Freddie and Sam picked up Josephine and Clarence at their hotel and decided to head for the Groovie Smoothie before going to do some sightseeing. Josephine winked at Sam upon spotting Freddie's arm around her shoulders, and Sam rolled her eyes before pulling his hand down, holding it in hers as they finally crossed the street to the store they had spent so much time as teenagers barely 7 years ago.
"Yo, Tee! A large Splat and Blitz!" Sam shouted across to T-bo, who flashed a thumbs up and grin, setting off to make the smoothies. "Jose, Clarence, what do you guys want?"
"Umm… A Mango Madness, and a Kiwi Smoothie, I guess." Josephine squinted at the signboards, and Sam hollered the extra orders off to T-bo, who nodded an acknowledgement.
Sitting down, she suddenly realized that her two co-workers were smiling cheekily at her, and she groaned, Freddie's face taking on an amused smile as he realised what was going on. T-Bo soon came over with their drinks, a big grin on his face as well. "Why, if it ain't Sam Puckett and Freddie Benson! Man, it's been ages since I last saw you guys here together!"
He dropped his voice down to a whisper, pointing at the two iCarlies. "You two back together yet?"
Freddie pulled Sam closer to him, putting his arm back around her and smirked at the older man. "Sure are."
"Well, we still have the Lov—"
"For the last time, T-Bo, we don't want a 36 dollar cup."
"What about—"
"We don't want anything on a stick, either."
"C'mon, Sam, just tell me la."
"Nope, not a chance."
"Pleaseeee?"
"Urgh, you're just like Carly." Sam grumbled, pulling out her phone, and Josephine raised an eyebrow at the red pearphone that Sam had had since forever. "Calling Carls, so I don't have to waste my breath telling the story all over again.
After all the squealing was finally done, (Carly was on speakerphone), Josephine smirked at her blonde superior, who was rubbing her ear gingerly, rolling her eyes. "I so knew it."
"Knew what?"
"That you liked Freddie, of course. I did watch all those years of iCarly, y'know."
Meanwhile, outside at the table, Freddie was talking to Clarence animatedly and the two talked about work and so on. Clarence looked at the PP1, slightly awed at the many apps that it already held. "You're saying that you came up with the idea and coding all by yourself?"
"Well…" Freddie looked slightly abashed as Sam walked back, having overheard their conversation. "Nope. I did most of it. The coding, that is."
"Really?" Clarence looked stunned, and Freddie put a hand on his shoulder. "Lesson number one, never underestimate the power of a bored Sam Puckett."
"Really?" Clarence asked again, flipping the phone over in his hands, slightly astonished at the sight of the blue phone and the newfound knowledge on his boss. The brunette and blonde looked at each other amusedly, before turning back to face Clarence, nodding.
"Woah." Clarence marvelled before continuing to look at Sam incredulously. "So how come you decided to work at Pandah and not P&B?"
Sam laughed. "P&B didn't exist yet, you idiot. And besides, I wanted to work at Pandah, to work with media and advertisements, and Pandah gave me that opportunity to play with my imagination."
"Oh, right." Clarence replied as Josephine made her way back to the table, handing Sam her phone. "Here, Sam. Carly's off the phone, her granddad said it was time for lunch, I think."
"Okay then." Sam said, then grinned. "Who's up for a trip to the beach before dinner?"
Sam lay on Freddie on the couch, her head on his lap as they laughed at an old tape of iCarly. They'd had fun at the beach, soaking up the sun and splashing in the waves, before heading home—or to the hotel, in Clarence and Josephine's case—to get ready for dinner at Pini's, of all places. The maitre d had placed them in their 'usual seat', the one they'd sat on their first date, and they couldn't help but laugh as their friends stared at them, confused yet amused, but now they were back home in oversized shirts and sweatpants, in Freddie's apartment.
Sam watched herself banter with Carly before bringing Freddie into the scene, chuckling as she insulted him for the millionth time in all the iCarly episodes they'd watched. "I didn't mean that, y'know." She said, after the chuckling and insults were over, and Freddie cast her his usual smirk. "I know."
"Hey, wasn't this the show before Gibby and I opened that restaurant?" Sam asked, and Freddie checked the date of the video box, raising an eyebrow and nodding. "Yeah, it is." He answered, and he felt her smile from her place in his lap. "Good times."
Guilt washed over him at the simple line of hers, and he remembered the time she asked, in that empty basement, if he had a renewed crush on Carly. Sure, he hadn't, but the goofy smile he'd given her on purpose had been intended to tell her otherwise, even though a tiny part of him admitted that their relationship had flashed past his eyes at that moment, and he couldn't help but like how jealous Sam was being.
The look on her face had told him that she thought that he had a crush on Carly, and he hadn't changed her mind, just following Sam's instructions and running after Carly. The guilt soon disappeared as early as it came; he had tried, and what mattered was that he was back with his blonde headed demon, wasn't he?
They continue to watch the episodes, Sam laughing and Freddie joining in, and on particularly funny scenes, they pause the screens to laugh for as long as they need to, and Freddie can't help but notice, how, yet again, beautiful Sam seems to him. They reach the only episode where Freddie is absent, the one where Sam announces that she's never kissed anyone either, and they smile at the memory of what had come afterwards.
The next episode they choose is the one in Troubled Waters, and they watch as Freddie kisses her, and him announcing that they're both insane. She laughs, and turns up to look at him, a cheeky grin on her face. "I honestly thought that you were insane."
Her comment earns a shrug from the technical producer. "I did, too. But hey, if being insane meant that I could spend every day with you, even if we were in a mental institution, I'd take it any day."
She turned back to face the screen. "Stop the cheese, Benson." She says, but he feels the smile on her face.
It matches his perfectly.
She heads to the guest room for bed, Freddie joining her, and they lie in each other's arms. She watches and listens as his breathing evens, and smirks at the smile still etched on his face. She can't sleep; She can't believe any of this is really happening to her, and she slowly untangles himself from his hold, making her way to the window seat, picking up the book series she's been reading in secret; the one she'd been so curious about, the one that brought them back together, in its own way. She's already halfway through the second book—page 165, to be exact— when a line on the page catches her eye.
It's a line from Haymitch to Katniss about Peeta.
"You could live a hundred lifetimes and not deserve him, you know,"
The word hit Sam hard, and as she slides a bookmark in, the words float around in her head and haunts her as she closes her eyes. Sure, Haymitch had said it to Katniss, not her, but wasn't it true for her as well?
She didn't deserve Freddie, like how Katniss hadn't deserved Peeta. But like Peeta, Freddie had fallen, anyway, he'd loved her enough to do anything for her, and she knew that. She glanced at Freddie from her seat, and a tear dropped from her eye, landing on her cheek, guilt pouring for what she was hiding from him.
She honestly didn't deserve him, did she?
Freddie had said that she resembled Katniss, yet upon reading the book, she'd found parallels that had linked her to Haymitch, from his refusal and pain from remembering the past to hiding his sorrow in drink like how she'd chosen to hide her insecurities in violence and food, but this line, this was the line that had finally, finally linked her to Katniss.
And perhaps it was because she had chosen Haymitch as he favourite character from the start that made this line all the more painful and poignant than if coming from another character.
And as she turned off the light with this thought and got back into bed and into Freddie's arms, the guilt remained, tying knots in her stomach until she finally fell asleep.
Hey lovelies!
I know this is a bit short, and more of a filler chapter, but I can promise that more drama is coming up soon!(:
Reviews, please? :D
xoxo;