FREDDIE'S POV
"So, where's everybody?" I asked Carly who seemed so busy preparing everything in the kitchen. It looked like we were going to have a superb dinner on Christmas Eve with the way the aroma of the food flooded up my nostrils.
"He's picking up Sasha in her place." She replied as she put the turkey inside the oven while I sat myself on the counter's empty space. "Where's your mom?"
"She's working so I'm all yours tonight." I grinned, taking one of those delicious Christmas cookies she baked for the holiday. It was my favorite of all because every Christmas, she'd give me and my mom a box full of them. I kind of found it unfair that she always gave Sam two boxes but understanding Sam's appetite, I just let it go.
Carly, who was holding a bowl of chocolate pudding in her hand, slapped my arm and grabbed the cookie from me. "Please keep your hands off the food unless you want me to send you out which we both don't want to happen."
I jumped off the counter and followed her to the sink. "You can't make me leave." I teased.
"Try me." she said, raising her eyebrows in a challenging manner.
"Alright. I'll keep my hands off the food." I surrendered when I noticed she was being serious. I wouldn't want to spend Christmas Eve alone in my apartment. "For now."
Carly pinched me on the nose hard and smiled the cutest smile I've ever seen. "That's all I'm asking."
I rubbed my nose which I'm sure was all red because of the way she trapped it in those little fingers of hers. "Did you just pinch me?"
"Maybe." She giggled before checking the time on her watch. "Oh. They'll be here any minute. Please help me set-up the plates on the table?"
"I'd do it for a kiss." I joked as I started grabbing the plates from one of the kitchen cabinets. I heard Carly 's giggles as she took out glasses from the adjacent cabinet.
"So, what did you get me for Christmas?" I asked as we made our way to the table.
"I won't tell." She replied. "You have to wait after dinner."
I groaned again. "Please? I promise I'll fake being surprised later. It will be our little secret." I whispered the last sentence into her ear which made her chuckle softly.
"You gotta work on your patience, Benson." She shook her head and laughed.
Before I could even answer, the door swung open and in came Spencer and Sasha. He was carrying two gifts with his hand while his free hand was around her waist. They really looked pretty good together which was good because that would mean cute little children in the future. I could imagine little Spencer or little Sasha walking down the aisle cutely during Carly and I's wedding. Hey! A man can dream, right?
"Wow. Smells good, Carls." Sasha yelled as she made herself comfortable on the couch.
"Thanks. Dinner will be ready soon." Carly yelled back while we finished setting up the table.
While I was taking out the turkey from the oven, Spencer came inside the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator. He stood up beside Carly and attempted to get himself a piece of Christmas cookie which earned him a deathly glare from his little sister. I wanted to warn him but I was too late.
"Spencer!!" she yelled, making Spencer drop the cookie back to the tray.
"Sorry! It looks so good!" he apologized. "Anyway, I found something in the lobby which I think belongs to you so I asked Lewbert to send it up here."
"What is it?" I asked curiously as I settled the turkey on the table.
The elevator dinged and the three of us went into the living room to see what Spencer found in the lobby.
"Ahhhhhh!" Carly squealed which was enough for me, Spencer, and Sasha to cover up our ears. She was always like this whenever she gets happy and excited. But we gave her a break since her reason for hurting our ears was absolutely acceptable.
"Easy there, cupcake." Sam smiled as she made her way towards Carly to give her a hug. It looked like they haven't seen each other in years!
"I'm so happy you convinced your family to spend Christmas with us!" Carly said excitedly as they pulled apart.
"I'll just be here for a couple of days. It's part of the deal that I spend the New Year with them. Trust me, it wasn't easy to convince them but here I am!" Sam replied.
I crossed my arms against my chest. "Let me guess. You threw a tantrum."
Sam turned to me and the look in her face told us that what I said was true. "It's none of your business, Benson."
"Who's hungry?" Carly clapped her hands and asked before things turned ugly.
Sasha and Spencer were already seated on their seats so the three of us followed soon enough. Carly sat down on the chair across Spencer and just as I expected, Sam took the chair I pulled out beside Carly. She stuck her tongue out to irritate me so I just grabbed the empty one beside Sasha and set it on the other side next to Carly. I figured I'd let Puckett have her way since it was Christmas and she'd only be here for a short time.
"So, I hear wedding bells. When?" Sam asked as she filled her plate up with Carly's special lasagna.
"Well, Sasha and I talked about it already and we decided to do it on summer so you guys could be here to attend the wedding." Spencer replied, scooping some mashed potato to put it in Sasha's plate.
"I want Carly to be my maid-of-honor." Sasha smiled and Carly squealed again excitedly.
"Please stop doing that?" I asked her.
"What?" she hissed, looking at me.
"Screaming at the top of your lungs. You're making our ears bleed."
"Am not!"
"Carlyyy..."
"Are these two married? Because I'd like to smack Carly hard in the head if that's the case." Sam asked Spencer and Sasha with her mouth full of lasagna.
Carly and I both looked at each other before we glared at Sam. The lovebirds, on the other hand, were busy smirking in their seats.
"Sam!!" Carly scolded.
"What? Freddifer's okay with it." she replied.
"We're not married." I told her. "Yet."
Carly gave me an 'I-thought-we're-in-this-together-look' so I just giggled and raised my hands up to surrender for the second time that night.
"Just eat your food." she instructed.
"Yes, honey." I grinned.
"Freddie!!"
The rest of the dinner was filled with laughter and random stories. Spencer and Sasha talked about their other plans about the wedding and we were all paying attention up to the littlest details they were enumerating. Sam were telling us about London and school which was very unusual because even when we were in high school, she always hated talking about it. Carly told her 'epic fail' love story about Brad and it ended by Spencer thanking me for being there for Carly and Sam calling him names which was really satisfying on my part. If only she was there when it happened, I was sure Brad wouldn't be able to run to his car that soon.
Everyone sat in a circle after the dishes were dumped in the sink. Spencer and I gathered Sam's gifts from her bag and the rest from the tree he made from something we didn't want to know and put them on top of the coffee table. At least the tree didn't catch on fire this time and that was our only concern. Besides, with his great sculpting skills plus the colorful ornaments, it really looked wonderful.
Spencer and Sasha distributed their gifts first. Sam received ham from them which she happily thanked them for. I only knew a few people who would be delighted to receive ham as a gift but then again, we were talking about Sam here. I guessed she really does take her meat seriously.
As usual, Carly screamed when she opened her brother's gift to her. It was a brand new pearpod and by the look on her face, I could tell she was going to cook her brother breakfast every morning.
My first gift for the holiday was a nugnug action figure from Galaxy Wars. Spencer knew I was collecting them. I've got a lot of them inside my room.
"Thanks, man!"
"You're welcome Freddo."
"Spencer told me how much you like Galaxy Wars."
"Such a dork."
"Sam! Freddie's not a dork."
"Thanks, kisses."
Sam gave her gifts next and it was really hilarious to see the look on Spencer's face after he read the title of the book she bought for them. 'The Marriage Spirit'. Spencer looked at Sam in confusion and her brows furrowed in frown. She said she put a lot of thought into that gift so it ended up with Sasha scolding Spencer and her telling Sam that they loved it.
Her gift to Carly was priceless because it was just the second iCarly t-shirt ever produced. Carly was too happy with it but luckily, she didn't scream this time.
Sam bought me a gift too which almost touched my heart if she hadn't smacked me on my head before giving it to me. It was a planner for the coming year. I could really use one so I wouldn't mess up my schedules again.
Carly got excited to give her gifts so that meant I was last. She gave Sasha a set of nail polish in different colors because she knew her soon-to-be sister-in-law was fond of doing nail arts. Spencer received from her a shower radio which was understandable because Spencer loved singing whenever he was inside the bathroom.
She gave Sam a silver bracelet with letter charms that spell out the word iCarly. Sam put it on immediately and as expected, they hugged again.
Carly smiled at me before handing me her gift. I was anxious to know what was inside but I didn't let them notice. I opened it slowly though I was sure that whatever it was, I'd love it because it came from my kisses.
"Can't you open it a little faster nub?" Sam commented. And Carly said I was the one who needed to work on being patient.
I ignored Sam and just continued opening my gift. When it was free of wrapping paper, I almost kissed Carly right then and there! This must have cost her a lot.
"A waterproof MP3 player?" I asked her, still lost for words. I didn't know what I had done for her to give me something like this!
She smiled. "So you could listen to music whenever you're in the pool."
"You're really something. You know that?" I told her.
"Yep." she laughed.
My turn to give gifts. I was saving Carly's gift for last because it was special so I gave Spencer and Sasha theirs first. I bought them identical shirts which were rolled inside identical mugs. Spencer loved it so much that he wore the shirt immediately, convincing Sasha to do the same.
I got Sam a digital decision maker because she was the type of person who would leave almost everything to fate. She said she liked it but it would be better if I just gave her an instant excuse ball with twenty fool proof excuses she could use to skip school.
"Where's mine?" Carly asked me when she noticed that there were no more gifts left on the table.
"Oh." I pretended to look around. "I must have forgotten it at home."
Carly's face dropped and she pouted. "You forgot my gift."
I took out a small rectangular box from my pocket and handed it to her. "Did I?"
I watched her eyes light up again as she grabbed it from me and started to open it. Her smile grew bigger as she revealed the thing inside the blue box. It was a silver heart-shaped locket that I saw while I was busy shopping for Christmas gifts. I hope she'd love it.
"This is amazing." She returned the locket inside the box instead of putting it on and smiled at me. "Thank you."
"It's nothing." I shrugged as I smiled back. "I've already put a picture of you inside if you don't mind. I left the other half empty for you to fill."
She nodded and smiled again. I wanted to put my picture on it but I figured since it was Carly's, I'd let her decide on whose picture she wanted to put beside hers. I just wished that it wouldn't be of someone who didn't deserve her. I wouldn't mind if she'd put Sam's picture in there. I wouldn't mind too if she'd take out hers and replace it with a picture of her mom and dad. As long as she put someone who really loved her, it would be fine with me.
"Sorry guys but we have to go." Sasha stood up from her seat and we all followed.
"Yeah. It's getting late. I better drop her off to her apartment." Spencer said as he gathered the gifts she'd bring home with her.
"Hey, can you give me a ride to my house? My mom wanted me to check it so I figured I'll sleep in it tonight." Sam asked Spencer before she turned to Carly. "I'll spend the night here tomorrow, cupcake."
"Of course." she smiled at her. "Merry Christmas, Sam!"
Everybody hugged and greeted each other until Carly and I were the only people left inside the Shay's loft. We were supposed to do the dishes but I stopped her from getting into the kitchen. I wanted to ask her something first.
"What's up?" she asked.
"Don't you like my gift?" I asked back.
"What? No! I like it!" she replied. "I like it so much. I love it."
"Then why didn't you put it on?" I asked again.
Carly laughed softly and grabbed the box from the coffee table before handing it back to me. Was she returning it? "Here, take it."
"What? It's yours!" I almost yelled at her but she didn't take her hand back.
"I know it's mine." she replied.
"Then why are you giving it back?" I didn't know what was going on or what in the world was inside that brain of hers.
"I'm not giving it back." she paused, "I just want you to be the one to put it on me."
"Oh."
I finally smiled before grabbing it from her. I took the locket out of its box and walked behind her. Carly held her hair to one side, exposing a part of the back of her neck to me. Slowly, I put the locket on her and after securing it, I grabbed both of her shoulders.
"Stay still." I whispered to her.
Carly didn't move and I found my arms circling around her waist and closing on her stomach. I rested my head on the back of her head and just let her scent intoxicate me. I wanted to tell Carly how I felt for her over and over again but the words wouldn't come out of me. So many times, I'd do things to let her know somehow how much she means to me. And this was one of those.
"This is unfair." she chuckled softly after a while.
I tightened my grip around her to let her know that I didn't want to let go yet but she still managed to pull my hands away. Without letting go of my hand, she turned to me. The way her eyes and her lips were smiling made my stomach tie up in knots.
Carly circled her arms around me and rested her head against my chest.I closed my arms around her and pulled her closer. I wondered if she could feel my heart beating faster than normal at that very moment.
"See?" she giggled. "This is better."
A/N:
Sorry, I had to shorten the gift-giving part because if not, this would be a lot longer.
I hope you guys like it!