"What is it?" Sam asked, looking up at him.
"I, um," Freddie began nervously, running his fingers through his hair. "I just…remember-remember L.A.?"
"Yes," Sam frowned. "It hasn't even been a week since I left, Fredwash. I know I forgot to do iCarly stuff all the time, but my memory isn't that bad."
"I-I meant…you remember when I was there?" Freddie said. "And you were mad at Cat?"
"Er, sure, I guess," Sam nodded. "So? I'm not mad at her anymore."
"I know," Freddie said. "But-But when you were mad at her, you know, because she tricked me into coming to L.A. to get back at you for stealing her friend, do you remember that-that thing you said?"
"I said a lot of things," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "You're gonna have to be more specific."
"You said I was the only boy you've ever loved," Freddie said.
Sam's smirk suddenly vanished and she stared down at her feet. "Oh…right. Well-Well I told you, I was exaggerating to make a point. I mean I also said you were in love with me, didn't I? Come on, you know I was just trying to win my argument with Cat."
"So were you really exaggerating?" Freddie blurted out.
"Huh?"
"When you said I was the only guy you ever loved…" Freddie said. "That was-was just an exaggeration?"
"What-What do you mean?" Sam asked, setting her golf club down.
"Sam, when you said I loved you back in L.A., that-that wasn't exactly, well…inaccurate."
Sam stared at him. "What?"
"I love you," Freddie repeated, wondering where this sudden surge of braveness had come from. He wasn't one to boldly confess his love like this.
But then again, Sam had always been able to make him do things he never thought he'd ever do.
"I realized it the night you left," Freddie continued. "And-And at first I thought with you gone, those feelings would just go away. But they didn't. If anything they got stronger."
Sam didn't reply, and he felt his heart sink.
"I'm sorry," he said quickly. "Sorry…you-you didn't want that sprung on you. I just-We can forget what I said. You-You just got home; you don't want to get into anything like this right now. Like you said, you haven't even been home a week and here I am-"
"It wasn't an exaggeration," Sam cut him off, causing his sentence to fall short.
"What now?" Freddie said slowly.
Sam shrugged. "You were the only guy I've ever been in love with…that's true."
Freddie blinked, not daring to believe what he was hearing.
"You want to know the real reason I-I came back to Seattle?" Sam asked.
"I thought it was because you missed it here."
"And I did," Sam nodded. "I missed Seattle and Spencer and Gibby and my mom…but-but there was one thing that made my decision. And that once thing…that one thing was, well, you."
"Me?" Freddie said weakly.
Sam gave him a small smile. "Well I guess after you came down to L.A., I realized how much I missed you. You grew on me."
"You came back to Seattle for me?" Freddie said again. "Me?"
"Er, would you like a mega horn to go scream that from the roof or something?" Sam frowned.
"Sorry," Freddie said quickly.
"Um, anyway…yeah," Sam said, her face so red now that it almost matched her shirt. "I guess…well…hey, um, what-what just happened?"
"I think…I think the two of us just-just talked about our feelings for each other," Freddie said.
"Oh," Sam said, biting the corner of her lip. "Huh…we-we usually don't do that, do we?"
"No, we usually just bottle everything up inside of us until one of us ends up in a mental hospital," Freddie said.
Sam gave him a small smile. "You're still not gonna let me live that down?"
"Maybe one day," Freddie chuckled.
The two stood in the middle of the living room for a moment, silent.
"So, um…we-we established we both have feelings for each other then?" Sam said slowly.
"Er, yeah, I-I think that's what was established," Freddie nodded.
"Ah," Sam said quietly.
"Yeah," Freddie said lamely. "So, um, I-I guess this whole talking about feelings stuff Carly's been preaching at us for years is actually effective, huh?"
"Looks like it," Sam said. "So, what-what do we do now? I, um, I'm not used to things going this smoothly…"
"I know, it's…weird," Freddie grinned. He took a deep breath. "Well…we're two teenagers who jus realized they're in love with each other…I think the protocol would be for us to…go out and do something."
Sam laughed. "Yeah, I think that's what they taught us in school."
"Right," Freddie nodded.
The two were silent for another moment.
"But we are in the middle of a game of Meat golf," Sam said thoughtfully. "And I am winning…we could stay here and finish playing."
Freddie grinned. "You know, I like that idea. It could be a-a first date thing."
"We've already been on a date before," Sam reminded him.
"Well a new first date then," Freddie corrected.
"Yeah, one where you lose," Sam smirked as he picked up his golf club.
"Nah," Freddie said softly. "I already won."
Sam looked down at her feet, but Freddie could see her cheeks flushing red.
"You know," she said, looking back up at him. "There is something else that would be, well, appropriate, now that we, well…had that talk."
"What?" Freddie asked, curious.
Sam stepped closer to him and stood on her toes and gave him a short kiss.
And that short kiss was all Freddie needed to appreciate how right it felt.
"Yeah, I-I guess I forgot that part," Freddie chuckled when they pulled apart. "Now stand back, Princess Puckett, so I can putt this meat."
….
Later that evening Carly returned home to her apartment with Spencer. The two of them had gone out to the movies after school and then grabbed dinner.
"Hey, I'm gonna go take a shower," Spencer said as Carly hung up her jacket. "That waiter spilled root beer all over my lap and it's still sticky."
"Well that's what you get for calling him a waitress," Carly smirked.
"Well his hair was so long!" Spencer defended.
"Yeah, well, you didn't appreciate being called a lady when you had long hair so don't go doing it to other dudes," Carly reminded him.
"I did not look like a lady!" Spencer snapped.
"Spencer…"
"Okay! Fine!" Spencer conceded. "Jeez, a guy goes through one bad hair phase and he can never live it down…"
Carly rolled her eyes as Spencer retreated into his bedroom.
She climbed upstairs to her room, figuring she'd start on the work for school she needed to catch up on.
When she entered her room, though, she saw Sam sitting on her bed, playing with her phone.
"Oh, hey Sam," Carly greeted her best friend. "I didn't know you were here. Hey, I'm just about to start our history homework if you want to work on it together. But I'm not going to just let you copy."
Sam looked up at her best friend, wearing the biggest smile she had seen in a long time.
"Um...what's up with you?" Carly laughed. "Oh, did you finally find those bacon-wrapped shrimp bites you've been hunting down?"
"Guess what happened today, Carls," Sam said, still beaming.
"What?" Carly asked curiously.
"Freddie and I…we, um…I kissed him!"
"You what?" Carly gasped.
"Yeah, and it's all thanks to that whole 'talk about your feelings' chiz you kept pushing on us," Sam nodded. "Who would've thought that junk would've actually worked."
"Okay, details. Now!" Carly exclaimed, sitting down on the bed next to her.
"Well we were playing Meat Golf," Sam began. "Which I won, by the way. Anyway, he said he wanted to ask me something and, well, one thing led to another, we realized we still loved each other, I kissed him, beat his butt in meat golf and then we went back to his place and chilled on his fire escape for a couple hours till his batty mom came home."
"You chilled?" Carly grinned.
"That means we made out, Carls," Sam said, rolling her eyes.
"Yeah, I got that," Carly nodded. "So what's this mean? Are you guys a couple again?"
"Yeah, I-I think so," Sam smiled.
"Oh my God," Carly said, hugging her best friend. "Sam, I'm so happy for you!"
"Thanks," Sam said. "Oh, I need to get home now, though. I promised my mom I'd help her give Frothy a bath…I just wanted to tell you this in person. I mean, you're my best friend. I've got to keep you up-to-date on all this boy junk."
Carly instantly felt a surge of guilt ripple through her. "Y-Yeah," she said.
"Anyway, I'll text you later," Sam said, getting up off the bed.
"Bye," Carly called after her.
Once Sam left the room, Carly fell back on her bed.
See, it's a good thing you didn't tell Sam about the kiss…she thought. Look how perfectly everything is falling into place now! Sam and Freddie are back together and Sam's so happy…No, she can never find out. It's for the best.
Still, though, that thought didn't cancel out the feeling in the pit of her stomach.
