did she tell you?" Freddie stuttered.

"No, but it's obvious! Have you noticed she does anything she can to touch you, or be near you, or speak to you? Even if it means insulting you, or beating you up. If she hated you so much, wouldn't she just avoid speaking to you, or hanging out with you?"

Freddie was stunned. Had Gibby really noticed all of this?

"So you really think she likes me?"

"Why don't you go and find out?"

"Yeah… yeah I think I will do. Thanks dude, you're awesome."

Gibby smiled satisfactorily, then poked his brother and told him to hurry up drinking his smoothie. Freddie ran back up the stairs up to his floor, and stood outside Carly's front door. He took a few deep breaths, and then opened the door.

As he looked around quickly, there was no sign of Sam anywhere. Or Carly or Spencer.

"Carly? Spencer?"

"There you are!" Carly came rushing down the stairs. "Where the hell were you? You didn't come back after going looking for Sam!"

"Oh… that."

"What on earth did you say to her?"

"What d'you mean?"

"She came running into the apartment crying, saying something about you but I couldn't tell what, then she ran off. Spencer went after her, he thought she was hurt, she was in such a state!"

"Whoa."

"What happened? If you said something to upset her I swear…" Carly waved her finger accusingly at Freddie.

"I didn't say anything! Not much anyway, I don't think it as what I said that upset her."

"Then what was it?"

"Look, before I say anything I need to talk to Sam!"

"Ok then, here comes Spencer now."

Spencer stumbled into the apartment, bright red and out of breath.

"I… ran after her and… man that girl can run! Argh… need to… sit down."

He collapsed onto the sofa.

"Where is she?" Carly shouted, shaking Spencer by the shoulders.

"She ran… home… I … argh… can't breathe."

"She went home? What about her Mom, I thought she was avoiding her?"

"No-one else… was in I don't think, there… was no car in the driveway."

"So she's upset, home alone? Freddie, please tell me! You know why she is upset!"

"I need to speak to her!"

"Then go! Spencer, drive Freddie to Sam's."

"What? Nooo, I'm tired!"

"Spencer please?"

"Fine. I'll grab my keys."

The car journey to Sam's was a short one. Spencer kept looking sideways at Freddie, wondering what it was Freddie was hiding. Freddie tried to stay calm, but he couldn't start to think what he was going to say to Sam. As Spencer pulled up outside Sam's house, Freddie started to open the car door but Spencer held him back.

"Kid, wait a minute."

"Yeah?"

"I know Sam can be difficult. But whatever has happened, it's seriously upset her. It takes a lot to upset Sam. Just… be careful. She's like a second little sister to me, just remember that."

"I know, and I swear Spencer, I've not done anything directly to hurt her. I promise I'll be nice to her. I can't promise she'll be nice to me though."

"No, but remember to ring 911 if she attacks you, yes?"

"Yeah, thanks for the advice."

Spencer patted Freddie on the back and Freddie climbed out of the car. He looked back as Spencer waved at him and drove off. As he walked up Sam's path, he felt his stomach doing flips. He'd never felt so nervous.

*knock knock*

No answer. He knocked again. Still no answer.

"Sam, I know you're in!" He shouted. "Answer the door!"

He looked up to one of the bedroom windows and saw one of the curtains shift. So she had seen it was him.

"C'mon Sam, come down. I need to talk to you!"

"Go away!" He heard her shout.

"No I won't. I won't go away Sam, so you might as well let me in."

He heard her moan loudly. Then he heard loud footsteps coming to the door.

"What?" She said as she flung the door open. He noticed there were fresh tear tracks down her cheeks.

"Sam, I want to talk to you."

"Why?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"No, not really."

"Sam you just…" he sighed. "You just kissed me! I want some answers to the thousand questions I have right now!"

"I don't have anything to say to you Benson, leave me alone."

"Don't be such a baby! Come on, talk to me."

"I am not a baby, Fredwuss!"

"Prove it. Talk to me!"

"Fine!" She swung the door fully open and marched away into her living room. Freddie took this as an invitation inside. He knew he had said the right thing. She would never stand for being called a baby. He knew just how to speak to her to get her to react how he wanted her to. He'd had a lot of practice over the past few years; say the wrong thing and you get your face disfigured.

He walked into her living room, and was hit with clashing colours and mess. There were piles of washing everywhere, and cans scattered over the floor. The walls were a burnt orange colour, with a green sofa and greyish carpet.

"Sorry it's a mess, my Mom hasn't been cleaning much recently, not since she got her new boyfriend." She was red in the face from embarrassment. Freddie was shocked at how quickly her mood had changed. She looked forlorn, and defeated. He sat down next to her on the couch.

"It's ok, don't worry about it."

"So" She said simply, looking at him. He caught her gaze and she turned away quickly.

"Why did you do it?" Freddie thought there was no point delaying his most important question.

"I don't know." She said, looking down at the ground and fiddling with her thumbs.

"Do you like me?" Freddie said.

"I don't know." She repeated.

"But do you hate me still?"

"I… I don't know."

"C'mon Sam, give me something here!"

"I can't! Don't ask me how I feel because I don't know! I'm just so, confused and messed up! I can't understand why this is happening to me!" Tears rolled down her cheeks again, and she swung to face away from Freddie, trying and failing to hide the fact she was crying.

"It's ok, I'm sorry." Freddie said, and patted her on the shoulder.

"Sorry for what?" She mumbled.

"For questioning you. I know this must be hard, and trust me you're not the only one feeling confused right now!"

"Why, because the girl you hate just made out with you?"

"I don't hate you!"

"Yeah you do, I'm horrible to you."

"Sam, I could never, ever hate you. The only thing I've ever wanted from you is for you to stop treating me like dirt."

"But I can't help it. I need to be horrible to you, it makes me feel better."

"But why?"

"I don't know!" She sounded angry.

"Ok, ok enough questions, right?"

She nodded. He hesitated for a second, but went for it. He pulled her closer to him, and wrapped his arms around her. She relaxed onto him, sobbing into his chest. He pulled her to him as close as he could on the sofa and rested his chin on the top of her head. He inhaled, and realised she smelt like a mixture of meat, fresh air and flowers. Odd combination, he thought, but it was a nice smell. He really liked it. They sat there together for hours. He never wanted to let her go. She felt so right in his arms, like she fit there perfectly. She was nestled up close to him, taking as much in of him as possible, his feel, his smell. She felt safe, and happy.

It had started to go dark. Freddie's phone rang from inside his pocket. He kept one arm around Sam but reached for his phone. It was Carly.

"It's Carly."

"Answer it." Sam said simply, not pulling away from Freddie.

"Hey."

"Freddie, where are you? Did you speak to Sam? Is she ok?"

"Yeah Carls, everything's fine. I'm a little busy, could you ring back in…"

"No I will not ring back, Freddie! Are you at Sam's now?" He couldn't lie.

"Yeah, yeah I am."

"Can I speak to her?"

He whispered to Sam. "Carly wants to speak to you."

Sam took the phone off Freddie. "Hey Carls."

"Sam, what's up? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, just sat with the Nub here."

"What are you doing?" Sam looked slightly worried.

"Just… talking. He's going on about his tech stuff for iCarly again, I told him to shove it but he won't listen."

"Sam, there's something going on that you two aren't telling me about, and I want to know what it is!"

"Carls, there's nothing really! You're imagining things."

"No, I'm not. You were crying earlier, really badly. I want to know what you were crying about!"

"Sorry Carls, you're breaking up!" Sam made fake rustling sound into the phone, and then hung up.

"She's never going to fall for that!" Freddie shook his head at Sam.

"Yeah, oh well, I can't be bothered with her lecture right now. Where were we?"

Freddie put his phone on silent and put it back in his pocket. He opened up his arms again and Sam lay across his chest. He closed his arms around her, pulling her even closer to him. After a while, Sam was deep breathing, and had obviously fallen asleep. He carefully extracted his phone out of his pocket without waking her. It was only 9 o clock in the evening. He felt pretty tired already, and could do with getting home. He could bear to wake her up though, so he waited. And waited some more. But she stayed sleeping. He decided to close his eyes properly, just to have a nap. If it got too late though he would have to go home, his Mom would be worried.

Freddie was woken up by being shaken.

"Freddie! Wake up!"

"Urgh, wha…?"

"Get up, it's morning!"

"Wh… what?"

"It's 8 o clock! We slept through the night!"

Sam was leaning over him, shaking him by the shoulders.

"Oh shit." He yanked the phone out of his pocket. He had 10 missed calls.

"Damn, my Mom rang me 8 times! And Carly rang, and Spencer!"

"You'd better get home! We don't want them thinking anything else happened between us, involving you staying over at my house.

He thought for a second. "No, this probably won't look too good."

She looked at him with all seriousness. "Lie then."

"What?"

"Don't tell them you slept over at mine. Say… say you went to a friend's house! That wasn't me."

"I'm not going to lie! Look, I'll just say we fell asleep talking. It's kinda true!"

"C'mon Freddie, really? We hate each other remember, you can't all of a sudden start having sleepovers at my house."

"But I don't hate you."

"You have to hate me! Freddie, I'm not ready for this, please." She looked desperate. Freddie felt his heart sink.

"Fine. I'll lie. But Sam, I can't just go back to being your enemy, not now!"

"It's not right, Freddie, we have nothing in common, we are total opposites. I don't mean anything to you."

"Sam, you mean a lot more to me than you think. Do I mean something to you?"

She looked at him with wide eyes. She was lost for words; she didn't know what to do next. Freddie, however, did. He moved towards her and before she had time to react, he crashed his lips down onto hers and wrapped his arms around her back. She ran her fingers through his hair, then down his back and up his sides, feeling every inch of him. They broke apart and, still holding her, he looked into her eyes."

"Has that convinced you?"

With that, he left out of her front door, up her garden path and out of sight.