Hi all!
This would have gone up sooner today, but my server was down... :(
But it's working again so up it goes! :D
I want to thank everyone that reviewed on the last chapter and here's more!
Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly.....just the old guy
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Carly sat on her couch next to Spencer, eating cereal. She had glanced every five minutes or so towards the clock, watching it inch ever so slowly towards it being nine. This didn't go unnoticed by Spencer. "Hey kiddo? Is Sam or Freddie supposed to be over at nine or something?" Carly shook her head slowly.
"No…but the old guy from before is supposed to be stopping by." Spencer nodded, not even looking at her.
"Right…the old guy. Who is he again?" he asked. Carly shrugged her shoulders.
"Y'know…I don't know, exactly." They sat there in silence, just eating cereal. Carly kept looking at the clock, until it read nine. "Well…he said nine…and it's nine." Spencer got up and put his bowl in the sink.
"Well…maybe you did dream that? It's not like you can just…will the door to knock!" he said with a grin. However, the door did knock at that moment, causing both Carly and Spencer to jump. Carly looked at her brother, wide eyed, who just returned the same look. She stood up, walked to the door and opened it. Freddie looked like terrible; his hair was a mess, he looked tired and not his normal happy self.
"Hey, what's up?" Carly asked. "How are you feeling?" Freddie just shuffled into the apartment and plopped down on the couch.
"Like crap," he muttered. "I couldn't sleep last night. I kept thinking about how Sam humiliated me…again…on the internet!" Carly sat next to him and gave him another hug.
"Hey Freddie? You want something to eat?" Spencer asked him. Freddie shook his head.
"Nah, I'm good. Thanks though, Spence," he muttered. "Hey…do you think you could do iCarly without me for a while? Just until I can get over Sam?" Carly nodded. "Sure Freddie; we'll work something out." She sighed and added, "This is so stupid! Why can't we just hang out like we did before? You and Sam together and all three of us still as friends?" She then looked to the clock. "And it's already ten after nine!" she shouted. Freddie looked confused.
"What does that have to do with anything?" he asked.
"Oh, never mind," Carly muttered. They heard knocking on the door again and Carly got up once more and walked over to it. She flung it open, revealing the old man. He smiled at her and doffed his hat.
"Good morning, Miss Shay…Mister Benson," he added, greeting Freddie on the couch. Carly scowled at him.
"You're late!" she shouted. The old man's smile faded.
"Miss Shay, to quote someone from our profession, I am never late…nor am I early. I arrive precisely when I mean to. May I come in?" Carly smiled and stepped to the side.
"Please do," she said. The old man smiled and hobbled in, using his cane.
"My thanks," he said. He sat down on the couch and turned his attention towards Freddie. "Mister Benson, I saw what happened." Freddie grimaced as he thought back to the web cast.
"Great…I've been made a fool of! And it's all thanks to Sam!" he spat. The old man chuckled.
"Mister Benson, Miss Puckett didn't make you out to be a fool!" Freddie's head snapped up and his face got lighter.
"Really?" he asked.
"Of course not! You did that on your own," the old man replied. Freddie frowned.
"Real funny," he muttered. "Kick me while I'm down." The old man shook his head.
"Can't seem to take a joke, can we? No matter; Mister Benson, I am here to help you." Freddie just shook his head.
"Look, Sam isn't going to take me back," he replied. "So, can we just forget all this about trying to get us back together?" The old man sat there, silently. "It's not going to happen! I was stupid to think that Sam and I could make a run of things and actually have it mean something!" he added, occasionally glancing at the old man.
"…Are you quite through?" the old man asked. Freddie paused for a moment, then nodded. "Good. Now, since you're done with this foolishness, we can have a chat. Tell me, from your perspective, what happened during the time you were dating Miss Puckett?" Freddie sighed and thought back.
"Well…it was great. I mean, it was everything like I imagined it would be like dating Carly. And everything was the same - the name calling, the pranks; all of it. But then…around the third or fourth day, she began to actually address me by name. Not 'Freddork', or 'Fredwina' or even 'Freddifur'. No, she called me Freddie. And…it was nice. But that's when the 'girly' comments began." Freddie ran a hand through his hair, feeling his knees go weak from recalling the time with Sam. If he had been standing, he would have had to sit down. "Guys like Jonah and Shane and Tom…even Rip-off Rodney, calling Sam 'girly' didn't even get a rise out of her. She would just smile at then and vow to pound them later." He stopped, for his own sake, trying to keep his emotions together.
"When you're ready, Mister Benson," the old man whispered. Freddie nodded and Carly gently rubbed his back, giving him her full support.
"By the end of the first week, she was calling me by my actual name and had even started allowing me to hold her hand in the halls. She still had some trouble being like that in front of Carly." Carly gave Freddie a questioning look, although he never saw it.
Sam had trouble…acting like a girlfriend to Freddie in front of me? She shrugged to herself and kept supporting Freddie.
"By the start of the second week, the pranks had all but stopped. I think it was Becky Schwartz that first made the comment about how Sam wasn't her normal, abrasive self." The old man just nodded silently, allowing Freddie to continue. "By the end of the day, Sam was called 'girly' by five other girls."
"She was really losing it," Carly added.
"Hmmm…so, Miss Puckett is fine being called 'girly' by the boys…but when it comes from the other girls, she has problems. As I told you before, Miss Shay, I am going to need to speak with Miss Puckett." The old man then scratched his chin and pulled out his cell phone. "Mister Benson, I am going to help you get back together with Miss Puckett." Freddie frowned.
"And how are you going to do that?" he asked. The old man grinned.
"Simple! We are going to set you up with another girl!" Freddie just gave the old man a confused look and shook his head.
"But, Sam isn't going to believe that Carly and I are dating," he replied and Carly shook her head in agreement.
"That's because you and Miss Shay aren't going to be dating. I already have someone else in mind, Mister Benson." the old man replied back. "Trust me……hello Columbine! I need a favor, my friend…"
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So the plan is to make Sam jealous? Or....is the old man planning something else? And what's his deal? These answers and more...in the following chapters!
Until next time!
