Chapter 4

Sam walked through the elevator doors, smiling widely.

"Finally! Some time to just have fun!" She exclaimed.

"I agree, this semester was brutal." I said.

"Agreed. Ready Freddie?" Carly asked, also smiling.

"Yeah, show in 2 minutes." I said. They started dancing around as I lost myself in thought.

I know it's really wrong to still like a girl that has a boyfriend, but I do. I try to accept it and move on, keep waiting for something that may never happen. Probably won't either. It's easiest when I don't see Carly much. I can almost feel at peace with what's going on, until the next iCarly when I see her again, she is herself and boom! I fall for her yet again.

"In 5..4..3..2.." I said, pointing at them. They started the show with one of their odd introductions, then led to Messin with Lewbert. I found my self oddly detached, just enjoying the show for once. The jokes were hilarious.

I'm trying to let her go, I really am. But on night like tonight, where she is just Carly, she becomes the girl I can't seem to get over.

"And that's it for this iCarly!" Carly said.

"Cook some Ham." Sam said.

"Hug your mom." Carly replied.

"Thank your refrigerator." Sam smiled.

"SAM!" Carly frowned.

"We're clear!" I said. "Good show."

"Thanks Fredwina, now Mom promised some smoked Ham at home, so you know where I'll be…" Sam said, retreating out the door.

I began cleaning off the roof of the car, that had gotten the remnants of some Jell-o Sam threw at some point in the show.

I cleaned for about five minutes, only to be stopped when a hand touched my back. I turn to find Carly with a small smile.

"Hey!" I said, pulling her into a hug.

"Hey yourself." She said, hugging me tightly.

"How are you?"

"I'm good." She said, brushing some hair out of her eyes.

"Work good too?" I asked.

"Yeah, you know, same basically." She said.

"Missed you." I said, smiling.

"You too."

"Things good with Kyle?" I asked, trying to mask my real emotions.

"Oh yeah, he's perfect."

Ouch

I started moving stuff back onto my cart, and she grabbed the water bottles used by Sam and herself before the show.

"You hanging around?" I asked, hoping for just a conversation over some tea or something. Nothing too big, that's impossible now.

"No, going out with Kyle. Sorry." She said, with a sad look on her face. I looked back to the studio, turning back to see the sad look quickly erased.

We walked downstairs in silence.

"See you around girl. Text if you need me." I said, pulling her into another hug.

"I will." She said, reaching for her purse.

I walked out of the house and into mine, straight to my room. I sat down to check my phone.

Mom- Hey Freddie, I can't cook tonight, too tired. I'm probably asleep now, so can you go ahead and buy yourself dinner and get some groceries? I'll reimburse your credit card. Love-Mom

That's the easiest way to bring a smile to my face. She tries so hard to keep our heads above water that sometimes she simply can't do anything else. I've found her in bed, asleep with her phone with a text message to me halfway through. She's that tired sometimes.

I grab a jacket, my wallet and the keys to Mom's Prius. Before I head out I text Carly.

Nice seeing you tonight

Almost forgot, I walked into my mom's room. Sure enough, she's out cold. I grab her water thermos to refill it. She needs lots of hydration and I hate for her to have lukewarm water at 1 in the morning.

After switching out warm water for ice cold, some with chunks of Ice still inside I head out. It's drizzling lightly, but a nice night overall. I drive downtown to a favorite restaurant of mine that Gibby showed me after Kyle and Carly got together. I walk inside, and immediately am ushered to my favorite table by the hostess, Tiffani, a friend of mine that goes to SCC.

My mind wanders after I order. Seems like after every show I end up in this similar situation. All I think about is Carly, Carly, Carly.

Suddenly Tiffani sits across from me.

"I'm glad you walked in just now, I was needing a break." She smiled.

"Glad I can help, you doing good?" I asked, returning her smile.

"I am, work sucks but you know how that goes." She said, fiddling with a iced tea she brought along with my Peppy Cola.

"Did you guys do the show tonight?"

"Yeah, it was pretty solid." I said.

Tiffani isn't the normal girl I typically hang out with. She's kinda in the Sam mold. Didn't like school much, enjoys things girls don't usually like. She has a few extra piercings in her ears, but she declined to display her colorful jewelry. Also she has 2 tattoos.

One on her wrist says "Love" and one on her shoulder says "Strength". Neither are noticeable usually, but my mom would still flip if she knew, but nobody knows that I know her. Never mentioned her to anyone. If I did, they might assume we're going out, since we seem to find ourselves together most weekends. She's a very pretty brunette and for some unknown reason single.

(A/N: Victoria Justice to give you guys an idea. Btw, IDK why the recurring characters seems to look like nick stars. I just put together what they're like on the inside, and someone from nick fills the need.)

"You talk to Carly tonight?" Tiffani asked.

"Yeah, nothing much again." I told her. She knows a lot of my thinking on Carly, I usually talk to her when I'm most confused about us.

"Shame. Have you seen her anymore recently?" She questioned.

"No." I answered glumly.

"Hey, chin up kid. There's still time isn't there?" She reasoned.

"Yeah, It's just December." My spirits went up just a little bit.

A waiter came by and delivered my nachos with chips and queso. Tiffani's eyes widened for just a second.

She must be hungry.

"Help yourself." I told her, grabbing some salsa to add to the nachos.

We both tucked into the delicious food.

" Enough about me. What's been going on with you?" I said, interrupting our silence. The nachos were almost gone.

"Same old stuff, just school and here." She shrugged.

"How's school?" I asked. Her mom, like Sam's didn't put much stock into school but I managed to talk her into it.

"Good, I can't believe I'm kind of liking College Algebra." She shook her head.

I laughed. "Grades good?" I pressed. Last grading period she said the same thing then had 2 C's and a D.

"Let me go get the card." She groaned, but smiling none the less.

I kept eating as she went to go get it. Her coworker came by to give me my bill.

"Man, you know how to make her smile. She was very grumpy before you got here, and now she's almost skipping." He said, clapping me on the back.

"I'm back." She said, handing me a folded piece of paper.

All A's and B's. Wonderful.

"I told you that you could do it." I said, grabbing for my wallet and pushing away the nachos in the same motion in order to disguise it.

"Thanks to you." She smiled shyly, looking down. I had helped her a week ago with a Physics test that she felt unprepared for.

I stood to go, as she did the same. I pulled her into a hug.

"Your crushing me." She managed to breathe out, but she didn't let go.

"I'm available if you need me." I whispered into her ear.

"Ok." She whispered back.

I kissed her hair. It smelled like a fruity shampoo.

"Text if you feel like it. Always makes my day." She said so quietly I barely heard her.

I smiled as she walked back to her station up front. I walked back towards the bathroom but made a quick turn towards the kitchen.

The waiter that had complimented me on cheering Tiff up saw me near the kitchen. I signaled for him to come over to me.

"Where's her purse? I owe her." I told him. He pointed towards a back room that had backpacks, phones and purses. I spotted hers and put a $50 dollar bill and a note inside and walked out.

The rest of the night went pretty normally. I drove back home, got the groceries and put them away. Mom evidently got up and had something to eat, but forgot to put her dishes up. Small complaint that isn't worth the pain if I bring it up, so I put them away and start the dishwasher.

When I finally went to sleep, ready for the beginning of spring break, I thought of one thing. What if Sam was like Tiffani? Would I be in the same situation? Would we be getting along?

That question swirled in my mind as I quickly succumbed to sleep.