Chapter 9

"Hey, this is gonna sound weird, but, uh…what's going on with Sam?" Freddie asked. He'd strategically waited until their friend had left to help Spencer bring down a sculpture made from sunglasses to the Shays' car in order to deliver it to the optometrist's office downtown where Spencer's new girlfriend was working. Sam had agreed that it was waaay cooler than a bouquet of flowers, and Spencer had recruited her to help deliver it. Freddie used the opportunity to interrogate the other female about her best friend's recent odd behavior.

"Whaddyu mean?" Carly asked in response, looking up at him from their prop trunk. She was finally taking inventory of their wigs and scarves after putting it off all winter. She had at one point around Christmas had it in her mind that she might make her own prom dress from the costumes they had left over from Wade Collins's video, but Sam - of all people - had convinced her that that was too Pretty in Pink.

"Uh…you haven't noticed? For the last several weeks or so she's been acting…like…she likes me….You know…in that way. Except, last night…is Sam maybe into…does she like Rip-off Rodney?"

"Rip-off Rodney? No! Am I never gonna live that down? It was just a misunderstanding. You know, I didn't purposefully plan on getting broccoli stuck in my teeth! Why would they even have crudités at a high school event?" Carly wrung her hands at the memory, "Sam didn't really wanna dance with him; that was my fault – for which I later paid dearly." Carly continued with steadily increasing zeal. "She hasn't been acting weird. I mean, considering she's psyched about you being in love with her. I mean, she keeps telling me she still can't believe you feel the way you do, so I think she's still kinda skirting around the issue. Which - I told her - I think is silly since we already know how you feel, especially after all this time. But, whatever, you know how Sam is. I think it's fantastic! I mean, she hasn't been this excited about a guy since - you know, come to think of it, I don't think she's ever been this excited about a guy."

"Carly, what are you talking about? Why would Sam be excited about me being," Freddie took a moment to process the information Carly was relaying, and gulped before continuing, "in love with her?"

"Well…aren't you?" Freddie glared at her and slowly shook his head. "Wait. You mean you're not in love with Sam?"

"In love with Sam? Where would you get that idea?"

"Well…from you. You were acting weird, watching Sam during class and during rehearsal, and asking her to move across the country with you. And, you've been flirting like crazy with her over the last month. You're in love with her." Carly stated as a matter of fact, but upon further study of Freddie's eyes, she realized that what she saw there was confusion. "Aren't you?"

"No!" he whined, his voice raised a full octave.

"Oh, my God!" Carly began to pace around the studio. "Well…Sam thinks you are. I told her -"

"You told her?" Freddie asked, his words filled with exasperation.

"You were doing all that stuff you used to do when you were in love with me. Aw, man, you're not still in love with me are you?"

"Ugh! Carly, focus! How did Sam react when you told her you thought I was in love with her?"

"She didn't believe it." Freddie was momentarily relieved, and sighed as such. However, Carly continued, "But Freddie, I really sold it to her. I think she really thinks you are now. I-I'm sure of it."

"Aw, man!" He thought back to the last few weeks and how Sam had been acting. The smiling, the flirting. She'd even been sorta kind to him, in her own way; she'd let him off easy and even backed down a few times when they'd fought – it wasn't real fighting, but still. And, what she'd said last month about getting to her heart through her stomach – he hadn't gotten a chance to ask her then what she meant, and had let it slip his mind since. But now, it all made sense. Well, in a crazy sorta way, anyhow.

"What're you gonna do?"

"What am I gonna do?" Freddie asked Carly incredulously. "You started this all!"

"Oh no, I didn't!" she yelled, a pointed index finger firmly planted into Freddie's chest. Carly shook her head vehemently. "You were the one who asked Sam to move to Boston with you under false pretenses!"

"Ow!" Freddie backed away from Carly and her finger, and rubbed generously at the pained spot on his chest. "What?"

"Oh, yes! You pretended you were in love with her, and got her to go!"

"I wasn't 'pretending' to be in love with her! Carly, you need to fix this."

"I don't want to get involved."

"What?" Freddie couldn't believe this was happening. The only thing worse than Sam thinking he was in love with her, was Sam being in love with him - when he wasn't in love with her - and her finding out about it.

"Oh, hey, Sam!" Carly exclaimed, noticing the blonde return through the studio door. She shoved Freddie back unceremoniously, and laughed in a conspicuously awkward way. "My bestest friend…who's moving to Boston with my other bestest friend. I'm going to get some snacks…at the store…be back in...a while!"

"Carly!"

Sam watched suspiciously as Carly all but ran out of the studio and raced down the stairs. She looked at Freddie and asked, "What's her deal?"

"She's just…really…hungry."

"Uh huh." Sam eyed Freddie skeptically, and plopped down into one of the bean bag chairs. Freddie avoided making eye-contact with her, and went straight for the computer cart. Sam watched him and became increasingly curious about what he and Carly were talking about just before she came into the studio. Whatever it was had obviously frightened Carly, and she'd fled. Freddie was clearly busying himself in order to avoid her. But, Sam wasn't about to let him off the hook. "Soooo," she began, "I told my mom about Boston. She's okay with it. Well, at first she wasn't, but then I told her she could have Frothy, and she asked if I needed help packing."

"Oh?" Freddie responded, pretending to not be paying any attention to her, and instead, looking very intently at the laptop screen.

"She wants to know where we'll be living. You know, what kinda neighborhood it is. I told her you had some stuff printed out. Can I show her?"

"Uh…yeah. The print-outs are still in my bag," he answered pointing at his backpack within arm's reach of her bean bag chair, still avoiding making any eye-contact with the girl.

Sam leaned over and pulled his bag into her lap. She unzipped the front pocket and found the papers. Included was an envelope from M.I.T. that she recognized as Freddie's acceptance letter. She couldn't believe he was so nubby as to carry around his acceptance letter for bragging rights. Of course, she opened it to take a look at it for herself, because after all and despite what she might say to his face, she was actually proud of him. Sam pulled the letter out of the envelope, and unfolded it. Her eyes scanned the letter, and after a few words she realized that it wasn't what she thought. There were no words of acceptance, in fact, what she found were words of regret. We regret to inform you that all freshmen housing has been filled.

It didn't take very long for Sam to figure out what this letter meant. She looked up at Freddie, watched him fiddle with his cables and type commands on the laptop. Her mind replayed all the moments they'd been alone together since he'd asked her to move to Boston with him, and she realized he'd never given her any indication that he was in love with her. She realized that it had been Carly's idea that, like a seed planted in her head, grew into more - into these feelings for Freddie. It was strange to her to realize now how easy it had been for her to come to feel this way about him. But, here the feelings were, and she realized that here they'd stay. She knew definitively and undoubtedly, at that moment, that she was in love with him. She knew it. Unfortunately, she also knew that the letter meant that he definitively and undoubtedly did not feel the same. Sam looked back at the letter considering her options. She could do what everyone would expect her to do: get angry, beat Freddie up, go home, and…then what? Find a job after graduation; keep living with Mom, while Carly and Freddie go off across the country to college? Miss them, and not be able to ever do iCarly again? It was clear to her that those were not good options. And, what about Freddie's options? Obviously, Mrs. Benson would not let her precious baby boy go off alone across the country to live in some apartment by himself, and how would he afford it on his own? She wondered if she should even care. Sam looked up at him again and watched him closely. Sam loved Freddie now, without a doubt. She couldn't not care, and couldn't in good conscience leave him option-less. He'd worked so hard to get into the school he wanted; what kind of friend would she be if she let him down by not moving to Boston with him just because he doesn't love her back? Freddie continued to type, oblivious to her breaking heart. He doesn't love me, she thought. Well, no harm - no foul, right? Everything is status quo. She folded the letter back up and slid it soundlessly back into its envelope.

"Did you find it all?" he asked, finally looking over at her.

Sam could see the tension in his jaw as he tried to engage her in conversation. She suspected now that the spectacle he and Carly produced earlier may have had to do with his real reason for asking her to go to Boston, or perhaps Carly revealing something of what Sam felt about him to him. She took a deep breath before answering, "Yeah, it was all in there. Thanks." Sam pushed herself up from the chair and said, "I'm gonna get outta here – bring this stuff home to my mom. Tell Carly I'll talk to her later."

"But, you just got back." Freddie noticed something was different about Sam's demeanor, and stopped her on her way passed. "Hey, are you okay?"

She tried weakly and unsuccessfully to shrug out of his grasp, and answered, "Yeah. I'm just gonna head out." It was her turn to avoid his eyes now.

Freddie ducked his head and leaned over to catch a glimpse of her face. Concerned, he gently rubbed her arm with his thumb. "You want a ride?"

"Nah, I'm good." Sam shrugged again, and Freddie reluctantly released her. As if suddenly realizing she was pulling away to leave, his fingers instinctively and hastily seized again at her shirt sleeve, but missed their mark. Confused, Freddie dropped his arm slowly as Sam walked quietly out the door, without a glance back.