AN: Happy Wednesday! Well, it was technically Tuesday twenty minutes ago. Anyway, happy holidays! I hope you had an amazing Christmas if you celebrate. Hope you enjoy this fun little chapter and have a very happy and healthy New Year! Hopefully 2022 is a better year all around x
Chapter Twelve
"It was magical, Carls."
Carly grinned. "I knew the jewellery would be a nice touch. He showed me the locket and my god, if my boyfriend gave that to me, I'd marry him on the spot."
"It's Freddie – don't go too far," Sam said, a teasing smile on her face. Carly rolled her eyes, knowing fully well just how whipped her friends were for each other. The former went into her locker and took out her golf club and golf balls. "What did you say the limit was? Was it four or five girls I could hit?"
"Four, but if they're dating a cute boy, you get a free pass," Carly reminded her.
"Ah yes, I remember now."
Another voice chimed into their conversation. "Couples aren't targets." Freddie smiled at the two, coming between the girls to hand his girlfriend a bouquet of flowers. The strong scent almost knocked her off her feet. "These are for you."
She struggled to hold them with the other things, so she tucked the golf club under her arm. "I thought we said no cheesy traditions."
"You said that," Freddie pointed out. "I just nodded my head and waited for you to kiss me again."
Sam grinned, taking a step towards him and leaning her face closer. "Aww, baby," she cooed, rubbing her nose with his like little eskimo kisses. Carly raised her eyebrows and laughed, amused, at the two. Right in front of her eyes, in the two days they'd been dating so far, they'd already converted back to their old affectionate ways. God, she even had to shelter her eyes when she walked into the room that the two were alone in yesterday.
"I made reservations at a fancy restaurant tonight."
"One table I hope," Carly said to them, deadpan. "If you make me be your couples councillor this time round, I will lose my mind." The two laughed at her comment. "Besides, I have a date tonight anyway."
Sam raised her eyebrows. "Oh? Anyone we know?"
Carly closed her locker, avoiding eye contact with the two. "No, uh, Brad actually set me up with someone – kind of as a blind date. We agreed to set each other up on dates. But to be honest, I kind of have the hots for him still."
"Brad?" Freddie gasped.
"Hots?" Sam grimaced.
"Yes, him," Carly said. "And yes, hots. I don't use your hideous terms."
"I thought he was dating Wendy," Sam shrugged. "There's nothing wrong with saying you're horny for someone, Carly." She watched her best friend scrunch her nose up in disgust and cover both ears with her hands. "It isn't a bad word."
"That was last week," Freddie teased. "Carly this week." Sam high-fived him, telling him that she was proud of him for that comment.
"Guys," Carly whined, coming out of her childish state. "You know Brad. He's a good guy. Yes, and he dates a lot of girls? Don't I date a lot of guys? I've heard you guys calling me fickle." Sam opened her mouth to defend herself, but Carly just laughed it off. "It's fine, it's fine. In all honesty, I can be a bit fickle. I wish I could just find a forever person, you know? You two will probably get married at this point."
"Marriage? Damn, Shay, we moving fast here," Sam said. "It's not even been a full three days yet. Calm down, woman."
"Marriage though, huh?" Freddie repeated, a goofy grin on his face.
"Look, what you've done. Filled the nub with false hope of a Galaxy Wars themed wedding," Sam teased, smiling lightly at him. He just rolled his eyes in response.
"Freddie just shows up with flowers and Sam, you're just a full-on softy at the moment for him. If that isn't love, I don't know what is," Carly continued, having ignored the side conversation. "I just want a romance like that, man. What must a girl do to get a guy to stay?"
"Well, you can be a bit, uh, impulsive at times," Sam admitted, growing nervous at the topic. She'd been best friends with Carly for years, and although Sam herself wasn't perfect, Carly wasn't either. "Like, you get a bit intense sometimes with the dating thing. Just because you date someone doesn't mean you need to start picking out baby names and flowers for the wedding."
"Okay, I'm not bad! I just want two kids called Juniper and Venus, and tulips at the ceremony but my bouquet to be white lilies, and my dress to be the one circled in that magazine under my bed and—"
"Point proven," Sam laughed. "You're not even dating the guy and you have your whole lives planned together. Just move slower, kid."
"Tulips at a wedding?" Freddie scrunched his nose up, grimacing at the idea. "Really?"
"Since when were you a florist?" Carly asked teasingly. "And okay, I understand. I'll hide the book of baby names in the dresser and the wedding dress catalogue in the wardrobe."
Satisfied, Sam wrapped an arm around her boyfriend's shoulders. "Come on, Frednub. Let's go – I have a date with a golf club and the soccer girls."
.
That evening, Carly spent the majority of it in her room getting all prepared for her blind date. As she told Sam very loudly in the hallways that day during school, she hadn't kissed anyone in months and she was craving some of that attention. Sam and Freddie, meanwhile, stole her couch and were bingeing a new Tetflix series, not that it was very good, after their dinner reservations had to be cancelled due to overbooking.
"The food should be here soon," Freddie told his girlfriend quietly. She just hummed and stretched out over him, her head in his lap. "You comfy?"
"Very," she said.
Carly came down the stairs, her face scrunching up. "As much as I love you guys, do you plan to hog my couch all night? I have a hot date turning up in less than four minutes." As much as she wanted to be going out with Brad again, she wasn't; the two had decided to separate after the lock-in and had agreed to set each other up on a date with one of their friends. She was going out with a guy she didn't even know. But she still did her pre-date ritual, much to Sam and Freddie's amusement, and drunk a glass of her special lemonade with a squeeze of lime in it – something one of her teen magazines said about the lime being the key to attractiveness. There was a knock at the door shortly after, so she put down the glass, gave Freddie, who had gotten up to answer the door, a look, and walked the length of the apartment to the door. Sam patted Freddie's shoulder with a laugh, stealing a kiss.
There stood a brunette guy, 6'2 at best, denim jacket, gelled back hair, wearing a red shirt and a delivery company's logo on his breast. "Hi, uh, I'm here for—"
"Brad has good taste," Carly said, more to herself, before addressing the guy, "Did you come from work?" She hinted at his uniformed shirt.
He shook his head. "Uh, no, actually—See, I have two chicken special sandwiches and—"
Just one look at his gorgeous face, she'd already given up being vegetarian. "Yes, let's go." She grabbed his arm and led him out, grinning to herself. Despite the guy's confusion, he shrugged and followed her down the hallway. They found a nice spot by the river to eat their sandwiches as Carly practically spilled her entire life to this dude – not realising that, really, he was just a delivery man, and they were eating Sam and Freddie's dinner. The guy didn't let catch on and filled the gaps in that she was giving him, contributing things about his own life and bragging about being a band. Carly nodded along, intensively listening to his every word and clinging onto every breath that he breathed. Was she deciding how many kids they should have? No. But was she deciding on his suit colour for their wedding? Perhaps.
The couple who had witnessed this event just looked at each other.
Sam sighed. "Do we tell her?"
"Nah," Freddie said. "She's smart. She'll work it out."
"Okay, but what about my stomach? They stole our dinner."
Freddie laughed and kissed her again. "I'll order ribs right now."
.
With a few weeks till prom, Freddie thought he was safe. Girls had been asked to the biggest dance of, well, high school left, right and centre. He watched Sam laugh and make fun of the band performances, cheesy promposals, cliché movie scenes re-enacted, and he decided with the mental notes he'd made from his girlfriend's reactions that he didn't want to do something cliché and typical. Sam was different, so she deserved something that reflected that.
He caught Carly that day before she left. "Hey," he said, approaching her at her locker.
"Oh, hey," she greeted, topping up her lipstick in the mirror she had installed on the inside of the door. "I need your opinion." She didn't look at him as he spoke. "Should I wear that red lipstick Sam got me for my birthday or the bright pink one?"
"Uh, I'm really not the person to ask," Freddie said nervously with a chuckle. "If you can find Sam, I'm sure she'll tell you what you should do."
"Oh, you don't know where she is then?" Carly asked. That surprised her as they were usually joined at the hip. "Wendy said she saw her in the library during lunch, but that's got to be a lie, right? Sam? The library? Are pigs suddenly astronauts?"
Freddie laughed.
"Wait, hang on, you don't look that surprised," Carly inputted with a frown, realising how nonchalant Freddie's reaction to this information was. The idea of Sam reading usually surprised him, let alone the idea of her in an actual library. Apart from that year when she snuck into a library to use their public toilet at the infamous meat festival.
"She's really been trying to cram for next week's exams," Freddie told her. "Colleges only care about the SATs these days – and she's trying so hard to be on UCLA's radar."
"Sorry, UCLA?!" Carly gasped. Sam hadn't said a word about this to her. Since when did her best friend make such life changing decisions like this and not consult her? Last time the girls had talked about anything college related, they discussed Sam staying in Seattle and Carly attending the University of Washington, staying close by so they could still do the web show together. But with Sam in California, that didn't exactly seem possible. "Sam didn't mention anything."
"I guess she was waiting for some kind of commitment from the university," Freddie said. "Both you and I have been promised full ride scholarships from the universities of our choosing without even looking at our grades, but Sam hasn't heard back from them. She's actually beginning to panic a bit. But of course, I'm not trying to excuse the fact she didn't tell you, but that's something to talk to her about."
"But seriously, UCLA? That's so far."
"I know, I know. She didn't exactly clarify the reason it had to be there, but she seems pretty determined about something other than meat for the first time in her life."
Carly shook her head and tried to get back to the subject at hand, deciding to just talk with her best friend about this further when she saw her again. Sam had practically been living with Freddie ever since her argument with her mom. "Anyway, what did you come over here about anyway? I know you didn't just come over to spill the beans about next year."
"Ah, yes, right," Freddie nodded, pulling his Pearpad out of his bag. He scrolled through his photo gallery until he found a certain screenshot and showed her the weirdly shaped screen, which displayed an assortment of LED light companies and their products. Carly laughed through her confusion. "For Sam. You know, to ask her to prom."
"Oh, Freddie—"
Freddie flicked to the next picture. "See, I was thinking either an LED light show that spells out "prom?" or fireworks. I know she doesn't like fireworks all that much though, you know, after the whole incident last year."
"Her mom set off fireworks for her birthday and it set fire to the snack table," Carly reminded him. "I wouldn't be all too happy either – as a matter of fact, I seem to remember a situation similar when Spencer's Christmas tree set the presents on fire. Sam likes her food; I saw her face when the profiteroles set alight."
"LED light show it is."
"Look, Freddie, it's a sweet idea and all – I know I'd die and have no choice but to say yes if a guy did that for me – but it's Sam. You know her, I know her, and she doesn't like big deals made of things. She'd say yes if you asked her by text message, let alone hired the entire Seattle youth orchestra, so I think an idea less…public is better than something everyone is going to remember and call you sappy for."
"I just want it to be special. Like, look at the colours and—" Freddie sighed, cutting himself off. He got Carly's point entirely – Sam hated anything that was made too public. He remembered when the iCarly fans found out they were dating for the second time; she almost quit the show after Carly had accidentally said something because she was so worried about the publicity of it all. She didn't even like people looking at her for too long. So, a light show? In front of people? It really didn't seem like a very Sam thing now that the idea was out there.
"We can think of something else," Carly said quickly, noting his deflated expression. "How about a pizza night? I heard that Wendy's boyfriend wrote "will you go to prom with me?" on the inside of the pizza box last year."
"Unoriginal." Freddie shook his head. He needed something that screamed Sam, something that she'd love and something completely original.
"Write it in the sand at the beach? She said that's where you asked her out."
"Ah, no, she'll get suspicious as soon as we get there. I want it to be something surprising – like, we're just hanging out and it happens. Not something with a build up that'll make her know something's up."
"Okay, well, what do you two normally do? Actually, wait, no! Spare me those details." Carly quickly shielded her ears, which made Freddie roll his eyes. "We just need to find something that isn't unusual that'll fit right into Sam's usual routine. Do you have any special talents or anything? Can Freddie Benson secretly play the guitar?"
"Unfortunately, no," Freddie said. "The piano lessons when I was six fell, uh, flat – no pun intended – when my mom got mad at the instructor for not cleaning the keys between use."
"You mean between person, right?"
"Oh, no, I mean between every time I use it."
"She's really something."
"Preaching to the converted, Carls," Freddie laughed. "Hey, don't sweat it too much. I have at least a week or so, right? My mom's going out tomorrow night for her weird church thing, so I could make a nice dinner for us and see what happens, I guess."
"Nope, too much information," Carly insisted with a laugh. She closed her locker. "Now, come on – let's go find your dorky girlfriend. Wait, please don't tell her I said that; I'll end up waking up on a pile of dead fish, like Gibby did last year."