Hobby
Freddie walked into the Shay's apartment, laptop in hand, ready to do another iCarly.
"Hey," he greeted Carly, who was helping Gibby get into his Dr. Lobster costume.
"Hi," she replied, trying to fit Gibby's hand into the claw. "Gibby! Just ball your fist up or something!"
"What do you think I'm trying to do?" the boy exclaimed.
"Where's Sam?" Freddie asked, trying not to laugh at the scene.
"I think she went out onto the fire escape," Carly told him. "Can you go get her? The show starts in ten minutes."
"Sure thing," he nodded, setting his laptop down. He headed out to the fire escape.
"Sam," he called once he arrived. He spotted the blonde girl leaning back in an old patio chair. She had a notebook in one hand, and sitting by the chair, much to Freddie's surprise, was a guitar.
"What, Fredpops?" she said, quickly closing her notebook.
"Um, Carly said the show is about to start. Is that a guitar?"
Sam looked down at her precious guitar, cursing herself for not hiding it when she heard someone coming up. "Observant there, aren't you, nub?" she snapped coldly.
"I didn't know you play guitar," Freddie said, walking further out onto the fire escape.
"Who says I play it?"
"You just carry a guitar out here to look at?"
"Fine, yes, I can play guitar. I, unlike you, actually do happen to have a measurable amount of talent."
"What's in there," he asked, ignoring Sam's insult and instead indicated to her notebook, which she had tried to conceal, unsuccessfully, beneath her chair.
"None of your business," she said, making a grab for the notebook, but Freddie was faster.
"You open that, Benson, and you'll be falling off this fire escape in a second," Sam warned him, jumping up.
"It says 'songs and junk'," Freddie read off the closed cover. "You write your own music?"
"You really want to go off this fire escape, don't you?"
"What's wrong with playing guitar and writing music?" Freddie asked, handing her back the notebook.
"It's just something I like to do!" she exclaimed, exasperated. "It's a hobby, you know. You have that dorky Galaxy Wars collection, Carly has that weird ukulele thing, and I have my music, okay?"
"Okay," Freddie said. "So can I hear you play something?"
Sam glared at him. "What?"
"Can I hear you play something?" he repeated.
"Will you drop it if I do?"
"Yes."
"Fine," she conceded, picking up her guitar. "But this is the ONLY time I'm ever going to do this for you."
She played a few cords for Freddie. It was the first verse of the song she was working on.
"There," she said after about a minute. "I played. Happy?"
"That was actually really good," Freddie said, impressed. "Who would've thought someone who guzzles ham down in under a minute and beats up truck drivers on a regular basis would be so gifted with music."
"Remember, you said you'd drop it," Sam said, putting her guitar back down. "So do that. Come on, let's go do iCarly before Carly flips out on us."
"So," Freddie said as the two made their way back down to the apartment. "What else don't I know about you?"
"That's for me to know and you to never find out," she replied, grinning.
