AN-This is a sequel to chapter 199, where Sam confronts Freddie after they both stopped working at the Pear Store.
Uniform
Freddie walked into the Shay's apartment, Sam's words still running in his mind
Did you ever think I took the job just to hang out with you?
That was ridiculous, Freddie told himself. Sam wouldn't go through actual work just to hang out with him! Especially since she sees him everyday. But then he remembered what else Sam said; that they hadn't done anything together, just the two of them, since they had dated…
But that wasn't true, was it? Freddie racked his mind, but to his surprise, he couldn't come up with one recent incident where the two had done something without either Carly, Gibby, Spencer or someone there.
"Freddie?" Carly said, bringing Freddie out of his thoughts. "You okay?"
"Hmm? Oh, yeah," Freddie said, realizing he had been standing in the doorway for several minutes. "I'm fine. Or as fine as a guy could be who just got fired."
"Sam already told me all about it," Carly said sympathetically. "Don't beat yourself up over it. You didn't really get fired, after all."
"Um, what?" Freddie said.
"Come on," Carly chuckled. "You did the right thing. Leaving your job in protest isn't the same thing as getting fired."
"Leaving my job in protest?" Freddie repeated.
"Yeah, Sam told me what happened," Carly said. "About how your awful manager was trying to get you to raise the prices on all the merchandise just to rip off customers? I still can't believe you had the courage to walk out like that. You loved that job! I mean, no offense, you weren't very good at it, but you loved it!"
"That's what Sam told you happened?" Freddie asked.
"Well yeah," Carly shrugged. "She came by a few minutes ago. But I think she was sort of upset about work too; she went upstairs to lay down."
"Um, what else did Sam say?" Freddie asked.
"Nothing much," Carly said. "But I didn't pry too much. Like I said, she seemed moody."
"Oh," Freddie said, furrowing his brow in confusion. "So…Sam's upstairs?"
"Yeah, why?" Carly asked, but Freddie was already on his way up the steps.
Why hadn't Sam told Carly about his unceremonious firing at the Pear Store? She had made him seem like some sort of hero, not like the terrible employee he knew he was.
He reached the iCarly studio and saw Sam lying on one of the beanbag chairs, still wearing her Pear Store uniform. He opened the glass door and walked in.
"Hey," he said.
Sam looked up. "Hey," she mumbled.
Freddie sat down at the beanbag chair across from her.
"What do you want?" Sam asked.
"To talk to you," Freddie answered truthfully. "About what you said at the mall about-"
"Forget about that, will you?" Sam said quickly. "Just…Just pretend I never said anything, okay?"
Freddie nodded. "Okay. But let me ask you about something else then. Why didn't you tell Carly what really happened at the Pear Store? You know, about my melt down and me being fired in front of everyone? You made me seem…cool, with your story."
"So?" Sam snapped.
"Well," Freddie said. "You've never done anything to make me look good before."
Sam groaned. "Are you still going on about this? About how it's so weird for me to do anything nice for you? I figured you had a bad enough day, so I didn't tell Carly about how you got fired and gave her the first story that popped into my mind!"
"I just would never expect you to do something like that," Freddie said. "I mean, you never go out of your way to be nice to me. Well, except for that one week before the lock-in, but that was because…"
"Can you just leave?" Sam mumbled, but her voice wasn't harsh or demanding. It was almost a plea.
Something finally clicked in Freddie's head. Sam had taken a job at the Pear Store to spend time with him. She wanted to be alone with him. She lied to Carly about his embarrassing incident at the Pear Store…Did she still have feelings for him?
And then he felt a wave of shame as he realized how he had been treating her these past few months. He had yelled at her for taking the job at the Pear Store when she didn't even give him any trouble there, he had been putting her down, and had even been just plain out mean to her. But didn't she realize? That had been the only way he could think of to get over her…
"Sam," he said gently. "Do you-Do you still-?"
"Would it matter?" Sam asked, skillfully avoiding his eye contact. "You clearly don't."
Freddie raised an eyebrow. "Why would you assume that?"
Sam scoffed. "Give me a break, Benson. It's pretty obvious. You're back to drooling over Carly, you rip on me every chance I get, you-"
She was cut off as Freddie pressed his lips to hers impulsively. She was startled at first, but as she felt the familiar wave of sparks down her spine, she quickly responded, kissing him back passionately. But then she pulled away and gave him an inquiring look.
"What was that for?" she asked hesitantly.
"I'm sorry," Freddie said. "For how I've been treating you lately. I've been acting sort of…jerky, and it wasn't right."
Sam frowned. "So the kiss was an apology?" She knew it had been too good to be true.
"Yes," Freddie nodded. "But it was also my way of telling you how long I've wanted to do that. I guess that's the reason I've been such a jerk to you. I figured it would make it easier to get over you…but it never really worked. So I would try harder."
"That sounds like something I would do," Sam pointed out.
"Yeah, well," Freddie grinned. "I guess you had a pretty strong influence on me." And with that he leaned in and kissed her again, wondering how he had gone for so many months without her.
