Chapter 6: iChristmas The Next Year

Author's Note: Hey, thanks again for the reviews! I just wanted to say that the last chapter took me a while to write, so I hope you guys liked it.

P.S. I didn't want to just call it iChristmas because that's the name of one of the iCarly episodes.

P.S.S. I think this might be a long chapter too. Just saying. Haha.

Okay, now onto the story!

Sam's POV:

What is it about Christmas? The beautiful decorations all around, the bells and songs I hear, or maybe even the smell of the cookies and the tree? You would probably expect me, Sam Puckett, to say the best parts are the food and the presents. Don't get me wrong. I love that stuff.

But this year, I don't have to spend my Christmas with my mom and her stupid family in jail. They're all just so drunk, and I mean ALL. I'm the only kid there. And they couldn't care less about putting me in danger. Thank God for them I don't want to drink alcohol.

A while ago, I told Carly and Spencer about my usual Christmas experience, and they both felt really bad because they always have a great time on Christmas. So guess what: THEY INVITED ME TO SPEND CHRISTMAS WITH THEM! And not just Christmas. Christmas Eve, Christmas day, the day after Christmas, maybe even the day after that!

And here's an amazing part: Freddie's part of it too.

I always smile, thinking of Freddie. The last thing we really did together was dance, and then we just talked normally after that, and neither of us brought up the dancing. Carly actually brought it up to me, and I didn't want to lie to her. I told her it was kind of nice.

But after the dance, near the end of November, it was Thanksgiving break, and Freddie went away with his mom to visit their family in Massachusetts. He was fine with that, but his mom also wanted to go there for Christmas, and Freddie really didn't want to. So, Carly and Spencer invited Freddie to spend Christmas with us too!

So basically, I'm spending about the first half of my Christmas break with Freddie. I wonder how it'll go!

On Christmas Eve, I was wearing a green shirt and red skinny jeans, and Carly was wearing a red shirt and green skinny jeans (we planned this, we're not psychic). We were chatting and decorating the Christmas tree, with Spencer helping and chatting with us too. I had a suitcase of my stuff in Carly's room.

Suddenly, I heard the door open and I turned around and smiled to see Freddie. He was wearing a green tee shirt and green baggy pants with red shoes and a Santa hat.

"Hey guys," he said with a smile, shutting the door. He was rolling and suitcase with one hand and held two envelopes in the other. He held a wrapped present in his arm, against his side. He put the suitcase next to the couch and he put the envelopes under the Christmas tree. "These are your presents, guys… Spencer, yours is the only wrapped one. Carly, Sam, I know they're just envelopes but I think you'll like what's inside." He grinned.

I looked at the envelopes and smiled, seeing my name on one envelope, Carly's on another, and Spencer's on the other.

But then I froze. Carly's presents for us were under the Christmas tree too. And Spencer's. But I didn't get anyone anything. I completely forgot. But I didn't want to tell them, even though they might've known because there were no gifts from me under the tree.

"Uh… guys, I have to uh… run an errand," I told them, and before they could say anything I grabbed my purse and hoped there was enough money in it, and then I zoomed out to the mall.

At the mall, it was easy to find Carly's present. I got her eyeliner, lip gloss, and a pair of dangling silver earrings with pink hearts at the end. They were so girly. So Carly.

Freddie and Spencer were harder. I finally found this art store and I got Spencer all of this cool art stuff and a book about art. It was the least I could do, he treated me like his little sister for all these years.

I spent almost an hour trying to find something good for Freddie, but I really couldn't find anything so I ended up just getting him a nice laptop case, but not too expensive. As much as I'd love to be, I'm far from rich.

On my way back, I saw a card store. I decided to buy a few cheap cards and envelops but then write on them. So I bought three of the same Christmas cards, three white envelopes, and wrapping paper for the presents. and then ran back to Carly's apartment.

But before I got in, I sat in the hallway and grabbed a pen and leaned the cards on the wall as I wrote them. On the first one, I wrote a nice card for Spencer thanking him for everything, and pretty much the same kind of thing for Carly, also saying some of our inside jokes.

I then took a deep breath and took out the last blank card, Freddie's, with a smile. I remembered the birthday card he got me for my sixteenth birthday, and how amazing that made my birthday. It was my turn to return the favor.

Dear Freddie,

This has been a long… interesting experience with you around for years. I will admit, you're a dork, and I'm not planning on stopping hurting you. But I can tell you right now that I don't hate you. You're an amazing friend. Sorry for everything I did over the years, but I'm not stopping.

But somehow, I think you're okay with that.

So thanks for helping with iCarly, helping me with school, but most of all, thank you so much for being a really good friend.

Merry Christmas,

Sam

I stared at the card, taking a deep breath. I just scribbled that all down quickly, not even thinking about the fact that he, Carly, and Spencer were all going to read it. I shrugged. What I wrote was the truth. They were probably going to be shocked at seeing that I wrote a nice card to Fredward, but you know what? Let them be shocked. That's me. I then wrapped the presents with the wrapping paper I bought and the tape that came with the wrapping paper, and I taped the cards onto the presents.

I walked into Carly's apartment. It was sort of dark, but the colorful Christmas lights were on. I heard Christmas music playing, and I smelled Spencer making spaghetti tacos. Carly and Freddie were on the couch talking, and I sneaked behind the couch to quickly put the presents under the tree.

Carly heard me and smiled. "You're back!" she exclaimed, and then laughed. "Where were you?"

"Oh, nowhere," I said with a smirk. Carly moved a bit to give me a spot on the couch, and I plopped there. I decided not to care that Carly was in the middle of Freddie and I. I didn't always have to be next to him, as much as I wanted to.

"Hey, why don't you guys turn on the TV?" Spencer called. "Some Christmas movies are probably playing."

"Okay!" Carly said with a smile. "Where's the remote?" she asked, maybe to herself. She stood up, and there was still a big space between Freddie and I but I subtly slid closer to Freddie so that when Carly came back down, maybe she would let me be in the middle of her and Freddie.

She seemed to find it, and my plan worked, so now I was in the middle of Carly and Freddie. After she sat, she turned on the TV and looked through the channels until some old, sweet little Christmas movie was playing. I smiled at it. We looked at the guide and saw that Christmas movies were playing on this channel all night. So we just watched, and soon Spencer sat on the other side of Carly, so now we were sitting in this order: Spencer, Carly, me, and Freddie. Spencer also brought us plates with spaghetti tacos, two on each plate but there was a big plate of them on the coffee table in front of us.

It was also cold, so Spencer brought a big red blanket and we all put it over our shoulders. I felt my knee touching Freddie's. We all ate and smiled and talked at the commercials, and soon it got late. I was tired, and I put my feet on the couch and felt my eyes get heavy. I let them close, listening to the soothing, quiet movie on the TV.

Freddie's POV:

I was on the end of the couch, feeling just so cozy and calm. It had just become Christmas, it being around two AM. I'd been sitting there for hours next to the people who are closest to me (besides my family). Next to me was Sam, next to her was Carly, and next to Carly was Spencer.

We just ate some nice spaghetti tacos, and Carly and Sam felt asleep. Spencer looked at them and smiled, and he noticed that I was still awake and he whispered, "Hey, I'm going to my room. Night Freddo."

I nodded. "Night Spencer," I whispered with a smile. "And thanks again for letting me stay."

"No problem!" he whispered, and then he went into his room and I heard his door quietly shut.

I watched the Christmas movie on the TV, which was starting to annoy me but I knew if I turned the TV off then it would be too silent. So I kept it on but lowered the sound a bit. I had an adrenaline rush because when I woke up, it would be Christmas. So I knew for a fact that I wouldn't be able to fall asleep, even though I was sort of tired.

I then lowered the sound a lot, so much that I could hear Carly and Sam's quiet breathing. I turned and looked at Sam and I smiled. And then soon, as she slept, her head lowered and leaned on my shoulder. This wasn't the first time this happened. I remembered the time when we had to watch all these dancing videos for iCarly, she fell asleep on my shoulder but I shrugged her off. This time, I didn't dare move. But Sam did. She moved her arms and now her hands were gently touching my chest. She also turned her head and she was breathing calmly into my ear. The calm breathing was so sweet, and I wanted to turn off the TV, but I didn't want to move or else it was possible that Sam would move away from me. So I just closed my eyes, and went into dream land.

Sam's POV:

I woke up on Christmas morning to the TV because something playing was loud. I opened my eyes and moved them around to see Carly and Spencer cooking something in the kitchen. And then I looked up and realized that my head was on top of Freddie's shoulder and my arms were sort of around him. And this was the weird part: He was awake. And he didn't even yell at me or push me away.

"She's awake," Freddie called with a smile.

Carly grinned and walked over. She giggled, "Freddie woke up first, and when I woke up he told me that you've been on him like this all night."

I bit my lip and let out a little bit of a laugh, but I felt my face turn red. "Sorry Freddica," I said, and then got off of him.

He laughed. "It's fine. Merry Christmas guys!"

"Merry Christmas!" I exclaimed. I then stood and gave Carly a hug. "Carls, this is gonna be the best Christmas ever."

"I know, right?" Carly said excitedly as she pulled away from me. "And Spencer and I are making some eggs, bacon, pancakes, and hash browns."

I felt my taste buds crazily crave that as I said, "Definitely the best Christmas ever."

Carly and Freddie laughed, and then Carly walked back to the kitchen. I smelled the breakfast more and more, knowing it was cooking. I was standing a little in front of the couch, and I turned around to see Freddie still sitting on the couch, sort of staring at me. But not in a creepy way, in a sweet way. But aggressive Sam took control of me when I looked at him and said, "What?"

"Huh?" he asked, blushing a bit.

"You were staring at me."

"You uh… had something in your hair…" he stammered.

"If you say so," I said sarcastically, but he didn't answer. Soon, I saw that the breakfast was ready and I ran over and took a seat at the table.

Carly chuckled and put a plate in front of me, and I dug in. Freddie soon took a seat, and then Carly, then Spencer and we all sat and ate quietly. Spencer had turned Christmas music on, so that definitely helped the Christmas spirit.

After dinner, Spencer shouted in a jokingly childish way, "Present time!"

We all smiled and laughed a bit. I don't know about them, but I was just happy because this was the first time I'd ever felt the Christmas spirit.

"Let's take turns opening," Carly said, as we all knelt next to the presents.

"Open the ones from me first!" Spencer exclaimed excitedly. I loved how Spencer was a grown man but he could act like a kid sometimes. But, on the other hand, he could be a really mature person. Carly was lucky to have him take care of her.

Carly, Freddie and I opened the presents from Spencer. He got us all gift cards to a department store. Not the most creative thing, but hey, how was he supposed to know what we'd like?

"Open mine now!" Carly exclaimed, and that's what we did. She gave me the same sorts of things I gave her, and she wrote a nice card about our friendship. Along with the card were a cute little perfume and some nice bangles. I thanked her, and then I told them to open my presents.

They seemed to all like their presents. Carly and Spencer hugged me, but I mostly studied Freddie's reaction because he was taking a long time to react. He smiled at the card and studied the laptop case. He then looked up at me, and he smiled. I smiled back. Carly and Spencer were silent, as if they knew that this was a special moment for me. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and I hugged him back, but for only about five amazing seconds.

Then, we opened Freddie's presents. He got Spencer a tee shirt, and he got Carly and I the same thing. They were in envelopes. At first I thought they would be cards, but there were no cards. It looked like some sort of coupon. I read it, and it was a coupon. It was a coupon that Freddie made. It was one free shopping spree with him.

When I noticed Carly had the same thing, I looked at Freddie asked: "Wait, a shopping spree like the three of us?"

"Nope, I'll take each of you shopping individually," he said proudly. I grinned. Shopping with Freddie? How could I not smile?

Carly and I hugged him at the same time. He hugged both of us back. Of course I'd love to hug him by ourselves, but whatever.

Later, since Freddie and I were spending a while at Carly's, we were still there. Carly said she needed to shower, and Spencer was out at a store. So when Carly was in the shower and Spencer was gone, I was alone with Freddie in the living room.

I was looking at the Christmas tree, with all the ornaments and decorations still around, and I smiled. Freddie was just walking around awkwardly.

"So…" he said, walking over to me. "Did you like your first real Christmas?"

I grinned. "It was awesome."

"It really was," he smiled. "But hey, it's not over. And how long are you staying?"

I frowned a bit. I didn't want to leave. "I don't know," I said, "tomorrow or the next day."

"Yeah, same," Freddie said, also frowning a bit. He probably didn't want to leave either.

I stood, since he was standing too. I walked towards him. "Tonight, I'll try not to fall asleep on you." I smirked.

He laughed. "No, it's fine."

I smiled, standing in front of him. "If you say so," I said.

But he didn't seem to answer. He seemed a little awkwardly embarrassed and a little bit shocked. He was looking up. He opened his mouth a bit, as if he was going to say something. Then he just closed it. I decided to see what he was so speechless about. I looked up.

Oh crap.

We were under the mistletoe.

So cliché, you think. We're under the mistletoe, we're going to kiss, we're going to fall in love, and be happily ever after.

No.

We've kissed before. Nothing happened, (except for the fact that it was the best moment of my life). But here we were, under a mistletoe. then I looked into his deep brown eyes. They looked so amazing at the moment, as I felt them getting closer and closer to me as he leaned his face in to mine. He seemed to freeze and he stopped leaning in to kiss me, maybe because I wasn't leaning in. So I took over and turned my head up to let my lips touch him.

I closed my eyes, and it seemed like the first time we kissed. His lips were so soft. At first, it seemed like our lips were just touching, but we both tilted our heads a bit and we were kissing. We were really kissing under the mistletoe. I thought about the first time we kissed, and how Carly found out. I decided I would need to tell Carly. But I then decided to just stop thinking about it, and enjoy the kiss while it lasted.

Best. Christmas. Ever.

Okay, really long chapter! Haha, sorry. I hope you liked it. And I'm so sorry that this has taken me so long! Review!