Author's Note: Hey, everybody! How's it hanging? I hope you've all a super week. I finished my exams, so that's definitely a cause for celebrations (even if my final results aren't, lol). Lots of drama this week, but I think my temperament was better equipped to handle it this time, unlike last week (that wasn't pretty). This new chapter follows directly from last week's chapter, in that it's still the same night of events. So without further ado, hope you all enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own iCarly or "17 Again". Tough Kumquats.
As Freddie made his way to the kitchen in his old home to get him and Matt some more sports drinks, he heard scintillating laughter near the back door. He peeked around the corner and found Carly chatting animatedly with a stranger in his late thirties with silvery hair, who stood leisurely in the doorway. So this was Carly's date who was taking her dancing. Freddie inwardly scoffed at the thought, folding his arms tightly across his chest while watching the older man hand Carly a bouquet of flowers.
"Oh, thank you, Paul. These are lovely," Carly gushed appreciatively, smiling widely at her date.
"Daisies on the first date, what a douche," Freddie mumbled softly under his breath, knowing full well that Carly's favourite flowers were orchids.
But clearly, it wasn't soft enough, because both Carly and her date rounded on Freddie: her date wearing an expression of surprise while Carly openly glared at Felix.
"Felix," she hissed furiously.
"Paul, I'm so sorry," Carly apologised sincerely, turning to her date once more.
"No, it's ok, Carly. It's not weird at all, I get it. I have a son too. It's natural to wanna look out for your mom, protect the castle and stuff." Paul answered stoically with a stab at bashfulness.
"He's not my son." Carly answered pointedly.
"Oh. Well then, that is weird." Paul affirmed truthfully with a nervous smile.
"Shall we get going?"
"Yeah, sure. Let me just go grab my coat."
"Ok. I'll meet you by the car."
"Felix, do me a favour and put these in some water," Carly implored hurriedly as she made to move past the young man.
She was not impressed in the least when Freddie stepped in front of her to cut her off.
"You're going on a date with him? Really?" Freddie demanded incredulously.
"Paul is a ring designer and a really nice guy. So yes, I am going on a date with him." Carly spat impatiently, standing her ground.
"Oh come on, Mrs. Benson, you can't be serious! You're picking Old Man River over Uncle Freddie?" Freddie exclaimed excitably with the flowers clutched tightly in his hands and hopping on the spot.
"That's enough, Felix!" Carly interjected firmly.
She calmed herself down and moved to the kitchen counter to pick up a large beige envelope off of its marble surface. Then she handed it to Felix.
"When you see Freddie, please give this to him. It's our divorce papers, which he still needs to sign, along with details about the new court date. Tell him he needs to be there this time. I have to go."
With one last mournful look at Felix, Carly moved past Freddie and retrieved her jacket, which hung on the coat rack in the hallway. Then she came back into the kitchen again and walked calmly out of the backdoor. Still holding the flowers and his divorce papers in his hands, Freddie watched as his wife got into the car with another man before driving off to some unknown destination.
"Bye," Freddie whispered sadly.
He couldn't believe that Carly had just left and gone on her date anyway. Freddie had felt certain for a split second that Carly had felt something for him, especially when they had been dancing together in the dining room. And if Matt hadn't interrupted them, he felt sure that Carly wouldn't have been able to deny what was happening between the two of them. Even though he looked a lot different, Freddie knew Carly as well as anybody; she just wasn't that good an actress when it came to matters of the heart.
Freddie wasn't left to ponder on his own melancholy for too long when a second car pulled up abruptly next to the house at the exact same point where Paul had just parked. Alternative rock music blaring loudly from the car speakers, which was sure to annoy the neighbours for a good minute. Freddie caught sight of a shock of bleach blonde hair (which protruded from the car window momentarily), confirming that it was Reed behind the wheel. He frowned in confusion when his daughter exited the house, sprinting from the front door to the black car like Satan was behind her.
"Where are you going?" Freddie asked in spite of himself to the back of Corrie's head.
"Michelle's party at West Seattle Bowl," Corrie answered hurriedly before hopping into what Freddie assumed was Reed's car and not a stolen vehicle.
Freddie watched them speed off, a sudden impulse formulating in his mind.
"MATT!" he roared loudly.
Matt came sprinting into the kitchen 5 seconds later, completely out of breath.
"Dude, what's with the yelling? I thought you were coming back outside so we could play some more one-on-one basketball." Matt countered in an annoyed tone.
"Change of plans. Grab a jacket, we're going to a party." Freddie announced smoothly, a gleam in his eye.
West Seattle Bowl was crowded to the brim with high school students, talking and laughing together under pink and blue strobe lights scattered around the bowling alley.
"Felix, this is a bad idea. I can't be here right now!" Matt exclaimed for the umpteenth since they'd arrived.
"Relax, Matt. This is a party, chill out." Freddie responded cheerily, feeling strangely elated in spite of everything that had transpired during the evening.
A few people nodded and waved at him while he responded in kind, a big smile on his face. Maybe a party was just the thing to help take his mind off of Carly. And he could find Corrie too and make sure that Reed wasn't trying to impregnate her.
"Seriously, Felix. I can't be here, not with Reed around. Do you know how many hurtful things he can do to me in a bowling alley? He can shove me up one of those ball return slots. Have you ever gotten stuck up one of those things? It's not pretty at all, my friend." Matt continued in an anxious voice, his eyes darting frantically around him.
"Reed isn't gonna do anything, Matt. You're on the basketball team now, so he can't touch you. So try to enjoy it, this is your party." Freddie responded earnestly, clapping his son affectionately on the back.
Matt only got a second of relief from his friend's speech before his eyes widened in horror again.
"Oh no, she's here!" he hissed in despair.
"Who's here?" Freddie asked curiously.
He turned around to where Matt was staring and grinned pointedly. The object of his son's affections, Nicole, was standing a few paces away, chatting animatedly with a few of her cheerleader friends.
"Say, isn't that Nicole? The girl you like?" Freddie teased airily, throwing Matt a sly wink.
"Shut up, dude, quit looking at her! She can hear you!" Matt squealed in agony before belching unexpectedly, causing Freddie to stare at him in confusion.
"Dude, did you just burp?" Freddie asked quizzically.
"Yeah I did, so what? I have tummy issues, get over it!" Matt snapped comically.
"Tummy issues? Look, nevermind. So what if Nicole hears me? Then she'll finally know that you like her. Go talk to her." Freddie urged amiably.
"I can't talk to Nicole, man! What am I gonna say to her? She's not gonna like me, Felix. She'll think I'm a loser." Matt whined dramatically.
"Why are you a loser? Just because Reed says so? Do you think Reed's a winner? Matt, Reed Atwood is going nowhere. Any girl in this room would be lucky to go out with a guy like you." Freddie declared earnestly.
"Oh yeah? And what do you know about girls and relationships anyway?" Matt teased airily.
"Here's what I know about girls and relationship. I used to date the most beautiful girl back at my old school. Matt, she was amazing in every way that counted: great personality, great sense of humour, and she had a good heart. And like an idiot, I let her slip through my fingers, just like that. I've regretted it ever since. Don't make the same mistake I did, especially if you really like Nicole. Talk to her, Matt." Freddie prodded gently.
"Ok, you're right, Felix. I'm on the basketball team now, so I have a legit reason for talking to her. I'm gonna walk up to her and introduce myself…maybe some time tomorrow after first period. Probably not." Matt declared abruptly.
Just as he made to sprint away, Freddie caught him around the elbow to stop him. Then he gently turned Matt around and steered him closer towards Nicole.
"Carpe diem, bro. You're the man, you can do this." Freddie stated reassuringly.
Matt gave Freddie a weak smile, then squared his shoulders before heading towards Nicole and her friends. Freddie shook his head laughingly before going off on his own quest to find Corrie.
Freddie spotted Corrie's three best friends sitting alongside one of the bowling alleys a few minutes later and made a beeline for them.
"Hey, ladies. How are you all this lovely evening?" Freddie greeted smoothly with a wide smile on his face.
"Hi, Felix. It's so great that you came to the party. How are you?" Lalita asked warmly, an alluring smile on her face.
"I'm good. Have you guys seen Corrie?" Freddie asked politely.
"Oh, Corrie's not here right now. But uh, I am." Lalita offered seductively, her fingertips dancing across Freddie's shoulder blade.
"Yeah, sit with us. It's my birthday." Michelle added in a low.
"Oh, it's your birthday? Happy birthday, Michelle. I'm sorry, I didn't get you anything though." Freddie apologised meekly.
"Don't worry about it. I guess I'll just have to unwrap you instead." Michelle noted demurely, getting to her feet and wrapping her arms around Freddie's neck.
Freddie laughed nervously, gently disentangling himself from Michelle's grasp and putting a safe distance between the two of them. Then he turned around and nearly collided with Jamie, who was standing inches away from his face.
"You know, I was actually kicked off of the cheerleading squad for being too flexible." Jamie purred saucily while biting her bottom lip and stroking Freddie's bicep.
For a moment, Freddie let his mind wander into unusual territory involving a very bendy blonde teenage girl before he forced himself to snap back to reality. He literally shook himself and stepped away from Jamie.
"Ok, girls, sit down. I wanna talk to the three of you for a second." Freddie implored gently.
Corrie's three best friends sat down obediently on the leather couch behind them, staring up at Freddie expectantly. Freddie in turn took up a neutral stance by standing in front of a wooden table behind him.
"You three girls have got a lot going for you: you're all smart, beautiful and talented. But all of your self-worth is directly related to how you dress and what you look like. It's based on what other people, especially boys, think of you. If you don't respect yourselves…then how do you expect anyone else to respect you?" Freddie asked seriously.
"Then don't respect me," Lalita responded decisively.
"No, don't respect me," Jamie interjected rapidly.
"You don't even have to remember my name," Michelle concluded assuredly.
"Wow, Michelle. Really slutty." Lalita gaped in awe.
"You are such a slut, Michelle." Jamie praised.
"This is some other dad's problem." Freddie quipped dryly before walking away, leaving the three girls to talk amongst themselves again.
After deliberating for a long while, Matt finally worked up the courage to talk to Nicole, whose friends had politely left them alone while they went to get drinks. Unlike the rest of the cheerleaders, Nicole was surprisingly down to earth and easy-going. This was part of the reason why she listened attentively to Matt, even though he currently wasn't making much sense.
"…um, and I just wanted to tell you that you look like my dog." Matt declared suddenly.
Nicole furrowed her eyebrows in confusion at this.
"Excuse me?" she asked incredulously.
"I mean your hair…looks like my dog's hair." Matt clarified.
"Oh, um…" Nicole murmured abashedly while running a hand self-consciously through her black hair.
"No, that's a good thing. It's just so soft and shiny. We give my dog special food with flax in it." Matt amended soothingly.
"Oh, flax. That's sweet." Nicole murmured, feeling a little bit better.
"Yeah, she's a sweetheart. Well, she died." Matt offered slowly.
"So…I look like your dead dog?" Nicole asked in bewilderment.
Matt's eyes widened in horror and he whipped around on the balls of his feet, as if he was expecting the crew from 'Candid Camera' to come popping out of somewhere.
"Oh my God, that came out completely wrong. I'm so sorry, I'm such an idiot, Nicole. I'm just really nervous, and I've wanted to talk to you for so long…" Matt rambled on apologetically.
"Don't worry about it, really." Nicole chided softly, but to no avail.
"What was I thinking? There are so many people here," Matt mumbled more to himself.
While trying to compose himself, he had rested his foot on top of the wooden table behind him, next to a lit candle.
"Uh…Matt?" Nicole asked tentatively.
"Oh my God, you remembered my name." Matt breathed, a relieved chuckle escaping his mouth.
"You're on fire." Nicole offered simply.
"Really?" Matt asked in a seedy tone.
"No, seriously. You're literally on fire!" Nicole pointed out, her eyes drifting towards Matt's leg.
Matt looked down and yelped in horror at the sight of his pants leg, which was currently alight with an amber flame.
"Whoa! Ok, um…I'm gonna get out of here and uh…put the fire out. Later." Matt greeted hurriedly before sprinting towards the boy's bathroom.
"See you later. Good luck," Nicole called out helplessly before sighing loudly, inwardly thinking it was a pity because Matt Benson was kind of cute.
While Freddie was searching the bowling alley for Corrie, he came across Reed and a few of his friends standing in the hallway. They were standing in front of a tall glass trophy case, pointing and laughing loudly. And standing inside this trophy case were four nerdy-looking guys, holding colourful balloons and princess sceptres in their hands and wearing shiny tiaras on their heads, looking extremely morose. The key to the trophy case was inside with the four unfortunate boys, conveniently out of reach for both Reed and them to retrieve.
"If you guys could just hand me the keys, they're right there by your feet…" Reed trailed off, his lip trembling with the effort not to start laughing.
"Reed, it looks like they're gonna be in there for the night," one of Reed's jock friends cackled loudly.
"You're right, Jason, this is a big problem. If the keys are locked in there, I don't know how I'm gonna get you guys out." Reed guffawed unapologetically.
Freddie watched the overt display of humiliation with distaste. A part of him wished that there was something he could do that would ensure Reed didn't make life worse for these four guys if he tried to intervene. But right now, he was more focused on talking to his daughter, someone else that he didn't want Reed to inevitably hurt in the long run.
"You'd better conserve some air. Don't scream in there, you have a limited amount of oxygen." Reed continued on unpleasantly.
Freddie looked around him and caught sight of Corrie sitting somewhere above him on the second level, eating frozen yoghurt.
"Aww, they're pretty huh? We've got some pretty ladies in here." Reed continued pleasantly, talking to a few girls as they passed by him.
Shaking his head, Freddie gave up on that particular lost cause and went upstairs to find Corrie. She was sitting on a leather sofa in a gallery overlooking the bowling alleys. They were several couples sitting along the four corners of the room making out, but Corrie didn't seem to be paying attention to them, her cellphone resting in her other hand while she sat by herself.
"Oh, there you are." Freddie stated cheerily by way of greeting.
Corrie's eyes narrowed in suspicion as her brother's new best friend came to sit down next to her. Freddie stretched out on the leather recliner and made himself comfortable, clearing his throat a few times while doing so. Corrie was beginning to get seriously annoyed with him. Why was this guy everywhere she was all of a sudden?
"What do you want, Felix?" Corrie snapped impatiently.
"I just wanna talk about Reed." Freddie began patiently.
"Yeah? What about him?" Corrie questioned in bewilderment.
Freddie was surprised that Corrie would even ask that question, but decided to plough on with what he had to say about his daughter's boyfriend.
"Corrie, why are you dating him? You know he's not a nice guy, right?" Freddie questioned vehemently.
"He's crazy." He added in a small voice while twirling his index finger around his own head to prove his point.
"Hey, don't say that about Reed. You don't even know him." Corrie protested heatedly.
"Oh, but I do know him, Corrie. I know him a lot better than what you think." Freddie pressed seriously.
"Well, it doesn't matter what you or anyone thinks about Reed. We're moving in together after graduation." Corrie stated matter-of-factly.
"Reed got into Stamford too?" Freddie asked in confusion.
At this, both Corrie and Freddie looked at each other in puzzlement, both feeling like they had missed a vital piece of information somewhere.
"What? No, Reed didn't get into Stamford. He got onto the management track at Home Depot." Corrie answered happily.
"Oh, great." Freddie replied sarcastically.
"So I'm gonna go to Central Community College to be closer to him. He's my soul mate." Corrie murmured dreamily.
Freddie felt the distinct symptoms of a heart attack coming on in his early life while he listened to his daughter's future with her good-for-nothing boyfriend.
"Yeah, there's no way in hell that's happening." Freddie declared brightly.
"Excuse me?" Corrie demanded in surprise.
"I said that there is no way in hell that is happening." Freddie repeated more assuredly.
"Do you honestly think I'm gonna let you mortgage your future? You think I'm going to let you throw away all your hard work…everything you've accomplished…for Reed Atwood? You're really going to screw up your life for some psychopathic guy who doesn't care about you, Corrie?" Freddie demanded fervently, his voice rising with every passing second.
"You can't do that, I won't let you do that. I forbid you. I forbid you to see him anymore." Freddie concluded in a deathly ominous voice.
Corrie goggled in anger at Felix before unleashing her feelings on him.
"Oh, ok! What is wrong with you? I just met you, and now you're actually telling me what to do? You may have everyone else in my family fooled, but you can't fool me! Who the hell do you think you are, Felix? My father? Dude!" Corrie shrieked indignantly before scrambling to her feet in a mad huff.
"Don't walk away from me," Freddie commanded in a low voice.
"You're a freak!" Corrie snapped wrathfully.
"Don't you dare walk away from me, Corrie Pauletta Benson!" Freddie thundered irately.
Corrie ignored him and stalked out of the room. As Freddie made to go after her, Matt came sauntering into the gallery, looking decidedly disgruntled.
"Hey, how did it go with Nicole?" Freddie asked brightly, perking up instantly at his son's arrival and forgetting momentarily about his and Corrie's argument.
"Fantastic." Matt retorted sarcastically.
Freddie looked down at Matt's pants and realised that it was smoking.
"Hey, what happened to your leg?" he asked curiously, cocking his head to the side to get a closer look.
Author's Note: Quite a few scenes in this chapter, but no pitching of tents and camping overnight because of the overwhelming word count, so phew ; ) So Freddie and Corrie finally got some face-time, but it didn't end quite how Freddie wanted it to. Will he ever get through to his daughter about Reed? My favourite quote of the film: "This is some other dad's problem", good ol' Zac Efron. Alright, I'm off to catch some much-needed Zzzz's before putting out more fires of drama. Up next for drama: my mom's birthday today (egad!). Just kidding (I hope), have a great weekend, everybody!
